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The DECpc LPv+ series was introduced on 17 January 1994 replacing the LPv series
released a little over five months earlier with prices starting at US$1,049
($2,157 in 2023). The new LPv+ brings Advanced Power Management and other changes
required for EPA Energy Star compliance. The DECpc LPv+ was the final entry in the
DECpc value line, replaced by the new Digital Venturis line starting in November 1994.
The DECpc LPv+ comes in a compact low profile enclosure with three regular 16-bit ISA
slots and integrated S3 805 VLB graphics. Customers wanting the option of supplying
their own VLB graphics card were required to buy a DECpc LPx model which came in a
full-profile case with regular VLB slots.
The enclosure includes space for two internal 3.5" hard disks and a regular AT power supply.
On the rear is the usual selection of ports, plus a case lock.
When launched in January 1994 the DECpc LPv+ line shipped with Windows 3.10 and likely MS-DOS 6.20 or 6.21.
On 5 April 1994 DEC announced that
Windows for Workgroups 3.11 would be factory installed on all PCs, presumably with MS-DOS 6.21.
The DEC distribution of Windows for Workgroups 3.11 seems match the Microsoft ones - it hasn't been customised at all. This is not the case for the DEC OEM distribution of Windows 3.1! I have two DEC OEM sets of Windows 3.1 disks and they're both different. The newer set which likely shipped with DECpc LPv/LPv+ systems has the following differences compared to Microsoft-branded disks:
If you'd like the DEC OEM Windows 3.10 disks, they are:
These systems use a socketed Dallas DS1287 or compatible real time clock (RTC) module next to the ISA slots. 3rd-party replacements with an integrated coin cell socket may struggle to clear the lower ISA slot (see this photo).
These machines may have compatibility issues with some (many?) CF cards. Setting Large Drive Addressing to "LBA Convert" on page 2 of the BIOS setup utility should allow the BIOS to detect larger CF cards, but it may be unable to boot from them. When tested, my LPv+ 466d2 would crash while booting DOS from a Transcend Ultra 1GB Industrial CF card, while it was able to boot successfully from a much older Kingston 256MB KFCM-2566M-KT3B6HFA. Others have reported difficulty even installing MS-DOS on the previous LPv series with setup failing while copying command.com, though I did not experience this issue on the LPv+.
Not all LPv+ machines have the Large Drive Addressing setting though. I've got two machines in the collection, one has it ("DECpc LPv+ 486DX2 Version 1.03") and the other does not ("DECpc LPv+ 486DX2 Version 1.00"). So it looks like the setting was introduced in a BIOS update. These machines don't have flash ROMs though so no BIOS updates were ever publicly released by DEC. To update the BIOS on one of these machines you'd need a ROM dumped from another machine and an EPROM programmer.
These machines are a bit picky when it comes to memory. They likely only work with FPM SIMMs and the service manual says to make sure to:
| Bank 0 | Bank 1 | Bank 2 | Bank 3 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 MB | 4 MB | |||
| 4 MB | 4 MB | 8 MB | ||
| 4 MB | 4 MB | 4 MB | 12 MB | |
| 4 MB | 4 MB | 4 MB | 4 MB | 16 MB |
| 4 MB | 16 MB | 20 MB | ||
| 4 MB | 4 MB | 16 MB | 24 MB | |
| 4 MB | 4 MB | 16 MB | 16 MB | 40 MB |
| 16 MB | 16 MB | |||
| 16 MB | 16 MB | 32 MB | ||
| 16 MB | 16 MB | 16 MB | 48 MB | |
| 16 MB | 16 MB | 16 MB | 16 MB | 64 MB |
| Name | Model | RAM | CPU | HDD | CD-ROM | Cards | Condition/notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 466d2 | 16MB 128K secondary cache |
DX2-66 | 202MB 202MB |
MKE-Panasonic CR-563-B (creative branded) |
Digital DE200 network Creative SoundBlaster 16 CT2230 |
Working 23/01/2024. Was used as the DOS games machine until replaced by dx4 in 2022. Model 742WW, built June 1994, BIOS v1.03. |
|
| 450d2 | 8MB NO secondary cache |
DX2-50 | IBM OEM Western Digital Caviar 210MB, JUN 1994 | — | Digital DE205 network | Working 29/01/2024. Model 744WW, built May 1994. BIOS v1.03 - no LBA setting. RTC chip is likely marginal - its keeping time and settings but the BIOS complained about invalid configuration when started up for the first time in 20 years. Settings looked fine though. |
