Usually when you’ve acquired a vintage computer,
you try and find the original keyboard and accessories that went along with it.
But I’ve had this keyboard lying around for years...
so I just bought the computer instead.
This is the Monorail.
If you’re like me, the only thing you ever associated with that term
are those trains that drive around Disney World.
But it’s also the namesake of an all-in-one Windows 95 Machine.
A computer that sold for just under $1,000 in 1996.
It sounded like a fairy tale to me but then...
I walked into my local Goodwill on a summer day back in 2013
and left with this keyboard.
Not just because it was in great condition for its age,
but mainly due to that sticker at the top right.
Ever since then, it's been my primary PS/2 keyboard.
And has thus, made its way into countless videos on this channel.
And I'm pleased to say that after almost a decade
I finally have the computer it was always meant to be used with.
But first, a little history.
Monorail’s origins can be traced back to the vision of Doug Johns
A man who was no stranger to the personal computer industry.
Having served as an executive at Compaq
and prior to that,
a member of the IBM PC development team.
In the mid '90s, after leaving Compaq,
he became convinced that competition in the industry had fundamentally changed.
With the cost of machines continuing to dwindle downwards,
the entry barrier to the PC world was becoming far more feasible to cross for everyday people.
Johns saw the need for a computer specifically targeted towards new buyers.
One that was affordable,
could be delivered to you in a timely manner,
and…
looked freakin’ cool.
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I mean, just look at this thing.
It stood out from every other desktop computer on the market at the time.
In a sea of beige boxes, this is a machine that you’d remember when shopping around.
But the reasons behind this design go far beyond looks.
And that’s what intrigues me the most about Monorail.
The company didn’t build their first product by starting with desired hardware specs,
or even by designing how the case would look.
They began with one of the most boring and seemingly inconsequential details…
The shipping box.
That thing that would arrive at your doorstep that you would immediately throw away after emptying.
As it turns out though, the size and dimensions of these mundane cardboard containers
can heavily impact how efficiently your package is delivered to you.
So one of the first things Doug did was call up FedEx,
and ask what the desired dimensions would be
for a package weighing around 25 pounds.
Then he and his wife taped a bunch of shoe boxes together
to simulate the size of the package they’d need to fit a computer into.
19 inches long,
19 inches wide,
and 9.5 inches tall.
And this posed the first challenge for Monorail.
Because fitting a CRT monitor into a box this size was next to impossible.
Unless you were fine with making your display very small.
So Doug turned to the world of laptops,
whose thin LCD displays would fit perfectly in a specially designed all-in-one case.
With a rough idea of what the machine would look like,
Doug founded Monorail Inc. in November of 1995.
Or… sorry, I meant NetRunner Inc.
Yeah, the company went through a few name changes before landing on Monorail,
which was actually coined by NameLab.
A company Doug had contracted to come up with a new computer company name
that didn’t sound overly technical.
As for the meaning of it? Well... there really isn’t one.
Personally, I like to think it makes reference to the fact
that Monorails were often viewed as a futuristic mode of transportation.
Something that, although similar in ways to a tram or rail car,
stood out as unique.
Much like the Monorail computer was to other machines from the time.
This practice of outsourcing became very common for the company,
as Doug contracted other businesses to handle the logistics, finances, and even manufacturing.
This helped to keep Monorail’s payroll costs low, as the company only employed around 40 people
at their Marietta, GA headquarters by 1996.
The same year that the original Monorail, model 7245, went on sale.
Much like Gateway and Dell, the company followed a “build-to-order” model.
Meaning that the computers would not be manufactured until ordered by the customer.
However, the computer did end up on store shelves too,
as CompUSA agreed to be Monorail’s first retail partner.
The computer took on more of a hybrid role,
something between a desktop and laptop.
Its design, although distinctive,
ensured it was much more difficult to upgrade than your average desktop PC.
In fact, it's quite similar to a laptop in that respect.
And the baseline specs weren’t anything to write home about.
But they were sufficient for a family PC used for web browsing or essay writing.
Keep in mind that Monorails were aimed at first time buyers.
People who wouldn’t really be obsessed with Megahertz and Megabytes.
The only number that really meant anything to them was the price.
And with the Monorail tagged at $999...
it was quite attractive.
And this is what you’d get if you picked one up.
Well, not exactly in this condition.
Unfortunately there’s a bit of damage to it.
One of the hollow plastic cylinders used to mount the machine to its base has broken off.
Which I’d like to think happened during shipping
because the seller I bought this from made no mention of it.
So I had to remove it and use some adhesive to secure it back together as best as possible.
I will be on the lookout for a replacement part,
but I doubt it’s something I’ll come across easily.
Looking at the bottom, I noticed that the “warranty void if removed” sticker is missing,
and there’s a glob of residue in its place.
Indicating that this unit has been opened before.
Oh and quick sidenote, did you know those stickers don’t actually mean anything?
Yeah, here in the U.S. at least, a company cannot deny you warranty coverage
just because you break that seal.
As much as they’d like to convince you that they can.
But that doesn’t mean they can’t make it difficult to open up your device.
and Monorail definitely went full Apple on this thing and used torx screws everywhere.
Now, I wanted to open this thing up because the ethernet card on the right side
wasn't lining up with the cutout in the case.
But holy cow, was that the least of my problems.
What unfolded over the next 6 and a half hours was a complete monstrosity of epic proportions.
Upon taking out the case screws,
I noticed this really sticky black residue in the bottom left corner between the 2 case pieces.
