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

Posted on 2021-12-23, 11:20

by

by appiah4

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

That philosophy kept my old stereo amplifier constantly on for several years :lol: How did that go for you? It worked for 20 years, before passing it on to a mate. Had to have its potentiometers cleaned, though. But TBH the last 10'ish years it saw very little action and was rarely powered on ... …

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Re: Is it just me or has Firefox gotten progressively worse every major release?

Posted on 2021-12-23, 11:15

by

by appiah4

in Milliways

in Milliways

I used to be a hardcore Firefox user, but I do believe it has gone into the toilet. Even doing a simple update can destroy your Firefox profile and I have seen many sites that no longer work with Firefox browsers, because they render differently than Chromium-based browsers (Chrome, Edge, and …

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Re: X2GS : Waveblaster board with dual soundbank support, official Dream/Roland licensed GS bank

Posted on 2021-12-23, 11:14

by

by appiah4

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

Ok, so I bought this wonderful piece of equipment as well as the X2BOX, so I have a question: Can I use a USB to MIDI adaptor like this: https://www.amazon.com/Roland-UM-ONE-MK2-MIDI-Cable/dp/B00967UN50/ref=sr_1_29?keywords=usb+to+midi+converter&qid=1639466762&sr=8-29 And a DB15 to Midi break out …

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Re: Is it just me or has Firefox gotten progressively worse every major release?

Posted on 2021-12-23, 08:43

by

by appiah4

in Milliways

in Milliways

Firefox is still the best browser out there. The issue is that the Web so to speak has gone to shit, and making a good browser for it is pretty difficult. That said, I use Firefox between my home PC, work laptop and mobile and I have great experience with it.

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

Posted on 2021-12-23, 07:21

by

by appiah4

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Nobody likes buying parts that have been mined with, but IMO stuff kept at a constant running temperature, even for 3 years, might be more reliable than stuff that's been power cycled daily. That philosophy kept my old stereo amplifier constantly on for several years :lol: How did that go for you?

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Re: What game are you playing now?

Posted on 2021-12-22, 21:59

by

by appiah4

in Milliways

in Milliways

Decided to replay Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. It feels great to finally play it with EAX3 enabled and AA forced in the driver settings. The graphics do show their age, but the gameplay is still superb and the music is as good as ever. I'm also noticing some nice EAX effects in areas which …

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

Posted on 2021-12-22, 12:40

by

by appiah4

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Yes there are. :) Over land lines? I know Telnet is still a thing but are there even real landlines left? Did a quick Google and found this for the UK: https://www.icuk.net/broadband/dial-up-internet.asp And now I'm wondering whether to give that a go over Christmas. Got an external 56.6 and an ISA …

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Re: Does a Tualatin build have to give up decent MIDI support?

Posted on 2021-12-22, 12:10

by

by appiah4

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

An Apollo 133T chipset is an option I suppose as that would bring back the ISA slot, but that brings AGP 4x issues to the table. Not sure how much of an issue that is though with a Ti4200/Ti4400. AGPx2 only hurts the eyes, the speed difference compared to AGPx4 is marginal I remember AGP 4x being a …

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Re: Are there any quiet AT PSUs?

Posted on 2021-12-22, 10:22

by

by appiah4

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Yeah, any AT PSU you put a silent 80cm fan in is a silent AT PSU.

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

Posted on 2021-12-22, 10:21

by

by appiah4

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Keyboard restorations are my least favorite kind.. I still have a mechanical Dell I can't bring myself to clean..

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Re: Does a Tualatin build have to give up decent MIDI support?

Posted on 2021-12-22, 09:31

by

by appiah4

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I never owned a 635T but browsing manuals for 630/635/T boards I can see that their PCI/PNP configuration options include things like reserving DMA and the like so I would think they should be on par with VIA with regards to compatibility.

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

Posted on 2021-12-22, 09:24

by

by appiah4

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Kahenraz wrote on 2021-12-22, 05:41: TrashPanda wrote on 2021-12-22, 04:32: Are there bbs still operating? Yes there are. 😀 Over land lines? I know Telnet is still a thing but are there even real landlines left?

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Re: Does a Tualatin build have to give up decent MIDI support?

Posted on 2021-12-22, 08:03

by

by appiah4

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

It's quite easy to get hardware FM synthesis as well as fantastic MIDI capabilities from many PCI cards. Yamaha YMF7x4 ESS Solo-1 Fortemedia FM801 Aureal AU8830 These cards are troublesome with i815 due to ICH having no real DMA. For this chipset, they work best with PC/PCI. If your board lacks PC/ …

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Re: Unreal Engine 5- Who's ready for a jump in graphics realism?

Posted on 2021-12-21, 09:19

by

by appiah4

in Milliways

in Milliways

In this thread I learned that American movies render Mexico in idTech engine.

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Re: Sonic the Hedgehog released on the Commodore 64.

Posted on 2021-12-21, 08:54

by

by appiah4

in Milliways

in Milliways

386SX wrote on 2021-12-21, 08:53: It's impressive more or less like the Wolfeinstein 3D demo port that was done for the Genesis/Mega Drive game console. Game concepts that probably could have sold a lot if released in their times. How many people had 256K RAM expansions for the C64? How could it …

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Re: What game are you playing now?

Posted on 2021-12-21, 08:37

by

by appiah4

in Milliways

in Milliways

I may call it quits and give Torment: Tides of Numenera a go instead. I hope you have a high tolerance for massive amounts of medicore writing, as a Planescape: Torment fan Numenera was a huge let down for me. The setting is great and so is the focus on dialog instead of combat (for me it's the …

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Re: What game are you playing now?

Posted on 2021-12-21, 07:40

by

by appiah4

in Milliways

in Milliways

I spent another five hours in Pathfinder: Kingmaker last night and I am finding it very difficult to get immersed in its kitchen sink Golarion setting. It's like Forgotten Realms with none of the flavor, and I find myself increasingly less invested in my own barony.. I may call it quits and give …

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Yet another "Looking for my first PC's case" thread

Posted on 2021-12-21, 07:35

by

by appiah4

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I've been in this hobby for quite a few years now and still never came across the case of my first PC in 1993. It was a 486DX33 in a tower case. It was a rather spaceous beige tower with 3 5.25" and 2 3.5" bays. The distinguishing feature was that it had a door on the front that when closed …

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Radeon HD4870X2 repair advice needed

Posted on 2021-12-19, 20:58

by

by appiah4

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

OK, so last week I bought a 4870X2 that was sold as known to have issues, and the issues cited was overheating. Which was not uncommon for these cards, and was certainly not shocking for this card in particular as it had about half a kg of dust in the cooler. I took it apart completely, cleaned it …

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Re: Bought these (retro) hardware today

Posted on 2021-12-17, 11:04

by

by appiah4

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Marry him/her.

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