Re: The 386, 486, and Pentium 1 motherboards of your dreams
Posted on Today, 13:03
12 ISA slots. That is all. 😀
Re: Choosing the right capacitors for a recap
Posted on Yesterday, 19:16
You're on the right track. The only thing I'd add is being aware of polarization. Some caps are polar (e.g. positive and negative sides), some are non-polar. Motherboard caps will typically be polarized. Just make sure when recapping, that you line up the respective positive and negative sides …
Re: Help me decide which PSUs to keep or to dump
Posted on Yesterday, 14:56
Do you have a multimeter? I'd test each PSU and get rid of any that are putting out out-of-spec voltages.
Re: Epson Equity
Posted on 2023-09-30, 13:42
Here's some photos. Equity I motherboard: Filename Equity I motherboard.jpg File size 1.92 MiB Views 47 views Equity I+ motherboard: Filename Equity I+ motherboard.jpg File size 1.46 MiB Views 47 views
Re: Epson Equity
Posted on 2023-09-30, 03:46
I have both systems (Equity I and Equity I+). I haven't fully disassembled the Equity I, so I don't know all the specific details of its motherboard. But from what I can see of the Equity I board, it looks like it has a different layout than the Equity I+. Of course, the Equity I is an XT-clone (4. …
Re: Motherboard cleaning
Posted on 2023-09-30, 03:21
I've seen some metals begin to oxidize quickly after being exposed to water (I had some screws begin to rust within a few hours after washing something and sitting it on a shelf to dry). This is why I use an air compressor for drying. You can get them almost entirely dry in a few minutes. Plus it …
Re: Motherboard cleaning
Posted on 2023-09-30, 03:09
On really dirty motherboards, I've used soap and water. The key is make sure they are rinsed thoroughly and completely dry before powering up. I use an air compressor to blow dry any electronics I clean with water just make sure there is no residue of anything left behind. Other than that, I …
Re: What?? Both VLB and PCI slots on a 486 mobo?
Posted on 2023-09-30, 00:52
matze79 wrote on 2023-09-29, 19:39: i would not even play any Super VGA Title on a 486. 486 just stinks for HighRes Graphics. Its too slow for SVGA. Depends on the games. Legend Entertainment games (Gateway, etc.) and Settlers run fine on my 486 DX-33 in SVGA in my experience.
Re: What?? Both VLB and PCI slots on a 486 mobo?
Posted on 2023-09-30, 00:48
The problem with VLB controllers is the drivers only support hard drives up to 420mb. I think if you use a CF card and don’t load the VLB Drivers you might be able to get around this limitation I'm using a VLB controller w/ drivers with a 512MB CF card. Haven't noticed any issues. Performance tests …
Re: Do I want a Sonic Impact S100 PCI card?
Posted on 2023-09-29, 20:57
The Serpent Rider wrote on 2023-09-29, 13:31: Allegro FM synth is subpar. FM's probably not that important though given it's a PCI sound card from 1998.
Re: Need help in identifying faulty device
Posted on 2023-09-29, 20:01
Do you have other hardware you can swap in (e.g. CPU, video card, RAM)? Best way to isolate the problem hardware is to isolate individual components. If you think the video card is an issue, try the system with a different video card. If it's the CPU, try with a different CPU. Etc.
Re: Specs for a period correct(ish) 1997 build
Posted on 2023-09-29, 01:59
leileilol wrote on 2023-09-28, 01:51: There's a few other non-FF7 midi 3d accel'd games too, can think of Montezuma's Return, Extreme Assault, Hexen II, and Jetfighter Full Burn Blood comes to mind as well, with the 3Dfx Voodoo 1 patch.
Re: What?? Both VLB and PCI slots on a 486 mobo?
Posted on 2023-09-28, 23:45
A couple of years ago I actually had one of those motherboards in a system I found on the side of the road , but I sold the system since I didn't know what it was worth at the time. That's the Asus PVI-486SP3 motherboard I posted earlier. Recent Ebay sales have this board going for around $300 USD.
Re: Faulty Roland SCC-1 (no audio): attempts to diagnose and repair this card
Posted on 2023-09-28, 23:38
Next step I decided to test the MIDI input from the MIDI circuit into the sound generation circuit. It enters by way of a signal fed to the sound generation control chip (IC10) via pin 67. Probing this pin on the bad card revealed no activity when playback was stopped, but a signal when playback was …
Re: Faulty Roland SCC-1 (no audio): attempts to diagnose and repair this card
Posted on 2023-09-28, 23:30
I had doubts the issue was in the audio circuit itself, since I would expect either some audio output even in just one channel. So I decided to see if the DAC itself was a the problem. Roland SCC-1 test bench probe.jpg I initially tested a working Roland SCC-1 to use as a benchmark. I took voltage …
Faulty Roland SCC-1 (no audio): attempts to diagnose and repair this card
Posted on 2023-09-28, 23:26
This is going to be a log of my attempts to diagnose and repair a faulty Roland SCC-1 I acquired recently. Roland SCC-1 no audio.jpg Initially, I tried it in a PC under Windows 95 and DOS. The card is detected just fine, produces MIDI output, but no audio output. I tried using the DOS Roland utility …
Re: AT case front panels
Posted on 2023-09-28, 18:17
I second the recommendation to use Acetone or MEK on case plastics. It effectively dissolves the plastics together and can form a pretty solid bond. I've used Acetone in combination with Epoxy resin filler to repair cracked and chipped cases. I then airbrush over the results to blend the repair …
Re: What?? Both VLB and PCI slots on a 486 mobo?
Posted on 2023-09-28, 15:56
VLB had a Short life between 1993-95 mainly. If you plan on building a 486 computer I would go with an ISA motherboard or PCI. PCI motherboard will provide best performance and will be less expensive to build with Newer bios too. There are different goals for different builds. Best performance may …
Re: What?? Both VLB and PCI slots on a 486 mobo?
Posted on 2023-09-28, 12:53
VLB and PCI wasn't super common, but there were some that existed. Even some boards like this Asus PVI-486SP3 that had PCI, VLB and built in I/O controllers, all on one board.
Re: What kind of computer towers did you choose for your retro systems?
Posted on 2023-09-28, 00:51
Maybe this is complete heresy, but what is people's view of using an as-old-fashioned-as-possible new case for any new retro builds? Just seems like it would be hard to find older cases in good condition, with the drive bay covers, etc. But while cases generally today have turned into ridiculous …
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