lolo799 wrote on 2021-12-17, 11:34:

[...]

Interesting stuff! Could you post some info about the MPEG boards?

I bought for cheap a Victor DM-D2100 MPEG decoder last month, just to satisfy some curiosity, it has a dvb-spi input so i can't test it for lacking anything that plugs into it just yet...

OK, have the hardware identified. Doesn't help much as I can't find a huge amount of info online.

There are two huge full-length PCI cards labeled Adherent Systems LTD MIC 1.1 DI0215/V1.1. Each has two external BNC connectors and a DA15 labeled "MIC". Internally they have two big 50p connectors, one labeled DVB Parallel, the other labeled Daughter card, with a 12-pin connector next to it also labeled Daughter card. They're basically full computers on a board, with an AMCC PCI Matchmaker S59935QF PCI busmaster/target chip, a Motorola 68-series (?) CPU (bodge wire glued over the text on both cards...) and one large Xilinx and two smaller Altera FPGAs, plus a big RF-tuner at the end of the card. Both cards have two external DB25 connectors connected to the "DVB Parallel" connector, one of the two also is connected to a daughter card via two flatcables.

The daughter card is a Tektronix Timestamping ASI+ Card di483v20. It is a short PCI card and has two external BNC connectors, 50p and 12p connectors to hook up to one of the big cards, and an Altera FPGA.

So as I expected it's all custom FPGA-driven. Haven't looked at software yet. Tbh not hugely interested, and not at all sure that I will be able to access it. The system came with a bright pink dongle in its parallel port which I guess is copy protection for some software.

dionb wrote on 2021-12-17, 20:03:

OK, have the hardware identified. Doesn't help much as I can't find a huge amount of info online. […]
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OK, have the hardware identified. Doesn't help much as I can't find a huge amount of info online.

There are two huge full-length PCI cards labeled Adherent Systems LTD MIC 1.1 DI0215/V1.1. Each has two external BNC connectors and a DA15 labeled "MIC". Internally they have two big 50p connectors, one labeled DVB Parallel, the other labeled Daughter card, with a 12-pin connector next to it also labeled Daughter card. They're basically full computers on a board, with an AMCC PCI Matchmaker S59935QF PCI busmaster/target chip, a Motorola 68-series (?) CPU (bodge wire glued over the text on both cards...) and one large Xilinx and two smaller Altera FPGAs, plus a big RF-tuner at the end of the card. Both cards have two external DB25 connectors connected to the "DVB Parallel" connector, one of the two also is connected to a daughter card via two flatcables.

The daughter card is a Tektronix Timestamping ASI+ Card di483v20. It is a short PCI card and has two external BNC connectors, 50p and 12p connectors to hook up to one of the big cards, and an Altera FPGA.

So as I expected it's all custom FPGA-driven. Haven't looked at software yet. Tbh not hugely interested, and not at all sure that I will be able to access it. The system came with a bright pink dongle in its parallel port which I guess is copy protection for some software.

Thanks, the card should be able to output a dvb-spi stream then.
Pictures of the Victor Mpeg Decoder:

This last picture is from the only webpage I found about the device:
https://web.archive.org/web/20000531043605/ht … cts/dme2100.htm

bearking wrote on 2021-12-17, 14:52:

Siemens pcs from that era where very well built, high quality systems. I really like them alot!

🤣 "High Quality " indeed - just powered this one on after 5248 days (~14.4yrs!), still boots and the RTC is almost right! It has only lost 21 minutes! (~2.7ppm offset)

So it was the one I'd swapped a P200MMX into after all, and definitely still running Smoothwall 😁

Not sure if this qualifies for this thread, but I'll post anyways.

This wasn't exactly a dumpster find, and not really retro hardware. It was on its way to a dumpster. Original owner had a disagreement with his brother, and as a result this monitor was thrown off a desk. After that treatment, the stand was busted and the metal frame inside was bent in multiple locations. Plastic frame had a crack next to the power button. It powered on, but displayed no image. Out of curiosity I picked it up, thinking there was no way in hell the panel could survive that kind of punishment.

