VOGONS


Reply 9420 of 27168, by bjwil1991

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Did some soldering tonight:

I soldered on a 2x AA Battery Pack to my Packard Bell Pack-Mate 28 Plus Motherboard, which was a big success. Tested it and it works! Also, the system shows the POST screen after I press the power button in seconds flat instead of 30 seconds. I will do a video about this later on as well.

Pics:

Wiring (red = positive, white = negative) to the motherboard
YBtiXLdl.jpg

The battery pack far away from the motherboard in case the batteries leak
2mSScBtl.jpg

Also, yes, I'm aware that the hot glue is required, and I will put some hot glue on there later on.

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

Reply 9421 of 27168, by derSammler

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More work on the Alcatel done today. Added a Mitsumi 4x IDE CD-ROM drive (dec. 1995) and a Hizon DB333 wavetable (from 1995, too). Also used a backup of one of my other 486 PCs to quickly setup a CF card so that the system is now already packed with tools, games, and an optimized configuration. Tested everything and all seems to work perfectly fine. 😀

Now I have to install Windows 3.11.

Reply 9422 of 27168, by Kerr Avon

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TheAbandonwareGuy wrote:

Already reported Benders Back to Qbix. I assume hes Jade Failure.. err.. i mean Falcon.

Anywho back on topic, I'm boycotting Nintendo for the disasterous effects their recent copyright suing and abuse has had on the retro community. Not only will I not be buying there games on there retro store, I wont be buying there platforms at all. This is bad for them because one of the things I was planning to do this year was buy either a 3DS or a Switch, but if they want to start suing certain sites out of existence screw them, I'll keep giving my money to Sony or Intel/NVIDIA for my gaming needs. I encourage you all to do the same, they've essentially decided they are too good for the DMCA system and have the right to attempt (hopefully unsuccessfully) to circumvent it.

To hell with any company that thinks they are above the law.

I'm no fan of Nintendo (the company I mean, I really like many of their games) because of the things they've done, including:

- Selling Rare (because Rare went then from being, to me, the best games developer of all time to a very mediocre one who I now have no interest in,

- Their "Bottom Line: Emulation is illegal" attitude (and yes, that's a direct quote), despite them employing emulation in consoles when it suits them and can make money for them,

- The way they hate youtube videos of their games and try to get them banned, even though I would personally have thought that they'd be good for Nintendo as surely a good, popular youtube video of a game being played would function as a positive advertisement for the game? Not that really care about this, as I have no interest in 'Let's Play" or "Blind Playthrough" videos, or in video reviews, but I don['t agree with Nintendo trying to stop something that's legal and popular,

- The way they treated PAL gamers, with the PAL consoles often getting inferior games, such as the game running around 15% slower on a PAL machine, and/or not being full screen on the PAL console and instead having black borders around the screen. Oh, and not bothering to bring some of the best games to PAL format at all. Thankfully this is no longer the case, I believe (though neither me nor my mates own a Switch or a Wii-U to check), but was bad in earlier days,

- Forcing Rare to abandon the fantastically promising Dinosaur Adventures and instead remake it as Starfox Adventures,

- Not releasing SimCity 64 on a PAL cartridge (for me, this was the biggest disappointment when it came to games not appearing in PAL),

- Forcing Rare/Microsoft to abandon the amazing looking XBox 360 version of Goldeneye (Goldeneye the N64 game, not the Call of Bond mediocrity that came out in 2010 and was monumentally inferior to the N64 game in all but looks),

- Not releasing a version of Metroid Prime 3 that could be played with a joypad - I really hate motion controls, but love MP 1 and 2, and so I really want to play MP 3, but I just can't get used to the Wii's controls,

and various other reasons. I hate all of these decisions, but none of them are illegal, and at worst some of them might be anti-gamer in some ways, but not actually malicious. And in the same way, NIntendo aren't doing anything illegal or morally wrong by trying to close down sites that offer copyright material for download, or at least to get the sites to remove copyrighted material. I wish Nintendo didn't do that, and if you ask me, copyright should only be for about ten years, as 99% of the money you'll earn for most copyright stuff is made in the first ten years, but it's not. You can't blame Nintendo (or anyone else) for protecting their copyright, it's the copyright system itself that's at fault (if there is anything wrong with the current copyright system, that is, and I do believe it is, it's much too long).

Having said that, I've not heard of Nintendo actually going above the law, though. What have they done in that respect?

Reply 9423 of 27168, by gca

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Fired up my CPC464 for the first time in way too long. Started troubleshooting the issue which was causing nothing to print, turns out all I had to do was reseat all the cables which seems to have cleared up that problem (the edge connectors on these machines get a bit fouled up after sitting idle for too long).

