Re: ESS sound card with 2MB wavetable chip - DONE

Posted on 2024-02-19, 19:58

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by kikipcs

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

Paar wrote on 2024-02-15, 08:18: I'm still thinking about making a daughter board that could be connected to any ESS soundcard with wavetable header, but cannot find the time needed for that. Hopefully one day... well technically there's the eWave by Serdaco, even though it's got an ES692S and not …

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Re: Mysterious ALi "ALiCAT" cards - anyone got one?

Posted on 2022-10-16, 12:31

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by kikipcs

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

This would not be the first card that cloned the pinout of the Trio64/V+, although it is a completely different card. There also is the Sigma Designs Inc. REALmagix64/GX with that pinout. Everyone and his dog and their cats already had Trio64/V+ graphics card PCB designs already at hand, so …

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Mysterious ALi "ALiCAT" cards - anyone got one?

Posted on 2022-10-15, 13:16

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by kikipcs

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

Hiya, Boredom led me to browsing VGA Museum again. From there I stumbled upon another collector's website: https://vgamuseum.ru . The person behind it has a cool collection of cards, but what intrigued me the most were the ALi cards. I have never, ever heard of them, let alone seen one in the wild. …

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Re: any hard core Thinkpad fans amongst the ranks?

Posted on 2022-02-15, 08:15

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by kikipcs

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Used to have a bunch of vintage ThinkPads, but I sold 'em along with all the parts, guts, whatnots. I had: - 2x 755CX, both dead to some extent - 2x 760EL TFT - 760EL DSTN (never again) - 380ED with combo CD/FDD and Chinese keyboard (allegedly rare, got a good price for it) - 560 - 560E - 2x 560X - …

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Re: Building a 486 - Need Help

Posted on 2022-02-04, 19:53

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by kikipcs

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Gazirra wrote on 2022-02-04, 19:20: What sort of switch should I buy? You'd be safest with getting an AT power supply just to check if the board is working. And check if the voltages are OK on the main power rails with your PSU. Or check if it boots with an ATX board.

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Re: Building a 486 - Need Help

Posted on 2022-02-04, 08:54

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by kikipcs

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I don't know if it's jumped properly... And where would the speaker go? Speaker.png Somewhere in this row of headers. For the jumpers, your board looks like the QDI VL/ISA-PB486P3. (confirm with the markings on your board) You can find the manual and jumper settings for it here: https://www. …

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Re: Newly made Gravis Ultrasound compatible cards ... what's the degree of interest?

Posted on 2022-02-01, 10:31

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by kikipcs

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

A bit off topic, but at the 24 Hours of Daytona race last weekend, there was a car with what looks like the GUSar logo, just with the S in a different position. I’m wondering if the GUSar Lite sound card logo is referencing some company I’ve never heard of. The car is run by a Russian team, so I …

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Making your own Powerleap - or any other S7 voltage interposer

Posted on 2022-01-31, 11:25

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by kikipcs

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Been thinking of something. Powerleaps and Kingston adapters are well loved by many, especially those with proprietary systems in where you can't just swap out a motherboard (think Packard Bells, IBMs, et cetera). I sure would love to have one. Thing is, these aren't easy to find - as a matter of …

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Re: 1995 IBM ThinkPad 755CX

Posted on 2022-01-31, 11:03

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by kikipcs

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Is that 3-cell battery the CMOS battery? If not, what does it power? If it's removed, I assuming it needs replacement. Correct? I've located a source for this battery. One other question: If the CMOS battery is bad, going bad or dead, why, immediately after starting the machine did it display the …

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Re: 1995 IBM ThinkPad 755CX

Posted on 2022-01-30, 15:17

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by kikipcs

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Remove that green 3-cell battery ASAP. It leaks, and from your pic I can see it's already leaked through the wires onto the connector header. It can spew the acid further and do some serious damage to your system board. I don't have really any experience with Direct Access but it worked with DOS, so …

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Re: Newly made Gravis Ultrasound compatible cards ... what's the degree of interest?

