Re: Maxed Out My Sound Blaster AWE32: What Can I Do Now?

Posted on 2024-10-24, 07:56

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

As already mentioned, with more RAM on your AWE32, you can also load larger soundfonts for better General MIDI playback capability. However, under DOS, you unfortunately require a version 1 (*.sbk) soundfont but you can also load version 2 (*.sf2) soundfonts under Windows and then run your DOS game …

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Re: The Olivetti M280 (A pretty Bad Ass 286!)

Posted on 2024-09-11, 17:51

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

I have the M24 which is an earlier version of that PC with an 8086 CPU. You should be able to install a VGA card in that PC. Both EGA & VGA cards have their own onboard BIOS. Thanks! It's great to see another South African who's into collecting vintage machines! :) (There aren't many of us around …

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Re: The Olivetti M280 (A pretty Bad Ass 286!)

Posted on 2024-09-11, 17:44

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

I have the M24 which is an earlier version of that PC with an 8086 CPU. You should be able to install a VGA card in that PC. Both EGA & VGA cards have their own onboard BIOS.

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Re: SIMM and DIMM slot RAM

Posted on 2024-07-21, 10:14

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I've got a couple SIMMS in my Intel 133 machine. Only 16mb in total. The board also has a single DIMM slot. If you look at the manual on page 44 of the pdf (2-30 in printed manual) you'll see that it gives allowed combinations of mix-matching RAM, and also says it allows for 128mb total. What …

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Re: Need help with 486 motherboard identification

Posted on 2024-05-05, 13:58

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

If you have a way of dumping the BIOS, then you can possibly via the ID string identity who manufactured the board

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Re: ECS K7S5A No POST/No Display, Troubleshooting Help

Posted on 2024-05-01, 11:52

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I have the exact same board and my board also started to freeze up with random lock ups. But, all the green capacitors on my board are bulging so it's clearly time for a recap. I'm confident that after a recap the board should work again. I happen to have a nice Athlon Thunderbird 1400 that I want …

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Re: Are there regular users here with profession away from tech industry?

Posted on 2024-04-24, 08:15

by

by jesolo

in Milliways

in Milliways

I'm an accountant by profession and also have a B.Com degree in Management Accountancy. For the past 22 years I've worked in the Pension Fund industry. In my local vintage group I'm probably the only one who does not work in IT in some sort of capacity. I like to tinker with old computer hardware as …

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Re: DOS games with native DB50XG/SW60XG support

Posted on 2024-03-27, 23:51

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

I would have to guess very few. If memory serves, Yamaha's XG MIDI is basically an extension of the General MIDI standard (similar to Roland's "General Standard" or "GS"). Having suppprt for XG MIDI in the game's setup menu doesn't necessarily mean it supports the additional instruments of that …

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Re: DosBox and Sierra Colonels Bequest, hangs upon start

Posted on 2024-03-23, 08:03

by

by jesolo

in DOS

in DOS

Perhaps adjust the cycles within DosBox. It might be running too fast for the game to execute.

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Re: How to get a secondary monochrome monitor working in DOS and how to connect it to a modern display?

Posted on 2024-03-03, 23:04

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I think the easiest would be to install a dedicated monochrome display adapter with a separate monochrome monitor. Since MDA occupies a different memory address space than either CGA, EGA or VGA, they can co-exist quite happily together. Just make sure you don't "allocate " the MDA memory address …

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Re: Best Core 2 chipset?

Posted on 2024-02-20, 21:13

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I had an Asus P5QL Pro with the P43 chipset (as I recall). Ran an E8400 CPU and DD2-800 RAM on it with Windows XP and later with Windows 7. Never had any issues with it. I later replaced the CPU with a Q6600 overclocked to 3 GHz. Still not sure which one actually offered the best performance. I'm …

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Re: Windows 95 DOS Mode drivers

Posted on 2024-02-11, 21:18

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ Software

in Marvin \ Software

As CoffeeOne has stated, try using a boot menu configuration: How to create a boot (start up) menu under Windows 9x/ME

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Re: What is the best Windows 2000 sound card (that isn't Live/Audigy)?

Posted on 2024-01-30, 16:40

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

It depends on your use case. Any PCI+based sound card or onboard sound should do.

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Re: Far Cry (2004): Foggy level

Posted on 2024-01-09, 17:21

by

by jesolo

in Windows

in Windows

miller11568 wrote on 2023-12-28, 16:27: Are there ways to fix the foggy level using a hex editor instead of patching to 1.4? Why do you want to fix the problem yourself with a hex editor when there is already a patch available that fixes the problem? Sounds a bit counter intuitive.

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Re: What was your experience and thought process like when buying or upgrading a computer in the '80s / '90s?

Posted on 2024-01-08, 07:30

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Computers in the 80's (IBM PC's and their clones) were still very expensive for the average home user. Back then, owning a computer (I'm not referring to the 8-bit range of computers like your Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, etc.) was more of a luxury than a necessity for most people. Remember there was …

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Re: 86box - 166 MMX w/ Win95. Which video card?

Posted on 2024-01-02, 19:26

by

by jesolo

in PC Emulation

in PC Emulation

I recall P166MMX PC's being sold in bucket loads with S3 Virge DX cards being paired with those systems.

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Re: Voodoo Rush help

Posted on 2023-12-27, 18:41

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Perhaps try adjusting the refresh rate of your monitor under Windows display settings? Alternatively, just run the Auto adjust feature on your monitor (appears that you're running it on an LCD/LED monitor).

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Re: Best way to cool a 486DX Overdrive CPU?

Posted on 2023-12-23, 13:00

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I have the hexact cpu in my collection and i can say that using it, become hot like a Sun, the only think is that intel do not think that cpu will survive so many years, they think that this dx2 must be replaced and recycled in 3/4 years maximum. Using it for years and years must destroy it, i …

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Re: Does the Cyrix Cx486DX-50 actually exist?

Posted on 2023-12-21, 13:28

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I have a Chicony CH-471A socket 3 motherboard with an Intel 486DX 50 MHz (not 486DX2-50) CPU installed and it's running fine at a 50 MHz FSB with an S3 805 VLB graphics card. You obviously have to apply slower wait states in the CMOS setup to ensure that your system is running stable at that speed. …

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Re: Does the Cyrix Cx486DX-50 actually exist?

Posted on 2023-12-21, 01:14

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I just looked into it. AMD had the 40MHz DX, but sadly no 50. I see. Interesting. That probably makes sense, as the AMD DX-40 was not exactly the most well-regarded chip, by all accounts I’ve read. Occasionally would notice them in the “big lists” of prices in the Computer Shopper usually with an …

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