Hardware museum

This article and all images are under Creative Commons CC BY-NC-SA license.

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Alejandro Cobo López (cc) 2007-2014

correo dplinux


This is an image gallery with all electronic waste collected from my old computers.

1. Storage

1.1. 20 Mb hard disk

Let’s start with a 20 megabytes hard drive where we can find MS-DOS 3.30, Wordperfect 5.1, a 3D chess game and the famous Prince of Persia.


disco duro 20mb

disco duro 20mb

This hard drive was installed in a 5,25” bay in a 80186, the same it is used nowadays by CD/DVD/BD drives. This devices were connected by a RLL interface that needed a specific hdd controller.

1.2. The aforementioned controller

controladora wd

This is a Western Digital controller for the 20 Mb hard disk with a 1985 copyright imprint. This card used the fastest slot at the moment: a 16 bits ISA slot that can transfer 2,6 Mbytes/s, much faster than the hard disk.

1.3. A professional controller

controladora tandon

This controller comes from a Tandom Plus, an old AMD 286 at 10 Mhz with 1 Mb RAM. This disk controller can manage up to two “Data Packs” of 30 Mb. A “Data Pack” was a king of removable hard disk. Each Data Pack had an electro-mechanic system for insert and eject the device. This computer had the latest technology and it cost 3000€ (in mid 1980s).

1.4. 5.25 floppy disk device

disketera 5.25

In one of those floppy drives you can insert a disk with a capacity up to 1.2 Mbytes but those disks were the newest 5,25” disks. You can see a king of handle. When you inserted a disk, you had to rotate the handle which actuated the internal mechanism to place the heads in contact with the disk surface.

1.5. A 5.25” floppy disk

The typical floppy disks had a capacity of 500 Kb although the newest, high density and double side had 1.2 Mbytes. Those 5,25” floppy disks were fragile because there were no cover to protect the surface. If you touched the surface, the disk became unreadable.


diskete 5.25

In this disk we can find a copy of Wordperect 5.1 installation program. With it, it is possible to install all basic things but for printer controllers and all WP capabilities, 5 more disks were required. Wordperfect interface was controlled by the keyboard. For example, if you wanted to print, you had to press shift + F7.

1.6. 3.5” 720 Kbytes floppy disk

This is an old 720 Kb floppy drive from a 80186 “laptop”.

disketera 720k

Whereas the largest disks had 20 Mbytes, 720 Kbytes was a substantial storage capacity. If we take a current 1 Tb hard drive, proportionally one of those floppy disks could have 37 Gb, more or less the same capacity of a BD.

1.7. …and a 3.5” floppy disk

diskete 3.5

720 Kb floppy disks are physically different to 1.44 Mb disks. The big one have a hole in the low-right corner so the disk shown in the image have 1.44Mb. If you cover the hole, the disk became a 720 Kb disk. If you had a 720 Kb disk and you drilled that corner, the disk became a 1.44 Mb one.

1.8. Almost last media generation

cd

Before BD there were disks apparently identical called DVD. And before the DVDs there were disks that were similar too and were revolutionary in the storage scene. It was the Compact Disc.


lector viejo

In the beginning of time the CDROM devices had no front speed imprint. The CDROM shown in the image comes from an old 486 DX4.

lector 16x

Later manufacturers discovered a way to sell better their products by announcing their CDROM devices as the fastest. So they printed the read speed in the front of the device. This model comes from a Pentium MMX at 200 MHz.

grabadora hp

Some years later a new device appeared. This device allowed us to store a lot of data in a small volume. This device is the CD recorder. In the picture we can see a HP CD recorder that was able to write at 4x (600kb/s). So a complete CD was written in 20 minutes.

lector 52x

The latest CD reader was this, a 52x speed device that was able to read 7.6 Mbytes/s. Some years later appeared the 52x CD recorded that wrote a full disk in 3 minutes.

