Old Dell Server

[philo]

Someone gave me a surplus Dell server

Poweredge 2200 P-II-233 128 megs of RAM
Ultra-wide SCSI

Don't know if I've ever seen anything like it...
It's got both PCI and EISA slots...
that must be a very rare item i'd think

anyway it works fine...
just for laughs i loaded XP on it and it works ok

 

[kony]

Someone gave me a surplus Dell server

Poweredge 2200 P-II-233 128 megs of RAM
Ultra-wide SCSI

Don't know if I've ever seen anything like it...
It's got both PCI and EISA slots...
that must be a very rare item i'd think

anyway it works fine...
just for laughs i loaded XP on it and it works ok

Maybe you can fit a slotket and Celeron 533 in it. Maybe
not, it usually depended on bios (update) support.

Maybe it's most valuable by throwing out the parts inside,
modernizing the chassis (better airflow?) with front USB and
audio and reusing it to build a newer rig. If you don't
have the manual you might find some info on this 'site (they
seem to have everything and the kitchen 'site),
http://www.thegreenhouse.us/th99/
http://www.thegreenhouse.us/th99/m/C-D/34716.php

 

[Curious George]

Don't know if I've ever seen anything like it...
It's got both PCI and EISA slots...
that must be a very rare item i'd think

That's not particularly exotic, only old. In the mid to late 90's
this was very common among the babyAT and early ATX standard desktops
of that day as well. It is exotic today. There are only a couple of
relatively modern boards that also have both ISA & PCI slots.

It is just like how more & more modern desktop boards have both PCI
32/33 & PCI Express or server boards that have both PCI 32/33 & PCI-X
(perhaps even different flavors of PCI-X). It's a transition period
just like almost a decade ago when your Dell server was made.

In fact before PCI 32/33 there was another transition period when many
boards had both 8 & 16 bit ISA. I guess you get the point. New bus
technologies for expansion cards are phased in to maintain backwards
compatibility and extend the useable life of these cards. Its not a
new strategy and it never stays on the shelf for very long.

Cheers

 

[philo]

That's not particularly exotic, only old. In the mid to late 90's
this was very common among the babyAT and early ATX standard desktops
of that day as well. It is exotic today. There are only a couple of
relatively modern boards that also have both ISA & PCI slots.

<snip>

No that was not a typo I am talking EISA and not ISA!!!!!

http://www.answers.com/topic/eisa


Although I've seen a few EISA machines...
and *plenty* of PCI / ISA machines


this may be the only PCI /EISA I've seen

 

[philo]

Maybe you can fit a slotket and Celeron 533 in it. Maybe
not, it usually depended on bios (update) support.

<snip>


actually I should be able to use up to a P-II 450 mhz
and there are 4 RAM slots...
so I can use up some of my 64 or 128 meg ram

with a 450mhz cpu and 256 megs of ram or more...
it should run linux or win2k very well


the amazing thing is that (with animations turned off)
XP runs on the thing somewhat well just as it is now

 

[Lee]

news:[email protected]...

<snip>

No that was not a typo I am talking EISA and not ISA!!!!!
http://www.answers.com/topic/eisa


Although I've seen a few EISA machines...
and *plenty* of PCI / ISA machines


this may be the only PCI /EISA I've seen

Actually, this was quite common on both server and higher end desktops
of the day.

EISA was a 32 bit bus developed by 'the gang of eight' headed by Compaq
in competition to IBM's then new 32 bit Micro Channel bus.

Regards
Lee in Toronto

Inviato da X-Privat.Org - Registrazione gratuita http://www.x-privat.org/join.php

 

[Lee]

<snip>


actually I should be able to use up to a P-II 450 mhz
and there are 4 RAM slots...
so I can use up some of my 64 or 128 meg ram

with a 450mhz cpu and 256 megs of ram or more...
it should run linux or win2k very well


the amazing thing is that (with animations turned off)
XP runs on the thing somewhat well just as it is now

We used to pare down Win95, put it on an EPROM chip on boards like this
(many had multiple sockets) and run Windows from there.
They ran at a speed that was incredible for the time!

Many of these servers supported WPB (Write Per Bit) memory (instead of
all memory being written to, only the relevant bits were updated).
If your board supports this, and you can find some of this RAM, you will
need to put on your seat belts!

Regards
Lee in Toronto

Inviato da X-Privat.Org - Registrazione gratuita http://www.x-privat.org/join.php

 

[philo]

We used to pare down Win95, put it on an EPROM chip on boards like this
(many had multiple sockets) and run Windows from there.
They ran at a speed that was incredible for the time!

Many of these servers supported WPB (Write Per Bit) memory (instead of
all memory being written to, only the relevant bits were updated).
If your board supports this, and you can find some of this RAM, you will
need to put on your seat belts!

Regards
Lee in Toronto

Well I poked around a bit more with the machine this morning
and the memory is indeed different.
It looked like standard sdram...
but the notches are not quite in the same place so I'll have to keep the
128megs as is.

