VOGONS


Reply 17820 of 27185, by Repo Man11

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A friend of mine gave me a Goodfellas DVD, and I finally watched it last night (after hearing about it for all of these years)as I was disassembling my cousin's laptop for repair. I watched it on my AT system: TXP4, K6-3+ 450 @ 500, FX 5200, 64 megs of RAM, Win98 with an old version of Power DVD.

"I'd rather be rich than stupid" - Jack Handey

Reply 17821 of 27185, by creepingnet

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Tried the Baking Soda/Superglue trick over the weekend on the NEC Versa P/75 and oh my god did that work! I was able to reuse the stock screw anchors on the casing, "weld", extrude, fill, and "reinforce" the original structure. I made a hours long YouTube video of me doing all this at my desk on Saturday on my iMac that might take me awhile to edit and put together. Ran it all night last night for 2.2 hours playing games in FreeDOS including the 7th Guest, Wacky Wheels, and Ultima VI: The False Prophet.

So I'm sure some of you are aware of this chemical mixture and it's thermal activity, but at one point during the repair it totally rings true. I was re-attaching a brass screw anchor to the palm wrest in it's original position. and then flood-filling a specially blocked off area with superglue and baking soda - well...at one point I touched the bottom and I could feel that area was getting hot - on the other side, where the screw anchor broke through to the other side leaving a hole, under a piece of gorilla tape I put over it, the plastic melted and basically re-molded back to it's original solid gray structure, now reinforced from behind. That piece of tape has been removed.

That said I did skip 3 things inside the case I might mess with later - I found the trackball may still go out, and I think it's because there are 2 screw anchors for the motherboard in front that I found were loose after I removed everything. Then I have one screw-mount that's completley gone on the bottom, oddly where the other screw anchor I fixed is placed on the other side.

I did peel a BS/Superglue spill on the desk off with a razorblade last night, it's basically more flexible plastic than the original NEC Versa gray plastic - like I could layer this and make Guitar Picks out of it that would actually last....might be another video for another day.

I have one laptop coming in, hopefully soon, another M/75, that's the one I'll be using to make molds for a second case for the other M/75. I'm Seriously tempted maybe to mold it in some wild colors or with some more light blue accents and reproduce the screen casing as well. After that, I might attempt some nifty hardware mods that I've been brainstorming.

~The Creeping Network~
My Youtube Channel - https://www.youtube.com/creepingnet
Creepingnet's World - https://creepingnet.neocities.org/
The Creeping Network Repo - https://www.geocities.ws/creepingnet2019/

Reply 17822 of 27185, by dionb

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appiah4 wrote on 2021-01-11, 11:22:

[...]

If you have at least 64MB RAM in the PC you can just use Puppy Linux Retro 4.1.3 and even install it onto a hard drive. Granted, it works a million times better with 128MB RAM.

Thing is, I'm not looking for a usable desktop system, it's the hardware detection in Knoppix that I'm after, plus a high-res desktop to implicitly test video memory (yes, X-VESA can also do it but it takes a loooong time to do so).

Have now gotten it installed on a SCSI drive, but it's not helping: apparently the drive order is different on the two systems (despite neither having more than one SCSI drive in there on ID 0 with second partition active so the partition to be booted isn't hd(0,1) on the older one. Grub Stage 1.5 error 17. Ugh.

Caluser2000 wrote on 2021-01-11, 14:51:

[...]
You rearly need to get over that when dealing with old kit and doing something they were never designed to do.

Booting from a SCSI HDD not something an old system's supposed to do? I'd say that's not particularly exotic, the AHA-1542 I'm using is older than the rest of the system and my desired OS in this case is a bit newer, but still fully supports the hardware. This is eminently doable, I'm just a single Grub setting away from getting it working.

Reply 17823 of 27185, by Horun

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dionb wrote on 2021-01-12, 00:04:
Thing is, I'm not looking for a usable desktop system, it's the hardware detection in Knoppix that I'm after, plus a high-res de […]
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appiah4 wrote on 2021-01-11, 11:22:

[...]

If you have at least 64MB RAM in the PC you can just use Puppy Linux Retro 4.1.3 and even install it onto a hard drive. Granted, it works a million times better with 128MB RAM.

Thing is, I'm not looking for a usable desktop system, it's the hardware detection in Knoppix that I'm after, plus a high-res desktop to implicitly test video memory (yes, X-VESA can also do it but it takes a loooong time to do so).

