Re: Dos memory woes

Posted on 2022-07-03, 00:51

by

by jakethompson1

in DOS

in DOS

It deliberately doesn't include NOEMS because there are games that do require EMS. Two examples: The Incredible Machine 2 is one that refuses to run without it and Monster Bash needs it for digitized sound effects. Nevertheless, another configuration menu can be created using EMM386 with NOEMS …

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Re: Restoring a small form factor 486

Posted on 2022-07-03, 00:37

by

by jakethompson1

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

That datasheet actually seems to go into voluminous detail about EDO RAM. The usual consensus seems to be that 486 chipsets either don't support EDO at all or don't take maximum advantage of it. On page 95 that datasheet seems to claim it supports CP+5-1-1-1 and CP+1-1-1-1 read timing for page …

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Re: Restoring a small form factor 486

Posted on 2022-07-03, 00:28

by

by jakethompson1

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

Wondered what further performance increase one could expect from L2 cache, which I believe my board isn't equipped with, or at least not enabled if present. I've of course read up on what every available jumper on the board does, there's nothing cache related :) Also tightened up the memory timings …

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Re: 386MAX source code released

Posted on 2022-07-02, 23:41

by

by jakethompson1

in Marvin \ Software

in Marvin \ Software

It looks like there are binaries under DISK/TMPOUT and LIB, and that those would now be presumably freely redistributable, so that's neat. Glancing at it, there is something about a custom C runtime library (qlib) that doesn't appear to be here so the C-based components may not be buildable. When …

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Re: CMOS battery for Gigabyte GA-686NX?

Posted on 2022-07-02, 18:25

by

by jakethompson1

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

It's inside the Dallas chip. You could buy a new DS12887+ chip ($11.28 at DigiKey), buy a GlitchWorks one with a replaceable battery, or get out your files/dremel and soldering iron and modify your existing chip to use an external battery. Hopefully the chip is in a socket and not soldered on...

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Re: Dos memory woes

Posted on 2022-06-30, 16:31

by

by jakethompson1

in DOS

in DOS

I recommend picking up the book Running MS-DOS which among other things explains DOS memory configuration. I'm more of a KISS person rather than configuring such menus. Looks like you're in a situation without emm386. I would rename config.sys to config.bak and autoexec.bat to autoexec.bak, and c:\ …

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Re: Rare 386/486 VLB Motherboard: Unstable in 386 Mode

Posted on 2022-06-29, 20:11

by

by jakethompson1

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Hmm is it actually ok to jumper the board for 128K cache yet have all 8 chips in? I would make the jumpers match that it's 256K double bank...

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Re: Rare 386/486 VLB Motherboard: Unstable in 386 Mode

Posted on 2022-06-29, 19:51

by

by jakethompson1

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

AT bus clock CLK2IN/6 is too fast I believe. CLK2 would be 66 or 80 MHz for a 33 or 66 MHz 386, so 11 or 13 1/3 MHz. You want CLK2IN/8 or CLK2IN/10 if you have those... A 486 doesn't use the double-speed clock which might make a difference...

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Re: Help me choose compatible 30-pin SIMM memory for a 486

Posted on 2022-06-29, 16:14

by

by jakethompson1

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Just so you're aware, no more than the first 32MB (or at most 64MB if write-through or always dirty write-back) of RAM would be cached, and Windows allocates from the top down, so the uncached memory would be used first. In addition, if you're using an SVGA VLB card with a linear framebuffer, you …

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Re: Install win98se on larger hdd?

Posted on 2022-06-28, 22:11

by

by jakethompson1

in Windows

in Windows

Repo Man11 wrote on 2022-06-28, 21:40: I use relatively inexpensive 120 gigabyte SSDs with my Windows 98 computers, but I have used one terabyte conventional drives with the size limited using Seatools and they worked fine. Ah yeah, I believe Seatools does the same Host Protected Area trick I …

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Re: Install win98se on larger hdd?

Posted on 2022-06-28, 22:10

by

by jakethompson1

in Windows

in Windows

As you can see, I'm a bit confused! I'm not interested in having a big HDD. If I have a 500gb drive that only displays 137gb, I'll be happy. I know there's a patch for larger drives but I'd like to try and not patch my way to making my computers work with 98se. Big drives support a feature called a …

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Re: Alias for DOS?

Posted on 2022-06-27, 17:36

by

by jakethompson1

in DOS

in DOS

That might be possible. I am usually using the CLI that is shipped with the DOS Version. Don't know about DR-DOS, but as far as MS-DOS. Are you not using DOSKEY already? That's what gives you arrow key functionality and command history at the command line. It can also do macros. e.g. doskey nano= …

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Re: Alias for DOS?

Posted on 2022-06-27, 16:19

by

by jakethompson1

in DOS

in DOS

The way this was done was through doskey

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Re: Modern ATX cases for older AT motherboards?

Posted on 2022-06-27, 15:23

by

by jakethompson1

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

As drive bays vanish this is becoming more difficult--getting to the point you're going to be looking for new old stock or a used case even for ATX. Two cases I've done this with are the Thermaltake V3 and Cooler Master Elite 350. Both are long-discontinued. The latter has a ridge to the right side …

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Re: PS/2 to AT DIN-5 keyboard adapters

Posted on 2022-06-27, 04:59

by

by jakethompson1

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

PS/2 to AT adapters are passive; at the electrical/software level an AT and PS/2 keyboard is the same. As the above poster mentioned do they work with an AT keyboard? Some old boards have a fuse near the keyboard that will blow if someone spills a drink on the keyboard (or connects a keyboard that …

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Re: Shuttle Hot 433 won't POST

Posted on 2022-06-26, 20:34

by

by jakethompson1

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Gary.H wrote on 2022-06-26, 20:19: Or is the MB Floppy Controller just hosed ? Maybe. From feipoa: How to fix your dead on-board floppy controller

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Re: Batman Returns - Sound Blaster irq 7 denied

Posted on 2022-06-26, 20:29

by

by jakethompson1

in Marvin \ Software

in Marvin \ Software

Further, using the parallel port in interrupt-driven mode is completely optional, and if you use the port through DOS (e.g. dir > lpt1) it uses polling mode.

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Re: Question: Merge Lo/Hi BIOS dumps into one file (for readability) on a Mac

Posted on 2022-06-26, 18:20

by

by jakethompson1

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I would just do a C program, like this. You can probably get a shell to work on binary characters like that but to me it'd be an exercise in frustration. #include int main(int argc, char *argv[]) { FILE *fLow, *fHigh, *fOut; int c; if (argc != 4) { fputs("usage: merge low.bin high.bin out.bin\n", …

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Re: Old Toshiba notebook - limited HDD replacement options?

Posted on 2022-06-25, 18:50

by

by jakethompson1

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

You’re missing the point. Please read the whole thread before replying. The issue is that these laptops only allow the specific models whitelisted in the bios. Ergo we need to fake this ID in the firmware of the drive connected or the bios will reject it and merely say no drive connected. I have …

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Re: Internet through COM port in DOS (with linux pppd server) - problems

Posted on 2022-06-24, 16:25

by

by jakethompson1

in Marvin \ Software

in Marvin \ Software

You could also try SLIP instead of PPP.

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