Re: Packard Bell PCB4100 with onboard Headland video memory upgrade

Posted on 2023-10-22, 01:52

by

by danieljm

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

I think that ZIP memory you bought is unfortunately incompatible with this motherboard :( Both of your memory chips (424260 and 424170) are NEC branded, and both are 256kBx16, but in datasheets you can see that they are different types. Thank you. This is good information. I see they are different …

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Re: PicoGUS: ISA sound card emulator with Raspberry Pi Pico (Gravis Ultrasound, AdLib, MPU-401, Tandy, CMS)

Posted on 2023-10-09, 17:43

by

by danieljm

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

Adrian's Digital Basement has a new video about the PicoGUS! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBYUTwKRyNk When testing, Adrian ran into a few issues. For example we discovered that the PicoGUS (and real GUS!) do not work well with the XTIDE. If drive access happens simultaneously with GUS music …

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Re: What are the chances all my ISA sound cards have MIDI problems?

Posted on 2023-10-08, 22:08

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by danieljm

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

I'm using an MT32-Pi and my tests have been Monkey Island for MT-32 mode, and Doom for SC-55 mode. Problems happen both in pure DOS7.1 with Unisound and SoftMPU, and in Windows 98. Hello, SoftMPU is for MPU intelligent mode or MPU emulation on non-mpu compatible interfaces. Your cards are UART MPU …

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Re: What are the chances all my ISA sound cards have MIDI problems?

Posted on 2023-10-05, 15:07

by

by danieljm

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

midicollector wrote on 2023-10-04, 21:52: What brand was the cable? Just curious so others can avoid it. I bought it off eBay. It was still sealed in a clear plastic bag, but there was no brand. I was hoping it was some new old stock, but I guess not.

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Re: What are the chances all my ISA sound cards have MIDI problems?

Posted on 2023-10-04, 21:10

by

by danieljm

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

I reminded myself in another thread that I should post a conclusion to this. I ended up ordering the DB15MIDI and all my ISA cards seem to work great with it. It would seem that the cable was the problem. Thanks everyone for your advice. Cheers.

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Re: ESS AudioDrive (ES1868) - a surprisingly good ISA sound card

Posted on 2023-10-04, 21:06

by

by danieljm

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

I'm having issues with gameport not throwing MIDI to sc-55. I've tested the cable with aureal system which works fine with sc-55. Any advice? I might have had the same issue as you. See here: https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?f=62&t=95642 I never made a final post for that thread(which I should …

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Re: Trying to fix a bad AT PSU, any tips?

Posted on 2023-09-24, 16:21

by

by danieljm

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Check the voltages you're getting from it while it has that load attached. I should have mentioned that's what I did when I had the sacrificial drives hooked up. I got just a hair over 5v and 12v on their respective lines. I would also suggest upgrading the secondary sillicon if possible. I did …

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Re: Trying to fix a bad AT PSU, any tips?

Posted on 2023-09-24, 04:37

by

by danieljm

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Thank you for that warning. That was the one thing that I already knew about fixing PSUs, but it was still very much appreciated. :D So, I checked all the diodes and transistors and everything came back fine. I decided to just swap out all the caps and put in a new fuse and see what happens. I …

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Re: Trying to fix a bad AT PSU, any tips?

Posted on 2023-09-19, 06:42

by

by danieljm

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Measure the mains input side... Okay, I checked the two input pins against each other, I checked them against ground, and I checked the output from the blown fuse against ground. All of them showed open loop, so I think that's a good sign. :) Switch meter to diode mode, thats the one beeping when …

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Re: Trying to fix a bad AT PSU, any tips?

Posted on 2023-09-19, 05:32

by

by danieljm

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Thanks everyone. I guess I assumed that the leaked fluid may have caused the short, but now I'll be more wary. small electrolytics are also important and should be at least checked with esr meter if fuse blew there might be dead short somewhere, transistor or diode, get yourself an old incandescent …

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Trying to fix a bad AT PSU, any tips?

