Shreddoc wrote on 2022-01-26, 22:45:

I would never buy this. It's just an auction I saw today, a 386 motherboard populated with a CPU, RAM, and ensmeared with a variety of lovely acid-based compounds, predictably centred around the general batterial regions.

corrosion.png

It seems we have reached the stage of highly corroded 386 boards asking >$100 - this particular example is asking $120. "I have no way to test it", they note. We don't need a crystal ball to tell how that test would turn out, friend.

I see a Varta barrel battery I move to a different auction, if it has not leaked yet it likely will soon and while its not a hard fix I would rather spend my money on a 386/486 board with a cr2032 holder or even a Dallas RTC. Only exceptions would be if the board was particularly interesting or rare or the archive didn't have it yet.

Yes, all of us of "Member" status or above probably already watch necroware & similar videos for a long time, and many of us repair boards and things ourselves.

My point was, that board looks to have 30+ traces likely needing repair. Many tightly packed together. I would guess it is at least a "moderately" bad example of corrosion. Yet still they ask significant $$. It is one thing to spend trivial amount, or pick up from trash, then spend specialist hours fixing, but to spend $$ just for the privilege to repair such? 'no thanks', here. That to me seems like seller greed.

Shreddoc wrote on 2022-01-26, 23:32:

Yes, all of us of "Member" status or above probably already watch necroware & similar videos for a long time, and many of us repair boards and things ourselves.

My point was, that board looks to have 30+ traces likely needing repair. Many tightly packed together. I would guess it is at least a "moderately" bad example of corrosion. Yet still they ask significant $$. It is one thing to spend trivial amount, or pick up from trash, then spend specialist hours fixing, but to spend $$ just for the privilege to repair such? 'no thanks', here. That to me seems like seller greed.

oh yea, but if you try and make an offer youll get the whole "but its a 386! or 486!" therefore its rare and I have to charge for that.

Its stupid but its also eBay, so you can always move to the next one.

TrashPanda wrote on 2022-01-26, 23:13:

Shreddoc wrote on 2022-01-26, 22:45:

I would never buy this. It's just an auction I saw today, a 386 motherboard populated with a CPU, RAM, and ensmeared with a variety of lovely acid-based compounds, predictably centred around the general batterial regions.

corrosion.png

It seems we have reached the stage of highly corroded 386 boards asking >$100 - this particular example is asking $120. "I have no way to test it", they note. We don't need a crystal ball to tell how that test would turn out, friend.

I see a Varta barrel battery I move to a different auction, if it has not leaked yet it likely will soon and while its not a hard fix I would rather spend my money on a 386/486 board with a cr2032 holder or even a Dallas RTC. Only exceptions would be if the board was particularly interesting or rare or the archive didn't have it yet.

You can install a CR2032 holder using hot glue and with a diode (to prevent charging the battery) on pretty much any 386/486. Dallas RTC need to be removed and socketed (some are soldered), dremeled, and then install a battery holder which is more trouble than most people want to deal with. This is only worth the effort if the board is super cheap or free and you have the time.

Unknown_K wrote on 2022-01-26, 23:42:

TrashPanda wrote on 2022-01-26, 23:13:

Shreddoc wrote on 2022-01-26, 22:45:

I would never buy this. It's just an auction I saw today, a 386 motherboard populated with a CPU, RAM, and ensmeared with a variety of lovely acid-based compounds, predictably centred around the general batterial regions.

corrosion.png

It seems we have reached the stage of highly corroded 386 boards asking >$100 - this particular example is asking $120. "I have no way to test it", they note. We don't need a crystal ball to tell how that test would turn out, friend.

I see a Varta barrel battery I move to a different auction, if it has not leaked yet it likely will soon and while its not a hard fix I would rather spend my money on a 386/486 board with a cr2032 holder or even a Dallas RTC. Only exceptions would be if the board was particularly interesting or rare or the archive didn't have it yet.

