VOGONS


The quest for the perfect retro laptop: a saga

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Reply 580 of 894, by vorob

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Just wanna share some pictures. Because i can.

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Reply 581 of 894, by ajacocks

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Nice looking machine!

Reply 583 of 894, by vorob

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Since i've got only 64mb flashcard i've installed only doom, commander keen and prince of persia. They all work well, and i've got sound and gm music without drivers.

One issue so far, and it is covered here:

Re: Cropped screen

By default320x200 games are just a small window in center, no build-in option to stretch it. When i use VEXP utility i'm able to make window bigger, but i still have borders and 320x200 is squeezed like i had on my toshiba 2805 with S3 videocard. Looks like it's best i can get here.

Reply 584 of 894, by vorob

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I'm trying to enable USB on this Siemens. All other PC's work with this thing:

DEVICE=HIMEM.SYS /TEST:OFF
DOS=HIGH
DEVICEHIGH=USBASPI.SYS /V /W
DEVICEHIGH=DI1000DD.SYS

But this one find no devices. Maybe there is another approach? Another dude made another way to work with USB under DOS?

Reply 585 of 894, by BitWrangler

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Variations on that theme... USB storage drivers that work in DOS 6.22?

Unicorn herding operations are proceeding, but all the totes of hens teeth and barrels of rocking horse poop give them plenty of hiding spots.

Reply 587 of 894, by vorob

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Thanks once again! This thing solved the issue: http://bretjohnson.us/

Just used two exe files and my flash drive is available in dos. The speed though is super slow, but it's better then nothing.

As for a lappy, i'm happy for now 😀 No drivers, no dancing with the settings. I just choose GM or roland and game produce rich music! Now i'm waiting for my 2gb compactflash.

Reply 588 of 894, by vorob

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Just received my 2gb compact flash card for my Siemens Nixdorf Scenic Mobile 710. Now i'm packing it with games like a madman. I've also installed Win 98 and it supports USB with better speed than i had in DOS. So far all stuff i'm launching is working like i expect it to work: for music i'm selecting mt32 or sound canvas or general midi and for sound just sound blaster. And it works. Just works!

The only game where i face issues is Dune 2, can't have both gm music and sound effects...

Reply 589 of 894, by bjwil1991

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I got a standard 1GB CF card installed on my Toshiba Satellite Pro T2150CDT internally (attempted to use a 512MB Industrial and 1GB Industrial CF cards to no avail (either freezes up or not detected) and copied all of the files from the 527MB image of the old hard drive onto the CF card once I was done formatting it.

And it's a lot more silent than before.

Discord: https://discord.gg/U5dJw7x
Systems from the Compaq Portable 1 to Ryzen 9 5950X
Twitch: https://twitch.tv/retropcuser

Reply 590 of 894, by vorob

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The Dune issue is solved. For now, I can't see a reason why Siemens Scenic Mobile 710 can't be called an ultimate dos gaming machine. Well, maybe its scaling can be a weak point. Mode 13h is squeezed...

Reply 591 of 894, by vorob

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I Bought CD-ROM for my lappy. Couldn't live with a dead battery, useless waste of space.

Reply 593 of 894, by imi

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my disappointment is immeasurable and my day is ruined!

all that work cleaning out the heavy corrosion of the NiCad pack and disassembling... for this? 😁
...though I guess the missing audio jacks should have been a sign ^^

SKD-4000.jpg

Reply 594 of 894, by kixs

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vorob wrote on 2021-08-17, 22:14:

The Dune issue is solved. For now, I can't see a reason why Siemens Scenic Mobile 710 can't be called an ultimate dos gaming machine. Well, maybe its scaling can be a weak point. Mode 13h is squeezed...

I don't like the keyboard feeling. Also mouse buttons are flimsy. Machine wise it pretty good. My has Tillamook 266.

Requests are also possible... /msg kixs

Reply 595 of 894, by ragefury32

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imi wrote on 2021-08-22, 20:42:
my disappointment is immeasurable and my day is ruined! […]
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my disappointment is immeasurable and my day is ruined!

all that work cleaning out the heavy corrosion of the NiCad pack and disassembling... for this? 😁
...though I guess the missing audio jacks should have been a sign ^^

SKD-4000.jpg

What exactly am I looking at here?

Reply 596 of 894, by BitWrangler

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It's what isn't there.... like all the sound chips.

Unicorn herding operations are proceeding, but all the totes of hens teeth and barrels of rocking horse poop give them plenty of hiding spots.

Reply 597 of 894, by ragefury32

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BitWrangler wrote on 2021-08-23, 03:16:

It's what isn't there.... like all the sound chips.

What, is it supposed to be missing (as in, did it came from a 486 laptop that has a multimedia option…which is not populated in certain models)?

The 83c611 and the CT65540 chips pretty much point to it being on a VLB machine.

Reply 598 of 894, by Warlord

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crippled version. Still fairly content with my Toshiba 2805-s402. It's basically perfect, I just wish the LCD was a better quality. I might try upgrade the LCD some day to IPS or a newer technology.

Reply 599 of 894, by imi

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ragefury32 wrote on 2021-08-23, 05:39:
What, is it supposed to be missing (as in, did it came from a 486 laptop that has a multimedia option…which is not populated in […]
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BitWrangler wrote on 2021-08-23, 03:16:

It's what isn't there.... like all the sound chips.

What, is it supposed to be missing (as in, did it came from a 486 laptop that has a multimedia option…which is not populated in certain models)?

The 83c611 and the CT65540 chips pretty much point to it being on a VLB machine.

yeah, it's a nice 486 VLB laptop, what could have been is also a nice 16-bit sound section with real OPL3, as seen here: http://www.ombertech.com/cnk/skd-4000/img/Sma … /P1010001,s.jpg

while the components seem to be nicely labeled there's still a million SMD resistors and capacitors, so it would be kinda hard to populate all of that let alone know what values exactly 😒

would have been a nice project to try and swap in a color TFT, but without sound it's kinda pointless.