Posted on 2022-01-29, 22:39

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by kikipcs

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

Thanks a lot for your explanation. The only link I found in this thread didn't work anymore, but they still offer used ROMs -> https://www.utsource.net/itm/p/457141.html I bought some AM78C201AKC chips on eBay but they got expensive - with import taxes I paid around $30 (USD) for one pcs. I'm going …

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Re: Need Bios Help with Jetway / J-Mark J446B mainboard

Posted on 2022-01-14, 15:24

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by kikipcs

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Chkcpu, thank you for your insight. I was wondering if the board had any PnP support; on another note, kudos to you for deciphering the BIOSes, to me it's magic. Glad to see the board getting some love and some more information about it.

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Re: Need Bios Help with Jetway / J-Mark J446B mainboard

Posted on 2022-01-11, 01:41

by

by kikipcs

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Good to see you doing progress - and kudos on getting another of the same mobo! 😁 The BIOSes you provided seem to be the latest ones with a date of 24 Dec 1996 - I'm keen to learn what changes were made in relation to the older versions.

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Re: Testing the waters with a 486 - MS-4145 board repair

Posted on 2022-01-06, 17:55

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by kikipcs

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Update and some notes for me - 1. Who knew that I could reinforce the damaged pads using a bit of a copper foil tape? Gonna do that for a few more pins I think. For others, I’ve scavenged some pads from a donor P4 board, and epoxied them in place: IMG_0400.jpg IMG_0417.jpg Epoxied resistor/cap row …

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Re: Need Bios Help with Jetway / J-Mark J446B mainboard

Posted on 2022-01-06, 16:12

by

by kikipcs

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Hello, After some battling I managed to dump the BIOS and CMOS settings, using UNIFLASH. The dump looks fine in HxD, and when I set up a machine in 86box using the bios, it booted fine! See below: J446B_86box.png Please find the ROM and the CMOS settings in the attachment. I will also try to upload …

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Re: Need Bios Help with Jetway / J-Mark J446B mainboard

Posted on 2022-01-03, 10:48

by

by kikipcs

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I have a working board like that - the only info on the silkscreen it has is "J446B"between the first and second PCI slots, so it may as well be the same model. BIOS is an Award. Only problem is that I don't have a TL866 or any hardware dumping tool for it :( I'll try AWDFLASH and let you know if I …

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Re: Testing the waters with a 486 - MS-4145 board repair

Posted on 2021-12-29, 00:24

by

by kikipcs

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

As mentioned and expected I did tear those traces: IMG_0268.jpg Learning from my mistakes, literally. IMG_0267.jpg Those ex-capacitors either crumbled when desoldering from that lamentable breadboard, or were so crispy that there was no way of telling which one is which. Most of the terminals on …

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Re: Testing the waters with a 486 - MS-4145 board repair

Posted on 2021-12-28, 23:52

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by kikipcs

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Holy smokes, over a year has passed. About time I gave you an update on this dumpster fire. Project burnout, pandemic, lack of skills, other projects, all that made a wonderful cocktail to sip on during the meantime. Thanks to feltel for his recent post on this same mobo. My interest in the project …

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Re: Newly made Gravis Ultrasound compatible cards ... what's the degree of interest?

Posted on 2021-12-28, 23:12

by

by kikipcs

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

GUST has a nice ring to it - in theme with other projects ;) I don't think that ArGUS nor GusAr put a dent on the GUS marketplace. If not, they may have influenced the prices as more people reminded themselves of the ol' card. Also I'm with you on the SMD part - both for convenience and that SMD …

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Re: MS-4145 worth a try?

Posted on 2021-12-25, 13:14

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by kikipcs

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I also have one! (and it's corroded as hell too). I am the author of that thread - frankly I shelved the project for some time due to a severe lack of skill in electronic repair & soldering but now that I'm less mediocre at it I might actually get back to it. It has the last ALi chipset (486 FINALi …

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