samaron wrote:

Did a search on eBay, and I noticed a Roland RAP-10 card for sale with a breakout box. Would this card be any good along with the MT-32 and other MIDI devices?

According to Wikipedia the RAP-10 only supports MPU-401 UART mode, not the intelligent mode.

Nar those things are pretty useless, no 100% compatible MPU401 interface to drive the MT-32, not sound blaster compatible, and not many games support it.

Allright, I'll skip that card then and look for another. 😉

http://www.ebay.com/itm/111166779496?ssPageNa … 984.m1423.l2649

This card is compatible. Though with SoftMPU available these days I see little point spending much money on the hardware. Just my 10 cents 😀

I'd love to buy that card, but the seller refuses to ship internationally...

He does ship internationally, just through the Ebay Global shipping programme which Norway is not part of atm. Wouldn't hurt to ask if regular USPS shipping could be included for you.

On Sep-16-13 at 00:15:46 PDT, seller added the following information:

*** Update 9/16: I've just noticed that eBay automatically added the Global Shipping option in the listing, and I cannot change it now. I DO NOT SHIP INTERNATIONALLY, OR TO ALASKA/HAWAII, US PROTECTORATES, APO/FPO. Please do not bid if any of these applies. Sorry for the confusion. ***

🙁

Got some more stuff today. The seller of the MT-32 messed up the customs form, so that ended up with paying about 500 NOK (about $84 USD) in VAT and fees.

I changed out the GUS MAX with the GUS PnP Pro I had in my 486 computer. The PnP card is much more stable and have proper Windows drivers. The MAX were only made for DOS, so it was slightly unstable under Windows probably due to the homemade drivers.

I'm waiting with installing the K6-2 until I get more RAM. Just want to see if the extra RAM makes any noticeable difference.

I also have a problem with the AWE64 Gold. When inserted, I'm not able to start windows properly. It hangs on the installation of the joystick port. The mouse pointer can be moved, but the installation doesn't go any further. Doesn't matter if the GUS PnP is inserted or not. Any suggestions?

Did a swap again. Figured that I'll use mainly the Soundblaster card for Windows and games, so no real need for the GUS card to work under Windows. So I put back the MAX card and only use it under DOS when needed. It have 1mb of memory, which some demoscene programs require. The PnP card only have 512kb.

Still struggeling to boot into windows, though. Can start in safe mode and DOS. Normal Windows startup is held back by the "New hardware found" program.

EDIT:

I finally got Windows up and running again. Have troubleshooted and done some trial and error since yesterday. Had to disable some hardware during safe mode, and after a lot of reboots it finally installed the card as it should.

So now I have Soundblaster AWE64 Gold and Gravis Ultrasound MAX running together. The GUS only works under DOS, and disabled as much as I could on it.

Here is how it looks like on the inside now:

samaron wrote:

Got some more stuff today. The seller of the MT-32 messed up the customs form, so that ended up with paying about 500 NOK (about $84 USD) in VAT and fees.

Ouch! He messed it up so you ended paying more than you should? Or you mean he messed up so that you were forced to pay the correct amount?

I'm waiting with installing the K6-2 until I get more RAM. Just want to see if the extra RAM makes any noticeable difference.

98MB of RAM as you have currently is more than enough for the games you can run on that CPU. You won't see any noticable differences. I say just install the k6-2 straight away 😀 Btw nice job getting the boxed version!

I also have a problem with the AWE64 Gold. When inserted, I'm not able to start windows properly. It hangs on the installation of the joystick port. The mouse pointer can be moved, but the installation doesn't go any further. Doesn't matter if the GUS PnP is inserted or not. Any suggestions?

Sounds like a conflict problem. Try to manually set the address to the joystick port in safe mode is possible? I don't own any GUS cards so I have no expertise there.

I disabled everything that had to do with the sound card and it finally started up normally and allowed to finish the installation. I suspect the driver installation got a hiccup. All well now thankfully. 😀

I want to run some newer games like Quake II, Half Life and Unreal Tournament. Unreal Tournament and Half Life is the one that have issues with not running smoothly when it start to happen a lot on the screen. I thought more RAM might help some, but I do suspect the CPU is the one holding everything back a little here.