You can install a CR2032 holder using hot glue and with a diode (to prevent charging the battery) on pretty much any 386/486. Dallas RTC need to be removed and socketed (some are soldered), dremeled, and then install a battery holder which is more trouble than most people want to deal with. This is only worth the effort if the board is super cheap or free and you have the time.

Dallas RTC dont leak and I would rather Dremel than have to do trace repairs 🤣, also there is a guide that shows how to attach a CR2032 to a Dallas RTC that doesnt involve removing it from the motherboard, you can leave it in situ and simply bodge a new battery for it. (it works, its a little uhh hacky but it works fine)

https://ardent-tool.com/misc/Dallas_Rework.html

So its really pick your poison here, and im not one for trace repairs and trouble shooting battery leak damaged components.

Shreddoc wrote on 2022-01-26, 22:45:

I would never buy this. It's just an auction I saw today, a 386 motherboard populated with a CPU, RAM, and ensmeared with a variety of lovely acid-based compounds, predictably centred around the general batterial regions.

corrosion.png

It seems we have reached the stage of highly corroded 386 boards asking >$100 - this particular example is asking $120. "I have no way to test it", they note. We don't need a crystal ball to tell how that test would turn out, friend.

Some of them even have the nerve to list stuff like that as "untested but in good physical condition" despite half the board being blue due to the corrosion. But hey, put "retro gaming/vintage" in the title and you can add $100 more to the listing price!

Had this little number show up today, normally wouldn't post about mice or keyboards but

Always wanted a nice MS mouse and this NOS one is far better than I was expecting, truly feels like a premium mouse, got a nice heft to it and fell to its movement, the extra dongles will also be really useful.

Finally got myself a boxed gravis gamepad , wanted one for ages , thankfully this one has the little stick to go with it even though I'm not sure how useful it is. Apparently it comes with a very generous free copy of commander keen as well 😀

AppleSauce wrote on 2022-01-27, 06:35:

Finally got myself a boxed gravis gamepad , wanted one for ages , thankfully this one has the little stick to go with it even though I'm not sure how useful it is. Apparently it comes with a very generous free copy of commander keen as well 😀

20220127_172250.jpg

I have the blister pack version. I found the micro joystick with its concave design surprisingly comfortable. I rest my thumb on the top to move it around instead of pinching by the sides. I’m not much of a joystick guy, either. Now, I usually don’t play without it. It works great in the keen games.

Meatball wrote on 2022-01-27, 07:17:

AppleSauce wrote on 2022-01-27, 06:35:

Finally got myself a boxed gravis gamepad , wanted one for ages , thankfully this one has the little stick to go with it even though I'm not sure how useful it is. Apparently it comes with a very generous free copy of commander keen as well 😀

20220127_172250.jpg

I have the blister pack version. I found the micro joystick with its concave design surprisingly comfortable. I rest my thumb on the top to move it around instead of pinching by the sides. I’m not much of a joystick guy, either. Now, I usually don’t play without it. It works great in the keen games.

Here is a question for you both, if one wanted to buy a good all round DOS joystick/gamepad that would suit a good range of games what should I look for ? Also would it be best to get a separate joystick for a few flight sims ?

I never used Joysticks a whole lot back in the day since it was an expense my parents didn't want to pay for and by the time I could afford PC stuff on my own I was far to good with KB/Mouse to switch to Joystick/gamepad.

Picked up a tower off ebay. Simply listed as having an AMD K6, no internal pics. I liked the case so figured I'd just play the lottery and see what I get.

Turned out to be a 500Mhz K6-2, 32mb Pc100 (upgraded to 64 now), S3 3D/2x (already replaced by a savage 4 pro), Yamaha PCI card, some crappy pci modem. Swapped the modem for a 3com NIC. Added a hard drive.

But the biggest score (for me anyway) was the SOYO SY-5EMA+ v1.1. I didn't have an AGP SS7 board.

I wanted the case for a "super budget" K6-2 (266, 64mb edo, sis 6326) build I was planning but, now... I don't know, I kinda like the way this one is setup, maybe throw my 8mb voodoo 2 in. Have a k6-2+ as well... hmmm...

