VOGONS


Reply 16880 of 27168, by Cloudschatze

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

And... the full-color/resolution version of the active Windows wallpaper is now displayed in-place when launching an application that leverages the Tandy graphics chipset.

Why, I'm practically a shoo-in for the "Worlds Biggest Dork" award!

win30_5_s.jpg

win30_6_s.jpg

Reply 16882 of 27168, by RetroLizard

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member

What's the best, or most reliable, brand for 486 PSUs? Looking around for potential parts, and not sure which one to go with.

Or should I go with a modern one, and a converter cable? If so, which one?

Reply 16884 of 27168, by Cloudschatze

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie
Deksor wrote on 2020-10-08, 06:18:

How do you cycle through the wallpapers ?

There are undoubtedly more elegant ways of doing this, but it works, and completes in a fraction of a second:

WIN.BAT

@ECHO OFF
CD C:\WINDOWS
REN 1.BMP T.BMP
REN 2.BMP 1.BMP
REN 3.BMP 2.BMP
REN 4.BMP 3.BMP
REN T.BMP 4.BMP
WIN.COM

Where the WIN.INI file specifies the wallpaper name of "1.BMP" (with a 15-pixel X-axis offset from 0, concerning the position).

xcomcmdr wrote on 2020-10-08, 06:37:

That's a very cool Windows 3.11. Damn !

I wish! This system is (within reason) incapable of running Windows 3.11; I'm limited to 30-year-old Windows 3.0 running in real-mode.

Reply 16885 of 27168, by PTherapist

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

Been battling another Socket 370 PC with a VIA chipset, running Windows 2000. Had stability issues in games which I fixed with some BIOS tweaking and latency issues which I've yet to resolve but have an idea about. Also the irritating HDD stuck in PIO mode issue which requires the removal of the IDE controller and reboot to fix. Simply ticking the DMA box on/off and rebooting each time isn't enough.

I really really hate VIA!

Reply 16886 of 27168, by appiah4

User metadata
Rank l33t++
Rank
l33t++
PTherapist wrote on 2020-10-08, 10:16:

Been battling another Socket 370 PC with a VIA chipset, running Windows 2000. Had stability issues in games which I fixed with some BIOS tweaking and latency issues which I've yet to resolve but have an idea about. Also the irritating HDD stuck in PIO mode issue which requires the removal of the IDE controller and reboot to fix. Simply ticking the DMA box on/off and rebooting each time isn't enough.

I really really hate VIA!

Have a similar issue with PLE133T, it hard locks up at boot with most OSes (modernish linux, Win2K, etc.) and exhibits the same behaviour with Win9x after Via 4in1 installed when CF-IDE adapter is set to UDMA; it only works when that IDE device is set to PIO mode. It works fine with my main 80GB HDD (set to 32GB via jumpers, unfortunately) though.

Retronautics: A digital gallery of my retro computers, hardware and projects.

Reply 16887 of 27168, by Deksor

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t
Cloudschatze wrote on 2020-10-08, 08:09:
There are undoubtedly more elegant ways of doing this, but it works, and completes in a fraction of a second: […]
Show full quote
Deksor wrote on 2020-10-08, 06:18:

How do you cycle through the wallpapers ?

There are undoubtedly more elegant ways of doing this, but it works, and completes in a fraction of a second:

WIN.BAT

@ECHO OFF
CD C:\WINDOWS
REN 1.BMP T.BMP
REN 2.BMP 1.BMP
REN 3.BMP 2.BMP
REN 4.BMP 3.BMP
REN T.BMP 4.BMP
WIN.COM

Where the WIN.INI file specifies the wallpaper name of "1.BMP" (with a 15-pixel X-axis offset from 0, concerning the position).

xcomcmdr wrote on 2020-10-08, 06:37:

That's a very cool Windows 3.11. Damn !

