Laptop Compaq Armada 7700 - as the development of the line Compaq LTE
After I showed a photo of two Compaq LTE in a post about life under Windows 98 , I was approached with the sentence “let me give you another old Compaq”. I decided that I would always have time to throw it out, because I accepted the gift. Ivan, thanks again.
The old Compaq turned out to be the Compaq Armada 7790DMT. If the Compaq LTE 5000 is the model of 1995-1996, then the Armada 7700 is already 1997-98, a somewhat more modern laptop, but not far from LTE. The more interesting it was to see the differences and the direction of evolution.
In general, the 7700 series appeared in the summer of 1997, and in September prices were already reduced . Although in modern times even reduced prices look a bit high.
')
Model: Compaq Armada 7790DMT
Processor: Intel Pentium MMX 233MHz (P55LM Tillamook)
RAM memory: 48 MB (Max - 144MB)
HDD: IBM-DPLA-25120 5GB PATA
Screen: 13.3 ″ TFT, 1024x768x16 bit
Ports: LPT, COM, PS / 2, IrDA, VGA, microphone, headphones / speakers, docking port, modem (RJ11, proprietary 25pin)
PCMCIA: 2 typeII / I ports or one typeIII.
Sound card: ES1878
Video Card: S3 86CM65 Aurora64V +, 2MB VideoRAM
FDD: Optional
CD-ROM: COMPAQ CRD-S311 20x (interchangeable with FDD)
Dimensions: 320x240x50 mm, 3.8 kg
Battery: Lion, 14,4V, 2700mAh
Overall, the laptop has become less square. Smoothed the form, large buttons and latches turned into small latches, etc.
You can see activity LEDs, a CD-ROM and a hard disk tray in front. The hard drive is still quick-detachable, it has become even the best taken out. CD-ROM is also in the universal compartment, where you can put a 3.5 "drive, battery, or even a hard drive.
On the left is a removable battery and fan grill.
Behind - a set of ports, in principle, is almost the same as that of the LTE 5000. But the door that covered these ports is gone. But a modem was added (RJ-11) and the power connector became a three-pin “mickeymaus” - because the power supply here is built into the laptop. The practice is not the most common, but the compac had several models of such laptops. More Toshiba so seriously fascinated, as far as I remember. In the pros - you do not need to carry a power supply with you, in the negative - the laptop seems very heavy, even if compared with Compaq LTE. Although, of course, here we must take into account that in LTE I do not have a hard disk and a battery now, because the difference is 2.5 versus 3.8 kg. If LTE were fully equipped, the difference between laptops would be around 500 grams.
Right - PCMCIA connectors. The overall big door was gone, the more or less familiar hinged covers on each of the cards became.
The cards themselves are pushed out of the compartments by levers.
Above the PCMCIA compartments is a proprietary 25-pin modem connector. Adapters to the national telephone jacks were plugged into it, and a cable for connecting to a cell phone was also stuck in here. If I understood correctly, in those cell phones of those times there was practically no built-in modems, so it was impossible to connect them via the COM port as usual.
Another interesting thing - folding legs that allow you to lift the laptop at a more convenient angle.
On the top cover there are no changes, just the manufacturer and model.
Below you can see the latches of the CD-ROM, hard disk and battery. If the LTE lever, when pressed, threw the device out of the compartment (or it was necessary to squeeze the latch and pull the tail, as with a hard disk), here the same design is everywhere - the latch and then the manual pull, the hooks for fingers are visible. Under the door on the right - two memory modules. You can put two modules of 64 and up to 16 megabytes can be unsoldered on the board. In total - up to 144 megabytes.
Bays without content:
Hard disk, battery, CD-ROM.
The hard disk container is exactly the same as that of the LTE 5000, completely interchangeable.
Only in LTE the container itself is placed in the laptop (and then pulled out by the tail), and in Armada the container is placed in a plastic frame. This is significantly more convenient. Because I cut off LTE's native tail when I once again forgot to press the latch.
The battery here is lithium-ion. The truth has not yet opened, because I do not know the shape of the elements. Yes, and not at all sure that there will be a desire to revive it. Even the battery charge indicator is visible, the button should show the level. This one shows nothing, by itself.
