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Compaq Portable II CF2IDE Tutorial

bluejay

Entry posted by bluejay

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The Compaq Portable II is a really weird computer. I've found a few blog entries and videos that are supposed to explain how this is supposed to work but none seem that helpful. So I decided it'd be nice to make a complete how-to for people that can't figure out how to get their Compaqs working(like me a week ago). All disk images required can be found at the bottom.

 

Before I begin, a huge thanks to @wierd_w for helping me get the Compaq working and sending me the diskettes nd various images i needed to get the machine booted.

 

You will need: A perfectly functioning Compaq Portable II(obviously), any cf2ide adapter, some kind of cf card(i used a 512mb one), the Compaq diagnostic disks on a real floppy disk, and the Compaq Fastart disk on a real floppy disk, a Disk Manager 5.22 disk image(a physical copy works too).

 

Before you start messing with the floppies and cf card themselves, you'll have to set up the cf2ide adapter and pull out the original hard drive(if it came with it) because the thing is HEAVY! If you need help doing that, just go ahead and sell your Compaq. After everything is set up properly, format your cf card on your modern computer, then stick it in the cf2ide.

 

Now the upcoming step is just luck. If it doesn't work on your Compaq, then, well, sucks to be you. Anyways, run the setup program on the diagnostics disk, and hopefully it'll detect some kind of fixed disk type. Mine detected a 34.1mb fixed disk drive(type 14 iirc), which is good for now. Save and exit, then use your fastart disk to partition your card. It shouldn't be too complicated. Don't install anything just yet because it's about to get deleted on the next step.

 

Once the card is partitioned, shove it into your modern pc, then copy the Disk Manager program onto the card. The download link gives you a disk image so you'll have to extract it with winimage first. Insert the card back into your Compaq and run DM.exe. Once you've initialized your disk in DM, your cf card should have all of its capacity available for use(that is, if it's under 512mb I think. The Compaq can't detect anything bigger than that, but I might be wrong because I haven't tried.) Regardless, it's plenty.

 

Once the disk is ready copy the Compaq DOS 3.31 files onto the card. Use diskinit to install MSDOS onto your card. This should cut your card's size to 314mb, but the pros outweigh the cons. 314mb is plenty anyways.

 

Well, that's it! Now you can install whatever stuff you want to onto that card and the Compaq will run it:) I'd recommend you install whatever version of Windows. If you have a 640k system(like me) Windows 3.0 should run fine but if you have extended memory you're welcome to go ahead and install a better version of Windows.

 

Congrats:)

 

By the way, I may have forgotten something somewhere in the middle, so if you have any questions, concerns, or error reports feel free to dm me:)

 

Diagnostic Disks

diag1.IMA

diag2.IMA

 

Compaq DOS Disks

compaq dos 3.31 disk 1.img

compaq dos 3.31 disk 2.img

compaq dos 3.31 disk 3.img

 

Compaq Fastart Disk

compaq dos 3.31 fastart 360k.img


Disk Manager 5.22

DM522.img

 

Rawrite; a disk imager for DOS systems(so you can run it on your Compaq and create your own physical floppies from disk images)

rawrite.exe

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wierd_w

Since this is a 286, you can run windows 3.1 in standard mode. That is the "newest" windows that will run on that processor. (windows 3.11 demands a 386 processor.)  It can make use of EMS memory boards, like the intel aboveboard or bocaram AT.  These tend to add anyplace from 4 to 8mb of EMS (paged) memory when fully populated. (They use discrete SRAM chips usually.)

 

Remember that a 286 processor has 24bit addressing. The most memory it can see in a flat address space is 16mb. You can have more than that if it is hardware EMS.  While they are expensive, there are ISA memory boards that have 30 pin simm sockets on them.  If you manage to scare one up without losing one or more vital organs as part of the transaction (as they are hard to find, and expensive when you find them), it is probably the most robust offer for this system (since it lacks any onboard SIMM slots.)  EMS on 286 systems is going to need special memory managers, since most expect the presence of an MMU, which is hardware that is not found inside the 286, and is only found in 386 and newer processors. The hardware EMS boards have specific drivers that enable EMS on the card, and can work even in XT class systems. For use with the ISA based boards with simm sockets, you can find appropriate drivers on the simtel archive.

 

One thing to consider:  When setting up DM, it is better to run it from a floppy.  DM is able to configure the disk type listed in the CMOS memory to one that is appropriate for the drive, even if run on a system that does not have the drive type defined yet.  This is useful if the setup diskette just cannot figure it out.  A bootable diskette with DM on it can boot the machine, configure, and format the hard disk in one go.

 

Additionally, there were some aftermarket video cards that can work inside this system, and can even give you 16shade grayscale EGA on the built in monitor.

One of them is the ATI EGA Wonder. It has the appropriate pin header along the top of the card, and the built-in monochrome monitor can plug right in.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Ati-EGA-Wonder-800-8-Bit-ISA-Video-Graphics-Card-With-Users-Guide-RARE/203070592524?hash=item2f47f3560c:g:IvEAAOSw0oJfKEj-

(note, that one is hella expensive. You might find it cheaper elsewhere. Just pointing out the existence here.)

 

 

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