[vcf-midatlantic] OT: Dell Dimension XPS 466V

[william degnan]

On Tue, Jan 19, 2016 at 1:06 PM, Herb Johnson via vcf-midatlantic <
vcf-midatlantic at lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote:

> Working on a Dell 486 computer.  I need a RTClock battery, but otherwise
>> it's running quite nicely Windows for Workgroups 3.11
>>
>
> The question of batteries is on-topic IMHO.
>
> Batteries in the long term, cause corrosion of parts that have constant
> current on them. This is true all the way back to 128K Macs. also, many
> batteries leak (not coin cells), that's not good either. If you add a
> battery pack, make sure you can readily pull it out when the computer is in
> long-term storage.
>
> Windows for Workgroups (Win 3.1 + networking) is worth preserving. It's a
> legacy OS now. It ran for many years in embedded applications (back ATMs)
> and Microsoft support only ended several years ago. Many consider Win 3.1
> the first really "successful" M/S Windows OS product.
>
> If I had time and interest, I'd see about migrating Win 3.1 to the
> Heath-Zenith Z-100. That's a S-100 system that is somewhat IBM PC
> compatible. I don't recall if Windows was offered for that platform, later
> Zenith PC's ran even earlier Windows (I have those distributions).
>
> Herb
>
> --
> Herbert R. Johnson,  New Jersey USA
> http://www.retrotechnology.com OR .net
>

Win 3.11 is a 16 bit application, do you have a Zenith S-100 system with a
16-bit processor?  Windows 3.11 is best run on 486's or early Pentium
although you could eek out a usable system with 386 running as long as it
had enough RAM..
Bill