Re: Custom interposer module for TI486SXL2-66 PGA168 to PGA132 - HELP!

Posted on 2022-09-11, 18:51

by

by Blavius

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Just a general question concerning the stack; where do you guys find SMD sockets and square pin arrays? All I find on eBay is tru-hole. I tried a couple of things to get the cache working, but so far no dice. I do have to say, I never got it to work 100% stable with a 486DLC on this machine either. …

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Re: Custom interposer module for TI486SXL2-66 PGA168 to PGA132 - HELP!

Posted on 2022-09-11, 06:07

by

by Blavius

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

If someone wants to post kicad footprints with nets of the two sockets, I might tinker with this a little. (If it is welcome) No promises, I’m thinking pin header stack. Two double layer pcbs probably. You can find the netted circuit and footprints in the attached project. It would be great to have …

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Re: Custom interposer module for TI486SXL2-66 PGA168 to PGA132 - HELP!

Posted on 2022-09-10, 19:00

by

by Blavius

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Man, you guys gave me a lot to figure out. First thing; what VCC needs my processor? The ebay listing I got it from says its 3.45V, but that is no authority. I checked the TI manual and this comes up: Screenshot 2022-09-10 202727.jpg What I have can be either a -G40, -V40 or -040, with only the -V40 …

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Re: Custom interposer module for TI486SXL2-66 PGA168 to PGA132 - HELP!

Posted on 2022-09-10, 05:50

by

by Blavius

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

If I am understanding this right, you are trying to adapt a 486 into a smaller 386 socket? With voltage interposer capability. Tl:dr It looks like it, but no; this is meant for a particular processor which is not a true 486, but uses the same socket. The 'normal' version of the TI486SXL is meant as …

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Re: Custom interposer module for TI486SXL2-66 PGA168 to PGA132 - HELP!

Posted on 2022-09-10, 05:42

by

by Blavius

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Nice work. To make the sockets on top of each other, I'm fairly confident you'd need 4 or 6 layers. From what I can tell, your design is 2-layer? Cheap as I am, I used 2 layer. For a stack you will undoubtedly need four. Any reason you decided not to include the through holes for the trimmer to …

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Re: Custom interposer module for TI486SXL2-66 PGA168 to PGA132 - HELP!

Posted on 2022-09-09, 19:58

by

by Blavius

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I had a 168 pin TI486 SXL-40 lying around that I bought a few years ago, thinking it was a 132 pin. I'm sure I wasn't the only one that fell for this. Always wanted to see if it worked, and I followed this thread for a bit. In the end, I rolled up my sleeves, got into KiCAD, took CB88's latest draft …

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Re: Some (failed) experiments with external 386 clock doubling

Posted on 2022-09-05, 16:54

by

by Blavius

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

In the thread that Sphere linked to galanopu mentions the following: There is probably also a mid-road solution were you use a pll to exactly double the clock, this should be generated from the normal clock input. In this case again you need to process correctly some signals (handshaking) but in …

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Re: Some (failed) experiments with external 386 clock doubling

Posted on 2022-09-04, 18:56

by

by Blavius

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Can you use a capacitor or something to induce a delay. If you can make it fall behind to the previous peak it may be the same as syncing. Btw: https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=88135&p=1099680#p1099680 In my case the capacitor mainly attenuates the signal thanks to the sine wave. In the …

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Re: Some (failed) experiments with external 386 clock doubling

Posted on 2022-09-04, 18:45

by

by Blavius

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

The 40MHz rated Cyrix DLC processors barely hit 50MHz overclocks, let alone 66. Lower the base frequency to 20MHz (40MHz to CPU) before looking at other signal/logic issues with the mod. Ah, I should have clarified; the crystal in the system ticks at 33MHz, and the processor halves this to 16MHz. …

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Re: Some (failed) experiments with external 386 clock doubling

