Picked up a retro trackball to go with my retro PC

Now it just needs some cleaning...

Love trackballs.... Just so hard to use, before I get used to it.
(Just a question of a few day's)

Sutekh94 wrote:

My latest eBay find arrived today. I'm really looking forward to having a play with this: […]
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My latest eBay find arrived today. I'm really looking forward to having a play with this:

Nice...

So, just out of curiosity, are later 3dfx cards like the Voodoo 3 2000 and 3000 from arcade systems more or less collectible\desirable than their retail\OEM PC counterparts?

I know it really comes down to who is looking for them, but do you guys with decent collections consider the arcade cards to be worth more? Would the boards they are attached to be worth anything to 3dfx collectors? I'm just wondering because I look for everything and if I find any arcade innards with 3dfx cards attached I don't know if I should care more or less about them or if 3dfx collectors care about having the non-3dfx-related portion of the system too. Most of the time it seems that the main boards are pretty much useless to someone who doesn't already have the equipment and means to run arcade systems in-home... and then you have a question of controllers and other input devices.

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PeterLI wrote:

Finally found a Philips P 3238, my childhood PC, after searching for 5+ years. 😀

Grats! 😀

PeterLI wrote:

Finally found a Philips P 3238, my childhood PC, after searching for 5+ years. 😀

Congrat's 😀
Nothing like having something you were brought up on. 😉

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Ozzuneoj wrote:

So, just out of curiosity, are later 3dfx cards like the Voodoo 3 2000 and 3000 from arcade systems more or less collectible\desirable than their retail\OEM PC counterparts?

I know it really comes down to who is looking for them, but do you guys with decent collections consider the arcade cards to be worth more? Would the boards they are attached to be worth anything to 3dfx collectors? I'm just wondering because I look for everything and if I find any arcade innards with 3dfx cards attached I don't know if I should care more or less about them or if 3dfx collectors care about having the non-3dfx-related portion of the system too. Most of the time it seems that the main boards are pretty much useless to someone who doesn't already have the equipment and means to run arcade systems in-home... and then you have a question of controllers and other input devices.

Yes the arcade versions are collectables and they like other 3DFX gear are worth a good bit of money, in the end these cards will be sought after as a last source of 3DFX cards as the pool of available retail/oem cards continues to shrink. The only real problem is people buying them to only resale them at huge premiums later who are not collectors or people who use these cards.

So go hunt down some brackets and put them to use 😀

PhilsComputerLab wrote:

A fan sent me retro care package :) […]
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A fan sent me retro care package 😀

Spotted this on ebay... http://www.ebay.com/itm/AM2-CPU-Board-ASRock- … RwAAOSwuMFUjGoD

The AM2 CPU board for that weird slot

nforce4max wrote:

Ozzuneoj wrote:

So, just out of curiosity, are later 3dfx cards like the Voodoo 3 2000 and 3000 from arcade systems more or less collectible\desirable than their retail\OEM PC counterparts?

I know it really comes down to who is looking for them, but do you guys with decent collections consider the arcade cards to be worth more? Would the boards they are attached to be worth anything to 3dfx collectors? I'm just wondering because I look for everything and if I find any arcade innards with 3dfx cards attached I don't know if I should care more or less about them or if 3dfx collectors care about having the non-3dfx-related portion of the system too. Most of the time it seems that the main boards are pretty much useless to someone who doesn't already have the equipment and means to run arcade systems in-home... and then you have a question of controllers and other input devices.

Yes the arcade versions are collectables and they like other 3DFX gear are worth a good bit of money, in the end these cards will be sought after as a last source of 3DFX cards as the pool of available retail/oem cards continues to shrink. The only real problem is people buying them to only resale them at huge premiums later who are not collectors or people who use these cards.

So go hunt down some brackets and put them to use 😀

Thanks for the info. I am struggling with wanting to collect things that I don't need to collect, which I happen to be able to locate cheaply and they happen to be worth a lot more most of the time... its a tough spot to be in, let me tell you. 😮 I keep finding stuff, and I can't help but grab it...

Do people care about the actual boards from the games? It doesn't really seem like it. I really don't personally, and I don't have the room for them. I'd just be interested in the cards. But I'd hate to separate what others consider a more valuable\collectible set just to save space.

Ozzuneoj wrote:

nforce4max wrote:

Ozzuneoj wrote:

So, just out of curiosity, are later 3dfx cards like the Voodoo 3 2000 and 3000 from arcade systems more or less collectible\desirable than their retail\OEM PC counterparts?