Have now gotten it installed on a SCSI drive, but it's not helping: apparently the drive order is different on the two systems (despite neither having more than one SCSI drive in there on ID 0 with second partition active so the partition to be booted isn't hd(0,1) on the older one. Grub Stage 1.5 error 17. Ugh.

Caluser2000 wrote on 2021-01-11, 14:51:

[...]
You rearly need to get over that when dealing with old kit and doing something they were never designed to do.

Booting from a SCSI HDD not something an old system's supposed to do? I'd say that's not particularly exotic, the AHA-1542 I'm using is older than the rest of the system and my desired OS in this case is a bit newer, but still fully supports the hardware. This is eminently doable, I'm just a single Grub setting away from getting it working.

Haha yeah scsi been around since late 1980s and widely used until mid 2000's so is a good easy fallback if you know what you are doing (and I know you do). Funny comment Cal 😀

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 17824 of 27185, by BetaC

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Horun wrote on 2021-01-12, 02:12:
dionb wrote on 2021-01-12, 00:04:
Thing is, I'm not looking for a usable desktop system, it's the hardware detection in Knoppix that I'm after, plus a high-res de […]
Show full quote
appiah4 wrote on 2021-01-11, 11:22:

[...]

If you have at least 64MB RAM in the PC you can just use Puppy Linux Retro 4.1.3 and even install it onto a hard drive. Granted, it works a million times better with 128MB RAM.

Thing is, I'm not looking for a usable desktop system, it's the hardware detection in Knoppix that I'm after, plus a high-res desktop to implicitly test video memory (yes, X-VESA can also do it but it takes a loooong time to do so).

Have now gotten it installed on a SCSI drive, but it's not helping: apparently the drive order is different on the two systems (despite neither having more than one SCSI drive in there on ID 0 with second partition active so the partition to be booted isn't hd(0,1) on the older one. Grub Stage 1.5 error 17. Ugh.

Caluser2000 wrote on 2021-01-11, 14:51:

[...]
You rearly need to get over that when dealing with old kit and doing something they were never designed to do.

Booting from a SCSI HDD not something an old system's supposed to do? I'd say that's not particularly exotic, the AHA-1542 I'm using is older than the rest of the system and my desired OS in this case is a bit newer, but still fully supports the hardware. This is eminently doable, I'm just a single Grub setting away from getting it working.

Haha yeah scsi been around since late 1980s and widely used until mid 2000's so is a good easy fallback if you know what you are doing (and I know you do). Funny comment Cal 😀

Through SAS, it’s still in heavy professional use.

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Reply 17825 of 27185, by darry

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BetaC wrote on 2021-01-12, 18:32:
Horun wrote on 2021-01-12, 02:12:
dionb wrote on 2021-01-12, 00:04:

Thing is, I'm not looking for a usable desktop system, it's the hardware detection in Knoppix that I'm after, plus a high-res desktop to implicitly test video memory (yes, X-VESA can also do it but it takes a loooong time to do so).

Have now gotten it installed on a SCSI drive, but it's not helping: apparently the drive order is different on the two systems (despite neither having more than one SCSI drive in there on ID 0 with second partition active so the partition to be booted isn't hd(0,1) on the older one. Grub Stage 1.5 error 17. Ugh.

Booting from a SCSI HDD not something an old system's supposed to do? I'd say that's not particularly exotic, the AHA-1542 I'm using is older than the rest of the system and my desired OS in this case is a bit newer, but still fully supports the hardware. This is eminently doable, I'm just a single Grub setting away from getting it working.

Haha yeah scsi been around since late 1980s and widely used until mid 2000's so is a good easy fallback if you know what you are doing (and I know you do). Funny comment Cal 😀

Through SAS, it’s still in heavy professional use.

And SAS controllers work with SATA drives (not the other way round, though), so decommisioned servers can be put to good use with cheap drives .

Reply 17826 of 27185, by SteveC

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Currently 3D printing this https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3543297 for my IDE to SD Card adapter

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Reply 17827 of 27185, by Bruninho

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SteveC wrote on 2021-01-12, 19:49:

Currently 3D printing this https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3543297 for my IDE to SD Card adapter

Cool! Someone did something similar here on VOGONS before, yours apparently is to be connected from the rear view, the one I saw before was for the front view, I can't recall who and where.