I wish! This system is (within reason) incapable of running Windows 3.11; I'm limited to 30-year-old Windows 3.0 running in real-mode.

Wow that's quite clever actually ^^
I had thought of this before but instead I was thinking of making a C program that would randomly pick images from a given directory and pick one randomly at boot

Trying to identify old hardware ? Visit The retro web - Project's thread The Retro Web project - a stason.org/TH99 alternative

Reply 16888 of 27168, by brostenen

User metadata
Rank l33t++
Rank
l33t++

In the process of setting up shelfes for my vintage stuff. Not done yet....

IMG_20201008_145437356.jpg
Filename
IMG_20201008_145437356.jpg
File size
64.49 KiB
Views
1336 views
File license
Fair use/fair dealing exception

Don't eat stuff off a 15 year old never cleaned cpu cooler.
Those cakes make you sick....

My blog: http://to9xct.blogspot.dk
My YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/brostenen

001100 010010 011110 100001 101101 110011

Reply 16889 of 27168, by PTherapist

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie
appiah4 wrote on 2020-10-08, 10:45:
PTherapist wrote on 2020-10-08, 10:16:

Been battling another Socket 370 PC with a VIA chipset, running Windows 2000. Had stability issues in games which I fixed with some BIOS tweaking and latency issues which I've yet to resolve but have an idea about. Also the irritating HDD stuck in PIO mode issue which requires the removal of the IDE controller and reboot to fix. Simply ticking the DMA box on/off and rebooting each time isn't enough.

I really really hate VIA!

Have a similar issue with PLE133T, it hard locks up at boot with most OSes (modernish linux, Win2K, etc.) and exhibits the same behaviour with Win9x after Via 4in1 installed when CF-IDE adapter is set to UDMA; it only works when that IDE device is set to PIO mode. It works fine with my main 80GB HDD (set to 32GB via jumpers, unfortunately) though.

This is a PLE133 chipset too, not sure which variant. Thankfully I haven't had any lockups with DMA enabled, it just seems to want to go back to PIO whenever it feels like it. It may be the onboard IDE doesn't completely like the SATA-IDE adapters I've been using, though I have had it running successfully with 2000 displaying Ultra DMA Mode.

Reply 16890 of 27168, by dionb

User metadata
Rank l33t++
Rank
l33t++

Received mail from Belgium, which means Serdaco stuff 😀

The Chill MIDI interface is back in stock, so snapped one up. After half an hour soldering, I had this:

IMG_20201009_200537.jpg
Filename
IMG_20201009_200537.jpg
File size
1.65 MiB
Views
1232 views
File license
CC-BY-4.0

Time to externalise my Trust Korg Super Sound module and hook it up to my Roland A-880 😀

Of course I underestimated the size of the board so will have to hack the case for the Chill, but that kind of thing keeps life interesting.

Reply 16891 of 27168, by Thermalwrong

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie
PTherapist wrote on 2020-10-08, 14:01:
appiah4 wrote on 2020-10-08, 10:45:
PTherapist wrote on 2020-10-08, 10:16:

Been battling another Socket 370 PC with a VIA chipset, running Windows 2000. Had stability issues in games which I fixed with some BIOS tweaking and latency issues which I've yet to resolve but have an idea about. Also the irritating HDD stuck in PIO mode issue which requires the removal of the IDE controller and reboot to fix. Simply ticking the DMA box on/off and rebooting each time isn't enough.

I really really hate VIA!

Have a similar issue with PLE133T, it hard locks up at boot with most OSes (modernish linux, Win2K, etc.) and exhibits the same behaviour with Win9x after Via 4in1 installed when CF-IDE adapter is set to UDMA; it only works when that IDE device is set to PIO mode. It works fine with my main 80GB HDD (set to 32GB via jumpers, unfortunately) though.

