Re: Impressive Game Boy music

Posted on 2013-11-03, 23:14

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by PhaytalError

in Milliways

in Milliways

Famicom has slightly different hardware than the NES. The Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse aka Akumajō Densetsu [Devil's Castle Legend] soundtrack is using a special sound chip called the "VRC6" on the game cart that can only be utilized on Famicom hardware. What the VRC6 microprocessor chip did was …

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Re: Impressive Game Boy music

Posted on 2013-11-03, 19:18

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by PhaytalError

in Milliways

in Milliways

I dunno why, but I have always found Game Boy chiptunes more pleasing to listen to than I do NES chiptunes.

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Re: Top wavetable/general midi ISA sound cards?

Posted on 2013-11-01, 03:21

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by PhaytalError

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

For me nothing beats a Sound Blaster with an external Sound Canvas connected to it. Particularly the AWE64 Gold is a great Sound Blaster for pairing up with external MIDI devices. With SoftMPU this includes the MT-32 and CM devices. Yeah my SB16 SCSI-2 [CT1770] has an NEC XR385 connected to it, and …

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Top wavetable/general midi ISA sound cards?

Posted on 2013-11-01, 01:24

by

by PhaytalError

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Hi all, What were/are some of the best wavetable / general midi ISA sound cards that work in pure DOS? Ideally it will also include an actual Yamaha YM262-M OPL3 chip as well for those games that don't support GM. Some criteria for answers... No Creative cards... i'm burned out on them, imho they …

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Re: Bought these (retro) hardware today

Posted on 2013-11-01, 00:23

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by PhaytalError

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Mau1wurf1977 wrote: Great CPU PhaytalError! I wonder how many this seller has. They will run out sooner or later. I think I got two, I always get two if I can, just in case... Yeah, I really should get another one when I can, "just in case". 😀

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Re: Bought these (retro) hardware today

Posted on 2013-10-31, 20:37

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by PhaytalError

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Just arrived from the guy in Germany. This particular model is reported to overclock up to 600Mhz @ 2.0v with stock cooling... and it does just that. http://www.mainattraxion.com/temp/amd-k6-III_plus.jpg My mainboard only goes as low as 2.0v which is no problem for this CPU, it overclocked to 600Mhz …

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Re: Decent retro gaming laptops

Posted on 2013-10-31, 15:14

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by PhaytalError

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Do any of those laptops stretch 320x200 games to fullscreen, or do they display 320x200 games letterboxed? Good question, i'm not overly sure. I did some some digging around the web though, someone posted back in the day that the Toshiba Tecra 8000 has a display option in BIOS to strech so that …

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Re: Decent retro gaming laptops

Posted on 2013-10-30, 22:54

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by PhaytalError

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I know that back in the 90s, there was really no such thing as a "gaming" laptop, but I'm wondering if there were any laptops made in the mid-late 90s that were decent at all for DOS/Win9x gaming. What I would be looking for is like Soundblaster compatibility, decent VESA support and 2D …

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Re: Pentium Pro CPUs are NOT flat!

Posted on 2013-10-30, 19:56

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by PhaytalError

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Wtf? $10 worth of Artic Silver 5? You do realize you're NOT suppose to slather on thermal paste right? It doesn't take much at all, you only need a thin almost transparent layer, this goes for just about any type of thermal paste as well. The whole point of thermal paste is to simply cover any …

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Re: Need some advice on repairing solder on NEC XR385

Posted on 2013-10-30, 16:35

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by PhaytalError

in Milliways

in Milliways

Put a drop of solder on the board, push the cap down and heat up the solder again until the cap drops back in place. That's not very difficult (Unless all you have is a 200W soldering gun) :) C9 is just another filter cap for the 5V rail. Even if you mess it up and remove the capacitor completely, …

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Re: Need some advice on repairing solder on NEC XR385

Posted on 2013-10-29, 20:37

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by PhaytalError

in Milliways

in Milliways

Well, since I don't know anyone local that knows how to solder, I figured i'd learn a bit by soldering this now since i'm collecting more and more retro stuff: computers, parts, classic consoles, etc. It's a good skill to learn for our hobby and I figure i'd jump right in and start with a slight …

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Need some advice on repairing solder on NEC XR385

Posted on 2013-10-29, 19:34

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by PhaytalError

in Milliways

in Milliways

Hi all, The small surface mount electrolytic capacitor located at C9 on my NEC XR385 has become lose, dunno if it was always that way or if it happened recently, the card still works just fine [or so it seems] I just would like to resolder the joints so it won't wobble anymore. I've never soldered …

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Re: Question about Aztech Sound Galaxy Waverider Pro 32-3D (AZT-2316R)

Posted on 2013-10-29, 17:05

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by PhaytalError

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I38-MMSN852 is similar to MMSN847 so YES, this cards synth is accessible under DOS via the MPU-401 Interface. So after initialization you can use the synth for "General Midi" music. This is first hand information, I own this card :-) Hey FGB, thanks for the reply, and for the confirmation. BTW, …

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Re: Question about Aztech Sound Galaxy Waverider Pro 32-3D (AZT-2316R)

Posted on 2013-10-29, 14:52

by

by PhaytalError

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Anyone at all know? 😮

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Question about Aztech Sound Galaxy Waverider Pro 32-3D (AZT-2316R)

Posted on 2013-10-29, 00:51

by

by PhaytalError

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

The Aztech Sound Galaxy Waverider Pro 32-3D in question utilizes the AZT-2316R chipset there's also a AZT-3320 chip, AZT-3321 chip and Crystal CS4231A-KL chip, this model is not PnP and has a FCC ID: I38-MMSN852 The question is, does this card have wavetable MIDI and can the wavetable music be used …

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Re: MS-DOS + Grand Theft Auto = hard lock

Posted on 2013-10-28, 18:03

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by PhaytalError

in DOS

in DOS

Okay, so I checked with a different SB16 and the same thing is going on... hardlock when digital sound is enabled. Serial, Parallel, etc ports are disabled in BIOS. The NEC XR385 daughterboard has been removed from the SB16 as well. Even tried different videocards, and different DOS versions as well …

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Re: Best DOS antivirus?

Posted on 2013-10-28, 16:55

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by PhaytalError

in Milliways

in Milliways

DonutKing wrote: On a similar note http://www.wired.com/design/2013/10/15-awesom … #slideid-293621 Thanks for sharing that article! 😁

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Re: SB 2.0 CT1350 CMS chips dumped

Posted on 2013-10-28, 14:15

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by PhaytalError

in Milliways

in Milliways

Was testing an OEM version of Aztech SG NX Pro, and pretty much the same symptoms: no music through 388h, only 220h gives me music. Weird clicks are heard when trying to play music through 388h. Is that what SG NX series are supposed to be? Install the card on the "far side" of the bus, away from …

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Re: Sound cards - from best to worst

Posted on 2013-10-28, 12:30

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by PhaytalError

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

I also have a file of a sound card roundup posted on Usenet back in the day. It covers quite a few cards and gives you the heads up on each :) swaaye, wow! Thanks for sharing that great Usenet post with us, very detailed and insiteful, was an awsome read through. :cool: For those of you wondering: …

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Re: Best DOS antivirus?

Posted on 2013-10-26, 23:36

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by PhaytalError

in Milliways

in Milliways

Thank you keropi! 😎 😁

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