VOGONS


Retro Rig Photo Thread

Topic actions

Reply 1760 of 2685, by appiah4

User metadata
Rank l33t++
Rank
l33t++

What do you have in the lower left case? I have the exact same case and it houses an Am386SX-25 build for me..

Retronautics: A digital gallery of my retro computers, hardware and projects.

Reply 1762 of 2685, by imi

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t
vellu wrote on 2020-07-31, 17:12:

My retro rig is actually a retro rack that consists of 4 systems. Built to be easily accessible and movable since I don't have much space for retro hardware. Every system is connected to a KVM switch and audio mixer inside the rack.

I love it ^^

similar to what I want to do, only I want to also have a monitor on top 😀

Reply 1763 of 2685, by vellu

User metadata
Rank Newbie
Rank
Newbie
appiah4 wrote on 2020-07-31, 17:37:

What do you have in the lower left case? I have the exact same case and it houses an Am386SX-25 build for me..

Here's the hardware, starting from top:
- Roland MX-5 audio mixer
- Roland MT-32, Roland SC-55 and KVM
- IBM Aptiva 2144-131 with 150 MHz Pentium, 32 Mb of RAM, 1 Gb hard disk, Compact flash to ide adapter, Sound Blaster AWE32, Gravis Ultrasound Max 2.1
- AMBRA 486 with 25 MHz 486SX, 4 Mb of RAM, 210 Mb hard disk, Sound Blaster 16 and 3Com network card
- (lower left) 486DX2 with 66 MHz, 8 Mb of RAM, 500 Mb hard drisk, VLB Video card, Compact flash to ide adapter ESS Audiodrive and Sound Blaster 16
- (lower right) Intel Pentium 2 with 400 MHz, 128 Mb of RAM, 10 Gb hard disk, Matrox G400, Voodoo 2 (12 Mb) x 2 in SLI and Sound Blaster Live!

IBM Aptiva's AWE32 is connected to Roland SC-55 and AMBRA 486's SB16 is to MT-32. At the moment I have not shared midi devices across the systems like I have speakers with audio mixer. It could be the next step so I don't have to connect them directly to sound card gameport connectors.

retro rack

Reply 1764 of 2685, by vellu

User metadata
Rank Newbie
Rank
Newbie
chrismeyer6 wrote on 2020-07-31, 19:10:

That rack setup you have is brilliant. I just might have to copy that idea

Thank you! It has been on the to-do list for a while and I was finally able to find suitable old stereo rack for it with minimal modifications. Keep in mind that cable management might be the hardest part. Mine didn't fit inside the case

Attachments

  • rack_behind.jpg
    Filename
    rack_behind.jpg
    File size
    81.78 KiB
    Views
    7967 views
    File license
    Fair use/fair dealing exception

retro rack

Reply 1768 of 2685, by keenmaster486

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t

I may be getting somewhere...

98F29458-D000-4BFC-B50A-AEE71B289343.jpeg
Filename
98F29458-D000-4BFC-B50A-AEE71B289343.jpeg
File size
1.15 MiB
Views
7877 views
File license
Public domain

The desktop is a Dell 466/M, bog standard 486 DX2/66 with DOS.

The tower is custom:
Pentium MMX 233
64 MB RAM
128 GB CF card
SB16 CT2230
Diamond Stealth 64 DRAM (Trio64V2)
3C509 Ethernet
DOS/Win311 and Win95 dual boot

So far I like this setup. We’ll see how well it pans out long term.

World's foremost 486 enjoyer.

Reply 1769 of 2685, by vellu

User metadata
Rank Newbie
Rank
Newbie
keenmaster486 wrote on 2020-08-04, 05:53:

So far I like this setup. We’ll see how well it pans out long term.

Nice looking setup! What do you think of that IBM mouse? I have the same one and rarely use it.

retro rack

Reply 1770 of 2685, by keenmaster486

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t
vellu wrote on 2020-08-04, 06:28:

Nice looking setup! What do you think of that IBM mouse? I have the same one and rarely use it.

It works well. Probably needs to be cleaned as I haven't properly cleaned it ever, but it does work and the buttons are nice and clicky.

World's foremost 486 enjoyer.

Reply 1772 of 2685, by keenmaster486

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t
MMaximus wrote on 2020-08-04, 13:31:

Nice photo! What's left of the CRT - a hi-fi amp of some sorts? Doesn't it introduce some interference with the CRT?

It's a Hallicrafters SX-42 shortwave communications receiver. Yep, it does indeed introduce interference with the CRT. It makes the picture wobble slightly. I need to figure out how to shield it or move it further away somehow!

World's foremost 486 enjoyer.