I know it really comes down to who is looking for them, but do you guys with decent collections consider the arcade cards to be worth more? Would the boards they are attached to be worth anything to 3dfx collectors? I'm just wondering because I look for everything and if I find any arcade innards with 3dfx cards attached I don't know if I should care more or less about them or if 3dfx collectors care about having the non-3dfx-related portion of the system too. Most of the time it seems that the main boards are pretty much useless to someone who doesn't already have the equipment and means to run arcade systems in-home... and then you have a question of controllers and other input devices.

Yes the arcade versions are collectables and they like other 3DFX gear are worth a good bit of money, in the end these cards will be sought after as a last source of 3DFX cards as the pool of available retail/oem cards continues to shrink. The only real problem is people buying them to only resale them at huge premiums later who are not collectors or people who use these cards.

So go hunt down some brackets and put them to use 😀

Thanks for the info. I am struggling with wanting to collect things that I don't need to collect, which I happen to be able to locate cheaply and they happen to be worth a lot more most of the time... its a tough spot to be in, let me tell you. 😮 I keep finding stuff, and I can't help but grab it...

Do people care about the actual boards from the games? It doesn't really seem like it. I really don't personally, and I don't have the room for them. I'd just be interested in the cards. But I'd hate to separate what others consider a more valuable\collectible set just to save space.

When it comes to arcade stuff I only care about the 3DFX cards, I rather leave everything else to someone else 🤣. When you find something unusual it helps to do research as it will help a lot to determine if it something that people want or something that is junk.

Bought a BeIA internet appliance, the FIC Genesis 2000:

Open that bad boy up! How hackable is it?

Does the Geode processor respond to SETMUL? Does it have the earlier south bridge or the newer AMD influenced one?

If it's not locked down, this thing might have the ingredients of a really nice DOS box.

I'd love to see some images of the software too! 😀 A quick web search didn't find anything meaningful.

Externally, I see no drive access whatsoever, but it would be interesting to see if you could install anything else on it using a proxy machine on whatever storage it uses. With an appropriate disk image of the original for backup, of course.

I have already spent this months retro budget but I have some items in my watch lists that I can not avoid bidding on.

One such item is the king of the Sound Canvas modules, the Roland ED SC-D70. Normally I only see these in Japan and with their high price + shipping + Swedish VAT + customs fee + customs handling fees they are not really worth while. This one turned up locally though and the price ended up fair enough.

I guess I can stop looking for sound modules now! 😀

Roland ED SC-D70. The sellers picture.

Just before someone mentions it, I do have a Roland SC-55ST aswell as I know these newer ones are not 100% optimal for GM. I will have a very fun time playing around with this unit in any case. 😀

At first I thought my nightmares were true, both SC and D model numbers... But no, it's just regular SoundCanvas stuff with the typical pitifully low polyphony. I don't deny the device might be useful and see why you might want one these days*, but at the same time, this thing is from 2000? The hell? Yamaha were already making the MU1000 if not the 2000 by that time and Korg were off on a weird tangent but at least trying, I think I can see why Roland fell off the face of the planet after the 1990s. Can't help but wonder what market this module was aimed at.

* The same way I want a DX7 despite the fact they were, and always will be, awful synthesizers. Certainly more offensive in 1984 than anything the Sound Canvas series did in the proceeding decades.

HighTreason wrote:

At first I thought my nightmares were true, both SC and D model numbers... But no, it's just regular SoundCanvas stuff with the typical pitifully low polyphony. I don't deny the device might be useful and see why you might want one these days*, but at the same time, this thing is from 2000? The hell? Yamaha were already making the MU1000 if not the 2000 by that time and Korg were off on a weird tangent but at least trying, I think I can see why Roland fell off the face of the planet after the 1990s. Can't help but wonder what market this module was aimed at.

* The same way I want a DX7 despite the fact they were, and always will be, awful synthesizers. Certainly more offensive in 1984 than anything the Sound Canvas series did in the proceeding decades.

The Roland ED SC-8850 actually has double the polyphony over the ED SC-D70 but the reason I have been on the lookout for this one is that its the only one with digital out and selectable 44/48kHz sampling rate.

I agree with most of what you wrote though, Roland never even fully learned how a piano should sound. In games I usually prefer the Roland SC-55 over Yamaha synths when listening to comparsions but as I do not own any Yamaha modules my self I can not really say much more than that.

I think there is a reason why pure (huge) sample based solutions have replaced MIDI synths in general.

gdjacobs wrote:

Open that bad boy up! How hackable is it?

Does the Geode processor respond to SETMUL? Does it have the earlier south bridge or the newer AMD influenced one?

If it's not locked down, this thing might have the ingredients of a really nice DOS box.

I did open it before even turning it on, I'll make thread in system specs soon 😀

zerker wrote:

I'd love to see some images of the software too! 😀 A quick web search didn't find anything meaningful.