Posted on 2023-09-18, 06:49

by

by danieljm

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

So, I got my hands on a Packard Bell Multimedia Supreme 486 (PB410A). Thankfully, I managed to get the battery off the motherboard before the leakage was able to do anything more than a bit of cosmetic damage. But the PSU is another matter entirely. Looks like some of the caps leaked all over one …

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Re: Should I upgrade the heatsink on my 9800 Pro AIW?

Posted on 2023-08-25, 15:15

by

by danieljm

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

Here's the solution I came up with. I used a 70mm fan that I pulled probably from an old Socket 478 heatsink years ago. It's pretty loud, but it moves a ton of air at full blast and the noise doesn't really bother me that much. It definitely seems to be helping. You can really feel the heat blowing …

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Re: Should I upgrade the heatsink on my 9800 Pro AIW?

Posted on 2023-08-24, 23:25

by

by danieljm

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

Here's the solution I came up with. I used a 70mm fan that I pulled probably from an old Socket 478 heatsink years ago. It's pretty loud, but it moves a ton of air at full blast and the noise doesn't really bother me that much. It definitely seems to be helping. You can really feel the heat blowing …

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Re: AWE64 Gold to MT-32 PI - Is this possible?

Posted on 2023-08-23, 19:33

by

by danieljm

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

So, I went through something similar. I thought I needed something like the Roland Um-One MK2, but it's not actually necessary if you're willing to fiddle with splicing a cable together. The MT-32Pi hat for Mister uses a USB connector that isn't wired up like a standard USB port. Instead it's wired …

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Re: What are the chances all my ISA sound cards have MIDI problems?

Posted on 2023-08-08, 06:12

by

by danieljm

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

In the case of Doom, be sure to only connect the PC's MIDI out cable to the module's MIDI in. Do not connect the module's MIDI out to PC MIDI in. This is a known issue with Doom. I've only got the MIDI out cable connected, but I appreciate the suggestion. I had no idea that was a problem with Doom.

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Re: What are the chances all my ISA sound cards have MIDI problems?

Posted on 2023-08-08, 02:37

by

by danieljm

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

I suspect a gameport->midi cable problem, what do you use for this? Here's a look at the cable. It came still sealed in a bag that seemed legit. I bought it on eBay from someone who said it was new old stock, but I guess it's hard to know for sure. midi1.JPEG midi2.JPEG If this is the problem, does …

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What are the chances all my ISA sound cards have MIDI problems?

Posted on 2023-08-07, 22:00

by

by danieljm

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

I feel like there must be something I don't understand about MIDI output through the gameport connector specifically from ISA cards, but I can't find any answers. I seem to get hanging/missing/wrong notes on every ISA card I've tried, but PCI cards on the same system seem fine. I'm using an MT32-Pi …

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Re: How to learn about hardware

Posted on 2023-08-06, 20:19

by

by danieljm

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Also, once you figure out what your motherboard model is, really spend some time working through the motherboard manual. You'll probably find a lot to info about the little fiddly things, like the correct orientation of cables and that kind of thing. And if you need help figuring out the model of …

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Re: What's up with my CRT, and, are these contemporary Creative speakers even shielded?

Posted on 2023-08-02, 21:48

by

by danieljm

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Yeah, I tracked down a set of those Cambridge Soundworks speakers because I had a set when I was younger and I thought they would be perfect to pair with my CRT. I was immediately disappointed to find out they were distorting the image and clearly aren't properly shielded. It has me baffled, because …

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Re: Bought these (retro) hardware today

Posted on 2023-07-28, 18:33

by

by danieljm

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Filename IMG_0573.jpeg File size 717.69 KiB Views 2108 views The first PCBs I’ve ever ordered, so of course I went with something very tiny. 😀 Just need to wait for the rest of the parts to show up and I’ll be able to get about 4 different boards up and running.

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