Netbook from 1994
Here is this handsome:
All forgotten, he gathering dust in the assembly hall, which turned into a warehouse. There I found him in 2014. Sic transit gloria mundi, and after all once the laptop shone.
')
In 1994, the term “netbook” did not exist, but the device released by Compaq then called Aero Contura 4 / 33C was already in spirit and in essence. It is small and light even by today's standards, and its filling allowed famously to cut open spaces of Web 1.0. On Aero Contura 4 / 33C works not only DOS and Win3.1, but even Windows 95.
Here are the parameters of the device:
LCD 7.8 '' VGA 640x480, 16 colors / CPU 80486SX-33/4 Mb RAM / 256 Kb Video / 1.2 Gb HDD * / LPT, COM, EXT, PCMCIA.
* the screw is clearly upgraded in the late 20th century
True, the device has no sound, no network card, or speakers. How so, because the term "netbook" implies first of all a device for surfing the Internet? Everything is ok, more on that later, let's first consider the device.
Instead of the usual touchpad today, the device has a trackball and 2 buttons.
Behind there are ports that today, too, no longer meet on laptops.
We see the port LPT, COM and DVI. Just kidding, what kind of DVI can be in 1994? Between LPT and COM is a connector to which additional interfaces are derived: an external monitor, a keyboard and a PS / 2 mouse.
On the other side is a PCMCIA slot and it is he who finally fixes the device in the category of netbooks.
Through PCMCIA you can insert various devices, including for Internet access. When I got a job in 2002, this laptop had a CD-ROM, FDD, sound card, voice modem and network card for this slot. The network was lost somewhere, and the CD-ROM along with the second copy of the laptop was kept for memory by my former boss, Jura .
Understands the laptop is not an example of modern counterparts easy and simple.
The photo shows a broken mount for the bios CR1220 battery, but the battery itself has long since sat down. I broke the breakdown, and instead I soldered a standard CR2032 bios battery.
But where is the processor itself? What did they look like in those gray days? We take out the fee.
Turn over and here it is.
Here it is, dear.
This is a 486SX processor with a frequency of 33 MHz. The 486s were the forerunners of the first Pentiums. And the Intel company itself introduced the name Pentium I as the commercial name of processors with the 80586 architecture of its own production.
It is not much smaller than the processors for the PC of the same generation.
There is no cooler on the processor, excessive heat is removed from it through the thermal rubber to the metal basket in which the motherboard is placed.
Not enough 4 MB of RAM? From the bottom of the case there is a plug, under it there is a connector for installing RAM expansion boards.
They released expansion cards for 4, 8 and 16 MB. Thus, the maximum possible size of RAM in Aero Contura 4 / 33C is 20 MB. This extension looks something like this.
As I wrote, several PCMCIA devices have survived from the nineties.
Voice modem 33.6K:
Disk Drive 1.44 Mb:
Interface / sound card:
I took the newly found laptop to me, cleaned it, plugged it into the socket, without much hope, pressed the “On” button ... and the laptop started right away! Few, trying to get lost, loaded Windows 95. FAR, Dune 2, Norton utility 2000, Office 97 were found among the programs. There is no bad drive on the hard drive. By the way, Contour 4 / 33C was originally supplied with hard drives in 84, 170 and 250 Mb. I also have a 1.2 GB hard drive. Apparently, this is a consequence of the upgrade carried out at the turn of the millennia.
Despite the solid age for computer technology (over 20 years!), The laptop is in working condition. The native battery, of course, has long since sat down. The display shows pale, but this is not a consequence of old age, but the flaws in the production technology of the screens of the time. But there are no dead pixels.
The work path of the laptop was nice. In the nineties, two such devices were bought abroad and Russian letters pasted on the keyboard. At that time, the price of a laptop in the US was $ 2199. The businessman used laptops until, at the end of the 90s, he bought a newer laptop for AMD K6-2 / 500 (now I also have it), and the netbooks were transferred to his company. In 2002, when I came to work, they were still actively used, although by that time they were already outdated.
However, Aero Contura 4 / 33C was used until 2006–2007. But at the end of his career, the fate of the proud elders was unenviable. One has sunk into oblivion, and the second has been issued to newly hired employees according to the scheme “there are no free computers, we will give you a laptop so far.” Delighted to have given a “laptop”, the employees very soon began to feel sad — for the mid-2000s, 4 megabytes of RAM and Windows 95 (also known as “Masday”) were no longer enough. After tormenting for a month or two with a “generous gift,” the employees otbryvatsya from him with all his limbs. In the end, Aero Contura 4 / 33C with a set was demolished to the warehouse, and then you know.
Sometimes I turn on this laptop in order to feel the spirit of that time again when DOS and Win95 were alive, instead of making contact, I got “personal pages” for 0.5 MB, and people could only afford the Internet at work. Now everything is better with computers and with the Internet. But sometimes, instead of cool toys, for some reason, I want to launch the square-pixel Dune 2 and be chopped down like it used to be.
More interesting online about Compaq Aero Contura 4 / 33C
1. Site of German fan Aero Contura 4 / 33C . A lot of useful information, vintage advertising and newspaper articles on the topic. You can also read there how to install Linux on this device.
