Got these today, I'm going to use most of this stuff for my next 486 build:

Gigabyte GA-5486AL with 32MB RAM and AMD DX4-120. Board had slight battery leakage, but it should boot just fine (worked with the seller). Did the vinegar stuff already and "washed" it a bit with flux, wick and iron and finally scrubbed with IPA so should be good for now:

Not the best card, but it is decent and got it for a relatively cheap price CT2810:

Two vintage Midi System MDR-401 MPU-401 cards (supports intelligent mode). AFAIK these are NOS (and they look like brand spanking new) with 3D printed brackets:

CharlieFoxtrot wrote on 2023-04-25, 15:52:

Got these today, I'm going to use most of this stuff for my next 486 build:

Not the best card, but it is decent and got it for a relatively cheap price CT2810:

Not too bad since it has genuine OPL onboard.

I agree. Anything with a genuine OPL chip is still very useful. You can always add an additional card, ISA or PCI, for digitized sound, but a genuine OPL chip is always on the ISA bus.

This does of course except things such as the ESS Solo-1 (ESFM) and Yamaha PCI cards. I'm referring to discreete Yamaha chips, specifically.

HanSolo wrote on 2023-01-17, 12:37:

Two more CRTs for my 'collection'. A 17" Samsung SyncMaster 795DF and a 19" Hyundai ImageQuest Q910. Both have great specs: the 17" with 85kHz, the 19" with 110kHz. And both are relatively small and light compared to other 17"/19" monitors. (The 17" is smaller than a Sony 15" that I have)

I still see CRTs being given away for free in my area but I just don't have the space to collect them all so I limit myself to the latest/best models. Right now I could get a 15"/66kHz Hyundai but I'll have to pass on that one. I think now is the last time to get them. They are showing up noticably less often already and in few years they will all be gone.
How do you guys solve this problem? Do you grab everything or only the 'better' ones? Or just don't care for CRTs?

I take in what I can albeit space is limited. They are worth a lot to me - not in a monetary sense of course.
All screens are "screened"(brightness/color/sharpness) and then rated in a tier system which means that burnt out ones get used first and then discarded - given the phosphor or the electron gun(s) is/are dying. Even putting these ones away hurts a bit as sometimes it's a tasty model, for example, a 22" Iiyama or similar.
Worthier ones are being stored for "service" and some gusto-usage.

Where are you situated - Europe or US? I heard that in some parts of the west Crts are getting scarce... it may be useful to connect the CRT collector's hobby with an official outlet. Something like cooperating with a department for technology or art - this way funds could be raised to keep the screens working.

@Charlie Foxtrot - always great to see some late era 486 boards. Maybe post some benchmark scores if possible.

On another note, I got an EWS64XL for a good price - package, manual, drivers, etc. included.

Today I got those 5 hard disks. They are:
Top row, from left to right:
-Seagate U10 ST310212A 10.2GB HDD ATA66 5400RPM 512KB cache
-Seagate Barracuda ATA IV ST340016A 40GB HDD ATA100 7200RPM 2MB cache
-Western Digital Caviar WD400BB-75FRA0 40GB HDD ATA100 7200RPM 2MB cache
-Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 9 6Y080L0 80GB HDD ATA133 7200RPM 2MB cache
-Western Digital Caviar WD800JB-00ETA0 80GB HDD ATA100 7200RPM 8MB cache

Any opinions?

amadeus777999 wrote on 2023-04-26, 08:02:

I take in what I can albeit space is limited. They are worth a lot to me - not in a monetary sense of course. All screens are "s […]
Show full quote

HanSolo wrote on 2023-01-17, 12:37:

Two more CRTs for my 'collection'. A 17" Samsung SyncMaster 795DF and a 19" Hyundai ImageQuest Q910. Both have great specs: the 17" with 85kHz, the 19" with 110kHz. And both are relatively small and light compared to other 17"/19" monitors. (The 17" is smaller than a Sony 15" that I have)

I still see CRTs being given away for free in my area but I just don't have the space to collect them all so I limit myself to the latest/best models. Right now I could get a 15"/66kHz Hyundai but I'll have to pass on that one. I think now is the last time to get them. They are showing up noticably less often already and in few years they will all be gone.
How do you guys solve this problem? Do you grab everything or only the 'better' ones? Or just don't care for CRTs?

