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

Posted on 2019-06-08, 22:31

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by Merovign

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Wow, love those pop-up drives! Great looking setup. Yes, this is my favorite of the batch so far. I seem to have theoretically solved the PSU problem though it may take a little while to have the funds and parts in the right place, I *might* have a little "late 80s laptops" photo essay in 2-3 weeks …

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Re: Early laptop power adapters (Toshiba 9V)

Posted on 2019-06-08, 22:28

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by Merovign

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Well, quick update, I didn't need a search engine to find the voltage, it's printed on the device. The problem is finding an original adapter, which I had hoped to do. It would be nice since at least one of these will end up in my collection (probably a few since I found the Zenith in the bunch). 40 …

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

Posted on 2019-06-08, 07:17

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by Merovign

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I picked up a few laptops today. AFewLaptops.jpg There are a few not in the picture. It would be really exciting if they didn't all need different oddball power adapters and I only got one. I've been looking for some of these for a long time, so it's worth it, but it's going to be a *nightmare* to …

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Early laptop power adapters (Toshiba 9V)

Posted on 2019-06-08, 06:58

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by Merovign

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I'm just fishing for any info anyone has. I mean, ideally, one of y'all ended up with a box of adapters wondering where all the laptops are - more likely the recyclers cut the cords off for copper. Anyway, I've discovered that all search engines I've tried can either find no information or are just …

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Re: NuXT - MicroATX Turbo XT Motherboard - 9.55MHz, UMBs, XT-CF, SVGA, HD Floppy, Serial

Posted on 2019-06-07, 08:28

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by Merovign

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

To mashup Futurama's Fry and Groucho Marx: "SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY... if I had money." This might be *perfect* for a project I've been thinking about for a while - which will take a while to start so hopefully I'll have the money by then. Building this would be *highly* entertaining as long as I …

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

Posted on 2019-06-06, 07:35

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by Merovign

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I repaired a Matrox card I got today. It had its BIOS chip missing and I completely didn't notice that when the thing was being sold... Amazing work! Did you use a microscope/repair scope/cam thingy for the repair (and for the pics) and jigs or just hawk eyes and surgeon hands? I've been ruminating …

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

Posted on 2019-06-05, 06:24

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by Merovign

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

So far I can recognize a proprietary (either HP or Gateway) Slot 1 mobo, something that looks like an ABIT AW9D-MAX, a ASUS H81M and a ECS K7S5A, and a Intel D875PBZ. The others I can't identify. 2 H81i's. Abit IC-7 in the back, a couple of surprisingly standard Dell mATX boards, Abit IP35 Pro, …

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Re: Bought these (retro) hardware today

Posted on 2019-06-05, 06:11

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by Merovign

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Holy noodle! I love late 70s and early 80s stuff, and I never see it except in archive.org magazines. One of these days I'll be in the right place at the right time. Or 3D print a Soroc or IMSAI VDP-80 orCanon AS-100 case and mount an emulator in it. The Sharp MZ-80K is from 1979 (it has date codes …

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Re: Bought these (retro) hardware today

Posted on 2019-06-04, 03:54

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by Merovign

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Not today but yesterday. While most folks in my country were sitting on their lazy asses in the sun yesterday, I took my opportunity to buy some computers from a museum collection: New for me is the HP 9835A, which I have never owned. Needless to say I've had an amazing day and today is even better …

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

Posted on 2019-06-04, 03:44

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by Merovign

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Well well WELL how have things been going the two weeks I was on page 3 and wondering what happened to the daily threads? :) I cataloged the 55 or so desktops and 25 or so laptops and I'm starting work on loose components, but it's slow going as I'm doing it part time. I just found a dumped Dell …

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

Posted on 2019-06-04, 03:29

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by Merovign

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I didn't really found them, but they were donated to me by my coworker... around two hundred of 5,25" disks he used in 80s/early 90s (only a bunch from a big box presented on the photo)... supposedly some interesting software on them... some of them are original driver disk for some 286 …

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Re: Inside a G3 iMac

Posted on 2019-06-02, 01:38

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by Merovign

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I still have pieces of my sadly departed eMac (because it was the most desirable version, but the power/display hardware board died). Darned thing weighed 55 lbs. Have half a silly idea of rebuilding it into some kind of less massive AIO chassis I also have an LC, G3 mac, PM 8500, and a few Power …

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Re: ISA card with LEDs on it (inside) some kind of test board?

Posted on 2019-06-01, 01:06

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by Merovign

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

ISA diagnostic / POST cards seem pretty common and cheap on ebay. I haven't tested them (certainly not all of them) though.

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Re: Your (feasible) dream retro PC(s).. do you have them?

Posted on 2019-05-30, 04:58

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by Merovign

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

LOL 95 systems but that includes modernish stuff. I have a lot to get rid of this year, consolidation is my project this year. After I finish cataloging it all! I have tons of holes to fill in my collection, I desire much from the 80s and really just have the Kaypro and Commodore (the Apple II+ is …

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Re: Need to consolidate my retro systems - What should I keep?

Posted on 2019-05-30, 04:43

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by Merovign

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I got a super-cheap Optiplex 790 i3 ($40) and it works *brilliant* as an XP machine, and it's tiny. YES it lacks authenticity and you aren't playing with hardware anymore. If space is more a consideration than money consider getting rid of cases and making a couple/few test-rig style setups, even …

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Re: ebay NOS dual pentium pro build

Posted on 2019-05-29, 03:38

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by Merovign

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Good to see the problems that might hit me when I finally get my Dual PPro set up. I'm planning on some kind of Mach-based OS, because of Cougar/TOS being Mach-based, and that's what ran on ASCI Red, the PPro Supercomputer, and because I have failed in finding a copy of Cougar/TOS and frankly it …

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Re: Need help deciding if this laptop is worth it.

Posted on 2019-05-29, 03:23

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by Merovign

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Scha-weet! Well, not the slow part, but that's kind of expensive, it's business class not gaming (almost unheard of in those days) or workstation (rare in those days but I just got my Compaq 9440, which is a retro workstation). I hope it works well for your purposes!

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Re: 486 motherboard CPU upgrade ?

Posted on 2019-05-27, 00:49

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by Merovign

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

IIRC the ODPR chips were for 5V board in any case (the OPR and PODP chips for 3V). Since the ODPR66 runs at 33x2, I would think that should work and won't get fried in testing (unless you clock it at 2x50, maybe). If you look the part number up on CPU world it says 5V.

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

Posted on 2019-05-27, 00:40

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by Merovign

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I don't even have any history with Amigas and I'd take an Amiga for $50. Heck, I'd even take two!

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Re: Need help with IDE controller jumpers ?

Posted on 2019-05-25, 04:48

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by Merovign

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I have some sIDE/4 cards and one thing I noticed is that sometimes they board lacks features the manual says it has (or vice/versa), end result being something on the jumpers doesn't work. Compare the card carefully to the appearance in the documents. Try a minimalist setup, turn everything off you …

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