Here’s a Unichip 486 WB 4407 Rev 1.1 motherboard that was donated to me, complete with a 66 MHz 486DX2 processor and three VLB slots. It looks like another interesting addition to the collection, although I haven’t actually powered it up yet. Whether it works is still anybody’s guess!

The DX2 has a heatsink and fan assembly that clips around the processor, rather than the simpler passive heatsink fitted to the DX2 in my Osborne. I managed to pull the assembly off for a closer look, and it is quite an interesting arrangement. I might even be able to use it with my DX4, since the heatsinks I’ve ordered for that haven’t arrived yet.

Being an old 486 motherboard, it also had one of those lovely NiCd batteries to contend with. The battery has already been removed, which is one less thing to worry about, but the board still needs a proper test. I also had a look at the RAM banks while showing the motherboard, although I haven’t established exactly what memory is installed.

Apart from this motherboard, not too much has been happening over the last week or two. I’ve been working hard to keep on top of things at work, and I haven’t had much time back at my usual base of operations. That hasn’t stopped me ordering more gadgets to play with, of course. I’ve simply had very little time to use them!

The BIOS identification strings are below:

11/11/92 (C) 1992 American Megatrends Inc., All Rights Reserved
40-0200-001107-00101111-111192-U4800VLX000-1-0000-00-00-0000-00-00-31L000-1-0000-00-00-00-4
AMIBIOS (C)1992 American Megatrends Inc.
4407 UNICHIP BIOS VER 1.0

A later Elektroda discussion reports the same U4800VLX BIOS prefix, a DataExpert vendor identification and 4407 UNICHIP BIOS VER 1.0. That is consistent with the board identification shown here.

I’ve also been silently updating some of the guide pages and collection pages. I’m still trying to work out a suitable format for computers versus consoles, mainly because there are more consoles than computers and plenty of duplicates among them. I’ll work something out eventually.

With Christmas approaching, I should have more opportunities to get back to the equipment and make a few videos. There are plenty of little trinkets and doodads waiting for attention, and we might even have some Apple Lisa videos in the near future if anyone is interested. Stay tuned!

Sources