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Packard Bell Mini's boot sequence source code and compiled version ready to run: pbminibios.zip     (video example)

Source code written in Microsoft QuickBasic 4.5

(click on images for larger image.)

Over the course of #DOScember 2022, this build went through a few design choice changes. The Packard Bell Mini was originally designed around a Raspberry Pi 2B.

Then, the bottom case was redesigned after discovering that the Dell WYSE 3040 thin client would fit inside the design perfectly.

The finished product has multiple files, The original top case with separate 5.25 and 3.5 bays, which the 3.5 bay is designed to hold an SD card slot. The power button is 8mm diameter, so you can use the model for an authentic button or an 8mm panel mount switch like I wound up doing. The alternative top case has the 5.25 and 3.5 bays built in so you don't have to print them separately. It also contains a 5mm hole for an LED on the left, and a recessed 1cm x 1cm square for a tiny case badge. There are two versions of the bottom case as well. One for a full size Raspberry Pi, and one for the WYSE 3040 motherboard. The WYSE design has the standard ports as well as a spot to put a USB to PS/2 adapter.

In my current build. I removed the front USB 2.0 port, and added header pins. Then added some Dupont connectors to the PS2 adapter, so I could disconnect if I need to remove the board. I added a panel mount 3.5mm jack to the rear, and a 90 degree 3.5mm headphone adapter inside to the 'front' connector. I also added a 64GB flash drive to the other USB port internally, to upgrade the storage.

Here is what the build looks like currently:

This is using the new case design, with the inset PB logo, a tiny 'intel inside' sticker (10mmX10mm), and the addition of the LED hole for power light. Also using an 5" Eyoyo S501H monitor (VGA, HDMI, RCA in), which I designed a replica Packard Bell monitor around.

I am running NTDEV's Tiny10 21h2 x64 (updated version on archive.org here) version on this build. The WYSE thin client only has 8GB of onboard storage (eMMC)and 2GB of RAM, but it runs great. I disabled hibernation and the page file, and then compressed the disk to have over 2GB free space. That is plenty for DOS and Win3.11.

I have a registry edit to allow auto login, another registry edit from embedded windows that skips the login screen completely, and then a scheduled task that loads DOSbox-X on login, right into full screen. Besides the OEM Dell logo in bios when it boots, it'd be very hard to tell what this machine really is. You see the Dell logo for a moment, then the PB logo, no loading swirl from windows, and then bam, right into DOS. Now I have a custom DOS boot process, check out the new video at the top of the page to see.