Re: Sierra adventures by disk (images)

Posted on 2019-08-26, 20:46

by

by JudgeMonroe

in Marvin \ Software

in Marvin \ Software

I'm surprised that they would bother packaging multiple sizes of the resource files instead of packing them for the lowest common denominator (360k disks) and just doubling them up on the 720k distribution masters. From what I can tell, the 360k distribution has a RESOURCE.00[1-6] for each of the …

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Re: Infocom games trouble

Posted on 2019-08-24, 20:13

by

by JudgeMonroe

in Marvin \ Software

in Marvin \ Software

Errius wrote: That's an ANSI problem I believe. Yep. Load ANSI.SYS in your CONFIG.SYS.

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Re: CD rom in 386 problem...

Posted on 2019-08-24, 18:30

by

by JudgeMonroe

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

BIOSes in pre pentium systems do not detect CDROMs and, here's the important part - it doesn't matter The DOS CDROM driver (I recommend VIDE-CDD.SYS) will scan master and slave on both channels and pick up the drive. The BIOS 100% doesn't matter This is correct. ATAPI is implemented by the driver; …

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Re: Questions on DOOM performance on 486 DX2-66

Posted on 2019-08-24, 04:50

by

by JudgeMonroe

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Video bus speed matters for getting that framebuffer filled but DOOM is cpu bound more than anything.

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Re: Why did the old Pentium Gateway towers have a turbo light?

Posted on 2019-08-23, 04:47

by

by JudgeMonroe

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

As mentioned, the turbo light did report the turbo status, which could be set to "deturbo." Gateway used Intel motherboards, and the P5-75/90/100s used the Plato+Neptune board which could be set to "deturbo" in BIOS or by CTRL-ALT-"-" (as long as the machine was not in protected mode. You cannot use …

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Re: Gateway 2000 P5-90 Restoration

Posted on 2019-08-22, 23:09

by

by JudgeMonroe

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

The AnyKey keyboard is more than a punny name. It was so called because of its ability -- for good or ill -- to reprogram any key on the keyboard except the keys that perform said programming. This keyboard was filthy when I got it. Not only full of scum and hair, but just covered in a layer of …

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Re: Gateway 2000 P5-90 Restoration

Posted on 2019-08-22, 22:37

by

by JudgeMonroe

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

manbearpig wrote: I have a P4D-66 that looks similar to this. Pretty plain in comparison though. Is everything stock? Do you know if it's a 93 or a 94? The 66 held up the low end of Gateway's lineup through 94 and that case is identical.

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Re: TDK CD-ROM

Posted on 2019-08-20, 22:06

by

by JudgeMonroe

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

As good as the slot-load CD-ROM drive looks in the setup, it's a flaky drive. It's a Pioneer DR-501S, nominally a 24X from 1997, and is a later addition to the system; the original shipping drive is long gone. While this drive works okay for installs, it fails pretty rapidly when used for any kind …

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

Posted on 2019-08-20, 02:23

by

by JudgeMonroe

in Milliways

in Milliways

I installed Windows 10 on my modern PC today. It's the first time since maybe 1995, when I last purchased a retail PC, that I have a -- let's just say -- legitimate copy of Windows, and it was Windows For Workgroups 3.11! Interesting (to me), I did a clean install of "Windows 10 Home" and the only …

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Re: Replace Dallas RTC battery without desoldering?

Posted on 2019-08-18, 02:32

by

by JudgeMonroe

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I’m glad this worked out for you! I just know if I tried it the Dremel would slip and tear up the board. Maybe I can mod the one I desoldered though. I have plenty of cr2032 saddles.

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Re: CHS values + drive size limitations

Posted on 2019-08-17, 02:09

by

by JudgeMonroe

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

What BIOS will show doesn't have much to do with what the BIOS will work with. My 1994 Pentium won't work with any geometry with more than 4096 cylinders, but you can put in any values you want and see the result; it just won't work. Also, CHS geometry only gets you so far. Any drive over 8.4GB or …

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Re: Limitations to building a year 1993 , 486dx-33 ?

Posted on 2019-08-17, 01:32

by

by JudgeMonroe

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

AMemories are faulty. Yes, Pentiums were sold in 1994. Yes, they were popular. No, it didn't take until Windows 95 came out for them to take off (they were already on the 3rd generation Socket 7s by then!). The Socket7 specification was released before Windows 95, but the actual 3rd generation …

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JAZZ to VIBRA

Posted on 2019-08-16, 21:16

by

by JudgeMonroe

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Just for the heck of it, I swapped the JAZZ16 for a VIBRA16 card. Now, the JAZZ16 is a pretty decent card with good DOS support and SBPro mixer compatibility. The genuine Yamaha OPL3 synth is nice, but it's still a clone card and I had two major (and 1 minor) issues with it: 1. The MPU-401 emulation …

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Re: Limitations to building a year 1993 , 486dx-33 ?

Posted on 2019-08-16, 18:55

by

by JudgeMonroe

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Well microsoft said 512kb was going to be enough for anyone. I think Windows 95 took allot of people by surprise and I was still able to run Win95 on my 486dx-33 from what I remember. "Microsoft" never said any such thing. The urban legend is that Bill Gates said "640k ought to be enough for anyone …

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Re: Gateway 2000 P5-90 Restoration

Posted on 2019-08-16, 18:29

by

by JudgeMonroe

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

How about that ... I've never seen those dual drives. Can you insert two floppies at the same time ? Or do you switch between them ? It's 2 physical drives in low-profile enclosures squeezed into a single 5.25 drive bay sled. The two drives share a data connection and power but are otherwise …

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Re: Gateway 2000 P5-90 Restoration

Posted on 2019-08-16, 16:02

by

by JudgeMonroe

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

EDIT : Did Gateway write their own modified bioses, or contract Intel to do it for them? Intel provided the BIOS for their mainboards and OEMs generally weren't in the business of writing their own. The OEM signifier was used to prevent flashing, say, a Gateway board with a Dell BIOS. The BIOS was …

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Re: Limitations to building a year 1993 , 486dx-33 ?

Posted on 2019-08-16, 15:47

by

by JudgeMonroe

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I like reading about what people were using in 1993. I don’t think it is about the best or fastest computer. Just what ever suited your needs in 1993. Since there was only DOS and MS Windows 3x available at the time. Maybe SCO or FREE BSD. But for most people it was DOS and Win3x. A 486dx-33 was …

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Re: Limitations to building a year 1993 , 486dx-33 ?

Posted on 2019-08-16, 15:06

by

by JudgeMonroe

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

A lot of people seem to want this conversation to be about "the computer I was still using in 1993" or "the best computer I could afford in 1993." I think the conversation is about "the best computer 1993 had to offer," or maybe "the computer that best represents 1993," which in both cases is …

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Re: Gateway 2000 P5-90 Restoration

Posted on 2019-08-16, 05:41

by

by JudgeMonroe

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Its Bios version is 1.00.12.AX1 ,is there a later one? There might be. BIOS 12 is the latest I know of for the Gateway version (AX1T) but if yours lacks a trailing letter (AX1) then it's a non-OEM BIOS and there might be a BIOS 16 out there. I couldn't tell you what it fixes/adds or where to get it …

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Re: Limitations to building a year 1993 , 486dx-33 ?

Posted on 2019-08-15, 21:45

by

by JudgeMonroe

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Intel486dx33 wrote: Which were the Pentium CPU that had the BUG ? That information is also in the wiki.

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