Re: Tseng ET4000AX isa card and pci/isa 486

Posted on 2018-11-03, 17:36

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

Considering that I got 13.9 fps on my 33 MHz 486DX & 24 fps with my 66 MHz 486DX2 with my GL-GD5422 16-bit ISA card on a VLB motherboard, and your PCI graphics card barely outperformed my ISA card on a PCI based motherboard, I would say that your problem is most likely with your motherboard. Just as …

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Re: Help configuring 486 board

Posted on 2018-11-03, 15:51

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I would be careful in inserting a 486DX4 100 MHz CPU, since this is a 3.3V CPU and most 486DX2 66 MHz CPU's were still 5V. Your motherboard does appear to have jumper settings silkscreened on the PCB to change the voltage (refer just below the CPU on the first picture your posted). If you didn't …

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Re: Tseng ET4000AX isa card and pci/isa 486

Posted on 2018-11-03, 15:42

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

I tested my ET4000AX a while back with a 486DX 33 MHz & 486 DX2 66 MHz on different 486 motherboards and the results can vary quite a bit, depending on (but not limited to): Amount of memory on your motherboard Secondary (L2) cache and the size Chipset of the motherboard Amount of RAM on your …

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Re: Sound Galaxy NX Pro II Programs

Posted on 2018-11-02, 08:42

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ Software

in Marvin \ Software

Some of the driver disks came with these additional software and some did not. Usually, if you see two or three floppy images, then it has the additional software. If there is only one floppy image, then it usually only contains the drivers and mixer utilities. What is the model number of your sound …

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Re: Dual booting MS-DOS 6.22 and Windows 95C on different partitions: is it possible?

Posted on 2018-11-01, 15:53

by

by jesolo

in Milliways

in Milliways

I recently replied to a similar topic and, back in the day, I dual booted between DOS 6.22 & Windows 95C using OS/2's Boot Manager (from OS/2 Warp 3). However, I soon realised that there is no real benefit to have both DOS 6.22 & Windows 95C on the same system. Why not just create a start up menu …

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Re: I recently found this hardware, AKA the Dumpster find thread.

Posted on 2018-10-30, 18:44

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Recently visited a friend who got a whole pile of old computer parts (mostly XT motherboards, controller cards, graphics cards, and MFM hard drives) from another acquaintance. In between, there were a couple of 386, 486, 1 Pentium 1, 1 Pentium II and then this Pentium Pro motherboard. I never had a …

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Re: 386 hardware recommendations ?

Posted on 2018-10-30, 18:26

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

You first have to decide on whether you want to build a 386SX or 386DX. The former is much slower and most CPU's were soldered to the motherboard (no upgrade path) and rarely had cache memory on the motherboard. The latter also came (in some cases) with soldered CPU's but, many also had PGA sockets …

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Re: Brand new Sound Galaxy NX Pro - worth anything?

Posted on 2018-10-28, 07:22

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

The Sound Galaxy NX Pro is a very capable Sound Blaster Pro clone. I also have one with its box and manuals but, interestingly, mine has an FCC ID of I38-SGNXPRO. I suspect that they changed that as they went through different revisions.

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Re: What was your first (as in personally owned) PC compatible computer?

Posted on 2018-10-24, 19:02

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

The first PC that I bought for myself was back in late 1993 (we did already own an AMD 386DX-40 family computer which my father bought in 1992 and before that an Olivetti M19 which he bought in 1987). Back in 1993, everything had to be bought separately (no onboard sound, integrated I/O controllers, …

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Re: 486 and hard drive size limit.

Posted on 2018-10-23, 20:18

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Are there ISA or PCI I/O cards with their own bios that would allow a 486 to have a bigger hard drive? Yes, XTIDE Univeral BIOS, for example. Or IDE Enhancer cards (8-Bit ISA) with their own BIOS. Not sure if XTIDE has an 8GB limit, though. I lost track about current releases of it. To add to this, …

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Re: 486 Computer RAM - 30 pin vs 72 pin

Posted on 2018-10-17, 21:22

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

EDO is nothing but a "tweaked" form of FPM. All it does extra compared to regular FPM is allow the overlap of read cycles, if the motherboard/chipset knows how to do it. If not, it functions exactly as FPM. I've ran EDO memory in "FPM-only" motherboards before without any issues. The opposite is …

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Re: 486 Computer RAM - 30 pin vs 72 pin

Posted on 2018-10-17, 18:17

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Just want to point out that 30-pin simms each have an 8 bit data width which means you need to populate all 4 banks (slots) to get you to a 32 bit data width on a 486 PC. With 72-pin simms, you only need to populate one bank (slot) Really? My bad. I stand corrected. Reason more to get 72pin sticks. …

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Re: 486 Computer RAM - 30 pin vs 72 pin

Posted on 2018-10-17, 18:05

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Just want to point out that 30-pin simms each have an 8 bit data width which means you need to populate all 4 banks (slots) to get you to a 32 bit data width on a 486 PC. With 72-pin simms, you only need to populate one bank (slot)

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Re: Atrend ATC-6631 or Packard Bell (Aztech Sound Galaxy Nova 16 Extra) I38-MMSN811?

Posted on 2018-10-15, 16:13

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

I cannot really comment on the Atrend ATC-6631 but, based on this thread (https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?t=31284), it seems to be a good card. I'm quite a Aztech Sound Galaxy fan myself but, quite dislike their sound card range with the AZT-1605 chipset (which this model also utilises). The …

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Re: Sound Blaster 16 release dates of different models

Posted on 2018-10-12, 12:38

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

There were various revisions of different model numbers. I would recommend a Google doc (or something similar) that users can update. You can start by categorising each Sound Blaster card by model (Sound Blaster 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, Pro, SB16, SB32 AWE32, AWE64, etc.), then by model number (CT2230, CT3980 …

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Re: Best SB16 To Pair With An SCB-55?

Posted on 2018-10-08, 19:43

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

As bjwil1991 mentioned, there are other SB Pro clones out there (like your ESS Audiodrive or Aztech Sound Galaxy cards) that will work just as well, without any MIDI hanging note bugs. However, If you are dead set on having a SB16, then the options are what we've described above. Of note, the …

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Re: Best SB16 To Pair With An SCB-55?

Posted on 2018-10-08, 19:32

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

https://www.vogonswiki.com/index.php/Hanging_note_bug The type 2 does hardly ever occur (if at all).

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Re: Config.sys Return or Goto Command Help

Posted on 2018-10-06, 08:02

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ Software

in Marvin \ Software

Have a look at this post - might provide some further insight (I also don't think it's possible but, this might offer some alternative options): How to create a boot (start up) menu under Windows 9x/ME

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Re: Looking for a compiled table of 486 CPU specs

Posted on 2018-10-04, 10:48

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Even if it is a Socket 3 with a voltage regulator, some of your last 486 based CPU's (like your AMD 5x86, Cyrix 5x86 and your later Write Back L1 cache CPU's) do also sometimes require a BIOS update in order for the motherboard to properly support those CPU's. I've found that most PCI based 486 …

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Re: Planning for the future - when to let it all go?

Posted on 2018-10-04, 10:43

by

by jesolo

in Milliways

in Milliways

An interesting topic. This is something that I'd also thought of after recently acquiring quite a number of vintage computer hardware (mostly random parts) from a collector that has now moved to a retirement home (at the age of 78). Although I'm much younger, I do agree that I will reach a point …

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