AST Premium Exec 386SX/20, 2MB RAM, 40MB HDD, 1.44MB Floppy

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Saix856@reddit

Awesome! I got one of these recently and they're really neat. Couple of tips though

1: if you can solder, you can connect some wires to the battery terminals and add a 5V connector of some sort. If you can supply enough amperage, it works great for powering the system. Also, the power jack at the back is a lie, it actually takes like 4 different voltages at the power jack.

2: Check the CMOS battery. Mine was leaking but fortunately didn't cause any damage

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erikfriend@reddit (OP)

Good tips. I've removed the dead CMOS battery, no damage. I ended up ordering an original power supply on ebay. Looks like it supplies 5V@2.4A for main power, 7.5V for battery charging, and a signal line or two. Should arrive in a few days. Fingers crossed that it works...

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Saix856@reddit

I hope so! That’s the one thing I hate about old laptops is how proprietary the basic things you need to make them work are.

You got any particular plans for the system?

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erikfriend@reddit (OP)

Just trying to get it running again. I have a 386DX-25 desktop for Sierra games and Wing Commander. This laptop might end up as a text-adventure box (Zork, Hitchhiker's Guide). Not very familiar with the monochrome era of games. Any suggestions?

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Saix856@reddit

I like the original Sim City pretty well. I haven’t gotten around to playing it but I’ve heard the original Wasteland is pretty good. As far as modern stuff goes, Attack of the PETSCII Robots is pretty fun on there. One nice thing with it though is that it has VGA-out if you so desire to do something that needs color. But I think you have to find drivers for that

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jtstowell@reddit

I had a couple of these long ago. They ran Minix well. I had a great time reading Project Gutenberg books and typing in algorithms from Applied Cryptography.

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halationfox@reddit

That is so cool. I wish laptops today had real form factor like that.

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This-Requirement6918@reddit

For real. Give me a replaceable battery pack that uses real cells and give those chips a decent heatsink. A plethora of ports would certainly be preferable too.

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chandleya@reddit

You’ll have to show us where the heatsink is located in this model

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erikfriend@reddit (OP)

I opened it up. no heatsinks or fan. 386's run cool to the touch. Lots of empty space inside the chassis.

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This-Requirement6918@reddit

I know it doesn't, I'm not sure about a 386 but if I remember right my Toshiba T1910 was a ceramic package. I'm just saying modern laptops instead of these paper thin machines that have horrible thermals.

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chandleya@reddit

These big fat machines were just full of tall components and empty cavities. Nothing used enough watts to produce an interesting amount of thermals.

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TableDuck@reddit

For me it was all about the Toshiba 2000sx. But every time I saw the ads for this, the price was really good compared to others. I would have gladly taken it.

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RetroTechChris@reddit

I have the color version of this! https://x.com/RetroTechChris/status/1744878614410101158

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ravensholt@reddit

My favourite vintage laptop.

I've got two that I need to fix, and get working.

I wish I could had the original AST branded Windows 3.1/3.11 for it, along with the original DOS diskettes.

But that's not so important.

Have to open them up and service them first, and check for battery leakage.

My dad had these as company laptops, and I used them to play Wolfenstein 3D in the beginning, before we upgraded our 286/EGA machine to a faster 386 with SVGA....

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erikfriend@reddit (OP)

The internals are quite servicable. No exploding Varta battery for CMOS. They use a well-wrapped pack of NiCd button cells with an easy to disconnect pigtail.

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ravensholt@reddit

Ok, that's quite nice.

I haven't taken a closer look, so I'm not entirely sure how difficult it is to disassemble in the first place. My Toshiba T3100e was surprisingly easy , and same, well wrapped NiCd battery for the CMOS.

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erikfriend@reddit (OP)

To open, remove 3 screws from the front underside. Then, lift/pry the keyboard up like the hood of a car. Be careful not to yank the 2 ribbon cables connecting the keyboard to the motherboard. You'll need to slide/unlatch the ribbon terminals before the cables can be detached.

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ravensholt@reddit

Amazing!

Thank you for the initial instructions.

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theevilapplepie@reddit

I loved this laptop but I didn’t use it except at school, so it never did a lot of heavy lifting. I ran Win3.11 on it with I think Chimera (fake win9x skin) and a 8-bit pc speaker sound driver so I could have startup sounds. My favorite part was the physical lid closed button (just about the top right corner of the keyboard) which was pretty unique. Good buy and great condition!

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erikfriend@reddit (OP)

I've learned the adapter is a Delta SMP-19AB (aka AST 230137). This supply was also used for some AT&T tel-com equipment and pops up on eBay occasionally.