The screen is quite large in comparison with LTE - still 13.3 "against 10.4". Although at the end and LTE 5000 sort of got to 12 ".
The keyboard itself is almost the same, but the LCD screen with status icons is no longer there - back to the LEDs. And the volume control has become a push-button instead of a twist. Plus added four custom buttons.
1. The BIOS of these laptops was stored on the hard disk. Therefore, there is often a laptop, but there is no opportunity to get to the settings. The network has floppy disks restoring this partition on the hard disk, but to run them you need a disk drive, which I don’t have. Maybe you can try to portray something through the boot from a CD or RAM disk and subst, but I don’t want to mess around with it yet.
2. To work with DOS programs, there is a keyboard shortcut (Fn + T), according to which the laptop tries to stretch the picture to full screen. On average, it tries to stretch proportionally, but for some modes, stretching only horizontally is obtained.
Original resolution:
Stretched:
Original:
Stretched:
At the same time, the quality of the picture is lame - especially in the letters you can see, but I cannot make a full comparison - the laptop has a very sick matrix and the point is clearly not in the cable that goes to it. That is, a soldering iron is not so easy to fix. Yes, you can attach an external monitor, but then the meaning of using a laptop disappears.
The option is pretty good, oddly enough.
Built-in power supply - less wires around dangles.
The ability to stretch the image in DOS to full screen solves problems with black frames. But it adds problems with the quality of the picture, although it will already strongly depend on the particular game.
The sound card is still compatible with Sound Blaster and is supported in DOS. Judging by the forums - slightly worse than 1868, but these are isolated cases.
Faster processor than Compaq LTE - it pulls any late DOS-games and early Windows-games better, but at the same time is not so fast that earlier DOS games become non-playable. And those who were sharpened by HT and 286, and had to slow down on LTE.
Is Armada 7790 suitable for DOS games? Yes, it is quite. It may even be more convenient than LTE - if you can get in good condition.
Compaq Armada 7700 Brochure
User manual for Compaq Armada 7700
An ISO image of a BIOS recovery disk . Did not check.
This is where the Compaq Pentium laptops run out. In 1998, they released the Armada 7800 in almost the same package as the 7700 - but on the Pentium II, with a USB port. There were no other serious external differences. And this pleasure was worth about 10 thousand dollars.
The old Compaq turned out to be the Compaq Armada 7790DMT. If the Compaq LTE 5000 is the model of 1995-1996, then the Armada 7700 is already 1997-98, a somewhat more modern laptop, but not far from LTE. The more interesting it was to see the differences and the direction of evolution.
In general, the 7700 series appeared in the summer of 1997, and in September prices were already reduced . Although in modern times even reduced prices look a bit high.
')
TTX
Model: Compaq Armada 7790DMT
Processor: Intel Pentium MMX 233MHz (P55LM Tillamook)
RAM memory: 48 MB (Max - 144MB)
HDD: IBM-DPLA-25120 5GB PATA
Screen: 13.3 ″ TFT, 1024x768x16 bit
Ports: LPT, COM, PS / 2, IrDA, VGA, microphone, headphones / speakers, docking port, modem (RJ11, proprietary 25pin)
PCMCIA: 2 typeII / I ports or one typeIII.
Sound card: ES1878
Video Card: S3 86CM65 Aurora64V +, 2MB VideoRAM
FDD: Optional
CD-ROM: COMPAQ CRD-S311 20x (interchangeable with FDD)
Dimensions: 320x240x50 mm, 3.8 kg
Battery: Lion, 14,4V, 2700mAh
Appearance
Overall, the laptop has become less square. Smoothed the form, large buttons and latches turned into small latches, etc.
You can see activity LEDs, a CD-ROM and a hard disk tray in front. The hard drive is still quick-detachable, it has become even the best taken out. CD-ROM is also in the universal compartment, where you can put a 3.5 "drive, battery, or even a hard drive.
On the left is a removable battery and fan grill.
Behind - a set of ports, in principle, is almost the same as that of the LTE 5000. But the door that covered these ports is gone. But a modem was added (RJ-11) and the power connector became a three-pin “mickeymaus” - because the power supply here is built into the laptop. The practice is not the most common, but the compac had several models of such laptops. More Toshiba so seriously fascinated, as far as I remember. In the pros - you do not need to carry a power supply with you, in the negative - the laptop seems very heavy, even if compared with Compaq LTE. Although, of course, here we must take into account that in LTE I do not have a hard disk and a battery now, because the difference is 2.5 versus 3.8 kg. If LTE were fully equipped, the difference between laptops would be around 500 grams.
