Re: Ebay blocks computer games and other items from buyer's search result - apparently to strongarm sellers to join GSP

Posted on 2013-05-09, 16:52

by

by NJRoadfan

in Milliways

in Milliways

As destination country's import tax, it happens between the item's recipient and her/his coountry's local custom. There is no reason why ebay should add import tax to the item's price, because ebay does not pay the said tax to the destination country's custom office either. Any tax/duty is the …

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Re: Another 486 build.... with EISA!

Posted on 2013-05-09, 04:24

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by NJRoadfan

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

Yeah, with slower memory timings, the L2 appears to work without a problem on the NiCE board.

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Re: Another 486 build.... with EISA!

Posted on 2013-05-09, 03:35

by

by NJRoadfan

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

Nope, no 5x86s here for testing, just DX4-100s. The NiCE numbers may be skewed by the funky L2 cache non-detection. The graph was weird, read and interleave were almost completely flat past the L1 boundary with a slight dip at the L2 boundary. Also that NiCE BIOS has some weird bugs, it reports a …

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Re: Another 486 build.... with EISA!

Posted on 2013-05-09, 02:50

by

by NJRoadfan

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

Test results with 4.78. Note that Speedsys doesn't seem to properly report the L2 cache on the NiCE board when BIOS set to "Fastest" (don't ask me why). It IS working with a noticeable speed drop at the 256k boundary. Also posted my Advanced Chipset BIOS page. Both boards were set exactly the same …

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Re: Why wasn't the Amiga popular in North America?

Posted on 2013-05-08, 11:39

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by NJRoadfan

in Milliways

in Milliways

I think US, while it has 110 V, has a higher current so it is not really much less dangerous than 220-240 V. Anyways, I cannot really believe USA people did not buy Amigas because of the price. Even the Amiga 1000 in 1985 costed 1295 dollars (granted, that was the 256 KB RAM version, but I think …

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Re: Help me pick a soundcard Please?

Posted on 2013-05-08, 04:07

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by NJRoadfan

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Creative's Plug-n-Play Configuration Manager was the recommended way to use their cards in pre-PnP systems during the final days of ISA cards. They used to ship Intel's PnP Configuration Manager with early PnP cards, but went with the in-house CTCM/CTCU utilities later.

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Re: Whats with the shipping costs from USA???

Posted on 2013-05-08, 04:00

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by NJRoadfan

in Milliways

in Milliways

Surface mail was discontinued several years ago because too many packages were being lost, stolen or damaged and it was taking too long to deliver. 30-45 days is simply an unacceptable waiting time regardless of how cheap it is with no guarantee that your items are going to arrive at all or in …

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Re: Why wasn't the Amiga popular in North America?

Posted on 2013-05-08, 03:52

by

by NJRoadfan

in Milliways

in Milliways

What makes you think 110-120VAC is a mistake and not 220-240V? And since you don't seem to know, electricity is transmitted at 220-240V in the US but stepped down when it enters your house so you can use 110-120V appliances. Electric stoves and clothes dryers use 220-240V so the outlets that are …

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Re: Why wasn't the Amiga popular in North America?

Posted on 2013-05-07, 23:23

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by NJRoadfan

in Milliways

in Milliways

The TNG production work was done on Macs. :) Almost all early CGI was done in Lightwave 3D, which originally ran on the Amiga as part of the Video Toaster system. It was later ported to Windows. The industry in the 80's was really cutthroat with multiple companies one-upping each other every year …

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Re: Another 486 build.... with EISA!

Posted on 2013-05-07, 17:01

by

by NJRoadfan

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

That will be a rainy day project for tomorrow. Weather is too nice right now to stay all cooped up in the basement!

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Re: Another 486 build.... with EISA!

Posted on 2013-05-07, 13:03

by

by NJRoadfan

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

Memory interleave option is turned on in the BIOS. The SIMMs the Tyan board came with are 60ns too.

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Re: Why wasn't the Amiga popular in North America?

Posted on 2013-05-06, 16:16

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by NJRoadfan

in Milliways

in Milliways

I think just about every Amiga 4000 sold in the US was part of a Video Toaster system. Other applications were use as a video bulletin board running Scala MM and running the Prevue Channel. The Atari ST also didn't catch on in the US for that matter. The reason for both not doing well was that …

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Re: Vintage component with VESA Feature connector

Posted on 2013-05-06, 16:01

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by NJRoadfan

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

The CineMaster DVD MPEG-2 decoder cards found in OEM machines like Dells used the feature connector to transmit its video overlay. The most common use for it were ISA TV tuner cards back in the day. Someone here had a high end video accelerator that used the feature connector to transmit its display …

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Re: Another 486 build.... with EISA!

Posted on 2013-05-06, 14:50

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by NJRoadfan

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

I'll check when I get home. Both boards have what appear to be identical BIOS outside of the ID string.

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Re: Another 486 build.... with EISA!

Posted on 2013-05-06, 13:19

by

by NJRoadfan

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

Any BIOS options I should look for in particular? The Tyan and NiCE have the same performance numbers, I didn't realize that I forgot to post the NiCE "Fastest" speedsys. I did notice the Tyan have the proper 15ns tag cache chips though. The CPU benchmark number remains the same no matter what the …

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Re: Another 486 build.... with EISA!

Posted on 2013-05-06, 01:05

by

by NJRoadfan

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

The Micronics board is indeed faster than the SiS based boards, at least at 33Mhz bus speed with a DX4/100Mhz chip. Here is my speedsys with the Tyan set to "Fastest" DRAM in the BIOS and writeback L2 cache enabled. The Micronics still beats it even though it only has write-through L2 cache and the …

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Re: Seeking information on a Tyan 486VL/EISA Motherboard

Posted on 2013-05-04, 16:18

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by NJRoadfan

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I can confirm that JP26,27, and 28 control bus speed. I have to verify each setting with software as I don't trust the BIOS readout, but this board seems to support weird bus speeds like 16 and 20Mhz. There were a few settings that didn't boot with a DX2/66 or DX4/100 OD, they could be 50 and 66Mhz, …

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Re: Seeking information on a Tyan 486VL/EISA Motherboard

Posted on 2013-05-04, 05:58

by

by NJRoadfan

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

There are quite a few undocumented jumpers and no listing for setting the bus speed. What is interesting is that the board came with a DX2/66 and the machine states only a 33Mhz CPU is installed. The NiCE board properly shows 66Mhz and has a pretty much identical BIOS.

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Re: Best version of Windows 95?

Posted on 2013-05-03, 21:23

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by NJRoadfan

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

For those who say Windows 95's USB support doesn't work. I have confirmed that USB Mass Storage devices do indeed work without a problem with this driver and OSR2.1 http://toastytech.com/files/cruzerwin95.html

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Re: Seeking information on a Tyan 486VL/EISA Motherboard

Posted on 2013-05-03, 19:41

by

by NJRoadfan

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Board came today and POSTs fine thankfully. Very odd, the board has no markings indicating it was made by Tyan, only the BIOS POST screen says such. I also thought Tyan made their boards in the USA and not Taiwan, I guess not. Zero jumper info is slik screened on the board itself. The only markings …

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