2. RAM

2.1. This is 576 kbytes

tarjeta de ram

In this image you can see a 16 bits ISA card with 18x RAM chips of 32 Kbytes each one. So in that card there are 576 Kbytes of RAM. In this card you can install up to 2304 Kbytes. The installation is simple: once the memory chips are installed, the ISA card must be plugged in the motherboard.

2.2. One of the latest RAM on a card

tarjeta ram

Here we can see a 4Mb Ram card manufactured by Kingston. This was one of the latest RAM cards before SIMM modules became popular. This card comes from a 80386 at 40MHz without SIMM slots.

2.3. 386, more than a new microprocessor

Until this processor was released, to increase the amount of memory was not common. When the 386 arrives, it comes with a new slot called SIMM.

simm 30

The first SIMM had 30 pins. In the image you can see a 1 Mbyte 30 pin SIMM. This one was working in a AMD 386.

simm 72

Later the 72 pin SIMM arrived.

simm edo ram

When the Pentium processor appeared, a new kind of memory arrived: EDO RAM that comes in a 72 pins SIMM module as shown in the image.

2.4. SDR, DDR and the present

dimm sdr

The amount of pins, scale integration, storage capacity and speed were increased. In the image we can see a SDRAM module, typical in the latest Pentiums, in all Pentium 2, 3 and in the early Pentium 4.

ddr

Later appeared the DDR memory, faster and with greater capacity.


3. Sound cards

3.1. Is you sound card SB16 compatible?

It was a very common question between PC owners in mid 90s.


tarjeta de sonido isa

For the young people: if your sound card was not Sound Blaster 16 compatible, probably you were not able to ear the sound of any game.

sound blaster 32

Sometimes someone bought a great sound card with two memory slots like the Sound Blaster 32 shown in the image and was not possible to play the sound in the games.

3.2. The DirectX era

sound blaster 64 awe

Fortunately for the gamer community, in 1995 Microsoft released Windows 95 with DirectX 1. DirectX allowed an easy access to the graphic and sound cards regardless of the model. So if you had a Sound Blaster 64 AWE like this one shown in the image, there were no problems.


sound blaster 128

From now appeared tens of new models that could not be Sound Blaster 16 compatible but there were no more compatibility problems. In the image we can see a popular Sound Blaster 128 PCI.

4. Ports

Nowadays when we mount a motherboard, we have a lot of ports by doing nothing. In the old computer you had to buy the ports and install it.

tarjeta puerto serie paralelo

If you wanted to plug in a printer, a mouse o a modem, you had to install one of these cards because the motherboards of those days had no ports but an AT port for the keyboard.

tarjeta puerto serie paralelo

In the image above we can see a port card with two RS232 serial ports, a parallel port and a joystick port.

5. Laptops

Now I will show three computers from three processor generations.

5.1. One of the first actual portable computer

pc portable

This laptop has a 80186, 640 Kb RAM, 20 Mb hard drive, a 720 Kb floppy drive and a LCD screen in blue and white. The software is: MS-DOS 3.30, Word Perfect 5.1 and some games.

pc portable 2

This laptop has a switch which you can change the CPU speed from 4.6 up to 8 MHz.

pc portable

In the image we can see all kind of ports and a switch to switch on / off the hard drive device. It was a power management primitive system. If you switched off the hard drive and the system needed to access to it, the computer hanged up.

5.2. Some generations later…

The laptops size and weight were reduced substantially.

portatil 486

This laptop is a good example. It has a 486 SX at 25 MHz, 8 Mb RAM, 110 Mb hard disk, a 1.44 Mb floppy drive and a LCD screen in gayscale (16 gray levels).

portatil 486

The ports are almost the same than the old 80186.