(one of the sellers pics attached)

...

Meatball wrote on 2022-01-27, 07:17:

AppleSauce wrote on 2022-01-27, 06:35:

Finally got myself a boxed gravis gamepad , wanted one for ages , thankfully this one has the little stick to go with it even though I'm not sure how useful it is. Apparently it comes with a very generous free copy of commander keen as well 😀

20220127_172250.jpg

I have the blister pack version. I found the micro joystick with its concave design surprisingly comfortable. I rest my thumb on the top to move it around instead of pinching by the sides. I’m not much of a joystick guy, either. Now, I usually don’t play without it. It works great in the keen games.

Righto , ill give that a shot then , does the joystick work well with games like descent or other games that involve flying about?

AppleSauce wrote on 2022-01-27, 07:49:

Meatball wrote on 2022-01-27, 07:17:

AppleSauce wrote on 2022-01-27, 06:35:

Finally got myself a boxed gravis gamepad , wanted one for ages , thankfully this one has the little stick to go with it even though I'm not sure how useful it is. Apparently it comes with a very generous free copy of commander keen as well 😀

20220127_172250.jpg

I have the blister pack version. I found the micro joystick with its concave design surprisingly comfortable. I rest my thumb on the top to move it around instead of pinching by the sides. I’m not much of a joystick guy, either. Now, I usually don’t play without it. It works great in the keen games.

Righto , ill give that a shot then , does the joystick work well with games like descent or other games that involve flying about?

For Descent, I do use the Gravis game pad “pro” with joystick nub attached occasionally, because of the programmable buttons, but I mostly play with the keyboard. I don’t play flight sims, so unfortunately, I can’t help you there.

TrashPanda wrote on 2022-01-27, 07:32:

Meatball wrote on 2022-01-27, 07:17:

AppleSauce wrote on 2022-01-27, 06:35:

Finally got myself a boxed gravis gamepad , wanted one for ages , thankfully this one has the little stick to go with it even though I'm not sure how useful it is. Apparently it comes with a very generous free copy of commander keen as well 😀

20220127_172250.jpg

I have the blister pack version. I found the micro joystick with its concave design surprisingly comfortable. I rest my thumb on the top to move it around instead of pinching by the sides. I’m not much of a joystick guy, either. Now, I usually don’t play without it. It works great in the keen games.

Here is a question for you both, if one wanted to buy a good all round DOS joystick/gamepad that would suit a good range of games what should I look for ? Also would it be best to get a separate joystick for a few flight sims ?

I never used Joysticks a whole lot back in the day since it was an expense my parents didn't want to pay for and by the time I could afford PC stuff on my own I was far to good with KB/Mouse to switch to Joystick/gamepad.

I'm not really an expert , up till now I used a radio shack brand 6 button gamepad that I actually kept since i was kid , back when we had a pentium 2 pc and its not too shabby , I think we also had some kind of microsoft sidewinder flight stick I may have used for mechwarrior 2, it might still be lying about ill have to see if I can find it.

I think mostly any gamepad should be fine , later gravis ones look more like playstation controllers and might be more ergonomic , I just wanted to see if I could get away with using the gravis nub for those old dos flying games to save some desk space.

I do use a flight stick and pedals for DCS on my win 10 pc, but that's a proper modern full fidelity combat flight sim so I dont anything less would do for something like that but maybe it might be a good idea even for old dos flight sims.

Meatball wrote on 2022-01-27, 07:54:

AppleSauce wrote on 2022-01-27, 07:49:

Meatball wrote on 2022-01-27, 07:17:

I have the blister pack version. I found the micro joystick with its concave design surprisingly comfortable. I rest my thumb on the top to move it around instead of pinching by the sides. I’m not much of a joystick guy, either. Now, I usually don’t play without it. It works great in the keen games.

Righto , ill give that a shot then , does the joystick work well with games like descent or other games that involve flying about?