The CPU jumpers only allow 233 or 266...so there is not too much room for
upgading that.

Looks like a good Linux machine though

 

[philo]

Actually, this was quite common on both server and higher end desktops
of the day.

EISA was a 32 bit bus developed by 'the gang of eight' headed by Compaq
in competition to IBM's then new 32 bit Micro Channel bus.

Regards
Lee in Toronto

I still have my IBM ps2 486-33
the only MCA machine in the house!

 

[Curious George]

No that was not a typo I am talking EISA and not ISA!!!!!

http://www.answers.com/topic/eisa


Although I've seen a few EISA machines...
and *plenty* of PCI / ISA machines


this may be the only PCI /EISA I've seen

I sometimes misread things at 4:30AM. You haven't seen many such
machines because it mostly had a brief life in servers.

EISA was introduced around 1998, which also was around the time
Microsoft was trying to get all the main OEM's to plan dumping legacy
busses for PCI in the PC98 standard. Not exactly a recipe to become
the most ubiquitous bus.

 

[kony]

Well I poked around a bit more with the machine this morning
and the memory is indeed different.
It looked like standard sdram...
but the notches are not quite in the same place so I'll have to keep the
128megs as is.

The CPU jumpers only allow 233 or 266...so there is not too much room for
upgading that.

Looks like a good Linux machine though

It was probably designed before anyone was sure if the PII
would have user adjustable multiplier or not. The majority
of PII don't have user adjustable multiplier and the
multiplier jumper may not be needed at all to use a faster
CPU.

However, if you are right that it can run a PII-450, that
means it has 100MHz FSB, and it "might" even be possible to
run a Coppermine P3 or Celeron, or even a Tualatin Celeron
with the appropriate adapter (less likey, but hard to
speculate about). Then again, this is a lot of effort for
still peaking at around 1GHz more-or-less, I still feel it's
most valuable as a case to reuse for a more modern server.

 

[Lee]

I sometimes misread things at 4:30AM. You haven't seen many such
machines because it mostly had a brief life in servers.

EISA was introduced around 1998, which also was around the time
Microsoft was trying to get all the main OEM's to plan dumping legacy
busses for PCI in the PC98 standard. Not exactly a recipe to become
the most ubiquitous bus.

Actually, EISA was introduced in 1988.
Regards
Lee

Inviato da X-Privat.Org - Registrazione gratuita http://www.x-privat.org/join.php

 

[philo]

However, if you are right that it can run a PII-450, that
means it has 100MHz FSB, and it "might" even be possible to
run a Coppermine P3 or Celeron, or even a Tualatin Celeron
with the appropriate adapter (less likey, but hard to
speculate about). Then again, this is a lot of effort for
still peaking at around 1GHz more-or-less, I still feel it's
most valuable as a case to reuse for a more modern server.

Well it is a pretty nice case...
chances are I'll hang on to the whole machine.

The place I got it from has a few more pallets of stuff to get rid of...
so there may be more comming/

 

[philo]

Actually, EISA was introduced in 1988.
Regards
Lee

I'm sure that's what he meant.

Anyway...It's kind of an interesting machine...

most of the stuff i get in...I just fix up and give away...
but this one I'm keeping.

 

[kony]

I sometimes misread things at 4:30AM. You haven't seen many such
machines because it mostly had a brief life in servers.

EISA was introduced around 1998, which also was around the time
Microsoft was trying to get all the main OEM's to plan dumping legacy
busses for PCI in the PC98 standard. Not exactly a recipe to become
the most ubiquitous bus.

It wasn't really necessary for MS to do much, *new*
motherboards are targeted toward other new parts, with the
ISA boards being replaced by PCI counterparts at this time.
With the except of a few leftover ISA modem, users, most
"PC" systems didn't have any need for ISA at all by '98.
There were of course industrial and scientific oriented
cards too costly to replace but it is a smaller % of the PC
market than the buyers who wanted more PCI slots.

 

[Curious George]

Actually, EISA was introduced in 1988.
Regards
Lee

Inviato da X-Privat.Org - Registrazione gratuita http://www.x-privat.org/join.php

My brain is on vacation until Monday. He better call a cab when his
flight gets in. Clearly I'm going to be in no condition to drive to
the airport.

 

[~misfit~]

Actually, EISA was introduced in 1988.

I wondered about that as I was given an old 486 server (with 128MB 30-pin
RAM, 4 x 32MB modules) that was all EISA, 6 EISA NICs and a VGA card, LOL. I
never did run it, kept it lying around for a while, then sold the RAM
on-line for a couple bucks and dumped the rest.

 

[Myrrapen]

<sigh
Where did the good old days go?

P8-P9....Better remember to go black to black!

72pin RAM...

hehe.. No OS but DOS!

<sigh

I still have an ISA Trident Video card I use when rebuilding olde
systems..