Finally completed the 486DX2 system

The problems with the Toshiba CD-ROM drive were not related how the driver was loaded. I started having the very same occasional crashes. I had to accept that the drivers are buggy or there are some hardware incompatibilities.

No matter, I replaced the Toshiba drive with quad speed Mitsumi IDE CD-ROM drive. VIDE-CDD.SYS works perfectly with it since there were no transfer errors or crashes.

That also made the 486 system complete. It turned out to be quite nice. Here are the specs:

• Asus ISA-486SV2 motherboard + 16 MiB RAM
• Intel 486DX2 66 MHz
• Cirrus Logic CL-GD5428 based VLB graphics card with 2 MiB RAM
• Network card with XTIDE Universal BIOS ROM
• VLB multi I/O card (native support by XTIDE Universal BIOS)
• CF to IDE adapter with bracket (card can be easily removed)
• 6 GB Hitachi Microdrive
• Mitsumi quad speed IDE CD-ROM drive
• 3.5” Floppy Drive (quiet Panasonic)
• Sound Blaster 16 (CT2230) + Turtle Beach RIO (General Midi card with 4 MiB ROM)
• Temperature controlled power supply silenced with Nexus SP802512L-03 fan
• Barrel battery replaced with two AA batteries

I think it is a very good system for retro gaming. Of course my own 486 gaming system is even better in every way. Maybe I should write about it in my next post.