Unboxing a new old Windows 98 PC

almoststew1990 · 1 Dec 2018 at 10:45

Yesterday I picked up this PC on eBay for £25. I've been keeping an eye on eBay for several weeks for people selling "junk" old PCs for 99p or so, within a 50 mile radius for cash on collection. Then this shows up:

The spec isn't that interesting but it's new in box which is very interesting to me! Also, my second PC (but the first I actually remember a bit about, as I was 4 when we got our first one and 8 when we got our second) was a Tiny. I put a small bid in. No one else bid but the reserve wasn't met. The new eBayer set a reserve at £50, the lowest it could go. I messaged the seller and agreed on £25.

After searching with a <50 mile radius, this PC was only 500m from my house too!

Here are some unboxing photos:

You might remember Tiny PC - they were very basic and cheap, as we can see with what was packed!

It's spec is:

MS6156 - AGP, PCI and ISA. It might well support some P3s too.
VIA VT82C693/VT82C693A Chipset
P2 350MHz Deschutes
64 Mb RAM
ATI Xpert 98 8mb which is apparently based on Rage Turbo.
"leading edge" Creative® ES1373 sound

I'll be firing it up this morning

almoststew1990 · 1 Dec 2018 at 11:20

It's got a lot of pre-installed software on it:

Carling Ultimate Football Quiz
Carling Ultimate Pub Quiz
Collins Quotations
Crossword Addict
GSP Family Tree
GSP Ultimate Sport Quiz

Return of The Arcade:
Dig Dug
Galaxian
Pac-Man
Pole Position

ATI DVD Player
Cheyenne Bitware (seems to be faxing software)
Europress 3D Interior Designer
MS Works
MS Money
IBM ViaVoice
Quicksoddingtime
Trend PC-cillin 98 (backup restore)

I'm tempted to leave this OEM install of Windows as it is, put in another HDD and put a clean version of Windows on that.

almoststew1990 · 4 Dec 2018 at 14:17

Sadly this is back in its box whilst I think what to do with it! It is too loud and slow (graphics in particular) for general retro use.

I could upgrade it to make it better for retro gaming. So I could put in a 650MHz and a TnT2 from my current W98/DOS PC but then... Well, it would just be the same as my current w98 / DOS PC! I have a few other CPUS and GPUs lying around that I could use but they'd all be worse than my quiet and "quick enough" W98 PC.

The case is cool and small so I could reuse it for another modern or retro PC. but takes a small PSU. I'll have to measure it to see if it is SFX or some unusual form factor, so I might not be able to upgrade it to a modern PSU which is really essential for using the case at all (noise).

So yeah I'm not really sure what to do with it. As a stand alone barebones bundle it is quite good. It has AGP, PCI and ISA slots; can take coppermine CPUS and the capacitors are new. So I think so it's makes a good base to sell for someone else to make a PC out of. After all there was no interest in it being a new in box PC when I bought it!

almoststew1990 · 4 Dec 2018 at 14:23

Firestar_3x said:
Mate had that exact unit back in the day, great find.

As did I! It was a bit faster and with slightly better graphics but the case and noise it made was the same. I heard it so many times 20 years ago that it's ingrained into my memory and it sounded identical! The feel and sound of the power button too. Not something that I had thought about for 20 years but as soon as I pressed the button it it all came back lol

almoststew1990 · 8 Dec 2018 at 18:22

@Ninco! I hope the Thinkcentre works out a bit better - if not, I'd just cobble together any old S775 system from eBay and stick XP on that, which I did for my main XP system a few years back.

The white cabinets are old IKEA desk legs. They had a removable shelf halfway up but they're also a perfect fit f or a desktop PC

IKEA don't do them anymore, I think the closest you can get is a "table leg" cabinet thing with a door on that that you could just leave aside, although they're more expensive than my shelf things were.

https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/products/desks/table-tops-legs/alex-storage-unit-white-art-60192826/

almoststew1990 · 2 Jan 2019 at 10:58

KraniX said:
I worked in a Tiny showroom in the late 90s, seeing those pics brought back a lot of memories... so thank you for that!

I'm not sure if that is sarcastic or not!

almoststew1990 · 23 Jan 2019 at 19:05

I've actually got this up and running again this week. I've put in a CF card to at least remove one of the many loud noises it makes and preserve its original, bloated OEM installation.

I'm going to try out some older graphics cards (8mb "Rage Xpert 98" which is a Rage Pro Turbo AGPx2, comparing it to my newly aquired ELSA Gloria Synergy 4/8mb) and use it as a home for my mystery ISA soundcard too.

almoststew1990 · 8 Feb 2019 at 13:55

Well the motherboard cpu and ram just sold on ebay so that's the end of the tiny pc! I've kept the case and drives. I just didn't need another slot 1 setup, especially one that is slower, louder than what I've already got, and doesn't like CF cards!

I'm not a "collector" who will put it in a cupboard and store it. Hopefully someone else enjoys it this way.

almoststew1990 · 10 Feb 2019 at 12:39

LewisRaz said:
Makes sense but seems a shame to have split it up

I know what you mean, but considering there was literally zero interest in it as a new in box PC, I'm happy to split it up. I also got nearly doubled what I paid for it and I have half of it left!