The MT-32 were probably marked as gift, but sent from a business address. The gift option isn't valid then. The tracking stated that the shipment were assumed to be over the limit. Had to go to the postal office and fax (yes, use a good old fax machine) and send in documentation that stated what the shipment is and what I paid for it. I suspect the customs took the total price (MT-32 + shipping) and added VAT from that. I also had to pay handling fees to the customs because of this. Got a raped package a few days later that were poorly taped together by the customs. Luckily the MT-32 were unharmed!

EDIT: I found an old PC133 256mb lying in a drawer. Didn't help much, so the CPU is going in tomorrow. 😀 Tried two 256mb, but it only counted 256 instead of 512... turned out when I read the datasheet for the chipset that it only supports 256mb.

I changed out the CPU today! Unfortunately it didn't work... When I bootet up the computer it recognized it as an 80486DX-S CPU running at 66MHz, which it quite wrong. Guess the motherboard I have doesn't support the CPU. 🙁 Any suggestions about a compatible motherboard that is easily obtainable? Would like to have at least 3 ISA slots and 3 PCI slots for all the different cards I have.

Don't trust the BIOS at all times. Try running Speedsys and see what the speed actually is. As long as the computer booted up it is actually working. A BIOS update for your board might be available as well.

If you are looking for a new board, is it ATX or AT? With AGP or not?

Well, the case is AT, so I'd prefer to use that. AGP doesn't really matter. I use the voodoo2 cards, so that makes up for it to some degree. My main goal is to make an "overkill" late 90s gaming machine that can be versatile. Want to use it to make backup of old software, play demoscene stuff (where the GUS comes in), so some programming etc. The voodoo2 card is what I used and were amazed of 15 years ago, that's why I focused on that part. I'm a bit unsure how demos would react if I were to use AGP cards instead of PCI?

Did some shopping today. Bought a Soyo SY-5EH5 v1.3 motherboard from eBay. Supposedly new old stock, so it comes with the driver/software CD, cables, etc. The seller also stated that it is refurbished, all the capacitors have been changed out so it will work properly. Tested with the same CPU I'm going to use, the AMD K6-2 500MHz! Chose this one since it is AT and have the keyboard DIN plug on the back, which makes it fit my computer case nicely. Also have almost the same amount of ISA/PCI slots, which is nice. One of the PCI slots are replaced with an AGP on this new board

Since the new motherboard have AGP, I went up on the attic and dug out a Creative 3D Blaster TNT2 Ultra which uses the nVidia RIVA chipset. Is this one of the best cards from this era, or are there anything with much improvement over this one released in the 90s?

While going through the old stuff I also stumbled on something else I thought were gone forever... The old water cooling equipment my father made in the late 90s! If I'm not mistaken, this was used on a dual Intel Celeron 300A setup, and they were overclocked over a 100%. The inside of the cabinet got so cold that it actually gradually built up snow on the inside of the case. He used some peltier elements which became very cool. You can see the rectifiers on the wooden plank, a water tank, the CPU elements in the picture. A real hack job, as it didn't exist any kits for this kind of stuff in those days.

EDIT: The water tank is in fact a transformer for the peltier elements. 230 volt to 16 volt (I think), made with what was available. Turned out to be an oversized core, so it won't have any trouble with delivering enough juice.

vetz wrote:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/111166779496?ssPageNa … 984.m1423.l2649

This card is compatible. Though with SoftMPU available these days I see little point spending much money on the hardware. Just my 10 cents 😀

So with this card (MQX-32M) I wouldn't need an MPU401 to use the MT-32? I mean, it would be the MT-32 connected directly to the MQX-32M? The MPU401 and the MPU-IPC are the same thing?

samaron wrote:

