VOGONS


Reply 7860 of 27168, by Kadath

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member
oeuvre wrote:

hnnnnnng that is so bloody amazing! Does the dock II have ISA slots?

Yep, exactly 2x ISA slots - great add, for the time. This dock turns this Thinkpad in a real home rig. Nice the 'cabrio' upper platform where to put monitor and the electric tray where to secure the notebook, together with front status lcd. Any of you has used or found this dock model II? Still searching for the correct ASPI device drivers to use dock SCSI cdrom in DOS. Win98 boot disk with RAM disk successfully use ASPI2DOS, ma in DOS seems not to work.

First comes smiles,
then lies.
Last is gunfire.

Reply 7861 of 27168, by cj_reha

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

Starting to go through and repair the Mac stuff I've recently acquired. First on the bench is this Bondi blue iMac G3. It worked fine but the beige internal plastic is falling apart and I had to dump it out because whenever you moved it, it made a worrying rattle sound. 😲 It appears to have been roughly slammed down or something when I first found it because the front speaker bezel was hanging off. 🙁

I still need to find a cover for the CD-ROM drive, but thankfully it still works fine. A bit sluggish when ejecting though.

Specs:
Motorola PowerPC G3 @ 233 MHz
192 MB SDRAM (curiously, Mac OS only shows 128 MB even after reseating and switching around the RAM)
ATi Rage Pro Turbo PCI onboard video, Crystal onboard audio
Quantum Fireball EX 4.0GB HDD
Matsushita (Apple OEM) 24x CD-ROM
Mac OS 9.2.2

I threw Doom on it because the "can it run Doom?" test is essential to any PC. 🤣

Attachments

  • rps20180121_102425.jpg
    Filename
    rps20180121_102425.jpg
    File size
    186.09 KiB
    Views
    1512 views
    File license
    Fair use/fair dealing exception

Join the Retro PC Discord! - https://discord.gg/UKAFchB
My YouTube Channel - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDJYB_ZDsIzXGZz6J0txgCA

Reply 7862 of 27168, by TheAbandonwareGuy

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie
cj_reha wrote:
Starting to go through and repair the Mac stuff I've recently acquired. First on the bench is this Bondi blue iMac G3. It worked […]
Show full quote

Starting to go through and repair the Mac stuff I've recently acquired. First on the bench is this Bondi blue iMac G3. It worked fine but the beige internal plastic is falling apart and I had to dump it out because whenever you moved it, it made a worrying rattle sound. 😲 It appears to have been roughly slammed down or something when I first found it because the front speaker bezel was hanging off. 🙁

I still need to find a cover for the CD-ROM drive, but thankfully it still works fine. A bit sluggish when ejecting though.

Specs:
Motorola PowerPC G3 @ 233 MHz
192 MB SDRAM (curiously, Mac OS only shows 128 MB even after reseating and switching around the RAM)
ATi Rage Pro Turbo PCI onboard video, Crystal onboard audio
Quantum Fireball EX 4.0GB HDD
Matsushita (Apple OEM) 24x CD-ROM
Mac OS 9.2.2

I threw Doom on it because the "can it run Doom?" test is essential to any PC. 🤣

Hey cool. Another Bondi Blue owner. Mine is missing the drive door and the USB panel door as well. Those things must have been very flimsy or damage prone. Another Rev.B owner too.

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 7863 of 27168, by Skyscraper

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t

I have been straightening CPU pins...

I had a catastrophic failure in a stack of boxes in one of my storage units... The worst part is that at the top of the stack there were lots of boxes and trays with CPUs and they diddnt really like the concrete floor very much.

About 100 Socket 7 CPUs with bent pins and about 50 486 CPUs with bent pins was the the bulk of the damage. Luckily the socket 754, 939 and 940 CPUs that was also in the stack was somewhat protected by pink foam in their boxes and therefore only got a few slightly bent pins at the edges compared to some Socket 7 and 486 CPUs with pins bent 90 degrees, a few even got small pieces of ceramic chipped off the edges.

After spending many hours aligning pins only a single pin on a AMD 5x86pr75 ended up broken/missing and that one must have broken of during the fall... or well by the sudden contact with the hard stuff just after... The pin is E16 and it's a VCC pin in the Socket-1 pinout buf it's called BOFFa in the Socket-3 pinout, with luck it isn't very important.

