VOGONS


Bought these (retro) hardware today

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Reply 19681 of 52357, by xjas

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My dad actually found this cute Mac Mini in a thrift shop for $15 and excitedly called me asking if I wanted it. Sure did!

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To my surprise it even had its HDD and RAM intact & booted to a fresh Snow Leopard install straight away; looks like somebody had tried to set it up for XBMC. Unfortunately the wifi antenna is missing but the bluetooth one is still there. I'd picked up the handy little bluetooth keyboard off a classified ad for $5 earlier this week, so sorted.

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It even came with a retail Snow Leopard DVD in the drive, which is worth $10-20 on its own. Win.

It's one of the earliest (2006) x86 models sporting a Core Duo (not Core 2 Duo), basically an overclocked, fully 32-bit, dual-core Pentium III. It also has crummy Intel GMA graphics. I was kind of hoping it was the Core Solo model just for giggles, but not complaining. 😜
I already have two 2009 Minis with 2.26 GHz Core 2 Duos and much more modern architecture. So what to do with this one?

..

.

...

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Oh yes, I went there.

I didn't even need to do anything to get it to work, I just booted from a FreeDOS install disc and went through the installation as normal. The 60GB HDD is now a single FAT32 partition (I wiped Snow Leopard right off) and it's still running on the stock Apple EFI firmware. Apple's boot selector sees it as "Windows" and happily boots it with no fuss. FreeDOS's native CD & APM drivers work fine, although I don't think anything is controlling the fan speed.

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(Incidentally you can see my brand new Mac Mini Opening Tool on the left.)

Had to do a quick swap to a wired keyboard naturally... USB keyboards work in FreeDOS but there's no USB->PS/2 wrapping mode in the "BIOS", so DOS stuff that specifically tries to read PS/2 inputs won't work. And of course there's no sound drivers. Haven't dug too far into how compatible the video chip is yet.

But does it run DOOM? (Well, FreeDOOM...)

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...after a quick monitor swap too (the Sony TV doesn't do 70Hz modes well), hell yes it does! Unfortunately this is one of those programs that won't read the USB keyboard. But hey, proof of concept. 😜

twitch.tv/oldskooljay - playing the obscure, forgotten & weird - most Tuesdays & Thursdays @ 6:30 PM PDT. Bonus streams elsewhen!

Reply 19682 of 52357, by Cyrix200+

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overdrive333 wrote:
Worth to buy? (20$) https://www.avito.ru/ekaterinburg/nastolnye_k … ium_1_933137247 […]
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Worth to buy? (20$)
https://www.avito.ru/ekaterinburg/nastolnye_k … ium_1_933137247

<snip>

inwin case ?

Looks like a nice solid InWin case. What do you want to do with it or is it just for fun?

The rest of the hardware seems a bit 'boring'. Pentium, probably 133MHz - 200MHz. Motherboard with an Intel VX chipset? It has a CR2023 so that's a plus. The sound card is a bit of a mystery to me, I don't think it is a Creative card. No video card? And I don't know what kind of card the other ISA is.

If it was available locally without any shipping costs I would buy it.

1982 to 2001

Reply 19683 of 52357, by TheAbandonwareGuy

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Cyrix200+ wrote:
Looks like a nice solid InWin case. What do you want to do with it or is it just for fun? […]
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overdrive333 wrote:
Worth to buy? (20$) https://www.avito.ru/ekaterinburg/nastolnye_k … ium_1_933137247 […]
Show full quote

Worth to buy? (20$)
https://www.avito.ru/ekaterinburg/nastolnye_k … ium_1_933137247

<snip>

inwin case ?

Looks like a nice solid InWin case. What do you want to do with it or is it just for fun?

The rest of the hardware seems a bit 'boring'. Pentium, probably 133MHz - 200MHz. Motherboard with an Intel VX chipset? It has a CR2023 so that's a plus. The sound card is a bit of a mystery to me, I don't think it is a Creative card. No video card? And I don't know what kind of card the other ISA is.

If it was available locally without any shipping costs I would buy it.

The board looks a lot like my own MSI MS5156

Cyb3rst0rms Retro Hardware Warzone: https://discord.gg/jK8uvR4c
I used to own over 160 graphics card, I've since recovered from graphics card addiction

Reply 19684 of 52357, by TheAbandonwareGuy

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BitWrangler wrote:

I'm a SLACR, haven't got round to taking my quads out of the padded envelope they came in a month or so ago, Q6600 already forgot what I paid, think it was $50ish for both. One is going in an XFX 750i SLI, the other... not quite sure yet, 2 boards I have to try.

