xjas wrote:

Looks like a dock connector in one of the pics - can you get a port replicator for those with MIDI (gameport)?

My port replicator only has COM, LPT and VGA ports. It's not something I actually need, more like a bonus item.

The extended port replicator does not have MIDI port either:

I don't think there's a point in having it, gamepads and joysticks are way too big for this baby machine and MIDI modules are even more bulky. Besides, YMF711 (50CT) and YMF715 (70CT) are among the best integrated sound solutions up until early 2000s.

There's a very good point to having it; a go-anywhere-chuck-it-in-a-bag DOS capable MIDI controller with a compatible onboard sound chip would be BOSS. MIDI isn't just for playing Monkey Island & Space Quest you know. 😉

xjas wrote:

There's a very good point to having it, a go-anywhere-chuck-it-in-a-bag DOS capable MIDI controller with a compatible onboard sound chip. MIDI isn't just for playing Monkey Island & Space Quest you know. 😉

Oh, you mean as a pro musician? My friend's father just uses his iPad. His band plays at the bar every Saturday, and guys there play "find the drummer" game with the drunk newcomers 😁

btw, I read of a man, here in Russia, an automation engineer who uses Libretto on daily basis for professional activities... The smallest thing to have a propper hardware COM port he could find.

Yeah an iPad won't run Impulse Tracker, or Voyetra Sequencer, or Adlib Tracker II. Trust me on this. 😀

I know a *bunch* of people in technician-type jobs (including myself) who cling to old laptops for the hardware COM & LPT ports. I think the need for them is going to be there for a long time. But the big manufacturers say they're "obsolete" so we're supposed to do what they say & get rid of them (do we not have an 'eyeroll' smiley here??) Upgrade... upgrade... upgrade... "Forced obsolescence" is one of the most evil things humankind has ever invented, in my opinion.

(I carry a USB serial port dongle with me to jobs all the time, fortunately I found one that works with both my Macbook & Linux laptop and the gear I work on is generally compatible with it. It's still a kludge and doesn't work with everything though...)

Hell is it with Trackers lately? Sequencers FTW, trackers are for losers! --- Says he who can't figure out how they work 😉

The port replicator for my 8540W still has COM and LPT. HP also state, officially, that the laptop will run Free DOS and will sell you it with this OS, which would make me think it must be possible to use the replicator in that OS if you had to run something that was really old.

Sucks that you'd need a replicator though, everything should have those ports on the back. I also miss the PS/2 ports from things, oftentimes I find USB keyboards and Mice can have noticeable latency, especially if the system's CPU is under very heavy load.

I think I once before told the story of how, where I worked, the other techie bought a new laptop and tried rubbing it in my face about his flashy P4. A large part of what we did consisted of setting up Routers/Switches/Equipment via RS232, composing documents, updating the firmware on the networked equipment and maintaining some rather old computers - a lot of which did not have CD-ROM drives. He sure looked like a fool when he needed an adapter for everything and still ended up being slower because of HAL. My Zenith 286 sure looked good while that was going on.

Edit: Can't resist, because I still laugh myself half to death remembering it - Lowest system you tried for everyday main PC

The SlimsPort 286 laptop which I used to take into work with me and get laughed at by the chief tech guy with his flashy P4... Joke was on him, all we used them for was word processing, some database stuff and network admin/debugging via Telnet or RS-232 at which the 286 was actually faster because I wasn't behind HAL, I also had a floppy drive whereas he had to lump a USB one around. It was fun beating his 2.8GHz with 1.5GB RAM, ATI Radeon Video monster with a measly 16MHz 286 and only 1MB of RAM, also constantly reminded him I was using less electricity and often asked if he was on fire yet.

HighTreason wrote:

Hell is it with Trackers lately? Sequencers FTW, trackers are for losers! --- Says he who can't figure out how they work 😉

Well....
I can't figure out how to use them either. 😉 That said. I have always had a sweet spot for them ever since I saw them for the first time around 1988 or something. Yeah... 4 channels on the 22khz Amiga500. Remembering that I was like surprised and all, coming from a world of PC speakers. 🤣

HighTreason wrote:

Hell is it with Trackers lately? Sequencers FTW, trackers are for losers! --- Says he who can't figure out how they work 😉

Lately?? I've been tracking since ST3 was in beta.

