Re: History of ATi Graphics cards Vol. 1

Posted on 2020-11-18, 15:56

by

by Anonymous Coward

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

The early VGA Wonder cards are really interesting, especially that prototype with the 8-bit edge connector and sockets for 512kb RAM. As far as I know, no such card was ever released. ATi is a real b#$^ to document, because they released an insane amount of cards, each with dozens of minor …

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Re: Made in USA 386.

Posted on 2020-11-18, 14:10

by

by Anonymous Coward

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

Just because the US government made a rule, doesn't mean that anyone actually followed it or it was even enforced. What's to stop a shady company like PCChips from just sticking a US flag sticker on a motherboard? They sold boards with fake cache and counterfeit chipsets. If you took the sticker off …

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Re: How about a MR-BIOS ROM file repository?

Posted on 2020-11-18, 05:53

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by Anonymous Coward

in Marvin \ Software

in Marvin \ Software

We have the MR BIOS for the ALi 1217, but the 1209 hasn't been found yet.

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Re: Made in USA 386.

Posted on 2020-11-18, 05:49

by

by Anonymous Coward

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

I am super skeptical that the motherboard or VGA card is made in the USA. I am pretty sure if you remove the BIOS chips on those Microlabs cards they say something else like "made in hong kong". The motherboard looks like a PCChips with an american flag sticker on it. Perhaps what they meant was …

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Re: Can we figure out Rage XL?

Posted on 2020-11-17, 13:08

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by Anonymous Coward

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

RageXL is known as Mach64GM? That's news to me. That blurb mentions RageXL has a Mach64GT core for 3D operations. Isn't the Mach64GT an entire generation behind the Rage Pro?

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Re: MR-BIOS for C&T PEAK/DM

Posted on 2020-11-15, 02:32

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by Anonymous Coward

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I am able to, but you know my situation. It'll be months before it actually happens.

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Re: MR-BIOS for C&T PEAK/DM

Posted on 2020-11-14, 05:08

by

by Anonymous Coward

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

256kb works fine on my board with AMIBIOS and C&T BIOS. But, it is not detected with MR-BIOS. I can't remember if I tried 64kb setting with MR, but I am pretty sure I did.

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Re: MR-BIOS for C&T PEAK/DM

Posted on 2020-11-14, 02:21

by

by Anonymous Coward

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Did you confirm the external cache is functional?

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Re: Were VLB video cards ever good?

Posted on 2020-11-12, 14:54

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by Anonymous Coward

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Well my understanding is that the focus of this forum actually IS games, but it's been hijacked by Chinese eBay sellers trying to get people excited about their wares so they can inflate retro hardware prices.

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Re: Were VLB video cards ever good?

Posted on 2020-11-12, 04:36

by

by Anonymous Coward

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

When is isa ever faster than vlb? VLB and other local busses were a tremendous improvement over isa. Differences between local bus cards are usually minor under dos, unless you had a Weitek p9x00. Windows was another story, especially if you needed 24 bit in resolutions higher than 640x480. Vogons …

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Re: S3 ViRGE VLB project (or " Making a Concurrent for Creative 3D Blaster VLB" )

Posted on 2020-11-08, 23:35

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by Anonymous Coward

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

Even in the 90s most people had no clue about what they actually had. I remember seeing all kinds of weird listings for second hand computers in the classified section of the local newspaper, like DX/2-33s, 30-pin EDO DRAM and "4x86s".

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Re: What are you eating/drinking? (the vogons food thread)

Posted on 2020-11-07, 16:22

by

by Anonymous Coward

in Milliways

in Milliways

I am now drinking some Captain Morgan rum on the rocks. I've had better rum, but it's not bad for the price. I used to drink all the time (it's part of the culture here), often finishing 1 or 2 bottles of 25% alcohol Shochu in just a few hours at the local karaoke bars, but as I entered my late 30s …

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Re: S3 ViRGE VLB project (or " Making a Concurrent for Creative 3D Blaster VLB" )

Posted on 2020-11-06, 14:07

by

by Anonymous Coward

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

That didn't take very long. Great job!

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Re: IBM 486BL - What boards was it used on?

Posted on 2020-11-03, 06:19

by

by Anonymous Coward

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

When switching between the BL and standard 486, do any jumpers have to be changed on the motherboard?

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Re: Nexgen - the 486 killer - WIP

Posted on 2020-11-02, 15:39

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by Anonymous Coward

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

I really like the idea of Nexgen VL. It just blows my mind that there's no provision for an FPU on them.

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Re: Wanted to share my ultimate Pentium 1 system

Posted on 2020-11-02, 15:29

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by Anonymous Coward

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

I don't think this can be considered a "pizza box". It looks pretty close to standard profile to me. This is a pizza box: http://www.computer-retro.de/Bilder/iMac/SO-Apple-Macintosh-LC-Model-M0350-Motorola-68020-16MHz-CPU-2MB-SIMM-RAM-Conner-CP3040A-40MB-SCSI-HDD-FCC-ID-BCGM0350-Die-erste-Pizzabox- …

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Re: IBM 486BL - What boards was it used on?

Posted on 2020-11-02, 14:10

by

by Anonymous Coward

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

It sounds like it might be MR BIOS.

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Re: IBM 486BL - What boards was it used on?

Posted on 2020-11-02, 13:24

by

by Anonymous Coward

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Now THAT is weird. I have never seen anything like it before. I wonder if it just works with this board or if it can function in any board with a normal 486 socket.

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Re: Alaris Leopard Rev C 486SLC2 (MR-BIOS???)

Posted on 2020-11-01, 13:20

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by Anonymous Coward

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

No, I am pretty sure the MR BIOS for this board hasn't been found. But, I am fairly certain it exists.

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Re: Value in IBM AT vs a 386 for retro gaming?

Posted on 2020-10-31, 11:21

by

by Anonymous Coward

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I can understand the hate for CGA, because even when it was new people knew it sucked. EGA on the other than could pull of some pretty impressive graphics even in the basic 320x200 mode with no palette...not like Amiga obviously, but it was still pretty decent in the 80s. With the AT, you've gotta …

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