CLOSED NEED 286 or 386 LAPTOP COMPUTER - MUST WORK

[satx78247]

Friends,

I'm seeking a FULLY FUNCTIONAL & "name brand" 286 or 386 laptop computer.
(NO, I've not lost whatever mind that I have left at 72YO.)

I need a SLOW & "old school" (like a 1980s IBM Think-Pad) to PROGRAM equally "old school" commercial/industrial 2-way radios to the 144MHZ, 222MHZ & 440MHZ Ham Bands.
(The newer PCs are simply TOO FAST for the job.)

THANKS for reading this ad.
yours, satx

 

[deemus]

I'll check with my daughter. i bought her a new race horse laptop to replace the one I gave her a few years ago. I bought it in 2005ish. Would that work? Not sure on the speed.

 

[satx78247]

deemus,

THANKS for the answer.

Frankly, I just don't know. = The laptops that are faster than a 386 won't program a old-school 2-way radio properly & W/O a lot of errors.

yours, satx

 

[deemus]

I will check and let you know.

 

[satx78247]

deemus,

THANKS, satx

 

[Sparsky]

If You know how to walk me through windows 3.1 or through ms-dos 6.22 to tell you the MHz of this Toshiba Satellite T2105CS, I might be able to help you.

 

[Sparsky]

Double tap

 

[sucker76]

The 486 might work. Dad had a functioning 286 but I think it made it to the trash heap. I can look through his stuff but it will take me some time.

 

[satx78247]

sucker76,

PLEASE do.

yours, satx

 

[satx78247]

If You know how to walk me through windows 3.1 or through ms-dos 6.22 to tell you the MHz of this Toshiba Satellite T2105CS, I might be able to help you.
View attachment 162143

sparsky,

That Toshiba is a 486.

yours, satx

 

[benenglish]

satx - Do you need an RS232 port?

 

[Darkpriest667]

Friends,

I'm seeking a FULLY FUNCTIONAL & "name brand" 286 or 386 laptop computer.
(NO, I've not lost whatever mind that I have left at 72YO.)

I need a SLOW & "old school" (like a 1980s IBM Think-Pad) to PROGRAM equally "old school" commercial/industrial 2-way radios to the 144MHZ, 222MHZ & 440MHZ Ham Bands.
(The newer PCs are simply TOO FAST for the job.)

THANKS for reading this ad.
yours, satx

I am pming you the email address to the most computer savvy legacy technician in the world. Not my opinion, the opinion of Microsoft, Dell, and many other tech companies. I relayed your problem to him and he's intrigued. He also has the hardware you require.

 

[satx78247]

Darkpriest667,

THANKS.

yours, satx

 

[sucker76]

satx - Do you need an RS232 port?

If I remember right an RS232 port is also called a serial port and all computers of that vintage had them.

 

[satx78247]

sucker76; benenglish,

THANKS for reminding me that I "got busy" & FAILED to ANSWER "benenglish". = You are CORRECT as far as I know.

yours, satx

 

[m5215]

One of my hobbies is running old school games from the 286 and 386 era. I have a custom built 386 desktop system for software of that era but in recent years I have found that emulation is a viable option for running old software. Game were notoriously hard to get running on emulation but many of them now work quite well. I am willing to bet that the program you are wanting to run will work fine in a properly configured emulation environment. DOSBOX is one option you could try as I had some luck with it running things other than games. There are some other emulation options available but I don't recall them all at the moment.

 

[bigwheel]

Friends,

I'm seeking a FULLY FUNCTIONAL & "name brand" 286 or 386 laptop computer.
(NO, I've not lost whatever mind that I have left at 72YO.)

I need a SLOW & "old school" (like a 1980s IBM Think-Pad) to PROGRAM equally "old school" commercial/industrial 2-way radios to the 144MHZ, 222MHZ & 440MHZ Ham Bands.
(The newer PCs are simply TOO FAST for the job.)

THANKS for reading this ad.
yours, satx

Somebody is seriously behind the technology curve to be requesting stuff like that. Deepest condolences.

 

[satx78247]

bigwheel,

I presume that you are being "FUNNY, as the radios were designed to be programmed/reprogrammed with the REALLY old-school computers like the 286/386 & some REALLY old school radios were designed for the even older Commodore hardware??

K3SBE, who has forgotten more about radio programming than I'm likely to ever learn, says that the radios will NOT accept anything "faster" than a 486 & some brand will show "fatal errors", even with the 486.

Some of the best REPEATERS in the "ham operator world" are running GE Master or Master Executive I, II or III "drawer units" (which in "electronic terms" are ANCIENT), as they seem to last forever IF "turned down from 110 watts out to 25-50 watts output. =====>Reliability is EVERYTHING in a ham/police/FD/hospital repeater on VHF/UHF frequencies, as some repeaters are ACTIVE 24/365.

yours, satx

 

[m5215]

Somebody is seriously behind the technology curve to be requesting stuff like that. Deepest condolences.

It not completely unusual in my experience. A lot of these old radio software never gets updated. I have heard about others with various unique communication software that will only run in Win XP, Win 98, Win 95 or even older. Usually virtualization can work but I think really old software from the 286 and 386 era will need some unique emulation to possibly get it working as I don't believe modern virtualization can go back that far and emulate those older CPU's. You might be able to run a TSR in the background to slow down the processing to that of an older CPU but with that we are going into details that require some nerd skills. LOL.

 

[Darkpriest667]

One of my hobbies is running old school games from the 286 and 386 era. I have a custom built 386 desktop system for software of that era but in recent years I have found that emulation is a viable option for running old software. Game were notoriously hard to get running on emulation but many of them now work quite well. I am willing to bet that the program you are wanting to run will work fine in a properly configured emulation environment. DOSBOX is one option you could try as I had some luck with it running things other than games. There are some other emulation options available but I don't recall them all at the moment.

I believe the problem is the fact it needs a serial connection. An emulator wouldn't do the job.