Re: Sony will stop making floppy disks next year

Posted on 2010-04-26, 20:49

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by retro games 100

in Milliways

in Milliways

Does anyone still make floppy drives nowdays? Probably not, and I'd rather use one of my old high-quality drives then one of those cheaply made drives that were being sold for €7 new stock just a few years ago. I just checked ebuyer.com, where I bought some really cheap Sony FDDs only last year. ( …

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Re: Sony will stop making floppy disks next year

Posted on 2010-04-26, 19:49

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by retro games 100

in Milliways

in Milliways

I got a couple of things in the post today. Some floppy disks (on topic!), a usb modem, and a usb extension cable. The online retailer had a choice of Sony or Imation floppy disks. I've bought Sony in the past and had a few problems with them. So I decided to get the Imation ones this time around. …

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Sony will stop making floppy disks next year

Posted on 2010-04-26, 16:57

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by retro games 100

in Milliways

in Milliways

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2363055,00.asp

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Re: Creative AWE32 PnP CT3980 = silent

Posted on 2010-04-21, 19:04

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by retro games 100

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

HunterZ wrote: Do the AWE cards have actual OPL chips? I've just had a closer look at this CT3980 AWE32 card, and there's a chip on it that says: CT1747 OPL

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Re: RG100 Does Socket 7

Posted on 2010-04-21, 11:24

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by retro games 100

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Regarding USB mice: that's very interesting. I tried 3 mice: 1 USB, 1 serial, 1 PS/2. The USB mouse definitely made Deus Ex's frame rate look a bit choppy! The serial and PS/2 mice made this game's frame rate look smoother. I will get another mouse from ebay - it will be another PS/2 mouse, but this …

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Re: BIOS repair

Posted on 2010-04-19, 17:12

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by retro games 100

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

This doesn't look right. Compare with the settings from the manual: http://xover.htu.tuwien.ac.at:/~sub/486SP3-CPU_Jumpers.png You're absolutely correct. I got the jumpers wrong. To be completely honest, about 45 minutes after I posted my "dot dot dash dash" configuration thing, I realised I had …

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Re: A few oddities in LAPC-I playback on various motherboards. *UPDATE 1*

Posted on 2010-04-19, 16:52

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by retro games 100

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I've just managed to make the LAPC-I work properly in this motherboard - all the correct notes and all samples played back correctly : I just set the 8-bit I/O Recovery Time to 8 . (It was originally set at 1 in default. The values range from 1 - 8. And the value "NA" comes before 8.) Awesome - …

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Re: BIOS repair

Posted on 2010-04-19, 16:45

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by retro games 100

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Tetrium wrote: Damn...it's not looking good 🙁 I know. I tried removing 4 of the 9 cache chips. This new cache configuration = 128K. That didn't work. I could remove the other 5 cache chips (4 chips, plus the 1 TAG chip), but there's no 0kb cache mobo jumper option.

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Re: BIOS repair

Posted on 2010-04-19, 14:53

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by retro games 100

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Nope - using the DX4-100 won't make the mobo POST. I tried both BIOS chips; the old and the new.

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Re: BIOS repair

Posted on 2010-04-19, 14:25

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by retro games 100

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

In that case insert it the right way around and check if it gets really hot in a short time. If not, it might have survived (Maybe also check the other chips on the board). And try a CPU that works with the preset voltages. The BIOS chip is now correctly orientated. I powered on the mobo, and tried …

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Re: BIOS repair

Posted on 2010-04-19, 14:12

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by retro games 100

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

h-a-l-9000 wrote: The notches on the chip and socket must match. Ugh. 😢 I didn't realise that. I honestly can't remember which way around I first tried the BIOS chip. It cost about 12 euros. I can't be bothered to pay for another one, because there's no guarantee that it will work. Oh well. 🙁

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Re: BIOS repair

Posted on 2010-04-19, 13:55

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by retro games 100

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Thought a DX33 needs 5V. > I have tried this chip in both positions: left/right and right/left. You inserted it the wrong way around and powered it on??? You fried it. Yes, the DX33 does need 5V, but the only volts options on the board is for 3.45 or 3.6. Re: BIOS chip - Which is the right way …

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Re: BIOS repair

Posted on 2010-04-19, 13:22

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by retro games 100

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I've just received the BIOS replacement chip for the Asus PVI-486SP3 mobo. Unfortunately, it hasn't made the mobo POST. Also, I still hear no beeps from the speaker. The mobo has a 5V Intel 486 DX-33 CPU in it. The jumpers are labelled: 1) Integrated IO jumper is set to -. (This means the first two …

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Re: RG100 Does Socket 7?

Posted on 2010-04-19, 07:06

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by retro games 100

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I personally vastly prefer to use PS/2 whenever I can, if only for being able to use a standard 3-button optical scrollmouse :) and I don't like serial mice because PS2 ports spoiled me with their faster report rates. Serial mice are literally choppy due to the low report rate. I've just tried …

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Re: Advice on a 486 Build

Posted on 2010-04-17, 06:38

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by retro games 100

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

The board is a J-446B with a SIS chipset I did a search for J-446B, and the manual can be found here - http://motherboards.mbarron.net/models/486pci/j446b.htm It seems that this mobo can support FPM memory, but not EDO. I think that some UMC chipset based 486 mobos can support EDO. I have a UMC …

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Re: Advice on a 486 Build

Posted on 2010-04-16, 18:14

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by retro games 100

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Might have an ASUS 486 Socket 3 Motherboard PVI-486SP3 soon. So I will not have to deal with Dallas chip anyway! Joy! I have discovered that these Dallas chips can be replaced quite easily. This seller has loads of them - http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250523279682 The Dallas …

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Re: Creative AWE32 PnP CT3980 = silent

Posted on 2010-04-16, 15:33

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by retro games 100

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

How about this: http://simmconn.tripod.com/ ? That product looks very interesting. However, it is designed for an AWE64. I am hoping to find some kind of similar product, for the AWE32. The AWE32 accepts two 30-pin SIMMs. 30-pin SIMMs, especially 16MB sticks, are rare. But 72-pin SIMMs can still be …

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Re: Creative AWE32 PnP CT3980 = silent

Posted on 2010-04-16, 13:22

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by retro games 100

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I just retested my CT3980, and it's completely silent now. Before, I was able to get effects working but no music. Now, I can't get any sound from the card. I replaced it with a CT3990, and used the same HDD with the same PnP settings, and that card works OK, so I think the first card, the 3980, is …

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Re: RG100 Does Socket 7

Posted on 2010-04-15, 17:55

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by retro games 100

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I'm torn on the AGP drivers actually. Sometimes just sticking with what comes with 98SE is "best". The AGP on those boards will never work right so it's really just a magical mix of disabled features lol. :lol: Good point. Actually, the "nice and simple" AGP V3 seemed stable. I used the 3dfx tools …

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Re: BIOS repair

Posted on 2010-04-15, 17:44

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by retro games 100

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Thanks very much everyone. I've just placed an order with a BIOS repair service. I have emailed them the "0101" A4 BIOS .ROM file, and will let you know if it works or not in about a week's time...

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