Re: Allure of retro computing

Posted on 2021-06-18, 20:18

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by DaveJustDave

in Milliways

in Milliways

Seeing games run perfectly on period correct hardware when they face no end of problems on modern hardware, if they run at all. Knowing that this combination of old parts is the only way to experience the game, and the experience would essentially be lost otherwise, is pretty cool. Thats why I'm so …

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Re: What do you drive?

Posted on 2021-05-21, 19:50

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by DaveJustDave

in Milliways

in Milliways

Very nice mk1 ... hard to find in that condition! my first car was a mk2 Jetta, it was a lot of fun to drive Thx, I like it too. I have the same license plate on my last 5 cars :) Nice. In the Netherlands, we can't pick vanity plates, because license plates are linked to the vehicles as opposed to …

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Re: any tips for using old cases with new(ish) hardware?

Posted on 2021-05-06, 17:00

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by DaveJustDave

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

check out the Sleeper Battlestations subreddit.. lots of people doing this.. https://sleeperbattlestations.reddit.com

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Re: Strangest thing found on harddrives

Posted on 2021-05-05, 18:41

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by DaveJustDave

in Milliways

in Milliways

a friend of mine picked up a box of drives at a garage sale. On one drive he found a copy of a term paper that he wrote (at the time) twenty years ago

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Re: What do you drive?

Posted on 2021-04-22, 17:04

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by DaveJustDave

in Milliways

in Milliways

it's a pre-facelift AP1. the post facelift AP2 models didn't redline quite so high. the AP1 was prone to snap oversteer at the limit. I plan on revamping the whole suspension to dial out this behavior. Still though, it has less than half the power of my other car, and doesn't feel like it's always …

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Re: What do you drive?

Posted on 2021-04-22, 05:02

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by DaveJustDave

in Milliways

in Milliways

recently picked this up. I don't think i've ever owned anything that revved to 9k RPM. A lot of little things to work on, but I do like a project.

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Re: What is your unconscious motive for retro hardware ?

Posted on 2021-04-16, 22:20

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by DaveJustDave

in Milliways

in Milliways

Those years went by way too quickly, and many of us aren't done with them yet. When you're a kid, you have limitations. When you're an adult and all this stuff can be had for pennies on the dollar, you can relive all the retro fantasies that never came to fruition. For me it's almost all nostalgia. …

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Re: Tex Murphy Mean Streets - Floppy Images

Posted on 2021-02-02, 18:04

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by DaveJustDave

in DOS

in DOS

Did you still need this? I have a copy on 5.25 i can image

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Re: 64 simultaneous colors possible with EGA?

Posted on 2021-01-25, 23:09

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by DaveJustDave

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

interesting though.. it's still noticeably different from EGA I just happen to have these things on the table, and decided to try out Ironman super off roads, 64 color ega mode. With my CGA/EGA to VGA converter it can sync to it, but looks like it does not have the colour sampling depth to get the …

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Re: IBM 5170 + adaptec AHA-1520 can't handle more than 1GB, is it a BIOS limitation?

Posted on 2021-01-25, 19:52

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by DaveJustDave

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

The 1540 has a BIOS update that enabled extended translation. Maybe the 1520 has something similar? According to the manual that's exactly what that jumper enables. I would have thought that would have worked. I also have a 1542b but that version of the bios doesn't support extended translation.

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IBM 5170 + adaptec AHA-1520 can't handle more than 1GB, is it a BIOS limitation?

Posted on 2021-01-25, 18:09

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by DaveJustDave

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

So I have been fiddling with getting SCSI up and running on my 5170 286. There is a jumper that allows > 1gb. Been trying several 2-4gb quantum and seagate drives, and there appears to be a hard and fast 1GB limitation. I'm using DOS 6.22 expecting to get 2x2gb partitions. FDISK lets me create a max …

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Re: 64 simultaneous colors possible with EGA?

Posted on 2021-01-25, 18:04

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by DaveJustDave

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Interesting. I wish i still had my NEC Multisync 🙁 I guess without the right monitor there's no way to test. I wonder if those CGA/EGA to VGA adapters would support this video mode.

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Re: post up pics of your "computing area"

Posted on 2021-01-25, 18:01

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by DaveJustDave

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

Wouldn't it look a lot better with the tandy beneath the monitor instead of on the floor? sen7inel wrote on 2021-01-25, 13:33: Behold my Tandy 425SX battlestation! A bit minimalist compared to some awesome rigs here but it is what it is.

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64 simultaneous colors possible with EGA?

Posted on 2021-01-24, 07:03

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by DaveJustDave

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

So I seem to remember a few games would display 64 colors on an EGA adapter with a multisync display. Are there any image viewers that will display a GIF in 64 colors? If so, what resolution would it be? 320x200? 640x200? 640x350? I have several EGA adapters with 256k memory, on an IBM 5154. So far …

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what's the definitive beginner's guide for early DOS x86 assembly language?

Posted on 2021-01-19, 21:26

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by DaveJustDave

in Marvin \ Software

in Marvin \ Software

Looking to add a few titles to my (paper) retro book library. Which would you say are the definitive era-specific books from the era (thinking mid to late 1980s)? I would imagine most of them aren't in print anymore, but I wouldn't mind finding some old copies on ebay. Also, what other programming/ …

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Re: 8-Bit Guy video's are becoming a chore!

Posted on 2021-01-08, 18:26

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by DaveJustDave

in Milliways

in Milliways

To be fair, a lot goes into making a decent video. My videos aren't really all that spectacular, and I put an average of 15-20 hours into each one. Shooting footage, re-shooting footage because I messed up, doing research, actually scripting stuff for a change, doing voice overs, editing, etc etc . …

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Re: mistakenly bought Adaptec AHA-1510A SCSI adapter (version with no BIOS), would it still work on a 286?

Posted on 2020-12-22, 17:47

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by DaveJustDave

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

that makes a whole lot of sense. it hadn't occurred to me that I'd need BIOS to boot - duh! I ended up ordering the BIOS version of that board, $20 mistake after shipping. I guess that's not terrible but now I have this paperweight on my desk.

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mistakenly bought Adaptec AHA-1510A SCSI adapter (version with no BIOS), would it still work on a 286?

Posted on 2020-12-22, 04:42

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by DaveJustDave

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

this was one of those incoherent late night ebay purchases. I picked up one of these and when it arrived i realized my mistake. https://www.artisantg.com/itemimages/Adaptec_AHA_1510A_View1_20176211633.jpg Would it still work in DOS 6.22 on a 286 class machine? I would just need some drivers from …

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Re: 386DX-40 board, keyboard error, no lights to keyboard

Posted on 2020-12-22, 04:38

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by DaveJustDave

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I would check the 5V at both ends of the keyboard-fuse first. If it´s near 0V at both ends, check all 5V terminals at the AT (PSU) connector . If there´s also 0V - does the PSU start up? Is the fan spinning? If not (and if the PSU is o.k.), there might be a shorted tantalum capacitor on the …

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386DX-40 board, keyboard error, no lights to keyboard

Posted on 2020-12-14, 05:26

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by DaveJustDave

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

So this thing was JUST working. I was handling it a bit, and now it's acting up. Tried different keyboards (which all worked on another machine, so I don't think its the kb fuse) The joints on the connector look OK, no corrosion on this board, the battery was cut out a long time ago. Checking 5V on …

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