5.3. Almost the latest

This laptop is a modern computer. Since this model, laptops are remained unchanged.


portatil p2

It is a Pentium 2 at 333 MHz, 64 Mb RAM, a 4 Mb graphic card with 3D acceleration, 4 Gb hard drive, 32x CDROM drive, sound card Sound Blaster 16 compatible and a color TFT screen.

portatil pentium 2

In the image we can see three “new generation” ports: PS/2, infrared port and a USB (placed on the side). Furthermore it has two PCMCIA slots.

6. Networks

6.1. Link between computers

This part has not changed too much but the transfer speed.

red coaxial

The firsts affordable net cards were connected by a coaxial cable. These networks had a maximum speed of 10 Mbps.

red coaxial

Later appeared a new interface: RJ-45. The early cards ran at 10 Mbps and had two kind of connector: coaxial cable and RJ-45. Some years later appeared 100 Mbps cards with just a RJ-45 connector.

6.2. Connection to the network of networks

At the beginning it was used for link remote terminals. In the 90s it began to be used for a link to a worldwide nerwork.

modem ibm

I am talking about the MOdulation DEModulation equipment. These devices made a conversion between digital pulses to analog signals that could travel several kilometers. In the image above we can see the inside of a 14400 bps external MODEM.

modem isa

As usual, the speed was increased and the install process became simpler. In the image we can see a 28800 bps MODEM on a 8 bits ISA card.

modem 33.6

MODEMs became faster and faster until the engineers achieve 33600 bps like this one shown in the image. At this moment, Internet had become in a popular communication system.

modem 56k

Finally this communication system reached the technical limit when MODEM achieve almost 56 kbps. In the image we can see a PCI 56Kbps MODEM. Actually the maximum speed was 48-52 kbps which was possible to download a file at 4-5 kbytes/s.

7. Motherboards

Motherboards have evolved a lot since the first computers until now. In the very first motherboards the only build-in device was the memory. If you wanted to install a hard drive, a floppy drive or other device, you needed to plug-in a specific card for it.

7.1. Ancient / Lo antiguo

amd 386

When 80386 appeared, the memory was other component to choose when you built your computer. In the motherboard above we can see 8x 30 pins SIMM slots for 8Mb RAM. We can see also an AMD AM386 at 40MHz soldered to the board and a co-processor socket.

vesa

When 80486 arrived, there were no significant changes: a new processor socket, 72 pins SIMM slots and some new things. One of those thing was the predecessor of AGP: VESA port.

placa base 486

The motherboard shown above is a modern 80486 board with 4x 72pins SIMM slots and a new card slot: PCI. Normally a 80486 has 4-16 Mb RAM. Furthermore this motherboard have an integrated IDE controller.

7.2. Turning point

placa base pentium 1

Something new happened when Pentium appeared: all motherboards included PCI slots, RS-232 serial ports, a parallel port, floppy drive controller and IDE controller. All this devices ware integrated in the motherboard. The latest Pentiums had a new king of memory: EDO RAM.

7.3. The presentplaca base pentium 2

Finally appeared the motherboards as he know it nowadays. In the image we can see a Slot 1 Pentium 2 motherboard with PS/2 ports, two USB buses, two RS-232 serial ports, a parallel port, an IDE controller, a floppy disk controller and 4x SDR DIMM slots. Probably the most remarkable feature is the AGP port, a slot exclusively designed for a graphic card.

placa base athlon xp

The last motherboard shown is a socket A AMD Athlon XP one. The differences between this and the previous one are negligible: a new processor socket, a new kind of memory (DDR) and a integrated sound card. Nowadays the motherboards structure remains unchanged.

8. Monitors

Now I will present a device which we can watch the results thrown by our computer.

8.1. Before color

tandon

This monitor has two level controls: contrast and brightness. This screen is able to show only two colors: black and orange and was connected to a monochrome graphic card.

8.2. After color

monitor 486

Some years ago, color monitors were a luxury product. When 80386 arrived, normally it came with a 16 colors graphic card and normally it was used with a gray-scale monitor. When 80486 appeared, color monitors gained popularity. In the image we can see a 14” color monitor used in a 80486. It has a complete analog OSD.

