Re: Bought these (retro) hardware today

Posted on 2021-07-15, 14:08

by

by SteveC

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Nice finds I wish I could find stuff like that by me but sadly there's no ewaste places anywhere near me and for the 6 years I've owned my house I've yet to see any computers or come to think of it any electronics out to the curb for garbage either. Same here :( However I simply don't have the room …

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Re: Unease feelings on other forums visited ?

Posted on 2021-07-15, 13:10

by

by SteveC

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Doornkaat wrote on 2021-07-15, 12:36: Personally I always attributed the positive climate on Vogons to the amount of people who have spent enough time on Usenet and forums to know not to feed the troll.😉 You're saying we're all old and can't be bothered arguing then 😁

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Re: Unease feelings on other forums visited ?

Posted on 2021-07-14, 13:18

by

by SteveC

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

All this social media stuff is such a flash in the pan and I seriously feel it is dumbing down humanity be forcing us to only look at that short moment in time... Yes Facebook is good for asking something and getting a quick answer. You'll never be able to go back and find that piece if information …

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Re: Unease feelings on other forums visited ?

Posted on 2021-07-14, 12:00

by

by SteveC

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

The MacRumours forum jumps down your throat if you post something that is even only vaguely answered elsewhere (or especially first post in the thread). I get it when people ask the same thing over and over but when a thread is 600 posts long it's hard to find what you need, especially if you're not …

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

Posted on 2021-07-14, 09:34

by

by SteveC

in Milliways

in Milliways

Got a new (4 year old) NAS that was no longer required at my work - QNAP TS-653A with 6x8TB drives in. Just upgraded the RAM in it to 8GB. I just noticed the great juxtaposition of these things in my shed - 60MB ESDI hard drive and a 48TB NAS - only getting on for a million times difference in …

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

Posted on 2021-07-13, 21:12

by

by SteveC

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Just checking on the springs/hinge of a Psion Revo Plus I got last week and glad I did - the battery is not in a good way! I also have lots of tiny bits of plastic I'm not sure how to glue back in place... Just ordered two AAA with solder tabs to repair this.

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

Posted on 2021-07-12, 19:53

by

by SteveC

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I made a video of my IBM PS/2 Model 70 restoration https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRNL7kthiO0

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

Posted on 2021-07-12, 19:47

by

by SteveC

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Finished installing a remotely accessible DOS machine, dubbed the BoilerPC. Runs Carbon Copy Plus and hides behind the boilers in a 100 year old building. Spent the last month and a half just trying to find the appropriate furniture to match it with. For a Good time, modem dial Extension 708. ;) …

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

Posted on 2021-07-09, 20:37

by

by SteveC

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Just playing with the OPL2LPT on my PS/2 Model 70 and forgot what a lovely sound it has. I know there are YouTube videos of an hour compliation of DOS game music but it'd be great to have something running on real hardware that did the same!

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

Posted on 2021-07-08, 17:28

by

by SteveC

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

The hard drive on my PS/2 model 70 pretty much never spins up now so resurrected another ESDI drive I had spare which has a 'snow' of bad sectors. The drive failed to low level format from the reference disk, just telling to replace the drive - always failed on track 666! The majority of the bad …

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Re: Stuck ST-177I drive

Posted on 2021-07-08, 16:02

by

by SteveC

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Old thread resurrection alert :) I have the same drive doing the same thing. I can sometimes get it to start by taking it out, spinning it (you can hear the platter move inside) and putting it immediately back in - after about 20 attempts it might start! Once the drive is spun up it works absolutely …

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Re: HWiNFO for DOS resurrected !

Posted on 2021-07-07, 13:33

by

by SteveC

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Oh completely understand - good to have you here doing updates at all 😀

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Re: HWiNFO for DOS resurrected !

Posted on 2021-07-07, 13:01

by

by SteveC

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

No worried glad I asked before transplanting floppy drives and power supplies 😁 I guess the Amstrad PPC1640 is out of the question then hahaha 😁

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Re: HWiNFO for DOS resurrected !

Posted on 2021-07-07, 12:58

by

by SteveC

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I might be able to get a PS/2 model 50 286 to boot enough to run this if it helps?

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Re: HWiNFO for DOS resurrected !

Posted on 2021-07-07, 12:46

by

by SteveC

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Oh sorry, I indeed attached old files! Edited the previous post with new package. On the P70 you'll probably need to disable Reset method 1 and 3. Attached from the model 70. That worked on the P70 I can now get to the info page (and it correctly identifies the P70). I can't do a -r report though …

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Re: HWiNFO for DOS resurrected !

Posted on 2021-07-07, 12:25

by

by SteveC

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Thanks for the feedback, indeed it might need some indication on such machines. Could you please provide the HWiNFO Report + Debug Files for my reference? Don't have many with MCA :) I tried but the Video Info page crashes the machine. The CRT does this - https://photos.app.goo.gl/9sYTPLDfk8t3mHyp6 …

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Re: HWiNFO for DOS resurrected !

Posted on 2021-07-07, 11:25

by

by SteveC

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Thanks, checking now how to fix.. GETBIOS didn't produce a VBIOS file (C000.ROM) ? That would be quite important. No it doesn't I'm afraid. However I have noticed a couple things: 1 - if I load normal config.sys so emm386.exe loads (and hwinfo moans) then the screen doesn't go scrolly corruptness, …

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Re: HWiNFO for DOS resurrected !

Posted on 2021-07-07, 08:26

by

by SteveC

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I have created a special build that waits for a key press prior to performing each particular video check. This should make it easy to narrow down which exact test is causing the screen corruption. Could you please try this build and let me know when it goes wrong: HWINF614.ZIP It would be also …

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Re: HWiNFO for DOS resurrected !

Posted on 2021-07-06, 22:50

by

by SteveC

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Thanks, that helps me to narrow down the issue. What graphics adapter is in the system? The IBM PS2 VGA one - no idea what it actually is! I have created a special build that waits for a key press prior to performing each particular video check. This should make it easy to narrow down which exact …

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

Posted on 2021-07-06, 20:34

by

by SteveC

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Just got reacquainted with this old beast today - been handed down a few times and made it back to me! I had it from new as my work laptop and it was rubbish back then! HP (Compaq) nx9105 Athlon XP 2800+ 512MB RAM 40GB HDD Nvidia GeForce4 420 Go 32MB First boot since 2014 and flat BIOS battery but …

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