NIce nice nice nice 😀

a few shots from the hardware would be wonderful too 😁
... I love these old machines ^^

You can get those adapters fairly cheap on ebay though. I only use new keyboards with the adapter on AT systems and all work just fine 😉

I'll see if I can get the keyboard from my friend tomorrow, then I'll plug it in and take some video of it. Anything you all want to see in particular?

Well the VGA Card would be very interesting 😀
Thanks

I took some pictures. Sorry about the low quality, it is the best I could do with my dim lighting and cell phone camera.

A real retro rig 😁

Liking the cyrix cpu also, despite it's bad name back in the day

My frist computer was from that era. I remember my first computer having an Intel CPU though; most likely a 25 or 33mhz SX. It was an IBM PS/ValuePoint. At one point, my dad replaced it's 5.25" floppy drive with a CD drive then added a sound card then when he decided I was old enough for the internet, a 28.8 modem! I think I spent most my time with that computer switching between Chips Challenge and Descent. After getting the modem, I'd also regularly dial in just to see if I could find something interesting. The internet was pretty boring back then but never the less, I was amazed by it.

My first PC was the Packard-Bell family computer that we bought in 1989. I used it for writing stories on Word Perfect, and for my school's MathLab floppy diskette when I took a math class in 1990. It didn't even have a CD drive, just a floppy A:\ drive and a hard drive.

Then a few years later we got another Packard Bell from my sister that was exactly the same as this PC, only it had a CD-ROM drive, plus the other stuff. I used to play Star Wars Rebel Assault, SW Rebel Assault 2, SW Dark Forces, Where in the USA is Carmen Sandiego, Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego, and, b/c I hated cold weather so much (as well as having to shovel snow off our front walk) I tried to melt all the snow and make spring/summer come (in January/February) by playing and beating my kid nephew's game, Super Solvers Treasure MathStorm. This was so much fun I decided to have a go with another of this nephew's games - SS Treasure Cove, but I abandoned it when I received my very first PC game - Alien Breed in March/April 1995, followed by SW Rebel Assault in August of that year.

Then, in 1998 I received 2 PC's of my very own - a new Packard-Bell (this was a tower, unlike the first 2 PC's which had cases upon which the CRT monitor sat) and a CTX (tower) PC that ran windows 95.

After this it was onto several more PC's, a Dell Dimension 8200 desktop tower in 2001, a HP Compaq Presario X6000 laptop in 2005, a MacBook Pro in 2009, and a Asus Eee PC netbook in 2010.

So, I have an issue with it now; when I run it for about 15 minutes, the screen turns blue. I'm thinking that may be a cold solder joint on the VGA card, as it does it with every monitor I use with it. Any other ideas before I open it up?

You don't happen to have a spare VGA card laying around?

I have loads of PCI cards, but no ISA VGA cards.

Btw, if your screen turns blue, do you mean blue like in a BSoD-blue, or you keep the same screen with whatever was already on it but it just starts suddenly looking more blue?
Pic?

I know it took me a year to respond, but the screen stays the same, just with a blue tint. I'm probably going to just buy a new ISA VGA card.

When it comes to keyboards there is always adapters floating around. I bought one a few months ago although pricey at $13 and change it allows me to use ps2 as well usb keyboards with these older machines. What I really like about it those is that I can also use it as an AT keyboard adapter to where I can use older keyboards like the IBM model m on newer machines. It has both male and female connectors.

Passthrough PS/2 to AT (or AT to PS/2, for that matter) dongles are pretty cheap and easy to find online or at local computer warehouses catering to older hardware. (if you have one)

PS/2 ISA cards also shouldn't be too hard to find. (or PS/2 I/O connectors if your motherboard has PS/2 headers onboard)

USB adapters would tend to be a bit pricier though, and USB ISA cards aren't very common either.

kool kitty89 wrote:

PS/2 ISA cards also shouldn't be too hard to find.

I've never seen an ISA PS/2 mouse/keyboard card. Do you have a photo of one with specs?

feipoa wrote:

kool kitty89 wrote:

PS/2 ISA cards also shouldn't be too hard to find.

I've never seen an ISA PS/2 mouse/keyboard card. Do you have a photo of one with specs?

Yes, what he said.

That could eliminate the PS/2 issue on the really good 486 boards.

I'm pretty sure they don't exist, since I've been looking for one for years.

I could have sword I saw some ISA PS/2 adapters at weirdstuff . . . maybe I'm confusing that with bus mouse adapters.