Re: What retro activity did you get up to today?

Posted on 2020-02-24, 23:23

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by creepingnet

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

This was all last week but you know...... Upgraded both 486s to FreeDOS 1.2. I'm beginning to think this may be the best choice for non-windows vintage PCs and even has some "daily" capabilities such as HTTPS support in Links and Dillo. I liked it so much I sacrificed Win95 on the NEC Versa laptop …

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Re: What retro activity did you get up to today?

Posted on 2020-02-17, 06:48

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by creepingnet

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Been tinkering with FreeDOS as a quasi daily driver on my 486s. The laptop is setup identical to it's 6.22 setup but with 80GB of space and no windows. The desktop is running on 40GB so far really digging Links as a web browser and looking into using AutoTrax 1.61 as a PCB developer. I also …

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Re: Bought these (retro) hardware today

Posted on 2019-12-14, 00:03

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by creepingnet

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Got one of these PC ProPAD 4's. Box had been opened but the controller itself has never been used. Not sure how they hold up against the Gravis Game Pad, will give it a test run over the holidays. Edit: Does any know what year (around) these things are from? Can't find any date on it... https://i. …

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Re: A 286 computer, is it totally useless?

Posted on 2019-12-13, 23:22

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by creepingnet

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

It even has full SVGA broadband graphical internet via Arachne 1.97 GPL. that runs tolerably at 12MHz?? Yes, there's an APM (Arachne Package Manager) file from awhile back, and a special 286 compiled version. Not amazingly fast (actually slow enough to make the "Parsing Java....Would You Like Some …

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Re: A 286 computer, is it totally useless?

Posted on 2019-12-13, 16:33

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by creepingnet

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

286s are not at all useless. One of my vintage boxes is a GEM 286/12 AT clone with SCSI. It even has full SVGA broadband graphical internet via Arachne 1.97 GPL. And there's a lot of games and software for DOS that run on the platform. I kind of see the 80286 as the misunderstood and underrated red …

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Re: What retro activity did you get up to today?

Posted on 2019-11-30, 07:57

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by creepingnet

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I had originally hopes I was done after the laptop. I just got the Cisco WaveLAN card drivers from VCFED and got them working like a champ. Now I'm using that card more than the Lucent WaveLAN Silver. So the wife gets this cool idea to make a "Technology" christmas tree this year because, well, it …

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Re: Post your 'current' PC

Posted on 2019-11-21, 17:50

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by creepingnet

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

I'm running 2 current systems....I'm selling my other 3 laptops off and my Desktop has been decommed for the time being. Windows 10 Dell Latitude E6530 Core i7 3GHz 8GB DDR3 500GB SSD 6GB/s Nvidia Quadro graphics Win10 pro Linux Mint Lenovo T61 "Battle Worn" Core 2 Duo 2.1 GHz 4GB DDR3 500GB SSD …

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Re: DOS 6 22 vs DOS 7.1

Posted on 2019-11-21, 17:34

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by creepingnet

in Marvin \ Software

in Marvin \ Software

I have better luck with 6.22 myself. Something seems off about that unofficial 7.1 release to me. Best DOS memory performance though belongs to FreeDOS for me. Friggin Quake runs comfortably in that setup on my DX4-100.

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Re: What retro activity did you get up to today?

Posted on 2019-11-21, 17:24

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by creepingnet

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Saturday - setup trumpet Winsock and got internet working on the NEC Versa under windows 3.1. Also freed up RAM using the method of installing the Orinoco driver without card services. Found a few more cool BBSes from the Bulletin Board System Facebook group. Also installed Wacky Wheels. Sunday - …

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Re: Crazy prices for some retro hardware stuff.

Posted on 2019-11-21, 17:03

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by creepingnet

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I think sellers don't know what to charge because there really is no standard. I'm into at least four different "hobbies": tech, cars, guitars, and classic gaming....out of all of those vintage computing is the most lacking in standards or decisions on what things are worth. This has been a boon and …

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Re: What retro activity did you get up to today?

