4 ms·

SIIG MiniSys S286 Small Form Factor PC

67 points by justsomehnguy 3y ago

1letterunixname 3y ago
For a 286, that's damn compact. Unfortunately, there's little room for expansion. Add an Intel or 3com NIC, and now there's no room for a sound board. That's why this was mainly used as a terminal.
vrruiz 3y ago
I owned this PC and I loved it! It was a gift from my father. I played to Monkey Island and other adventures in it :)
EvanAnderson 3y ago
There's one on eBay right now for an eye-watering $750: https://www.ebay.com/itm/295704213444 https://www.ebay.com/itm/295704213444 The photos in the auction show some of the internal details and the array of ports on the backplate. It's definitely a cute little PC.
BirAdam 3y ago
I never knew of these, but that’s just a fantastic little machine! I sincerely would love to add one to my collection, but the eBay prices for these things are off the charts.
buescher 3y ago
Reminiscent of the Ampro Littleboard, which was a single-board CP/M computer designed to fit over a floppy drive, and was the direct ancestor of PC-104 and similar single-board computers. I had the pleasure of meeting one of Ampro's retired founders, I don't remember which, at a Vintage Computer Festival (I think) about twenty years ago. It was next over from the Amiga prototype, which was out unattended and I got to touch.
actionfromafar 3y ago
Another chronically unsung hero from 1989 is the Atari Portfolio PC⁰ Compared to just about anything else at the time, it was surreal that it could even exist. The closest I know of was the HP48G calculator, which was completely underpowered compared to the Atari. 0: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_Portfolio https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_Portfolio
- jacquesm 3y ago
  That article is a bit strange in that it lists the founders' link to Psion but not that the Psion Organizer (really the first handheld computer) predated it by five years. Amazing crew though, they were really ahead of their time. TI also had a bunch of programmable calculators but those weren't really computers. (Ti 57, 58, 59). And then there was the Sharp https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharp_PC-1211 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharp_PC-1211 released in 1980, which probably also qualifies for the title (I still have one in mint condition).
  - actionfromafar 3y ago
    Yes, I had one, or maybe something very similar (Casio?), with an optional mini-cassette recorder. It also had non-volatile memory cards. In spirit and usefulness very similar to the Atari Portfolio, though the Atari was much more powerful. You could compile DOS programs in for instane C and run them on the Atari, so it could really be a portable workstation if that was your thing! If I recall correctly, the C compiler from Turbo C ran on it directly, so you could even develop directly on it.
- wvenable 3y ago
  I just picked up an Atari Portfolio off of Facebook Marketplace in my area and ordered a new-old-stock parallel interface adapter. I'm still working out how to get it interfaced to my PC through an Arduino to copy up files. It's a very charming device. I used to own one in the mid-to-late 90s as well that I got used from the local computer store in my small town.
- elkos 3y ago
  Wasn't that the little handheld the kid (John Connor) in Terminator 2 used? I envied this thing so much as a kid. edit & update: answer is yes! Wikipedia article confirms it in the "popular culture" section
  - actionfromafar 3y ago
    IIRC my friends just assumed it was a movie tech gadget, or I guess, if it actually existed, no way it was a device a normal person could purchase. I mean, it was out of my budget by far, but a few kids in my school could easily have gotten it if they knew and wanted.
squarefoot 3y ago
Roughly in the mid-90s I bought at a local surplus store a "Carry 1" industrial 8088 computer which to my surprise I later discovered it could run Linux (ELKS: https://github.com/ghaerr/elks https://github.com/ghaerr/elks). I ultimately sold it on Ebay because although it was a beautiful piece of old tech, I was struggling to find more space for other things. Here's one. I had only the central unit, mine had two floppy drives. https://tinkerdifferent.com/threads/introducing-the-flytech-carry-i-a-book-sized-8088-pc-xt-clone-from-1989.460/ https://tinkerdifferent.com/threads/introducing-the-flytech-...

67 points by justsomehnguy 3y ago

For a 286, that's damn compact. Unfortunately, there's little room for expansion. Add an Intel or 3com NIC, and now there's no room for a sound board. That's why this was mainly used as a terminal.

vrruiz 3y ago

I owned this PC and I loved it! It was a gift from my father. I played to Monkey Island and other adventures in it :)

EvanAnderson 3y ago

There's one on eBay right now for an eye-watering $750: https://www.ebay.com/itm/295704213444 https://www.ebay.com/itm/295704213444 The photos in the auction show some of the internal details and the array of ports on the backplate. It's definitely a cute little PC.

BirAdam 3y ago

I never knew of these, but that’s just a fantastic little machine! I sincerely would love to add one to my collection, but the eBay prices for these things are off the charts.

buescher 3y ago

Reminiscent of the Ampro Littleboard, which was a single-board CP/M computer designed to fit over a floppy drive, and was the direct ancestor of PC-104 and similar single-board computers. I had the pleasure of meeting one of Ampro's retired founders, I don't remember which, at a Vintage Computer Festival (I think) about twenty years ago. It was next over from the Amiga prototype, which was out unattended and I got to touch.

actionfromafar 3y ago

Another chronically unsung hero from 1989 is the Atari Portfolio PC⁰ Compared to just about anything else at the time, it was surreal that it could even exist. The closest I know of was the HP48G calculator, which was completely underpowered compared to the Atari. 0: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_Portfolio https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_Portfolio

jacquesm 3y ago
That article is a bit strange in that it lists the founders' link to Psion but not that the Psion Organizer (really the first handheld computer) predated it by five years. Amazing crew though, they were really ahead of their time. TI also had a bunch of programmable calculators but those weren't really computers. (Ti 57, 58, 59). And then there was the Sharp https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharp_PC-1211 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharp_PC-1211 released in 1980, which probably also qualifies for the title (I still have one in mint condition).
- actionfromafar 3y ago
  Yes, I had one, or maybe something very similar (Casio?), with an optional mini-cassette recorder. It also had non-volatile memory cards. In spirit and usefulness very similar to the Atari Portfolio, though the Atari was much more powerful. You could compile DOS programs in for instane C and run them on the Atari, so it could really be a portable workstation if that was your thing! If I recall correctly, the C compiler from Turbo C ran on it directly, so you could even develop directly on it.
wvenable 3y ago
I just picked up an Atari Portfolio off of Facebook Marketplace in my area and ordered a new-old-stock parallel interface adapter. I'm still working out how to get it interfaced to my PC through an Arduino to copy up files. It's a very charming device. I used to own one in the mid-to-late 90s as well that I got used from the local computer store in my small town.
elkos 3y ago
Wasn't that the little handheld the kid (John Connor) in Terminator 2 used? I envied this thing so much as a kid. edit & update: answer is yes! Wikipedia article confirms it in the "popular culture" section
- actionfromafar 3y ago
  IIRC my friends just assumed it was a movie tech gadget, or I guess, if it actually existed, no way it was a device a normal person could purchase. I mean, it was out of my budget by far, but a few kids in my school could easily have gotten it if they knew and wanted.

squarefoot 3y ago

Roughly in the mid-90s I bought at a local surplus store a "Carry 1" industrial 8088 computer which to my surprise I later discovered it could run Linux (ELKS: https://github.com/ghaerr/elks https://github.com/ghaerr/elks). I ultimately sold it on Ebay because although it was a beautiful piece of old tech, I was struggling to find more space for other things. Here's one. I had only the central unit, mine had two floppy drives. https://tinkerdifferent.com/threads/introducing-the-flytech-carry-i-a-book-sized-8088-pc-xt-clone-from-1989.460/ https://tinkerdifferent.com/threads/introducing-the-flytech-...