The tseng is a nice card, but you can get slighly higher dos performance, and much better compatibilty with a riva128. Maybe the best out of the box vesa and vga compatibilty. I think the tseng generaly is overhyped (like every 3dfx after the v2).
wrote:Picked up something big this morning: […]
Picked up something big this morning:
That's an IBM 3270AT - in pretty much mint external condition. The 3270AT is a weird beast, basically a bog-standard early IBM AT with some decidedly non-standard I/O. It's desgined to act as an intelligent terminal for an AS/400 mainframe. That's why it comes with full Model F 122 'Battleship' keyboard. Also an original IBM smoky perspex ProPrinter stand (unfortunately without printer).
That's one fully loaded AT - and all of it factory default.
Slots 1+2+3: "PC3270 Display Adapter" video card for the AS/400 terminal stuff. Can emulate CGA and MDA, but better character ROM (sans serif) and do lots of panning/windowing stuff in hardware.
Slot 4: 128kB RAM; the motherboard has 512kB, so this loads it out to 640kB.
Slot 5: Serial+parallel card.
Slot 8: MFM HDD/Floppy controllerSlots 6 and 7 are the fancy ones though, you hook the keyboard up to card 6, part of the stuff is looped through to the DIN keyboard connector but all the extra function things are handled by this card. And then there's card 7, the Host Connect Card, which is somewhere between a NIC and an AS/400-on-a-card. This is how you connect to the mainframe.
Apart from that there's a huge full-height MFM HDD in there (size/brand unknown at present), the original DS/DD 5.25" FDD and a new DS/HD drive on top.
The keyboard is of course the Battleship and the monitor is a 5272. I intend to make an adapter for the Battleship with a Teensy USB gadget. The latter... interesting screen, but looks like non-standard pinout (DE9 connector like MDA/CGA/EGA, but pin 3 missing). Haven't had any luck so far pulling up specs/pinout for it. If I could somehow feed it EGA, it would be a glorious thing 😀
Probably not readable, but this system was delivered on September 24, 1986, and serviced by the original seller until 1989. From what I gathered from the seller, he was the second owner and didn't have a clue about the AS/400 stuff, he just had it as a conversation piece and something to play old CGA DOS games on. He stopped using it years ago and just left it on the coffee table. His wife wanted to clear stuff up and was aware these things command quite a premium 2nd hand, so they put it up for sale. I had to bid pretty high and send a nice mail to get the chance to pick it up. Unfortunately when they wanted to show it working, things went pear-shaped. Turns out there were shorts galore, and one of the tantalum caps decided to blow while we were looking. Still, external non-leaking battery, so no damage other than bad caps. And it not working knocked a lot off the price 😜
I've seen it advertised and was afraid that it would be bought by a member of the keyboard switch poacher community. Good to see that it's not 😀 (but I have my doubts about the fate of other PC AT's and their keyboards that were advertised for sale recently).
I have owned a 3270 PC (XT version) with the same monitor and used to have the original IBM PC 3270 emulation program which looks like this (although I must say that several versions exist, some come in a grey folder):
So this pc is (to my best knowledge) not for use with an AS/400 but with a S/370 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_System/370.
The manual of your 3270 AT looks like this:
I'm sure that you've got a really good deal; the floppy drives and keyboard alone are probably worth what you've paid for it, so the rest is a bonus.
wrote:[...]
I've seen it advertised and was afraid that it would be bought by a member of the keyboard switch poacher community. Good to see that it's not 😀 (but I have my doubts about the fate of other PC AT's and their keyboards that were advertised for sale recently).
To be honest the keyboard was the most attractive part of this. But I'm definitely not just doing it for the board...
I have owned a 3270 PC (XT version) with the same monitor and used to have the original IBM PC 3270 emulation program which looks like this (although I must say that several versions exist, some come in a grey folder):
Any info on that monitor? It doesn't seem to accept regular CGA/EGA, but it looks like regular TTL...
So this pc is (to my best knowledge) not for use with an AS/400 but with a S/370 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_System/370. […]
So this pc is (to my best knowledge) not for use with an AS/400 but with a S/370 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_System/370.
