VOGONS


post up pics of your "computing area"

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Reply 1000 of 2202, by Tetrium

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I'm absolutely loving these computer rooms! 😁
Wouldn't mind spending a weekend in one of those 🤣!

Btw, even though I was never really a fan of the OEM stuff like Dell and PB and such, their hardware components were more bad on the software side (bloat and custom restore stuff) and their computers were build to be cheap and fast to assemble, but the components these used were often as good as some of the good retail stuff (minus the overclocking and perhaps other features that the more retail-like stuff has) and I often would scavenge parts like mobos out of these systems for to putting into standard cases. I hated them more because of their inflexibility (due to cramped cases and such), but their boards seemed to work pretty much fine, apart from some of the odd custom BIOS stuff. 25% seems like a whole lot, I think 25% would be crazy in The Netherlands and I can't remember any PC brand having such terrible return rates for any prolonged amount of time.

Whats missing in your collections?
My retro rigs (old topic)
Interesting Vogons threads (links to Vogonswiki)
Report spammers here!

Reply 1001 of 2202, by badmojo

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25% would be unworkable, obviously a figure plucked from arse.

I've come across a couple of PB's and lack of quality doesn't come to mind - I still use a Socket 370 motherboard I snatched from one of them. I had a HP built circa 1995 that was incredible too - I found it on a nature strip in the rain; dried it out and it ran like a champ.

Life? Don't talk to me about life.

Reply 1002 of 2202, by JoeCorrado

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I joined VOGONS years ago while looking for some help to get a retro game to run in Windows XP. This place has become a regular destination for me on most days. I am proud to have become a member of this community and look forward to sharing more in the future. I am a slow starter after all.

I have never shared these spaces before, and hope to add more room soon. But for now- this is were I am. ALL of this is the result of watching one of our very own VOGONS members... Phil's (yes, that Phil) retro computer build videos several years back. See what you started Phil?

THANKS PHIL, really! 😊

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    Drawers of Video cards, spare parts, etc.
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    Overflow storage - here is where I keep half the fun!
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    I try to stay organized, biy I am losing the battle.
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-- Regards, Joe

Expect out of life, that which you put into it.

Reply 1003 of 2202, by vvbee

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Top: atx windows 98 machine, middle: at dos/windows 98 machine, bottom: modern xeon system. The cases are all from the late 90s and early 00s, hence the paintwork.

All three pcs connect to a switch box that goes to a mouse and keyboard, switchable with keyboard shortcuts. Video from the top two machines connects to a capture card with two inputs in the bottom machine and from there to the monitor, with custom software to manage the capture. If I don't want capture lag or whatever, I connect to the open vga input on the monitor. Audio from the top two pcs goes into the bottom pc to which headphones are connected. In the bottom right, my ff7 mousepad, in daily use since 98. I have some 90s mechanical keyboards but prefer the cheap black logitech rubber dome, in use for ten years.

Which youtube video was I watching?

area.jpg

Reply 1004 of 2202, by bjwil1991

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vvbee wrote:
Top: atx windows 98 machine, middle: at dos/windows 98 machine, bottom: modern xeon system. The cases are all from the late 90s […]
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Top: atx windows 98 machine, middle: at dos/windows 98 machine, bottom: modern xeon system. The cases are all from the late 90s and early 00s, hence the paintwork.

All three pcs connect to a switch box that goes to a mouse and keyboard, switchable with keyboard shortcuts. Video from the top two machines connects to a capture card with two inputs in the bottom machine and from there to the monitor, with custom software to manage the capture. If I don't want capture lag or whatever, I connect to the open vga input on the monitor. Audio from the top two pcs goes into the bottom pc to which headphones are connected. In the bottom right, my ff7 mousepad, in daily use since 98. I have some 90s mechanical keyboards but prefer the cheap black logitech rubber dome, in use for ten years.

Which youtube video was I watching?

area.jpg

Nice setup you got there.

I'm planning on clearing out my laundry room/back room, get a couple of desks, some switch boxes, and hook up my desktops to each individual screen and a firewall to separate the networks (Main, Retro, and Infected) to prevent the infections from going around my main network.

Discord: https://discord.gg/U5dJw7x
Systems from the Compaq Portable 1 to Ryzen 9 5950X
Twitch: https://twitch.tv/retropcuser

Reply 1005 of 2202, by Cyberdyne

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Quick and dirty covox, that you can plug straight to AT motherboard LPT plug.

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I am aroused about any X86 motherboard that has full functional ISA slot. I think i have problem. Not really into that original (Turbo) XT,286,386 and CGA/EGA stuff. So just a DOS nut.

Reply 1007 of 2202, by Smack2k

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Here's a look at my Retro Area, my home away from the rest of life's daily drag!!

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Reply 1009 of 2202, by TheHipGamer

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I've recently started working on (and restoring) a retro gaming rig, to sit beside the rather more modern computer that sees most of my gaming use these days. With a Craigslist-recovered oak desk, it fits rather nicely into the home office:

Mlqlpnu.jpg?2

The system itself is an IBM PC 300GL, with a P2 450. I've replaced the case fan, PSU, power switch, CDROM drive, and hard drive, freshly installed Win98SE, and upgraded the components a bit. It's now sporting 384MB of RAM, a ISA AWE64, a 4MB S3 Virge, a 12MB Diamond Voodoo 1000, and a gigabit ethernet card. The model M keyboard and the Microsoft Optical Mouse were both bought as new old stock, and the NEC XE21 CRT is being replaced with a Sony GDM-5510, which is a Sun-branded 21" CRT with a .24mm dot pitch (!), a significant step up from the .28mm of the NEC.