Externally, I see no drive access whatsoever, but it would be interesting to see if you could install anything else on it using a proxy machine on whatever storage it uses. With an appropriate disk image of the original for backup, of course.

For some pics of BeIA, go here: Compaq IA-1, home appliance running BeIA

@Skyscraper; I'm aware of the 8850, which is why I don't understand the purpose of this module so much. The digital audio is kind of novel though.

The thing that sucks about the MU boxes is that almost nothing made use of them. Perhaps some, to me, boring Japanese RPGs or something did, but nothing I find noteworthy. It's a shame, because the sound they make is almost unparalleled when they are set up properly. They did, however, mess up somewhere because the MU128/SW1000XG's replaced some sounds, notably the guitars, and they sounded awful compared to what was there. The original sounds appear to be present in the last couple of modules but I'm not sure they are the same Program # so they might still have broken support for existing music. Some day I'll get one and find out, just haven't had enough reason to move up from the MU90R just yet. That aside, I despise the noise the Sound Canvas makes even at its best, it sounds tinny and makes me think of some cheap toy you'd get in Toys 'R' Us, I always think of it in clown colors like those kiddie/accessibility keyboards (the textual kind) you can buy for PCs. I probably dislike it even more on top of that because I hate the original Mario Kart and its music is surely sampled from one.

Rant incoming, aimed at nobody in particular because I'm bored:
There have been far worse things than the Sound Canvas anyway. The D-series (Such as the D-50) were awful and rank as the worst synths I've ever encountered, I used a D-50 once and it broke as soon as I pressed keys and because my MT-32 died in a similar manner I can only assume they are unreliable, lot of analog traits to say they're digital synths and I don't think Roland even let the analog days go, especially given they were still making a version of the Jupiter last I checked. The Yamaha DX-Series was awful too, you kind of need one (DX7) to make a few signature sounds but even if I get one I'm still going to try and make the sound with other equipment first, the DX100/DX21/DX27 was just a horrible joke and you'll probably know what it sounds like because the technology was later used in the Sega Mega Drive, to make matters worse the DX series isn't entirely compatible with itself so patches made on one synth might not work on another one, they also tried to lock down replacement of the unreliable YM2151/2164 chips. The Access Virus synths are simply pathetic and seem only capable of making flat sine wave noises, I think even the 1920's Ondes Martenot was more varied (and I'd love one of those, they're amazing), Yamaha's CS-Series also ranks high as being awful, the internals look like a 1940s telephone exchange and they sound whiny and thin (think that music at the start of Blade Runner, but all the time), if you bought one you were an idiot, the Prophet 5 (Best) and Arp Odyssey (Ageing, but passable) were around, the only worthwhile thing they ever did with one was that 80s Dr Who opening and even that needed the help of an Arp to sound any good. There was no excuse for the CS80s wiring when you look at what else was there and it gets worse when you realize that even a 1940's Ondioline was more sophisticated inside. Lastly, the Jupiter series (That might hit a nerve with someone, oops) is one of the most awful things I have ever been near, period, poor quality and very lacking in the sound department, signature sound of the 80s? Yeah, the signature sound of the 80s that people want to forget, it can be heard in all those overplayed garbage tracks like "Don't you want me" and such, even SAW seem to have had the decency to steer clear of them, the Jupiter 8 is the one people fap to for some reason... No idea on that, but I did once piss off a Jupiter 4 owner enough that they won't talk to me anymore - I was writing a similar song to them with different, cheaper, equipment and they were supportive of it until I released it. Within 5 minutes of uploading it I found I was blocked from talking to them for no apparent reason, I was a bit confused and then annoyed at first but then I decided I was flattered, was pretty funny meeting and even exceeding the quality of their tens of thousands worth of gear with less than a £300 setup. I'm quite used to getting the cold shoulder, so I laughed at it, it happens all the time (In passing, most of the large computer-related channels on YouTube used to be regular viewers and commenters and now totally ignore me) so I'm used to things like that happening, I can only assume people are intimidated as I don't really see any other reason for such behavior. It doesn't affect me in any way, so whatever, sucks to be them.

For the record, I don't like the SID either. I love the sounds it can make, that's simply awesome, but as something to work with it is god awful, an unyielding little hell spawn. It took me two months to make a 30 second song with it and I just forgot about it after that. Still, at least that chip can sound good, so it almost makes up for it.

While I'm here - stomach has been playing up, so the server is not fixed yet. Hoping to make progress before I fall asleep again.

@lolo799; I remember when things like that were all over the place and were going to be the next big thing. With an increasing reliance on Clouds, I wouldn't be at all surprised to see similar devices pop up again in the next decade, though with some differences reflecting the changes to technology since of course.