The manual of your 3270 AT looks like this:
I'm sure that you've got a really good deal; the floppy drives and keyboard alone are probably worth what you've paid for it, so the rest is a bonus.
Not sure about the floppy drives, but no doubt I could sell the keyboard alone for close to what I paid. Still it's the single highest price I paid for any retro system/device, but it's worth it. Indeed if I really needed to I could turn a profit.
I also had a 3270XT. The monitor is great for text, but I remember some CGA compatibilty problems. It's too long ago now for me to remember details, but there were definitely some CGA games that wouldn't run.
For dionb to make things even more confusing: there was also an IBM 370/XT and 370/AT version..
''its most important distinguishing feature relative to an IBM 3270 PC—was that it could execute S/370 instructions locally.''
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PC-based_IBM-co … ible_mainframes
wrote:Any info on that monitor? It doesn't seem to accept regular CGA/EGA, but it looks like regular TTL...
wrote:wrote:Any info on that monitor? It doesn't seem to accept regular CGA/EGA, but it looks like regular TTL...
Uhuh, I found those, but there's very little on the monitor:
Wiki:
The display resolution is 720×350, either on the matching 14-inch color monitor (model 5272)[2] or in monochrome on an MDA monitor.
VintagePC:
The Monitor
The monitor (model 5272) is bigger than a normal CGA or MDA monitor, and has a swivelling/tilting stand. It is capable of Hercules resolution (720×350) in 7 colours plus black.
That's it...
The description implies TTL control, with RGB (but no I if it can't do more than 7). Sounds similar to CGA, but the pinout is clearly different as pin 3 is open, where that would be Red with CGA. If the 3270AT display adapter were working I could figure it out by elimination, but without a reference input or documentation the best I can do is feed it CGA and MDA and see what happens.
Not exactly today, but my latest acquisitions of the past two weeks are:
A boxed Roland RAP-10 soundcard
and a Yamaha TG100 sound module in very good condition
MIDI comparison website: << Wavetable.nl >>
(Always) looking for: Any Wavetable daughterboard, MIDI Module (GM/GS/XG)
Those are actually great thrift store finds. In my area finding computers parts at all is uncommon, let alone such old ones. If I do find retro hardware, then it's usually late 90's and early 00's low end stuff, joysticks, network cards. I recognize that thrift stores these days are more into selling used clothing, (nasty) old furniture and books than anything else.[/quote][/quote]
Big problem here too (Slovakia Central Europe)
Thinking about making a webpage or at least a Facebook group to exchange/buy/sell/give pc parts and other old electronics. I dont want to make a business around it, only to help collectors.[/quote]
So I made this group, now I am only member, if you want join and make a nice community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1083182375225458/
Soyo 019R1 AM386DX 40MHz, 8Mb ram, 512Kb Trident 9000 Graphics
S26361-D756-X Intel i486DX 33MHz, 4Mb ram, 512Kb - 1Mb graphics on board
wrote:Uhuh, I found those, but there's very little on the monitor:
I know, I don’t have any physical information about it either and I don’t experiment with this really old stuff. I understand that you want to use it as a monitor for your regular CGA or EGA card, but this monitor is as far as I understand not designed for that purpose, because the graphics card in the 3270 PC AT is some sort of an emulator and not a plane jane CGA card (i.e. monitor might contain additional hardware for 3270 terminal emulation) 😀
ATI TV Wonder
wrote:A mint condition Gigabyte PCI 486 motherboard - GA486AM/S version 2.21. It contains what appears to be a 5-pin solder pad for [hopefully] a PS/2 mouse header. It also contains solder pads for the inverter IC and the needed PS/2 capacitors. This board contains an AWARD BIOS, so it can be easily modified using MODBIN to enable PS/2 mouse support. This motherboard does not contain a dedicated keyboard controller though, however the UM8881/8886 series of chipset does contain a built-in keyboard controller. I have only seen examples of the B-series of UM8881/8886 chipsets with built-in PS/2 mouse control. This motherboard contains the A-series chipset, and as such, I am undertain as to if my plans to modify the board for native PS/2 mouse support will be successful.
