Re: Help needed with restoring 486 Packard Bell system

Posted on 2021-01-04, 15:36

by

by OzzFan

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I actually just found this Zenith 5-slot riser that looks like it might work...it's cheap enough I'm tempted to just buy it and take the chance. If it really just straight up ISA like it looks to be it should just work, right? https://www.ebay.com/itm/Zenith-Riser-Card-240-8038-10-85-3738-01/ …

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Re: Tyan Titan-Pro AT/ aka S1662

Posted on 2021-01-03, 18:33

by

by OzzFan

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Nice build. I have a similar system with an Intel 440FX board running 2 Pentium II Overdrives, 512MB RAM and NT 4.0 SP6a and is currently my legacy file server and PDC for my Win3.x/OS/2/DOS systems. The thing runs like a champ!

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Re: Coding help

Posted on 2021-01-02, 15:05

by

by OzzFan

in Marvin \ Software

in Marvin \ Software

Excellent feedback! Thanks! To expand on what I'm doing, I am writing a version control utility to ensure my applications are ran together within the same application suite. This gives me some control over the expected functions of a given application within the application suite. So, for example, …

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Re: Help needed with restoring 486 Packard Bell system

Posted on 2021-01-01, 16:58

by

by OzzFan

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

There's an arm that reaches from the front of the case:

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Re: Help needed with restoring 486 Packard Bell system

Posted on 2021-01-01, 09:32

by

by OzzFan

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

That's the same case as my first 486! Yours looks to be a newer model though. I'm terrible at taking pictures (and it's currently 3:30AM here), but I hope this helps: https://www.shelteringoak.com/Images/PB400-riser.jpg Riser card with model number https://www.shelteringoak.com/Images/PB400-floppy- …

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Re: Ultimate OS/2 Warp 4 machine?

Posted on 2021-01-01, 09:06

by

by OzzFan

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Fascinating thread! I'm still trying to figure out which system I want to put my copy of IBM OS/2 Warp 3 Red Spine on - but I really want it to have networking and I can't seem to get MS Lan Manager 2.2c working on it. Preferably I'd like to have newer networking support so that it can join my …

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Re: Ultimate OS/2 Warp 4 machine?

Posted on 2021-01-01, 00:34

by

by OzzFan

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Fascinating thread! I'm still trying to figure out which system I want to put my copy of IBM OS/2 Warp 3 Red Spine on - but I really want it to have networking and I can't seem to get MS Lan Manager 2.2c working on it. Preferably I'd like to have newer networking support so that it can join my …

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Re: When did you purchase your first 386 / 486 Computer? Availability vs the early 90's affordability norm.

Posted on 2021-01-01, 00:24

by

by OzzFan

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

My first 486 also happens to be my first computer. Coming from a poor family that viewed computers as expensive toys - and as devices that were taking my parent's jobs away, they weren't exactly encouraging of my soon-to-be hobby. At any rate, I bought my 486 in 1992. It came with a 486SX 25MHz CPU …

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Re: Coding help

Posted on 2021-01-01, 00:07

by

by OzzFan

in Marvin \ Software

in Marvin \ Software

Ok, so I think I'm getting the hang of this old school coding. I'm still having some problems using some of the C++ standards in the STLport for the DIgital Mars compiler, such as string and cout (lots of errors about bad header references in the iostream.h file). And I'm still trying to wrap my …

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Re: Coding help

Posted on 2020-12-19, 05:12

by

by OzzFan

in Marvin \ Software

in Marvin \ Software

Thanks for the links! Seems a bit overly complicated for the array of strings. I have a method I like to use that looks like this: string FormatBytes(long bytes) { string[] Suffix = { "Bytes", "KB", "MB", "GB", "TB" }; int i; double dblByte = bytes; for (i = 0; i < Suffix.Length && bytes >= 1024, …

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Re: Why are 3Com NICs regarded in such high regard?

Posted on 2020-12-18, 02:29

by

by OzzFan

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I like 3COM's 3C509, 3C905, and 3C515 range of adapters for my older systems. I've networked everything I can so that I can perform hdd backups of my older systems and access software directly from my NT server. Otherwise, if the system is fast enough I'll use whatever I have on hand and for which I …

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Coding help

Posted on 2020-12-18, 02:09

by

by OzzFan

in Marvin \ Software

in Marvin \ Software

Hi all, I recently got my legacy coding machine up and running. I was using Symantec C++ but downloaded Digital Mars C++ and the STL hoping it would support modern C++ standards. However, I can't seem to use modern types like string, or string arrays. It seems like legacy coding is much more C-like …

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Re: Best CPU for Socket 2 motherboard.

Posted on 2020-12-17, 18:53

by

by OzzFan

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Sounds like a really good machine you won there. Even better that it comes with a coin battery instead of those leaky barrel batteries! Congrats.

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Re: Best CPU for Socket 2 motherboard.

Posted on 2020-12-15, 23:37

by

by OzzFan

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I'm using a Kingston TurboChip for my Socket 2 486. It comes with a voltage converter and an active cooler on an Am5x86 133MHz CPU.

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Re: Currently recommended C compiler for native DOS?

Posted on 2020-12-15, 23:13

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by OzzFan

in DOS

in DOS

I'm currently trying to rewrite my compiled .BAT files into C/C++ code and applications. I'm mostly using Symantec C++ 7.21 but I also have a copy of Microsoft Visual C++ 1.52. Both have options to create MS-DOS applications. Any emulator worth its weight should be emulating the real thing, so just …

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Re: Help finding the correct SRAM chips for Asus VL/I-486SV2GX4 motherboard

Posted on 2020-12-15, 05:48

by

by OzzFan

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I should have benchmarked the system before I installed the cache upgrade. That would have been smart. I will have to try the benchmarking when I get a chance later this week. Unfortunately there is no option in the BIOS to disable the L2 cache so I have to do it through the jumpers. Thanks once …

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Re: Help finding the correct SRAM chips for Asus VL/I-486SV2GX4 motherboard

Posted on 2020-12-14, 16:07

by

by OzzFan

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Thanks for the suggestion! I went ahead and set the RAM to the slowest speed, inserted wait states and set the command rate to 2T. SpeedSys shows my memory bandwidth reduced from 81MB/s to 40MB/s. I believe these are 60ns SIMMs. Unfortunately, SpeedSys and CacheChk are still showing no L2 cache. I …

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Re: Network Card for W98: DFE-530TX vs. LNE100TX

Posted on 2020-12-12, 02:44

by

by OzzFan

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

The empty sockets are for an optional boot PROM used for PXE (network) booting.

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Re: Help finding the correct SRAM chips for Asus VL/I-486SV2GX4 motherboard

Posted on 2020-12-11, 21:02

by

by OzzFan

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Thanks for the suggestions, Winodws9566 and bloodem. I made sure this board is using a coin battery, so no leakage from there. And yeah, I made the proper adjustments to the jumpers. The startup info screen even displays the 512KB of L2 cache, but SpeedSys and Cachechk are still showing no L2 cache …

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Re: Missing conventional memory

Posted on 2020-12-11, 20:07

by

by OzzFan

in Marvin \ Software

in Marvin \ Software

Thank you for providing those screenshots. Run the Microsoft Diagnostics (MSD.EXE) and take a look at the memory map. Does it say anything is using the first 8K or the last 8K in the conventional memory area? Another tool that may be helpful if you can get it is the Quarterdeck Manifest diagnostics …

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