Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!husc6!bloom-beacon!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!mandrill!neoucom!wtm
From: wtm@neoucom.UUCP (Bill Mayhew)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: INTEL PC 386 Inboard
Summary: My experiences with the Intel Inboard 386
Message-ID: <1174@neoucom.UUCP>
Date: 13 May 88 15:02:55 GMT
References: <2826@phoenix.Princeton.EDU> <86@dcs.UUCP>
Organization: Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine
Lines: 58


I just installed an Inboard 386 in the Epson Equity III that I am
using right at this very instant.  Here are some observations:

1.  Sometimes requires turning the power switch on and off several
times before the POST starts running.

2.  Will not boot at all with the BUS speed switch on the back of
the equity set to 8 MHz; has to be 6 MHz.

3.  Hangs while reading the config.sys file, if you try to use the
Intel-supplied iemm386.sys ems memory emulator.

4.  The only way to reboot is hitting the power switch.  The front
panel reset switch or the 3-finger-salute (ctrl-alt-del) won't do
it; they just hand the system.

4.  Boots up in a very slow speed of 4.4 as reported by Norton's
version 4 SI program.

5.  Running Intel-supplied "speed.exe 4 256" increases the speed as
reported by SI to 14.4.

6.  Running 386-to-the-max improves things a whole bunch!!  The
386max EMS emulator DOES work, the SI is increased to 16.7, the
3-finger-salute is restored to proper functionality.

7.  It DOES run windows 386, but much, much more slowly than my IBM
model 80.  This is surprising, since the RAM on the inboard is 32
bits wide.  Must be the fact that this equity has an EGA board,
which is much less efficient than the VGA on the model 80.  (In
this case, both '386s are 16 MHz.)

All in all, I have to give the the inboard a lukewarm reception.
It really doesn't speed normal DOS operations all that much (except
for spreadsheet recalcs, which are admittedly much faster. In fact
about 1/2 the time on the '386).  There are a lot of sort little
gremlins that might rise up and bite a neophyte user.  If you are a
power user, you'll probably know what is going on, and be able to
deal with it.  If you use the inboard, I very strongly recomend
getting 386-to-the-max as well; it fixes a lot of things that are
broken with Intel's software.

As for hardware compatibility; it seems excellent once the dang
thing is booted.  The flaky start up seems to be only a power up
problem.  The peripherals in use on this system are:

WD AT disk controller / Rodime 45 meg 3.5", 28mS drive
AST EGA 3+ / NEC Multisync
Taiwan special generic serial/parallel board
EPROM burner
Inboard with 3 megs of memory
Motherboard floppy / 1.2 meg / Archive tape backup
Motherboard serail port
Motherboard clock/cal
DOS 3.2

--Bill