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

Posted on 2024-04-06, 18:58

by

by StriderTR

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I made time to strip down and clean the most recent Lian Li case I picked up. It's only a PC-7 but boy oh boy, do these things ever clean up well. A bit unconventional maybe, especially doing it in the shower... but alloy wheel cleaner is acidic enough to take any tarnishing off the raw aluminium …

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

Posted on 2024-04-05, 18:45

by

by StriderTR

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Moved my DOS/Win3.1 PC into a new case! I had it in an old Cougar case I had lying around, but it only had a single 3.5 and single 5.25 bay, not enough room for my needs. So I got an Antec VSK4000E-U3_US, simple case, but has 3 5.25 bays and a single 3.5. Now I have room for a CD-ROM should I ever …

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

Posted on 2024-04-05, 07:04

by

by StriderTR

in Milliways

in Milliways

Why Win10 takes forever even on NVMEs? I see I'm not the only one that can't stand the fact Windows is so insanely slow when updating. In all reality, if it wasn't for my software and DirectX needs, I would run Ubuntu on everything. As it is now, I only run Windows on my primary system, everything …

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

Posted on 2024-04-05, 05:47

by

by StriderTR

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

It may well have been loose via, or trace cracked at bottom of via that was causing your issue, so it's good luck that it went like that. Yeah, there was no visible solder left in the via, so I assumed it was already weak and perhaps the source of the intermittent connectivity problem I was having. …

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

Posted on 2024-04-05, 03:45

by

by StriderTR

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Replaced the keyboard/mouse PS2 connector on my Asus TX97-XE. Ran into a bit of an "issue" during the removal, as seen in the close-up picture... Via pulled out and lifted trace, so I had to repair that. Fun. After that, it was smooth sailing. Connectivity issue seems fixed. 😀

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Re: Real HDD vs CF to ide vs SD to ide?

Posted on 2024-04-02, 23:37

by

by StriderTR

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Personally, I use IDE to SD adapters for my DOS and early Windows needs. For me, their convenience outweighs the speed limitations. Also, very cheap and easy to clone as needed. If I want speed, like for later Windows, I use SATA to IDE and just use a modern SSD. My early/later Windows depends on …

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Re: Bought these (retro) hardware today

Posted on 2024-03-30, 05:18

by

by StriderTR

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

The last of my "floppy" goodness arrived! Alps Drive to go into my DOS 6.22/Win 3.1 machine alongside the GoTek. Disks mainly for the DOS machine as well. Sony 2X drive mainly for archival purposes.

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Re: What music are you listening to?

Posted on 2024-03-29, 06:57

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by StriderTR

in Milliways

in Milliways

I really enjoy chiptunes of all sorts, as well as remasters and/or live versions of those same tunes. I have a rather large collection of modules I've download over the years, but I also like a lot of classic video game music. One of my all time favorites just about everything from Castlevania and I …

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Re: Where to upload old software extracted off old floppies?

Posted on 2024-03-26, 17:31

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by StriderTR

in Marvin \ Software

in Marvin \ Software

Create a free https://archive.org/ account and archive your finds there. That's what a majority of people do. It's an excellent resource for hard to find data. I just started mine as well, only has a few things on it at the moment, until I have time to start going through all my disks. :) REMOVED …

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Re: Where to upload old software extracted off old floppies?

Posted on 2024-03-26, 05:47

by

by StriderTR

in Marvin \ Software

in Marvin \ Software

Create a free https://archive.org/ account and archive your finds there. That's what a majority of people do. It's an excellent resource for hard to find data. I just started mine as well, only has a few things on it at the moment, until I have time to start going through all my disks. :) REMOVED …

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

Posted on 2024-03-25, 21:24

by

by StriderTR

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Started printing new homes for my old processors. First one is done and I really like it! Much better than how I was storing them, in the old clam-shells they came in. 😀 Source: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4884515

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Re: Bought these (retro) hardware today

Posted on 2024-03-25, 20:30

by

by StriderTR

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

BitWrangler wrote on 2024-03-25, 19:59: 90s cable management: "Do the cables get trapped when I put the cover on?" no "All good then, no need to get anal." Heck, I still sometimes do that today, just behind the motherboard tray instead of in front of it. 😜

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Re: Re-using dead motherboards components

Posted on 2024-03-25, 20:26

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by StriderTR

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

It also pays to note that manufacturers sometimes (and even more so these days) use custom components that you wont be able to use on anything other than boards of the same series, if at all. When it comes to newer hardware like you're talking about, for me personally, unless it's the exact same …

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Re: Bought these (retro) hardware today

Posted on 2024-03-25, 18:48

by

by StriderTR

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

My 3.5 floppy drives arrived today! 😀 The Sony drive got a small crack in the cover in shipping, but I only paid $8 for it, so I'm not going to complain. Now it's time to get the Alps installed in my DOS/Win3.1 system alongside the GoTek. Let the data archiving begin!

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Re: Re-using dead motherboards components

Posted on 2024-03-25, 17:39

by

by StriderTR

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

The simple answer is, it depends. I steal from one board to repair another board all the time. If the part being exchanged is completely identical, then in most cases it can be, it's just a matter of a little soldering work. If it's not identical, but in the same package and of a different model/ …

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

Posted on 2024-03-25, 08:06

by

by StriderTR

in Milliways

in Milliways

Built my new family "server" and installed Ubuntu 22.04. Worked on getting it configured. Ryzen 2600. 16GB RAM. 512GB NVMe. Had most of the hardware on-hand already, not being used. Just needed a motherboard and that arrived Sunday. Once it's all done, it will be somewhat "headless", controlled by …

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Re: What brand / computer company used this logo?

Posted on 2024-03-24, 03:59

by

by StriderTR

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I ran into an issue recently where I had found and bought some sticks of RAM labeled as PC133 SDRAM, but they had RAMBUS style metal heat-spreaders on them. I assumed they were just added for cosmetics since extra heat dissipation is not needed on PC133 SDRAM. Either way, I thought they looked cool …

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Re: What brand / computer company used this logo?

Posted on 2024-03-23, 19:31

by

by StriderTR

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I ran into an issue recently where I had found and bought some sticks of RAM labeled as PC133 SDRAM, but they had RAMBUS style metal heat-spreaders on them. I assumed they were just added for cosmetics since extra heat dissipation is not needed on PC133 SDRAM. Either way, I thought they looked cool. …

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Re: Multilaser Floppy Disks - Anyone use them?

Posted on 2024-03-22, 02:53

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by StriderTR

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I ended up going with the Maxell disks. 😀 I've used, know, and trust them more than I would a random generic brand. Still, as "brand name" floppies get harder to find at a reasonable price, it would be nice to know if some of these new old stock generics are any good.

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Multilaser Floppy Disks - Anyone use them?

Posted on 2024-03-21, 20:59

by

by StriderTR

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Looking at buying a pack of 3.5 floppies, was going to buy a pack of Maxell MF2HD disk from floppydisk.com via their Amazon storefront becasue I have used them before. $13 shipped. Appear to be new, reformatted and verified by seller. https://www.amazon.com/Maxell-1-44MB-Pre-Formatted-MF2HD-10-Pack/ …

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