Re: I finally have a GUS !!!

Posted on 2018-01-09, 08:52

by

by Ampera

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

The GUS is one of the best single card solutions for DOS and early windows MIDI and general sound. The only thing that is in theory better would be an SB Pro 2/SB16 with a nice selection of MIDI units.

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Re: This is a cool thing I found on eBay - Computer badges!

Posted on 2017-12-30, 14:31

by

by Ampera

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I need to pick up some. I mean I need to pick up a lot of some of these. These are way too cool.

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Re: AT I/O plate keyboard hole size?

Posted on 2017-12-29, 02:32

by

by Ampera

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

That's what happens when I'm on sleep deprivation and am blind.

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Re: AT I/O plate keyboard hole size?

Posted on 2017-12-29, 01:00

by

by Ampera

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DIN_connector 7mm diameter It's a DIN connector so you can probably find more specific technical drawings that show the exact size of the hole you need to punch, but these sizes have already been measured.

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Re: Dual 486 motherboards?

Posted on 2017-12-27, 12:20

by

by Ampera

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I've never seen one, but I guess they could exist. Multiple 486s, now THAT would be a useless rig today. It's already useless enough to have multiple Pentium Pros for most apps, or even Slot 1/2 CPUs, but a dual Socket 3 board, Well you could run NT, and a few low end flavours of Linux. Take that …

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Re: "Modern" PS2 keyboard on a 486 box

Posted on 2017-12-24, 10:04

by

by Ampera

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Even the Windows keys & multimedia keys will work fine, if the software or OS supports them (e.g. if you're running Win95/98.) There's no hardware incompatibility. Was about to say, no reason they shouldn't. For all the absolute hell that computer manufacturers have put consumers through with …

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Re: Need help with my first 486 boards.

Posted on 2017-12-24, 07:07

by

by Ampera

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

nice ISSI cache chips. thats not fake paradigm i dont know, but i bet they are real too there is a burn mark on the power connector, maybe someone put the cables on the wrong order? Mentioned it a few times, its a blown tantalum. :) Thanks for the comments on the cache. Good to know! The only way …

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Re: Impossible to solve SCSI problem

Posted on 2017-12-23, 23:40

by

by Ampera

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Sounds like it was just a lose connection.

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Re: "Modern" PS2 keyboard on a 486 box

Posted on 2017-12-23, 23:38

by

by Ampera

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Yes. The PS/2 standard is fully electrically compatible with the AT keyboard standard. It is however NOT compatible with the XT or PC standard (5150 and 5160), but no 486 board I know of uses those standards.

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Re: Need help with my first 486 boards.

Posted on 2017-12-23, 23:25

by

by Ampera

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I run an EXP-4045 Socket 3 board with 32MB of RAM, and a DX4-100 OC'd to 120mhz. I do actually somewhat recommend upping the FSB to 40mhz if possible, although my part is AMD. DX2-66 is definitely a nice idea, maybe a DX2-80 (can always up the FSB to 40mhz) would be cool too. Keep in mind the …

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Re: What is a "Turbo/Break Switch" on a P120 motherboard?

Posted on 2017-12-23, 06:23

by

by Ampera

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Have you tried a real mode benchmark? It's possible it doesn't work in protected/e386 mode games.

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Re: Impossible to solve SCSI problem

Posted on 2017-12-23, 06:22

by

by Ampera

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

In my experience, 68-pin to 80-pin converters can be a bit finicky. I've never had a drive actually beep at me, that's a new one in my book, but it sounds like the connection is a tad loose. Do you have another system to try the configuration in? It could be some strange board incompatibility with …

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Re: Need help with my first 486 boards.

Posted on 2017-12-22, 22:10

by

by Ampera

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Welcome to 486s. The first board is Socket 3, meaning (especially with the VRM there) it supports both 3.3v and 5v CPUs. When installing the CPU into the Socket 3, line up the key on the CPU (it can be a dot on the corner, there may be a larger corner, or a line pointing to it underneath the CPU.) …

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Re: Dual 486 motherboards?

Posted on 2017-12-21, 18:23

by

by Ampera

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I've never seen one, but I guess they could exist. Multiple 486s, now THAT would be a useless rig today. It's already useless enough to have multiple Pentium Pros for most apps, or even Slot 1/2 CPUs, but a dual Socket 3 board, Well you could run NT, and a few low end flavours of Linux.

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Re: Price your retro rig!

Posted on 2017-12-20, 21:10

by

by Ampera

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

CkRtech wrote: IBM PC - Dual 5.25" Floppy, CGA graphics, 5153 CGA monitor, Microsoft Mouse, Epson fx-86e printer, DOS. Was around... $4500 in 1984? So $10,893 in 2017. The "car or computer?" question was real back then. A car would sadly last you longer.

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Re: Price your retro rig!

Posted on 2017-12-20, 18:39

by

by Ampera

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Puh, I did this a while ago, let me see if I can come up with one for JUST my Pentium Pro 200mhz in 1996 I know the Voodoo 1 4MB boards were 300 bucks at launch The CPU I would wager was around 700-900 USD in 1996, maybe more. Will go for 800 here. The motherboard I would guess, it being an OEM …

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Re: Most frustrating part of working on old computers?

Posted on 2017-12-20, 07:57

by

by Ampera

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I think I speak for everybody here. The most frustrating thing is money. EoS.

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Re: Most frustrating part of working on old computers?

Posted on 2017-12-20, 01:54

by

by Ampera

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I don't get frustrated by old computers a lot, but here are a few things that make my kettle boil: When hardware doesn't do as it is supposed to. Broken gear, kit, DOA stuff, that really pisses me off. When software or software guides don't do as they are supposed to. If I follow a guide on the …

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Re: Strange CPU Socket

Posted on 2017-12-19, 21:48

by

by Ampera

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

all I can say is me want.

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Re: S3 vs Cirrus Logic VLB cards

Posted on 2017-12-18, 02:43

by

by Ampera

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Any idea how the 864 compares to the Trio64 in Windows? I would imagine they should be about the same. Trio32 is pretty rare compared to the Trio64. I never really understood why Trio32 existed in the first place. $100 is a lot for a card. A lot of ISA and VLB cards that aren't complete crap seem …

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