It's a bit annoying that scores of CPUs with perfect pins now have less than perfect pins... Getting punished for building towers reaching for the sky isn't anything new though, at least I found the motherboard I was looking for...

New PC: i9 12900K @5GHz all cores @1.2v. MSI PRO Z690-A. 32GB DDR4 3600 CL14. 3070Ti.
Old PC: Dual Xeon X5690@4.6GHz, EVGA SR-2, 48GB DDR3R@2000MHz, Intel X25-M. GTX 980ti.
Older PC: K6-3+ 400@600MHz, PC-Chips M577, 256MB SDRAM, AWE64, Voodoo Banshee.

Reply 7864 of 27168, by AlaricD

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie
bjwil1991 wrote:
For some odd reason, Windows 95C on my Packard Bell Pack-Mate 28 Plus under the performance tab when I right-click on My Compute […]
Show full quote

For some odd reason, Windows 95C on my Packard Bell Pack-Mate 28 Plus under the performance tab when I right-click on My Computer it shows the following:

Compatibility mode paging reduces overall system performance.
Drive C: using MS-DOS compatibility mode file system.

Here's my... config.sys on the system:

:CONFIG.SYS
DEVICEHIGH /L:2,3760 =C:\XCDROM.SYS /D:DELTA52X

Is there anything wrong here?

Probably your CD-ROM driver. Windows should be able to handle it on its own just fine, but loading it in the CONFIG.SYS forces it into MS-DOS compatibility mode. I'd use DEVLOAD with it in DOSSTART.BAT (so it's available when you restart in MS-DOS mode), and of course also put the network redirector (typically MSCDEX.EXE, but in your case SHSUCDX) in the DOSSTART.BAT, as well. It should go without saying that you must DEVLOAD the XDROM.SYS *before* you try to run SHSUCDX.EXE.

"The Big Bang. The ultimate hero of low frequency. The divine intergalactical bass drum connecting the tribes of our solar system."
Yello
"Solar Driftwood"

Reply 7865 of 27168, by bjwil1991

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t
AlaricD wrote:
bjwil1991 wrote:
For some odd reason, Windows 95C on my Packard Bell Pack-Mate 28 Plus under the performance tab when I right-click on My Compute […]
Show full quote

For some odd reason, Windows 95C on my Packard Bell Pack-Mate 28 Plus under the performance tab when I right-click on My Computer it shows the following:

Compatibility mode paging reduces overall system performance.
Drive C: using MS-DOS compatibility mode file system.

Here's my... config.sys on the system:

:CONFIG.SYS
DEVICEHIGH /L:2,3760 =C:\XCDROM.SYS /D:DELTA52X

Is there anything wrong here?

Probably your CD-ROM driver. Windows should be able to handle it on its own just fine, but loading it in the CONFIG.SYS forces it into MS-DOS compatibility mode. I'd use DEVLOAD with it in DOSSTART.BAT (so it's available when you restart in MS-DOS mode), and of course also put the network redirector (typically MSCDEX.EXE, but in your case SHSUCDX) in the DOSSTART.BAT, as well. It should go without saying that you must DEVLOAD the XDROM.SYS *before* you try to run SHSUCDX.EXE.

Where do I find the DOSSTART.BAT file?

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

Reply 7867 of 27168, by bestemor

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie
Skyscraper wrote:

Getting punished for building towers reaching for the sky isn't anything new though, at least I found the motherboard I was looking for...

🤣 🤣 <pun intended ?>

hint: username

Reply 7868 of 27168, by PTherapist

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie
cj_reha wrote:
Starting to go through and repair the Mac stuff I've recently acquired. First on the bench is this Bondi blue iMac G3. It worked […]
Show full quote

Starting to go through and repair the Mac stuff I've recently acquired. First on the bench is this Bondi blue iMac G3. It worked fine but the beige internal plastic is falling apart and I had to dump it out because whenever you moved it, it made a worrying rattle sound. 😲 It appears to have been roughly slammed down or something when I first found it because the front speaker bezel was hanging off. 🙁

I still need to find a cover for the CD-ROM drive, but thankfully it still works fine. A bit sluggish when ejecting though.