I took a look inside, straightened the metal parts, found a damaged ribbon cable, glued the crack in plastic back together, and what do you know, this thing actually works! Only visible damage in the panel seems to be couple of very small purple blobs that are only visible against black or gray backrounds.

It's an Acer Predator XB321HK 32" 4K G-Sync monitor. Manufactured in 2017.

I love all theses dumpster/find/repair stories!

Some weeks ago I could save some HW including two HP servers from work's e-waste...

...and recently I got some HW for free from work (again) and saved it from e-waste...

motherboards:

• ASUS P/I-P55T2P4 (with CPU)
• Biostar MB-8500TVX-A (with CPU)
• Gigabyte GA-486TA (EISA, with CPU and RAM)
• NMC 5VMXe
• 2x PCCHIPS M577 (one with CPU)
• Shuttle HOT-591P (with CPU)

video cards:

• ATI Mach64 PCI
• ATI Mach64 VT PCI
• ATI Rage XL PCI
• Diamond Stealth64 Video 2001 PCI (S3 86C765)
• ELSA ERAZOR II -P16 PCI (nVidia Riva TNT)
• ELSA ERAZOR III LT G (nVidia TNT2 M64)
• 2x Hercules Dynamite 128/Video PCI (Tseng ET6000)
• 3x Venus 6000 PCI (Tseng ET6000)
• WDC / Compudata CompuFlat VGALCD ISA (interesting card!)

LAN:

• 3Com Etherlink III / 3C509-COMBO ISA
• 3Com 3C905C-TX-M PCI
• Cogent optical Fast Ethernet PCI
• D-Link DFE-528TX PCI
• Intel 8/16 LAN ADAPTER ISA (interesting card!)
• Intel PCI (S82557)

CPUs:

• 11x Intel Pentium
• 2x Intel Pentium MMX
• Intel Celeron 733 socket 370
• AMD K6-III 450 (very nice!, I killed mine years ago)
• 6x 486 (including 2x AMD DX4-100)

RAM:

• 11x EDO RAM
• 5x SDRAM PC100/133
• 1x COAST
• 2x DDR333 Notebook

misc:

• 4x 486 SBC (Single Board Computer) with CPUs & RAM
• 3x I/O cards Goldstar/LGS HDD/FDD ISA
• 2x Adaptec AHA-2940UW
• some BIOS EPROM/EEPROM/Flash & Cache

kind regards
soggi

soggi wrote on 2021-12-20, 08:22:

Some weeks ago I could save some HW including two HP servers from work's e-waste...

...and recently I got some HW for free from work (again) and saved it from e-waste...

Those are some excellent finds! The TSENG cards are especially nice.

I was walking past some dumpsters today and spotted a discarded mining rig. The memory and video cards had been removed but I got a working motherboard, CPU, and two 650W power supplies out of it. The metal rack is also very nice.

Who the hell throws away two 650W PSUs with 80PLUS Gold?
Those sell easily on Ebay.

This is all leftover from someone's mining rig. I guess they made enough money that these small trifles weren't worth the trouble.

What an absolute score.

Nobody likes buying parts that have been mined with, but IMO stuff kept at a constant running temperature, even for 3 years, might be more reliable than stuff that's been power cycled daily.

BitWrangler wrote on 2021-12-22, 16:55:

Nobody likes buying parts that have been mined with, but IMO stuff kept at a constant running temperature, even for 3 years, might be more reliable than stuff that's been power cycled daily.

That philosophy kept my old stereo amplifier constantly on for several years 🤣

H3nrik V! wrote on 2021-12-23, 06:47:

BitWrangler wrote on 2021-12-22, 16:55:

Nobody likes buying parts that have been mined with, but IMO stuff kept at a constant running temperature, even for 3 years, might be more reliable than stuff that's been power cycled daily.

That philosophy kept my old stereo amplifier constantly on for several years 🤣

How did that go for you?

appiah4 wrote on 2021-12-23, 07:21:

H3nrik V! wrote on 2021-12-23, 06:47:

BitWrangler wrote on 2021-12-22, 16:55:

Nobody likes buying parts that have been mined with, but IMO stuff kept at a constant running temperature, even for 3 years, might be more reliable than stuff that's been power cycled daily.

