How do I learn how to work on older systems:non plug n' play, 16 bit, real mode, etc?

[DCO]

Fellow techs,
I'm studying PC repair and upgrades in order to start a small business servicing PC's. In my area theres few places that do PC work other then bringing your PC into one of the large chains (Best Buy, Circuit City).
I've been building systems for people for about a year now, and doing the occassional upgrade and simple troubleshoot, but mostly its all Win 98, Pentium 2 or higher, plug and play systems.
I want to be prepared for an older system, maybe even a 486 - Win 3.1 with legacy devices and Hdds that require complete configuration. It's true that those systems are becoming rare, but I believe a true tech should be able to work on them.Also, the A+ exam (which I'm preparing for) certianly requires knowledge of these obsolete systems.
Any newer manuals for PC repair usually focuses on the newer, simplified, plug/play technology with only partial references to setting up older PC's. I guess if I could find PC repair manuals printed in 1990 -1995, thereabouts, I can learn how to i.e: configure a hard drive's CHS values, use DOS commands to load drivers, setting PIO modes, etc.
Can anyone advise me on a link or book where I can learn the ancient art of manual PC configuration?
Thank you,
DCO

[iisbob]

Congrats on your decision to become a penultimate Geek! http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/tongue.gif

my suggestion is for you to get ahold of Mike Meyers " A+ certification guide ", even with my experiance it still resides on my desktop.


As for actually getting legacy systems experiance, well,...getting your hands dirty is the best way. Start looking around at yard sales/flea markets & even junk yards and pawn shops. Don't forget your local paper either-advertise that you are looking for older systems. Then once you get your hands on one ( or more ) just start plugging away!

Ah, nothing feels as good as setting jumpers on your motherboard, riser cards, and a Modem just to get it onto the 'net at a blazing 14K per sec, with a whopping 1 MB of video memory and the feeling of absolute computing power from a 66MHZ CPU. http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/biggrin.gif




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iisbob

Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.-Mark Twain

[Paleo Pete]

Can't put it much better than bob already has, but can add a thing or three.

Check used bookstores and local libraries as well as the places he mentioned. You wouldn't believe how many good books I've found that are exactly what you're looking for at resale shops and used bookstores, usually less than $2.

You also might check with a local community college, they might have affordable classes. The library should have plenty books covering almost any aspect of computers, and let friends and family know you are looking for books of that type. Anyone that frequents garage sales and resale shops is bound to run across some gems now and then.

I guess the one that I missed out on that was the worst was a complete set of NT Server/Workstation/Networking manuals, for system administrator use (can't remember the exact name now). Over a dozen books, all about 1 1/2-2" thick, could have grabbed them for $10 total and didn't have it, a few days later when I did they were long gone...

On the brighter side, I've found three copies of different A+ training manuals, DOS user guides for several different versions,3.0, 4, 5.0, 5.5, 6.2, 6.22, Win3.x and 95 user guides, memory management, Word97 user's manual, MS Works user's manual, Word Perfect, Lotus, Quicken, Quick Books and a bunch of others. All together it's 2 boxes of books, to put them on one shelf it would have to be about 5-6' long, maybe more...never paid more than $2 for any one of them, some as little as 25¢.

Then there's the computers...don't even get me started...I cut my teeth on XT machines, and once I learned a bit about them I found that if you can get one of those monstrosities running you can get just about anything to work. (No BIOS, 5 1/4"-360K floppy, MFM hard drives, 640K RAM max, CGA video, DIP switches to tell it what's there to use and it's own keyboard rather than the AT style other machines use...)

From there a 386 with 30 pin memory and ISA IDE controller card was a piece of cake...and I still find programs to use with win3.11...same sources...resale shops and garage sales, sometimes computer shops will let them go at clearance prices. If you find any 5 1/4" floppies, GRAB...they're getting harder to find every day and you'll need them with some older machines. I put a 5 1/4" drive in my main machine to run a virus scanner on used disks just to be on the safe side. I can also use it to copy files to transfer to older computers. Plenty is still available online.

Any questions you get stumped on, mjc and I are usually on the #pcg channel on IRC most nights, (I'm there right now) and sometimes others, we can often help out with legacy systems. Rick is there pretty often, Whyzman and Bassman drop by now and then, so chances are someone with some knowledge of older machines will be there. Sometimes we kick ideas around for questions posted on the forums, and one person will post our collaboration...ya never know... http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

Vernon Frazee's DOS Help (http://64.70.220.78/vfrazee/ms-dos/6.22/help/)
DOS 7 Commands (http://www3.sympatico.ca/rhwatson/dos7/)
MS DOS Help and Commands (http://www.computerhope.com/msdos.htm) (also has good info about autoexec.bat and config.sys files.)

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If your nose runs and your feet smell...
You're built upside down!
Note: Please post your questions on the forums, not in my email.

Computer Information Links (http://www.dreamwater.com/paleopete/computer.htm) has been moved, please update your bookmarks.

[andyswork@beci.net]

I took Petes and Bobs advice, and I get more old computers and stuff then I can use, just put the word out.

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One day I will be a pro, Thanks Andy

[DCO]

Thank you Bob and Pete,
I wish I could go back in time and get started with computers back in High School- 1979. That definately seems like experience from the foundation on up, as opposed to starting only two or three years ago. My first PC was a Pentium 100 Mhz, 32 mb DRAM, and by the time I started tinckering, everything was plug n'play with installation wizards. Wereas you guys started from the ground up and saw the eveolution first hand.
It seems like being a PC tech these days is so simple that it takes all of the challange out of it.Thats one reason that I want to learn the older, manually configured systems - to actually gain the pride of truely being a PC technician.The other reasons are, as I mentioned, to pass the A+ exam and have the knowledge to work on the occassional, inevitable legacy system.
You guys are certianly a great contribution to the internets PC knowlede base, and I appreciate your advice and the offer for future assistence. I will cetainly be back here now and then.
I now feel confident that I've made the right decision as far as seeking out the info on older systems.I'm sure it will pay off as well as rounding out my knowledge of PC's.
Thanks agian and will talk to you guys agian in the future.
Doug

[iisbob]

You are quite welcome, and i look forward to seeing you here in the future joining in with the other wonderful, helpful people here.

Rememeber, when you can successfully explain a subject to someone who doesn't understand it, then that shows that you've truely learned it yourself. http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/wink.gif




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iisbob

Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.-Mark Twain

[setoguro]

Hi DCO
This week I found 3 486s in the trash. That's were I get most of the computers but when you friends and family get in to the act you'll have more than you know what to do with.

[integral]

I have a old 286 mobo with a wopping 1MB of dip memory as well as a Herc grapics card and even a CGA card all circa 1990 in the bottom of a box in the bottom of my closet. Any takers?

( I ran that 286 till ~'95