Re: Connect CD-ROM on Sound Blaster CT2290 CD-ROM interface

Posted on 2024-04-18, 20:56

by

by keenmaster486

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

https://www.dosdays.co.uk/topics/sb16.php#CT2290 This card seems to have Panasonic and IDE interfaces. I'm assuming you have the drive connected to IDE and not Panasonic? Also see here: https://wiki.preterhuman.net/Creative_Labs_Sound_Blaster_16_CT2290 You have to set your IDE jumpers so as not to …

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Re: How hard is it to find retro/vintage computer hardware where you live?

Posted on 2024-04-18, 17:33

by

by keenmaster486

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Almost nothing. Recycle centers are still the best bet, where you might find something rather than nothing at all, or a dark yellow CRT for $200 on Facebook Marketplace.

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Crystal controlled 486 boards and FSB speed: 50 MHz?

Posted on 2024-04-10, 05:36

by

by keenmaster486

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I have this 486 motherboard that has a clock crystal. It came with a 50 MHz crystal installed, and a 486 SX/25 CPU, presumably running at... 0.5X motherboard clock? There are jumper settings for 1x and 2x. It was set to 1x. I upgraded it to a 486DX2/66 CPU and set the jumpers according to the manual …

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Re: Premade DOS Hard Drive Image

Posted on 2024-04-07, 05:00

by

by keenmaster486

in DOS

in DOS

You are asking for trouble. I have found that there is only one reliable way to get DOS onto an old computer with modern flash storage, and that is to partition and format the drive using the actual DOS FDISK and FORMAT tools, from a floppy disk, or perhaps a Windows 98 installation CD (you can use …

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Re: Lan-2-Wifi connection for retro rig?

Posted on 2024-04-02, 18:11

by

by keenmaster486

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Router in bridge mode is probably the most painless solution.

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Re: Re-using dead motherboards components

Posted on 2024-03-25, 17:22

by

by keenmaster486

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Step 1: Learn how to do that. Step 2: With your new-found skills, get a high paying job so you can just buy what you need and don't have to do that any more.

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Re: RTC flying at 10x speed

Posted on 2024-03-16, 22:45

by

by keenmaster486

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Reflowed all the solder joints on all the components nearby, didn’t fix it. Not sure where to go from here.

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Re: RTC flying at 10x speed

Posted on 2024-03-16, 21:07

by

by keenmaster486

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Testing in the BIOS. I tried replacing the crystal. No dice. Even tried removing it entirely - same behavior, so it's acting as though it isn't there at all. If I touch one leg of the crystal, or any of the small surface mount components surrounding it, I can stop the clock entirely.

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RTC flying at 10x speed

Posted on 2024-03-16, 05:46

by

by keenmaster486

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

So I take my 486 (Dell 466/M) out of storage and I'm greeted with this: the clock is running so fast it counts a minute about every 5-10 seconds. Assuming the RTC crystal is bad. Hoping it isn't the chip itself, wherever it is (integrated into chipset?) Tomorrow I'll try replacing the crystal. Just …

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Re: Serial Mouse not working in DOS

Posted on 2024-03-14, 22:32

by

by keenmaster486

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Well what mouse driver are you using? MS Mouse? CTMOUSE? Have you checked the usage instructions on the driver to make sure you're selecting the right port? You have to do basic troubleshooting yourself or at least give us all the info, otherwise we can't say anything to you except "idk try a …

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Re: new laptop hard drive

Posted on 2024-03-07, 23:35

by

by keenmaster486

in Milliways

in Milliways

Get the SSD. You have no excuse now that they are so cheap.

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Re: Do discrete sound cards have any gaming utility in modern computers?

Posted on 2024-03-07, 16:32

by

by keenmaster486

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

As I mentioned earlier, my experience is that onboard sound and USB sound results in ground loops + system noise, whereas dedicated sound cards do not. In that circumstance, audio quality is improved with a dedicated sound card. That hasn't been my experience. I've been running a Behringer UMC404 …

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Re: AWE64 CQM issues and OPL3 ATII compatibility questions

Posted on 2024-03-07, 16:25

by

by keenmaster486

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

AT2 has an option in the config file to enable delays before OPL3 writes. Enabling it should help.

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Re: Do discrete sound cards have any gaming utility in modern computers?

Posted on 2024-03-07, 16:23

by

by keenmaster486

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

Only as a matter of convenience, and that mostly in audio interfaces like Behringer DACs that have XLR inputs so you can plug in a nice microphone. You're not going to gain anything that's actually useful in terms of audio quality.

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Re: AWE64 CQM issues

Posted on 2024-03-04, 06:07

by

by keenmaster486

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

Weird that a driver would fix that problem. The FM functionality is just accessed directly through a port. Might have something to do with the timing. You're supposed to observe time delays before you write to OPL2 or OPL3 ports, and not all software does that, plus whether or not it causes problems …

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Re: AWE64 CQM issues

Posted on 2024-03-01, 18:37

by

by keenmaster486

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

I haven't noticed the clicking you mention on any of my AWE64 cards, Value or Gold, but they do have the typical harsh CQM sound to them, with some instruments in more complex OPL3 music not sounding correct as well.

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Re: Tell about your country

Posted on 2024-02-20, 18:41

by

by keenmaster486

in Milliways

in Milliways

America is actually several nations stuffed into one country wearing a trench coat and all arguing with each other constantly. Which one do you want to know about?

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Re: Best IPS (if any) monitor for retrogaming

Posted on 2024-02-19, 19:22

by

by keenmaster486

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

The retro PC -> LCD display problem has not been solved. There are many "solutions", but they are all varying degrees of bad. Devices such as the upcoming "CRT Terminator" will help. A VGA scaler that actually works will be the best long term solution if it is ever invented.

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Re: Emulating smooth scrolling in EGA - SOM + Pel panning?

Posted on 2024-02-15, 20:20

by

by keenmaster486

in PC Emulation

in PC Emulation

Something like that. I can't remember exactly. I think the info is in one of these threads: Why does Commander Keen 4-6 hardware scrolling glitch on ATI (Mach) PCI video cards? Pulling my hair out with EGA programming. VGA behavior when "scrolling over the edge"

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Re: Emulating smooth scrolling in EGA - SOM + Pel panning?

Posted on 2024-02-15, 04:40

by

by keenmaster486

in PC Emulation

in PC Emulation

I think there's been discussion about this before with reference to clone EGA cards not scrolling Commander Keen correctly.

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