Re: Was there BX based motherboards with 5 PCI slots, 1 AGP and 2 isa in 1998 ?

Posted on 2016-12-18, 04:13

by

by darry

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

The original factory BIOS info for my Quantex (Biostar OEM ?) P2B-NB a.k. M6TBD is 11/13/1998-i440BX-SMC67X-2A69KB0EC-00 The most recent update BIOS says 02/10/1999-i440BX-SMC67X-2A69KB0EC-00 . It is a poorly documented OEM board, so an official availability date is difficult, but it does have 5 PCI …

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Re: Fellow members, tell a random fact about your country.

Posted on 2016-12-15, 05:12

by

by darry

in Milliways

in Milliways

My country was the birthplace of Gravis, Matrox, ATI and Blackerry/RIM .

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Re: Website Check

Posted on 2016-11-06, 03:01

by

by darry

in Milliways

in Milliways

1) The text at the bottom of the page says "Last modified: 08-18-09" . Admittedly, that may be a reference to last update to the site design . 2) At first glance, the product list has not changed since at least 2011 according to archive.org https://web.archive.org/web/20110205072556/http:// …

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Re: Is this the Covox Voice Master ISA card?

Posted on 2016-10-30, 23:38

by

by darry

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Look at the top of page 96, and you should recognize your card . It seems to be a Voice Master variant . Attempt at a direct link : https://archive.org/stream/byte-magazine-1989-01/1989_01_BYTE_14-01_PC_Communications_and_Annual_Awards_and_Digitizing_Tablets#page/n121/mode/2up/search/covox Otherwise …

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Re: Assistance Finding DOS Driver for Sound Card

Posted on 2016-10-20, 12:57

by

by darry

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Looks to be either a Diamond Multimedia Sonic Sound or Sonic Sound LX variant (at least 2 variants of each exist). Info is to be found here, but the driver links are non-functional : https://web.archive.org/web/19980111072247/http://diamondmm.com/products/drivers/driver-index.html Driver downloads …

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Re: Was it a thing for some ATX motherboards with ISA slots to generate -5v (presumably from -12v)?

Posted on 2016-10-11, 04:26

by

by darry

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Well I tried another PSU. It is an Arctic Cooling Fusion 550RF (reviewed at http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/arctic-cooling-fusion-550rf-power-supply-review/10/) while the previous one was a Thermaltake TR2 430W variant . I can confirm visually that the -5V pin is physically absent from the ATX …

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Re: power supply

Posted on 2016-10-08, 02:47

by

by darry

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Stole this from Hardforum. https://hardforum.com/threads/cheap-seasonic-550w-600w-and-650w-psus.1912136/#post-1042565342 550w: http://www.ebay.com/itm/SEASONIC-550W-ATX12V-V2-03-EPS12V-V2-91-ACTIVE-PFC-F3-PSU-POWER-SUPPLY-SS-550HT/391384022093?_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851 600w: http://www.ebay. …

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Re: Was it a thing for some ATX motherboards with ISA slots to generate -5v (presumably from -12v)?

Posted on 2016-09-24, 04:37

by

by darry

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Doubtful. Biostar tended to be focused on no or low frills motherboards. If you publish some high res board shots, we can try to play "spot the VRM". Definitely not the best lighting or lens for a close-up board shot, but it will have to do for now. I do not see anything close to the ISA slots that …

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Was it a thing for some ATX motherboards with ISA slots to generate -5v (presumably from -12v)?

Posted on 2016-09-20, 01:33

by

by darry

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

The reason I am asking about this is because I just noticed that the BIOS voltage info screen for my Biostar M6TBD displays a value for -5v but that ATX 2.3 PSU I am using (Thermaltake TR2 430W ) does not supply -5v . I have not actually measured it though . Is this a bogus reading or could the …

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Re: Need help identifying what I have

Posted on 2016-09-13, 01:52

by

by darry

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Would you knew what chips I could put in the banks? Based on other cards of the same type (GD5428 based) , I believe you could put 8 chips like the Samsung KM44C256AP or equivalent (256K x 4bit fast page mode DRAM chips) which would give an additional megabyte of memory (for a total of 2 megabytes) …

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Re: Need help identifying what I have

Posted on 2016-09-11, 21:43

by

by darry

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

The last one is apparently made by Prolink. Here are the jumper settings for it http://stason.org/TULARC/pc/hard-disk-floppy- … e-drives-M.html

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Re: USB mice still available in retail stores/online with PS/2 protocol compatibility

Posted on 2016-09-03, 23:42

by

by darry

in Milliways

in Milliways

I was searching for a pure PS/2 mouse, only because I wanted to plug it into the (PS/2) KVM I use for my retro-desk and no adapter can fit there (the PS/2 mouse port is too close to the PS/2 keyboard port). You could also try a PS/2 extension cable with a USB to PS/2 converted mouse . That should …

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USB mice still available in retail stores/online with PS/2 protocol compatibility

Posted on 2016-09-03, 19:23

by

by darry

in Milliways

in Milliways

I recently went looking for a PS/2 compatible mouse that could be bought new at retail location close to me and came to the following conclusions: a) PS/2 compatibility is no longer advertised on packaging and no passive USB to PS/2 adapters are included . b) most mice are now wireless and thus …

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Re: Are there any 1600x1200 LCD displays available?

Posted on 2016-09-02, 18:48

by

by darry

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I have a Samsung 204B (bought new in 2004 or 2005) . It is a TN display. There was also a Samsung 204T (IPS, I think). IPS panels at the the time were slower than current ones, but they always had better colour and viewing angles than TN. Keep in mind that LCD displays of that era used fluorescent …

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Re: ASKA I440BX SST-5721 Manual?

Posted on 2016-08-29, 07:46

by

by darry

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

According to the IDs from the BIOS files and http://www.elhvb.com/mboards/vtech/strings/aristo.html , your board seems to be a rebranded Aristo AM-639BX A manual for it is available here. https://web.archive.org/web/20030911131816/ht … ual/am639bx.pdf

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Re: ASKA I440BX SST-5721 Manual?

Posted on 2016-08-29, 07:19

by

by darry

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

archive.org comes to the rescue with data from the now defunct http://www.aska-hk.com No manuals (section seems empty), but a marketing info pdf and BIOS updates . Be careful and choose the right one according to your BIOS string and/or clock generator model : 05/04/2001-440BX-PC87351-2A69KV3QC-00 …

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Re: 486 CD-Rom Questions

Posted on 2016-08-27, 01:11

by

by darry

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Any preference as to which one to get? Which ones work well, are reasonably priced and easy to get hold of? There seem to be quite a few options on eBay at the moment. If I were you, I would probably consider one of the following options . a) Buy a generic ISA I/O card based around a UMC chip. …

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Re: 486 CD-Rom Questions

Posted on 2016-08-27, 00:39

by

by darry

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I may have some bad news for you, if the info in the following link is accurate . http://www.verycomputer.com/11_7bf739737b09a7e7_1.htm Basically, someone else gave up on using a DC420 with an optical drive over 20 years ago . Apparently, according to someone else, there are incompatibilities …

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Re: What is this card?

Posted on 2016-08-23, 03:30

by

by darry

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

The chip below the LMC835 is hard to read, but looks like a SC87C51CCA44 which is an MCS 51 type micro controller .

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Re: Strange problems with DOS memory.

Posted on 2016-08-23, 01:42

by

by darry

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Just an idea, but 6KB sounds like about the ballpark RAM usage for a drive overlay . Could it be that possible that the drive you were previously has a rather buggy one ?

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