Re: Humour Thread: Outrageously priced retro gear for sale online

Posted on 2017-08-24, 17:07

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by TheMobRules

in Milliways

in Milliways

I've been looking at the other items he has for sale and, as expected, there are a lot of insane prices there! Like this 48MB memory module for $5000! 7 "sold" so far. EDIT: the modules sold for around $100 - $150. Still overpriced, but not to the extent of the BIN price.

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Re: HardMPU, anyone?

Posted on 2017-08-19, 01:54

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by TheMobRules

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

I'd be interested in a kit! One question: would the ATMega come pre-programmed? I don't think that 40-pin chip will fit in the slot of my crappy Willem programmer.

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Re: Bought these games today

Posted on 2017-08-19, 01:42

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by TheMobRules

in Milliways

in Milliways

I also got some games after a couple of years of almost no old game purchases: Ooohhh Sensible Soccer! We spent hours upon hours on that one with my friends, recreating my country's local league. customizing team uniforms and player names... good memories. And that Kyrandia box, is it a release of …

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Re: ACUMOS AVGA1

Posted on 2017-08-18, 20:58

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by TheMobRules

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

I have an AVGA2 ISA VGA with 512KB, works well for a 286, 386 or an early ISA only 486. Don't know how much difference there is with the AVGA1 though. For DOS gaming in standard VGA mode you won't need any drivers.

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Re: Bought these games today

Posted on 2017-08-17, 14:28

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by TheMobRules

in Milliways

in Milliways

No idea if this game is good? But I'm a fan of French games in general. Love all the little extras too. If you're into adventure games and/or Lovecraft I think you're gonna like it. Maybe it's not at the same level of Sierra or Lucasarts games, but I remember it being quite enjoyable when I played …

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Re: Humour Thread: Outrageously priced retro gear for sale online

Posted on 2017-08-11, 14:04

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by TheMobRules

in Milliways

in Milliways

The final prices are crazy yes... the S3 805 for instance, I normally see those cards sold at less than half that price! Nothing against the seller, looking at his other items he seems to have very interesting stuff, but looks like someone wanted these things really badly.

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Re: Any saving this 386?

Posted on 2017-08-09, 20:09

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by TheMobRules

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I worked in a computer store in the 90s and this Indian guy brought his 38something in for an upgrade. Part of our policy was to boot it up first before we touch it (we had lots of sneaky customers try to claim we broke stuff when it wasn't even working) - This guy's computer POSTed no problem, and …

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Re: Electromyne and others overpricing. Changing face of the hobby. Opinions?

Posted on 2017-07-24, 16:49

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by TheMobRules

in Milliways

in Milliways

Seems to me that point was passed quite some time ago. Are there not many people out there building 386 or 486 systems because they neeeed to have this vital piece of PC History for the sake of preservation because even though there are alternatives which look and sound the same for all practical …

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Re: External battery melting?

Posted on 2017-07-24, 00:57

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by TheMobRules

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I have a couple of 486 motherboards that require 6VDC when using an external battery (it's specified in the manual), and they definitely do not keep the time with 3 or less cells. I don't think it's unusual, especially considering those 4AA external battery packs for PCs were quite common back in …

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motherboards.mbarron.net... dead?!

Posted on 2017-07-23, 19:48

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by TheMobRules

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I have found really useful information on old 486 motherboards from this site before, but it seems to be dead now 😢 Does anyone know if this is just temporary or is the site not coming back? Oh well, at least it can still be accessed via the Wayback Machine...

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Re: What sorts of software do you remember on windows 95 desktop?

Posted on 2017-07-18, 02:15

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by TheMobRules

in Milliways

in Milliways

Besides the "usual" stuff that has been mentioned, for some strange reason when I think about Windows 95 a stupid Beavis & Butthead game comes to my mind... I remember it ran on windowed mode by default and it was based on some sort of mini-games, in one of which you had to spit on pedestrians from …

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Re: Need help for finding manual and drivers for an amazing retro motherboard..

Posted on 2017-07-15, 18:25

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by TheMobRules

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Looks like an Intel TC430HX or one of its OEM variants. This manual should be adequate in any case: ftp://ftp.jameco.com/Archive/Current-TechDocu … ents/155150.pdf

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Re: Origin System's transition from MT-32 to General MIDI

Posted on 2017-07-10, 17:50

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by TheMobRules

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

Wasn't the Dune soundtrack composed on an Adlib Gold?

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Re: Cooling AT Case - L2 Cache

Posted on 2017-06-26, 16:29

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by TheMobRules

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

How hot do your L2 chips get? Can you put your finger on them for more than a couple of seconds without feeling the burn? I may be wrong, but in my experience the L2 SRAM chips only get moderately warm. Maybe you've got a short somewhere? Anyway, regarding the cooling, AT cases are generally pretty …

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Re: What are some of the most annoying instances of cost reduction you have encountered?

Posted on 2017-06-22, 22:52

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by TheMobRules

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Adding to the issue about crap capacitors in power supplies from the early 00's, there were some really stupid penny pinching decisions by certain companies (Antec, I'm looking at you): - I have seen many instances where the two large capacitors in the primary side are of a good brand, while the …

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Re: 486F55 motherboard (Freetech?)

Posted on 2017-06-21, 21:16

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by TheMobRules

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I have a 486F55, but it's in storage right now. I'll try to fetch it this weekend and see if I can answer your questions.

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Re: MT-32 cable options

Posted on 2017-06-20, 20:49

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by TheMobRules

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

It may work, but as keropi said the DB9 to DIN cable must have the correct pin mapping for your Midiman card (I guess there is no way to know other than asking the seller). In that case, you would need to determine which of the two DIN connectors is the output that you need to connect to the MT-32 …

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Re: MT-32 cable options

Posted on 2017-06-20, 18:05

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by TheMobRules

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

For the DB9 to DIN cable you posted, which of the two DIN connectors is the MIDI OUT that will connect to your MT-32 MIDI IN? If it's the female, you can then just connect that to a regular MIDI cable of your desired length. If the MIDI OUT is actually the male connector, you will need to add some …

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Re: 5x86 not running most games

Posted on 2017-06-17, 21:45

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by TheMobRules

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Assuming the main memory and L2 cache are fine, have you tried setting L1 cache to Write-Through instead of Write-Back? Some 486 motherboards have very problematic WB cache implementations... Also, do the games run fine with other CPUs in the same board?

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Re: How do I install a CD-ROM on a 486?

Posted on 2017-06-17, 20:23

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by TheMobRules

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

You've got a few options. If you go with a standard, IDE/ATAPI CD-ROM drive, you can install it: - As a slave on the primary IDE channel, with the hard drive as master (they will share the cable, but you need to set the jumpers in the drives) - On its own cable in a secondary IDE channel. A …

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