386 OS

[MaynardG_Krebs]

 I was digging through my storage shed the other day and I ran across my old 386/SX computer. I had forgotten all about it but it brought some fond memories; memories of shuffling programs in and out of the hard drive to make everything fit, memories of always trying to tweak the autoexec.bat file to squeeze out every ounce of performance. This thing is a real beast with a gargantuan 100 mb harddrive and a blazing 25 mhz clock speed. :eek

I was wondering if there are any OS's written in assembly that would be compatible with a 386 processor. I was thinking of trying to recycle this machine and maybe load it up with some assembly progs. I have been searching the web and it looks like all the assembly OS's require a Pentium class processor. Or maybe I should call the Smithsonian and see if they do pickups. :boohoo:

Regards
A Nostalagic Fool

[hutch--]

Maynard,

I doubt you will get a 32 bit OS version to run on a 386sx. I have seen win95oem run on a 486DX but it really struggled to run it and was endlessly battering the swap file just to load anything. If the old box actually still runs, I would not be more ambitious than win 3.11 (wfw). The last "antique" box I built when I was bored some years ago was a 133 pentium and ran DOS and Win311 on it and it actually worked fine. Putting 64 meg of memory in it made it a mega-computer for its technology. The while I was trying to swap something in it I shorted the power supply and it was not worth the diagnostic time to fix it so I chucked it out.  :P

[MaynardG_Krebs]

Thanks for the advice Hutch! If my memory serves me correctly this machine has Win3.1 which I believe was just a shell over DOS6. Oh well it was a fun idea while it lasted. Maybe I'll dig it out and dust it off and play with it anyway.

The while I was trying to swap something in it I shorted the power supply and it was not worth the diagnostic time to fix it so I chucked it out.

:lol
I hope I don't burn my house down.
Who knows maybe I'll like it so much I might get rid of my P4 machine. :lol

[hutch--]

Something I rarely do is throw out processors, I have as a decoration on top of one of my computer loudspeakers 3 p133 processors that all work perfectly but I have little of the rest of that technology to build an antique box out of. The oldest running box I own now is a PIII 600 but I have not plugged it in for a year or so and I would have to make the room to do it so it won't happen in a hurry.

[Mark Jones]

I'm not sure Maynard but maybe some smaller versions of Unix would run on it? Slap a NIC in it and use it as a (slow) file server or something? :bg

[MaynardG_Krebs]

I'm not sure Maynard but maybe some smaller versions of Unix would run on it? Slap a NIC in it and use it as a (slow) file server or something? :bg

Thanks for the suggestion Mark I'll check into it and see what I can find out. I am a real packrat and I hate throwing anything out and would like to find some use for it even if it's just for a toy.

Or if nothing else I think I'll do as Hutch mentioned and at least save the processor. Who knows maybe I'll find a use for it some day.
Thanks!

[BogdanOntanu]

I think SolarOS will run on ok it if you have 4M-16M or RAM, although the GUI will be pretty slow...

I would be interesetd on what can be done to speed it up...
Maybe using low video modes like 640x480x256colors or even 640x480x16 colors (no driver for that yet) :D

[P1]

Find an old copy of Novell, NT4.  It would make a slow file server or project server just fine.

Regards,  P1  :8)

[MaynardG_Krebs]

I think SolarOS will run on ok it if you have 4M-16M or RAM, although the GUI will be pretty slow...

Hello Bogdan,
SolarOS was one of the first ideas that came to mind when I had this idea. After looking on the website and seeing that a  Pentium was the minor requirement for SolarOS. I figured that maybe it wouldn't work so I didn't pursue it any farther. If you think it might be possible I would be interested in trying.

After reading your post I checked to see what the RAM was on this machine and alas only 1 MB, but maybe all is not lost it has expansion slots and can be upgraded to 9MB. I am going to check and see if the chips are available and what the cost would be. If it is within my budget I would like to try this.

Find an old copy of Novell, NT4.  It would make a slow file server or project server just fine.

Another good possibility P1 Thank You. And thanks to everyone for all the great ideas.

[BogdanOntanu]

YES, I think that a tweaked down version of SolarOS could/can run on such a machine even in GUI mode.

However we might have to use a 320x200 resolution :D and I would prefer at least 2M of RAM.

IF absolutely necessary I guess it might run on 1M (but with extensive changes and trim down)

[MaynardG_Krebs]

Bogdan,
I have been trying to locate the SIMM chips for the RAM upgrade for this system. I have found a couple of electronics suppliers that may carry these chips and have sent emails, but will not find out anything until after the weekend. If the chips are available at a reasonable cost I will be able to upgrade to a total of 9MB RAM.
Thanks

[Synfire]

I personally would put it to some use, throw smoothwall or some other *nix distro from the "Linux Router Project" such as Trinux (very nice and very small) and use it as a firewall or a simple IDS.

[MaynardG_Krebs]

I personally would put it to some use, throw smoothwall or some other *nix distro from the "Linux Router Project" such as Trinux (very nice and very small) and use it as a firewall or a simple IDS.

I may end up doing something like that, I am hitting deadends everywhere for memory upgrade chips, which I figured would be the case. So I am looking at all options at this time.

Thanks