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Vintage Computers Any vintage computer systems, calculators, video games etc., but with an emphasis on 1980s and earlier equipment.

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Old 15th Jun 2019, 1:44 pm   #1
ViperSan
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Join Date: Jun 2019
Location: Manchester, UK
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Default My 2 Toshiba - luggable laptops-

So as mentioned already in another thread.
Pictures of my 2 Toshiba plasma laptops.
The T5200/100 which still has its original screen (amber plama) ..
This unit was heavily modded -
Modified bios ...which made ALL the following possible..
Faster CPU 386 > 486
Cache Flush mod..
More memory 2mb > 12 mb
Larger hard drive .. 20gb 15gb C: & 5 gb D:
Windows 95
8 bit ISA to 16 bit ISA mod ..
Now has 2 16 bit ISA.
Non proprietory Floppy Drive
Added PCMCIA ports x 2
Rebuilt Keyboard with new key switches.
and finally a soundblaster ISA card added.

It can comfortably run windows 95 ...which it was _never_ designed to do.

and has a basic VGA out ...to drive a second colour screen monitor.

Sadly not the best photo ..so appologies there.

My second is the T3200SX
Which had a smashed amber plasma screen ...so again modded to retrofit a modern-ish colour LCD screen ..
More ram added after much searching for suitable sticks
if memory serves currently at 6mb
A sound card and internal amp and speakers.
This will run win 3.1 -just-
but I tend to use DOS on this unit as this is what it was designed for.
720k floppy (limited)
and also has a revised amateur bios

I run my EXPRO programmer with 8 bit ISA card installed on this one...as it only runs in DOS

rgds
VS
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Old 15th Jun 2019, 2:34 pm   #2
G6Tanuki
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Default Re: My 2 Toshiba - luggable laptops-

Nice! I always had a soft-spot for early Tosh luggables. We had one which was fitted with an extension-pod which it sat on and which contained an Ethernet/Token-Ring/X.25/SNA packet-grabber card. Its software - Network General "Sniffer" - allowed realtime decode of captured data, and the ability to either replay the data back on to the wire, or to send specified, scripted responses to the wire in response to the content of what it had captured.

People used to refer to this as my "Electric Handbag"!
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Old 15th Jun 2019, 2:36 pm   #3
ViperSan
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Default Re: My 2 Toshiba - luggable laptops-

LOL ...never heard that one .
Electric Handbag
Hope you dont mind me stealing that very descriptive label.
rgds
VS

btw do you still have the software ? ...and would it work with my setup ...
The 5200 can access a network ..using a Xircom credit card adapter in one of the PCMCIA slots I fitted.
The other slot is used for an external pcmicia card and CD drive.

Last edited by ViperSan; 15th Jun 2019 at 2:45 pm.
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Old 18th Jun 2019, 6:07 pm   #4
duncanlowe
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Default Re: My 2 Toshiba - luggable laptops-

The first laptop we had at work was one of the Tosh amber screen versions. It was used for diagnostics as we were developing Mk2 Range Rover. That was until someone drove a prototype over the Tosh. Smashed the screen but it still worked with an external monitor, though the HDD did start to sound like a milling machine.
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Old 18th Jun 2019, 7:10 pm   #5
ViperSan
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Default Re: My 2 Toshiba - luggable laptops-

Yes indeed..
A lovely period in history I think.
These electric handbags came with conner hard drives as standard ..
Not only do these drives fail with age due to a leaky oil bearing ..but the bios will _only_ recognise conner drives.
Thus more recent drives of similar capacity cannot be used.
Nor can compact flash cards.
Making these luggables nothing more than pretty doorstops or paperweights.
Luckily there are folk out there in the world who can modify bios.
..and I found such a person on Vogons.
He was kind enough to help me ..and once I had a binary file made it possible to re-flash the eprom and make them live again.
rgds
VS
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Old 1st Jul 2019, 7:46 am   #6
FIXITNOW
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Default Re: My 2 Toshiba - luggable laptops-

your post made me hunt for my old ones
not sure what I will ever do with them but found them in a corner
Toshiba satellite 4070CDT with extra external CD and Floppy
Toshiba satellite pro 490CDT
sure there should be another somewhere
plus found a Viglen Dossier CD model 86
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Old 1st Jul 2019, 12:01 pm   #7
ViperSan
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Default Re: My 2 Toshiba - luggable laptops-

Nice lappies both.
But strictly speaking they dont qualify as luggables ..lol
However like Commodores with 8 bit somputers.
I prefer old period Toshiba Laptops with regard to this time period.
rgds
VS
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