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

Posted on 2018-05-27, 22:32

by

by PTherapist

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Nothing too productive, I was just messing about playing Jumpman on my XT, testing the Graphics output. I wasn't even really focusing or making any proper effort to play, also near bedtime and yet somehow I managed to complete all the Beginner levels with only 3 lives lost - something I couldn't …

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Re: 8088 from a bunch of random parts - nothing but a blinking cursor. What's wrong?

Posted on 2018-05-27, 22:23

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by PTherapist

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I have a very similar looking CGA graphics card that I bought fairly recently and have been playing around with also in an XT build, excuse the picture quality I must take a better pic at some point: https://i.imgur.com/sXx596C.jpg I also struggled to find any info out about this card too. The top …

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

Posted on 2018-05-23, 14:29

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by PTherapist

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Was wondering what the jumper was for on my CGA graphics card in my XT build, as I can't seem to find documentation for the card (haven't really looked). I suspected it would have something to do with the output signal and decided to try it. I was correct, it now outputs correctly to my LCD TV …

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

Posted on 2018-05-21, 14:34

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by PTherapist

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Ran some CGA calibration utilities on my XT build to help calibrate the LCD monitor I'm presently using. I'm not entirely happy with the image output from the VCR, as it makes the image a bit dark with some slight ghosting and loss of some fine detail. Going to have to try a few other things to try …

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Re: Got myself a Mac G4 -Help!

Posted on 2018-05-20, 14:04

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by PTherapist

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

PPC was dropped because ibm could not deliver enough ppc cpu's to serve the demand. I think it was more the case that the PowerPC simply couldn't compete in performance with it's PC rival CPUs at the time. The G5 also ran too hot and used too much power so couldn't be used in laptops, hence Apple …

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Re: Suspected inefficiency in several component specs

Posted on 2018-05-19, 10:49

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by PTherapist

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

One thing to note too is that there is 256kb system cache but the expansion slot is not populated so I don't know if another 256k will help with cpu speed. You've probably already tested this, but just in case - have you ran something like CACHECHK in DOS to see if the 256K is actually present? I …

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

Posted on 2018-05-14, 21:36

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by PTherapist

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I remember that our Sony VCR had a switch somewhere to allow playback of NTSC cassettes on PAL TV. I think I had to use it only once, but it worked. Yeah I remember having one with that too, though most were automatic. I only ever owned a couple of NTSC videos, as by the time I had enough …

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

Posted on 2018-05-13, 21:02

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by PTherapist

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Ended up discovering something extremely useful - Played about some more with the setup for my newly acquired CGA graphics card for my XT build. It wouldn't output in colour correctly on either of my LCD TV sets (flickering & horizontal distortion), but would just about work on the Plasma TV albeit …

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Re: Why are 3Com NICs regarded in such high regard?

Posted on 2018-05-11, 09:40

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by PTherapist

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I'm using a 3C509 of some variety in 6 of my retro builds, including 1 16-bit 3C509B in an 8-bit slot on my 8088 XT build with it's boot ROM enabled for XTIDE Universal BIOS. Relatively straightforward to configure the 3C509 for this purpose and so the card not only allows me to transfer files back …

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Re: Got myself a Mac G4 -Help!

Posted on 2018-05-10, 22:33

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by PTherapist

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Also my CD's install OSX 10.2 from looking around I can go as far as 10.4 and still duel boot to OS9 Keeping in mind this will only be used for early B&W to mid 90's games is the upgrade worth it? Anything else I should be aware of? this is all new to me. For that era of games, I think you'll …

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

Posted on 2018-05-09, 21:48

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by PTherapist

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Received the CGA Graphics Card I ordered today. http://i.imgur.com/sXx596Ch.jpg Tested it out on my XT build and it appears to be working ok. The bottom RCA outputs colour, whilst the top 1 is monochrome only. Now I just need to find a monitor or TV that plays nicely with it. Just about got an …

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

Posted on 2018-05-04, 08:27

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by PTherapist

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

A Voodoo3 or even Voodoo5 PCI Mac Edition would be even more preferable, but I don't want to think about the price tag on those things right now. (That and my Voodoo5 5500s are AGP cards, not PCI ones.) It may be easier (and cheaper) to try and flash a regular PC version Voodoo card with a Mac ROM. …

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

Posted on 2018-05-03, 10:12

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by PTherapist

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I don't know who screwed up in the Apple 3D Graphics department during the iMacs time but someone sure did. The chips inside of Macs tend to perform at about 1/3rd the performance of there PC counterparts. A good example is the 9600 Pro inside the last gen eMac struggling to run Alien vs Predator …

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

Posted on 2018-05-02, 20:55

by

by PTherapist

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Just did some final tweaks on my G3 iMac DV, installed some software & updated a few things on Mac OS 9.2.2. I also installed Star Wars Episode I Racer and had a few races on that. It's certainly playable, albeit slightly jerky on the graphics chip in these old iMacs. Web browsing with Classilla on …

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

Posted on 2018-05-01, 22:54

by

by PTherapist

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Worked some more on my G3 iMac. Updated Mac OS 9 to 9.2.2 and installed some essential software for Mac OS 9: DAVE, iTunes, Virtual CD/DVD-Rom Utility, Stuffit Expander & Classilla. Played a few demos from a Macworld CD-ROM, including Duke Nukem 3D. Also installed Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation …

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

Posted on 2018-04-29, 22:00

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by PTherapist

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Reinstalled Mac OS 9.2.1 & Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger on the 400MHz G3 iMac DV I recently recovered from my loft. I had to burn another copy of 1 of the 4 Mac OS X installation CDs, as the disc was in poor condition, but otherwise it went smoothly. The slot loading CD drive on this iMac also seems to be …

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Re: Bought these (retro) hardware today

Posted on 2018-04-29, 08:52

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by PTherapist

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Isn't this an EGA card ? They often have two RCA like this, but it's not composite. From some quick research I did it is apparently CGA, noting also the lack of DIP switches commonly found on EGA cards. I think 1 of those RCA connectors is for use with a light pen or somesuch, the other is …

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Re: Bought these (retro) hardware today

Posted on 2018-04-28, 08:14

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by PTherapist

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Bought the above CGA Graphics Card for my XT build. I wanted a card capable of CGA Composite. I had some cash to spare so I braved the eBay prices. Now to just wait until it arrives. 😎

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

Posted on 2018-04-28, 07:38

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by PTherapist

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

and note the EPROM chips are OTP --> One-time programming), You can get UV EPROM Erasers. Pretty much anything that outputs proper UV light should do the trick too. I got an EPROM eraser off eBay and it pretty much only takes about 5-10 minutes to blank the chips. They're a bit of a pain compared …

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

Posted on 2018-04-27, 21:03

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by PTherapist

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

dionb wrote: He got Worms running with sound! (and then wanted to pose with a screwdriver even though all assembly was finished yesterday evening 😉 ) Pretty cool that you're getting him interested at such a young age. Just curious, how much of the actual assembly do you let him do himself?

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