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

Posted on 2023-08-01, 07:07

by

by Merovign

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

footprints are too small for any kind of ram, my guess is this space is for additional IO chip providing those two serial ports labelled COM1 COM2. SIS chip itself doesnt have serial ports :o imho major oversight when designing something for embedded markets Seems so. I have yet to find a photo of …

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

Posted on 2023-08-01, 03:47

by

by Merovign

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Well, I'm supposed to be doing other things. I pulled one apart and took some pics (below), will add some notes. Pulling one of the (soldered) pins on the CR2354 battery seems to reset the password. Cumbersome but I should replace them anyway. Actually I activated the unconnected reset jumper inside …

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

Posted on 2023-08-01, 01:26

by

by Merovign

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Well, I *finally* got the funky adapter for the power port on the beat-up Ecomstation Ebox (SiS550 x86). It's a Kycon KPPX-3P, by the way. There are short adapter cables that adapt to a standard 5.5mm DC barrel. Check your voltages before plugging in, the voltage is listed below for reference in …

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

Posted on 2023-07-04, 01:44

by

by Merovign

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I finally upgraded my main retro rig (Pentium III 1GHz, Win98SE) from a GeForce 2 MX to a GeForce 3. I've had this card for over a year now but just hadn't got around to installing it (and to be honest, for what I play on that machine the old card was fine). To my surprise it's a Ti500, though only …

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Re: I recently found this hardware, AKA the Dumpster find thread.

Posted on 2023-07-04, 01:37

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by Merovign

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

If it's the 3.5" standard half 3.5" height black connor CP series with the nicely sculpted disk cover, those do tend to last for as long as the arm doesn't glue itself to the stop. The bigger, chiseled from a block of aluminum types seemed to get surface problems earlier in life . I have a dead …

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Re: I recently found this hardware, AKA the Dumpster find thread.

Posted on 2023-07-03, 03:30

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by Merovign

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Only metaphorically a dumpster, but: The first was a slightly unusual computer to see dumped, it's amusing to think it may only have been because of the non-standard power cord. XPS720.jpg Somewhat rare, a little iconic, and damned heavy. Untested because it uses a C-19 power cord and I don't have …

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

Posted on 2023-06-29, 10:28

by

by Merovign

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

In the noughts there were a couple of things going on with PSU numbers. Well, the second version (this one) of the 720 had overclocking in the BIOS, so that's probably one reason. It does list 950 Watts max on the five 12V rails (18A each), so the vast majority on 12V... not clear if that's really …

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

Posted on 2023-06-28, 05:33

by

by Merovign

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Those are the parts that make you stay hooked on this hobby. Very nice. On the way is a XPS T450 as well, it was only for an hour on the local craigslist and I made a deal. Hopefully there's a V3 in there... I hope it does, my R450 came with a janky generic STB TNT. I mean, it's not a bad TNT, but …

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

Posted on 2023-06-28, 03:37

by

by Merovign

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I accidentally added to my XPS collection today, in addition to the 450, the M2010, and the 8700, I now have a 720 (with a GT 730 in it, which is actually a downgrade from stock). It was practically foisted on me at the recycler (that had previously been very strict about not "swapping" stuff) when …

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

Posted on 2023-05-14, 18:15

by

by Merovign

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I will probably find out in a month I was horribly wrong, but I think I'm out of collecting mode and into maintenance mode. Would have been nice to find more early 80s stuff, but it's nice to have a C64 and Kaypro. I can relate. I'm in this selling mode, and am planning to keep 3 or 4 systems. But …

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

Posted on 2023-05-14, 07:13

by

by Merovign

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Been a while. Finally got my floppies in one place. Been buying a few rolodex-style containers at thrift stores - they don't have computers in thrift around here anymore, but they get disk boxes surprisingly regularly. Ozzuneoj was commenting on their overwhelming collection of floppies - I don't …

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

Posted on 2023-03-13, 06:35

by

by Merovign

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Had to hold off work on my Mega Retro Station project because of various emergencies due to weather and failing hardware in other areas (like phones). At some point this week I hope to 3D print in PETG an adapter I designed to put a Wraith Spire on a socket 1150 board (just because all my 1150 …

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

Posted on 2022-06-08, 07:40

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by Merovign

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Normally I can save the paper stickers, but this time I had to soak it properly for a long time. And I haven't even tested it yet, just couldn't do it with the smell lol. I have had good luck with bleach-based cleaners like Arm and Hammer Scrubbing Bubbles and Clorox Foamer. You have to be careful …

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

Posted on 2022-06-04, 08:34

by

by Merovign

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I just notices. How barbaric. Why? For gold? The card would sell for more than its gold scrap value.. I'm not sure I've seen an example of gold scrappers (perhaps not copper) where the cost to extract the material plus the cost of the material was lower than the return. I did the math on some …

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

Posted on 2022-05-23, 09:01

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by Merovign

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Fun times.. I'm not even sure I'll need one, but I've been meaning to build a couple. Good for the toolkit. (Looks at toolkit) If you have room. I went down a rabbit hole of early early 80s CPM commercial games online... sheesh. Lots of digging. And yet everything I found will have to be back- …

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

Posted on 2022-05-18, 09:11

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by Merovign

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Yeah, its hard to pick just one or two computers. They are all special in there own unique way. I'm having a hard time picking just 30. ;) But I have to make room. Also I have 2 modernist desktop servers, 2 gaming computers, a couple backups, and a few other modern ones. I find it hard to have just …

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

Posted on 2022-05-18, 09:07

by

by Merovign

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Interesting... It appears that you got one of the very last Diamond cards.. Yet it is strange, as at that time Diamond was sold and part of S3, strange why they did allow Diamond to make competitor`s card.. The manual is dated 2006, but I have a Diamond branded Radeon HD 5750 and I know they made …

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

Posted on 2022-05-17, 20:12

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by Merovign

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I am consolidating my computers. I am trying, just doing it badly. I will have a few more than you as I have a 286 (if I can repair some traces) and would like to have an XT era clone, and I have a few earlier machines... and some early Win7 era machines just for fun. I also have some laptops going …

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

Posted on 2022-05-17, 09:36

by

by Merovign

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

"But I can emulate the entire machine on a $50 Pi type board" so emulate the whole machine on a $50 Pi type board cheapskate. A week or so I decided to use a USFF Dell for something instead of a Pi because while I might get a Pi with enough money, the shortage has rendered them more dear than a 3rd …

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

Posted on 2022-04-25, 06:58

by

by Merovign

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Currently working on getting my dream slot 1 build going , its being a bit of a basket case atm , some cards aren't working as they should : the voodoo 2s are showing the wrong ram values in the display settings and I need to replace a fan on a 256 gpu that I plan on swapping in for the verite 2200 …

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