Posted on 2022-09-04, 18:08

by

by Blavius

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Unfortunately I didn't take a picture of the original waveform, but it was not a square wave but a rounded off triangle, almost a sine. For this reason I added a second comparator to try to make the circuit work with the RC time delay. Unfortunately this did nothing as the output of the comparator …

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Some (failed) experiments with external 386 clock doubling

Posted on 2022-09-04, 11:36

by

by Blavius

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Man, I was hoping to write this topic when I had something working to show off, but no dice. Anyway, I thought it would be worthwhile to at least share what I did and get your thoughts on it, if only to understand what I missed. I have a IBM PS/2 P70, a luggable with a plasma screen, which I think …

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Re: Upgrading SMD Cx486SLC/e-33MP

Posted on 2022-08-05, 14:44

by

by Blavius

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

You could measure the voltage by probing one of the VCC pins of the processor with a multimeter to be sure. If it turns out it's 5V, it is still possible to use a 3.3V SXLC2 by connecting the VCC pins with a wire, but it's going to be a little hacky! I did the same in this tread: https://www.vogons. …

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Re: IBM ThinkCentre S50 - slower than expected

Posted on 2022-06-09, 20:24

by

by Blavius

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

What a bit of luck, I came across the website of a local computer recycler that had a PNY GeForce 6200 PCI - 256Mb , for 30 euro's. IMG_2732.JPG This card should be in the sweet spot of power vs compatibility. With a newer driver, I tried the same benchmarks again: UT99:,CFT-Face, 1024x786 all high …

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Re: IBM ThinkCentre S50 - slower than expected

Posted on 2022-06-06, 08:08

by

by Blavius

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

Good suggestion, thanks! I found some time yesterday to experiment a little bit. First, I've pulled out the radeon and installed drivers for the Intel GMA865 integrated graphics: UT99 (CTF-Face), lowest FPS when looking over map, 1024x768 all high D3D - 34FPS OpenGL - 38FPS RTCW, all settings …

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IBM ThinkCentre S50 - slower than expected

Posted on 2022-06-04, 22:01

by

by Blavius

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

I finally got to setting up my IBM ThinkCentre S50 from 2003. I picked it up a while ago, and recently found the matching monitor. It's a nice throwback to the Pentium 4 I used to have back in 2001. The only downside is that it only has two PCI expansion slots, no AGP. For sound I put in a SB Live, …

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Re: How do you enjoy games like Wolf3D/Blake Stone without WASD?

Posted on 2022-04-24, 21:30

by

by Blavius

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

As long as mouse look wasn't a thing yet, WASD didn't make sense. 2.5D games like DN3D did support the mouse, but for me it felt clunky and you were better off with the keys and automatic vertical aiming. It was only with real 3d games like Quake 1 that mouse look felt natural, although it was …

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Re: No luck with clock crystals

Posted on 2022-03-26, 19:20

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by Blavius

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

Haha 😀 Nah, I'm a bit worried its not really worth the effort.

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Re: No luck with clock crystals

Posted on 2022-03-26, 05:45

by

by Blavius

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

Little follow up. My dad brought his signal generator for some experimenting. Only problem was that it only goes to 60MHz, which is not really the 66MHz I needed, but close. We hooked it up to the crystal socket, initially at 50MHz (sine between 0 and 5 volt, so bias of 2.5V), at which the IBM …

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Re: Ageia PhysX dedicated card- worth getting?

Posted on 2022-03-16, 19:47

by

by Blavius

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Well dammit, he sold it to someone else without updating the ad! 🙁 Guess I'll have to wait till another one comes around.

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Re: Ageia PhysX dedicated card- worth getting?

Posted on 2022-03-16, 08:14

by

by Blavius

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Thanks for thinking with me. So basically, this thing only makes sense as: a.) a collectible piece of history, that might yield me the equivalent of a McDonalds meal in profit am I ever to sell it, and IF we don't end up with WW3, or b.) a novelty with a sliver of practical value in an awfully …

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