I use Impulse Tracker to control a whole studio full of hardware MIDI gear (as in real pro synths with a ton of knobs & sliders.) So no different than what you'd do with any typical sequencer in other words. And I can play samples too. 😈

Got some AT cases today - new in box - some of them have never been opened 😀

I also kind of remember someone posting a thread on Marvin asking for an AT case that was remarkably similar to the ones I got. If you see this post, PM me. I've also been looking for a particular model of AT case for years now, so I know how frustrating it can be.

Everyone just seems to be talking about them everywhere lately, even people I know on Skype who have never mentioned them before.

Honestly, I have never seen a "Pro Synth" that has a lot of knobs and sliders. Elitist crap or old as hell analog gear from the early 70s has that because it was the only way, but real "Pro Synths" have a few buttons and a MIDI interface.

kanecvr wrote:

Got some AT cases today - new in box - some of them have never been opened :) […]
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Got some AT cases today - new in box - some of them have never been opened 😀

I also kind of remember someone posting a thread on Marvin asking for an AT case that was remarkably similar to the ones I got. If you see this post, PM me. I've also been looking for a particular model of AT case for years now, so I know how frustrating it can be.

Are you sure these are AT? I've seen these before in ATX. Pretty nice score when it's AT! Did they come with psu?

They came in both versions. I have AT and ATX. From the front they look the same.

They are AT and they came with 250w PSUs 😁

So not only nice cases, but nice PSUs as well. Epic win.

Pro Audio Spectrum 16 and couple of 512mb Compact Flash cards to replace hdd in my 386/486 projects.

Excellent card. Looks to be the LMSI version, can't help wonder if the numbers of LMSI cards suggests the CD-ROM drives either didn't work well, or didn't sell well - you see quite a lot of LMSI cards from most vendors but I have only ever heard of one drive. But the card probably works and that's what matters.

Could you do me a favor and read the numbers off the four transistors? Mine was DOA because they had burned out and the ones used are expensive, but I have seen another card with different (equivalent) transistors and the cost seems to vary (even more expensive) so I can't help wonder if a third type exists which will work. It would be much appreciated. There should be two sets of two types of transistor in that row and they should have a number like "2N4922" on them.

HighTreason wrote:

Could you do me a favor and read the numbers off the four transistors? Mine was DOA because they had burned out and the ones used are expensive, but I have seen another card with different (equivalent) transistors and the cost seems to vary (even more expensive) so I can't help wonder if a third type exists which will work. It would be much appreciated. There should be two sets of two types of transistor in that row and they should have a number like "2N4922" on them.

Sure thing. These are the markings on those transistors from up to down:
ST 2N4919 9 305
M 311 2N4922
ST 2N4919 9 305
M 311 2N4922

For those that don't know, Macintosh mice SUCK. The ONLY mouse worth half a damn is these bad boys:

Normally they seem to run about $30 EACH on ebay, but I managed to score these for a total of about $20.

Then I had a friend come over and give me this laptop:

700mhz pentium 3 with dock. The dock has all the ports, dvd and floppy drive. The laptop is literally the same size as modern chrome books. No power adapter so I got one for like $5 coming off of ebay.

HighTreason wrote:

So not only nice cases, but nice PSUs as well. Epic win.

Yup. Guy who sells them has 5 or 6 more. I'll try to buy the rest from him but as you can imagine shipping is a pain in the ass (he lives 400km away). He sent me the 5 in the picture trough a friend and I'm expecting 6 more 2-3 weeks from now.

I bought a Creative CT-1600 as the last thing in 2015. Been looking for such a card in all of 2015.

I have been concentrating on getting P2/P3/K6-stuff in all of 2015, and only recently gotten to the point of getting back to early 90's stuff.
From now on, I will start looking for old pre-P1 stuff. Mostly ISA and VL-Bus.

Got this beaty today,comes with 733 Coppermine P3

Second one is Abit GF3Ti200

Probably gonna use both in future '98 setup