Re: I'm looking for a mouse that meets some specific criteria...

Posted on 2022-03-30, 18:31

by

by BitWrangler

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

There was a Microsoft Wireless Optical Desktop Pro set I had for a while, had PS/2 and optical mouse... reason I stopped using it though is because it shorted or something and PC acted dead until I unplugged it, thought the damn thing had killed my PC but all seemed fine... big lump of a receiver …

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Re: Bought these (retro) hardware today

Posted on 2022-03-30, 15:16

by

by BitWrangler

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Heavy tactical joystick..... hmmm which end do you hit them with? 🤣

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Re: Is it possible to have 2 PCI graphics cards installed at the same time?

Posted on 2022-03-29, 20:59

by

by BitWrangler

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

Trident TGUI 9680 1/2MB PCI cards handle being a 2nd or 3rd card under 98SE and most other cards will let them. I've had one in addition to a V3 and a GF2 before. Don't think direct draw works on the secondary though.

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Re: What retro activity did you get up to today?

Posted on 2022-03-29, 20:55

by

by BitWrangler

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

No matter, I need a PCI slot fan bracket for another build anyway so I might as well get another for this. Just thinking, do they even really need to be bought... I have enough random blanking plates, where I'd think of drilling a hole to bolt the top of one to the back of another, and then put 2 …

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Re: Market value for popular or rare classic computer hardware

Posted on 2022-03-29, 20:48

by

by BitWrangler

in Milliways

in Milliways

Also, well, if you want to have a 486 or older, you need a VGA addon card. (I have some nice baby AT Asus S7 mobos with onboard graphics, actually.) Any card will do but your need will be an integer above zero. I didn't think to check actually, yeah, the whole pricing floor of any ISA VGA card has …

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Re: I recently found this hardware, AKA the Dumpster find thread.

Posted on 2022-03-29, 19:15

by

by BitWrangler

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I haven't got around a lot on a bike since my back has been bad, but I've been meaning to get back (badoom tish) to it now I've got a good chiropractor. Previous bikes I've had various "carrying stuff" rigs. .. handle bar baskets, pannier rigs, heavy duty back racks... I guess if you carried a …

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Re: Market value for popular or rare classic computer hardware

Posted on 2022-03-29, 16:43

by

by BitWrangler

in Milliways

in Milliways

Is it just me or is the price of TVGA ISA cards getting towards silly? There's no apparent lack of supply either. I mean you can ignore the ones listed at over $100 as excessively hopeful, but looking at sold listings they're regularly selling around $50. Still some listed a lot lower, oddly though …

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Re: Most disappointing games?

Posted on 2022-03-29, 16:33

by

by BitWrangler

in Milliways

in Milliways

5 screens wide? That is a pretty gross exaggeration. I mean - look at here which has a convenient map. There are more than 50 screens, not counting the part once you get into the tower (which is shorter than the main game, but still has a bit gameplay in it). It certainly did not feel shorter than …

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Re: Most disappointing games?

Posted on 2022-03-28, 22:44

by

by BitWrangler

in Milliways

in Milliways

Simon The Sorcerer... it looked great and was amusing, but the whole environment was maybe only 5 screens wide, and once you'd got past the obtuseness of the puzzles (Gold isn't magnetic!) it was relatively short, with no replay value. IDK if some decades later I might have forgotten enough to make …

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Re: Bought these (retro) hardware today

Posted on 2022-03-28, 21:05

by

by BitWrangler

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

It's amazing how they got a whole 16MB in under 250W power consumption really.

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Re: What retro activity did you get up to today?

Posted on 2022-03-28, 21:02

by

by BitWrangler

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Smells like you need to use that util for changing it from removable drive.

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Re: Bought these (retro) hardware today

Posted on 2022-03-27, 15:17

by

by BitWrangler

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I did not have time for the hobby a lot the last few months (years). But I went thrifting this weekend and usually there is no nice retro computer stuff to be found, but this time I found some exotic storage for 1 euro each :) PXL_20220326_144509271.jpg Awesome deal. When I look at PCMCIA storage …

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Re: Need help with MSI MS-4144, won’t post.

Posted on 2022-03-27, 03:18

by

by BitWrangler

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Get an SX33 or something equally undesirable, put it loose in the socket so it's standing a couple of mm out, bring the lever over near to lock and scrunch the CPU into the socket, repeat a few times.

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Re: What retro activity did you get up to today?

Posted on 2022-03-26, 14:09

by

by BitWrangler

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

A MOSFET on one of my motherboards shorted and welded itself to the copper ground plane. I ended up ripping a hole in the board trying to remove it, but even then it still would not let go. I still don't know if this event damaged anything else that was installed in the system at the time. https:// …

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Re: What retro activity did you get up to today?

Posted on 2022-03-26, 03:48

by

by BitWrangler

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Lately, I've had an itch to downgrade my i386SX-25 PC to an i286-16, for no other reason than that it is more period correct for the 1987-89 era games I have on it. That means I will probably also remove the ES688 sound card and CD-ROM I have there, and replace the sound card with something more …

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Re: Bought these (retro) hardware today

Posted on 2022-03-26, 00:48

by

by BitWrangler

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Crap, that must have been hard work, loading all those MPEG-1 video files zipped across floppies 🤣

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Re: VIAFSB - DOS FSB utility for VIA chipsets

Posted on 2022-03-25, 21:06

by

by BitWrangler

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Double mention probably indicates alternative PCI/AGP dividers, which may be low or high.... in some instances in the past with other utilities, I have noticed the necessity to set a different base clock setting i.e. a different version of 100 or 133, in order to kick in the alternate dividers, …

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Re: Repair shops hate me. I fixed defective memory on my video card with this one neat trick.

Posted on 2022-03-25, 15:38

by

by BitWrangler

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Those cheapy component testers give a guesstimate... if you've got one that doesn't with the AVR chip in it, you can maybe get an updated firmware for it. Taking a wild guess on the capacitance values, probably the 940 was okay... meaning still has a year or two in it, the 860 and 840 would have …

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Re: Bought these (retro) hardware today

Posted on 2022-03-25, 13:31

by

by BitWrangler

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I didn't know you could get a TGUI 9680 on ISA until right now. I have an Orchid Kelvin 64 ISA with the GL5434 and know that's damn fast though.

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Re: Repair shops hate me. I fixed defective memory on my video card with this one neat trick.

Posted on 2022-03-25, 02:59

by

by BitWrangler

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

1000 1uF capacitors in parallel for zero ohms ESR 🤣

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