Jan 17, 2019 · The situation with the 386(DX) v. 386SX is similar to the situation with the 8086 v. 8088.The big issue isn’t the data lines (although they do have an impact on complexity and cost when routing a whole motherboard), the issue is mostly the cost of support components: motherboard chipsets (whether integrated or discrete), memory, etc.

Oct 21, 2024 · Early last year I posted a thread about this old laptop I've got: Need help restoring the OS of an "AST Premium Exec 386SX/20" laptop. The original HDD is long-gone. But it does attempt to boot from the IDE port. I have replaced the HDD with a modern SD Card to IDE adapter (2mm pin-pitch).

Feb 5, 2023 · I have an AST Premium Exec 386SX/20 Model 63V laptop minus a floppy drive and hard disk. Otherwise the 1991 vintage machine is fully functional (and in excellent condition, so it's definitely worth

Mar 19, 2022 · I have a 1991 vintage AST Premium Exec 386SX/20 laptop, which is in excellent condition apart from that the original hard drive and the floppy drive are both dead. I've replaced the hard drive with a modern SD-card based device that seems to work.

Apr 5, 2019 · The Red Hill hardware guide provides a number of examples. 386SX systems were limited to 16 MiB at most anyway, because of the limited number of address lines. For 386DX systems, a common configuration included 8 SIMM slots, for up to 32 MiB of RAM, but Red Hill’s golden oldies page lists one SIPP-based motherboard which might have been ...

Feb 18, 2023 · One of the first games I can remember that required a 386 was Aces of the Pacific by Dynamix. It required a 386SX and was released in spring 1992. After that, more and more games appeared that required a 386. Towards the end of 1992 Microprose's F-15 Strike Eagle 3 was released. It required a 386 too. Things really got going in 1993, with 386 ...

Mar 19, 2021 · A 386SX-25 could execute a typical register to register instruction in 2 cycles of 40 ns. Would it (and all the PC of the era) need to add wait states that dropped its effective speed to 4 to 6 MHz in order to align to those memory cycle times? True for complete random access, ignoring page mode.

Feb 11, 2023 · I am trying to get text files from an old 386SX computer running PCDOS 5.0. I believe the file system is FAT16. The hard drive specifications are: Conner Peripherals MODEL (CFS SERIES) CP3104 100 MB CYL 776 HDS 8 SECT 33 WPCOMP 0 LZONE 776 Type IDE Its formatted capacity 104.9 MB and it works fine in the original machine.

Aug 4, 2023 · But the 386SX is likely so old that it can't do geometry translation, so most compatible CF cards would be max 500MB. It may detect or use larger cards incorrectly, or just hang when presented with a larger card. At least it did not hang, but be sure the CF card size and geometry is detected and set correctly.

Feb 28, 2022 · I'm using an AST Premium Exec 386SX/20 laptop. I have installed a new BIOS battery and it does retain settings when the machine is power-cycled. I'm attempting to install MS-DOS 6.22 from a set of 3 floppy disks, onto an SD-Card to IDE adapter.