Right - PCMCIA connectors. The overall big door was gone, the more or less familiar hinged covers on each of the cards became.
The cards themselves are pushed out of the compartments by levers.
Above the PCMCIA compartments is a proprietary 25-pin modem connector. Adapters to the national telephone jacks were plugged into it, and a cable for connecting to a cell phone was also stuck in here. If I understood correctly, in those cell phones of those times there was practically no built-in modems, so it was impossible to connect them via the COM port as usual.
Another interesting thing - folding legs that allow you to lift the laptop at a more convenient angle.
On the top cover there are no changes, just the manufacturer and model.
Below you can see the latches of the CD-ROM, hard disk and battery. If the LTE lever, when pressed, threw the device out of the compartment (or it was necessary to squeeze the latch and pull the tail, as with a hard disk), here the same design is everywhere - the latch and then the manual pull, the hooks for fingers are visible. Under the door on the right - two memory modules. You can put two modules of 64 and up to 16 megabytes can be unsoldered on the board. In total - up to 144 megabytes.
Bays without content:
Hard disk, battery, CD-ROM.
The hard disk container is exactly the same as that of the LTE 5000, completely interchangeable.
Only in LTE the container itself is placed in the laptop (and then pulled out by the tail), and in Armada the container is placed in a plastic frame. This is significantly more convenient. Because I cut off LTE's native tail when I once again forgot to press the latch.
The battery here is lithium-ion. The truth has not yet opened, because I do not know the shape of the elements. Yes, and not at all sure that there will be a desire to revive it. Even the battery charge indicator is visible, the button should show the level. This one shows nothing, by itself.
The screen is quite large in comparison with LTE - still 13.3 "against 10.4". Although at the end and LTE 5000 sort of got to 12 ".
The keyboard itself is almost the same, but the LCD screen with status icons is no longer there - back to the LEDs. And the volume control has become a push-button instead of a twist. Plus added four custom buttons.
Software features
1. The BIOS of these laptops was stored on the hard disk. Therefore, there is often a laptop, but there is no opportunity to get to the settings. The network has floppy disks restoring this partition on the hard disk, but to run them you need a disk drive, which I don’t have. Maybe you can try to portray something through the boot from a CD or RAM disk and subst, but I don’t want to mess around with it yet.
2. To work with DOS programs, there is a keyboard shortcut (Fn + T), according to which the laptop tries to stretch the picture to full screen. On average, it tries to stretch proportionally, but for some modes, stretching only horizontally is obtained.
Original resolution:
Stretched:
Original:
Stretched:
At the same time, the quality of the picture is lame - especially in the letters you can see, but I cannot make a full comparison - the laptop has a very sick matrix and the point is clearly not in the cable that goes to it. That is, a soldering iron is not so easy to fix. Yes, you can attach an external monitor, but then the meaning of using a laptop disappears.
Armada 7700 as a laptop for retro games
The option is pretty good, oddly enough.
Built-in power supply - less wires around dangles.
The ability to stretch the image in DOS to full screen solves problems with black frames. But it adds problems with the quality of the picture, although it will already strongly depend on the particular game.
The sound card is still compatible with Sound Blaster and is supported in DOS. Judging by the forums - slightly worse than 1868, but these are isolated cases.
Faster processor than Compaq LTE - it pulls any late DOS-games and early Windows-games better, but at the same time is not so fast that earlier DOS games become non-playable. And those who were sharpened by HT and 286, and had to slow down on LTE.
Is Armada 7790 suitable for DOS games? Yes, it is quite. It may even be more convenient than LTE - if you can get in good condition.
Additional materials
Compaq Armada 7700 Brochure
User manual for Compaq Armada 7700
An ISO image of a BIOS recovery disk . Did not check.
This is where the Compaq Pentium laptops run out. In 1998, they released the Armada 7800 in almost the same package as the 7700 - but on the Pentium II, with a USB port. There were no other serious external differences. And this pleasure was worth about 10 thousand dollars.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/443510/
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