Re: Supermicro X7QC3 - Quad-socket 604 build thread

Posted on 2023-06-25, 13:15

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by mscdex

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

This is a problem I need to solve and I'm not sure how at the moment. I need fans with high throughput to adequately cool these sticks down, but I can't just use Dynatron server fans because these are way too loud and my neighbors will probably kill me if I tried that. If you have any suggestion …

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Re: 5" FLOPPY under modern linux

Posted on 2023-05-21, 23:11

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by mscdex

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

(100+ skill points on gcc, makefile and uboot are required to get your system running) I have to disagree. Creating a bootable Linux system is very easy with buildroot. The entire configuration process is menu based -- buildroot's, the kernel's, and busybox's. After that, buildroot automatically …

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Re: VIA Epia 800 experience

Posted on 2023-05-21, 22:56

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by mscdex

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

justin1985 wrote on 2023-05-21, 21:38: First off, what is "OC"? I believe it stands for "open connection", meaning nothing should be connected to it. EDIT: Looks like some manufacturers use it to mean "overcurrent" for USB overcurrent protection/detection, so it could be that too....

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Re: 5" FLOPPY under modern linux

Posted on 2023-05-21, 17:51

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by mscdex

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Since you know the drives works fine on the K6-2-based machine, I would suggest moving the drive back to that machine, verify that it's still working (presumably you tested under DOS there?), and then booting to Linux on that machine (without changing floppy cables or anything) instead and verify …

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Re: 5" FLOPPY under modern linux

Posted on 2023-05-21, 16:41

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by mscdex

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

For what it's worth, I've used 5.25" (specifically high density Chinon and Epson) floppy drives under a modern Linux kernel without any issue, I just had to make sure to enable all of the relevant kernel configuration options when compiling the kernel. However, that was on an older socket 7 …

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Re: Neoware CA2 Thin Client

Posted on 2023-04-23, 15:17

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by mscdex

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

This machine appears to have the VT82C686B (according to the pictures on this site ), which is the south bridge that handles the built-in audio. You should be able to use this VIASBCFG utility and/or make sure your BLASTER string is set in DOS (according to your "Sound Blaster" BIOS settings) to get …

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Re: Neoware CA2 Thin Client

Posted on 2023-04-22, 14:08

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by mscdex

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

It's a special slot that carries both ISA and PCI signals (LPX motherboards use the same slot I believe) and in this case you'd need a low profile riser card like the one shown at the bottom of this page:

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Re: What's the value of a socket 423 P4 system?

Posted on 2023-04-19, 10:56

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by mscdex

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

And there is at least one super cool Socket 423 motherboard called the ASUS P4T that will tell you in a robotic voice through the headphone output what the POST error is :D That reminds me of this particular brand of old pre-Pentium PCs I used to work on that would speak (using pre-recorded …

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Re: Intel Pentium 100MHz - New PSU?

Posted on 2023-03-07, 20:04

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by mscdex

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Ah, that could be it then. I am using the Amazon U.S. site. You'll probably be better off with one of those ATX->AT adapters then. Those at least seem to be available on U.K. eBay.

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Re: Intel Pentium 100MHz - New PSU?

Posted on 2023-03-07, 18:19

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by mscdex

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

You can buy new AT PSUs on Amazon. There are currently Athena Power AP-AT30 and AP-AT40 models for 300w and 400w respectively. I've been using the 400w model off and on with a Pentium 233 MMX test bench setup for the past couple of years without any problems.

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Re: Windows 9x or DOS data recovery software that will read LS-120 SuperDisks?

Posted on 2023-03-05, 08:35

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by mscdex

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Were you reading disks that already had files on them? If so, do you know what OS was in use when they were written to? The disks I had were all brand new (shrinkwrapped), so no files. Only one of them was "DOS formatted", which was the only one I was able to test with by writing new files and …

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Re: Windows 9x or DOS data recovery software that will read LS-120 SuperDisks?

Posted on 2023-03-05, 07:41

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by mscdex

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

For what it's worth I seem to recall being able to read/write non-Mac LS-120 disks under Linux without any problems not long ago when I was testing an LS-120 drive I received. So at the very least you should be able to create a backup image of the disk that way (e.g. via `dd`). You'd also have your …

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Re: Troubleshooting non-booting Amiga 1000?

Posted on 2023-03-04, 23:13

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by mscdex

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Finally got a couple of replacement 8520 CIAs which weren't exactly the same as what was originally in there (plain 8520 vs original 8520R2), which when powered on it seemed(?) to skip the light gray screen on boot. Either way, it still got stuck at the same place (white screen) with solid floppy …

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Re: 4 Port "New Voice" ISA Modem Identification and Info Help

Posted on 2023-02-27, 17:57

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by mscdex

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Other than an online auction listing for the same card and a couple of references to the company in magazines from the early to mid-90s (e.g. this one on the bottom left of page 514 from 1993 where a separate software company mentions compatibility with New Voice hardware), there's not much info out …

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Re: Socket 7 board with unpopulated ATX connector

Posted on 2023-02-21, 08:21

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by mscdex

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I hadn't even thought about checking for that. There are some undocumented headers/jumpers on the board here and there, so it's hard to say. Some of them are labeled with unhelpful names like "JPxx". From what I gather Packard Bell often used reference designs from Intel, but I'm not sure if that's …

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Socket 7 board with unpopulated ATX(ish?) connector

Posted on 2023-02-21, 06:02

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by mscdex

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

My trusty old Packard Bell 810 motherboard has what appears to be an unpopulated section for a ATX PSU connector right next to the (populated) P8/P9 connector(s). I never really thought to check it before, but while doing some continuity checks on the unpopulated section against the P8/P9 connector, …

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Re: AT PSU suggestions

Posted on 2023-02-15, 22:52

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by mscdex

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I've been using the Athena 400W PSU from Amazon for awhile now with an MMX 233 machine. I haven't had any problems with it so far.

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Extending the EISA or PISA bus?

Posted on 2023-02-14, 05:23

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by mscdex

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Is anyone aware of an extension ribbon cable solution for EISA or PISA slots? I'm working on building a case from scratch for my poor, homeless LPX motherboard and was wondering about the feasibility of re-orienting my riser backplane to be horizontal instead of vertical. Currently you can still buy …

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Troubleshooting non-booting Amiga 1000?

Posted on 2023-02-11, 23:13

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by mscdex

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I've got an Amiga 1000 (rev 6) that my family has had since we purchased it new. During that time it's always been kept indoors and been well cared for (especially not stored in a garage or anything like that). However, upon powering it on recently (for the first time in who knows how long) I …

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Re: DMA on PIIX3?

Posted on 2023-02-03, 07:47

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by mscdex

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

For what it's worth, the fastest/best and most stable DMA I've been able to get out of my Sandisk Extreme CF card on a Packard Bell 810 motherboard (430VX/PIIX3 also) with a PMMX 233MHz was MWDMA mode 1, which is 13.3MB/s. While I instead use Linux on that board, I found I had to explicitly set the …

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