The sixth plate cover is likely for adding extra ports from a serial/parallell I/O Card... Wang Labs made some interesting hardware, and this is a fine example. They were kind of late to the PC market, though, and never quite caught up with the likes of Compaq, IBM, and so many clone makers who were beating them on price and features.
The first computer I ever really played around with was a Wang Labs PC 260 in 1995. My parents needed a basic cheap computer to run some really simple programs to assist in a new business they had set up repairing electronic equipment. Local TV and VCR repair guy kind of deal. Anyway, it just appeared one morning sitting on our lounge coffee table. Being very interested in electronics myself, I had a slight fascination with computers. I hadn't had much interaction with them up to then, so this was more than a bit exciting. A couple of days later, my dad is trying to get a game working from a floppy disk. "Space Quest (EGA)" was written on it. We couldn't figure out what command started the game, but eventually figured out it was as simple as changing directory to 'sq' and running sq1.bat Welcome. Suddenly the screen darkens, with what could be construed as a passive-aggressive warning to the player. Roger Wilco stumbles out of the broom closet onboard what appears to be a very blue space ship. And so begins a life-long obsession with computers. I still have the old PC 260. It is missing its monitor and keyboard unfortunately, but it has everything else.
I remember heading south from Maine a few times when I was a teenager we drove past WANG Industries back in the '80s. One of those times I feel like there was a banner or billboard near the building that said "Have you played with your WANG today?"... or it may have been a magazine ad. Does anyone know the story behind that tagline? Also, I have a genuine coffee mug that says 1985 WANG Achievers Club. They must have realized how cheeky these things were.
My first computer was a AST286 running dos, with 2MB ram, and a whole whopping 550MB HDD. Used it mainly for word perfect for school, and some games like obliterator, and motogp, and a few others i cant remember right now.
i've got a wang 386dx 40 with one of those cyrix 486 chips in it, i use it as my fastdoom / dos games machine. i put a mr.bios chip in it with zero wait state on the ram and the performance nearly doubled.
Quick question and that is how much Wang actually involved in the design and production of the machine. I assume that they just came up with a design and then farmed it out to somebody.
@@f.k.b.16 As far as i can remember, it was only the 386SX that had the possibility of mounting a co-processor for math functions. The 486 had this in it's housing. A 386SX with co-processor was a remarkable fast machine for it's era.
We had wang 386 filling our high school computer lab in 92. I assume they did them pretty cheap to get a foothold in the Australian market. Possibly part of their downfall?
This computer is decidedly low end for 1992 especially at Wang prices. The 386 was 7 years old in 1992 and 486s had been out for 3 years at this point. The SX variant of the 386 only has a 16 bit external data bus which greatly slows down RAM access. There really isn't much of a difference between VGA and SVGA in practice other than some extra colors in the 640x480 mode. It may or may not go higher in resolution, but it likely will do it at anything but 16 colors. Absolutely nobody who was going to use an 80387FPU would ever had bought this machine in 1992.
![ILLSLICK - KILLSHOT REMIX [FULL VERSION]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/RIK8RrqIAzE/mqdefault.jpg)
Kodak acquired the Wang workflow/document imaging and later went bust too.
Nice ! I have a working mainboard of a 386SX based Wang computer, maybe looked like this one - I don't have the case anyway)
11:34 must have been Hard Drivin'
I have vague memories of using monologue to read text from MIRC waaaay back in the day. If it's the same thing it's just a screen reader.
The sixth plate cover is likely for adding extra ports from a serial/parallell I/O Card... Wang Labs made some interesting hardware, and this is a fine example. They were kind of late to the PC market, though, and never quite caught up with the likes of Compaq, IBM, and so many clone makers who were beating them on price and features.
A real blast from the past !! Loved it !!!
Clearly an Olivetti inspired design!
My friend had a 286 from wang. It was the fastest 286 I ever used by a large margin. The bios was years ahead of other 286's.
Just hanging out with your WANG.
Wang! Pay attention!
I'm sorry i was distracted by that enormous flying...
Willie! Willie Nelson?
