On 7 Feb 99, at 1:13, Chew Yoke Lim wrote:

> I have a 386DX-33 machine running Windows 3.11, and I am quite happy
> with it - at least until I have the wherewithal to build myself a
> super-duper state-of-the-art computer <g>.
>
> However, there are three shortcomings to it.
>
> The first is that it has a 8250 UART chip and because of repeated
> data overruns, it takes the dickens to retrieve e-mail or to load
> Web pages (if at all) when I am surfing, although I have a 28.8 Kbps
> modem.

  If this is an internal modem, it probably provides a 16550A UART on
board.  [If not, it is possible to find a serial port card with a 16550A
for $10-20.]
  What you need, though, is a 16550a *driver* for 3.11.  I don't think
MS ever produced one, but several third parties did, and many of them
were free.  Check out a few repositories such as Simtel.

> The second is that it does not have LBA support.  I have quite some
> time ago upgraded to a 1GB hard disk drive, and I had to install
> Disk Manager Dynamic Drive Overlay in order to access the whole disk. I
> have since learnt from this list that this is not the best thing to do.
> Besides, I now want to upgrade to an even larger hard disk.

  You probably can't get an updated BIOS for this machine that might add
LBA, so your next bet might be a card that adds LBA to an existing BIOS.
When these were common, they ran about $30.  Don't know if you can still
find them.

> The third is that although I have installed a CD-ROM drive, I have
> never been able to use it.  The drive letter is displayed in File
> Manager but it always reports the drive as not being ready even when
> a CD is already in the drive.  I have come to the conclusion that the
> problem is because I have an IDE I/O card, while a CD-ROM drive needs an
> Extended (E)IDE card.  I would appreciate any confirmation that my
> conclusion is correct.

  Yes; the standard size of CDs exceeds the maximum that IDE provides for.
Some ATAPI (EIDE) CD-ROM drives provide partial function on IDE controllers,
but apparently yours may not be one of them.

> From leads gleaned from this list, I reckoned that the solution to
> these shortcomings would be found in installing one of the following:
>
> 1.  DTC EIDE Ultima Pro (ISA)  http://www.datatechnology.com/

  I don't recognize the name; I used to use DTC 2280 for ISA systems and
DTC 2278E for VLB systems.  There was a 2278EB with BIOS included; they
also made a BIOS-only card....

> 2.  Promise EIDE Pro (ISA)  http://www.promise.com/

  Promise has a good reputation -- I've never actually used them.

> or something similar.
>
> Questions:
>
> 1.  Am I right in my reckoning?

  I think so.

> 2.  As money is short, can anyone recommend something similar to
> either of the two cards but cheaper?

  It will only get harder (and more expensive!) to find parts to upgrade
this machine.  I'm sympathetic that new motherboards, CPU and memory are
more expensive than you'd like, but I think they would "pay for
themselves" in less than a year.


David G

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