Re: Collecting rants

Posted on 2020-06-17, 15:46

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by babtras

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

This hobby becomes a lot more affordable if you decide to become a seller yourself. This becomes a necessity if you're limited by space. Although the days of buying Voodoo 3 cards for $20 are gone (but not truly long gone), you can still buy up lots of cards on eBay for reasonable amounts. Keep the …

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Re: When do you throw in the towel on an old piece of hw?

Posted on 2020-06-17, 03:03

by

by babtras

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I've been working on a 286 laptop for a year. I have thrown in the towel at least a half-dozen times, boxed it up, put it away. Then thought about something I hadn't tried while laying in bed and opened it back up the next day. I can't help but keep going back to it because I love the look of it, …

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Re: Collecting rants

Posted on 2020-06-17, 02:47

by

by babtras

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

yep, but ebay's address system is also a total mess. I have addresses in multiple countries, but ebay isn't smart enough to let me shop in each country I have an address in, so I have to change my default address to whatever country I want to buy something from if the seller doesn't offer …

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Re: 5.25" floppy drive reads but can't write?

Posted on 2020-06-16, 22:29

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by babtras

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Not that it will help right now, for Googlers of the future I'll note that I just wrote an image to a 40 track 360k 2S-2D disk with a Panasonic JU-475-4 (1.2MB drive). It then booted and read and wrote on an Epson SD-521, 360k-only drive in an 8088. So I can attest that those particular models seem …

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Re: 5.25" floppy drive reads but can't write?

Posted on 2020-06-15, 05:01

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by babtras

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I found this snippet from http://jope.fi/drives/40200A03.pdf "The PC originally produced 360KB diskettes on a 48 TPI (tracks per inch) drive. The diskettes used were known as 2D (2 sides, double density). A dual density drive can operate in either double density or high density mode. Dual density …

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Worn out connectors

Posted on 2020-06-14, 03:41

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by babtras

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Just reassembled an 8088 lunchbox PC after a failed attempt to get a Gotek installed (will make a later post about it) and the LCD was dead. Opened it back up, disconnected and reconnected the connectors and tried again. Now it works fine. Closed it all up and it's dead again. Tap it and it goes out …

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Re: Bought these (retro) hardware today

Posted on 2020-06-13, 20:22

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by babtras

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I had seen ESD kill something instantly and worst one is soft kill that works for awhile then die slowly later. Someone handed me a stick of RAM once (PC100 days) and when I took it there was a nice static discharge between me and the RAM. Didnt seem to affect it at all. It lasted for at least a …

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Alternative to 'Box full of old cards' storage ideology

Posted on 2020-06-13, 03:32

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by babtras

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I'm busy organizing my inventory. Working on expansion cards in particular, and would like a much better way of storing them than just in a pile in a box. I have noticed a couple of instances of damage caused by storing them this way, mostly mild, but could make the difference between a working and …

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Re: What are builds you want to make someday?

Posted on 2020-06-12, 19:49

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by babtras

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

I would like to rebuild a Pentium 4 with RAMBUS memory (I still have the RAM from a Pentium 4 1.6GHz in the past). I'd also like to stumble upon a 4-bit 4004 or 4040 based calculator or equivalent, and a 186 PC which are not too common (CPUs are easy to find though).

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Re: BIOS for old 286

Posted on 2020-06-12, 06:41

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by babtras

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I should also note that I haven't been able to prove that the CPU is good either (don't have another 286 board with that socket and can't get one from eBay because sellers are in places where they cannot ship due to pandemic). The CPU apparently has a max power consumption of 1.3 Watts and the …

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Re: BIOS for old 286

Posted on 2020-06-12, 06:30

by

by babtras

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I also recommend getting a diagnostics card (POST card).. The ISA/PCI combo types are not that expensive. I have been considering buying one of these, but in this case it won't help me as this is a laptop/portable without any ISA expansion slots. In particular, it is an NEC ProSpeed 286. It has a …

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Re: Are there any USB -> XT keyboard interface devices?

Posted on 2020-06-12, 04:15

by

by babtras

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

You're right, I take it back. I've become mindful of how expensive a hobby, that sometimes involves dumpster diving, can be when adding up the eBay purchases I've made over the year. They add up FAST and as a result, even $35 USD will make me second guess whether it's something I need or if it is …

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Re: Are there any USB -> XT keyboard interface devices?

Posted on 2020-06-12, 02:33

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by babtras

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

So more like this: https://www.ebay.com/itm/USB-and-PC-AT-PS-2-t … r-/143516239687 (But a less eyewatering price perhaps)

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Re: BIOS for old 286

Posted on 2020-06-12, 02:24

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by babtras

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Thank you for the help. Pics of the motherboard attached. There's a 211C, 212B, 215, and a 206.

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Re: Are there any USB -> XT keyboard interface devices?

Posted on 2020-06-11, 23:13

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by babtras

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

This looks promising:https://www.tindie.com/products/futureretro/x … yboard-adapter/

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BIOS for old 286

Posted on 2020-06-11, 17:14

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by babtras

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I have a derelict NEC ProSpeed 286 with a C&T chipset. I have been tearing my hair out for a year trying to find anything wrong with it at all. I keep circling back to the BIOS. It's clear someone has replaced the EPROMs because they are mismatched, beat up, hand-written on, and don't match model …

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Re: Pentium III + Windows 98, Slow network transfers

Posted on 2020-06-11, 16:59

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by babtras

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I have found this with both Windows 98 and 2000 when transferring from a Windows 7 machine using a share on the retro machine. I have been considering using an FTP server internally instead. Recently I found one was incredibly slow because of my own boneheaded mistake. I have an awful Internet …

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Re: Collecting rants

Posted on 2020-06-11, 16:07

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by babtras

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I have quite some collection of vintage hardware and my wife doesn't give me hard time about it. Not that she is into my retro world, but sometimes I actually discuss with her about which computer I have is more easy on the eyes. I also play some DOS games with my kids for the fun of it and to give …

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Re: Pentium II/III or K6-2

Posted on 2020-06-11, 15:54

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by babtras

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Both! I strongly preferred Intel at this time over AMD because my attempts to use AMD stuff almost always ended with frustration over system stability. I'd buy parts with the best benchmarks which was almost inevitably overclocked, and suffer crashes and system lockups regularly as a result. I fled …

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Re: Collecting rants

Posted on 2020-06-09, 22:23

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by babtras

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

No idea what he's expecting but he plainly isn't getting it. Why even bother listing it? I spoke to someone who did something like that locally here. He said his wife was demanding he sell some of his 'junk' and that was his way of pretending he was trying. Shitty pics, poor description, high price …

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