2. Aero Contura 4 / 33C at the Computer Museum.
3. Wikipedia about the Compaq Contura notebook family
All forgotten, he gathering dust in the assembly hall, which turned into a warehouse. There I found him in 2014. Sic transit gloria mundi, and after all once the laptop shone.
')
In 1994, the term “netbook” did not exist, but the device released by Compaq then called Aero Contura 4 / 33C was already in spirit and in essence. It is small and light even by today's standards, and its filling allowed famously to cut open spaces of Web 1.0. On Aero Contura 4 / 33C works not only DOS and Win3.1, but even Windows 95.
Here are the parameters of the device:
LCD 7.8 '' VGA 640x480, 16 colors / CPU 80486SX-33/4 Mb RAM / 256 Kb Video / 1.2 Gb HDD * / LPT, COM, EXT, PCMCIA.
* the screw is clearly upgraded in the late 20th century
True, the device has no sound, no network card, or speakers. How so, because the term "netbook" implies first of all a device for surfing the Internet? Everything is ok, more on that later, let's first consider the device.
Instead of the usual touchpad today, the device has a trackball and 2 buttons.
Behind there are ports that today, too, no longer meet on laptops.
We see the port LPT, COM and DVI. Just kidding, what kind of DVI can be in 1994? Between LPT and COM is a connector to which additional interfaces are derived: an external monitor, a keyboard and a PS / 2 mouse.
On the other side is a PCMCIA slot and it is he who finally fixes the device in the category of netbooks.
Through PCMCIA you can insert various devices, including for Internet access. When I got a job in 2002, this laptop had a CD-ROM, FDD, sound card, voice modem and network card for this slot. The network was lost somewhere, and the CD-ROM along with the second copy of the laptop was kept for memory by my former boss, Jura .
Understands the laptop is not an example of modern counterparts easy and simple.
The photo shows a broken mount for the bios CR1220 battery, but the battery itself has long since sat down. I broke the breakdown, and instead I soldered a standard CR2032 bios battery.
But where is the processor itself? What did they look like in those gray days? We take out the fee.
Turn over and here it is.
Here it is, dear.
This is a 486SX processor with a frequency of 33 MHz. The 486s were the forerunners of the first Pentiums. And the Intel company itself introduced the name Pentium I as the commercial name of processors with the 80586 architecture of its own production.
It is not much smaller than the processors for the PC of the same generation.
There is no cooler on the processor, excessive heat is removed from it through the thermal rubber to the metal basket in which the motherboard is placed.
Not enough 4 MB of RAM? From the bottom of the case there is a plug, under it there is a connector for installing RAM expansion boards.
They released expansion cards for 4, 8 and 16 MB. Thus, the maximum possible size of RAM in Aero Contura 4 / 33C is 20 MB. This extension looks something like this.
As I wrote, several PCMCIA devices have survived from the nineties.
Voice modem 33.6K:
Disk Drive 1.44 Mb:
Interface / sound card:
I took the newly found laptop to me, cleaned it, plugged it into the socket, without much hope, pressed the “On” button ... and the laptop started right away! Few, trying to get lost, loaded Windows 95. FAR, Dune 2, Norton utility 2000, Office 97 were found among the programs. There is no bad drive on the hard drive. By the way, Contour 4 / 33C was originally supplied with hard drives in 84, 170 and 250 Mb. I also have a 1.2 GB hard drive. Apparently, this is a consequence of the upgrade carried out at the turn of the millennia.
Despite the solid age for computer technology (over 20 years!), The laptop is in working condition. The native battery, of course, has long since sat down. The display shows pale, but this is not a consequence of old age, but the flaws in the production technology of the screens of the time. But there are no dead pixels.
The work path of the laptop was nice. In the nineties, two such devices were bought abroad and Russian letters pasted on the keyboard. At that time, the price of a laptop in the US was $ 2199. The businessman used laptops until, at the end of the 90s, he bought a newer laptop for AMD K6-2 / 500 (now I also have it), and the netbooks were transferred to his company. In 2002, when I came to work, they were still actively used, although by that time they were already outdated.
However, Aero Contura 4 / 33C was used until 2006–2007. But at the end of his career, the fate of the proud elders was unenviable. One has sunk into oblivion, and the second has been issued to newly hired employees according to the scheme “there are no free computers, we will give you a laptop so far.” Delighted to have given a “laptop”, the employees very soon began to feel sad — for the mid-2000s, 4 megabytes of RAM and Windows 95 (also known as “Masday”) were no longer enough. After tormenting for a month or two with a “generous gift,” the employees otbryvatsya from him with all his limbs. In the end, Aero Contura 4 / 33C with a set was demolished to the warehouse, and then you know.
Sometimes I turn on this laptop in order to feel the spirit of that time again when DOS and Win95 were alive, instead of making contact, I got “personal pages” for 0.5 MB, and people could only afford the Internet at work. Now everything is better with computers and with the Internet. But sometimes, instead of cool toys, for some reason, I want to launch the square-pixel Dune 2 and be chopped down like it used to be.
More interesting online about Compaq Aero Contura 4 / 33C
1. Site of German fan Aero Contura 4 / 33C . A lot of useful information, vintage advertising and newspaper articles on the topic. You can also read there how to install Linux on this device.
2. Aero Contura 4 / 33C at the Computer Museum.
3. Wikipedia about the Compaq Contura notebook family
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/400051/
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