Re: Are there still any worthwhile uses for an Apple G3??

Posted on 2021-01-14, 13:37

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Is this an iMac G3 or a PowerMac G3? The way you're talking about "interfacing with external hardware" sounds like an iMac... Anyway, "I'm really struggling to see or imagine any worthwhile use for it." - same applies to 99% of the stuff we're doing here. Objectively it's all old obsolete crap …

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Re: Bought these (retro) hardware today

Posted on 2021-01-12, 17:07

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Xicor wrote on 2021-01-12, 16:50: Predator99 wrote on 2021-01-12, 16:21: Dont bid one this one Imi, the interesting card is one the way to me 😀 😀 😀 Including the slot bracket 😀 s-l1600 (9).jpg Nice, Roland 401AT !!!!! With SCB-55 attachted 😉

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Re: Socket 7 CPUs and their voltages

Posted on 2021-01-12, 10:57

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Yep. If you can get your hands on a voltage regulating interposer, you can play with the lower voltage CPUs. Otherwise it's that list - and a few unobtanium MMX overdrives and integrated upgrade CPUs.

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Re: Help choosing OPL sound card

Posted on 2021-01-12, 00:37

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Hakeshu wrote on 2021-01-11, 19:29: Just an update. Got 2 Yamaha cards. Now time to test this beauties. Nice! Functionality should be identical. My prejudice says the Labtec card is likely to sound cleaner than the A-Trend, but there's just one way to find out for sure 😉

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Re: Why wasn't this 486 sold in the US?

Posted on 2021-01-12, 00:36

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Thanks. But what was the point of building a CPU that knowingly infringed on a huge corporation's copyrights? Did they think that Intel won't notice and they can get away with it? Can't really see the logic behind it. Did UMC sell this CPU in the US before the lawsuit? UMC was taking a calculated …

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Re: Help finding old Packard Bell drivers?

Posted on 2021-01-12, 00:20

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Does anyone have the driver for SigmaTel technologies SigmaTel STAC9756T audio codec ?? I think my current driver is causing issues but im not 100% sure. Would be great to install the correct driver. Not 100% sure it will work, but here's the driver from an Intel OEM board with the same i845 …

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

Posted on 2021-01-12, 00:04

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

[...] If you have at least 64MB RAM in the PC you can just use Puppy Linux Retro 4.1.3 and even install it onto a hard drive. Granted, it works a million times better with 128MB RAM. Thing is, I'm not looking for a usable desktop system, it's the hardware detection in Knoppix that I'm after, plus a …

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

Posted on 2021-01-11, 09:20

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

[...] Use plop from a floppy disk to boot the cd... or a lighter linux cd such as Damn Small Linux or similar. I suppose that would do the trick, it just combines two things I hate (floppy & CDs). That's one of my other little projects - using a RaSCSI Raspberry Pi SCSI emulator to basically do a …

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

Posted on 2021-01-10, 23:36

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Frustrating day. I want the impossible, and surprise surprise: it turned out to be impossible ;) What? a 2000s era Knoppix Linux install with hardware detection and enough useful software for a lot of diagnostics, on a HDD smaller than the 2GB BIOS limit. Nope. Knoppix 5.1.1 at least requires 512MB …

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Re: Value in IBM AT vs a 386 for retro gaming?

Posted on 2021-01-10, 14:57

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I'm super pleased to report... we did it! I've finally got a real, honest to goodness, vintage IBM 5170 AT, complete with IBM 5154 EGA monitor... 640K of RAM, the 30MB hard drive works like a champ, 1.2MB floppy drive, DOS 3.3 installed. Sweet! Now... the REAL adventure begins! I need a 3.5" drive …

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Re: Can you help me find the right sound card for my Windows 98 SE PC?

Posted on 2021-01-09, 02:07

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

When I read the specs of the IBM Aptiva Series E Model 2158 it seems like it contains an ESS Solo-1 PCI sound chip integrated on the motherboard already. This might be very suitable for both DOS and Windows gaming. Second that. In Windows it doesn't do anything special, but solidly outputs sound at …

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Re: Help finding old Packard Bell drivers?

Posted on 2021-01-08, 21:58

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

For future reference, this site has a lot of PB stuff on it: http://uktsupport.co.uk/pb/mb/discovery.htm Audio: SigmaTel technologies SigmaTel STAC9756T audio codec Best info is the translation from PB internal code names ("Discovery" in this case) to regular brand+model names. That helps getting …

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Re: DTK motherboards overall quality level (socket 7)

Posted on 2021-01-08, 13:20

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

The Serpent Rider wrote on 2021-01-08, 12:58: Looks soldered to me. Then again, for 50 bucks, it's probably better to look for some ATX board. Applying best CSI-skills: Filename rtc.png File size 55.63 KiB Views 189 views

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Re: DTK motherboards overall quality level (socket 7)

Posted on 2021-01-08, 12:38

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

DTK was one of the bigger brands in the really early days (1980s), but quite rare by Pentium era. The old stuff was pretty robust, but can't say I've ever handled 1996-era things of theirs. Brand alone can be a very bad advisor - brand quality varies over time, and even the best brands sometimes …

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Re: Suggestion for short voodoo card

Posted on 2021-01-07, 14:28

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

I believe all voodoo1's and 2's are pretty much the same size/design, I maybe wrong though. I'd avoid putting 2 voodoo2's in there, even if they did fit. A PCI voodoo3 + extra cooling should be just fine if the v1 and v2 don't fit. It compromises DOS glide games compatibility but if it's the only …

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Re: What is this sound card? Is it good?

Posted on 2021-01-07, 01:52

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

Agree. OPTi 924 is nothing special but serviceable enough - SBPro2 compatible with simple init-program and good compatibility, WSS 16b support thanks to the Crystal CODEC, real OPL3 and bug-free MPU-401 MIDI - with a tinny little QS700 wavetable onboard. I'm spoilt with lots of cards and some pretty …

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Re: Building my first retro PC (430TX Pentium MMX with 233 MHz) - A few questions about storage and AT I/O shields

Posted on 2021-01-06, 17:48

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

[...] My questions are: If possible I'd prefer to be able to regularly switch out the storage device without having to open the case, so instead of having an internal HDD, could I instead use one of the optical drive bays for a hot swap drive? Would an item like this or this work for my purposes …

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Re: Looking for Advice in Regards to Building a Mid-to-Late DOS PC

Posted on 2021-01-06, 01:08

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Hey all, I recently decided that I want to put together some dedicated gaming PCs for DOS, 98SE, and XP. I've already picked out the parts for, and mostly built, a 98SE rig (just waiting for the sound card to get here), and now I'm turning my attention to picking out parts for a DOS system. I …

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Re: Any opration system which runs on an i860 CPU in a 486 system?

Posted on 2021-01-05, 12:40

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Here's some info: https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/6167668 Oak Ridge did trials on clusters of these things with 386 'SRM' running Sys V Unix 3.2. The i860s run with a "simple OS kernel" NX, which accepts call from specially compiled C Fortran code running on the SRM. Assuming a board like this …

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Re: Spring Circle SF586 Socket 5 VLB motherboard

Posted on 2021-01-02, 10:51

by

by dionb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Looks like a good board to buy a voltage regulator/ adapter and drop in a k6-2 475 @ 6x80mhz :0 Hehe, mind reader ;) It just so happens I have one of those adapters. I also have a spare K6-3 :) But first things first figure out how the board works. With a bit of luck I intend to test RAM limits and …

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