"Design isn't just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works."
JOBS, Steve.
READ: Right to Repair sucks and is illegal!

Reply 17828 of 27185, by SteveC

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Bruninho wrote on 2021-01-12, 20:28:
SteveC wrote on 2021-01-12, 19:49:

Currently 3D printing this https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3543297 for my IDE to SD Card adapter

Cool! Someone did something similar here on VOGONS before, yours apparently is to be connected from the rear view, the one I saw before was for the front view, I can't recall who and where.

I can't put it on the front and spoil the looks of this! 😀

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Reply 17829 of 27185, by Bruninho

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SteveC wrote on 2021-01-12, 20:37:
Bruninho wrote on 2021-01-12, 20:28:
SteveC wrote on 2021-01-12, 19:49:

Currently 3D printing this https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3543297 for my IDE to SD Card adapter

Cool! Someone did something similar here on VOGONS before, yours apparently is to be connected from the rear view, the one I saw before was for the front view, I can't recall who and where.

I can't put it on the front and spoil the looks of this! 😀

Haha, I agree! But the one I saw before, was made to look similar to a floppy drive and fit without modding the case. I tried to search the forum for the post, but I had no luck. I can't even remember who did it.

"Design isn't just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works."
JOBS, Steve.
READ: Right to Repair sucks and is illegal!

Reply 17830 of 27185, by debs3759

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Bruninho wrote on 2021-01-12, 20:45:
SteveC wrote on 2021-01-12, 20:37:
Bruninho wrote on 2021-01-12, 20:28:

Cool! Someone did something similar here on VOGONS before, yours apparently is to be connected from the rear view, the one I saw before was for the front view, I can't recall who and where.

I can't put it on the front and spoil the looks of this! 😀

Haha, I agree! But the one I saw before, was made to look similar to a floppy drive and fit without modding the case. I tried to search the forum for the post, but I had no luck. I can't even remember who did it.

I remember a front bay IDE CF adapter recently. I was interested as that's the way I plan to go on a few retro systems.

See my graphics card database at www.gpuzoo.com
Constantly being worked on. Feel free to message me with any corrections or details of cards you would like me to research and add.

Reply 17831 of 27185, by SteveC

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Sounds good, but would need to find the right slightly yellow off-beige 3D printer filament 😀

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/StevesTechShed
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Reply 17832 of 27185, by debs3759

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🤣, of course 😀 I wouldn't be looking for a perfect match, as many cases are slightly different anyway. If I had a 3D printer, I'd probably go for bright colours anyway, coz that would suit my taste and clash less than the wrong beige 😀

See my graphics card database at www.gpuzoo.com
Constantly being worked on. Feel free to message me with any corrections or details of cards you would like me to research and add.

Reply 17833 of 27185, by SteveC

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SteveC wrote on 2021-01-12, 19:49:

Currently 3D printing this https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3543297 for my IDE to SD Card adapter

It's pretty good but could do with a bit of extra stiffening. I noticed on the original link there's a link to an updated one someone's done which is exactly that! (https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4686963) I just didn't notice - but this is good enough for me, just bends a bit when changing the SD card.

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Reply 17834 of 27185, by liqmat

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pentiumspeed wrote on 2021-01-10, 23:21:

What on earth why no information on these twin computers? Are they intel-made servers?

Have some time taking these pictures and describe them in detail what are they? Web search is thin and your extra information will help big time.

Cheers,

Youtube premiere on the Unisys Aquanta HS/6 (aka ALR 6x6) @ 6:00PM tonight Eastern time. I take you through a quick tour of these monster Pentium Pro systems.

https://youtu.be/zU-0T9m3apU

Hope you enjoy!

Reply 17835 of 27185, by SteveC

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liqmat wrote on 2021-01-12, 22:33:
Youtube premiere on the Unisys Aquanta HS/6 (aka ALR 6x6) @ 6:00PM tonight Eastern time. I take you through a quick tour of thes […]
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pentiumspeed wrote on 2021-01-10, 23:21:

What on earth why no information on these twin computers? Are they intel-made servers?

Have some time taking these pictures and describe them in detail what are they? Web search is thin and your extra information will help big time.

Cheers,

Youtube premiere on the Unisys Aquanta HS/6 (aka ALR 6x6) @ 6:00PM tonight Eastern time. I take you through a quick tour of these monster Pentium Pro systems.

https://youtu.be/zU-0T9m3apU

Hope you enjoy!