KaWLtJX.jpg?1

Having spent my teenage-years building PCs when buying parts meant going to a computer expo, typically held at a Shriner's auditorium, restoring and playing on this has been fun. I'd never have purchased a desktop case back in the day, but the IBM setup hasn't been overly annoying in terms of proprietary sizes. It does use a riser card for the expansion slots (1 ISA, 1 shared ISA/PCI, 3 PCI), and I did have to take a dremmel to the back when I replaced the PSU, but it's otherwise been fairly straightforward. Does well for holding the giant monitor, too!

To the left of the keyboard is an MT-32 and a SC-55, both working well with the AWE64. I've also been slowly adding to my games collection:

269wPXN.jpg?1

Reply 1010 of 2202, by oeuvre

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dat ThinkPad 600E

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HP Z420 Workstation Intel Xeon E5-1620, 32GB, RADEON HD7850 2GB, SSD + HD, XP/7
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Reply 1011 of 2202, by badmojo

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TheHipGamer wrote:

I've recently started working on (and restoring) a retro gaming rig...

That's a really nice setup!

Life? Don't talk to me about life.

Reply 1012 of 2202, by TheAbandonwareGuy

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TheHipGamer wrote:
I've recently started working on (and restoring) a retro gaming rig, to sit beside the rather more modern computer that sees mos […]
Show full quote

I've recently started working on (and restoring) a retro gaming rig, to sit beside the rather more modern computer that sees most of my gaming use these days. With a Craigslist-recovered oak desk, it fits rather nicely into the home office:

Mlqlpnu.jpg?2

The system itself is an IBM PC 300GL, with a P2 450. I've replaced the case fan, PSU, power switch, CDROM drive, and hard drive, freshly installed Win98SE, and upgraded the components a bit. It's now sporting 384MB of RAM, a ISA AWE64, a 4MB S3 Virge, a 12MB Diamond Voodoo 1000, and a gigabit ethernet card. The model M keyboard and the Microsoft Optical Mouse were both bought as new old stock, and the NEC XE21 CRT is being replaced with a Sony GDM-5510, which is a Sun-branded 21" CRT with a .24mm dot pitch (!), a significant step up from the .28mm of the NEC.

KaWLtJX.jpg?1

Having spent my teenage-years building PCs when buying parts meant going to a computer expo, typically held at a Shriner's auditorium, restoring and playing on this has been fun. I'd never have purchased a desktop case back in the day, but the IBM setup hasn't been overly annoying in terms of proprietary sizes. It does use a riser card for the expansion slots (1 ISA, 1 shared ISA/PCI, 3 PCI), and I did have to take a dremmel to the back when I replaced the PSU, but it's otherwise been fairly straightforward. Does well for holding the giant monitor, too!

To the left of the keyboard is an MT-32 and a SC-55, both working well with the AWE64. I've also been slowly adding to my games collection:

269wPXN.jpg?1

That NEC is a beautiful monitor. You should run it beside the new one. Use the better one for the output from the Voodoo2 and the older one for the 2D cards output. This gives you a 2D signal without degradation from the Voodoo2 loop.

Cyb3rst0rms Retro Hardware Warzone: https://discord.gg/jK8uvR4c
I used to own over 160 graphics card, I've since recovered from graphics card addiction

Reply 1013 of 2202, by TheHipGamer

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Thanks!

I don't have quite enough room on the desk for two 21" behemoths. I love the NEC; my only issue with it is that the VGA cable is hardwired in (rather than having a DSUB connector at the back), and I think the wire is starting to go -- I occasionally get color drop-out from the blue channel, which flickers and resolves itself with a bit of cable movement. It's rare, but it concerns me that a solder joint, cap, or even the cable itself is starting to go.

I'm comfortable fixing some things, but don't feel safe working inside of a CRT.

For now, it's great - and it will go into storage as a backup, especially as large high-quality CRTs become increasingly rare. The Sun/Sony will hopefully arrive today to replace it!

Reply 1014 of 2202, by tabm0de

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My Retro side of desktop, almost unused Compaq Presario which looked brand new in the inside and outside except brightness Bord that was broken because of pressure which I fixed, image included.

Spec:
Overdrive dx4 100, nos
8gb compact flash disk
20mb memory
2x parallel cdrom
Creative awe32 which is waiting for the DreamBlaster Synth S2 chip 😀
Old speakers
Digital keyboard, nos
Ms mouse ( laser will probably be better 😉 )

Don’t think there is anything more I can add to this setup 😀

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naa, nothing yet...

Reply 1016 of 2202, by tabm0de

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TheHipGamer wrote:

That's an awesome setup, tabm0de! I love the speakers; I've been considering whether to replace my more modern Logitech setup with something a bit more vintage.

Thanks!, its hard to find any good modern beige colored speakers, i been thinking about modding these onces or another pair with newer electronics/speakers internally, just to be available to enjoy DreamBlaster Synth S2 little more hehe

naa, nothing yet...

Reply 1017 of 2202, by oeuvre

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I have a similar setup!

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Reply 1018 of 2202, by BeginnerGuy

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Cyberdyne wrote:

Quick and dirty covox, that you can plug straight to AT motherboard LPT plug.

Hahahahahahahah beautiful. I never bothered checking how the thing worked. Is that a resistor ladder? what resistance and tolerance? I'll try one too 😎. I'm guessing the cap is for some noise filtering?

Sup. I like computers. Are you a computer?

Reply 1019 of 2202, by Floopy

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Well since I'm here might as well post this.
The dust cover has my main IBM "compatible" PC under it, there is also a "portable" but I leave it on the ground. The rest is a bunch of Commodore hardware. The other half is not shown because it's a mess.

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