BIOS and Win 3.1 / 3.11 drivers
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by Bill Degnan - 02/14/2016 17:35 |
 Windows version 3.11 / Windows for Worksgroups Splash Screen. This version of Windows was what most people had at the dawn of the WWW era, it was a networking extension of Windows 3.1. Click image for larger view.
I replaced the battery so I could save the BIOS and boot without having to set each time. The service tag of my system is 304NT. The only driver from the Dell.com site was a BIOS update from 2000, which I downloaded (link below).  Netscape 3 running on Windows 3.11. I do not have a phone line to actually connect to the Internet, but I can install an ethernet card to connect that way instead. Click for larger view.
I found a Windows 3.1 S3 928 card OEM driver that matches the #9 GXE video card. My Dell SVGA display can handle the 64K colors 600 x 480 setting. I installed all drivers for this card, so I can use any display in the future. Modern flat-panel displays look even better. From an OEM standpoint, the GXE is a S3 928 card. Joystick I have the following game pads 1. microsoft sidewinder game pad 2. radioshack gamepad 3. Interact pc propad 4 I tried looking here: http://www.vogonsdrivers.com/index.php?catid=29 ...but there were no matches for Win 3.1, no CD drive. I sent a query to the VCFed group and C. Liendo suggested checking here: http://bretjohnson.us SDWRGMPD1 From the site: "..DOS Driver for a Microsoft SideWinder digital GamePad. Microsoft doesn't make a DOS driver for any of their SideWinder products - they want to force you into using Win95. SDWRGMPD will let you use your GamePad in just plain old DOS." I set out to try the driver. I started with the Microsoft Sidewinder, but I found that it works better with the RadioShack gamepad. The RadioShack gamepad may be a clone of the Microsoft Sidewinder Game Pad intended for the SDWRGMPD. If you download the driver you'll find that the author created a utility called THRUSH that you can use to test your joystick.  Speed Racer in The Challenge of RacerX. Click image for larger view.
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