Re: The Retro Web submissions thread: suggest edits and/or add new boards here

Posted on 2023-06-24, 19:31

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Submissions for FORCOM TECHNOLOGY CORPORATION B637/B638/B639/B641 and B640/B642 motherboards: This is to update the information to the existing link on the Retro Web page: https://theretroweb.com/motherboards/s/forcom-technolog-b637-b638-b639 Take note that there is also a B641 motherboard that has …

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Re: 8086 (vs 80286) Popularity in DIY/Clone Systems in the late 80s

Posted on 2023-06-14, 15:49

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

What was sold when is heavily, and I can't stress how much, country and region dependent. In my country for example having a weak currency back then XTs were sold brand new well into 1991 and 1992, when people in other countries were discussing whether to get a 386 or a 486. So everyone's memories …

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Re: 8086 (vs 80286) Popularity in DIY/Clone Systems in the late 80s

Posted on 2023-06-14, 14:55

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Wouldn't most XTs be 8088 rather than 8086, though? That was my understanding, and how we named things as well. At least locally, an XT was an 8088 CPU system, and an AT was an x86. Earlier in the thread someone mentioned 8086 and 80186 XT-Clones, and that boggles my mind. How does that work? You …

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Re: 8086 (vs 80286) Popularity in DIY/Clone Systems in the late 80s

Posted on 2023-06-14, 10:32

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Juko ST Turbo PC's were still being sold in the late 80's. Possibly you either had a V20 or V30 CPU in your system. A 12 MHz V20 CPU could still run most games from that era without an issue.

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Re: Sund blaster CD-ROM interface and IRQ

Posted on 2023-06-13, 11:14

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

It depends what Sound Blaster model you have. Older models allowed you to set the IDE port address as well as the IDE IRQ via jumpers. Later models allowed you to set this via a software-based utility called "Diagnose" and, within Windows (9x or later) it would set it automatically. Some cards also …

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Re: PCEM - Adding new BIOS ROM

Posted on 2023-06-13, 11:00

by

by jesolo

in PC Emulation

in PC Emulation

From what I understand, the specific hardware must be supported in the emulator (PCem) in order to "read" that particular BIOS.

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Re: Sound Card Woes

Posted on 2023-06-12, 22:25

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

I38-MMSN845 I've attached the official drivers that were released by Aztech Labs. Take note that no official software packages were released for Windows 95 (only for Windows 3.1x). They did release Windows 95 drivers (which are included). However, most of the functionality is included in Windows 95 …

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Re: Sound Card Woes

Posted on 2023-06-12, 21:41

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

It all does work as long as I direct the drivers to the correct resources since it isn't behaving as PnP. However, what has me confused is that as I noted, the FCC-ID indicates that it is a PnP card. What is the Fcc id of your card? I38-MMSN845 I've attached the official drivers that were released …

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Re: Sound Card Woes

Posted on 2023-06-12, 18:02

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

AZT2316 is non-PnP and not supported -nopnp, so no Unisound (yet). PnP issues could well explain the Windows issues with the game port and MIDI - my guess is that some PnP device is being configured onto conflicting resources by Windows. Find that, move it, and it should work. Note that MIDI and …

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Re: CD Audio tracks under DOS not playing

Posted on 2023-06-11, 17:25

by

by jesolo

in DOS

in DOS

What sound card do you have installed? Check the pinout of the cable to that on your sound card. I recently built up my old PC and realised that the pin header on my old Sound Galaxy sound card didn't match that of the CD-ROM drive (which later became standardised). A multimeter should be able to …

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Re: 4386-VC-HD board - Upgrading CPU questions

Posted on 2023-05-29, 13:06

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

PS: If have some time, scan in the entire manual and share it with the community that houses the information on the Retroweb (there is a Vogons page as well where you can make contributions). Done: https://theretroweb.com/motherboards/s/fic-4386-vc-hd#downloads - Rev. B scan by me. Excellent - …

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Re: Noisy HDD. What other solutions are there?

Posted on 2023-05-27, 17:24

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

You can also consider an SD card to IDE adapter. Their prices have come down and SD cards are more readily available than Compact Flash cards

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Re: 4386-VC-HD board - Upgrading CPU questions

Posted on 2023-05-26, 23:00

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I even got mine to boot by removing the HDD and booting from FDD. It wouldn't save the HDD parameters and without HDD Auto Detect no IDE HDD would ever work without a good battery. Even though the FDD defaulted to a 5.25 1.2 MB drive in BIOS I could use a 1.44MB 3.5 disc, it just wouldn't read past …

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Re: 4386-VC-HD board - Upgrading CPU questions

Posted on 2023-05-24, 21:24

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I have the same motherboard and, to get it to POST, I had to replace the Dallas RTC (fortunately, I was able to secure a "new old stock" Dallas RTC that still worked fine). This motherboard is very similar to the OPTI495 chipset-based range of "hybrid" motherboards that could also accept both 386 or …

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Re: Issue with Driver for Soundblaster AWE 64 Value

Posted on 2023-05-24, 21:10

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

Just in case, you can also have a look at the installation CD for my AWE64 (model number CT4380): https://1drv.ms/f/s!ApmeVYI0PZURhCPYgYkUGmwSS0wZ?e=4CrtSD Take note that Creative did release updated drivers subsequent to the original installation CD being released (located in the AWE64 Updates …

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Re: CM32L drum kit on AWE32 MT-32 Emulation

Posted on 2023-05-23, 14:27

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

As memory serves, the MT-32 soundbank/soundfont (shipped with the AWE range of cards) only contains a small number of additional samples for the MT-32 (that isn't part of the standard GM sample set) and, then also rearranges (maps) the rest of the standard GM samples to more or less match the MIDI …

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Re: 486 check

Posted on 2023-05-22, 17:50

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

There were minor differences between the AMD & Intel versions. Don't see why it shouldn't work if you jumper everything correctly. Intel was a 3.3V CPU. Try going into CMOS setup and load the default values, save and exit, go back again and tweak for best performance

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Re: How to fix CD-ROM tray won't open

Posted on 2023-04-23, 22:25

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

In case anyone is interested, I spent some more time fiddling with it, ended up ordering a bulk pack of replacement belts on ebay since it was only a few bucks, replaced the belt and it's back to working condition! Cheap and easy. Really glad it worked out as it's the original CD-ROM from 1997 and …

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Re: MT-32 SB16 CT2290 NO GO :)

Posted on 2023-04-16, 06:26

by

by jesolo

in MT-32 General

in MT-32 General

You need to ensure that you connect the cable correctly. From the sound card it's MIDI OUT going to the MIDI IN on the MT-32. Depending on the cable you bought, the wording is flipped around (i.e., the part that says OUT on the cable goes to the IN MIDI port on the MT-32). Make sure the MPU-401 MIDI …

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Re: Jetway J-402B 3/486 motherboard - reversed turbo switch/LED functionality

Posted on 2023-04-12, 05:08

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I'm talking about something like this: http://sullystationtechnologies.com/npninverter.html . I'm saying this because, if i remember correctly some old motherboards had the 'turbo led' signal inverted from the factory so they could work with a speed display. Ok, thanks. Let me do some further …

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