Re: Pentium 4 machines with small form factor but AGP and PCI slot? (re: compact pentium 4 machine)

Posted on 2024-01-16, 01:57

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Look on theretroweb.com, filter for Socket 478, 1x universal AGP and form factor MicroATX (139 options) or FlexATX (1 option) If you want something smaller than that it might be worth looking into (uATX) desktop cases with AGP+PCI risers.

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Re: Does anybody know what this is?

Posted on 2024-01-16, 00:39

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Regarding what it was once: someone had the same question about a similar machine a few months back on Reddit . In fact I think it's the exact same one (see the horizontal scratch/scuff mark on the lower right of the front bezel). No more info though there... But looking at the back, whatever it was …

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AGX VESA BIOS Extensions for non-Hercules/Orchid cards?

Posted on 2024-01-15, 23:58

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

Looking for something apparently pretty obscure - I have a Puretek PT-2072 VLB card with IIT/Xtec AGX016A chipset and Sierra SC15021CV 8-bit RAMDAC. It's an old, slow, somewhat accelerated (in Windows, if you can find the drivers) SVGA card. Now, the only software for this chipset family I can find …

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Re: UMC UM85C418F RAM - 2MB possible + desirable?

Posted on 2024-01-15, 22:59

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

[...] Thx for the benchmark! But honestly I am more interested in the high range 486 machines (Am5x86@160 is my favourite). So for that range your comparison does not give me a new hint. In your comparison a Cirrus 5428 is on par with an ARK 1000. That is clearly not the case with a fast 486. The …

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Re: UMC UM85C418F RAM - 2MB possible + desirable?

Posted on 2024-01-15, 20:56

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

I'd suggest getting out the candles and dubious red crayons - I fully intend to resurrect that card :P If it's just that one chip that's dead, I can fix it in five minutes once I source a replacement (in fact I might have one knocking around somewhere). I'm more concerned with the motherboard; …

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Re: Unknown board Pentium

Posted on 2024-01-15, 18:59

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

[...] I have several modules. 128Mb.133mhz, 256MB 133mhz. 64Mb 100 mhz and 5 that I cannot identify the type. I'll try those. Instead of randomly trying DIMMs, try to work from specs. The board has an i430VX chipset, which most definitely supports SDRAM (and looks to have a 64MB SDRAM DIMM in it at …

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Re: Does anybody know what this is?

Posted on 2024-01-15, 18:52

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Never heard of the brand either. Which part of the world is it (or are you) from? Judging by looks it's a late 386/early 486 workstation/server that has been upgraded during its lifespan (that CD Rom drive looks newer than the floppies). Do you have a pic of its rear? That would show ports and …

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Re: UMC UM85C418F RAM - 2MB possible + desirable?

Posted on 2024-01-14, 23:25

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

Afraid I won't be able to give any answers soon - tried to get a system running with an untested Biostar VLB motherboard and my UMC 82C418F card, but after a few succesful POSTS the machine hung and magic smoke started emanating from both motherboard and VLB card. Haven't figured out exactly what …

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Re: What's up with this ATTO ExpressPCI SCSI card?

Posted on 2024-01-14, 16:03

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

[...] What you are talking about is correct and I am 100% aware of it but I consider you an extremely intelligent person and you will understand that your reasoning can be applied to less than 5% of overpriced hardware. Since this is a scsi controller it could have half value (can't this model …

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Re: UMC UM85C418F RAM - 2MB possible + desirable?

Posted on 2024-01-14, 11:03

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

One of the more obscure VGA chipsets - UMC's UM85C418F. Surprisingly it has extremely good raw DOS performance, coming very close to Ark 1000VL. I'm working on an all UMC build, and have two VLB cards with this chipset. .... Sorry for a "necro reply". But I am interested in that. What about the …

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Re: What's up with this ATTO ExpressPCI SCSI card?

Posted on 2024-01-14, 10:59

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Nope. This is not ignorance but plain cynicism. This person is fully aware that they have a piece of ancient crap on their hands with little intrinsic value. What they also have is (near enough) free storage. They can keep this stuff up indefinitely. You and I aren't the target (although the seller …

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Re: unknown 486 Motherboard, Need help identifying.

Posted on 2024-01-13, 22:10

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Indeed. That sticker screams "Intel OEM". But looking on the Retro Web it's a Dell board (not ruling out made by Intel): this one

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Re: Making Future Domain TMC-850MEX SCSI controller bootable

Posted on 2024-01-13, 20:16

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Update: Two packages arrived so got down to some soldering. Before: PXL_20240113_170255330.jpg After: PXL_20240113_200850848.jpg Unfortunately I have managed to misplaced the termination power fuse, so this is just the LS244, filter cap and socket. I've confirmed card is still working correctly, now …

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Re: Multiple computers, one set of speakers.

Posted on 2024-01-13, 12:26

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

[...] I do not recall having seen commercial products that do analogue 5.1 to HDMI. A DIY Raspberry Pi solution seems feasible, though. Pretty much any modern USB sound 'card' has ADCs galore. Not at all sure about quality of additional A->D->A conversions though, and things could get very …

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Re: Advice for my first joystick

Posted on 2024-01-13, 12:10

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

So... joystick basics... Joysticks can be fundamentally divided into two categories: digital and analog. Digital joysticks are basically sticks attached to swiches. Push the stick and it activates a switch. The only possible values are digital - on or off. This is the cheapest and simplest type of …

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Re: 440BX Chipset - Does it support Registered/Buffered Sdram

Posted on 2024-01-12, 19:50

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Buffers and registers are slightly different, however SDRAM that is not registered is referred to 'unbuffered' so confusion is inevitable. As a rule, SDRAM can be registered whereas older memory types (EDO, FP) may be buffered. For this sort of question it's generally useful to look up the chipset …

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Re: What can an hp 700/96 terminal be used for retro purposes?

Posted on 2024-01-12, 11:44

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

It's a terminal, so can interface with whatever CLI you are using, including Windows Powershell if Unixen aren't your cup of tea. Lots of people (sysadmins etc) still use CLI as their main interface with systems, and that work can be done just as well - and in a lot more style - with something like …

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Re: Non-x86 Systems: They are pulling me back in, do you guys also hear the call?

Posted on 2024-01-10, 12:29

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Not just you :) Not sure what you mean with "Current prices on vintage PC games" but I believe you have not seen the prices on popular 80s non-x86 hardware like the Amigas and these Ataris? Prices of all hardware has gone haywire. I am fortunate to have found/bought more or less what I want from …

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Re: VLB graphics card for 486 build, any difference?

Posted on 2024-01-08, 09:26

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Thanks for the thorough answers. That's what I expected. Good thing I don't have to spend a lot of money on the graphics card then. So long as you're only interested in DOS, nope. A CL-GD5428 will perform within a few percentage points of the most expensive unobtainium card. One weak point of those …

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Re: Bought these (retro) hardware today

Posted on 2024-01-07, 23:50

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

[...] Looks nice. I'm not a sound card expert so i'm sorry if my question seems basic : How do you switch between the integrated wavetable synthesis and an external midi expander ? Do they have different addresses ? You don't, it only has one UART MIDI so the same instructions go to the onboard …

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