Re: Why 90s snack was delicious?

Posted on 2018-09-16, 20:53

by

by dionb

in Milliways

in Milliways

Things definitely got less colorful. Here in Germany we had much more bright gummybears etc. now they use natural coloring, and they taste good, but still: colors were much more vibrant back then. :) Of course, you can always eat the sugar-free ones instead :-P Maybe I was never so much into sugary …

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Re: Games with better Disney Sound Source support?

Posted on 2018-09-16, 20:34

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by dionb

in Milliways

in Milliways

Taking it one step at a time. Ultima6 also supports Covox, but when I choose that, it makes an endless beep that continues after quitting the game and also distorts other sound until I start another Covox game (Colonization). Once I figure out what is going on I'll look into those VBE/AI drivers. …

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Re: Games with better Disney Sound Source support?

Posted on 2018-09-15, 12:32

by

by dionb

in Milliways

in Milliways

Taking it one step at a time. Ultima6 also supports Covox, but when I choose that, it makes an endless beep that continues after quitting the game and also distorts other sound until I start another Covox game (Colonization). Once I figure out what is going on I'll look into those VBE/AI drivers.

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Re: Retrofitting SSD to Older Computer?

Posted on 2018-09-15, 10:31

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I just realized the Intel drive that I found was not the X25-E, it was the Intel X25-M, finding the X25-E much more expensive. Here's the one I found: https://www.amazon.com/Intel-X25-M-160GB-Internal-SSDSA2M160G2GC/dp/B07GY5BLB9/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1536968320&sr=1-1&keywords=Intel …

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Re: Retrofitting SSD to Older Computer?

Posted on 2018-09-15, 00:20

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

[...] I apologize, I totally forgot to add what my current system specs. It's not too old. OS: Windows XP 32-bit Mobo: Asus A7V266-E Socket A/462 Chipset: VIA KM266A Er no... the A7V266-E has the K T 266A chipset. Not that it make any difference in terms of SATA support... it's all PCI 2.2 …

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Re: Retrofitting SSD to Older Computer?

Posted on 2018-09-14, 23:22

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

1. Probably. Depends on exactly which IDE controller you have and which adapter, but generally, most work in most cases. Note that such an adapter can't in itself work around BIOS or OS size limits. 2. Once again, depends on the system. Not every PCI controller will work in every older computer - …

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Re: (Solved) What kind of cache memory is this?

Posted on 2018-09-14, 12:42

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

WIthout having any manual for this machine, could you tell me what chips you're using? Apologies for the late reply, but at last found time to open up my PC330 today. Cache chip: Motorola MCM6306DJ15B (32kx8 3V 15ns fast SRAM) Tag: ST M628032-15E1 (also 32kx8 3V 15ns SRAM) Interesting: the sockets …

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Re: NS Geode GX1 / Cyrix MediaGM - Double sided memory required?

Posted on 2018-09-14, 11:48

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Yes, those are 256Mbit (16Mx16) chips as well. Other exotics to avoid:single-sided DIMMs with 16 chips (either 16Mx4 or 32Mx4). Only a few mem controllers support them (Via basically). No idea about the Geode's controller but unless you want to confirm either way, avoid.

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Re: Building SOCKET 7 machine with MSI 5124

Posted on 2018-09-14, 10:08

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

It is really hard to find any information regarding this motherboard. Not to mention about BIOS updates :( Now I've got another problem. Got S3 Virge with 4 MB graphics card, but no chance to run at 1600x900 resolution (which is native to my display). It should work, because 1600 x 900 x 2 (16 bit …

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Re: NS Geode GX1 / Cyrix MediaGM - Double sided memory required?

Posted on 2018-09-14, 09:58

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

- This is almost certainly a memory density issue. Single-sided 256MB has 256Mbit chips, double-sided has 128Mb chips. I very much doubt you need to use double-sided RAM, but if you want 256MB, you don't have much choice, as the only way to get 256MB with 128Mbit chips is double-sided. - Manual info …

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Re: Bought these (retro) hardware today

Posted on 2018-09-14, 09:40

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

That Yamaha does look good, but what's the other one? Ensoniq AudioPCI? Yep, another (somewhat mauled) AudioPCI 3000 with Creative-branded ES1370 (despite the PCB and sticker being Ensoniq-branded). Perfectly decent cards, but nothing special - and supply is much greater than demand; I've been …

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Re: Bought these (retro) hardware today

Posted on 2018-09-13, 22:14

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Recently I claimed here I was calming down on the acquisition front and getting more selective. It appears I was just trying to deceive myself. Still just as badly at it ;) Picked this up today: https://tweakers.net/ext/f/dQd61ZfHkaVXE3M93rioVMy5/full.png The lot included four more cases, but the …

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Re: Combining SBPro compatible with SB16 compatible?

Posted on 2018-09-13, 21:34

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

That would cover the SET BLASTER variable, but what about the IRQs and DMAs? If I were to put both on the same IRQ and/or DMA, how would the cards know which one a command was for?

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Re: VIA Apollo Pro bad AGP performance?

Posted on 2018-09-13, 20:27

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Gf4 is performing really bad as well, so it's MOBO. I bought MSI MS-6309. It has VIA Apollo Pro133A chipset (VIA 694X). Be careful with the caps on that one. It's from MSI's worst period, and I've seen mess from the caps shorting out MOSFETs which got so hot they melted through the board. If your …

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Combining SBPro compatible with SB16 compatible?

Posted on 2018-09-13, 11:34

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

I'm working on a multi sound card build, which I hope will be able to play back pretty much anything designed for any even marginally mainstream sound card/module. My first iteration will be a combination of Aztech NX Pro (with real OPL3 and support for AdLib, SB, SBPro2 and Coxox/DSS), Soundblaster …

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Re: A good place to buy computer parts online besides ebay?

Posted on 2018-09-13, 11:11

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

You see the latter everywhere. 9 times out of 10 "untested" really means "tested and dead as a doornail". That said, so long as the seller is honest about it, it's fine. I'll happily buy 'dead' boards with bad caps as I know what's wrong with them, I know I have the skills to fix it and I know over …

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Re: Remembering 9/11

Posted on 2018-09-13, 10:58

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by dionb

in Milliways

in Milliways

I remember it well. That day I woke up, went downstairs, booted up my living-room system and started to surf the internet while munching some breakfast. Something felt... wrong. The connection was snappy enough, generic sites worked fine, but I couldn't load any news sites at all, neither big global …

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Re: Games with better Disney Sound Source support?

Posted on 2018-09-13, 09:15

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by dionb

in Milliways

in Milliways

I don't own a DSS either, but I recently received a fully working Aztech NX Pro, which has the 1st gen Aztech SBPro clone with built-in Covox and DSS support. Haven't taken it for much of a test run yet beyond testing if it works (it does!) but intend to see which period games it works with and how …

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Re: Master of Magic Install Guide?

Posted on 2018-09-12, 23:56

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ Software

in Marvin \ Software

I still regularly play MoM, both in DOSBox and on bare metal, and have never really had problems like you describe. The game certainly will run from HDD only - in fact I lost my CD years ago and just copy the files from HDD to HDD. I'm pretty sure 686 isn't the problem, I've played it on a P3 not …

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Re: Bought these (retro) hardware today

Posted on 2018-09-12, 23:46

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

4x AOpen HQ-8 bigtowers. No other goodies from his place? :happy: Had a look around and spent some time reminiscing the good old days of big computer fairs - I almost certainly bought stuff from him back in the day. I was sorely tempted by a MediaGX board with socket (no CPU though) - but no, …

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