Re: a 386 with 256K cache? It is done and works, mostly (questions inside)

Posted on Yesterday, 23:44

by

by AlaricD

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

So, to address possible stability issues, I've added some heatsinks to the CPU (which gets arbitrarily hot) and to the FPU (which remains at room temperature most times). Sorry to threadsurrect-- but did you find it was a thermal event? Also, some of the Cx486DLC-40s had a problem when run with …

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Re: Testing tool for DOS to check stereo CD audio?

Posted on 2020-12-01, 20:48

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by AlaricD

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

You could just use a continuity meter on the cable. Also, you can review this article: https://www.vogonswiki.com/index.php/CD_audio_connectors

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Re: Hosed my Seagate FireCuda 1000GB

Posted on 2020-10-29, 16:18

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by AlaricD

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

SeaTools says the firmware revision is "unknown"; have you tried to find a firmware update for it? I'm not sure if SeaTools has an integrated firmware update utility.

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Re: Alltronics has vintage computer parts cheap:

Posted on 2020-10-24, 00:46

by

by AlaricD

in Milliways

in Milliways

cyclone3d wrote on 2020-10-23, 22:17: https://www.alltronics.com/cgi-bin/category.c … N332&type=store D'oh, pretty sure I saw it but it didn't click with me what it was Thank you!!!

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Re: Alltronics has vintage computer parts cheap:

Posted on 2020-10-23, 21:50

by

by AlaricD

in Milliways

in Milliways

cyclone3d wrote on 2020-09-30, 18:24: Also saw that they have 256k async COAST modules (55 available) for $6.95 each. I looked through all 11 pages of their computer stuff and searched for COAST and cache and found nothing. Was hoping they'd have one that would work on the HOT-541.

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Re: CD not recognized by DOS or Windows 3.11 for Workgroups

Posted on 2020-10-12, 15:25

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by AlaricD

in DOS

in DOS

We don't know if it works at all right now-- you suspect it's because it's a burned CD but you haven't tested it with standard 'pressed' CD. Also, when inserting the CD, take note of the position of the label and see if after ejecting after a failed read if it's turned at all. Harder to test for is …

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Re: Mystic Towers music/soundfx stops playing after 10 seconds

Posted on 2020-09-28, 21:05

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by AlaricD

in DOS

in DOS

digger, I'll try that and get back to you - I was hoping not to open the case for the nth time but oh well. Don't close the case until you know it's all working correctly ;) Also, it's odd that the SB16 is on I/O 240-- what's on 220 that you couldn't choose that instead? And are you sure nothing …

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Re: is this pc good?

Posted on 2020-09-28, 18:21

by

by AlaricD

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

are their a list where i can see which games are 3d accelarated? *is there And yes, there are lists like that. https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?t=33483 is one list Note that in the very early days of 3D acceleration there were some competing graphics card makers and competing APIs and some …

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Re: Nexgen motherboard and Intel 486

Posted on 2020-09-13, 19:55

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by AlaricD

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

More like https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybXrrTX3LuI

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Re: Tandy 1400LT. Copying and executing Command.com from RAM disk

Posted on 2020-09-12, 21:02

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by AlaricD

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

kirikl wrote on 2020-09-11, 22:41: Its working! With set path! Yes. Speed is amazing! Boot is longer, but not dramatically, probably 5 seconds more! Thank you! Nice! Sorry I forgot about the PATH earlier. That five extra seconds will be worth it when everything else goes so much more smoothly. Glad …

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Re: Tandy 1400LT. Copying and executing Command.com from RAM disk

Posted on 2020-09-11, 22:13

by

by AlaricD

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

You might also need to set the PATH= variable to NOT use A:, in case you type a command and it's trying to find files on a diskette that's not inserted. What is the exact error message you are getting when you try this?

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Re: Tandy 1400LT. Copying and executing Command.com from RAM disk

Posted on 2020-09-11, 21:07

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by AlaricD

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Well, I misunderstood your question or you misunderstood my answer. Use the command.com that the RAM disk works with. I was just mentioning that this technique should work with DOS versions other than the one I was using. Basically, if you can boot from a floppy and it makes a RAM disk for you, you …

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Re: Tandy 1400LT. Copying and executing Command.com from RAM disk

Posted on 2020-09-11, 19:46

by

by AlaricD

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

What DOS version it started from? I'll try later today. I have tandy DOS (ibm?) 3.20 When I had a Tandy 1000 SL or similar, I think I was using 6.0 or 6.22 with my boot diskettes but the COMSPEC variable goes way back, it should be supported in older MS-DOS (and other) versions. I used the above …

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Re: Tandy 1400LT. Copying and executing Command.com from RAM disk

Posted on 2020-09-11, 19:13

by

by AlaricD

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Yes, you can copy command.com to the RAM drive and then set the COMSPEC variable to point to the new location. Put that in the AUTOEXEC.BAT after the command that copies COMMAND.COM to the RAM drive: Copy code to clipboard 1 COPY A:\COMMAND.COM C:\COMMAND.COM /B 2 SET COMSPEC=C:\COMMAND.COM

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Re: Rocking AMD 386 DX 40Mhz system build

Posted on 2020-08-31, 17:19

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by AlaricD

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

Robin4 wrote on 2011-06-26, 14:02: Temperoraly ATI Wonder+ 512MB Graphics card. Ohhhh, 512KB 😉 Was wondering where you'd gotten a 512MB ISA card 😉

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Re: Windows 3.1 / 9x games that require Quicktime

Posted on 2020-08-12, 15:57

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by AlaricD

in Deep Thought

in Deep Thought

skitters wrote on 2020-06-08, 19:03: Here's my list. It's not complete. Connections Came here to say Connections but you beat me to it (by some months, even). Loved the TV show. I still need to finish that game.

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Re: Any way to wipe a FATX partition from a Western Digital Protege HDD?

Posted on 2020-07-23, 22:05

by

by AlaricD

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Also, if DBaN has already gone more than even .01%, it's probably done the job.

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Re: Any way to wipe a FATX partition from a Western Digital Protege HDD?

Posted on 2020-07-23, 21:16

by

by AlaricD

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

We don't know the size, the rotational speed (probably 7200rpm) the or the wipe method you're using so it's hard to attempt to guess. Did you use a default like DoD short? Or even quicker, the "quick erase" if the controller supports it (which, possibly not if it's IDE). How many rounds? …

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Re: New/third retro machine came in today!

Posted on 2020-07-23, 20:34

by

by AlaricD

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Very VERY nice! To possibly ID that motherboard, orient it so the keyboard port is to the lower right and then compare to the line drawings that start here: https://stason.org/TULARC/pc/motherboards/m386_1.html You'll soon be able to quickly skim the images until you find a match. It's a LITTLE …

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Re: 486 vs Pentium for a Retro build

Posted on 2020-07-09, 22:02

by

by AlaricD

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Strangely, the 486 is less of a favorite of mine compared to 386 or Pentium, but that boils down to pure nostalgia, I'm sure. I also like those 386-to-486 upgrade chips, even as the rest of the 386 board's architecture means that it'll still be at a disadvantage (for example, smaller motherboard …

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