Playing with your Wang can be fun.
I played so much Test Drive 3!
The first computer I ever really played around with was a Wang Labs PC 260 in 1995.
My parents needed a basic cheap computer to run some really simple programs to assist in a new business they had set up repairing electronic equipment. Local TV and VCR repair guy kind of deal.
Anyway, it just appeared one morning sitting on our lounge coffee table. Being very interested in electronics myself, I had a slight fascination with computers. I hadn't had much interaction with them up to then, so this was more than a bit exciting.
A couple of days later, my dad is trying to get a game working from a floppy disk. "Space Quest (EGA)" was written on it. We couldn't figure out what command started the game, but eventually figured out it was as simple as changing directory to 'sq' and running sq1.bat
Welcome.
Suddenly the screen darkens, with what could be construed as a passive-aggressive warning to the player.
Roger Wilco stumbles out of the broom closet onboard what appears to be a very blue space ship.
And so begins a life-long obsession with computers. I still have the old PC 260. It is missing its monitor and keyboard unfortunately, but it has everything else.
Most people don't like to show off their Wang.
Sitting here chuckling all the way through. Such a child sometimes, no excuses. Great video.
Great video! That arcade game that you were talking about is called Hard Drivin’ and it was developed by Atari. I remember crashing a lot in it too!
I remember heading south from Maine a few times when I was a teenager we drove past WANG Industries back in the '80s. One of those times I feel like there was a banner or billboard near the building that said "Have you played with your WANG today?"... or it may have been a magazine ad. Does anyone know the story behind that tagline? Also, I have a genuine coffee mug that says 1985 WANG Achievers Club. They must have realized how cheeky these things were.
The first office job I had (late 80s) I used a WANG terminal. Takes me WAY back.
My first computer was a AST286 running dos, with 2MB ram, and a whole whopping 550MB HDD.
Used it mainly for word perfect for school, and some games like obliterator, and motogp, and a few others i cant remember right now.
Looks like someone installed the 80387 in the wrong orientation and let the smoke out!
i've got a wang 386dx 40 with one of those cyrix 486 chips in it, i use it as my fastdoom / dos games machine. i put a mr.bios chip in it with zero wait state on the ram and the performance nearly doubled.
Only used Wang Calculator in college; had basic functions and a printer for results!
19200 Baud !
Hey, I actually have a hard drive just like that one!
Though sadly it's broken... still cool though
Quick question and that is how much Wang actually involved in the design and production of the machine. I assume that they just came up with a design and then farmed it out to somebody.
Great question! Unfortunately we could find very little about this specific machine online…you could be right we just don’t know
and their advertising campaign….Wang Cares….true story
do they still sell shirts?
Yes !!!!
Nice video,... btw, I still have a Wang 486. Trying to revive it...
Don't leave your soldering iron on the math coprocessor! 😂
@@f.k.b.16 As far as i can remember, it was only the 386SX that had the possibility of mounting a co-processor for math functions. The 486 had this in it's housing.
A 386SX with co-processor was a remarkable fast machine for it's era.
Don't let your Wang die.
We had wang 386 filling our high school computer lab in 92. I assume they did them pretty cheap to get a foothold in the Australian market. Possibly part of their downfall?
I'm pretty sure it's supposed to have the long "a" sound - pronounced like "long". - source my wife's maiden name.
No Turbo button, or LED display? How are you going to pretend your 25 MHz 386 is running at 99 MHz?
and no! you can't borrow my car
It's begging for a 4090 in those empty slots lol
This computer is decidedly low end for 1992 especially at Wang prices. The 386 was 7 years old in 1992 and 486s had been out for 3 years at this point. The SX variant of the 386 only has a 16 bit external data bus which greatly slows down RAM access.
There really isn't much of a difference between VGA and SVGA in practice other than some extra colors in the 640x480 mode. It may or may not go higher in resolution, but it likely will do it at anything but 16 colors.
Absolutely nobody who was going to use an 80387FPU would ever had bought this machine in 1992.
stop playing with your Wang! there could be kids present!!