Re: Pentium MMX build for late DOS/Win95 games.

Posted on 2021-12-15, 18:16

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by gdjacobs

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

The ESS Audiodrive chip is the 1869F. Certainly seems like a nice option, even if I am planning on using the sound card. The ESS11869 is lovely. I definitely prefer ESFM synthesis rather than the CQM modulation you'll get from the AWE64. I also noticed quite a few of the SIS 5598 drivers are …

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Re: PSU for Socket A - Athlon XP 3000+

Posted on 2021-12-02, 02:11

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by gdjacobs

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

30A on 5V isn't an outrageous target. It isn't, but stating that you need 30A as a bare minimum for such setup is not correct. You may want higher output on 5v rail if you use a lot of hard drives in your retro system. Especially if it's something like WD Raptor or SCSI. These doom canisters …

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Re: Dual socket 7 build

Posted on 2021-12-01, 04:02

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by gdjacobs

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

3COM and Netgear were the nics to have for Windows 9x... For XP, Intel should be fine as older Realtek were sometimes kinda wonky. Make sure you have a NIC that does hardware offloading. Intel and 3com were the best options for fast ethernet, although DEC Tulip and Tulip clones (Lite-on PNIC and …

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Re: PSU for Socket A - Athlon XP 3000+

Posted on 2021-11-25, 22:56

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by gdjacobs

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

You want at least 30A there for high-end AthlonXP CPUs. That's a common myth. You don't need that much current. Modern PSU with 25A should more that enough. The XP 3200+ Barton does require a lot of current given the maximum TDP of about 75W or 80W (depending on FSB clock). Given conversion losses …

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Re: Ultimate multi-sound card setup?

Posted on 2021-10-09, 06:00

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by gdjacobs

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

BloodyCactus wrote on 2021-09-13, 12:41: I have a 104 + 105, they are not the same internally. the 104 is even passive, no power required, the 105 requires power. i mothballed both of mine to use a Roland A-880 instead. The 105 is likely buffering each output so the current draw on the source …

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Re: Does the Yahama YMF 719 (not 718-s) have real OPL3?

Posted on 2021-09-16, 04:26

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by gdjacobs

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

All of the YMF71x chips have OPL3 inside them, regardless of the OPL logo that is seen on some of the chips. (there are OPL3 chips with and without the logo for example, it is purely aesthetic thing) It's a 48khz implementation, just like the YMF289. Extensive testing on the forum hasn't revealed …

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Re: mp3

Posted on 2021-09-16, 04:22

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by gdjacobs

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

Yes, with MPXPLAY . You'll need a least a fast 486 as minimum for playing high bitrate MP3 files. Quite a few options. https://pmwiki.xaver.me/drdoswiki/index.php?n=Main.Mediaplayers#toc4 I suspect the most efficient player will be something fairly cut down such as DOSAMP. I've heard of reduced …

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Re: HardMPU, anyone?

Posted on 2021-09-16, 04:04

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by gdjacobs

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

Are these HardMPU-boards cheaper than the PCMIDI from keropi? I ask because I need one or two for my PCs and I only have one PCMIDI and cannot afford another one at the moment :) Keropi's project is sweet, but these boards have no hidden special sauce burned into the GAL chips. This means you can …

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Re: Not so crazy idea : using a Raspberry Pi 4 with jackd , Zita A2J bridge and jack_mixer to make a software S/PDIF mix

Posted on 2021-08-08, 00:00

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by gdjacobs

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

In IMD, component audio tones of your signal heterodyne in the audio device producing unrelated audio tones that really stand out from the input. You really need more than one input sinusoidal tone to generate IMD interference.