I take in what I can albeit space is limited. They are worth a lot to me - not in a monetary sense of course.
All screens are "screened"(brightness/color/sharpness) and then rated in a tier system which means that burnt out ones get used first and then discarded - given the phosphor or the electron gun(s) is/are dying. Even putting these ones away hurts a bit as sometimes it's a tasty model, for example, a 22" Iiyama or similar.
Worthier ones are being stored for "service" and some gusto-usage.

Where are you situated - Europe or US? I heard that in some parts of the west Crts are getting scarce... it may be useful to connect the CRT collector's hobby with an official outlet. Something like cooperating with a department for technology or art - this way funds could be raised to keep the screens working.

I'm from Germany. Here I still see CRTs being offered from time to time, but mostly they are too far away to pick them up. But from my observations over the last 3-4 years they are getting rarer. And yet there doesn't seem to be much interest in them because if an ad shows up it doesn't disappear very quickly. (Right now I see a 17" and a 15" being offered since 2 months)

I know that not only Retro-PC-user look for them but also collectors of arcade machines.

I'm not an expert on CRT technology, but what I know is that Sony-tubes become brighter just by sitting unused for years. But that can be fixed by software. The same might apply to the Mitsubishi Diamontron (Iiyama). So maybe you shouldn't throw away the 22" too early. I have one such a problem with a Dell (with Sony tube inside) that I plan to try to repair 'some day'..

Kahenraz wrote on 2023-04-26, 06:00:

I agree. Anything with a genuine OPL chip is still very useful. You can always add an additional card, ISA or PCI, for digitized sound, but a genuine OPL chip is always on the ISA bus.

This does of course except things such as the ESS Solo-1 (ESFM) and Yamaha PCI cards. I'm referring to discreete Yamaha chips, specifically.

OPL was the reason I got and as it was bit cheaper than most ESS or generic YMF-7xx cards nowadays, it wasn’t a bad deal.

This still isn’t the best SB16 option available as it has both hanging note bugs as well as Vibra bug. I will use one of the MPU cards with this, so hanging note bugs aren’t an issue with my SC-55mk2 or MT-32pi.

It should be pretty clean sounding card, though.

HanSolo wrote on 2023-04-26, 10:04:

I have one such a problem with a Dell (with Sony tube inside) that I plan to try to repair 'some day'..

#metoo !
Windas for the win 😄

Got pretty lucky and landed this yesterday. 1 ghz athlon !

Nice Orion, welcome to the club. 😀

The first graphics card I ever bought while building my first custom PC - ATI Rage Fury Pro 32MB. This one was sold as-is for parts at $9.95 shipped, and the seller packed it like it was $99.95. I was prepared to receive the card in an envelope. A seller with integrity!

I tested it, and it works just fine.

This thing... I wonder if it will obey me and open the pod bay doors... well, in case it will go rebel I will have two reset buttons at my disposal...

Anyway, I don't think I will stick to this machine, I have too many of these already so I will probably clean it and put it on sale...

X86 wrote on 2023-04-26, 13:29:

Got pretty lucky and landed this yesterday. 1 ghz athlon !

PXL_20230426_005558281.jpg
PXL_20230426_052544174.jpg

Holy cow! Nice find! That's an original Orion core, so, it's the first 1Ghz CPU to hit the market. I managed to snag one 5+ years ago and since then I have only seen yours and one that sold back in February on ebay for around $200 buy-it-now (from China!). I'm not sure if the Orion or Thunderbird cores are more common on Slot A, but being the first 1Ghz chip is pretty awesome. Looks like it's in beautiful condition too! 😀

As for my retro purchase today, I cannot believe I got this for so cheap. No one else bid and I got it for around $30 US including shipping.