At first I thought somebody had used JB Weld to glue the computer back together,
which certainly would have been a first.
But it turned out to be these 2 rubber–like feet
on the backside of the display housing
that had melted.
And the liquid residue just went all over the place.
Luckily the motherboard was positioned above all of this so it wasn’t affected.
But the right side speaker wasn’t so lucky.
It’s the same story with the disc drive, since it was housed right behind where all of this happened.
Which I suspect is how the weird line patterns formed.
I quickly realized that the only way to properly clean all of this up
was to do a complete teardown of the machine
and examine each part for any of the residue.
Then I went straight to the source and removed the motherboard,
hard drive, and LCD from the top metal piece,
and used Goo Gone to slowly get all of it off.
The disc drive had to be completely disassembled as well.
And both the left side speaker and exterior case needed a good amount of cleaning.
Then came problem number 2.
When I was reassembling everything,
I noticed that one of the pins on the CD drive’s IDE connector was bent.
After failing to bend it back into place, I just said “screw it” and busted out the soldering iron.
I de-soldered the IDE and Molex connectors from a spare drive I had
that was too large to use as a replacement,
and changed out the connectors on the original drive.
Once I got everything re-installed to the chassis,
I tried turning the machine on,
and breathed a sigh of relief when it worked.
(flicking power swtich)
We've got a signal!
Now if you haven’t already noticed, this machine was not designed with user upgradeability in mind
at all.
And that was one of the major downsides to purchasing this
over a standard desktop computer from the time.
With all the components split up on the 2 metal boards,
it’s far more tedious to take apart.
However, Monorail did offer a handful of upgrade packages to existing owners,
including a CPU swap to a 133MHz Intel Pentium, almost doubling the original clock speed.
Monorail touted the program’s simplicity.
All you had to do was give them a call,
and FedEx would come and pick up your machine.
But even with all of that, there’s only a single ISA slot on the entire computer.
Drastically limiting your expansion options.
And even if you only needed one slot, it's in such a cramped area
that it prevents longer and taller cards from fitting in.
The ethernet card that’s in here was sold by Monorail because of its small size.
And it came with this specialized metal bracket that matches the exterior.
Oh and by the way,
the only reason the port wasn’t lining up with the cutout is because the bracket
was slightly bent out of place!
Gosh, that really seems to be a theme with this video.
Anyways, by this time the adhesive on the plastic cylinder had dried, so the stand could
be reassembled, and the Monorail, attached back to it.
While we're here, let's take a brief look around this thing.
All of your I/O is located on the back side,
with the floppy, modem, and expansion card on the right,
and the CD drive on the left.
The front has your contrast, volume, and power controls,
however there is a power switch on the back that controls the PSU itself.
Of course, this machine runs Windows 95.
Almost.
Unfortunately, the installation on the hard drive is not complete.
There’s no WINDOWS folder on the C: drive at all,
and it's possible that it was deleted before the seller listed it.
Even more unfortunate, is that I don’t have the restore CD.
And from what it looks like, not many people do.
I wasn’t able to find an image of one anywhere on the web.
So for now, we’ll have to settle with a generic setup disc
without any of the additional Monorail goodies.
I installed Windows on top of the existing partial install without formatting the drive.
Luckily though, there is a light at the end of the tunnel,
as I was able to buy the original disc off of a private seller.
Once I get it, I’ll make a followup video and yes,
I’ll be sure to archive it for all the fellow Monorail owners out there.
I gotta say, it’s a great feeling to get this thing up and running
after going through that whole debacle.
Now we can finally enjoy Windows 95 on this "gorgeous"
10.4-inch passive matrix display.
Ah yes, words that will strike fear into any PC gamer from this time period.
Although perfectly adequate for basic office tasks,
it immediately becomes subpar when playing any video game with a lot of motion.
Yeah…I’d much rather have a larger CRT.
And you could hook one up using the external VGA port on the back,
but if that was your intention when buying this computer,
why not just put that money towards a more easily upgradeable tower?
And that’s exactly what many people began to do.
By the late ‘90s, other PC manufacturers were offering low cost machines,
eventually getting below $999.
Monorail tried dropping the price of the original model by $100,
and introducing newer machines to keep up with the speed of their competition.
But ultimately,
consumers had to ask where a computer like this really fits in?
I mean, sure... it was uniquely designed,
it was very compact,
and it looked far more appealing than any beige tower out there.
But unfortunately for Monorail,
that alone didn’t save them from extinction.
If you were a consumer choosing between this and a beige tower
that had far more expansion slots, came with a larger CRT,
and was potentially cheaper,
which would you choose?
Monorail did end up releasing some beige towers of their own.
But that got rid of the element of uniqueness that they had.
And they became just another OEM.
Trying to compete with the well established beige box sellers in the industry.
It was a no-win situation.
And after a last ditch effort to re-brand themselves
as an e-solutions business in 2003,
Doug Johns left the company he ran for over half a decade.
And 2 years afterwards, Monorail formally ceased operations.
The only thing left behind was their domain name.
Which was eventually sold to the highest bidder,
and today is the home of a mobile wishlist app.
Quite the transformation for sure.
So that is the story of Monorail.
One of the first ever all-in-one computers
from a company with great ambitions.
Only to meet the unfortunate fate of so many other forgotten OEMs.
Overshadowed by the big name brands that came to dominate the PC world.
I hope you all enjoyed this video, if you did be sure to give it a like and get subscribed.
And as always, I want to thank you all so much for watching and I will see you in the next video.
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