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Re: Not so crazy idea : using a Raspberry Pi 4 with jackd , Zita A2J bridge and jack_mixer to make a software S/PDIF mix

Posted on 2021-08-06, 05:33

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by gdjacobs

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

Just putting together a method for this. Using Audacity/Nyquist, I get an unloaded THD of about 1% compared to a 20hz generated tone. This is going through an HDA output and CM104 input. Not sure how valid this is, though. Maybe the best option is to crib off each other so we're comparing the same …

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Re: Not so crazy idea : using a Raspberry Pi 4 with jackd , Zita A2J bridge and jack_mixer to make a software S/PDIF mix

Posted on 2021-08-04, 18:28

by

by gdjacobs

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

If operating in non-duplex mode (only recording OR playing back), there are no issues with pw-jack, I get the same results as with ordinary jack or zita . This sounds fishy. Worth trying with different host and/or USB sound hardware? I got the same results on a Pi 4 and on an x86-64 machine, so the …

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Re: Not so crazy idea : using a Raspberry Pi 4 with jackd , Zita A2J bridge and jack_mixer to make a software S/PDIF mix

Posted on 2021-08-04, 14:31

by

by gdjacobs

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

darry wrote on 2021-08-04, 01:17: If operating in non-duplex mode (only recording OR playing back), there are no issues with pw-jack, I get the same results as with ordinary jack or zita . This sounds fishy. Worth trying with different host and/or USB sound hardware?

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Re: Not so crazy idea : using a Raspberry Pi 4 with jackd , Zita A2J bridge and jack_mixer to make a software S/PDIF mix

Posted on 2021-08-03, 21:42

by

by gdjacobs

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

I've been using Pipewire for a little while now with good results. It simplifies handling of multiple audio devices and can be managed with JACK routing tools, so it would be particularly useful for this project.

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Re: A "broad spectrum" 90s build?

Posted on 2021-07-21, 18:07

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by gdjacobs

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

All right, I'mma list a bunch of cheap-ish stuff I found: ... Pretty please pick ~3 of them. I'd prefer ones that do DOS as good as the do W9x, but DOS is primary here, as I can (should I?) get some 5.1 Live! for W9x exclusively. Plus I already have that AV511 CM8738, which as I noticed by Vogons …

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Re: PCI OPL3 sound cards

Posted on 2021-07-17, 00:40

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by gdjacobs

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

ALS4000 based cards have a close OPL3 clone.

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Re: A "broad spectrum" 90s build?

Posted on 2021-07-16, 15:16

by

by gdjacobs

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Can you give me some ESS full name examples, I'm not familiar with them. Lots of names. ESS chips were used by a lot of small board manufacturers. You can search them under ePay by the chip identifiers. i.e. ES1868, ES1869, etc. Gerwin has a file that's a good resource to start with. Use his link …

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Re: A "broad spectrum" 90s build?

Posted on 2021-07-16, 00:40

by

by gdjacobs

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Can you recommend one that is readily available/inexpensive/simply gets the job done, nothing more, nothing fancy. Yamaha YMF. Sound Blaster 16 Value SB AWE64 Value Various ESS cards 1) Real OPL3, good compatibility, slightly funky OEM drivers. You can use SETYMF or UNISOUND , although I have not …

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Re: A "broad spectrum" 90s build?

Posted on 2021-07-15, 00:54

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by gdjacobs

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

P3 can be slowed down by disabling cache. I guess flexibility is nice but I don't get why some people insist on having complete control over CPU speed, isn't 'very slow' and 'full speed' enough? I guess there are some games that require a specific faster speed, like some Wing Commander or Ultima …

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Re: A "broad spectrum" 90s build?

Posted on 2021-07-14, 10:02

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by gdjacobs

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

People, thanks A LOT for the input, all of you! I do have A LOT of questions now: - Since I need a Voodoo card for Glide, do I need a GPU for DX/GL, aka does Voodoo do these proper and fast ? - For those recommending PIII builds, why ISA? Wasn't ISA replaced by PCI and AGP by then? - Why recommend …

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Re: A "broad spectrum" 90s build?

Posted on 2021-07-13, 17:00

by

by gdjacobs

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

For something different, you can pair your BX board with a VIA C3 Ezra.

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