Author: mark

Since we didn’t know the password, we flipped up dip switch 5 on the Netserver card and were then able to login to console as !root user and no password. Our firmware is: I’m now setting the password with: and then save all I powered off the unit, flipped dip switch 5 back down, and […]

Writing notes here for future reference. Connecting to serial console of the NMC, there is no password, and current firmware is: old LAN IP was 192.77.203.193, I’ve changed it to 10.254.255.46. SNMP strings are default (public RO, private RW). RADIUS secret key: serialport I saved config, then applied it by going to Command menu and […]

We have a Cisco IAD2432-24FXS in use, we are currently using the FXS analog ports to provide analog modem lines for our ISP dial-in lines and for general use. Now that we have our 3com/USR Total Control running, we need to feed it with a PRI or channelized T1 (these are similar but slightly different). […]

One of our viewers assembled an “ISP in a box” setup with some more features than our original post. This setup has 4x FXS ports to provide analog dialtone, channelized T1 cards, and Cisco Digital Modem modules (like those in the AS5x00 series). Dialing 5551212 from an analog line will connect you to the modem […]

We’ve started looking at 1980s Ethernet products recently, and Cabletron was one of the most prominent Ethernet vendors at the time. I stumbled upon this Ethernet Technology Guide published by Cabletron, and found it to be a very comprehensive of Ethernet history and how the physical LANs were built (10base5, 10base2, 10baseT) particularly the multi-port […]

Our PC’s Limited (Dell) 286 computer came with a B.G. Micro vocal synthesizer card, which lets the computer “talk” in 1980s robot style. Two tantalum capacitors had failed on the board, so all were replaced. Photos Resources Resources we found related to this card components How it Works Here’s a very rough overview of how […]

I’ve used several HP Procurve switches over the years and have found them to be great for general office use. We have been using a 1810G-24 (J9450A) switch in our lab, to keep machines online including the infamous Cobalt RaQ 3. This is a “web managed” switch, with basic VLAN support. On the plus side, […]

found some interesting materials from Dave Walden’s site Source: https://www.walden-family.com/bbn/ A great write-up of BBN history is also here, including details on their contract to provide modem dial-in service for AOL (over 400,000 modems!)

How to install FreeBSD 2.0.5 in a virtual machine

While working on the Xyplex Maxserver 1620 for our upcoming terminal server video, I wanted to try re-creating a menu I thought I had seen before from a 1990s ISP. The idea is that the user can dial in with a modem, and then get a menu to choose between several options such as telneting […]

After we completed the hardware restoration on the Sun SparcCLASSIC, my first objective was to do a network-based Solaris install. I had heard many people talk about network installs of Solaris, in particular _Jumpstart_ which is an automated install method over the network. Eventually, we got the network install of Solaris 2.6 working and showed […]

In our journey to re-live old experiences with our retro computers, part of that experience is to use dial-up modems. For example, we did a thorough factory restore to bring our Packard Bell Platinum 2220 back to life [vintage 1997] and while it would be easy to get it online by slapping in a 3com […]

After we recently added the Compaq Deskpro EN (Celeron 300A) system to our collection, I was eager to do a new OS install since the system seemed completely functional in original form. The machine came with both Windows 95 & NT badges, and we obviously decided to install NT since this was a business-class machine. […]

Some progress has been made on the IBM ThinkCentre 8198 PC. When I recently pulled the PC out of storage, it would not power on. At first I thought just the PSU (HIPRO HP-A2307F3P / IBM FRU 74P4300) was defective, since the PC would power on when connected to a modern Corsair PSU. However, the […]

After installing a new 4GB CF card as HD replacement in the Packard Bell Platinum 2220, I’m attempting to restore the original Windows 95 OS with Packard Bell extras from the Master CD Archive.org has a great collection of original Packard Bell install discs, the Windows 95 group is here: https://archive.org/details/windows95mastercd My first attempt is […]

One thing people don’t miss about the “old” PC days is the old and slow mechanical hard drives. When we started working on the IBM ThinkCentre A30 system, its original Hitachi Deskstar 40GB IDE drive was particularly noisy. Windows XP was pretty slow to boot up as well. We purchased the NFHK SATA Disk to […]