Search found 10 matches

by biffuz
Sun 04 Nov, 2018 11:05 pm
Forum: Patches
Topic: [patch] Systems from the first Olivetti PCS series
Replies: 37
Views: 45555

Re: [patch] Systems from the first Olivetti PCS series

Well, here I am... I got 4 sticks of RAM. It recognizes them and it seems to work, but it's very unstable. Even DOS hangs :( They are 4x Samsung KMM591000CN-7. The chips are 2x KM44C1000CJ-7 + 1x KM41C1000CJ-7. They seem absolutely fine. They are rated for 70 ns. The onboard chips for 100, the origi...
by biffuz
Wed 24 Oct, 2018 10:54 am
Forum: Patches
Topic: [patch] Systems from the first Olivetti PCS series
Replies: 37
Views: 45555

Re: [patch] Systems from the first Olivetti PCS series

I just spoke with a guy who did board repairs in the '90s, and he said that some 286 and 386SX boards with onboard memory will use such memory as parity bank when external memory is used :o
by biffuz
Tue 23 Oct, 2018 11:20 am
Forum: Patches
Topic: [patch] Systems from the first Olivetti PCS series
Replies: 37
Views: 45555

Re: [patch] Systems from the first Olivetti PCS series

Something happened with my Google Drive shares, try to download it again. It works now, thanks! Non-parity modules have an even number of chips and were used mostly on 68k machines. :arrow: All SIMM's with 3 or 9 chips have parity and should work on any x86 board, at least 256KB and 1MB ones. :idea...
by biffuz
Mon 22 Oct, 2018 9:09 pm
Forum: Patches
Topic: [patch] Systems from the first Olivetti PCS series
Replies: 37
Views: 45555

Re: [patch] Systems from the first Olivetti PCS series

I'm back! Got some news... Source code already modified: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1CN_A6Syw2CaA7s7v5S2JobRfrKuprUc3/view?usp=sharing Can't download it :-( I did some testing with the onboard IDE port, and definetively it's not possible to connect a slave device of any kind. Instead, I found i...
by biffuz
Tue 21 Aug, 2018 1:55 pm
Forum: Patches
Topic: [patch] Systems from the first Olivetti PCS series
Replies: 37
Views: 45555

Re: [patch] Systems from the first Olivetti PCS series

I don't know the reason but there were PCS 286S and PCS 286 with both Headland and TI chipset boards, perhaps both models where available in 12 and 16 MHz configurations? I have even this board removed from a working PCS 286 with each half of the BIOS labeled for different models :lol: and the top ...
by biffuz
Fri 17 Aug, 2018 10:59 am
Forum: Patches
Topic: [patch] Systems from the first Olivetti PCS series
Replies: 37
Views: 45555

Re: [patch] Systems from the first Olivetti PCS series

The old hard disk finally wins a battle against USB adapters ;) Not really, it died too... For the CD-ROM if the sound card has IDE port you can made something like Creative CT1810 This is a CT2770, with the Panasonic interface. No way I'm using that, I have several IDE DVD burners. They're a lot f...
by biffuz
Thu 16 Aug, 2018 9:42 pm
Forum: Patches
Topic: [patch] Systems from the first Olivetti PCS series
Replies: 37
Views: 45555

Re: [patch] Systems from the first Olivetti PCS series

I DID IT!!! I studied the IDE interface, and found about that ALE/CS pin too. Since I found no other relevant differences, I thought that maybe that was the problem. Modern HDs in CS mode become master if it is grounded, or slave if it is unconnected. So, if they're fine with it unconnected, why not...
by biffuz
Mon 13 Aug, 2018 1:00 pm
Forum: Patches
Topic: [patch] Systems from the first Olivetti PCS series
Replies: 37
Views: 45555

Re: [patch] Systems from the first Olivetti PCS series

:!: I've found by the hard way that those drives with single drive feature will die when connected to USB or SATA converters or even to modern mainboards. :!: I'm not sure if setting them before to MASTER can solve this but I've already lost 3 working drives trying to make backups and after asking ...
by biffuz
Sun 12 Aug, 2018 11:12 pm
Forum: Patches
Topic: [patch] Systems from the first Olivetti PCS series
Replies: 37
Views: 45555

Re: [patch] Systems from the first Olivetti PCS series

:idea: The drive must be connected using the original cable, long twisted cables used on most other computers won't work. Please, not you too :lol: Well.. unbelievably, I found out just today why it couldn't boot from floppy anymore: it needs the riser card with the ISA connectors installed. All th...
by biffuz
Sat 11 Aug, 2018 7:14 pm
Forum: Patches
Topic: [patch] Systems from the first Olivetti PCS series
Replies: 37
Views: 45555

Re: [patch] Systems from the first Olivetti PCS series

THANK YOU!!! You gave me a HUGE HINT to fix my PCS 286!!! Years ago I tried to fix a PCS 286 but it wouldn't boot anymore after replacing the battery, I thought I damaged something so I put it aside. Then I found another one, and the same thing happened. Both machines could boot fine from floppies (...