Am I the only one who finds it odd that, when faced with an application you haven't used in years, you can recall all the keybindings (including the odd one or two never mentioned in the manuals) with ease yet when it comes to stuff like what the heck my mobile phone number is I haven't a clue (never could remember any of my mobile numbers (mental block?)).

Reply 9424 of 27168, by ssokolow

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Kerr Avon wrote:

I'm no fan of Nintendo (the company I mean, I really like many of their games) because of the things they've done, including:

[...]

For those reasons (but especially the combination of their "we'd outlaw fair use if we could" attitude and eStore purchases locked to hardware as a planned obsolescence measure), I went out of my way to give Nintendo the financial finger.

  1. I bought a Retrode as a way to stave off planned obsolescence and physical decay of media and consoles within the right to make a personal backup that is protected by the principles which circumscribe "all rights reserved". (eg. fair use, fair dealing, etc.)
  2. I buy "new" games as cartridges on eBay on the rationale that, given how much more expensive it is than the eStore, if someone is competing with me for a listing, they either already bought it on the eStore too for convenience or they don't consider the eStore an acceptable substitute. (Thus, leveraging the first-sale doctrine to obtain a license to play the game without indirectly resulting in Nintendo receiving new money.)

(And, of course, as a bonus, community-made emulators tend to be more featureful than official emulators.)

Given how stubbornly I've been boycotting the MPAA since around 2005, if I didn't have a Retrode, I'm fairly certain I'd pay the premium to acquire, maintain, and learn to repair a couple units each of each relevant console. (The only reason I know any modern movies is that the MPAA has no moral leg to stand on if I choose to wander in and sit down when another family member puts on something they borrowed without any input from me... though it has had the unexpected side-effect of training me to find movies slow-paced, shallow, and boring compared to my ability to read an entire novel in 4 to 6 hours.)

Heck, the only reason my next PC will be an Intel, despite them screwing over AMD in the 486 era and trying to fight the OLPC XO with an inferior x86-based device is because there's no me_cleaner for the AMD PSP and the only reason my current GPU is an nVidia is that, at the time I bought it, AMD's Linux drivers simply weren't an acceptable option.

Internet Archive: My Uploads
My Blog: Retrocomputing Resources
My Rose-Coloured-Glasses Builds

I also try to announce retro-relevant stuff on on Mastodon.

Reply 9425 of 27168, by TheAbandonwareGuy

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ssokolow wrote:
For those reasons (but especially the combination of their "we'd outlaw fair use if we could" attitude and eStore purchases lock […]
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Kerr Avon wrote:

I'm no fan of Nintendo (the company I mean, I really like many of their games) because of the things they've done, including:

[...]

For those reasons (but especially the combination of their "we'd outlaw fair use if we could" attitude and eStore purchases locked to hardware as a planned obsolescence measure), I went out of my way to give Nintendo the financial finger.

  1. I bought a Retrode as a way to stave off planned obsolescence and physical decay of media and consoles within the right to make a personal backup that is protected by the principles which circumscribe "all rights reserved". (eg. fair use, fair dealing, etc.)
  2. I buy "new" games as cartridges on eBay on the rationale that, given how much more expensive it is than the eStore, if someone is competing with me for a listing, they either already bought it on the eStore too for convenience or they don't consider the eStore an acceptable substitute. (Thus, leveraging the first-sale doctrine to obtain a license to play the game without indirectly resulting in Nintendo receiving new money.)

(And, of course, as a bonus, community-made emulators tend to be more featureful than official emulators.)

Given how stubbornly I've been boycotting the MPAA since around 2005, if I didn't have a Retrode, I'm fairly certain I'd pay the premium to acquire, maintain, and learn to repair a couple units each of each relevant console. (The only reason I know any modern movies is that the MPAA has no moral leg to stand on if I choose to wander in and sit down when another family member puts on something they borrowed without any input from me... though it has had the unexpected side-effect of training me to find movies slow-paced, shallow, and boring compared to my ability to read an entire novel in 4 to 6 hours.)

Heck, the only reason my next PC will be an Intel, despite them screwing over AMD in the 486 era and trying to fight the OLPC XO with an inferior x86-based device is because there's no me_cleaner for the AMD PSP and the only reason my current GPU is an nVidia is that, at the time I bought it, AMD's Linux drivers simply weren't an acceptable option.

My primary reasons would be that they DMCA everything. Including stuff they have no valid rights too (just because it came out on NES, doesn't make it automatically there property) and obscure classics that they will never offer on their own platforms. A good example would be Ninja Warriors by Taito, my favorite SNES game. I will never own a physical copy because it sells for $500 or more on eBay and I'm not one of the 1 percent that can afford a purchase like that. It's quite rare as well meaning im not likely to find it in the wild. Actually I never see classic nintendo games in the wild because they are either snatched up from the shelf in hours, or if posted online in a facebook sales group they are bought by resellers in minutes. I know of 5 or 6 eBay scalpers in my area. One of them bought a lot containing a SNES and 40 games (mostly first party, no sports or junk) a few days ago for $120 and then sold it online for $500 claiming it was an attic find. Disgusting. I. Hate. Profiteers. They ruined retro gaming as a cheap and accessible hobby and made it exclusive to the undeserving, never working 1 percent. Anywho, off topic.

