Re: vintage budget cards instead of 'good' cards

Posted on 2021-04-11, 09:01

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

Another potential advantage of newer ones - if you're not using an old CRT: DVI port. For trouble-free late DOS builds an FX5200 with DVI is hard to beat. But yes, another vote for "depends what and why you're building" here. If you're only after a platform to run old SW on, relatively low-end newer …

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Re: Need help for finding manual and drivers for an amazing retro motherboard..

Posted on 2021-04-11, 08:08

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I have this same motherboard, and I need to update my BIOS. Does anyone have a BIOS for this board? Why do you need to update it? Don't expect miracles from a BIOS update, at best it will sort out the 8GB HDD limit, and non-Intel CPU support on an Intel OEM board isn't going to happen. In general …

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Re: Pros and cons of sound cards

Posted on 2021-04-08, 12:20

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

It's the most original and will (probably/hopefully) have best compatibility. Apart from that it's noisy and lacks features, so "best" overall is a stretch. Still, pretty foolproof if very expensive.

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Re: Are OPTi soundcard drivers universal?

Posted on 2021-04-07, 06:49

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Apart from some exotic cards (think Miro PCMxx) OPTi-based designs are refreshingly generic. PnP versions play nice with Unisound too. Only 'issue' is that the chips can initialize either SB DA or WSS but not both at the same time.

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Re: System won't post (?) with audio card plugged in

Posted on 2021-03-31, 23:08

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Sorry! I don't know how much of a difference this makes, but I've actually got a 600EB, not a 650EB... No surprise there as the 650EB doesn't exist. The "B" indicates 133MHz FSB, and 650 isn't a full or half multiple of 133. 600EB and 667EB are the nearest options. [...] Yeah, it's not a super …

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Re: What is the maximum RAM for motherboard AP8548 from amaquest.

Posted on 2021-03-31, 23:05

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

[...] I tested with 32MB double-sided strips, 8 chips on each side, the brands that work in my motherboard are goldstar and texas instrument, the others that do not work are from the NEC, LGS, MT, I 've not tested 16MB strips, except one, no name which does not work, OK, but what's the actual chip …

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Re: Please help me finding a suitable setup

Posted on 2021-03-31, 19:42

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

[...] The Board is this one: https://www.gigabyte.com/de/Motherboard/GA-6VTXE-rev-10#ov And the CPU is a Pentium III-S wich runs at 1133MHz. Nice board. One of the nicest So370 options out there. Better than the Asus alternatives. I guess I should use two sound cards for the best result? Running …

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Re: GUS Frustrations

Posted on 2021-03-31, 15:34

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

The Gravis cards were _very_ expensive compared to your general sound blaster, that's why they didn't sell many That's actually not true. They were priced near or lower than competing Creative cards. Take a look here for example: UK, June 1994 https://archive.org/details/pc-format-1994-06/page/n9/ …

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Re: Please help me finding a suitable setup

Posted on 2021-03-31, 08:59

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

Basically you have three or maybe even four separate requirements here. Get them straight / prioritize them and your answer should be clear: 1) real OPL3 in old DOS games. 2) (16b) digital audio in DOS games. 3) AWE 'MIDI' 4) X2 MIDI Now, real MPU-401 MIDI is something no Sound Blaster 16 is …

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Re: GUS Frustrations

Posted on 2021-03-31, 07:36

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

I assumed at least something was going to show up during bootup. Some indication of a new device being present. I didn't know that the process was fully manual. Mistook it for a damaged card. While getting it to work, I realized why so many of them were getting returned back in the day. People …

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Re: What is the maximum RAM for motherboard AP8548 from amaquest.

Posted on 2021-03-31, 06:05

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

What kind of 32MB SIMMs are you trying? (number and type of chips) And are they known-good in a different system? Also you say "strips" - have you tested with a single 32MB SIMM? It's unlikely that the memory density is the cause of these problems; as a rule if memory is too large for the controller …

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Re: Let's Build 3 systems together. Brainstorming needed.

Posted on 2021-03-30, 13:32

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Btw, you should really start googling the part numbers yourself if only because knowing exactly what you have and learning how to figure stuff out yourself are skills which are somewhat prerequisite for building retro rigs. Believe me you don't wanna yolo this. Well actually I do but sometimes …

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Re: GUS Frustrations

Posted on 2021-03-30, 09:05

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

So basically no GUS-specific frustrations at all, just unfamiliarity with non-PnP hardware and resource management under DOS?

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Re: Let's Build 3 systems together. Brainstorming needed.

Posted on 2021-03-29, 18:14

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

[...] Is this one ok? https://www.ebay.com/itm/Avance-Logic-ALS120-ISA-Sound-Card-Model-AS9708-WORKING/283440240481?hash=item41fe5ad761:g:57oAAOSwaA5Wi2zs So you suggest 2 sound cards to be installed and one can be my CT3910 for digital sound and avance logic for midi? am I right? If you want to …

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Re: Let's Build 3 systems together. Brainstorming needed.

Posted on 2021-03-29, 13:43

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

System I This machine is going to be the strongest and the most stable Voodoo 2 SLI system. I've checked Phil's guide on this and build a system as follows; Mobo: GA-6VXE7 Rev3.0 CPU: Pentium III-933 Ram: 512MB 3D GPU: 2x 3DFX Voodoo 2 12MB SLI (using fast voodoo drivers I can see "SLI Detected" …

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Re: Small Footprint Keyboard

Posted on 2021-03-29, 07:54

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Might be an idea to post a pic (or even a drawing) of exactly what you're looking for. By your description almost any mid 1990s rubber dome keyboard (and quite a few mechanicals, like the Datacomp that PC Hoarder Patrol linked to) would be suitable. The fact you're having trouble finding one makes …

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Re: What retro activity did you get up to today?

Posted on 2021-03-29, 06:05

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

[...] I think you can disable all AWE related resources, which would give you the equivalent of a very expensive SB16, but might work around your issue . You probably would want to try UniSound for the AWE64, if you are not already using it . Best of luck! The problem isn't the resources as such ( …

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Re: What retro activity did you get up to today?

Posted on 2021-03-29, 00:04

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Playing musical chairs with resources for my triple sound card build. Three cards normally isn't too bad, but these are a bunch of resource hogs, two are PnP and one of those isn't supported by Unisound and had its own crap utility that tends to hang the system if it can't allocate the resources it …

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Re: CHiLL XL enclosure

Posted on 2021-03-28, 20:51

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

Yeah this is the final revision, available now : at https://www.serdashop.com/CHiLLXL , or pm me Nice :) Before I do so: is it likely the E-Wave will be finished and in the shop soon enough to buy both together (to save on shipping, putting an E-Wave in the CHiLL XL would be the ultimate in …

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Re: HP Socket 370 board - standard ATX connector?

Posted on 2021-03-28, 12:18

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Yes, can confirm. It's a Compaq board, not HP (pre-merger, but listed as HP now), and it's ATX. I have a Tualatin-ready one here. Very decent for OEM stuff, quite unlike what Compaq was doing just a year earler.

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