This is a PLE133 chipset too, not sure which variant. Thankfully I haven't had any lockups with DMA enabled, it just seems to want to go back to PIO whenever it feels like it. It may be the onboard IDE doesn't completely like the SATA-IDE adapters I've been using, though I have had it running successfully with 2000 displaying Ultra DMA Mode.

Hmm, I guess I dodged a bullet setting up the cheapy tualatin PLE133T board with a hard drive. I'll have to try it out with a UDMA CF card at some point.

A couple of weeks back I got this untested VLB Cirrus Logic card and finally made time for it today since I've got my big VLB 486 up on the bench.
It didn't work, no video display. 🙁
Then I looked closer, one of the blue capacitors might actually be a tantalum, and it looks crushed. When I removed that it actually looked burned. I put a cheapy electrolytic in its place but it still didn't boot 😒

cl-gd5428-repaired.jpg
Filename
cl-gd5428-repaired.jpg
File size
1.48 MiB
Views
1211 views
File license
CC-BY-4.0

But wait, why doesn't this one have a clock crystal? My big VLB 486 has a taller CL-GD5428 card in it so I compared them and looked at some pictures online. They all have the 14.318mhz clock crystal, I guess that datasheet was pretty specific since the designs of other similar cards are all the same.
I borrowed the crystal from my working card and it's working!

Another 14.318mhz crystal (well, 30 of them) is on its way from China 😀

------
I've also got to start making some progress on a 3d printable AT case again, I've got too many computers with no suitable case. I've got lots of components measured up ready to fit together, I just need to figure out how it would all fit together and make it printable on my i3

Reply 16892 of 27168, by Turbo ->

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member

Copying all the files from 81Mb Caviar 280, which was installed in a 286 PC to 1GB SD card. I call this preserving digital history.

Attachments

  • IMG_0016.JPG
    Filename
    IMG_0016.JPG
    File size
    333.73 KiB
    Views
    1200 views
    File license
    Fair use/fair dealing exception

Reply 16893 of 27168, by PTherapist

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

Decided to begin my planned 2003 gaming builds. Dug out the first candidate PC, already built and left how it was since the PC was last used about 10 years ago, minus a few "borrowed" parts. Opened it up and immediately spotted 4 bulging & leaking capacitors. Another board for the "to-do" recapping pile, bloody Gigabyte! Board was a Gigabyte GA-7N400 L, Socket A, nForce2 Ultra 400 chipset with Athlon XP 3200+.

Luckily I had a spare motherboard that looks fine and should suffice (except for having only 3 ram slots vs the 4 on the Gigabyte board) - MSI K7N2, same chipset and same CPU (I had 2 of them in my collection).

Reply 16894 of 27168, by wiretap

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

Making a backup of my Amiga 2000 SCSI hard drive using my dual Pentium III machine. Just installed an Adaptec AHA-2930CU and a SCSI hot swap bay. Using Winimage 8.1 on Windows XP.

8TvZkTC.jpg

My Github
Circuit Board Repair Manuals

Reply 16895 of 27168, by kdr

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member

Picked up two of these nice ASUS Socket 7 boards this weekend, both with AMD K6-200Mhz CPUs, one with 64MB (pictured) and the other with 128MB:

IIMG_20201011_163831_1.jpg
Filename
IIMG_20201011_163831_1.jpg
File size
501.73 KiB
Views
1067 views
File comment
ASUS SP-97V motherboard
File license
CC-BY-4.0

This board has two power connectors, one AT and one ATX! So I won't have to consume a valuable AT PSU if I build a system with this board. (And it has three ISA slots, which is very generous when compared to my current Super Socket 7 board's one lone ISA slot, which is just pathetic.)

Includes onboard VGA, which is fine by me since I'm mainly interested in using this one for Pentium-era DOS gaming.