They also refuse to make there games accessible or DRM free. IMO the only acceptable method for a classic game release is via either GOG or HumbleBundle DRM free.

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 9426 of 27168, by Bancho

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Been working on these pair today. The right one is going through quite a change in configuration regarding sound and video.

It was originally setup like this

3D Blaster Banshee PCI,
EWS64s,
SW60XG,
YMF719/704

New setup is

TNT2 M64 PCI,
Orchid 3d,
(Possibly Matrox M3D also),
AWE32 CT3980, With DB50XG wavetable board
PAS16,
Music Quest MPU401.

The Second machine on he left has the YMF719/704 card along with a AWE64 Gold with Simmconn.

57yqL5xl.jpg

Last edited by Bancho on 2018-08-11, 22:29. Edited 2 times in total.

Reply 9429 of 27168, by blurks

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derSammler wrote:

[...] this does make some sense.

This makes exactly zero sense unless the CPU is coincidentally a high-end model, that can actually make use of the additional D3D-performance of the card.

Additionally:
-> Image quality: worse (loopthrough)
-> Glide API speed: worse
-> Thermal conditions: worse
-> Additional PCI slot populated

Reply 9430 of 27168, by derSammler

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blurks wrote:
Additionally: -> Image quality: worse (loopthrough) -> Glide API speed: worse -> Thermal conditions: worse -> Additional PCI slo […]
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Additionally:
-> Image quality: worse (loopthrough)
-> Glide API speed: worse
-> Thermal conditions: worse
-> Additional PCI slot populated

Err... what? What cards are you talking about now? Loopthrough, additional PCI slot..?

Reply 9432 of 27168, by Bancho

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blurks wrote:

Why would anyone replace a Banshee with a crippled low-end TNT2?

When you have the parts.. why not. Nothing lost.

The machine is a P200MMX which i believe the Banshee is wasted on. It was a toss up between a S3 Virge/VX 4mb and the M64. The M64 has good dos performance and adds that bit of DX as well. I also wanted to use the Orchid 3D card. I had one when i was younger and the compatibility with the (V1) games is a lot better.

I also stated i wanted to use a Matrox M3D (PowerVR card) which i'm waiting on so it will be be interesting to see IF that and the Voodoo 1 play nice together. 😀

Reply 9434 of 27168, by Bancho

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blurks wrote:

I still don't see the point in it (Banshee + P55C is a period correct combination of systems specs) but whatever floats your boat...

Fair enough mate. I'd like to use the banshee in some future build. I really want to use the O3D because i think it fits the machine really well. I think it sits really well with all the other hardware, also it's going to sit in a box otherwise! I've been looking at it for ages thinking i want to use it.

Reply 9435 of 27168, by feipoa

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I just put together a testbed with an AMD slot A Athlon 1 GHz and a Radeon 8500.

Attachments

Plan your life wisely, you'll be dead before you know it.

Reply 9436 of 27168, by gdjacobs

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derSammler wrote:

No. Not only is it shielded, a hdd or floppy drive won't care about it, since they are enclosed in a metal case. Also, the case had a speaker mounting point there, so the place was not chosen randomly. 😉 The 3.5" floppy drive and the hard disk are actually mounted on the other side of the case anyway.

A grounded metal casing will attenuate some mag field, but it won't stop it dead like it will E field.

All hail the Great Capacitor Brand Finder

Reply 9437 of 27168, by derSammler

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Not sure why you even say "grounded", as that has absolutely no effect on a magnetic field. Anyway, you need way over 5.000 gauss to harm a hard disk with a magnet, which must then even be in direct contact with it. No idea why people think a speaker is of any danger. Unless it's one of these very cheap unshielded ones and you put it directly on a diskette, it's completely harmless. A CRT monitor placed onto a desktop case has a much higher magnetic field but is no issue either - not to mention the neodym magnets inside a hard disk, only a few millimeters away from the platters.

Reply 9438 of 27168, by debs3759

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feipoa wrote:

I just put together a testbed with an AMD slot A Athlon 1 GHz and a Radeon 8500.

Thunderbird or Orion? I have both (the Orion won't reach me for a while), but no slot A board yet.

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 9439 of 27168, by gdjacobs

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Faraday cages (including electronics enclosures) are typically grounded. That's all I meant.

All hail the Great Capacitor Brand Finder