Compaq Portable III (Model 2660) with External Expansion Chassis
Autopsy:
from Wikipedia:
The Compaq Portable III is a computer released by Compaq Computer Corporation in 1987. It was advertised as being much smaller and lighter than the previous portable x86-PCs, however it was still quite large by today’s standards.
Its street price upon its release was 4999 USD for a model equipped with an 12 MHz Intel 80286 CPU, 640 kB RAM, 1.2 MB 5.25″ floppy, 20 MB hard disk (type 2), and a 10″ amber colored gas-plasma display or 5799 USD with the upgraded 40 MB hard disk. There was also an optional ISA Expansion chassis allowed for 2 full length 16-bit ISA add-in cards for 199 USD. Power is supplied using a mains electricity outlet, no battery exist.
source: wikipedia
Categories: Compaq, Gallery, Retro Computers and other stuff...
Very important..The display isnt LCD but one of firsts very rare plasma tecnology monitor
Very informative dissection. I’ll have to implement your fix for the keyboard connector to mine. Fyi, the clock, backup battery and 64 bytes of non-volatile RAM to store boot settings are all in the DS1287 chip. Fyi, if a replacement is ever needed, a DS12887 is a 100% drop-in replacement, and can still be purchased for about $8.
Nice job. Just fixing up this model as well. I miss the user manual though. Do you know how I get display on an external RGB-L (CGA) monitor?
My Portable III had different mechanism for splitting the keyboard. It was very difficult clamps (broke 3 of them), and no screws at all. Keyboard is looking identical though.
@Remi
You just have to press CTRL+ALT+> and CTRL+ALT+< to switch between the internal Plasma and external RGB display.
In reality you need to press 4 keys at once on an English keyboard: CTRL+ALT+SHIFT+
dunno why, but the symbols > and < were removed after posting…they should have followed SHIFT+
Does anyone know how to take the cover off of a Compaq portable III power supply? Thank you!
Hi, you can tell me the pinout scheme voltage of the 4-pin red molex connector that powers the LCD screen. please.
I’ve got one of these in storage somewhere. Gotta dig it out soon. I can’t remember if they had an RS-232 port on them or not or if one was available if not. Does anyone know? I’d like to use it as a portable terminal with a WiModem232 to call BBS’s.
@Tim
Yes, the Portable IIIs have an RS-232 (9-pin serial) port as standard equipment on the back. Compaq also offered an authentic Hayes-manufactured modem in Compaq’s proprietary form factor that fits under the disk drives. Came with a replacement trim piece (plastic cover) for access to the phone jack. Snap out the old cover and snap in the new. The modem was Compaq part 2661; 1200 and 2400 bps models were available. Same modems worked with Portable 386s, which was physically identical. Let me know if you want one; I have a working modem for sale.