Re: Replacing SB AWE32 RAM Sockets

Posted on 2019-10-08, 20:39

by

by SirNickity

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

I have tons of extras. I needed one set and had to buy.. what was it, 20? At this point I don't even care about recouping my losses, so if you can't PM yet (you haven't reached your new-user post quota), then email at this name on a popular googley mail provider. As long as it doesn't cost an absurd …

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Re: Boxed Gravis PNP 1.0

Posted on 2019-10-08, 20:35

by

by SirNickity

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

What does everybody think is the best way to find out selling/purchase value of this (or a similar card for that matter)? Anything goes. I bought a boxed Classic 3.4 with a plenty of extras for £170 a few weeks back and I thought I was getting a good value. [..] Did I pay too much? Not if you're …

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Re: Boxed Gravis PNP 1.0

Posted on 2019-10-08, 20:30

by

by SirNickity

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

All these weird SoundBlaster combinations! This must have been quite a niche product for some small desktop PCs which don't have enough ISA slots. But on the other hand this card is HUGE. I don't see anyone buying this card, to be honest... Oh, I wanted one SO bad back in the day. I was in a phase …

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Re: Why is Win 9x compatibility/emulation so difficult?

Posted on 2019-10-08, 20:20

by

by SirNickity

in Milliways

in Milliways

Emulating the hardware is much lower level. You're taking code at the CPU op-code level and making decisions about whether the host CPU can process that instruction directly (there's no harm in letting the host CPU add two numbers together), or if that instruction needs to be redirected to a proxy …

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Re: Early 2000s tat-off: let's see your colored translucent plastic things

Posted on 2019-10-07, 21:41

by

by SirNickity

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

All the rubber on my Mac Pro speakers and the Sound Stiks has turned to goo. I've got some replacement drivers I think will fit the Pros but I haven't gotten around to that particular project yet. Not sure about the Stiks. Might have to get creative with those.

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Re: Did you ever use an Abit BP6?

Posted on 2019-10-07, 21:39

by

by SirNickity

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I got one back in the day, and hit up Pricewatch for a pair of matched Celerons. I used it to run BeOS since they built the thing with SMP in mind. But, even after investing in all the paraphernalia to water-cool the CPUs, the chipset got SO HOT it made me uncomfortable to leave it running, and it …

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Re: Another IBM damaged!!

Posted on 2019-10-07, 21:34

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by SirNickity

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I have been extremely lucky with this. I have had to unwrap some hardware, cringing the whole time, from a cocoon of plastic wrap -- and it still worked. I think I got a ZIP drive in a bubble mailer once, worked. Bought a CRT PVM and gagged on my Cheerios when I saw the freight charges.. Asked the …

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Re: Boxed Gravis PNP 1.0

Posted on 2019-10-07, 21:18

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by SirNickity

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

I've been on Ebay too much, apparently. My first thought was "$400 boxed... huh, not bad." Not worth it to me, but didn't really seem outrageous. I still want an ACE... like everyone else, it would seem.

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Re: Yamaha OPL YMF262 driver ?

Posted on 2019-10-07, 21:14

by

by SirNickity

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

IMO, the only reason to use an OPL to play MIDI is if you hate polyphony.

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Re: Any other non-gaming retro PC enthusiasts out there?

Posted on 2019-10-07, 21:09

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by SirNickity

in Milliways

in Milliways

I'm an enigma even to myself. I do play games, just not nearly as much as you would assume if you were to look at the MASSIVE library of games I own. Of which I've played a fraction of a percent. ;-) I enjoy games, and I think if I had things set up to where it was convenient to do so, I would play …

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Re: Why is Win 9x compatibility/emulation so difficult?

Posted on 2019-10-07, 20:50

by

by SirNickity

in Milliways

in Milliways

Spiroyster did a really good job of this, but I'm going to throw in my explanation as part addendum, part re-stating, such that hopefully any fuzzy bits become more clear. Here goes... The Windows API has been a lot more stable since Win 2000, and especially XP. When Microsoft brought the consumer …

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Re: Early 2000s tat-off: let's see your colored translucent plastic things

Posted on 2019-10-04, 22:52

by

by SirNickity

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I'm warming up to the Xbox, so here's some fresh-from-the-Bay classic translucent kitch -- hybrid console / PC style: Filename xbhe.jpg File size 416.23 KiB Views 529 views Bringing this back around to PC-adjacent territory, what better example of clear acrylic than the G4 Cube? Filename mac.jpg …

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Re: Another IBM damaged!!

Posted on 2019-10-04, 21:40

by

by SirNickity

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I dunno about you guys, but I've had pretty much ZERO luck claiming anything with my local postals. Two out of five boxes (apparently it was Amazon housewares day) just not on my porch, "must have gotten stolen -- we show they were delivered." To what address? Wasn't mine.... $150 down the tubes. …

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Re: ABS plastic repair

Posted on 2019-10-04, 18:02

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by SirNickity

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

That looks pretty good! Huge thanks for sharing all the research on this, and following up with results. I hope this brings a few battle-scarred pieces back to life.

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Re: Another IBM damaged!!

Posted on 2019-10-04, 17:54

by

by SirNickity

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

They hit it so hard, they knocked the drive access LED clean off!

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Re: Warning to all American citizens

Posted on 2019-10-04, 17:46

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by SirNickity

in Milliways

in Milliways

... for business or tourism. ... 'K. What .. exactly.. does the US need to prepare for, now..? Are we supposed to be scared of Polish people too? I hadn't gotten that memo. My latest White House newsletter just says "immigrants and Democrats".

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Re: Losing interest after finishing a build -- anyone else have this problem?

Posted on 2019-10-04, 17:39

by

by SirNickity

in Milliways

in Milliways

Are you getting enough sleep? I find that, after work, I don't really have the energy to do as much -- and certain things just seem completely unapproachable. But if I get a good night's sleep on Friday night, suddenly I have a little more interest on Saturday to tackle some of those projects. That …

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Re: Losing interest after finishing a build -- anyone else have this problem?

Posted on 2019-10-02, 23:35

by

by SirNickity

in Milliways

in Milliways

The way the PC industry is jettisoning all things legacy, pretty soon 32-bit PCs will be retro, and you might have to keep a Core i5 around to run Windows 7. hehe That'll run pretty much anything back to Win 98 at least. I had a little crisis of conscience once, too. I had started this little …

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Re: Any others given up on the hobby?

Posted on 2019-10-02, 22:53

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by SirNickity

in Milliways

in Milliways

My W95 PC is a P166 MMX with like 64MB RAM -- it's super zippy! 😁 Then again, I'm not trying to watch YouTube videos with it...

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Re: Losing interest after finishing a build -- anyone else have this problem?

Posted on 2019-10-02, 20:37

by

by SirNickity

in Milliways

in Milliways

For a lot of people, the games justify the builds, since most people aren't willing to use them as "daily drivers" the way you would have when it was the current gen hardware. In some cases you just can't... Chrome would consume more memory for one tab than a pre-Pentium 4 machine would have …

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