bristlehog wrote:

But depicted is CT3780.

Oops, yes thanks for pointing that out 😀

Little bit more progress, installed the COM/LPT ports and expansion cards. I need to figure out the pinout for the PS/2 header before plugging it in. There are 5 pins and the manual specifies one as N/C, but doesn't label the other 4. I should be able to identify GND and +5V using a multimeter, that just leaves DATA and CLOCK. If I get these two the wrong way round first try it won't break anything, will it?

Good to see a card rescued like that. Most people including me would have binned it, bit beyond most peoples skill set.

The AWE 32 Value doesn't get much love but if your just after EMU chip and have no desire to load soundfonts (like me) then theres no difference. As a bonus the CT3780 has a true Yamaha, not the Creative CQM chip.

There is a good write up here, You may even recognise the author
http://nerdlypleasures.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07 … 64-options.html

bjt wrote:

bristlehog wrote:

But depicted is CT3780.

If I get these two the wrong way round first try it won't break anything, will it?

Nope, it won't 😉
Go on! So far so good!

Lots of progress.

Installed ATX adaptor & PSU
Installed drives, floppy still to come
Got the PS/2 mouse bracket working
New case badge

Although the BIOS identifies the HDD as 13GB, Win98 only sees the first 1024 cylinders/8GB. Guess I would need a drive overlay, any recommendations?

Very nice, still very curious as to whether any blood has been drawn yet 😀

Only a scratch or two 😵

This system is pretty much done on the hardware side, here's a photobomb of the finished article.

There's a lot to like jammed in there! Certainly not Crusty anymore, it's a very functional machine. What's the DB you've snuck away in the corner?

XR385. There are various sellers on eBay selling premade extension cables now (intended for Raspberry Pi GPIO).

My kind of build - cramped, filled with cables & goodies, and very little room left to spare. Beautiful 😁

dacow wrote:

Very nice, still very curious as to whether any blood has been drawn yet 😀

bjt wrote:

Only a scratch or two 😵

I share in your pain (nurses his latest nicks on both hands 😖 ).

badmojo wrote:

What's the DB you've snuck away in the corner?

bjt wrote:

XR385. There are various sellers on eBay selling premade extension cables now (intended for Raspberry Pi GPIO).

An excellent addition. I've got plans for mine as well (have to get a few more goods first 😀 ).

Now for the second half: install the OS and see if everything works. Onward!

Have been installing Win98SE and configuring the system over the last few evenings. So far, so good! The AWE32 and YMF718/XR385 play nicely together, although it's necessary to manually configure the resources so the YMF FM address doesn't conflict with the AWE32 FM. I also had to manually add the gameport device for the AWE32, I guess this is because it's not PnP.

Installed the MaxBlast 4/OnTrack drive overlay so that the full 13GB of the hard drive is usable. This overlay supports booting from CD too, which is nice and could be handy for systems that don't have CD booting in the BIOS.

The USB 2.0 card seems to work fine, I've disabled the onboard USB. Not sure whether I should install a driver from S3 for the Nitro 3D or stick with the 98SE bundled driver.

This is going to be a really nice DOS/Win98 machine, but it's kind of redundant as I have the other tricked out TX/K6-3+ machine. It does look good on my desk and raises my monitor to a good height 😀

Regarding S3 drivers: I suppose the 98SE bundled driver will support basic stuff and hopefully Direct3D, but maybe no S3D. You could try one of the drivers Putas offers on his site: http://vintage3d.org/driver.php

Installed the S3 FASTD3D drivers, all seems to be working well.

carlostex wrote:

Actually, i would recommend you to install the WIN 3.1 driver for the YMF-718 card. It brings a more recent DOS driver.

I suppose the standard DOS driver is version 2.09 and the one that comes for WIN3.1 is 2.11. I used to complain about these drivers but...not anymore! 😎

Extracted setupsa.exe 2.11 from the WIN3.1 drivers. To be honest I can't see any difference, is there something I'm missing? The mixer has the same crappy interface as the old version.

bjt wrote:

Installed the S3 FASTD3D drivers, all seems to be working well.

Extracted setupsa.exe 2.11 from the WIN3.1 drivers. To be honest I can't see any difference, is there something I'm missing? The mixer has the same crappy interface as the old version.

Yes the mixer and interface is still crappy, but i seem to get a little more volume from it. Might be placebo, but i did notice a difference versus the older versions. In alternative you can use the Audiotrix driver that will work with these cards as well but if you are using a daughterboard you will lose 2 synth voices.

BTW, could you take a picture when you run SETUPSA /S ? Do you get that "no soundsystem present" message? This error never appeared to me anymore when i installed the Windows 3.11 drivers.

Haven't seen the message you mention in either version.

bjt wrote:

Haven't seen the message you mention in either version.

I think at some point i was using the earliest driver. Anyway thanks.