Posted on 2019-11-13, 05:09

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by creepingnet

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Got WiFi in DOS working like a champ, was surprisingly easy. The unexpected twist though was when I found I had no winsock installed so I decided to play with mTCP for a bit ultimately messing with the last thing I thought I'd do.....telnetting into BBS. I think I found my "new internet", lol. I …

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Re: What retro activity did you get up to today?

Posted on 2019-11-12, 14:50

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by creepingnet

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Started work prepping the NEC Versa for testing out PCMCIA WiFi in DOS/Win31 using it's original installation. Might have to utilize my 486 desktop at some point to install Opera 3.62 and Win32s on it though (because I need a CD-ROM to copy Opera over).

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Re: The Retro Gaming Laptop specs / buying guide thread

Posted on 2019-11-11, 15:38

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by creepingnet

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

NEC VERSA 40EC IMG_20191108_073445.jpg SPECIFICATIONS PSU: 45 Watt NEC 4 Pin Power Supply, very sturdy connector design BATT: Six Cell Nickel Metal Hydride 7.5V, gives about 2HR of life per battery (up to 4HR total with 2) CASE: NEC Ultralite Versa 486 series case w/ removable/flipable screen MoBo: …

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Re: How do you cool your retro rig?

Posted on 2019-11-11, 15:08

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by creepingnet

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I don't think I have anything more than simple heatsink, thermal pad/paste, and a Radio Shack level heatsink/fan assembly designed for that procesor when it comes to my Pentium 100 and 486 DX4-100 desktops. Everything else seems to be 100% passive cooling, ie, just the top of the chip and the air …

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Re: What retro activity did you get up to today?

Posted on 2019-11-11, 04:10

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by creepingnet

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Finally doing some comparative testing between the Cisco Aironet LMC-352 and Lucent Technologies Orinoco based WaveLAN Silver PCMCIA network cards on my NEC Versa 40EC under Windows 95 OSR 2.5. Got them BOTH installed on the NEC Versa. So far I still prefer the Orinoco functionally, and because I …

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Re: What modern activity did you get up to today?

Posted on 2019-11-05, 05:14

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by creepingnet

in Milliways

in Milliways

I'm testing out three modern laptops out of my hoard of five.....okay, "modern-ish" as a candidate for my first actual serious Linux computer. I've gotten rather sick of Windows 10, being as I support it all day (and it's constant stream of update related maladies), and I spend so much time both …

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Re: What retro activity did you get up to today?

Posted on 2019-11-04, 22:34

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by creepingnet

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Put a watch on a 32MB RAM expansion card for the NEC Versa. Apparently, with some research, it IS compatible....so 36MB is in the future. Not like it really needs it though....even under heavy load my "Stage III Weight Reduced" Win95 install is bloody fast. 35 second boot time, runs Diablo and MS …

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Re: Your Retrogaming laptop/portable machine megathread (recommendations, tips, minutae)

Posted on 2019-11-01, 17:29

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by creepingnet

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I'll chime in on early DOS/Win-16/Win9x stuf I've had... The best of that era for me was the IBM ThinkPad 755CD. They came in 486 DX4 and Pentium 75 configurations, and it seems for a time in the mid 2000s they were making actual Lithium Ion Battery packs for them. They also came with a CD-ROM drive …

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Re: Bought these (retro) hardware today

Posted on 2019-10-28, 20:41

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by creepingnet

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

IMG_20191027_174359_710.jpg Pictures of my recent eBay purchases (except the 4MB RAM card the 16MB replaced). - Kingston 16MB RAM card - Cisco Aironet LCM-352 PCMCIA card (it's actually meant for the pci slot module but the idea was to be able to close the PCMCIA bay door so it has "internal" wifi …

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Re: 486 SX 16 & 20 MHz

Posted on 2019-10-28, 20:36

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by creepingnet

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I think the 20mhz part should work in any board that can support a 20MHz bus. That 20 MHz bus is more common in laptops methinks. I have an NEC Versa V 40EC, and it runs a 486 SL DX2 40MHz....clock double means 20MHz bus speed. That thing is surprisingly nimble for such a slow system bus for a 486. …

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