Year: 1989
Initial Price: $2,600, $5,457 in 2020
The Amstrad ALT-286 is a very nice machine, its a mix between the TOSHIBA T3100/20 and the SHARP PC-4500.
It shares same technology like the two mentioned above but the display its superior due to the fact it came on the market almost 3 years after the Toshiba and Sharp. Even if it was more budget oriented the computer has a lot of features and the quality build is impressive.
I got this computer from a local sales site and the computer was stated as working. The amount requested was 699 LEI, that means in EUR 155. I called the seller and he was OK to sell it for 40 EUR. The original post:
Short technical description:
| Computer: | ALT 286 |
| Processor: | 80286 |
| Screen: VGA | LCD 640*480 Pixel Reverse by programming plus contrast and brightness switches |
| Graphics: | Cirrus Logic |
| Memory: | 4x 1024 KB Max |
| Harddisk: | 20 to 60 MB |
| FDD Drive | 720 KB FD-235HF |
| Extensionslots | VGA ISA AT Keyboard FDD Floppydrive |
| System: | DOS 3.3 and DOS 5.0 |
| Printerport | Centronics |
| Serial Ports | 2×9 Pens. One for mouse |
| Weight: | 7 KG |
Issues:
The Computer had better days, the HDD spins up but OS is not found, and the FDD is not working for sure as it has a very unlikely sound when booting and it does not spin the floppy disk. I will take apart the computer these days and I will replace the HDD and the FDD unit. The FDD unit can be replaced but there is a custom mod you have to do on the Floppy cable. I found an interesting article of someone that replaced the original unit with a standard one. I will start working and get back to you with the details.
As promised, below you can see the modifications I made for the Floppy Drive, now everything works fine. I had spent around 4 hours to complete all “discrepancies” this computer had.
If you want to see the repairs, click here.
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