The Ultimate Vintage Computer

System Overview

Imagine, the perfect vintage computer: blinding fast, instant loading of applications, runs multiple vintage operating systems, loaded with the best vintage software that has long been abandoned, fully configured and optimized. Many hours went into building this system, finding the right base system, locating the best components that work with multiple operating systems dating back to DOS, enabling all of the hardware on each, finding the right drivers and extensions, and properly configuring everything. This is no small feat.  You can purchase bare hardware, or a few vintage systems on eBay with only a base vintage operating system installed, but you are unlikely to find anything like this – the ultimate vintage computer, ready to plug in and use – right out of the box.

It all starts with a base vintage system.  For this build I selected a Gateway GP7-500.  Why the GP7-500?  It is a fast Pentium III-based tower that has both ISA and PCI expansion slots.  Having a system with an ISA slot is required if you want to have sound card working in DOS.  Not much later, systems dropped the original ISA bus for only PCI and changed the motherboard such that there was no way to configure a PCI audio card to load and work with DOS.  Since this is a machine that can run either DOS or later versions of Windows, having a fast system with an available ISA slot is non-negotiable.  Beyond the ISA slot, the GP7-500 provides a fast 500MHz Pentium II CPU, supports up to 768MB of PC100 memory, has a 200W power supply to support just about anything you want to pack into the GP7-500 tower with generous space and features for expansion.

Let’s look at what’s in this amazing system hardware specifications

Case: Gateway GP7-500 tower
CPU: 500MHz Pentium III
Memory: 768MB PC100 RAM (three 256MB SIMMs)
Primary Hard Drive: 120GB SATA solid state drive (SSD)
Expansion Slots: ISA, PCI, and AGP
External Device Connectivity: USB
Mouse: Standard PS/2 mouse
Keyboard: Standard PS/2 keyboard (IBM Model-M classic optional)
Floppy Drive: 3.5 1.44MB
Optical Disk #1: Sony CD and DVD Rewritable
Optical Disk #2: CD-ROM
Removable Disk: Internal 100MB Iomega IDE Zip drive
Removable Solid State Drive: IDE Compact Flash
Video/Graphics: Matrox Millennium II Video AGP
Display: 20″ VGA flat panel
Networking: Intel Pro 10/100 RJ45 Network Adapter
Wireless Network Link: TP-LINK (optional)
Audio: SoundBlaster 16 ISA Sound card
System Battery: New CMOS battery
Dial-Up Connectivity: 56K internal modem
Ports: one parallel, two serial
OnBoard USB: Two USB 1.x and five USB 2.0 ports
USB Expansion: Two USB 1.x and five USB 2.0 ports
USB Flash Reader: Compact Flash/SD/MicroDrive
Battery: New CMOS battery
Power Supply: 200W

One of the secrets to this feature-packed, blazing system is the unique combination of a instant-access SATA solid state disk drive (SSD) combined with a 500MHz Pentium III CPU, tons of RAM and a fast graphics adapter that offers the highest resolution and color depth possible for all of the various operating systems installed.  The system has other unique features, such as support for re-writable DVD and removable, front mount compact flash storage which did not exist back in that era.

A Multi-Boot Wonder

This custom build supports the booting of four major vintage operating systems, completely configured with all of the necessary device drivers, and fully optimized.

Bootable System 1: DOS/Windows 3.11    Partition Size:   2GB
Bootable System 2: Windows 95c OSR2.5    Partition Size:  20GB
Bootable System 3: Windows 98SE     Partition Size:  20GB
DATA/Backup Drive D:   Partition Size:  78GB

Even with a full, fresh load of vintage applications there is a vast amount of available disk space for each system that is far in excess of what can be practically filled.

Bootable System #1: DOS/Windows 3.11

Operating System/DOS: PC DOS 7.1 (year 2000 enabled)
Operating System/Windows: Windows 3.11

  • DOS Drivers Installed/Enabled:
    • Matrox Millennium II Video Adapter driver (High rez/256 color)
    • Command Processor: 4DOS (with long PATH support)
    • PS/2 Mouse
    • PS/2 Keyboard
    • CD/DVD Driver: MSCDEX
    • Removable Storage Zip driver
    • Audio: SoundBlaster 16 driver
    • Network: Intel 10/100 adapter driver
    • Internet: mTCP and Trumpet Winsock TCP driver (DOS and Windows)
    • Removable storage: DOS USB 1.c and USB 2.0 driver
    • 640KB DOS RAM/536KB free after all required and optional drivers loaded

DOS Applications Installed

  • Word Processing:
    • Word for DOS 4.0
    • WordPerfect 5.1
    • Mansfield KEDIT (text editor)
  • Utilities:
    • FileList
    • Fixed Disk Organizer
    • SysInfo7 (system inventory)
    • SysTest (system inventory)
    • PKZIP 2.5
    • Acrobat Reader
    • IBM 4019/4029 Soft Fonts
  • Alternate Desktops:
    • DeskView 2.0
    • Calmira II (Win95like shell for Win31)
  • Spreadsheet:
    • Lotus 123 2.4
    • VisiCalc
  • Database:
    • Ashton-Tate dBase III Plus
  • Graphics:
    • Harvard Graphics 2.0
  • Accounting:
    • QuickBooks Version 1.0
    • One Write Plus Money Matters
  • Communications:
    • Communications (Dial-up): QMODEM
    • Communications (Dial-up): ProComm+
  • Internet:
    • Arachne
  • Programming:
    • Turbo Pascal 6.0 for DOS
    • Turbo Assembler
  • Productivity:
    • Policies Now
    • Family Tree Maker
    • Point of Sale Cash Register
    • BookManager Reader
    • DWSCRIPT text formatter
  • Games:
    • Jeopardy
    • Space Invaders
    • Space Invaders 78
    • Monopoly
    • PacMan
    • Pinball
  • Music:
    • CDPlayer
    • Voyetra Sequencer Plus Pro MIDI