Specs:
Motorola PowerPC G3 @ 233 MHz
192 MB SDRAM (curiously, Mac OS only shows 128 MB even after reseating and switching around the RAM)
ATi Rage Pro Turbo PCI onboard video, Crystal onboard audio
Quantum Fireball EX 4.0GB HDD
Matsushita (Apple OEM) 24x CD-ROM
Mac OS 9.2.2

I threw Doom on it because the "can it run Doom?" test is essential to any PC. 🤣

Those early iMacs with SODIMM SDRAM chips are extremely picky with regards to RAM. If it's showing 128MB, then it looks like it's not recognising a 64MB stick, which you can verify by removing 1 of the sticks and seeing what happens.

I've got a slightly later version of that iMac, the Rev. D 333MHz and it was an absolute pain to get it to recognise different RAM sticks I had. Ended up settling for 320MB RAM, but have other sticks to test at some point. I'm putting off further experimentation for a while, since these early iMacs are such a pain in the backside having to remove the whole motherboard just to install RAM!

Reply 7869 of 27168, by AlaricD

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie
bjwil1991 wrote:

Where do I find the DOSSTART.BAT file?

In \WINDOWS, but maybe you should start a new thread in the right area if you want more help with that. In the meantime, just REM the line for XCDROM.SYS and see if your MS-DOS Compatibility Mode thing goes away after a reboot.

"The Big Bang. The ultimate hero of low frequency. The divine intergalactical bass drum connecting the tribes of our solar system."
Yello
"Solar Driftwood"

Reply 7870 of 27168, by cj_reha

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie
PTherapist wrote:
cj_reha wrote:
Starting to go through and repair the Mac stuff I've recently acquired. First on the bench is this Bondi blue iMac G3. It worked […]
Show full quote

Starting to go through and repair the Mac stuff I've recently acquired. First on the bench is this Bondi blue iMac G3. It worked fine but the beige internal plastic is falling apart and I had to dump it out because whenever you moved it, it made a worrying rattle sound. 😲 It appears to have been roughly slammed down or something when I first found it because the front speaker bezel was hanging off. 🙁

I still need to find a cover for the CD-ROM drive, but thankfully it still works fine. A bit sluggish when ejecting though.

Specs:
Motorola PowerPC G3 @ 233 MHz
192 MB SDRAM (curiously, Mac OS only shows 128 MB even after reseating and switching around the RAM)
ATi Rage Pro Turbo PCI onboard video, Crystal onboard audio
Quantum Fireball EX 4.0GB HDD
Matsushita (Apple OEM) 24x CD-ROM
Mac OS 9.2.2

I threw Doom on it because the "can it run Doom?" test is essential to any PC. 🤣

Those early iMacs with SODIMM SDRAM chips are extremely picky with regards to RAM. If it's showing 128MB, then it looks like it's not recognising a 64MB stick, which you can verify by removing 1 of the sticks and seeing what happens.

I've got a slightly later version of that iMac, the Rev. D 333MHz and it was an absolute pain to get it to recognise different RAM sticks I had. Ended up settling for 320MB RAM, but have other sticks to test at some point. I'm putting off further experimentation for a while, since these early iMacs are such a pain in the backside having to remove the whole motherboard just to install RAM!

Yeah, it's really a pain to have to do a partial disassembly to swap RAM 🤣 🤣 🤣

Join the Retro PC Discord! - https://discord.gg/UKAFchB
My YouTube Channel - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDJYB_ZDsIzXGZz6J0txgCA

Reply 7871 of 27168, by bjwil1991

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t
AlaricD wrote:
bjwil1991 wrote:

Where do I find the DOSSTART.BAT file?

In \WINDOWS, but maybe you should start a new thread in the right area if you want more help with that. In the meantime, just REM the line for XCDROM.SYS and see if your MS-DOS Compatibility Mode thing goes away after a reboot.

I decided to load the xcdrom.sys driver under the MS-DOS menu category, as well as the SHSUCDX driver. Others, including the sound blaster parameters, CuteMouse, and a few others work within any menu boot option as configured in the config.sys file.

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

Reply 7872 of 27168, by looking4awayout

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member

Today I've done my first ever soldering job. And it was a mess: the solder didn't want to melt, the cable didn't want to stay in place so it always slipped away while I was waiting for the solder to solidify, and did a couple of clumsy things because I never handled a soldering iron before.

