Nice, the 640x480 panel is going to be better for DOS anyways because you’ll have less black borders (or none with vertical scaling, but you clearly don’t want that).

The 7600 uses the ESS AudioDrive 688 paired with the Yamaha chip for FM synth support. Adlib and soundblaster should sound very good out of it, the ESS chips are solid.

The floppy drive doesn't want to be detected after restarting from either DOS mode or Windows 95 (when booting from the hard drive). I'm not sure if it's a bug with the system or a capacitor took a shit. Not taking the laptop apart again due to brittle plastic..

Figured it was a buggy sound card driver loaded in config.sys, which made the drive act like shit. It works now.

megatron-uk wrote on 2025-02-28, 13:13:

Got another Compaq Armada 1750 on its way.

It's another 14" screen model, this time with a PII 366 and the full set of drives. Needs a replacement CMOS battery (3v lithium cr3032, 1.25mm jst header).

Hopefully the power supply won't give up like the last one.

Replacement Armada 1750 arrived today. The case, plastics and screen are in fabulous condition - way way better than the other one.

Unfortunately this one has a "Error 102 system board failure" message and won't proceed past the POST.

I'm going to have to see if I can reuse any parts from the last one (the one which no longer powers up correctly).

At the very least, the power supply, dc-dc converter and CPU (366 Vs 333 on the old one) are all working correctly on this.

I think I may have reached the limit of the possible options that align with my requirements, but before I throw the towel in, has anyone got any more options for laptops with the following:

- ATI based graphics

Rage LT Pro or higher - this coincides with the introduction of the ATI 'ratiometric' interpolated screen scaling; aka all DOS modes start to look nice.

- Good DOS audio

This means ESS up to and including the Solo-1, but not Allegro/Maestro. Yamaha with the YMF-7x4 range or OPL3-SA. Or early ISA-based Crystal audio like the CS4231 but not their later parts like the CS4264, CS4281 which sound awful.

- Higher-end Pentium MMX (233/266) right through to top end Pentium 3

Earlier CPU models will generally be too old to include the relevant ATI video, and (for my purposes) not stretch to the whole range of DOS gaming I'm looking to scratch the itch for. CPU also includes Celeron models, I should be clear.

I think I've got pretty much all of the options from the big names written down that satisfy the above, but if anyone has examples that could be contributed, please take a look at the attached spreadsheet....

Here's a few more:
- WinBook Si (or Si2) - ATI Mobility M, ESS Solo-1E
- Compaq Presario 1692 - ATI Mobility M1, ESS Solo 1 (many similar 16xx models likely have the same gpu and audio)
- Dual VDA-9570/ERA-3170 - ATI Rage LT Pro, Yamaha YMF-744 - good luck finding one of these
- Kapok 8500P - ATI Rage LT Pro, ESS 1879
- Dell Latitude L400 (Inspiron 2100) - ATI Mobility M, Crystal CS4281
- Gateway Solo 9150 - ATI Rage LT Pro, Crystal CS4622
- The whole ThinkPad A2x range uses ATI graphics and the CS4624 chip
- MiTAC MiNote 6120 - ATI Rage LT Pro, Crystal CS4280

That's all I've got that's in my website's laptop database at the moment that weren't on your list - I'm sure there are many more out there though. Of course, some of these have the non-ideal sounding Crystal audio, but I figured I'd list them anyway.

Full specsheet links:
WinBook Si: https://macdat.net/laptops/winbook/si.php
Compaq Presario 1692: Search database for "Presario 1692" - https://macdat.net/database/search.php
Dual VDA-9570: https://macdat.net/laptops/dual/vda9570.php
Kapok 8500P: https://macdat.net/laptops/kapok/8000.html
Dell Latitude L400: https://macdat.net/laptops/dell/latitude/l400.php
Gateway Solo 9150: https://macdat.net/laptops/gateway/solo_9150.php
IBM ThinkPads: https://macdat.net/laptops/ibm_home.html
MiTAC MiNote 6120: https://macdat.net/laptops/mitac/6120.php

Some reasonable options there - I suspect some are just unobtanium in UK/Europe, but there's definitely a few more options to put on the list.

I've got experience of the CS4624 (I've a Thinkpad 600X with it) and it was one of the reasons I started the search for alternatives... it doesn't sound bad as such, just odd, when played back to back with something like an OPL3-SAx or Audiodrive.

WinBooks were only sold in the US so you're going to have a hard time finding an Si - though one was on eBay UK last year (passive matrix model unfortunately).
You should be able to find the Compaq and MiTAC without too much trouble, those were both rebadged and sold by a bunch of European brands. You'll just have to look out for laptops under any brand name that have those model numbers on the bottom. The Dual is very rare - they went out of business only at most a year after it was released.

It's a shame that the Maestro-2 is no good because there are *so* many ATI + Maestro 2 laptops...

This, the MP-989 is a killer but uses Maestro. I think it checks all the other points though?

3lectr1c wrote on 2025-03-06, 15:13:

It's a shame that the Maestro-2 is no good because there are *so* many ATI + Maestro 2 laptops...

I know. Almost the entire Dell P2/P3 laptop line would be suitable (and they sold by the truck load to corporates, so there are literal tons of them in the used market), except for the use of the Maestro 2/3.

PcBytes wrote on 2025-03-06, 15:18:

This, the MP-989 is a killer but uses Maestro. I think it checks all the other points though?

Yep. Here's specs for that one: https://macdat.net/laptops/chicony/mp989.php
Three RAM slots, MMC2 Pentium II, ATI Rage LT Pro, all the modularity in the world.... Maestro 2

Found a Kapok / Sager / Clevo 8500p... but no PSU, missing HDD caddy... and possibly water damaged 🙁

Fairly sure that's too many negatives to risk it.

