Re: Bought these (retro) hardware today

Posted on Today, 12:41

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Arrived today, a Microstar MS5169 super 7 mobo with K6-2 300 MHz CPU and 64 MB SDRAM. I was looking at the MSI website support page and it looks like based on the available BIOS versions and this version 2 PCB that it will only support up to (I think) a 400 MHz K6-2 CPU, as support for the higher …

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Re: Roland SCC-1 price

Posted on Yesterday, 19:47

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

Yep, spotted that one yesterday. It was only half that then but I already noped out. Easy for me to say though, if you (as I do) already have an SC-55(ST in my case), the added value of an SCC-1 is purely bragging rights. I have better things to spend that kind of money on.

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Re: What Aztech sound card to buy

Posted on Yesterday, 19:39

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

Nice collection! The YMF262 vs LS-212 is purely a matter of labeling, they sound exactly the same. The MMSN824 is the simplest (and therefore usually best) of the 3rd gen Aztech cards. No frills, but very good SBPro2 support, bug-free MPU-401 MIDI and WSS. The other two are 1st gen and as I've …

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Re: What Aztech sound card to buy

Posted on Yesterday, 13:28

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

So I38-MMSD802 has DSS/Covox/SB Pro2 but doesn't have WSS? I'm confused because I've read this here: Practically all of the 1st generation sound cards supports Adlib, Sound Blaster Pro II, Windows Sound System, Disney Sound Source & Covox Speech Thing. And on blog: All chipsets implement the AdLib …

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Re: Hi, Retro Hardware Advice!

Posted on Yesterday, 11:36

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Hi, Got a PM from hard1k asking if I still have the Biostar M7MIA motherboard, but I'm unable to reply due to having too low post count. Just in case they still would like to know, yes, I do, and at the risk of soundling like Rick Astley, I'm never gonna give it up! What makes you ask? Thanks, …

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Re: What Aztech sound card to buy

Posted on 2021-07-20, 23:30

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

I have two 1st gen Aztech cards with the Covox/DSS feature: - NXPro. Definitely the most common out there. Does the job, but no WSS codec, so not what you want. Note that the NXPro 16 is a different card that does have a WSS codec, but supposedly no Covox support... - MMSN810. Probably the most …

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Re: Compaq SW400 (from AP550 workstation) POST codes?

Posted on 2021-07-20, 09:52

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

My Compaq SW400 motherboard (dual slot 1 with i840 Rambus chipset) from a Compaq AP550 workstation is giving me grief. Now, normally in that situation I stick in my POST card and look at its readout. However Compaq is special, and outputs to port 84h, not 80h - but my card picks up something …

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Re: What retro activity did you get up to today?

Posted on 2021-07-20, 06:22

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Playing around with CMS on my Snark Barker SB1.0 replica. Someone on another forum was having trouble with his SB2.0 with CMS in combination with the game and wanted to know if it was just him/his card. It wasn't: starting the game with DOH B resulted in a complete hang of the computer at the TAITO …

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Compaq SW400 (from AP550 workstation) POST codes?

Posted on 2021-07-19, 22:46

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

My Compaq SW400 motherboard (dual slot 1 with i840 Rambus chipset) from a Compaq AP550 workstation is giving me grief. Now, normally in that situation I stick in my POST card and look at its readout. However Compaq is special, and outputs to port 84h, not 80h - but my card picks up something …

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Re: What retro activity did you get up to today?

Posted on 2021-07-19, 22:30

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Playing around with CMS on my Snark Barker SB1.0 replica. Someone on another forum was having trouble with his SB2.0 with CMS in combination with the game and wanted to know if it was just him/his card. It wasn't: starting the game with DOH B resulted in a complete hang of the computer at the TAITO …

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Re: Unknown card

Posted on 2021-07-19, 12:05

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Could this be an Intel Turbo Cache module? That was a thing in early 486 (mainly OEM) era. That said, iirc Turbo Cache was taller and narrower. This looks like it might have been for use in a laptop. Edit: Nope, not turbo cache, those things had a 485 cache controller on them too https://www.cpu- …

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Re: Gigabyte GA-8ITXE and rambus noob

Posted on 2021-07-19, 11:20

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Good luck on your new board ! Have always hated RDram/RAMbus, figured it was Intels way of getting even for us who built are own computers off clone boards back in the late 90's with SDRAM and waiting for DDR and so created it just to eff with us. 'RDRAM was controversial during its widespread use …

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Re: Does this IBM board only work with ECC RAM?

Posted on 2021-07-16, 12:59

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

All specs say it supports ECC, can't find anything actually clarifying it actually requires ECC to boot. Wouldn't be too unusual for an OEM system with its specs though. I'd suggest sourcing a cheap unbuffered ECC DIMM and seeing what it does. Worst case you have good test part for the next board if …

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Re: Unease feelings on other forums visited ?

Posted on 2021-07-15, 16:25

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by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Oh, I think Vogons has it's share of arguments. Many people have strong opinions about things they care about (see my post on best video cards for retro operating systems as an example). I think the Vogons community has a way of letting cooler heads prevail which tends to de-escalate conflicts. I …

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Re: Need help with Packard Bell C115 multimedia PC

Posted on 2021-07-15, 11:22

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

[...] Quick question. I can see the jumpers. Which one is it though? There are multiple jumpers along the bottom of the board. Sorry to be a pain! Matt The whole block is J1F2. It's divided into sections A-D. Within each section the pins are numbered. So I would expect there to be a jumper over …

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Re: Unease feelings on other forums visited ?

Posted on 2021-07-15, 07:13

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

[...] I think those are two of the best Vogon's features, not being competitive and been welcoming. [...] None of this has to do with the forum subject, as others have said any music, art, or whatever forum can become great or awful, I have been at Linux forums that were nice and useful and a …

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Re: Need help with Packard Bell C115 multimedia PC

Posted on 2021-07-14, 23:34

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Here's a photo of the board. Kinda hard to take with the big bar across the top. Does it help identify the mobo? Cheers, Matt Yep, that's clear enough. Intel NV430VX, or in PB-speak PB682 'Orlando 2D' Here's specs & info: http://uktsupport.co.uk/pb/mb/682.htm J1F2A is the jumper you're looking for. …

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Re: Unease feelings on other forums visited ?

Posted on 2021-07-14, 08:52

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

It might be that electric and mechanical people need certain acquired knowledge to handle things or they are so similar as persons. Might also be that the subject matter doesn't attract the most socially skilled people. That said, my eldest child is an art student and they tell me the exact same …

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Re: Graphics card for Windows 3.11 and Nt3.51 in high resolutions (1600x1200 and higher)

Posted on 2021-07-14, 00:43

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

[...] Back in the day I had an old 19” multisync monitor I bought from the tech college gov liquidation auction using BNC cables it was rated for 1600x1200, using a VGA cable it only spec’d 1280x1024 Over BNC the image was notably sharper than using the VGA cable at all resolutions , at that time I …

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Re: Industrial PC

Posted on 2021-07-13, 23:55

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Thanks for the replies. The board is an ICL EY5AC41297. I will grab an ISA graphics card and see what happens. According to the FCC that's an ICL "Accelerator Board". I can't find much more on it, but it may not be a complete Single Board Computer (SBC) designed to be used in a backplane like that. …

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