Re: My Dream High-End Intel 486 Build

Posted on 2020-05-29, 15:40

by

by pshipkov

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

Hi Tetrium, i keep posting info from time to time here: https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=65395 It is not structured as a proper "research document", so some of the points may not be obvious, but if you skim through it, you will notice the pattern. Long ago i noticed some of that stuff …

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Re: My Dream High-End Intel 486 Build

Posted on 2020-05-29, 07:14

by

by pshipkov

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

On 486 class machines vlb adapters are for sure faster at dos graphics than pci counterparts, considering more or less similar time period - to say 1993 - 1996 and even early 1997. For windows graphics is the opposite: pci > vlb. If you test this on pci/vlb mobo - numbers will be somewhat lower than …

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Re: MR-BIOS for C&T PEAK/DM

Posted on 2020-04-21, 15:26

by

by pshipkov

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I have the same motherboard with the same problem. Also, there are at least two more reports out there about similar mobos and chipset. All these early, wide format, 386 mobos are slow and clunky.

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Re: 3 (+3 more) retro battle stations

Posted on 2020-04-05, 03:59

by

by pshipkov

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

Octek Fox-286 with Headland chipset. Octek had couple of hits with their hardware back then. 286 Headland chipsets were very common ... and just as much unexciting. So, i was not sure what to expect here. The board is of good quality. Had to solder a crystal oscillator socket. Takes up to 4 Mb of …

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Re: Most recent 386 mainboard/chipset?

Posted on 2020-04-01, 15:48

by

by pshipkov

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

In the below thread i posted data about bunch of 386 boards - maybe it will be useful to you. 3 (+3 more) retro battle stations

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Re: My Big Red Switch 486

Posted on 2020-03-31, 15:53

by

by pshipkov

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

@Firage Is your L1 running in WB or WT mode ? Wonder if the EIDE controller is potentially able to work around WB L1. Thanks.

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Re: How did people draw on their PCs in the 80s and the 90s?

Posted on 2020-03-30, 05:15

by

by pshipkov

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I had com, or was it lpt tablet back then. It was super cheap, but did the job. In fact i remember buying 10 of them and selling them to friends at no profit. Was there ever an argument about wolf and doom with or without mouse ? That question does not make sense. Also there was (is) a better …

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Re: 3 (+3 more) retro battle stations

Posted on 2020-03-29, 21:55

by

by pshipkov

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

DTK PTM-1632C is an interesting 286 motherboard based on C&T's NEAT chipset. It allows to combine SIMMs along with on-board memory for maximum amount of 5 Mb RAM. Cannot remember seeing this in other boards. BIOS is custom DTK software that was super advanced for 1990 - menus and stuff. It is very …

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Re: My Big Red Switch 486

Posted on 2020-03-27, 04:23

by

by pshipkov

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

Thanks !

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Re: To SCC or not SCC

Posted on 2020-03-26, 21:07

by

by pshipkov

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Thanks for the feedback guys. That makes it clear.

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To SCC or not SCC

Posted on 2020-03-26, 19:11

by

by pshipkov

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Some background for context, before asking the questions: In general i have been more into graphics and programming than audio, but always cared to have good PC audio hardware. This translates to my retro hobby as well. So, i have plethora of SoundBlasters, ESSs, other sound cards, Sound Canvas, etc …

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Re: My Big Red Switch 486

Posted on 2020-03-26, 18:42

by

by pshipkov

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

@firage This is some great IDE perfomance for sure. Better than VLB SCSI controllers in 10mb/s mode. Can you expand on your experience with EIDE2300Plus ? It has a bios -check, needs a driver - check. What options it provides for its configuration ? Thanks.

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Re: My Big Red Switch 486

Posted on 2020-03-24, 01:25

by

by pshipkov

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

Really cool rig. Great job Firage ! @CoffeeOne In my opinion caching controllers won't have much, if any, effect with CF storage. From all 486 class motherboards and controllers that i messed with, Asus PVI seems to be the only one doing the PIO4 mode with real 10Mb/s transfer rates, which is at …

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Re: what is this component

Posted on 2020-03-23, 01:58

by

by pshipkov

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Tried early today few things. - Shortened that line - removed the other inductors and shortened the other line. - swapped the existing inductors between the lines. Win95 refuses to recognize the Voodo. I am hesitant to take components from other boards to get two of these inductors in place. It …

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Re: 64k x 4, dip-28 sram

Posted on 2020-03-21, 23:42

by

by pshipkov

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Thanks. I realized that my search string was wrong. See plenty of options now.

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64k x 4, dip-28 sram

Posted on 2020-03-21, 19:15

by

by pshipkov

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Looking for chips like these. Dont find anything online. Any hints ? Thanks.

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Re: 3 (+3 more) retro battle stations

Posted on 2020-03-21, 02:24

by

by pshipkov

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

Sharing info about two more 386 motherboards. Biostar MB-1333/40AEA-Q Neither good or bad board - from the middle of the pack. Does not overclock at all. Pretty stable. Does what is supposed to do. Trying to think of anything unique about it but nothing comes to mind. https://www.petershipkov.com/ …

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Re: need few ideas about waking up a motherboard

Posted on 2020-03-17, 03:10

by

by pshipkov

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Mobo is "naked" on this photo. Otherwise there is oscillator there.

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Re: need few ideas about waking up a motherboard

Posted on 2020-03-16, 08:48

by

by pshipkov

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Of course.

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Re: need few ideas about waking up a motherboard

Posted on 2020-03-16, 08:16

by

by pshipkov

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Ah, two really good ideas. - i don't think i checked different BIOS(es). - i actually don't have a PC speaker (i think). But time to find one. @keropi - checked bunch of lines - all was good. Forgot to mention - all components (cpu, ram, sram, chipset, etc) get warm over time - so there is current …

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