Not without the hard drive caddy, they need one of those proprietary do-dads to hook a drive in.

3lectr1c wrote on 2025-03-08, 01:38:

Not without the hard drive caddy, they need one of those proprietary do-dads to hook a drive in.

I bought the 8500p, above, but also managed to get a complete (minus charger) 8500c. Both are 'AJP' branded.

The 8500c looks in good condition with minimal wear to the case, and all covers/caddies in place.

I figure if needed I should be able to reuse the 8500c body to rehouse the 8500p components.

Nice! 8500C has faster Socket 370 CPUs but Maestro-2. Hopefully it has the caddy so you can get the 8500P up and running.

Worth noting that if you see any 8700 or 8900 models that look similar, they are the same as the 8500s, just with a slightly modified case so they could sell different looking laptops to different vendors/resellers. The 8500s are most common though. I don't think I've even seen an 8900 yet.

While waiting for the Kapok machines to arrive I took a gamble on another Compaq Armada 1750.

Normal Armada 1750 specs are:
- PII MMC-2 module (300, 333, 366, 400)
- 64MB onboard (192MB manufacturer max)
- FDD, HDD and CDROM as standard
- ESS 1869 Audiodrive
- 4MB ATI Rage LT Pro (most models with composite out)
- 12", 13" or 14" active matrix screen (800x600 or 1024x768)

As a reminder, I bought the first of these a few months ago and it arrived in decent condition (a PII-333 model) with okay case/plastics, it even took a PIII-650 speedstep module and was working fine until it spontaneously rebooted and wouldn't turn on again.

I bought a second machine (a PII-366) shortly after the first, to potentially reuse power supply, dc-dc converter and other parts to repair the first one, but that one arrived with a "Error 102 System Board Failure", and I could find no way to reset or bypass to get to diagnostics or BIOS. But beyond that error, that second machine is in fantastic condition; really clean, unmarked screen and unscratched case/plastics... so I thought that compared to the original, it was actually that one which deserved the possibility of being resurrected.

Then the third one turned up:

Well this third one arrived filthy and scratched, worse than the first, but I knew it at least powered on... which it did, but to a BIOS power-on password. That was easy to remove (remove main battery pack, remove mains power cable and remove the CMOS coin cell ... allow all power to drain, then refit and power back on), and it seems to work fine - boots to the BIOS setting floppy okay and no errors. Bad points are that the screen is awful; quite faded and with a single pixel vertical line stuck on the left side and really floppy hinges.... but positives are that it has the best PII-400 module possible, came upgraded to 128MB already, and the battery at least keeps it running whilst the mains cable is removed (untested how long!) and the floppy/cdrom both work.

My intention is to remove the system board, ram, floppy, battery and cdrom, keep the floppy and cdrom as spares and then refit the board, cpu and ram into the case of the second machine.

First of the Kapok machines arrived today and I was able to unbox it this evening.

Sigh.

Why this one and none of the ultra common Toshiba's or Compaqs I've bought?

This is the Kapok 8500c (s370, Rage Mobility 128, Maestro-2) so not the one I was intending to keep/use... but it was the one I was intending to keep and use the case of, since it is very clean and was, until now, complete and undamaged. That's no longer the case.

I can only keep my fingers crossed that the Kapok 8500p (with the MMC-2, ESS audiodrive and Rage LT Pro) arrives without additional damage and is useable.

I can guess how long it will be until another of these turns up.... Wait, is that a pig soaring past my window???

megatron-uk wrote on Yesterday, 21:21:

First of the Kapok machines arrived today and I was able to unbox it this evening. […]
Show full quote

First of the Kapok machines arrived today and I was able to unbox it this evening.

The attachment IMG20250313205138.jpg is no longer available

The attachment IMG20250313204705.jpg is no longer available

Sigh.

Why this one and none of the ultra common Toshiba's or Compaqs I've bought?

This is the Kapok 8500c (s370, Rage Mobility 128, Maestro-2) so not the one I was intending to keep/use... but it was the one I was intending to keep and use the case of, since it is very clean and was, until now, complete and undamaged. That's no longer the case.

I can only keep my fingers crossed that the Kapok 8500p (with the MMC-2, ESS audiodrive and Rage LT Pro) arrives without additional damage and is useable.

I can guess how long it will be until another of these turns up.... Wait, is that a pig soaring past my window???

Oh man that hurts to look at. I'm sorry that happened to you. Was it not packaged properly?

keenmaster486 wrote on 2019-12-05, 20:07:

[*]IBM Thinkpad 385XD -- tempting but REJECTED (rubbery palmrest, Neomagic video has bad DOS compatibility)

I just wanted to mention that the NeoMagic MagicGraph 128XD has both Windows 3.1 and Windows 98 drivers. Although it does use unfiltered upscaling, which can look pretty terrible. I'm not certain about actual DOS games support that makes it "bad".

PcBytes wrote on 2025-03-06, 15:18:

This, the MP-989 is a killer but uses Maestro. I think it checks all the other points though?

Does the Maestro have the same terrible FM synthesis as the Allegro? Such a pity, considering ESS had the fabulous ESFM in older chips.

Kahenraz wrote on Today, 02:11:

PcBytes wrote on 2025-03-06, 15:18:

This, the MP-989 is a killer but uses Maestro. I think it checks all the other points though?

Does the Maestro have the same terrible FM synthesis as the Allegro? Such a pity, considering ESS had the fabulous ESFM in older chips.

Same or similar. The datasheet for the Maestro 2/2e makes no mention of FM support, nor is there any FM components in the block diagram. I could be wrong, but I believe the FM support to be entirely software based using the Maestro DSP.

The last true FM support from ESS is with the Solo-1 PCI part, which is actually a pretty good chip.