750I CPU performance shoot out? My ASUS board vs your XFX?

Anywho so far this week I've bought:

GeForce 2 Ultra - $28
GeForce 6800XT (AGP - NOS) - $10
Radeon X800 Pro (AGP) - $5
Radeon 9600XT - $5

Still no luck getting a 6800GT but an XT should do for what I wanted where my FX5950 falls short thanks to its shit implementation of Shader 2.0. No clue what I'm going to do with the ATI cards but for those prices shipped I wasn't about to turn them down.

And I need to order an Athlon of some sort for a socket A board I was given.

Also sort of freaking out because my parents are bug bombing my house and they won't let me block off my room and moving my stuff outside temporarily isn't an option. The most I've been able to do is convince them to let me cover my screens and the shelves that have my big box PC games. I'm thinking my boxed up parts and the ones inside my desk drawers should be fine and my jewel case games should be protected by the jewel case. I'm just worried about this chemical crap getting inside my CRTs and messing up there alignment or the chemicals slowly ruining all my motherboards and stuff.

Does anybody here have experience with this sort of stuff?

Cyb3rst0rms Retro Hardware Warzone: https://discord.gg/jK8uvR4c
I used to own over 160 graphics card, I've since recovered from graphics card addiction

Reply 19685 of 52357, by CkRtech

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overdrive333 wrote:
Worth to buy? (20$) https://www.avito.ru/ekaterinburg/nastolnye_k … ium_1_933137247 […]
Show full quote

Worth to buy? (20$)
https://www.avito.ru/ekaterinburg/nastolnye_k … ium_1_933137247

3902394369.jpg

inwin case ?

Red and Red? Then you're dead.

I don't like the way that AT power supply is hooked up.

Displaced Gamers (YouTube) - DOS Gaming Aspect Ratio - 320x200 || The History of 240p || Dithering on the Sega Genesis with Composite Video

Reply 19686 of 52357, by Cyrix200+

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CkRtech wrote:
overdrive333 wrote:
Worth to buy? (20$) https://www.avito.ru/ekaterinburg/nastolnye_k … ium_1_933137247 […]
Show full quote

Worth to buy? (20$)
https://www.avito.ru/ekaterinburg/nastolnye_k … ium_1_933137247

3902394369.jpg

inwin case ?

Red and Red? Then you're dead.

I don't like the way that AT power supply is hooked up.

Good catch!

1982 to 2001

Reply 19688 of 52357, by Cyrix200+

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ElectroMan wrote:
Cyrix200+ wrote:
CkRtech wrote:

Red and Red? Then you're dead.

I don't like the way that AT power supply is hooked up.

Good catch!

Misplaced AT power connectors out of ignorance with P133, corrected after power switch did nothing. Everything seems to be working. Should I expect troubles? They would not let you fry the mainboard that easy, huh? Then again, that's exactly what made computers of the last century exciting - freedom and very little anti-idiot protection.

I think/guess power supplies and/or motherboards can have protection for this. If it works after correcting the orientation I would not worry about it any more.

1982 to 2001

Reply 19689 of 52357, by kixs

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I think I once managed to swap the connectors and the PSU didn't power on. And I was like 😳 ... did the PSU died??? Only then I saw my mistake and I thought I fried something... but it all worked fine when connected properly 😊

Requests are also possible... /msg kixs

Reply 19690 of 52357, by Jade Falcon

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xeon3d wrote:
Ok, so... I spent €50 and got this.... […]
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Ok, so... I spent €50 and got this....

TOWbgNal.jpg

€50 for a fan?

Reply 19691 of 52357, by bjwil1991

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kixs wrote:

I think I once managed to swap the connectors and the PSU didn't power on. And I was like 😳 ... did the PSU died??? Only then I saw my mistake and I thought I fried something... but it all worked fine when connected properly 😊

The AT PSUs orientation was weird. I did the same exact thing, and I looked at the PSU connection, and I found out the connectors were in reverse.

The P8/P9 should be connected like this:

              P9                                   P8
[+5VDC +5VDC +5VDC -5VDC GND GND] [GND GND +12VDC -12VDC +5VDC (or N/C) +5VDC]

Also, I bought desoldering braid (desoldering irons are too much and possibly aren't UL listed) and an SDL to PS/2 6-foot NOS cable for my IBM Model M Keyboard from 1987. Going to look inside the IBM keyboard for any dirt or crud inside, and I had to fix the arrow keys since they were oriented in the wrong direction, and luckily, they're removable from the base of the keys (which is nice for other countries that don't use the QWERTY format that the US has).

