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Windows 3.1 

See also Futro S200

Moving Back in Time

Words & photos from Clive Norman

Original 1993 Windows 3.1 machine

My project objective was to recreate the first computer that I built back in 1993. I had been thinking about this for some time and the lockdown situation made it an ideal project to do right now, plus it was kind of like a test of my knowledge from 30 years ago to see if I could still do this before I get too old and forget how!!! That computer from 1993 was a 386DX25 with 4MB RAM running DOS 6.2 and Windows 3.1, and was put together from old redundant parts from my employer - I was working as a computer repair technician back then and these parts were taken out of machines that were being upgraded and were otherwise destined for the bin. (I would like to point out this was not my first computer however, just the first one that I built myself. Previously I had a Timex Sinclair 1000 in 1982 and an IBM PS/2 in 1987.) Believe it or not, I kept using this computer with DOS 6.2 and Windows 3.1 all the way up to 2006 when it was eventually retired in favour of a brand new Windows XP machine, although it did have several motherboard/RAM/HDD upgrades along the way.

Software

Before that old machine was taken to recycling I removed the IDE hard drive which has been kept in storage ever since. So, for this project, I already had all the software I needed to recreate it, just no suitable hardware on which to run it.

Plan A

My initial plan was thus to source old components and rebuild it again to its original 1993 specification then simply plug in the hard drive and voila - instant 30 year flashback! However, although the occasional decent 386 motherboard does show up on ebay (usually without RAM), sourcing all the other components like multi-I/O cards and video cards etc. is much more difficult. Also getting an old style AT case and PSU that the whole thing will fit into is practically impossible since, back then, motherboards were all different shapes and designs with sockets/connectors not always in the same place. So that plan didn't look feasible. However during my search I discovered people selling old thin clients. Upon investigating this I came across the Parkytowers website with its wealth of helpful information about the different models. It made me realise I could achieve the same outcome from an alternative approach and thus inspired me to give it a try.

Plan B

In looking through the list of thin clients I had in mind something that was as old as possible and as slow as possible in order to run early 1990s software (plus some games from the 1980s that were on the old IDE hard disk as well.) After reviewing what was on website I decided on the Igel 1/2 (or perhaps the 3/2 which wasn't listed) as that was one of the slowest at 400MHz. Although this was WAY above the 25MHz I was trying to recreate, I figured it would be okay with the various DOS slowdown utilities I had found on-line.

Chosen Hardware

Futro S200 thin client
At the last minute I changed my mind and bought a Fujitsu Siemens Futro S220 instead although it was faster at 800MHz. This was because there appeared to be more support and information available about it in terms of drivers and documentation. The S220 also had a PCI expansion slot and the benefit of having this I only discovered later.

Sound

Once DOS 6.2 and Windows 3.1 had been installed and the machine was booting correctly (a more difficult task than I had anticipated), I next set about getting the on-board sound to work. This is where the trouble really started, as nothing I tried worked despite my spending countless hours of adjusting settings and installing various third-party drivers.

After much research I learnt the reason why: it is all about the version of VIA Southbridge chip fitted to the machine. It would seem that the older chips (models VT82C686A/B and VT8231) included a "legacy mode" for which DOS drivers are easily available from VIA, but the later VT8233/VT8235 Southbridge chips do not support this. Just my luck! The Fujitsu S220 has the VT8235 so sound in DOS is not possible anyway but, worse luck still, the Igel that I didn't buy does have the older chip so that would have worked just fine!!! For machines with the VT8233 and later Southbridge chips, drivers for on-board sound are only available if you are using Windows 98 and above - and that applies to all brands of thin client using VIA chipsets. We live and learn!

CMedia sound card
Luckily the Fujitsu S220 is one of the few thin clients that has a PCI expansion slot. So, realising there was no solution to my problem with the on-board sound, I gave up and bypassed it by purchasing a cheap PCI sound card and fitting that. Not wanting to repeat my earlier battle I selected a card fitted with a C-Media 8738 chip. This was after I made absolutely sure I was able to locate and download the correct DOS drivers! However, that idea initially didn't work either. There was still no sound thus causing me yet more lost hours fiddling around with settings and drivers etc. Eventually I contacted Parkytowers for help who suggested this could be because the Fujitsu S220 does not have a 12v supply on the PCI bus. This meant the audio amplifier on the sound card was not powering up. A way of adding the +12V was suggested (See here for details.) which I duly tried, and then the whole thing suddenly sprang into life just like magic! Success - finally!

For the sound card set the PCI slot permanently to IRQ 5 in the BIOS and set the DOS variable BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 T4. (The 'T' value might be different for other brands of sound card, but channel D0 appears to be used for sound through the on-board VT8235 so don't get it mixed up with that).

I should point out that I had these particular issues because I wanted proper sound support in DOS. In my early investigation the only thing that got any kind of sound directly from DOS was a program called "QuickView Pro ver. 2.61". That played complete audio files like MP3 and WAV, but it did not capture and redirect sounds produced by DOS games. Those still continue to come out via the on-board PC speaker. The same was true of Windows 3.1. I managed to find a WAV player that specifically works with the VT8233 Southbridge (through a DOS loaded TSR), but nothing that will play other stuff in a "soundblaster compatible" way at all. Worthy of note is that this is ONLY a DOS problem, apparently if I was running Windows 98 or above then sound would work just fine as VIA does supply suitable drivers for those operating systems.