Look up the VSS30 on youtube. Sure, it's gimmicky, but this thing actually lets you record samples, apply effects to them and use them to make "music" in real time, and it's from 1987! Amazing tech for something that looks like the Casio keyboard every family had back then.

This isn't something I'd pay a lot of money for, because I'm not a vintage keyboard collector (I have another Portasound from the mid 80s that is just a normal entry level synth), but I bid on it last week fully expecting to get massively outbid... they seem to go for for $200-$300 reliably. I can't believe no one bid on it. Should be fun to play with! 😀

HanSolo wrote on 2023-04-26, 10:04:

I'm from Germany. Here I still see CRTs being offered from time to time, but mostly they are too far away to pick them up. But f […]
Show full quote

amadeus777999 wrote on 2023-04-26, 08:02:

I take in what I can albeit space is limited. They are worth a lot to me - not in a monetary sense of course. All screens are "s […]
Show full quote

HanSolo wrote on 2023-01-17, 12:37:

Two more CRTs for my 'collection'. A 17" Samsung SyncMaster 795DF and a 19" Hyundai ImageQuest Q910. Both have great specs: the 17" with 85kHz, the 19" with 110kHz. And both are relatively small and light compared to other 17"/19" monitors. (The 17" is smaller than a Sony 15" that I have)

I still see CRTs being given away for free in my area but I just don't have the space to collect them all so I limit myself to the latest/best models. Right now I could get a 15"/66kHz Hyundai but I'll have to pass on that one. I think now is the last time to get them. They are showing up noticably less often already and in few years they will all be gone.
How do you guys solve this problem? Do you grab everything or only the 'better' ones? Or just don't care for CRTs?

I take in what I can albeit space is limited. They are worth a lot to me - not in a monetary sense of course.
All screens are "screened"(brightness/color/sharpness) and then rated in a tier system which means that burnt out ones get used first and then discarded - given the phosphor or the electron gun(s) is/are dying. Even putting these ones away hurts a bit as sometimes it's a tasty model, for example, a 22" Iiyama or similar.
Worthier ones are being stored for "service" and some gusto-usage.

Where are you situated - Europe or US? I heard that in some parts of the west Crts are getting scarce... it may be useful to connect the CRT collector's hobby with an official outlet. Something like cooperating with a department for technology or art - this way funds could be raised to keep the screens working.

I'm from Germany. Here I still see CRTs being offered from time to time, but mostly they are too far away to pick them up. But from my observations over the last 3-4 years they are getting rarer. And yet there doesn't seem to be much interest in them because if an ad shows up it doesn't disappear very quickly. (Right now I see a 17" and a 15" being offered since 2 months)

I know that not only Retro-PC-user look for them but also collectors of arcade machines.

I'm not an expert on CRT technology, but what I know is that Sony-tubes become brighter just by sitting unused for years. But that can be fixed by software. The same might apply to the Mitsubishi Diamontron (Iiyama). So maybe you shouldn't throw away the 22" too early. I have one such a problem with a Dell (with Sony tube inside) that I plan to try to repair 'some day'..

Germany is one of the better countries for retro things - big(ger) nation were some people are neat and keep things tidy. I'm in Austria, which is similar but the "market" is way smaller and often less interesting. Yes, Crts still do not get too much love... fortunately or one would have to pay a Lot (more) for them
The IIyama was shot as one of the emitters seemed failing - the picture always had a red tint which did not stem from a bad solder joint. I encountered "brightening" of Sony tubes in an IBM P260 - with the right tools it's just a small service routine. Nonetheless a pesky issue.

