First post, by Great Hierophant
- Rank
- l33t
I had an accident with my prior 486 system, which I described here :
The accident was that I destroyed the 486 by removing it and reinserting it in the wrong orientation. A socket 3 system can fit a 486 in at least four different ways, and I put it in the wrong way. System did not boot up again after that.
So I decided to scrap the case, motherboard, CPU and RAM and try again. I hated the case because it had been in a smoker's shop or home and reeked of tobacco and tar. The motherboard had signs of water damage.
The new systems' specs are as follows :
Generic AT case w/3x5.25" & 3x3.5" bays (1 internal)
Intel 486DX/2 66
ASUS VL/I-486SV2G w/256KB Cache
16MB FPM RAM
Diamond Stealth 24VL w/1MB
Gravis Ultrasound ACE 1.0 w/1MB
Roland MIF-IPC-A & MPU-401
Creative Labs Sound Blaster Pro CT-1330
Kouwell KW-560D VLB IDE & I/O controller
1GB Compact Flash w/IDE adapter (formatted to 504MB)
Epson SD-880 Combo 5.25" & 3.5" Floppy
Generic 3-button Serial Mouse (Microsoft/Mouse Systems switch)
Roland CS-30 Stereo Micro Monitor
KDS VS-7p VGA Monitor 17/16"
IBM Model M Keyboard 1391401 w/AT cable
I took a picture of my desktop setup.
You can see surrounding the system are a Roland SC-55 and Roland SC-55ST on one side and a Roland MT-32 rev.0 and Roland CM-32L on the other side. The stereo speakers are on the floor because there is no real good place for them above the desk. The speakers are useful because they can mix two stereo inputs and have a dial to adjust the treble/bass. Unfortunately there is virtually no stereo separation.
The old motherboard, ASUS ISA-486SV2 and the new one are virtually the same. Neither support 3V processors unless I soldered a voltage converter and some jumper pins. The BIOS on the old board was a very basic AMI BIOS, the new one has an Award BIOS with many more options. This BIOS supports Large and LBA hard drives, but apparently the Large option does not work in this BIOS, which is dated before December, 1994.
I have two Sound Blaster 16s, but I do not want to have to open the case on a regular basis, so I put my Pro in there for no-fuss gaming. I found out that the Kouwell I/O board's built in joystick only supports two-axes and two buttons, so I use the Pro's.
The Diamond Stealth 24VL needs the SVGA compatibility fix turned on to display correctly in Keen 4-6.
The case I bought new and comes with a 200W power supply from Enlight. Some thought went into its design, as opposed to many AT cases which seem to have been designed by aliens with very different anatomies. The big, ugly power switch line does not get in the way, there is plenty of room to work inside the case. Case comes with a too-small PC speaker. There is a cage to support full-length cards and a fan. Installing 5.25" drives requires the use of the included drive rails. 3.5" drives are a bit trickier because you need to remove the front panel to access them.
Finishing touches to this system which I intend to implement in the future include :
Getting stereo speakers that are separate and can accept two inputs.
Using a 2GB CF card for one maximum partition
Installing an IDE CD-ROM (the last one got thrown out in anger over my 486 destruction)
Obtain an analog joystick with a hand grip like a CH Flightstick Pro.
http://nerdlypleasures.blogspot.com/ - Nerdly Pleasures - My Retro Gaming, Computing & Tech Blog