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Reply 19693 of 52357, by bjwil1991

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overdrive333 wrote:

I haven't seen a Pentium Pro system in a long time. I used to have a Gateway 2000 G6-200XL that had a Pentium Pro 200 in it back in the day.

Discord: https://discord.gg/U5dJw7x
Systems from the Compaq Portable 1 to Ryzen 9 5950X
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Reply 19695 of 52357, by debs3759

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Shame it only ships to Germany 😀

See my graphics card database at www.gpuzoo.com
Constantly being worked on. Feel free to message me with any corrections or details of cards you would like me to research and add.

Reply 19696 of 52357, by yawetaG

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Not hardware, but bought this MIDI sequencer software recently:

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Japanese sequencer/DAW Singer Song Writer 4.0 for Windows 3.1/95, only realised after the auction ended it was for the full top-end DAW packaging and not the Lite version that I was actually looking for, so this would have been around 40,000 yen back in the mid- to late 1990s, probably at least 500-600 US dollars of today when corrected for inflation. 😲 Price paid: 980 yens before fees, a bit more than 23 dollars after fees. 😀 It also includes a CD with Yamaha and Roland softsynths, both the Windows 3.1 ones and Windows 95 ones.

Also picked up this fairly beaten up Yamaha Special XG CD-ROM (although I hope the actual CD-ROM is in a better condition than the case...):

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These kind of CD-ROMs usually were included with later versions of Yamaha MIDI modules or keyboards, and include upgrades not included in the original release. This one should contain MIDI files specially developed for XG modules, pictures of some Yamaha-sponsored artist, and some Mac and PC software.

Reply 19697 of 52357, by liqmat

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Couldn't resist a 5950 Ultra for $10 and change on Ebay. Had a massive Zalman copper cooler on it that was bending the PCB. Removed it and replaced with the original cooler that I restored back to working condition as I prefer everything original. Ebay description stated the original cooler fans had stopped working. Nothing a little oil can't solve. Spinning like new. Anyone interested in the Zalman cooler PM me as I have no use for it. You know the drill, I pay for shipping to keep the Cigarette Smoking Man happy. Has to be a U.S. shipping address.

I was surprised to find the 5950 Ultra was not much faster than my non-Ultra 5900. Maybe my 2x AGP port holding it back? Will find out with some testing I suppose. I would like to grab a Gainward 5950 Ultra Golden Sample one day as it has the red LED fans. Used to own one back when they were new. Should have kept that card.

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Last edited by liqmat on 2017-10-25, 17:59. Edited 2 times in total.

Reply 19698 of 52357, by bjwil1991

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liqmat wrote:
Couldn't resist a 5950 Ultra for $10 and change on Ebay. Had a massive Zalman copper cooler on it that was bending the PCB. Remo […]
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Couldn't resist a 5950 Ultra for $10 and change on Ebay. Had a massive Zalman copper cooler on it that was bending the PCB. Removed it and replaced with the original cooler that I restored back to working condition as I prefer everything original. Ebay description stated the original cooler fans had stopped working. Nothing a little oil can't solve. Spinning like new. Anyone interested in the Zalman cooler PM me as I have no use for it. You know the drill, I pay for shipping to keep the moderator gods happy. Has to be a U.S. shipping address.

I was surprised to find the 5950 Ultra was not much faster than my non-Ultra 5900. Maybe my 2x AGP port holding it back? Will find out with some testing I suppose. I would like to grab a Gainward 5950 Ultra Golden Sample one day as it has the red LED fans. Used to own one back when they were new. Should have kept that card.

zalmanparts.jpg
zalman.jpg
front.jpg
back.jpg
fansspin.jpg

I'm interested in the cooler, but trading, selling, or buying on Vogons is against the policy. eBay or Amibay will work.

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

Reply 19699 of 52357, by BitWrangler

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liqmat wrote:

I was surprised to find the 5950 Ultra was not much faster than my non-Ultra 5900. Maybe my 2x AGP port holding it back? Will find out with some testing I suppose.

Yeah it's only a ~5% core bump and ~10% memory bump. You have to find that one game with the slight but irritating slowdown at that one spot, and see if it goes away. With playing later games with too much detail turned on, overwhelmed will still be overwhelmed.

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