Windows 3.x

Operating System: Windows 3.11

  • Windows 3.11 Drivers Installed/Enabled:
    • Win32s installed (enables 32-bit apps under Windows 3.x)
    • SVGA enabled (1280×1024 256 color default via MGA Desktop)
    • SoundBlaster Windows audio drivers enabled
    • Zip 100 drivers enabled
    • CD/DVD drivers enabled
    • Video for Windows installed
    • TCP/IP enabled (via Trumpet WinSock)
    • USB 2.0 expansion adapter driver

Windows 3.x Applications Installed

  • Office Suite #1 – MS Office Suite
    • MS Office 4.3
    • MS Word 6.0
    • MS PowerPoint 4.0
    • MS Excel 5.0
    • MS Access 2.0
    • MS Publisher 2.0
    • MS Project
    • MS Word 2.0 (ultra vintage)
  • Office Suite #2 – WordPerfect Suite 6.1
    • WordPerfect 6.1
    • Quatro Pro
    • Corel Presentations
    • CorelFlow
    • Sidekick 2.0
  • Internet
    • Internet Explorer 5.01
    • WS/FTP pro
    • Lotus 123 V5
  • Remote Control
    • PCAnywhere 2.0 Host and Remote (over TCP/IP)
  • Text Editor:
    • Kedit for Wndows
  • Photo Editor:
    • Adobe Photoshop 2.5
  • Desktop Publishing:
    • Frame FrameMaker
  • Windows Programming:
    • Turbo pascal
    • TopDown Flowcharter
  • Contact Manager:
    • Symantic ACT! 2.0 Windows
    • Contact Master
  • Media Player:
    • Xing MPEG Player
    • WinPlay3 MP3 Player
  • Language Translator:
    • GlobalLink Power Translator En-Fr-Gr
  • Accounting:
    • PeachTree Accounting Complete
    • My Invoices and Estimates

Bootable System #2: Windows 95

Operating System: Windows 95c OSR2.5

  • Windows 95 Drivers Installed/Enabled:
    • Matrox Millennium II: High Rez+True Color Enabled
    • Intel EtherExpress PRO/100 LAN Adapter enabled
    • 56K Modem Enabled
    • Audio: SoundBlaster 16 Enabled
    • Zip 100 Drivers Enabled
    • CD/DVD Drives Enabled
    • USB Ports Enabled

Windows 95 Applications Installed

  • Office Suite #1 – MS Office Suite
    • MS Office 4.3
    • MS Word 6.0
    • MS PowerPoint 4.0
    • MS Excel 5.0
    • MS Access 2.0
    • MS Publisher 2.0
  • Office Suite #2 – WordPerfect Suite 6.1
    • WordPerfect 6.1
    • Quatro Pro
    • Corel Presentations
    • CorelFlow
    • Sidekick 2.0
  • Office Suite #3 -Lotus SmartSuite 9.6
    • WordPro
    • Freelance Graphics
    • Approach
    • 123
    • ScreenCam
  • Atari Greatest Hits Games
    • Pong
    • Asteroids
    • Centipede
    • Missile Command
    • Super Breakout
    • Tempest
  • Remote Control
    • PCAnywhere 2.0 Host and Remote (over TCP/IP)
  • Internet
    • Internet Explorer 5.5

Bootable System #3: Windows 98

Operating System: Windows 98 Second Edition (Windows 98SE)

  • Windows 98 Drivers Installed/Enabled:
    • Matrox Millennium II: High Rez+True Color Enabled
    • Audio: SoundBlaster 16 Enabled
    • Zip 100 Drivers Enabled
    • CD/DVD Drives Enabled
    • Intel EtherExpress PRO/100 LAN Adapter enabled
    • 56K Modem Enabled
    • USB Support Enabled

Windows 98 Applications Installed

  • Office Suite #1 – MS Office Suite
    • MS Office 4.3
    • MS Word 6.0
    • MS PowerPoint 4.0
    • MS Excel 5.0
    • MS Access 2.0
    • MS Publisher 2.0
  • Office Suite #2 – Corel WordPerfect Suite 6.1
    • WordPerfect 6.1
    • Quatro Pro
    • Corel Presentations
    • CorelFlow
    • Sidekick 2.0
  • Office Suite #3 -Lotus SmartSuite 9.6
    • WordPro
    • Freelance Graphics
    • Approach
    • 123
    • ScreenCam
  • Atari Greatest Hits Games
    • Pong
    • Asteroids
    • Centipede
    • Missile Command
    • Super Breakout
    • Tempest
  • Internet
    • Internet Explorer 5.5
    • WS/FTP pro
    • HotMetal Pro HTML Editor 6.03
  • Programming
    • MS Visual C++ Version 6 w/MSDN
    • VisualAge for Java 2
  • Media Player
    • Quicktime 2.5
  • Utilities
    • Partition Magic 8.0
    • Boot Magic 8.0
    • Roxio CD/DVD Creator
  • Text Editor
    • Kedit/Windows
  • Graphics
    • HiJaak Pro 4.01
  • Accounting
    • Peachtree Accounting for Windows
  • Remote Control
    • PCAnywhere 2.0 Host and Remote (over TCP/IP)
  • General
    • Grollier Multimedia Encyclopedia

This vintage system has it all. Not only a vintage gamer’s dream, but a productivity app dream system too, network ready – just plug it into your existing router, and go.