Re: PIII 800 MHz (E or EB) release date evidence?

Posted on 2019-11-01, 22:51

by

by Big Pink

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Some anecdotal evidence: I've been watching listings on eBay for a 99 800EB bound for my super-serious New Year's Eve 1999 $5000 build. Every one I've seen so far has had a year 2000 datecode. They may have been coming out the factory in December, but not in volume. As a consequence I've adjusted …

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Re: Last night I dreamt

Posted on 2019-10-19, 19:56

by

by Big Pink

in Milliways

in Milliways

"Hey executives, you know that old TV show that you made 30 years ago and which you haven't done any merchandising with? I'd like to make some model kits based on it." "OK, sure. Licensing fees start at $50,000 per item..." Come back in 2084 when the copyright (maybe) expires and no-one alive …

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Re: User input in .BAT file?

Posted on 2019-10-13, 19:59

by

by Big Pink

in Marvin \ Software

in Marvin \ Software

But, man.. Next problem.. Checking if the entered number is within 1-100.. Am I missing something, or can MS-DOS 6.22 not do "greater than" or "less than" either?? According to this book https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=u7oN-5y7nGsC&lpg=PP1&pg=PA761#v=onepage&q&f=false , 6.22 can only do …

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Re: Last night I dreamt

Posted on 2019-10-09, 20:50

by

by Big Pink

in Milliways

in Milliways

cyclone3d wrote: That and doors that have too big of a gap between the door and the frame so the door won't latch and is also unable to be locked. Are we all having the same dreams? 🤣 I had that one a few days ago!

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Re: Last night I dreamt

Posted on 2019-10-09, 19:52

by

by Big Pink

in Milliways

in Milliways

Duuuude! I know right? In my dreams, this always happens with AT computers which are hard switches. Then I would try and unplug them and they would still be on..... I know one of the signs to look out for if you want to lucid dream is light switches not working. I think the primitive layers of the …

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Re: Last night I dreamt

Posted on 2019-10-09, 14:48

by

by Big Pink

in Milliways

in Milliways

I had a repeat dream over the years where I was sitting at my computer, then I would shut it down, but it just wouldn't turn off!! It scared the shit out of dream-me. I used to have a similar dream about my old CRT TV long ago that scared me too. What really scared me was when it happened in real …

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Re: User input in .BAT file?

Posted on 2019-10-06, 22:22

by

by Big Pink

in Marvin \ Software

in Marvin \ Software

Keep in mind a lot of the functionality of batch scripts came about after DOS and 9x died. Wikipedia reports 'SET /P' was introduced in Windows 2000. I think 'CHOICE /C' with multiple options is available in 6.22 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choice_(command)) CHOICE /C:123 if %errorlevel% EQU 1 ( …

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

Posted on 2019-10-02, 00:13

by

by Big Pink

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Started work on archiving old home videos from the 90s. Got my parents' combo VCR out of the basement and teased it back to life after about 15 years - first it wouldn't accept a tape, then it wouldn't eject the tape. Eventually it worked fine, probably once the lubricant got spread around the …

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Re: Early 2000s tat-off: let's see your colored translucent plastic things

Posted on 2019-10-01, 21:29

by

by Big Pink

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

https://preview.redd.it/vj8z5gz651q11.jpg?auto=webp&s=ea75b0bc0c57405ecf7dfb8270548225b91617b0 Eventually I ditched it after a few months. I couldn't stand its design. Was a gift from one of my parents... I oddly like that. The un-integrated internals of a phone are more tangible than other …

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Re: Early 2000s tat-off: let's see your colored translucent plastic things

Posted on 2019-09-28, 23:39

by

by Big Pink

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

xjas wrote: 2010s "tactical"/truck/meat-head design language Jeez. That wouldn't look out of place controlling the sentry guns in Aliens. 🤣

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Re: Early 2000s tat-off: let's see your colored translucent plastic things

Posted on 2019-09-28, 21:59

by

by Big Pink

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

blurks wrote: xjas wrote: Why did this ever go out of style?? "Nope, hate it." Eh, I'd take this over the contemporaneous design fad for rubberised plastic. I've got an old Flip video camera that looks like I store it in a vaccum cleaner bag.