On the other hand, it seems that with the resoldering of the ground wire and tying the other ground wire to the other ones soldered on the respective pins, cured the jittering issue at cold of my Crystal CM-1402E monitor and even fixed the annoying bright red vertical line that appeared outside the viewing area, when I turned it on if I kept the brightness high. When I turned it on after almost a month (it was late December when it was turned on for the last time) and seen the picture stable and not jittering, I was overjoyed. Now I can finally use again my old, fuzzy, late 80's "8514/A compatible" monitor on my Pentium 3 PC.

My Retro Daily Driver: Pentium !!!-S 1.7GHz | 3GB PC166 ECC SDRAM | Geforce 6800 Ultra 256MB | 128GB Lite-On SSD + 500GB WD Blue SSD | ESS Allegro PCI | Windows XP Professional SP3

Reply 7873 of 27168, by Wireless

User metadata
Rank Newbie
Rank
Newbie

Mmm...turns out the old laptop in the shed was a Compaq Armada 1110, P75 with 24MB, I was using this about nine years ago for AX25 Packet under Win95A, I remember now that the HDD had died and I'd left the screws out of the case 'somewhere safe' and they are long gone, so I'm looking for a set of seven screws to keep the keyboard on, anyone know where I can source these?

The Toshiba 815MB HDD is long dead, but luckily I've found a 2.1GB replacement on eBay.

I've seen newer Armada's going for a lot of money, anyone any idea of the value, since the wife wanted me to chuck it in a skip a couple of months ago... so glad I ignored her.

8086-8, 286-16, 386DX-40, 486DX4-100, K5 PR166, K6-2 550, K6-3 450, 3x XP 3200+, 64 3700+,
2x 64 X2 4400+, Phenom II X2 220, Phenom II X6 1100T, Athlon X4 845, FX-8370.
Laptops 1110, 600E, 2200, C640, 1520, D830, 3558. Sinclairs + Playstations.

Reply 7874 of 27168, by derSammler

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t

Finished fixing this neat 286 mainboard. Had a leaking battery and many broken/bent pins. Removed the battery and added an external one, completely replaced the panel/led connectors (they broke when trying to straighten them), added an IIT FPU and a heatsink for the CPU (Siemens 80286-16, which gets very hot, even with the heatsink).

Reply 7875 of 27168, by liqmat

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t
derSammler wrote:

Finished fixing this neat 286 mainboard. Had a leaking battery and many broken/bent pins. Removed the battery and added an external one, completely replaced the panel/led connectors (they broke when trying to straighten them), added an IIT FPU and a heatsink for the CPU (Siemens 80286-16, which gets very hot, even with the heatsink).

Nice work. Two questions: 1.) Where did you source your panel/led pin array (from another board?) and 2.) which heatsink did you go with? I also noticed my 286 6MHz CPU gets very hot, but in my case it looks like a metal piece/plate is over the CPU.

Reply 7876 of 27168, by derSammler

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t

The pins were new. I have a large pin strip from which I can break off as many as I need.

The heatsink was also new. Bought it years ago from reichelt.de. It's 2cm x 2cm and attached using thermal glue.

Reply 7877 of 27168, by liqmat

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t

So I have emptied out most of my retro collection except for the few systems and parts I am using and was sitting high and mighty that I was finally over the vintage hoarding... annnnnd then I went on a garage sale run. Bad idea if you are trying to downsize. I found an estate sale with an old IT guy who had a large tub with 100s of floppies in it. Somehow it magically appeared in my car. There's a laptop buried in there as well. Don't know why, but I find a large stash of floppies with unknown data on them an exciting prospect. This is going to take awhile. You watch, half of it will be copies of AOL mailer disks from the 80s and 90s.

One of the stranger items in the tub is a sealed copy of sailboat charting software. Not going to be using that much.

tubodisk.jpg
Filename
tubodisk.jpg
File size
1.67 MiB
Views
1182 views
File license
Fair use/fair dealing exception

Reply 7878 of 27168, by oeuvre

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t

FINALLY got my Intellistation! Here's an imgur album with some more info https://imgur.com/a/TuQew

HP Z420 Workstation Intel Xeon E5-1620, 32GB, RADEON HD7850 2GB, SSD + HD, XP/7
ws90Ts2.gif

Reply 7879 of 27168, by CkRtech

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

Congrats, oeuvre! And good job with your de-bugging!

Displaced Gamers (YouTube) - DOS Gaming Aspect Ratio - 320x200 || The History of 240p || Dithering on the Sega Genesis with Composite Video