A bonus of fitting the sound card is it also provided me with a the game port. I now have joystick control in several old DOS games which I wouldn't otherwise have.

Complete

Windows 3.1 on a Futro S200 thin client
So, to cut a long story short, the project is now complete and I have a working early 1990s computer (albeit a recreation of one and not an original) running DOS 6.2 and Windows 3.1 once more. I successfully transferred the contents of the IDE hard drive onto a 1Gb CF card, dealt with a few corruptions and got it to boot okay. This was of course all much easier said than done, but by using a CF card it meant I wouldn't lose everything when the ageing IDE drive failed so it could just go back into storage. (Plus the CF card can be quickly and easily removed to back it up.) There are a few minor issues left to resolve, but basically it has been a success. At 800Mhz DOS just absolutely flies like I've never seen before, although it has to be slowed down to an absolute crawl of about 5% that speed for some of the older games to run - thank-you to the creators of "Throttle" and "Slowdos" utilities for that one!

Mods

Modifications I have made to this machine so far have been simple:

  • Since it didn't come with a stand, I have four large rubber feet underneath to increase airflow when used in the horizontal position. The Fujitsu S220 does seem to get very hot very fast, and sometimes after 2-3 hours it will crash. Cooling can be further assisted by attaching a small 5v fan to the outside of the metal case and connecting it to a rear USB port. (I haven't actually done this yet but intend to.)

    [David: The label on my S200 suggests it should be used in a vertical position]

  • Windows 3.1 on a Futro S200 thin client
    Also, and totally annoying, is the fact that the reset button is INSIDE the machine next to the power switch and cannot be accessed without removing the top first! What were they thinking when they designed that I wonder? Clearly if you are going to remove the top for any reason you are highly likely to disconnect the power first, which cancels the need to press reset! So to counteract this I have drilled a tiny hole in the top directly above the switch and inserted a small wooden dowel directly over the button. Reset can thus now be pressed at any time.
  • The addition of +12V to the PCI bus as described here.

There are more details on installing DOS and Windows 3.1 in the Futro S200 entry


Matters Arising

One of the things mentioned on your website is that you had trouble getting your Fujitsu S200 to work with more than a 32Mb CF card. The one I received came with a 128MB card, but that had been partitioned into much smaller sections for some unknown reason. However, I needed 1GB to match the old IDE hard drive so this was an issue. The problem was eventually resolved in the BIOS by changing the IDE settings HDD timing to "standard" rather than the usual "ATA-33".

Apparently this machine will run with up to a 4Gb CF card, but DOS can't see more than 2Gb partitions so I haven't tried that myself. Also note that I had to setup and partition the CF card using a Windows 7 machine first, it wouldn't do it whilst inside the Fujitsu S220 booting on DOS drive A:.

I have got the USB ports working in DOS as well. This is a godsend as I can transfer files/software on/off the machine without having to squeeze things onto a 1.44Mb floppy disk or removing the CF card. However, one quirk of this machine is that Windows 3.1 will not run when the USB drivers are loaded at boot-up. (I think there is some kind of memory conflict I can't resolve.) Hence the solution is to have a start-up menu with two boot options, one for normal DOS/Windows operation without USB, and one solely configured for USB support where you can transfer files and then reboot afterwards. It also only likes memory sticks with small partitions, I am using a 128Mb one for example. Note that these problems are almost certainly restricted to DOS, I suspect if I was running Windows 98 or XP for example then the USB ports would work much better.


Here is some potentially useful information about the hardware in the Fujitsu S220 as reported by two different DOS based diagnostic programs I have downloaded, particularly details of the VIA chipset:

  • Motherboard = Teco TR5670 rev 1.32, number 736TR5670F101
  • CPU = Transmeta Crusoe TM-5800, 800Mhz, single core, L1=64Kb, L2=512Kb
  • Single RAM chip: DDR-SDRAM, 64-bit width, 166Mhz, latency 2.5. (128Mb installed which might be upgradeable to 512Mb, I'm not sure and haven't tried.)

Chipset determined by downloaded diagnostic software called "PCISET":

  • Transmeta LongRun PCI to Host Northbridge
  • Silicon Integrated Systems SiS325 2D/3D accelerator, type VGA
  • Via VT8235 PCI to ISA Southbridge
  • Via VT82Cxxxx enhanced IDE controller
  • Via VT8233/A AC'97 enhanced audio controller
  • Via VT6102 Rhine II ethernet adapter
  • Via VT82xxx USB 1.1 (UHCI) controller
  • Via VT6202/12 USB 2.0 (EHCI) controller

Differences from the above reported by diagnostic software called "HWiNFO"

  • Video adaptor reports as SiS315E with VESA support 3.0
  • Southbridge reports as VT8233A CF/VT8235
  • Enhanced IDE controller reports as VT82C571
  • Audio controller just reports as AC'97 (no VIA number)
  • All USB controllers report as VT8235

Other chips visually seen on the motherboard:

  • Via VT1211 super I/O controller
  • Via VT6103L fast ethernet 10/100 single port transceiver
  • Via VT1612A stereo AC'97 codec with S/PDIF
  • Via VT8235 Southbridge which is on the underside of the motherboard and thus not easily seen.

BIOS = Insyde Software ver. 1.05.03, dated 10/13/2004. An update to ver. 1.05.05 (the final one produced) can be downloaded if required.

Boot-up keys = F2 for BIOS, F12 for boot sequence.

 


Any comments? email me. Added March 2022