Reply 1773 of 2685, by GuillermoXT

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member

My Retrobrighted 286 Tandon Targa
8mhz
1mb Ram

Still searching for a 4mb extension card

Attachments

  • 20200801_003855.jpg
    Filename
    20200801_003855.jpg
    File size
    939.36 KiB
    Views
    7789 views
    File license
    Public domain

My Retrosystems:
PIII on GA-6BA running Win98SE
AMD K6 233 on GA-586HX with Win95
Tandon 286-8MHZ Running DOS 6.22 on XTIDE-CF
M326 486DLC + 4c87dlc (Dos+Win3.11)
ECS UM4980 AMD DX2 80 5V (Dos & Win3.11)

Reply 1775 of 2685, by devius

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie
GuillermoXT wrote on 2020-08-05, 05:48:

My Retrobrighted 286 Tandon Targa

Was it supposed to be used vertically or horizontally? I'm very confused by this case 😅

Reply 1776 of 2685, by GuillermoXT

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member
devius wrote on 2020-08-05, 12:14:
GuillermoXT wrote on 2020-08-05, 05:48:

My Retrobrighted 286 Tandon Targa

Was it supposed to be used vertically or horizontally? I'm very confused by this case 😅

Like you want 😀

Attachments

  • 20200801_003926.jpg
    Filename
    20200801_003926.jpg
    File size
    846.93 KiB
    Views
    7758 views
    File license
    Public domain

My Retrosystems:
PIII on GA-6BA running Win98SE
AMD K6 233 on GA-586HX with Win95
Tandon 286-8MHZ Running DOS 6.22 on XTIDE-CF
M326 486DLC + 4c87dlc (Dos+Win3.11)
ECS UM4980 AMD DX2 80 5V (Dos & Win3.11)

Reply 1777 of 2685, by devius

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

Interesting! I have a Compaq Deskpro EP that offers a similar ability, but it's possible to actually rotate the entire external drive cage so that all the drives are always oriented horizontally. There's also a vent cover that has the "Compaq Deskpro" lettering in different orientations but I only have the desktop one.

deskpro.jpg
Filename
deskpro.jpg
File size
41.26 KiB
Views
7739 views
File comment
Compaq Desktop EP P600
File license
GPL-2.0-or-later

Reply 1778 of 2685, by gerry

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie
A001 wrote on 2020-07-26, 16:29:

Hello from a recruit.

There was this nice CRT for sale late last year for a few pennies, so of course I accidentally a beige PC, too. Why, I don't know.
Ended up keeping it because being a desktop it requires relatively little space and scores 8,5/10 in nostalgia. Gives something to tinker with.

looks good, top end Pentiums represent that ultimate DOS and early Win9x era to me

I like the duplicated optical drives!

Reply 1779 of 2685, by Killian

User metadata
Rank Newbie
Rank
Newbie

I have finally finished my first retro build. I had the same PC case back then in 1996 and it took me some time to find it for sale. Originally at that time I had a 486DX4 120MHz, but I decided to build a Pentium 233 MMX for a more versatile DOS gaming machine.

Specs:
- Pentium 233 MMX
- TMC AI5VP motherboard (nothing special) with 64MB RAM
- SD to IDE with a 16GB SD card
- S3 ViRGE/DX with 4MB (I have a Voodoo card ready too, but I there aren't many Glide games from that era that I would like to play - so I didn't use the card).
- SB AWE64 Gold
- 3Com 3C905-Tx
- Roland SC-88VL + Roland MT-32 daisy-chained (and SoftMPU installed in DOS)
- Roland MA-7 speakers
- Windows 95 OSR 2.5 and included DOS mode fully configured and the system boots first into DOS 7.x and you can go into Windows by typing "win"
- Microsoft Serial (ball) Mouse for the full experience 😀 + some random "Belkin classic PS/2 keyboard", it's not a mechanical keyboard and it was manufactured only recently but it's almost a perfect copy of the standard old keyboards. I don't really need a mechanical keyboard and I don't think I even had a mechanical keyboard back then.
- New 17" Philips 107S6 CRT monitor, this was manufactured in 2000+ and it's a lower end flat screen, but it's brand new out of the box with 2 year warranty - I was shocked that one shop had it still for sale for 25 Euro (with 2 year warranty!), I guess it was sitting in the storage somewhere for almost 20 years. I would have preferred some new-old-stock CRT from the 90's, but this is good enough.

I am using FTP to transfer files (games) from a modern PC over the network, I think this is the simplest solution (no need to mess with windows file sharing or swapping SD cards). I am also using the SHSUCD DOS utilities to mount ISO files in DOS, so that I don't need to bother with CDs most of the time (I don't like the noise from old CD drives), this doesn't work for games with actual CD audio though.

IMG_4432.jpeg
Filename
IMG_4432.jpeg
File size
1.18 MiB
Views
7560 views
File license
Fair use/fair dealing exception
Last edited by Killian on 2020-08-16, 20:55. Edited 1 time in total.