Re: 486 DX2 in a 486DX Machine

Posted on 2015-04-30, 15:34

by

by Anonymous Coward

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

It's generally safe to assume 32MB is the maximum on 486 motherboards with 30-pin SIMM slots unless you can find documentation that shows 16MB SIMMs are supported. I have found support for 16MB 30-pin SIMMs to be the exception rather than the rule.

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Re: 486 DX2 in a 486DX Machine

Posted on 2015-04-29, 08:49

by

by Anonymous Coward

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

I wouldn't waste your time going from a DX-33 to a DX2-50. The performance is more or less the same.

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Re: 486 DX2 in a 486DX Machine

Posted on 2015-04-29, 00:49

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by Anonymous Coward

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

It will work, but make sure you use adequate cooling. A large heatsink or a fan would be a good idea. Hopefully your case is well designed and the airflow is good.

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Re: Most advanced Win3.x game

Posted on 2015-04-28, 00:28

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by Anonymous Coward

in Milliways

in Milliways

I have a fairly advanced windows game called "Jewels of the Oracle". It's somewhat like Myst. It supports true and high colour modes. You really need a fast 486 or a Pentium to run it properly.

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Re: Post your 386 Speedsys results here

Posted on 2015-04-25, 12:04

by

by Anonymous Coward

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

Hmm, the performance is actually quite good for 25MHz. Care to tell us which OPTi chipset you have?

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Re: Which Socket 3 CPUs can you downclock using 1x multiplier?

Posted on 2015-04-25, 11:36

by

by Anonymous Coward

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

The CTCHIP 5x86 utility is NOT chipset specific. Does your copy of CTCHIP have CX586.CFG?

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Re: Problems with EISA SCSI Controller

Posted on 2015-04-22, 00:49

by

by Anonymous Coward

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Unfortunately, to change your EISA card settings you will need to boot from a floppy with the EISA configuration utility, and the CFG files for your motherboard and EISA card. I will look for them later.

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Re: Need to identify these Motherboards lots of pics inside 8080, 286, 386, 486, and rebuild question

Posted on 2015-04-21, 08:42

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by Anonymous Coward

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Yeah. Except that it might be the most valuable motherboard in the whole pile in terms of resale value.

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Re: How many of you guys still use CRT monitors on all your retro computers (and maybe your modern ones too)

Posted on 2015-04-21, 08:40

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by Anonymous Coward

in Milliways

in Milliways

I only have three retro monitors left. An IBM 5151 MDA, an IBM 5154 EGA and an IBM 5175 PGA which needs repairs. I recently ditched two Commodore 1084s and a Sony Trinitron 15" because I was tired of hauling them around. Probably best to hold onto tube monitors if you can though...I just didn't have …

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Re: Need to identify these Motherboards lots of pics inside 8080, 286, 386, 486, and rebuild question

Posted on 2015-04-21, 02:35

by

by Anonymous Coward

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

IBM 5170 motherboards do not have a built in BIOS setup. You need to use a reference disk. The other option is to swap out the original BIOS chips with an AMI replacement.

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Re: Need to identify these Motherboards lots of pics inside 8080, 286, 386, 486, and rebuild question

Posted on 2015-04-20, 08:27

by

by Anonymous Coward

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

1. Low Profile 12MHz 286 board (10MHz CPU, 20MHz OSC). Missing BIOS chips. May be salvageable if you can get BIOS images that use the same chipset. Looks to be a clone of an NEC Powermate. 2. Symphony Based 486. Good DRAM performance (interleaved). Only downside is no local bus. Silkscreen is …

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Re: a humble 386

Posted on 2015-04-20, 07:48

by

by Anonymous Coward

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

Just so you know, you should replace the AA batteries in that holder every few years. Alkaline batteries definitely leak over time.

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Re: More treasure from the dumpster

Posted on 2015-04-20, 07:18

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by Anonymous Coward

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

"DTKs were big here in New Jersey, their local headquarters was located in Piscataway, NJ and a ton of government agencies and schools purchased them since they had a state contract." Do you know anything about their downfall? All I've heard are rumours that the boss ran away with all the money …

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Re: What Graphics Modes Can I Use With a 5151 Monitor?

Posted on 2015-04-17, 23:54

by

by Anonymous Coward

in Milliways

in Milliways

On Ebay, seems to be about $40 these days. The best non-ATi solutions on eBay at the moment appear to be these two: Mystery MDA card: (almost certainly hercules compatible) http://www.ebay.com/itm/XT-8-bit-isa-monochrome-graphics-display-adapter-card-MPG-/131473825629?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash= …

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Re: What Graphics Modes Can I Use With a 5151 Monitor?

Posted on 2015-04-17, 04:27

by

by Anonymous Coward

in Milliways

in Milliways

ATi EGAWonder and VGAwonder support full 16-shade EGA graphics on MDA displays, not just the uncommon monochrome EGA mode. I wouldn't call it useless, but you might get some artifacting which makes certain things hard to see at times. It might depend on the type of monochrome display you have. EGA …

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Re: More treasure from the dumpster

Posted on 2015-04-16, 22:56

by

by Anonymous Coward

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

Both great finds. The DTK is interesting to me, because they kind of died in my area during the 486 days. It's interesting to see that they still used Enlight cases during the Pentium era. I've never seen a DTK that didn't use Enlight. Enlight is quality stuff.

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Re: Bought these (retro) hardware today

Posted on 2015-04-15, 08:45

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by Anonymous Coward

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Very nice Pee66, with an era appropriate integrated SVGA controller. It's kind of weird that they went with VRAM though. I always felt PCI kind of killed the need for VRAM.

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Re: What Graphics Modes Can I Use With a 5151 Monitor?

Posted on 2015-04-15, 08:42

by

by Anonymous Coward

in Milliways

in Milliways

Yes, EGA and VGA wonder can emulate CGA and Hercules as well. I'm the wrong person to ask whether the emulation is accurate though. I think for most games it's not too big of an issue. Additionally, I believe the ATi cards can emulate Plantronics CGA (which isn't very common).

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Re: What Graphics Modes Can I Use With a 5151 Monitor?

Posted on 2015-04-14, 22:18

by

by Anonymous Coward

in Milliways

in Milliways

The EGA Wonder and VGA Wonder cards will emulate EGA graphics modes on a 5151. That includes 320x200, 640x200 and 640x350 in 16 colours. It's more of a novelty that something you'd actually want to use though. Hercules graphics mode is far easier on the eyes. I think even IBM's original EGA card …

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Re: My new 386 build

Posted on 2015-04-13, 13:21

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by Anonymous Coward

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

Good choice of motherboard and graphics adapter.

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