HanJammer wrote on 2023-04-25, 11:05:

MSI K7D Master Rev. 1 with two Athlons MP 2000+ (I have another one of this boards laying around which was recapped some time ago - this one has all original caps which are not buldging...).

Congrats! I've been looking for a dual socket A motherboard for the last 15 years with no luck so far. They do seem to pop up on evilbay from time to time, but always over my budget.

Meatball wrote on 2023-04-26, 14:26:

The first graphics card I ever bought while building my first custom PC - ATI Rage Fury Pro 32MB. This one was sold as-is for parts at $9.95 shipped, and the seller packed it like it was $99.95. I was prepared to receive the card in an envelope. A seller with integrity!

I tested it, and it works just fine.

Kudos to the seller - partly for the nice price, but particularly for the shipping. People like that deserve to be celebrated 😀

HanJammer wrote on 2023-04-26, 23:50:

This thing... I wonder if it will obey me and open the pod bay doors... well, in case it will go rebel I will have two reset buttons at my disposal...

Anyway, I don't think I will stick to this machine, I have too many of these already so I will probably clean it and put it on sale...

I'd be careful: its name is HAL...

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2023-04-27, 00:09:

As for my retro purchase today, I cannot believe I got this for so cheap. No one else bid and I got it for around $30 US includi […]
Show full quote

As for my retro purchase today, I cannot believe I got this for so cheap. No one else bid and I got it for around $30 US including shipping.

vss30_1.jpg

vss30_2.jpg

Look up the VSS30 on youtube. Sure, it's gimmicky, but this thing actually lets you record samples, apply effects to them and use them to make "music" in real time, and it's from 1987! Amazing tech for something that looks like the Casio keyboard every family had back then.

This isn't something I'd pay a lot of money for, because I'm not a vintage keyboard collector (I have another Portasound from the mid 80s that is just a normal entry level synth), but I bid on it last week fully expecting to get massively outbid... they seem to go for for $200-$300 reliably. I can't believe no one bid on it. Should be fun to play with! 😀

that's a great deal for a nice keyboard there, the 80's was a good time for keyboards

Not everyone's cup of tea, but was happy to pick up a TI-85 calculator for peanuts. For the unaware this is a Z-80 based programmable machine with bigger software library than some early 1980s 8-bits (Think like Jupiter Ace, Mattel Aquarius and the other also rans.) Later versions also have a "Doom" port, quoted because unsure how faithful. Anyhoo this is the one that started off that line of "computer in a pocket calc" and the one I envied when I was plugging away on my Casio FX-6500 with under half a kb of RAM trying to cram anything more than simple blackjack etc into it. I got that one at a liquidator in the late 80s for a tenth of the price of a Ti, which my student budget could get nowhere near. The import markup on that was bad enough that I could have got a "real" computer for about the same money. Got a later model put away somewhere, combined alphanumerics don't stick in my head very well so can't remember which it is. I've had a Ti-85 manual for ages, but couldn't get very far with it, with that as a ref, so didn't get too much into it. I try working from a PDF on a tablet or something and 30 mins in I'm browsing something unrelated, derp. TI-83+ sounds right to me at the moment, but IDK.

Also still have the Casio original around, and a super duper later Casio with more competitive to TI features (9860 series?? ) . Then a Sharp PC-1403 pocket computer and a Tandy PC-7 so you'd think I was collecting them or something. At least they are small. I think the appeal is that you can maybe completely "know" a limited machine and push it into "holy crap I didn't know you could do that with it" territory.

Well whatevs, the z-machine interpreter might distract me for a while, until I'm all zorked out etc. Then I might figure if it's worth using it as a terminal for a CP/M or textmode DOS emulator on an ARM board or something.

Whelp... the wonderful decade of the 1990s continues to surprise me with the insane products that it produced.

Like this DSP Solutions... erm... "network" card:

For those that want the adventure of trying to figure out what on earth this is, I'll leave you to it. For the rest, here is what I've found: