That's impressive how you've added both networking AND USB storage from the same adapter. Can you hotplug it while the computer is turned on to modify the storage?

Also, where did the sound come from? Most early laptops didn't have onboard sound cards.

Thanks everyone!

Kahenraz wrote on 2022-10-23, 18:31:

Also, where did the sound come from? Most early laptops didn't have onboard sound cards.

This "laptop" has two ISA slots. I just added an ISA sound card and put a pair of small speakers inside 😀

Kahenraz wrote on 2022-10-23, 18:31:

Can you hotplug it while the computer is turned on to modify the storage?

Will need to test that, but to make it work will probably be just the matter of OpenWRT configuration. Because the laptop itself doesn't know anything about the USB port. At worst it might be just sufficient to force the reboot of USB/network module.

//UPDATE: it indeed is possible to hot-plug USB drives. The network share just need to be re-mounted by running net use /delete and net use command and that's it.

That's fantastic. Having two ISA slots gives you a lot of flexibility, and you put it to the max with storage, networking, and sound.

I would love to learn more about the network card mod, as it would work well for any vintage computer that has expansion slots. I've been working recently with networking via USB 2.0 adapters (802.11b/g), and have had successful connectivity, but very poor stability and performance. I'm opting as well for moving the wireless to something outside the computer and connecting via Ethernet, as regular 10/100 adapters are much more stable and all seem to "just work".

luckybob wrote on 2022-10-23, 17:09:

@Shponglefan
are we just going to gloss over that glorious orange carpet?

Kahenraz wrote on 2022-10-23, 17:47:

I think it's actually beige, and it's just the lighting. Although a pumpkin carpet would be pretty cool.

Orange is the new beige.

Today I upgraded to the intended output method on my IIGS. Well, not the actually intended IIGS monitor, but RGB via SCART on a PVM. It's night and day from composite.

I spilled coffee on the venerable 2GB CF card that I use for booting to DOS today. It contains all of the diagnostics, benchmarks, and other utilities that I typically use for testing a sysyem. Luckily, nothing important got damaged, and the CF card was fine after a wipe down and a brief wash.

Yes, I consider this to be a "retro" activity.

I use this card specifically over others as it works in PIO mode only (no DMA), which means that it'll work in pretty much anything. I've found that some cards which have DMA don't work with some very old IDE controllers.

trying to upgrade oem motherboard with either duron 800 mhz or athlon 1500+ 200fsb using GA-7ZM Rev 2.2. As its OEM it wont let me flash the bios. Is there a way to force bios update? software pref...
Nvm, it's actually rev 1 according to hwinfo. Nothing on gigabyte site for rev 1.0

Kahenraz wrote on 2022-10-24, 06:41:

I spilled coffee on...

Man, there have been times I've done that to my gear and because I use cream and sugar, into the bathtub it went immediately. Luckily, I haven't lost any electronics, yet, to my caffeine addiction.

Kahenraz wrote on 2022-10-24, 06:41:

I spilled coffee on the venerable 2GB CF card that I use for booting to DOS today. It contains all of the diagnostics, benchmark […]
Show full quote

I spilled coffee on the venerable 2GB CF card that I use for booting to DOS today. It contains all of the diagnostics, benchmarks, and other utilities that I typically use for testing a sysyem. Luckily, nothing important got damaged, and the CF card was fine after a wipe down and a brief wash.

Yes, I consider this to be a "retro" activity.

I use this card specifically over others as it works in PIO mode only (no DMA), which means that it'll work in pretty much anything. I've found that some cards which have DMA don't work with some very old IDE controllers.

20221024_023409_resize_34.jpg

Those coffee stains gives it that extra 'vintage' look. 😉

luckybob wrote on 2022-10-23, 17:09:

@Shponglefan
are we just going to gloss over that glorious orange carpet?

Kahenraz wrote on 2022-10-23, 17:47:

luckybob wrote on 2022-10-23, 17:09:

@Shponglefan
are we just going to gloss over that glorious orange carpet?

I think it's actually beige, and it's just the lighting. Although a pumpkin carpet would be pretty cool.

liqmat wrote on 2022-10-23, 20:09:

Orange is the new beige. […]
Show full quote

luckybob wrote on 2022-10-23, 17:09:

@Shponglefan
are we just going to gloss over that glorious orange carpet?

Kahenraz wrote on 2022-10-23, 17:47:

I think it's actually beige, and it's just the lighting. Although a pumpkin carpet would be pretty cool.

Orange is the new beige.

vote_orange.jpg

I've always considered it a reddish-brown. 😀

The lighting definitely influences things. My evening lights are set to a warm hue, so I think that makes it look more orange-y than it does in person.

adalbert wrote on 2022-10-23, 18:13:

This is how the network card looks like. The base is a generic NE-2000 compatible card. Currently it works in 8-bit slot, so it […]
Show full quote

This is how the network card looks like. The base is a generic NE-2000 compatible card. Currently it works in 8-bit slot, so it might even be XT-compatible. The bracket is 3D printed, not only to hold the wireless module (A5V11), but also to let the wireless signal go inside (metal bracket obviously would not work). +5V power is stolen from the ISA card via two wires soldered to GND and +5V pads, with a 500mA polyfuse in series.

isa_usb_wifi1.jpg

Here is USB drive accessed as a automatically mounted network drive in Windows 3.11. It works in MS-DOS too with MS Network Client software. Reading, writing and execution works fine.
usb_win31.jpg

Wi-fi scanning and connecting works fine from pure MS-DOS with some client-side and server-(OpenWRT)side scripts. I can even pair this laptop with my digital camera, which currently has no use, but looks fun. I probably could even take some photos and download them by sending proper HTTP requests.
wifiscan1.png

I need to put together the instructions on making such an USB+WiFi ISA card and configuring OpenWRT properly. Probably will post that in a separate thread when it's done.

That looks very interesting, looking forward to seeing the thread about it.

Repaired a motherboard.
Soldering is never ending 😀

I've learnt that socket 462 and socket 370/slot 1 are the last sockets to support pci soundcards for win98 fully without the shared pci issues. So imma build a strong 462 5v system to keep my vortex 2 and sc-55 happy. Can't do athlon 64 and Pentium 4 builds. Would rather do to 775i65g build and carry the cmi8738 wdm issues with sc-55 latency and hanging notes

not the P4 865 based chipset with ICH5 southbridge?

Cheers,

pentiumspeed wrote on 2022-10-24, 20:11:

not the P4 865 based chipset with ICH5 southbridge?

Cheers,

P4i65g also has pci issues for vortex 2

Does ghetto-rigging a Creative Inspire 5.1 5300 sound system count? 🤣

Wanted something to go with my several Creative cards (Audigy 2 ZS, Audigy 1394, SB Live 5.1 and Audigy SE) and one of my friends dug out that sound system from the trash.
Granted, it was missing the main woofer (which I sourced from a scrapped Altec Lansing, goodness gracious that thing rumbles anything within a 3km radius lmao) and only had one of the tweeters.

Will probably adapt a Samsung home theater speaker set, once I get hold of RCA plugs, as well as 6x 3.5mm plugs (three for the woofer end, three for the PC end!). Maybe not as retro as I hoped it would look, but hey, for a free "DIY" sound system, I'm not even complaining.

BTW, I am also missing the volume knob remote - I managed to bypass it though, by shorting pin 6 with pin 1, and pin 2 with pin 3.

PcBytes wrote on 2022-10-24, 20:29:

Does ghetto-rigging a Creative Inspire 5.1 5300 sound system count? lol […]
Show full quote

Does ghetto-rigging a Creative Inspire 5.1 5300 sound system count? 🤣

Wanted something to go with my several Creative cards (Audigy 2 ZS, Audigy 1394, SB Live 5.1 and Audigy SE) and one of my friends dug out that sound system from the trash.
Granted, it was missing the main woofer (which I sourced from a scrapped Altec Lansing, goodness gracious that thing rumbles anything within a 3km radius lmao) and only had one of the tweeters.

Will probably adapt a Samsung home theater speaker set, once I get hold of RCA plugs, as well as 6x 3.5mm plugs (three for the woofer end, three for the PC end!). Maybe not as retro as I hoped it would look, but hey, for a free "DIY" sound system, I'm not even complaining.

BTW, I am also missing the volume knob remote - I managed to bypass it though, by shorting pin 6 with pin 1, and pin 2 with pin 3.

The dtt 5700 is gorgeous. I have it connected to optical on my 55" Panasonic plasma vt65 😉

Played around with cdslow 5.2. mixed results, works when it wants to. For red alert 1 cd really quietened down on my lg dvdrw

adalbert wrote on 2022-10-23, 18:13:

Just finished all upgrades and work that I had to do on my Toshiba T3200SXC. Here is the overview video: https://www.youtube.co […]
Show full quote

Just finished all upgrades and work that I had to do on my Toshiba T3200SXC.
Here is the overview video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WX30t3lYezs

t3200sxc-overview1.jpg

Now it has:

• an internal Wireless LAN + USB storage ISA card (ethernet card with OpenWRT module and SMB server for USB)
• WPA2 network scanning and connecting from within the MS-DOS
• Internal stereo speakers
• New DC-DC power supply, which can be powered from USB-C powerbanks
• Replaced LCD screen
• Replaced lithium battery
• MS-DOS 6.22 + Win 3.11 with boot menu properly set up

Old power supply and new (smaller) custom power supply:
t3200sxc_twopsus.jpg

This is how the network card looks like. The base is a generic NE-2000 compatible card. Currently it works in 8-bit slot, so it might even be XT-compatible. The bracket is 3D printed, not only to hold the wireless module (A5V11), but also to let the wireless signal go inside (metal bracket obviously would not work). +5V power is stolen from the ISA card via two wires soldered to GND and +5V pads, with a 500mA polyfuse in series.

isa_usb_wifi1.jpg

Here is USB drive accessed as a automatically mounted network drive in Windows 3.11. It works in MS-DOS too with MS Network Client software. Reading, writing and execution works fine.
usb_win31.jpg

Wi-fi scanning and connecting works fine from pure MS-DOS with some client-side and server-(OpenWRT)side scripts. I can even pair this laptop with my digital camera, which currently has no use, but looks fun. I probably could even take some photos and download them by sending proper HTTP requests.
wifiscan1.png

I need to put together the instructions on making such an USB+WiFi ISA card and configuring OpenWRT properly. Probably will post that in a separate thread when it's done.

That's amazing work.

I searched for a replacement DC power jack for my Sidewinder Force Feedback Pro. The old one just broke off.

Spent over 4 hours searching for this damn SMD part, because it differs from most other ones and has its legs in weird positions.
I found it by accident on eBay just scrolling through the categories.

Microsoft used one from the German manufacturer Lumberg:
"Lumberg 1613 10".

At least Lumberg are good guys and also list the barrel connector I need to fix both sides up on their website:
https://www.lumberg.com/de/produkte/produkt/1613+10

This is why service manuals for devices should be mandatory.