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From: hammerr@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (rodney hammer)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
Subject: Re: 80386 accelarator cards for the 8088?
Message-ID: <1991Apr11.144655.13974@bronze.ucs.indiana.edu>
Date: 11 Apr 91 14:46:55 GMT
References: <1991Apr10.215938.10599@cbnewsk.att.com> <1991Apr11.041356.23936@agate.berkeley.edu>
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In article <1991Apr11.041356.23936@agate.berkeley.edu> c60b-1eq@web-1c.berkeley.edu (Noam Mendelson) writes:
>In article <1991Apr10.215938.10599@cbnewsk.att.com> chardin@cbnewsk.att.com (christopher.hardin) writes:
>>	I have an old Zenith 8088 PC at home.  I was wondering if there are
>>any 386 accelarator cards for such a dinosaur.  The ultimate would be a card
>>that would take over the box upon boot.  It would also have onboard memory
>>(1 meg at least) and a 387 socket.  Does such a thing exist or will I have to
>>get a new home system?  If there are such cards, are there any
>>incompatibilities I need to know about?  Any pointers would be greatly
>>appreciated.  By the way, I'm not much of a MS-DOS hack, so please use short
>>words (grin).
>
>A few years ago add-on 386 boards were (relatively) popular, but today
>they've mostly died out.  The price of a 386 motherboard has declined
>significantly so as to reduce the popularity of the add-on boards.  IMHO
>you should can the motherboard and get a 386 motherboard for your system
>(be sure it fits in the chassis).
  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I have only seen one old Zenith 8088-based model (a 151) with a 386
expansion card installed...and it was an expansion card, not a
Motherboard. The more popular models (148 & 158) are no more appropriate
for installation of a new MB than is the 151--as I said previously,
Zeniths are NOT generally hardware compatible (most use planar boards
rather than standard type MBs) and even if you were to install a 386
board in a 158 (the 148 is a lost cause) it would take CONSIDERABLE
modification. So unless you are also interested in sheet metal work and
the like, spend the $35 or so it takes to buy a new case. Silk purses
and sows' ears come to mind.....

Rod





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hammerr@ucs.indiana.edu                NO DISCLAIMER! Everyone in the
Rod Hammer (812) 8558217               world shares my viewpoint....
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