8.3. The no-evolution

monitor pentium

During some years, 14” color monitor were the most popular monitors. In the image above there is another 14” color monitor from a Pentium MMX at 200MHz. The design has not changed.

8.4. Modern CRT monitors

monitor 15"

Finally Pentium II arrived and 15” monitor came popular. Now they came with a digital OSD and a flatter screen.

8.5. The latest

monitor 17"

CRT monitors have become extinct and are not sold anymore. This one showed in the image above was typical in Pentiums 4 and Athlons XP. Th

9. Desktop computers

Finishing this walk over the time, I will show some complete desktop computers.

9.1. This is not a PC

tandon 186

In this image we can see a x86 desktop computer that is not a PC. The reason is that a PC has a CMOS cell to maintain the internal clock working when the computer is switched off. This computer has no cell so every time it is switched on, the user has to insert the date and time.

tandon 8088

It has just a AT port for a keyboard and a parallel port. Could be interesting to switch on this machine.


tandon

There is an error but we can see it has 640 Kb RAM. I will open it up to check what is wrong.

tandon dentro

In the image we can see the floppy drive, a hard drive, a power supply, two 8 bits ISA cards and a lot of thing on the motherboard.

tandon dentro2

Those chips are the memory: 40 chips of 16 Kbytes each one. In the left we can see 5x 8 bits ISA free slots. Two of them have a monochrome graphic card and a disk controller.

8088

And here we can see the “brain” of the machine: a 8088 at 8Mhz. Beside it, there is a co-processor socket.

tandon funcionando3

This computer has MS-DOS 3.2 released in 1987

tandon funcionando2

As I said, the system is asking me the date and the time. Unfortunately I had not an AT keyboard so I could not continue.

9.2. The Windows era has arrived

80386

That happened when Windows 3.x was realeased with the lasts 80286 and the firsts 80386. Here we can see a 80386 at 40MHz with a 3.5” 1,44Mb floppy drive, a 5.25” 1.2Mb floppy drive and a tape drive.

80386

This computer has two PS/2 ports for a keyboard and a mouse, two parallel ports, a serial port and a VGA port. Let’s switch it on.

386 funcionando

The CMOS cell is dead but we can see that it has 12 Mb RAM, a huge amount because normally a 80386 had 4 Mb.

msdos

Starting MS-DOS…

windows 3.1

windows 3.1

Once started we can see how much the operative systems have evolved.

lotus 123

lotus 123

Before MS Office and Libre/Openoffice, the most popular office suite was Lotus 123. I wonder which MS-DOS version is installed.

msdos 6.20

This is one of the latest MS-DOS version before Windows 95.

386 chkdsk

It has a 160Mb hard drive, a typical disk capacity for a 80386. Now I will open it up.

386 dentro

It has enormous cards. The first card is 4 Mbytes RAM I showed previously. The second one is a disk controller. This computer has an IDE hard drive, probably one of the very first IDE device. Bottom right we can see many of the same chips: those are 8 Mb main memory.

387

Finally we can see a 387 at 40 MHz: the co-processor.

9.3. Current computers

When color graphics, graphic interfaces, graphic acceleration, integrated sound card and all those things that are regular nowadays, Pentium II appeared.

intellistation

With it, came a new era for the game scene, with unimaginable graphics so far. In the image we can see an IBM Intellistation with a Pentium II, 256 Mb RAM, an AGP Matrox graphic card with 3D acceleration and 8 Mb VRAM, an SCSI hard drive and a CDROM drive.

windows xp

Furthermore it has two USB buses, integrated audio and an integrated network card, i.e. whatever a current computer has.

So, what are the differences between the Pentium II shown and a current computer? Basically nothing: faster USB buses, more memory, a bigger hard drive, a faster graphic card… All is faster but already seen.