Re: 386 with VLB, suggestions?

Posted on Today, 07:52

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Doesn't VLB only work with 486 and later? [...] Since a 386 had the same memory bus, it will work albeit slower with possibly no performance advantage. Oh, it still gives a performance advantage, even when nerfed down to 16b with a 386SX, simply by running at full clock speed with lower latency …

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Re: Should I build multiple PCs to play different era pc games or just one?

Posted on Yesterday, 23:15

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

This question comes by quite regularly. Generally there are two camps: 1) of course you can do it with one system, take a relatively fast CPU on a platform that lets you clock way way down and you can do everything from 1981-2000 on the same system. 2) no way, the compromises you need to make to …

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Re: Bought these (retro) hardware today

Posted on Yesterday, 18:26

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Managed to score a Trust Korg Super Sound Module! Really happy as I've not seen one pop up on eBay yet in my time of looking. My daughterboard collection is growing nicely now. Nice! I only have one daughterboard - that one - and have mounted it on a Chill MIDI interface so all my PCs can share its …

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Re: Varta Cure

Posted on Yesterday, 09:51

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

debs3759 wrote on Yesterday, 09:16: ML2032 is rechargeable as well True, but only 3V, so same issue as CR-2032+diode

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Re: Ageing plastic on PC hardware - safe way to take care of it?

Posted on Yesterday, 09:24

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

If anyone knows a magic wand to wave, I'd be grateful... My big problem is with Sun machines. Mid-1990s they had the combination of beige case with purple plastic accents (the classic 'Aurora' case of the SparcStation 4, 5 and 20 is the best example). The beige stuff is fine, but the purple bits …

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Re: Varta Cure

Posted on Yesterday, 09:12

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Maybe a bit more documentation would be in order, if only a BOM for what is needed on top of the PCB. Just looking at the PCB I'd say it's a CR-2032 battery adapter to fit onto the pins of the typical Varta barrel. However the Vartas are rechargeable and CR-2032 isn't, so either it would need an LR- …

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Re: Magitronic B107 gameport adapter

Posted on Yesterday, 09:05

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Ok, thanks for the info. Just wondering do I benefit anything of this card if I have a gameport on my soundcard and another one in my I/O card? If a game supports dual controllers on the same port I/O (and you want/need that), this can deliver it, where two separate ones can't. If you're not using …

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Re: Aztech Waverider 32+ Problem

Posted on 2020-10-18, 13:42

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

Which sound are you talking about? This card has multiple sources: - OPL3 FM - DA - Wave from the onboard wavetable All have separate volume settings in the mixer. As you don't mention the mixer, I suspect you aren't using it yet. That might just be the problem.

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Re: Pentium 1 motherboard questions.

Posted on 2020-10-18, 13:40

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

[...] Most Pentium MMX CPUs are actually not multiplier locked. At one time I tested virtually all my Pentium MMX CPUs 166MHz and 200MHz and only the later ones had only (some of) their higher multipliers locked. What do you mean with translated multipliers? I assume you mean that a CPU will seem …

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Re: Magitronic B107 gameport adapter

Posted on 2020-10-18, 09:20

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

No drivers, this is DOS, software talks directly to hardware. If your game supports dual (gameport) joysticks, it will work. Can confirm that a basically identical card worked fine for me with OMF2097 and two Gravis Gamepads.

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Re: My new DOS machine... Pentium 75Mhz. Some advice...

Posted on 2020-10-17, 10:51

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

AlessandroB wrote on 2020-10-12, 16:48: [...] 4)i am totally sure about socket for cache because near the S3 chip there are also 2 socket for the video memory. Never seen a cache chip like that... OK, in that case this is something really weird - and a clear photograph of the board could clarify …

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Re: Socket 7 Motherboard Recommendations

Posted on 2020-10-15, 19:44

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

[...] Sorry, I meant to say 233. I’m not looking to make something that fast, since my Deschutes P2 is unlocked and able to make that sort of speed easily. Ah, that massively reduces complexity. I'd agree with an Intel board (such as a TC430HX or ML430HX) or this morning I saw an Asus XP55T2P4 ( …

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Re: Socket 7 Motherboard Recommendations

Posted on 2020-10-15, 09:31

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Firstly I'd avoid eBay for better deals - but what other options you have depend on local conditions and I'm not familiar with situation around ABQ. Then regarding the requirements, most will be offered by pretty much anything with at least two ISA and three PCI slots - but one stands out: access to …

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Re: Adding a serial port to a controller card with a game port

Posted on 2020-10-15, 06:09

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

[...] Thank you. I took the cable from a dead controller card. The serial cable has 10 pins. Is it compatible with one of the two ports? Also, how do I know the correct orientation to plug the serial cable at the port? It has a red stripe on it but I can't see anything at the card telling where to …

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Re: Iconic Sound Blaster CT numbers

Posted on 2020-10-14, 23:32

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

I don't get the fuss, it's not like they're rare Dunno man, in my little remote country I've seen in-person one GUS in 30 years of being a PC enthusiast, and currently on ebay there are three in the entire world on sale. That's quite rare to me. They were a niche item in a niche market, they …

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Re: Bought these (retro) hardware today

Posted on 2020-10-14, 15:32

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

H3nrik V! wrote on 2020-10-14, 14:22: dionb wrote on 2020-10-13, 18:31: I got big balls 😜 16026137593860.jpg And 3 of them 🤣 Oh, I have far, far more (and bigger) than these, I'm like some mutant from the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone 😜

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Re: Old pc case ports covers

Posted on 2020-10-14, 12:39

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I did just glue a piece of similar color plastic to cover one of those holes recently. excellent and i know it a cosmetic thing but would like to any dust out or minimize if possible If it bothered me I'd just stick in another DB25/DE9 connector, even if I didn't have anything to hook it up to …

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Re: Iconic Sound Blaster CT numbers

Posted on 2020-10-13, 21:28

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

[...] It's a highly-opinionated way of looking at it. The criteria was "iconic and/or historically significant" Sound Blaster models, which can be arguably and legitimately applied to your earlier suggestions, as opposed to "Sound Blaster cards that dionb thinks are crap." Sure it's opinionated, …

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Re: Difference between Ensoniq Soundscape ROMs?

Posted on 2020-10-13, 21:09

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

Thanks! And very interesting. Comparing the DB rev B to both Opus recordings (swaaye's and tenorman's that I linked to) the two Opus sound identical - as expected - but your DB rev B definitely isn't. The samples are so similar it could be the same, but at an analog level something very different is …

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Re: Bought these (retro) hardware today

Posted on 2020-10-13, 20:33

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Nice, I got a couple trackballs but they make my hand hurt after ahwile which is the opposite effect of how theyre advertised That's why I have so many of the things - everyone has different hands and different ways they hold stuff, which can also differ from situation to situation. Still haven't …

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