VOGONS


First post, by JSO

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Hello to everyone,

recently I've decided to revive my past which It always reminds me the good old days of PC gaming. So I've created three new machines. One 386, one Pentium MMx, both for DOS gaming with Windows 3.11 and a Windows 9x/Me build with a Sempron 3000+. I've also own a desktop Tulip AT 386 DX 25 MHz which is on the revival process...

This my AMD 386DX40 build :
Magictronics 386
16MB RAM
Goldstar Prime 2
CL 5424 1MB
ESS688F
CD ROM Drive
2,1 GB FAT16 HDD

Classic AT case with 230W PSU without key lock and turbo sw. (I've used to have the same case to my Pentium MMx build back on 1997 - 1998).

IBM PC-DOS 2000 is installed with Windows 3.11 for Workgroups, because I don't want to use FAT32 and MS-DOS 7.10 to an old machine.

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Last edited by JSO on 2017-07-22, 17:49. Edited 1 time in total.

DOS IS THE POWER OF OUR CHILDHOOD MEMORIES!

Reply 1 of 14, by JSO

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3 more pictures...

Sorry for the quality of the pictures...

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DOS IS THE POWER OF OUR CHILDHOOD MEMORIES!

Reply 2 of 14, by clueless1

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Lookin good! Will you fix the front display to not say 166? 😀 Do you have a CRT? Is that a barrel battery on that motherboard? Hopefully it is not original. 😮

Congratulations on the fine hardware platform there!

The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don't know.
OPL3 FM vs. Roland MT-32 vs. General MIDI DOS Game Comparison
Let's benchmark our systems with cache disabled
DOS PCI Graphics Card Benchmarks

Reply 4 of 14, by JSO

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Thank you very much both for your comments. 😀

cluless1 the barrel battery is new, it's been replaced by the previous owner before my buy out.
Yes I will try to change settings to the lcd screen to show 40 or HI, because I have another same case and it says HI, but the lcd screen isn't the same model. I will try to find out the appropriate settings for that.

Also I want to find a way to have the power led on, because there is no socket to the motherboard to connect the front panel cable.

Yes I have a CRT monitor, a Mitsubishi Diamond Pro 740SB (17") from 12/2001 and a Philips 104B (14") from 11/1997, but I don't want to use them. I don't have enough space to my room! I will use an 17" or 19" LCD of White color.

Robert B they are exactly the same! These AT cases came around 1995 and they were very common here in Greece until 1998.

I also found a brand new Full Tower AT Case of this series. But the US guy sells it extremely high! Only the customs and the shipping are about 90,00 euros.

The only issue that this build has is that the bios of the Cirrus Logic cannot use 70 Hz with clmode and there's no signal when I'm entering Windows. I only can fix this when I'm running the TSR with the latest bios, but it consuming about 55k of conventional memory!

DOS IS THE POWER OF OUR CHILDHOOD MEMORIES!

Reply 6 of 14, by JSO

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Thank's keropi!

I just need to buy some good white speakers, if I found some vintage Yamaha's I'll be grateful, a midi daughterboard (dreamblaster s2) and the puzzle will be completed!

I forgot to mention that I found to my work on the attic of the building, two vintage white serial mouses on perfect working condition. A Microsoft Serial 2.0 and a Gees mouse 1300 with three buttons!

DOS IS THE POWER OF OUR CHILDHOOD MEMORIES!

Reply 7 of 14, by keropi

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Oh yeah a white yamaha 2.1 speaker setup is a must! Really popular around here , I got one set by pure luck last year 😀

🎵 🎧 PCMIDI MPU , OrpheusII , Action Rewind , Megacard and 🎶GoldLib soundcard website

Reply 8 of 14, by chinny22

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JSO wrote:

Yes I will try to change settings to the lcd screen to show 40 or HI,

No!!! I'm jealous you have 3 digit display
People only did Hi-Lo to get around not being able to show 100 or more on their 2 digit cases.

Nice system, Like the use of Win3x as well, gives you something different to play with, even if it stays in dos 99% of the time.
I installed it on my 486 for file management and Windows networking, sure there are other better tools now but this feels more nostalgic.

Reply 9 of 14, by JSO

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Thank you chinny22.

The display is a 3 digit one because this case was hosting a Pentium MMx with QDI Titanium IB+ motherboard which was assembled on the last weeks of 1997. Actually this case with the 166 MMx was found about 2 months ago to my work.

I also own the same case from 1998 from the same local pc and Hardware retailer (Cherry computers) with the 386DX40 case I shown to you, which it hosted my MMx (MMx 233 and Titanium IB+ also) but the display is a two digit one and it only shown HI on the display. The case needs to be paint and it will host my next project a 486Dx2 66 MHz not VLB though, only PCI and ISA.

I think I figured out how to fix the display speed and soon I will fix this. Also keropi told me what to do for the power on led to be switched on (board doesn't has a power led header).

Windows 3.11 installed only for nostalgic reasons and because I have word and excel documents being created by my father, brother and me back on the 1990s. And because back then I didn't had a Sound card, I had cd-rom but no sound card! I love the sounds of Windows 3.xx 😀

DOS IS THE POWER OF OUR CHILDHOOD MEMORIES!

Reply 10 of 14, by JSO

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Led display speed fixed showing the correct speed and power led turned on finally. 😀

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DOS IS THE POWER OF OUR CHILDHOOD MEMORIES!

Reply 14 of 14, by JSO

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I will send you a picture of the ram modules soon...

All the ESS ISA cards I believe that are good SB PRO2, SB16 clones. I like them!

I own the ESS1668F and a ESS1868F!

DOS IS THE POWER OF OUR CHILDHOOD MEMORIES!