Intro
On this site I present my experience with vintage computers which contain 486 (socket 3) and 586 (socket 7) processors. I'm trying to get it up and running with current or elder BSD distributions (i386 architecture with 32 bits is still supported by OpenBSD, NetBSD and FreeBSD in 2022).
I'm not a friend of the i386 market leader and its methods to got this position. So you will find only chipsets and cpu's of its competitors (CPU's: AMD, Cyrix, UMC, IDT, Rise or VIA, chipsets: Windbond, SiS, UMC, VIA, Acer/Ali) on this page.
All began with an advertisement on ebay: they offered a motherboard with an AMD 5x86 P75 (a marketing name for the one and only 486DX4 processor: 33MHz external clock - 133MHz internal clock). I thought: I had so a kind of motherboard in the past and was happy with it for a long time... But my second thought was: how does feel so a kind of system today where every RAM-memory is clocked with hundreds of MHz? I bought the motherboard and all has begun...
Some general issues:
- A 486 processor is a vintage vehicle, you can tune it a little bit but it keeps slow - I find it very relaxing...
- You have much more problems with compatibility than today (e.g. my UMC UM9008F ISA network card doesn't like motherboards with SiS 85C471 or 85C496 chipset - Why? I don't know...)
- Hard discs and its different size limitations can drive you crazy (especially on some socket 7 boards)
- If you buy a 486 motherboard with Award bios - the year 2000 problem could be back to you...
- Experience in soldering is of great advantage to keep old electronic alive (e.g. if electrolytic capacitors has reached the end of their lives)
If you find all points are not a problem for you - you can come closer to an old computer...
Benchmarks
My benchmark programs and some measurement results can be found here.
Motherboard tips
My experience with different motherboards, including tips to run and repair it can be found on this page.
The page also includes the fake cache boards PcChips M912 and the AV7543.
The most exotic socket 7 chipset: UTron UT85C501
Relabeled as "VXPro-II or "MMXPro" and with a very bad reputation...
A factory-fresh keyboard with DIN plug for AT-motherboards available in 2020?
But only with a little help of my soldering iron...
BSD on vintage computers
falk.richter*at*yandex.com
Last update: June 09, 2022