Fwd: compaq's portable computer

From: Scott Stevens <sastevens_at_earthlink.net>
Date: Mon May 3 23:09:58 2004

On Mon, 3 May 2004 19:00:01 -0500 (CDT)
Dave Dunfield <dave04a_at_dunfield.com> wrote:

> > I think the first one was the Portable (8088 w/ 256k, then the Portable
> >II (smaller but still 8088 and 640K) then the Portable 286 (286 CPU and
> >640k(?)), then the Portable III (the small lunchbox sized computer (I don't
> >remember if theese were 286s or 386SXs)) and then the Portable 386 (it had
> >a full fledged 386DX). FWIW I have a P-II sitting about five feet from me.
>
> FWIW, the Portable III is a 286 machine. I have pictures of mine posted on
> my site if anyone wants to see one.
>
> If anyone has the original setup disk for the Portable III, I would love to
> get an image of it - the "generic" AT setup disks work in that you can configure
> the drives and get it to boot, however Compaq apparently "rolled their own"
> checksum algorithm, as once configured with any of the generic disks, it gets a
> CMOS Checksum error.
>

I'm pretty sure the Compaq Portable III that I sold in February was an 8088 machine. Orange plasma display, small lunchbox configuration, etc. I just went back to the sales-photos for it and indeed it was badged a III. It had the standard 640K of RAM and no expansion slots. Did they possibly make this machine with different processor configurations? Is it possible yours has a 3rd party processor upgrade? I definitely didn't have to run a Setup program to get it going and it had sat idle for a long time before I powered it up, so I'm fairly certain the one I had didn't have a setup battery or CMOS setup storage.
Received on Mon May 03 2004 - 23:09:58 BST