Giving Seagate's Disk Manager manager a workout by installing Windows 95 OEM 2.5 on a 386DX-40 with 8 MB RAM, a 80 GB Seagate IDE drive and an IDE optical drive. Patience is the key...

I installed Windows 95 on a 386SX-25Mhz some time ago with 24MB ram maybe. Patience was really the key! 😁

philscomputerlab wrote:

Giving Seagate's Disk Manager manager a workout by installing Windows 95 OEM 2.5 on a 386DX-40 with 8 MB RAM, a 80 GB Seagate IDE drive and an IDE optical drive. Patience is the key...

Why? Just why?

vetz wrote:

Why? Just why?

Because I can / it's fun / why not?

Quite surprised how well it runs after you endure the installation. I tell you some people's modern notebooks bogged down with bloatware and not looked after take longer to boot and are less responsive than the 386 running Windows 95 🤣

I finally managed to get one of those colorful ribbon cables with individual connectors on each wire. Finally I could connect my DB50XG to my YMF719-based card and close the cable. It required a bit of zip tie to hold it in place though. And, OFC, the first thing I did was start DOOM and listen to the music.

Retrobright treatment on the control knobs of a Packard Bell (EGA??) monitor I just bought locally.

I apologize for the terrible photos...I forgot to take one before I did the retrobright treatment so I had to use the original sellers photo and I am just using my mobile phone camera for now for the after pics.

Having got this and another EGA monitor yesterday as well, I tested them out with some of my Tandy 1000 systems...it was an opportunity to run them for a bit as they have been sitting collecting dust lately. The other CRT monitor I got is an old school Princeton Graphic Systems beast...it's missing a plastic knob for the "pull on" switch...I hope to find something that might match nicely with the brightness knob to put on there. I trsted each monitor and the Packard Bell is very bright and looks to be in great shape. As for the Princeton Graphic Systems (PGS) one, it was not as bright but still works very well. From what I have gathered online, the PGS CRT matches well with IBM 51xx systems as it is from that era (this one is date stamped 1983).

How many Tandy 1000's do you have retrofanatic?

carlostex wrote:

How many Tandy 1000's do you have retrofanatic?

Tandy 1000EX x2
Tandy 1000HX x2
Tandy 1000SX x1
Tandy 1000TX x1
Tandy 1000TL x1
Tandy 1000TL/2 x1

And some Tandy Color Computers
Tandy CoCo 1 x2
Tandy Coco 2 x2
Tandy Coco 3 x2

And a bunch of other Tandy/Radio Shack/TRS80 stuff and systems.

I'm always on the lookout for other Tandy systems (i.e. SL RLX and RL series systems)

retrofanatic wrote:

Tandy 1000EX x2 Tandy 1000HX x2 Tandy 1000SX x1 Tandy 1000TX x1 Tandy 1000TL x1 Tandy 1000TL/2 x1 […]
Show full quote

Tandy 1000EX x2
Tandy 1000HX x2
Tandy 1000SX x1
Tandy 1000TX x1
Tandy 1000TL x1
Tandy 1000TL/2 x1

I'm always on the lookout for other Tandy systems (i.e. SL RLX and RL series systems)

Wow you Tandy freak!! 🤣

I wish i had one of those. But being European presents so many problems...

retrofanatic wrote:

Retrobright treatment on the control knobs of a Packard Bell (EGA??) monitor I just bought locally.

Having got this and another EGA monitor yesterday as well, I tested them out with some of my Tandy 1000 systems...it was an opportunity to run them for a bit as they have been sitting collecting dust lately. The other CRT monitor I got is an old school Princeton Graphic Systems beast...it's missing a plastic knob for the "pull on" switch...I hope to find something that might match nicely with the brightness knob to put on there. I trsted each monitor and the Packard Bell is very bright and looks to be in great shape. As for the Princeton Graphic Systems (PGS) one, it was not as bright but still works very well. From what I have gathered online, the PGS CRT matches well with IBM 51xx systems as it is from that era (this one is date stamped 1983).

Very nice retrobright job.

Today I tested out a recently acquired Roland MT-120.

It's basically a Sound Canvas SC-50 with a built in disk drive for sequencing. It has the same polyphony (28), parts (16), and drum sets (9) as a SC-55mkII, but it's has less tone samples than a SC-55mkII (226 vs. 354). It's also been stripped of the MT-32 tones (so no MT-32 emulation mode on this unit).

It's not really that interesting for gaming. It's basically a neutered SC-55mkII, but I found it interesting nonetheless, and it seems to play Sound Canvas / GM games just fine. Here's a recording of Doom E1M1 as played through the MT-120 and recorded on the line in of my PC using Audacity:

Doom E1M1 on MT-120

Repaired and cleaned our old clock. Still runs a bit too slow so, uh, I'll have to "overclock" it. 😀

Or is this... too retro? 🤣

I tested a "new" Geforce 7950 GX2 video card I bought.

I tested it using my current flavour of PCI-E testbench, a socket 775 system with a Q6600 slightly overclocked to 3.2GHz
Because the system wasnt in a case I thought it wouldnt need any extra airflow... I was wrong... 60 --> 70 ---> 80 ---> 90 --> 100 --> hardlock in minuts

The cooling solution on these cards is underwhelming to say the least. With an extra fan forcing air into the sandwich the card worked much better.