Did some shopping today. Bought a Soyo SY-5EH5 v1.3 motherboard from eBay. Supposedly new old stock, so it comes with the driver/software CD, cables, etc. The seller also stated that it is refurbished, all the capacitors have been changed out so it will work properly. Tested with the same CPU I'm going to use, the AMD K6-2 500MHz! Chose this one since it is AT and have the keyboard DIN plug on the back, which makes it fit my computer case nicely. Also have almost the same amount of ISA/PCI slots, which is nice. One of the PCI slots are replaced with an AGP on this new board

Since the new motherboard have AGP, I went up on the attic and dug out a Creative 3D Blaster TNT2 Ultra which uses the nVidia RIVA chipset. Is this one of the best cards from this era, or are there anything with much improvement over this one released in the 90s?

Nice board! That should give plenty of versatility if you would like to go down or up in speed. It should support the AMD K6-III as well. If strictly adhering to the 90s, then the TNT2 Ultra is one of the best cards. Geforce SDR is on top.

81ramirez wrote:

So with this card (MQX-32M) I wouldn't need an MPU401 to use the MT-32? I mean, it would be the MT-32 connected directly to the MQX-32M? The MPU401 and the MPU-IPC are the same thing?

The card supports intelligent mode, and thus performs like a MPU-IPC. There are other clone cards that are compatible beside the Roland card, like this card and Midiman MM-401. MPU401 is an external breakout box for use with the MPU-IPC. The MPU-IPC is an internal 8bit ISA card. Just google and you'll see in the pictures 😀

vetz wrote:

Nice board! That should give plenty of versatility if you would like to go down or up in speed. It should support the AMD K6-III […]
Show full quote

samaron wrote:

Did some shopping today. Bought a Soyo SY-5EH5 v1.3 motherboard from eBay. Supposedly new old stock, so it comes with the driver/software CD, cables, etc. The seller also stated that it is refurbished, all the capacitors have been changed out so it will work properly. Tested with the same CPU I'm going to use, the AMD K6-2 500MHz! Chose this one since it is AT and have the keyboard DIN plug on the back, which makes it fit my computer case nicely. Also have almost the same amount of ISA/PCI slots, which is nice. One of the PCI slots are replaced with an AGP on this new board

Since the new motherboard have AGP, I went up on the attic and dug out a Creative 3D Blaster TNT2 Ultra which uses the nVidia RIVA chipset. Is this one of the best cards from this era, or are there anything with much improvement over this one released in the 90s?

Nice board! That should give plenty of versatility if you would like to go down or up in speed. It should support the AMD K6-III as well. If strictly adhering to the 90s, then the TNT2 Ultra is one of the best cards. Geforce SDR is on top.

81ramirez wrote:

So with this card (MQX-32M) I wouldn't need an MPU401 to use the MT-32? I mean, it would be the MT-32 connected directly to the MQX-32M? The MPU401 and the MPU-IPC are the same thing?

The card supports intelligent mode, and thus performs like a MPU-IPC. There are other clone cards that are compatible beside the Roland card, like this card and Midiman MM-401. MPU401 is an external breakout box for use with the MPU-IPC. The MPU-IPC is an internal 8bit ISA card. Just google and you'll see in the pictures 😀

Sorry if it looks like I haven't researched, it's just that it confuses me a lot. I've seen both MPU401 and MPU-IPC (MPU-IPC-T) as breakout boxes, I wasn't aware that there was an ISA MPU-IPC as well.

So, if I understood it right, the possibilities are:
MPU-IPC + MPU401 + MT-32
MQX-32M or Midiman MM-401 + MPU401 + MT-32
Generic sound card with softMPU + MT-32

Is that it?
Thank for the help.

You don't need the MPU401 with the MQX-32M or Midiman-401. With those cards, just connect the MT-32 directly.

I'm sorry, but I made an error earlier with the MPU-401.

MPU-401 is the breakout box for ISA card MIF-IPC
MPU-IPC and MPU-IPC-T are newer versions with more of the hardware in the breakout box included on the card itself (breakout box has the same model name).
MPU-401AT is an ISA card without the need for a breakout box and thus works like the Musicquest and Midiman cards.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MPU-401