For Descent, I do use the Gravis game pad “pro” with joystick nub attached occasionally, because of the programmable buttons, but I mostly play with the keyboard. I don’t play flight sims, so unfortunately, I can’t help you there.

Well that's sounds promising, the older gravis pad probably won't be as comfortable but sounds like the joystick works okay and that's good enough for me.

TrashPanda wrote on 2022-01-27, 07:32:

Meatball wrote on 2022-01-27, 07:17:

AppleSauce wrote on 2022-01-27, 06:35:

Finally got myself a boxed gravis gamepad , wanted one for ages , thankfully this one has the little stick to go with it even though I'm not sure how useful it is. Apparently it comes with a very generous free copy of commander keen as well 😀

20220127_172250.jpg

I have the blister pack version. I found the micro joystick with its concave design surprisingly comfortable. I rest my thumb on the top to move it around instead of pinching by the sides. I’m not much of a joystick guy, either. Now, I usually don’t play without it. It works great in the keen games.

Here is a question for you both, if one wanted to buy a good all round DOS joystick/gamepad that would suit a good range of games what should I look for ? Also would it be best to get a separate joystick for a few flight sims ?

I never used Joysticks a whole lot back in the day since it was an expense my parents didn't want to pay for and by the time I could afford PC stuff on my own I was far to good with KB/Mouse to switch to Joystick/gamepad.

DOS only
Gravis gamepad
Logitech Wingman gamepad Precision. (If you have bigger hands and don’t plan to use the Gravis joystick, this one is a nice alternative.)
Keyboard/mouse

DOS, WIN95, and early WIN98
It begins and ends with the Gravis Gamepad Pro using joystick nub (I haven’t tried the USB version, though.)
Keyboard/mouse

WIN98SE
Logitech Dual Action Analog USB Controller (also great for WIN2000 up to early-mid XP)
Microsoft Sidewinder Gamepad Pro USB
Keyboard/mouse

WINXP and later
Logitech Dual Action Analog USB Controller (up to early-mid XP)
Any XBox controller (I use an XBox One version, but I should pick up a 360. Less configuration fiddling for older games)
Keyboard/mouse

I don’t play flight sims, unfortunately, unless if has a simple arcade style mode control layout (like PS Ace combat, but this is not exactly a true flight sim.)

Found a local seller here that is selling a Gravis Gamepad Pro with the MS DoS controller card for it, also has a boxed wireless Dexxa Gamepad with the MSdos controller card and accessories .. might hit him up and see if he is willing to do a deal for both.

The wireless one looks interesting .. I think its is using IR for it judging by the wireless receiver.

TrashPanda wrote on 2022-01-27, 08:14:

Found a local seller here that is selling a Gravis Gamepad Pro with the MS DoS controller card for it, also has a boxed wireless Dexxa Gamepad with the MSdos controller card and accessories .. might hit him up and see if he is willing to do a deal for both.

The wireless one looks interesting .. I think its is using IR for it judging by the wireless receiver.

Ooo infra red , that sounds very cool.

Private_Ops wrote on 2022-01-27, 07:41:

Picked up a tower off ebay. Simply listed as having an AMD K6, no internal pics. I liked the case so figured I'd just play the l […]
Show full quote

Picked up a tower off ebay. Simply listed as having an AMD K6, no internal pics. I liked the case so figured I'd just play the lottery and see what I get.

Turned out to be a 500Mhz K6-2, 32mb Pc100 (upgraded to 64 now), S3 3D/2x (already replaced by a savage 4 pro), Yamaha PCI card, some crappy pci modem. Swapped the modem for a 3com NIC. Added a hard drive.

But the biggest score (for me anyway) was the SOYO SY-5EMA+ v1.1. I didn't have an AGP SS7 board.

I wanted the case for a "super budget" K6-2 (266, 64mb edo, sis 6326) build I was planning but, now... I don't know, I kinda like the way this one is setup, maybe throw my 8mb voodoo 2 in. Have a k6-2+ as well... hmmm...

(one of the sellers pics attached)

A classic case design. I bet this one will clean up nicely…