I’ve written an article with some details of my contributions to PCem geared towards emulating my old computers. Check it here.
13 thoughts on “Emulating my old computers”
Paulo Estrela
Simply amazing! I had one of those Itautec machines. I would love to have it again. Whats BIOS I need to configure a Itautec machine? Advanced/ZP bios?
Olá Eluan, você sabe como o Master CD identifica o computador? Tenho um Master CD 1.1 e configurei o PCem pra usar o Infoway, mas ao inciá-lo com o Master CD ele fala que não serve nesse computador. Tem alguma pista? Vi que você postou fotos da tela dos software da Itautec. Obrigado. A experiência está sendo bem legal. Voltei no tempo!
The specific model I helped emulate does not come with a Master CD, it instead asks the user to create backup diskettes after the first boot. The Master CD models started with the Infoway A96, which uses another motherboard (Advanced/AS – Atlantis) and slightly different hardware. The interfaces are quite similar between models, so you can install using the Master CD anyway and have the nostalgic feeling. You just need to start in safe mode and install appropriate drivers which will probably be different from what the Master CD offers. Be aware that some bundled programs like the TV and Radio stuff won’t work because there is no support for that in PCem.
The Master CD looks for specific strings in the BIOS DMI space. Lots of people stopped being able to use their Master CDs after fully updating/replacing their BIOS. If you have a BIOS with the Itautec logo you probably have these strings already. If not, there is a small trick that has been floating on the Internet for a while:
Use a hex editor to open the Master CD ISO image file.
Look for the sequence 26 83 3E EE 0F 64 75 03 E8 DF B1
Eluan, thanks for replying my questions! I will try those instructions. But should I search for that byte sequence in Master CD ISO or in BIOS file? Because in the first step you mention to open Master CD ISO, then in the last step you mention “save the BIOS” file. Oh, I asked the same question in PCem forum, feel free to not answer. I will post that procedure if works for me mentioning that you gave me those directions. If not, I will delete my question because it relates to another Itautec model, as you said.
Sorry for taking so long to reply, other priorities have taken precedence in the last few months. I’ve been out of the forum for a while, but I will get back there eventually. “save the BIOS” was a typo, I meant “save the ISO”. 🙂
Hi there! Testing this out on PCem, and on boot I get the screen you show but there is no message to press “ctrl-alt-esc” (and even if there was I cannot send that to the machine…)
Mine just stays at the test screen and never progresses after the bios shadow ram check..
Have you tried booting without any other peripherals attached other than a standard VGA adapter? Also, have you tried deleting the generated PCem NVRAM file (a.k.a. CMOS data)? It would help a lot if you could paste your config here as text.
About ctrl-alt-esc, you say that you wouldn’t be able to send that to the machine because you are using Windows and it gets captured by the shell? Try using the right ctrl and right alt.
Simply amazing! I had one of those Itautec machines. I would love to have it again. Whats BIOS I need to configure a Itautec machine? Advanced/ZP bios?
Any Advanced/ZP and Cirrus Logic GD5434 will be enough.
Olá Eluan, você sabe como o Master CD identifica o computador? Tenho um Master CD 1.1 e configurei o PCem pra usar o Infoway, mas ao inciá-lo com o Master CD ele fala que não serve nesse computador. Tem alguma pista? Vi que você postou fotos da tela dos software da Itautec. Obrigado. A experiência está sendo bem legal. Voltei no tempo!
The specific model I helped emulate does not come with a Master CD, it instead asks the user to create backup diskettes after the first boot. The Master CD models started with the Infoway A96, which uses another motherboard (Advanced/AS – Atlantis) and slightly different hardware. The interfaces are quite similar between models, so you can install using the Master CD anyway and have the nostalgic feeling. You just need to start in safe mode and install appropriate drivers which will probably be different from what the Master CD offers. Be aware that some bundled programs like the TV and Radio stuff won’t work because there is no support for that in PCem.
The Master CD looks for specific strings in the BIOS DMI space. Lots of people stopped being able to use their Master CDs after fully updating/replacing their BIOS. If you have a BIOS with the Itautec logo you probably have these strings already. If not, there is a small trick that has been floating on the Internet for a while:
Let me know if it works with your Master CD.
Eluan, thanks for replying my questions! I will try those instructions. But should I search for that byte sequence in Master CD ISO or in BIOS file? Because in the first step you mention to open Master CD ISO, then in the last step you mention “save the BIOS” file. Oh, I asked the same question in PCem forum, feel free to not answer. I will post that procedure if works for me mentioning that you gave me those directions. If not, I will delete my question because it relates to another Itautec model, as you said.
Sorry for taking so long to reply, other priorities have taken precedence in the last few months. I’ve been out of the forum for a while, but I will get back there eventually. “save the BIOS” was a typo, I meant “save the ISO”. 🙂
Hope it worked for you.
Procurei na ISO essa sequencia HEXA mas não achei.
Entrarei em contato com você.
Hi there! Testing this out on PCem, and on boot I get the screen you show but there is no message to press “ctrl-alt-esc” (and even if there was I cannot send that to the machine…)
Mine just stays at the test screen and never progresses after the bios shadow ram check..
How do I get this to setup or boot?
Thanks!
Hello!
Have you tried booting without any other peripherals attached other than a standard VGA adapter? Also, have you tried deleting the generated PCem NVRAM file (a.k.a. CMOS data)? It would help a lot if you could paste your config here as text.
About ctrl-alt-esc, you say that you wouldn’t be able to send that to the machine because you are using Windows and it gets captured by the shell? Try using the right ctrl and right alt.
Eluan, você teria esse software da Itautec para fornecer para mim? Ou sabe onde encontrar?
Entrarei em contato com você.
Obrigado, estarei aguardando.