Re: 286 “Turbo” Speeds

Posted on 2019-07-31, 12:49

by

by derSammler

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

It depends on the mainboard. The divider for the slow mode is normally fixed. That is, if the quartz crystal was ever changed to use a higher-clocked CPU, the slow mode will be faster as well. There are also a few boards that use a completely separate quartz crystal for slow mode. So I guess we …

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Re: Bought these (retro) hardware today

Posted on 2019-07-31, 09:46

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by derSammler

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Since you can't tell EISA from OLB by the look of it, why do you even think it's OLB when it clearly reads "EISA"? I would expect to see OLB only on a board having an OPTi chipset at least.

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Re: 286 “Turbo” Speeds

Posted on 2019-07-31, 09:37

by

by derSammler

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

For a 286, low speed refers to the clock of the original IBM AT, so either 6 MHz or 8 MHz. Everything faster is "turbo", just like it was with the XT (Turbo XT = >4.77 MHz). Now whether it goes down to 6 or 8 MHz depends on the quartz crystal installed on the motherboard. E.g. on a 286-16 you'd have …

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Re: XG Gold 3.0 registered version or how to register?

Posted on 2019-07-31, 09:31

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by derSammler

in Marvin \ Software

in Marvin \ Software

cyclone3d wrote: I would think that if a program is completely abandoned there wouldn't be a legal issue with trying to get a full copy. That's not how copyright laws work, unfortunately.

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Re: SB Live CD-DA/Redbook in DOS

Posted on 2019-07-30, 20:20

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by derSammler

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

When a DOS game plays cd audio, it just send a request to the drive to play a certain track. The drive does all the rest and analog audio is sent via the cable to the sound card. Windows 98 on the other hand reads the audio tracks as actual data and plays it just like it would do with wave files. No …

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Re: SB Live CD-DA/Redbook in DOS

Posted on 2019-07-30, 17:32

by

by derSammler

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

Did you connect the 4-pin cd audio cable? Windows uses digital readout, but for DOS games, you need the cd audio cable that connects the analog audio from the cd drive to the sound card.

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

Posted on 2019-07-29, 14:12

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by derSammler

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

detritus olentus wrote: Moved my VA-503+ Windows 95 system to a nos case today. Not sure if you noticed, but it has some damage on the lower edge near the middle. The plastic is broken there.

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Re: Cannot enable Write-back cache mode on 486 DX4

Posted on 2019-07-29, 07:22

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by derSammler

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I'll probably need a multimeter to solve this mystery. The L2 cache in WB mode does produce different results, mainly positive, but there are a few instances when the PC is slower (i.e. Doom). What is better - to set L1 to WB or L2 to WB? From the four possible combinations, I've got best speed …

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Re: Can I use DreamBlaster X2 for MT-32 emulation

Posted on 2019-07-28, 19:31

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by derSammler

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

You say there's no sysex to put a GM device into MT-32 mode and at the same time you attach a MIDI file that does exactly that... :dead: That file is (c) 1992 by Roland, so what is it if not a default sysex for MT-32 mode..? Even the cheapest wavetables can enter MT-32 mode using sysex. I own a …

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

Posted on 2019-07-28, 16:56

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by derSammler

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

appiah4 wrote: Nice, where did you source the metal backplate? I'll have to find the correct pot some day, that looks sweet. Got it in a kit that included all needed parts.

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Re: Cyrix DX2-80 slower than DX2-66?

Posted on 2019-07-28, 16:54

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by derSammler

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

@Galaxian: What you describe is exactly what is expected to happen: you lose video performance since the VGA card can not work with zero waitstate when using an FSB of 40 MHz. That's the drawback you have in this case for a little more CPU processing power.

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Re: Can I use DreamBlaster X2 for MT-32 emulation

Posted on 2019-07-28, 16:49

by

by derSammler

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

Sorry appiah4, but you are completely wrong. The original Sound Bank for the X2 supports MT-32: 269 variation instruments (including 128 “MT-32” variations) There's a default sysex to enter MT-32 mode on GM devices, which can be used with the X2 as well. Also, using an X3M [sic] and a Raspberry Pi …

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

Posted on 2019-07-28, 14:03

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by derSammler

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

That's the one I've built. IMG_20181101_205819910.jpg

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

Posted on 2019-07-28, 13:20

by

by derSammler

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Good luck trying to change volume. 😁

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Re: Cannot enable Write-back cache mode on 486 DX4

Posted on 2019-07-28, 13:18

by

by derSammler

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Is the L2 cache set to WB or WT? I made some tests some time ago and came to the result that you get best speed if only one of the caches uses WB. So if the L2 cache is already WB, leave the L1 cache at WT - this will give you better speed.

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Re: Cyrix DX2-80 slower than DX2-66?

Posted on 2019-07-28, 10:24

by

by derSammler

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

What exactly is the "66MHz variant"? The Intel DX2-66 is most likely faster than the Cyrix DX2-80. Also keep in mind that VLB cards usually use a wait state if FSB is >33 MHz, so video speed may suffer. btw, what did you use to check performance after all?

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Re: Packard Bell Spectria Legend cd-rom drive issue

Posted on 2019-07-28, 09:37

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by derSammler

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

It's possible that the system just doesn't like CD drives. That system came with a cd drive! It's even the original one... He just can't use an ATAPI driver for it, since it's not connected to IDE. Besides, it's completely moot if a cd drive is detected by the BIOS. This became standard when the …

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

Posted on 2019-07-28, 08:36

by

by derSammler

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I also cleaned two AT PSUs but one of them has a weird gunk all over the PCB I cant seem to get rid of. What could this be? That's glue to hold the bigger caps in place. No idea why it is such a mess, though.

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Re: CD-ROM failing to work, what to do?

Posted on 2019-07-28, 07:09

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by derSammler

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Replace it by a working one. It's just a cd drive after all.

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Re: Packard Bell Spectria Legend cd-rom drive issue

Posted on 2019-07-28, 07:07

by

by derSammler

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

The front of the drive isn't that interesting. 😉 Looks like a Matsushita CR-563, but can't really tell without seeing the label. If you have an IDE cd-rom drive lying around, you could just replace it. Just make sure you connect it to IDE then.

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