Im also making room for an AGP test bench as I have managed to hord another 15 untested AGP video cards.
I use a Fujitsu Siemens socket i865PE board to test untested AGP cards as it seems to be able to survive just about anything.

jwt27 wrote:

Repaired and cleaned our old clock. Still runs a bit too slow so, uh, I'll have to "overclock" it. 😀

Har har har 😀

This afternoon I visited an e-recycling company. They asked me to provide some training on vintage computers. They had 12 desktops/mini towers. Mostly 386/486 clones. Also one IBM PS/2 Model 55 and 3 Epson Equity's. CT1740s with ASP, Thunder Board and Tandy CM-11. I will be back in touch with them. Nothing could be tested so I did not buy.

PeterLI wrote:

This afternoon I visited an e-recycling company. They asked me to provide some training on vintage computers. They had 12 desktops/mini towers. Mostly 386/486 clones. Also one IBM PS/2 Model 55 and 3 Epson Equity's. CT1740s with ASP, Thunder Board and Tandy CM-11. I will be back in touch with them. Nothing could be tested so I did not buy.

Wow...sounds like treasure to me. I'm surprised you left everything even if it was untested. For old stuff like that if I plug it in and it turns on and there's no sign of physical damage, I just go for it and buy what I can if it is a good price and just risk it. I have only been burned a couple times but it was on some untested graphics card I got for a mac g5 for only $10 (ended up not working too well) and a dead 386 motherboard I got for $10 as well. Pretty much everything else I have ever bought untested has worked great. Even a broken ibm ps2 model 55 can be worth a fair bit (parts).

If they weren't asking a lot for everything especially the 386 pc's, the tandy cm 11, the ps2 ibm and the Thunderboard(!) I would not be able to leave the room without buying it all (if the price is right). That stuff is just too rare. But I guess it's better to show some restraint sometimes. I for one find it a bit difficult...I have an irrational attraction to retro hardware I guess 🤣

You are right but I am very well stocked with hardware and coming home with a car full would make my wife very upset. In case anyone is interested in anything I can PM the gentleman's email address.

retrofanatic wrote:

PeterLI wrote:

This afternoon I visited an e-recycling company. They asked me to provide some training on vintage computers. They had 12 desktops/mini towers. Mostly 386/486 clones. Also one IBM PS/2 Model 55 and 3 Epson Equity's. CT1740s with ASP, Thunder Board and Tandy CM-11. I will be back in touch with them. Nothing could be tested so I did not buy.

Wow...sounds like treasure to me. I'm surprised you left everything even if it was untested. For old stuff like that if I plug it in and it turns on and there's no sign of physical damage, I just go for it and buy what I can if it is a good price and just risk it. I have only been burned a couple times but it was on some untested graphics card I got for a mac g5 for only $10 (ended up not working too well) and a dead 386 motherboard I got for $10 as well. Pretty much everything else I have ever bought untested has worked great. Even a broken ibm ps2 model 55 can be worth a fair bit (parts).

If they weren't asking a lot for everything especially the 386 pc's, the tandy cm 11, the ps2 ibm and the Thunderboard(!) I would not be able to leave the room without buying it all (if the price is right). That stuff is just too rare. But I guess it's better to show some restraint sometimes. I for one find it a bit difficult...I have an irrational attraction to retro hardware I guess 🤣

I usually just grab and run 🤣 screw testing. 🤣

King_Corduroy wrote:

retrofanatic wrote:

PeterLI wrote:

This afternoon I visited an e-recycling company. They asked me to provide some training on vintage computers. They had 12 desktops/mini towers. Mostly 386/486 clones. Also one IBM PS/2 Model 55 and 3 Epson Equity's. CT1740s with ASP, Thunder Board and Tandy CM-11. I will be back in touch with them. Nothing could be tested so I did not buy.

Wow...sounds like treasure to me. I'm surprised you left everything even if it was untested. For old stuff like that if I plug it in and it turns on and there's no sign of physical damage, I just go for it and buy what I can if it is a good price and just risk it. I have only been burned a couple times but it was on some untested graphics card I got for a mac g5 for only $10 (ended up not working too well) and a dead 386 motherboard I got for $10 as well. Pretty much everything else I have ever bought untested has worked great. Even a broken ibm ps2 model 55 can be worth a fair bit (parts).

If they weren't asking a lot for everything especially the 386 pc's, the tandy cm 11, the ps2 ibm and the Thunderboard(!) I would not be able to leave the room without buying it all (if the price is right). That stuff is just too rare. But I guess it's better to show some restraint sometimes. I for one find it a bit difficult...I have an irrational attraction to retro hardware I guess 🤣

I usually just grab and run 🤣 screw testing. 🤣

This ^

Even if it busted, it can probably be parted out and sold.

Been cleaning up the attic and partly ripped the floor out to run a new cable from the boiler to downstairs.
Found the original box for my 14" Hewlett-Packard CRT! Apparently its now used to store old pictures. Also a Philips composite b/w CCTV CRT, and a broken IBM PS/2 CRT monitor (8513) which I thought had been thrown out ages ago! 😳