After removal of the tonnes of accumulated dust, cleaning out the heatsink, and applying new thermal paste it is time to boot memtest86:

IIMG_20201011_163820.jpg
Filename
IIMG_20201011_163820.jpg
File size
390.53 KiB
Views
1067 views
File comment
memtest86+ 2.00 on a bootable 3.5" floppy
File license
CC-BY-4.0

Strangely, this board is unable to boot from my bootable memtest86 CD-R. The BIOS claims to support booting from CD, hmm. I've tried numerous CD-ROM drives that are known to work fine in other systems, but no go. So far that's the only issue -- what a haul!

Reply 16896 of 27168, by Horun

User metadata
Rank l33t++
Rank
l33t++
kdr wrote on 2020-10-11, 03:51:

Picked up two of these nice ASUS Socket 7 boards this weekend, both with AMD K6-200Mhz CPUs, one with 64MB (pictured) and the other with 128MB:
After removal of the tonnes of accumulated dust, cleaning out the heatsink, and applying new thermal paste it is time to boot memtest86:
Strangely, this board is unable to boot from my bootable memtest86 CD-R. The BIOS claims to support booting from CD, hmm. I've tried numerous CD-ROM drives that are known to work fine in other systems, but no go. So far that's the only issue -- what a haul!

Nice set of mobo's.
I never run Memtest on cd or usb thumb drive on anything older than soc775... too many quirks. Some versions of Memtest are very hardware specific (ver 4.0 will run on 486 but v4.3 will not). You should use a 1.4Mb 3.5" floppy disk and use the appropriate version for the older hardware you are testing. It is a Pentium board, cannot expect it to work like some soc 115x board 😀

Hate posting a reply and then have to edit it because it made no sense 😁 First computer was an IBM 3270 workstation with CGA monitor. https://archive.org/details/@horun

Reply 16897 of 27168, by kdr

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member
Horun wrote on 2020-10-11, 04:40:

I never run Memtest on cd or usb thumb drive on anything older than soc775... too many quirks. Some versions of Memtest are very hardware specific (ver 4.0 will run on 486 but v4.3 will not). You should use a 1.4Mb 3.5" floppy disk and use the appropriate version for the older hardware you are testing. It is a Pentium board, cannot expect it to work like some soc 115x board 😀

Yep, this is what I'm slowly learning through trial & error: it's always better to find a version of the software that is roughly the same vintage as the hardware...

Reply 16898 of 27168, by Horun

User metadata
Rank l33t++
Rank
l33t++
kdr wrote on 2020-10-11, 04:47:
Horun wrote on 2020-10-11, 04:40:

I never run Memtest on cd or usb thumb drive on anything older than soc775... too many quirks. Some versions of Memtest are very hardware specific (ver 4.0 will run on 486 but v4.3 will not). You should use a 1.4Mb 3.5" floppy disk and use the appropriate version for the older hardware you are testing. It is a Pentium board, cannot expect it to work like some soc 115x board 😀

Yep, this is what I'm slowly learning through trial & error: it's always better to find a version of the software that is roughly the same vintage as the hardware...

I use Memtest v4.3.7 on floppy for a lot of Pentium/Pentium 2 era boards. If you cannot find it let me know.

Hate posting a reply and then have to edit it because it made no sense 😁 First computer was an IBM 3270 workstation with CGA monitor. https://archive.org/details/@horun

Reply 16899 of 27168, by Disruptor

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie
kdr wrote on 2020-10-11, 04:47:
Horun wrote on 2020-10-11, 04:40:

I never run Memtest on cd or usb thumb drive on anything older than soc775... too many quirks. Some versions of Memtest are very hardware specific (ver 4.0 will run on 486 but v4.3 will not). You should use a 1.4Mb 3.5" floppy disk and use the appropriate version for the older hardware you are testing. It is a Pentium board, cannot expect it to work like some soc 115x board 😀

Yep, this is what I'm slowly learning through trial & error: it's always better to find a version of the software that is roughly the same vintage as the hardware...

This forum already shared the trial and error conclusions:
Try memtest86+ 4.10
memtest86 that works for 486