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Re: Too many old hard drives

Posted on 2019-09-08, 00:24

by

by Big Pink

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

> IBM drives are in demand Back in my day they were called the IBM DeathStar and not in demand at all. My dad worked at IBM and brought home a DeskStar (75GXP?) in 2003 when we were running out of drive space. They must have been giving them away. It crapped itself every other day - I had to …

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Re: Off the grid

Posted on 2019-09-03, 16:06

by

by Big Pink

in Milliways

in Milliways

For me, the Internet journey started with a 56k modem and ever since it's no leaving the web unless you retreat like a hermit. It's like the song: "you can check out anytime you like but you can never leave!" I recall listening to BBC Radio 1 in late 1999 and hearing a news report about (IIRC) a …

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Re: The most RAM I have ever had in a computer

Posted on 2019-08-31, 21:41

by

by Big Pink

in Milliways

in Milliways

And all this is do to piss poor coding A modern browser outputs a page of text and graphics Maybe a moving image and some sound None of this should require much to accomplish It doesn't. But the three dozen third-party tracking scripts loading in the background do. I swear sites loaded faster in …

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Re: Dual Slot-1 / Socket 370 motherboard question.

Posted on 2019-08-12, 18:36

by

by Big Pink

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Alas, I don't know. The idea behind those boards was to give existing Slot 1 users an upgrade path to the higher clocked coppermines, so presumably only one would be filled at a time. Then again, if it needed a jumper setting it might be dumb enough to ignore the presence of another CPU.

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Re: Dual Slot-1 / Socket 370 motherboard question.

Posted on 2019-08-12, 18:26

by

by Big Pink

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

There are combined Slot 1 + Socket 370 motherboards from when Slot 1 was being phased out in favour of PGA370. Example: https://www.anandtech.com/show/491/22 A previous revision of the Tyan Trinity 400 had a jumper for controlling whether socket or slot was in use. Someone sufficiently technically- …

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Re: Poor 3D performance with PCI graphics cards on i815 Compaq Deskpro

Posted on 2019-04-06, 20:48

by

by Big Pink

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

I rescued a Deskpro EN with almost identical specs from being thrown out at work last year. I bought a Rage 128 card - would not POST at all. I bought a TNT2 M64 card - worked mostly, but 3DMark just crashed. Finally, bought a GeForce 2 MX400 - screwed up graphics, Win 98 refuses to recognise it ( …

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Re: the world how I would have wanted it: Sim City 2000

Posted on 2019-03-04, 19:56

by

by Big Pink

in Milliways

in Milliways

yawetaG wrote: SC3k Unlimited may be Windows-based, but it's basically 2000 on steroids (unfortunately minus waterfalls and water power). I have many fond memories of playing both SC2K and SC3K, but the jazz/minimalist soundtrack of 3000 seals it for me. One of my absolute favourite game …

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Re: What were those covered up ports above the backplate in old cases for?

Posted on 2019-01-04, 18:08

by

by Big Pink

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Those cut-outs are still around today, just maybe not on desktops. I bought an HTPC case that has one for the VGA connector from a low profile card. It means you don't lose a PCI slot. https://www.pbtech.co.nz/fileslib/_2016011913 … B_Descr_009.jpg

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Re: Are all 512MB PC133 RAM DIMMS registered/ECC?

Posted on 2019-01-03, 00:17

by

by Big Pink

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I think all 512 MB SDRAM DIMMs are registered/ECC? I don't think I've ever seen a normal module that size. I concur, only ones I've got (or seen) are registered/ECC. Only servers would need or make use of multiple lanes of 512MB SDR then, until DDR came to the home. Could be the reason this query …

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