Hey feipo,
Did you ever end up trying to get the PS/2 port operating?
I've been finding a lot of interesting "scrap" recently - I don't have my VLB 486 set up yet to test the Diamond Stealth64 4MB VLB. I'd already bought a more basic VLB card for it, but sure, this one looks nice:
The Voodoo 3 has some damage, just like every other card in the box they came in, but I bought it as scrap, so that's fine, I can probably fix the damaged traces and replace those caps.
Somehow, they're each missing their original backplates, I guess there's not enough Gold in those to keep them safe from the bin.
The other things in the lots were pretty nice too, I've yet to test any of them and each needs work, but two Geforce 3 Ti 200 cards and an X1950 AGP were a surprise.
Surprise purchase here - I saw an ad for 'PCI cards' come past. It looked sort of interesting, with a V3-3000 AGP and a Gf2MX PCI the most appealing, but still nothing I really needed (or was prepared to shell out a lot for). So more as a placeholder than anything else I did a lowball offer. Next day I got a mail asking about how I wanted it delivered 😀
This is the haul:
I've had time to test the video cards. The V3 failed at first, but after some TLC it's alive again. I suspect the previous owner had given up on it as the bracket screws had already been scavenged. The Gf2MX looks a bit suspicious without heatsink (and I think I'll add one to be safe), but does the job well enough. In the end only the Diamond Stealth3D 4000 (Virge GX/2) was really dead, and not a huge loss - aside from meh performance, I already have the exact same card working in one system and two of the other AGP cards here were GX/2 as well. Nothing spectacular, but for about the price of three beers I can't complain.
No bought so far...but anybody able to identify these soundcards?
They both look ineresting. Top one because of the Cinch-Connectors. Bottom one has golden plugs and a yellow one on top - therefore this one seems to be a modern one? PCB color looks like Terratec?
The only thing I bought at Vancouver Retro Games Expo. An IBM MWave ISA card. Had no idea they even made these.
It was in the seller's "cheap" bin, and "cheap" ended up being three dollars. He gave me his card and asked me to email him if I ever managed to get it working. 😜
He also had a sweet Aptiva P133 set up running Doom for people to play. I approved.
twitch.tv/oldskooljay - playing the obscure, forgotten & weird - most Tuesdays & Thursdays @ 6:30 PM PDT. Bonus streams elsewhen!
wrote:No bought so far...but anybody able to identify these soundcards?
They both look ineresting. Top one because of the Cinch-Connectors. Bottom one has golden plugs and a yellow one on top - therefore this one seems to be a modern one? PCB color looks like Terratec?
Bottom one looks like a Sound Blaster Live! 5.1 X-Gamer CT4760.
wrote:Bottom one looks like a Sound Blaster Live! 5.1 X-Gamer CT4760.
You are right! Its a (boring) PCI-card. One the photo it looked like ISA. Should have noticed on my own as component side is different. Thanks anyway!
For the 1st card I am not 100% sure if its a soundcard at all...maybe a CDROM-controller?
wrote:wrote:Bottom one looks like a Sound Blaster Live! 5.1 X-Gamer CT4760.
You are right! Its a (boring) PCI-card. One the photo it looked like ISA. Should have noticed on my own as component side is different. Thanks anyway!
For the 1st card I am not 100% sure if its a soundcard at all...maybe a CDROM-controller?
I remember seeing that plug style when I was wondering what the WSS standard was all about, it's the Microsoft Windows Sound System card 😀
wrote:The only thing I bought at Vancouver Retro Games Expo. An IBM MWave ISA card. Had no idea they even made these. […]
The only thing I bought at Vancouver Retro Games Expo. An IBM MWave ISA card. Had no idea they even made these.
It was in the seller's "cheap" bin, and "cheap" ended up being three dollars. He gave me his card and asked me to email him if I ever managed to get it working. 😜
mediawave audio + modem?