That philosophy kept my old stereo amplifier constantly on for several years 🤣

How did that go for you?

It worked for 20 years, before passing it on to a mate. Had to have its potentiometers cleaned, though. But TBH the last 10'ish years it saw very little action and was rarely powered on ...

H3nrik V! wrote on 2021-12-23, 09:13:

appiah4 wrote on 2021-12-23, 07:21:

H3nrik V! wrote on 2021-12-23, 06:47:

That philosophy kept my old stereo amplifier constantly on for several years 🤣

How did that go for you?

It worked for 20 years, before passing it on to a mate. Had to have its potentiometers cleaned, though. But TBH the last 10'ish years it saw very little action and was rarely powered on ...

Interesting. I have a '78 model Scott amp I love, but the front lights have gone out and my mod for replacing them with LEDs did not work. I need to get it to a repair guy and have that fixed some day. Otherwise, I love its sound. I can't imagine keeping it running 24/7 though. Don't these things just gobble electricity?

appiah4 wrote on 2021-12-23, 11:20:

H3nrik V! wrote on 2021-12-23, 09:13:

appiah4 wrote on 2021-12-23, 07:21:

How did that go for you?

It worked for 20 years, before passing it on to a mate. Had to have its potentiometers cleaned, though. But TBH the last 10'ish years it saw very little action and was rarely powered on ...

Interesting. I have a '78 model Scott amp I love, but the front lights have gone out and my mod for replacing them with LEDs did not work. I need to get it to a repair guy and have that fixed some day. Otherwise, I love its sound. I can't imagine keeping it running 24/7 though. Don't these things just gobble electricity?

Yeah, it's probably kind of expensive to have it powered on always, but I lived at my parents then, so I didn't care 🤣

appiah4 wrote on 2021-12-23, 11:20:

H3nrik V! wrote on 2021-12-23, 09:13:

appiah4 wrote on 2021-12-23, 07:21:

How did that go for you?

It worked for 20 years, before passing it on to a mate. Had to have its potentiometers cleaned, though. But TBH the last 10'ish years it saw very little action and was rarely powered on ...

Interesting. I have a '78 model Scott amp I love, but the front lights have gone out and my mod for replacing them with LEDs did not work. I need to get it to a repair guy and have that fixed some day. Otherwise, I love its sound. I can't imagine keeping it running 24/7 though. Don't these things just gobble electricity?

Keeping devices like these constantly powered on is not wise to me. First of all - such waste of electricity simply can't be justified. Second - power-on/power-off cycles are bad for devices which go from one extreme temperature to the other in very short time (ie. traditional lightbulbs, electron lamps in amps, old radios and TVs) or mechanical devices (like mechanical hard drives) - won't do any harm to electronic components in computers, power supplies or transistor based hi-fi systems. Third - you actually dramatically rise the risk of damaging the equipment because of voltage spikes for example (if you don't have a surge-protector or UPS) - they do occur even in the modern power grids.

Saw a bunch of stuff tossed to the kerb on Wednesday while on delivery (people must be making space for Christmas presents). Three Acer laptops - soaked by the rain so I didn't even bother lifting them. Thought about pulling the licence stickers but they were Windows 7 Starter. Elsewhere, a Fujitsu Siemens Core2 Duo system which I drove back to grab when I finished. Haven't looked at it properly yet (it's still in the boot) - it's my present to myself for tomorrow 😁

Rain wouldn't bother me, I'd just pop the batts, shake off the worst, wipe them down when I got home, and throw them on the water heater for a week... check they're bone dry, then power them.

BitWrangler wrote on 2021-12-25, 00:24:

Rain wouldn't bother me, I'd just pop the batts, shake off the worst, wipe them down when I got home, and throw them on the water heater for a week... check they're bone dry, then power them.

Probably more the "Acer laptop" part than the rain part that's a deal-breaker...

Most of their desktops deserve an early date with a steamroller but their laptops have treated me well on the whole. Most of what has died in service here has been HP or Compaq.