Re: Trying to find the right PS/2 Bracket for Baby AT system.

Posted on 2021-07-12, 10:36

by

by canthearu

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I always do continuality testing on the bracket and then rearrange pins in the header to make these bloody things work. And if you are stuck spending $10-$20 on delivery, order 3 or 4 of them to make it worthwhile. And yes, if you are not careful, you could cook things. I almost cooked one of my PS …

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Re: What do you regret throwing out?

Posted on 2021-07-12, 05:45

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by canthearu

in Milliways

in Milliways

Oh so much Commodore 64 Colecovision Amiga 1000 and monitor Genuine Adlib card Let me go off and have a cry!

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

Posted on 2021-07-11, 10:37

by

by canthearu

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

How does it sound at shutdown? Make some recording, there is a lack of hdd noises collection thread on the forums! Here's the recordings of my HDD, since that definitely counts as a retro activity. Just_HDD.ogg This one is with the fan and speaker disconnected, and the case open. Yeah, reminds me …

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Re: VOGONS Driver Library

Posted on 2021-07-11, 03:30

by

by canthearu

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

edit: found a picture and it has no BIOS (not good for HD's), jumpers for IRQ and Port Address so is closer to a DTC 3510 http://web.archive.org/web/20000304051110/http://www.datatechnology.com/products/scsi/3510a.shtml "Adaptec 151x/AIC-6X60 Compatible" so should use Aspi2dos.sys What do you know, …

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Re: 32-Bit is dead

Posted on 2021-06-30, 11:56

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by canthearu

in Milliways

in Milliways

Edit: Due to the whole secure boot concept, UEFI also nolonger allows users to develop and run their own OSes. On a traditional PC, be it x86 or x64, you can write/run your own boot sector games and write/run your own OSes like MenuetOS. Where does this lead to ? To a world where a single company …

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Re: 32-Bit is dead

Posted on 2021-06-30, 02:40

by

by canthearu

in Milliways

in Milliways

Thank Intel and UEFI for that. What's wrong with UEFI? As long as PCs are implemented using open/documented standards, then I'm not exceptionally worried. It is things like proprietary ARM systems that I would rather not have a bar of. Also, enforcing secure boot is another thing that worries me …

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Re: Upgrade 386 matherboard with 386 socket and 386dx40 solder already

Posted on 2021-06-24, 10:46

by

by canthearu

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Socket is already present, not only the pad but ready socket. If i insert simething like intel 386sx16 on the converter PQFP->PGA (if exist) it work? how to deactivate the 386DX40 already present on the board? And if insert a faster 486 upgrade on the same empty socket? Basicly i want to slow down …

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Re: Upgrade 386 matherboard with 386 socket and 386dx40 solder already

Posted on 2021-06-23, 23:28

by

by canthearu

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

i have found a mainboard for 386 class pc with 386dx40 solder onboard and 386 and 387 socket. Can i add a 386DX chip in the empty socket? event if the 386dx40 is present? tnks If it already has a 386dx40, then that is the fastest processor for the board you can get (other than some TI/Cyrix 486tlc …

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Re: ESS 233X ES1869F

Posted on 2021-06-23, 03:11

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by canthearu

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

While my favourite clone sound card is going to be a Yamaha YMF718/9 based, the ESS1869 comes a close second 😀 Just make sure you use VXD drivers, the WDM drivers are terrible. Some drivers may have hanging note bugs on the MIDI interface, but you can normally find one that works properly.

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Re: Would you be interested in an x86-based alternative to the Raspberry Pi, optimized for retro gaming?

Posted on 2021-06-22, 02:57

by

by canthearu

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

That is correct; a product like this would primarily find use in applications that demand massively parallel floating-point operations, but where spending $10,000 on a computer with Geforce 3080s in Quad SLI would be severe overkill. Something along the lines of "teaching kids in third-world …

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Re: what will you do when your last hardware fails?

Posted on 2021-06-22, 01:50

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by canthearu

in Milliways

in Milliways

darry wrote on 2021-06-14, 19:40: I don't care for CRTs for anything VGA and higher (15KHz stuff is another matter, potentially), but people will need to pry my model M keyboards from my cold, dead, rigor-mortised hands . And you bet they will! Mint condition Model M keyboard -> Only been with …

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

Posted on 2021-06-21, 09:18

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by canthearu

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Got the Shuttle Xpc sorted. About a minute and a half to boot to the desk which is Cinnamon on Linux Mint Debian Edition. If you look at the system info shot below you'll see how much resources this little beauty has. So if someone says Xwindows is slow or there is no modern operating system for …

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

Posted on 2021-06-18, 05:39

by

by canthearu

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

So if someone says Xwindows is slow or there is no modern operating system for older 32-bit x86 hardware that is regularly updated tell them to go pound sand ;) I wouldn't call Xwindows modern though ... more like a fossil that has been kept animated because they haven't worked out a replacement …

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Re: Help with few parts ideas for building my 1996-1998 machine

Posted on 2021-06-15, 22:04

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by canthearu

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Super socket 7 is the same physically as Socket 7, so the AMD K6-2 physically fits in all socket 7 systems (and probably socket 5 too) You can run a K6-2 CPU in a normal Socket 7 board, as long as: a) Bus speed is 66mhz. b) Can set the voltage low enough to not fry the K6-2 CPU. c) BIOS doesn't …

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Re: Got another retro computer!

Posted on 2021-06-12, 13:23

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by canthearu

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

Hey John, I replaced a few capacitors on a motherboard as my first soldering project. It wasn't extremely easy but it went okay - I have no hesitation encouraging you to try it out. I just found the cheapest soldering kit on Amazon... it came with the iron, a holding stand, a spool of lead-free …

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Re: Trying to revive a PSU from a 386 - I'm part way there

Posted on 2021-06-09, 09:44

by

by canthearu

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Modern PSUs do have one major issue though, except those really high-end 750W+ units these are geared towards 3V3 and 12V line loads. A typical modern "old PC" will not even have a mechanical HDD anymore, or just one, so the 12V is almost not used, and 3V3 isn't at all obviously. The simplified way …

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Re: 32-Bit is dead

Posted on 2021-06-09, 07:35

by

by canthearu

in Milliways

in Milliways

While I don't agree with Vinyl Records still living, I guess it satisfies a need some people have for a more touchy, feely side of music. Which is cool. I can't argue since I resurrect and maintain extremely old hardware for that same touchy, feely reason.

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Re: Trying to revive a PSU from a 386 - I'm part way there

Posted on 2021-06-09, 07:33

by

by canthearu

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Yeah, it is a shame that technicians do not want to touch PSUs at all. Fixed a small bluray home theater system for a friend after finding out all that was wrong with it was a fused bridge rectifier. There is always a risk of shock, but you can minimise it by keeping everything powered off and …

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Re: 32-Bit is dead

Posted on 2021-06-09, 07:14

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by canthearu

in Milliways

in Milliways

If you read too much media, everything is dead. X86 is dead. Real hardware is dead. 32-bit is dead. 80's pop is dead. Consoles are dead. PCs are dead. ect ect ect. Except it is usually wrong!

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Re: Advice on socket 7 choice?

Posted on 2021-06-09, 04:50

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by canthearu

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

For a "My first Socket 7" build, I recommend getting a board based on the Intel 430TX chipset. It is nice and easy chipset to use, without the troubles of Cache slots (cache will be on the motherboard already). It will generally take easier to acquire SD-RAM modules, take a wide variety of 66mhz FSB …

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