Nice machine - thanks!

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/StevesTechShed
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SteveTechShed

Reply 17836 of 27185, by Thermalwrong

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A few weeks back, I bought some non-working VLB graphics cards - one a CL-GD5429 and the other a CL-GD5426 / I/O Combo card. At this point I am not short on vesa local bus video cards, these are both novel enough to be worth fixing though.
Both are now working after fitting an EEPROM to each one (1mb eeprom jammed in place of 27c256/27c512), but the 5429 needed some more work - it originally came with a PAL chip to do 'linear addressing', which I still don't fully get what that does. It can have either that or a 74F32 in its place with some caps/resistors switched about.

Sadly I had neither and the UK's in lockdown again so I thought I'd make do with what's around - I never expected I'd find someone with my exact card re-engineered the PAL chip's code and put it up on Github: https://github.com/Tony814/GD5429PALMod

I found a GAL16v8 that could be removed from some useless printer ROM/RAM card (I knew it would be useful someday). Actually I tried 2, but one of them wouldn't write fully, I have bad luck with these PALs. Another one I bought off ebay had bad pins, so I've got 2 good and 2 bad ones 🙁

Flashed the GAL and made this unholy mess to fit it on the card, it works!

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Reply 17837 of 27185, by Shreddoc

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For the first time in many years, I saw and played on a local arcade cabinet in a local shop.

1-2 years ago I made my own cabinet with high-end Japanese controls. Only now, do I finally have the real-world context to realise how good I've got it at home.

Reply 17838 of 27185, by Ozzuneoj

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Thermalwrong wrote on 2021-01-13, 02:34:
A few weeks back, I bought some non-working VLB graphics cards - one a CL-GD5429 and the other a CL-GD5426 / I/O Combo card. At […]
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A few weeks back, I bought some non-working VLB graphics cards - one a CL-GD5429 and the other a CL-GD5426 / I/O Combo card. At this point I am not short on vesa local bus video cards, these are both novel enough to be worth fixing though.
Both are now working after fitting an EEPROM to each one (1mb eeprom jammed in place of 27c256/27c512), but the 5429 needed some more work - it originally came with a PAL chip to do 'linear addressing', which I still don't fully get what that does. It can have either that or a 74F32 in its place with some caps/resistors switched about.

Sadly I had neither and the UK's in lockdown again so I thought I'd make do with what's around - I never expected I'd find someone with my exact card re-engineered the PAL chip's code and put it up on Github: https://github.com/Tony814/GD5429PALMod

I found a GAL16v8 that could be removed from some useless printer ROM/RAM card (I knew it would be useful someday). Actually I tried 2, but one of them wouldn't write fully, I have bad luck with these PALs. Another one I bought off ebay had bad pins, so I've got 2 good and 2 bad ones 🙁

Flashed the GAL and made this unholy mess to fit it on the card, it works!

Amazing work getting that GAL attached to a completely different shaped socket! I would be terrified of that thing getting bumped and shorting out though. Are you planning to get a properly fitting chip? Or is it less scary in person? 😀

Now for some blitting from the back buffer.

Reply 17839 of 27185, by bjwil1991

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They probably make QFP to PDIP converter adapters, but I've only heard of them for the EEPROM programming tool, but how cool would that be if a QFP to PDIP converter adapter can be utilized in older computers?

I got my Pentium Pro 200 system built by swapping the Soyo 486 board with the Tyan S1662S board (can also have dual CPUs by soldering in another VRM slot and Socket 8 slot), 128MB SIMM-72 EDO RAM, 10GB Western Digital HDD, 1.44MB FDD, 1.2MB FDD, and Apple 32x ATAPI IDE CD-ROM drive.

The cards utilized are the VooDoo3 3000 PCI and ES1868 ISA sound card (the Sound Blaster 16 CT2230 doesn't seat all the way and too long of a card since the RAM slots are right next to the ISA slots, but it's not an issue since I have other cards that'll fit in there anyway.

Also MacGyverdd the fan power connector to Molex 4-pin by soldering the red wires with the red wire (5V), black wires with the black wires (GND), and yellow wires with the yellow wire (12V) and using electrical tape to wrap the soldered wires around to prevent the wires from shorting itself.

It lives, but it needs a new Dallas RTC, but it does work without issues.

Thank you, liqmat for everything.

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