VOGONS


Bought these (retro) hardware today

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Reply 46060 of 53237, by 386SX

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RandomStranger wrote on 2022-08-22, 18:11:

That harmony card seems to be very interesting. YMF724F-V with an SB-LINK connector and cable is not a bad thing. I don't know anything about the Xwave (edit, it looks like it's also a decent one), but the other two can't get me hyped. As far as I know they are mediocre. I have a bucketful of those CMI8738 cards.

Here a better image of the card. It has a sticker behind with a generic 3DS724A and built late 1998. The SB-LINK connector what was used for?

About the other cards yes, I imagined they might be a good add-in solution for a simple low end still supported (in linux) sound card. I like they have few capacitors so if they need to be replaced it's easier. 😉

Reply 46061 of 53237, by luckybob

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debs3759 wrote on 2022-08-22, 07:27:
luckybob wrote on 2022-08-21, 04:47:

Well, not to be *THAT* guy... its a 16-bit memory expansion card on a system with a 32-bit buss. It probably worked, and it was better than using hard disk as virtual-ram... but its at minimum 100% slower than the on-motherboard stuff.

50% slower. 100% slower would be inactive 😀

boy howdy i have egg on my face. 16 bit is 50% slower - 32 bit is 100% faster. (relatively and in a perfect world, bla bla bla)

It is a mistake to think you can solve any major problems just with potatoes.

Reply 46062 of 53237, by rkurbatov

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386SX wrote on 2022-08-22, 20:05:

The SB-LINK connector what was used for?

For emulation of ISA sound card via PCI card (it passes DMA and IRQ sygnals)

486: ECS UM486 VLB, 256kb cache, i486 DX2/66, 8MB RAM, Trident TGUI9440AGi VLB 1MB, Pro Audio Spectrum 16, FDD 3.5, ZIP 100 ATA
PII: Asus P2B, Pentium II 400MHz, 512MB RAM, Trident 9750 AGP 4MB, Voodoo2 SLI, MonsterSound MX300

Reply 46063 of 53237, by MarkP

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Got hold of a Packard Bell 8-bit ISA FM tuner card, with software for Dos and Windows. Files dated 2003 , Copyright (c) 1994 AZI Labs. Tuning Software attached...

Contents of readme.txt:-

This is Packard Bell FM Radio readme file.

The software should contain the following

1. DOSRadio.azt
2. FMRadio.azt
3. Install.exe
4. Install.inf
5. Setup.exe
6. Setup.inf
7. Setup.bmp
8. Readme.com
9. Readme.txt
10. Azcom.dll
11. Azhw.dll

For DOS Installation, type "INSTALL" at the DOS prompt.
For Windows Installation, type "SETUP" at the DOS prompt.

Reply 46064 of 53237, by RandomStranger

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386SX wrote on 2022-08-22, 20:05:
RandomStranger wrote on 2022-08-22, 18:11:

That harmony card seems to be very interesting. YMF724F-V with an SB-LINK connector and cable is not a bad thing. I don't know anything about the Xwave (edit, it looks like it's also a decent one), but the other two can't get me hyped. As far as I know they are mediocre. I have a bucketful of those CMI8738 cards.

Here a better image of the card. It has a sticker behind with a generic 3DS724A and built late 1998. The SB-LINK connector what was used for?

About the other cards yes, I imagined they might be a good add-in solution for a simple low end still supported (in linux) sound card. I like they have few capacitors so if they need to be replaced it's easier. 😉

Yes, as rkurbatov said, it improves compatibility with older DOS software which otherwise would require an ISA sound card. Keep in mind though, you need a motherboard which also has that connector. But even aside of SB-LINK, YMF7x4 cards are well known for being one of the most DOS compatible PCI sound card with genuine OPL.

sreq.png retrogamer-s.png

Reply 46065 of 53237, by 386SX

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RandomStranger wrote on 2022-08-23, 04:03:
386SX wrote on 2022-08-22, 20:05:
RandomStranger wrote on 2022-08-22, 18:11:

That harmony card seems to be very interesting. YMF724F-V with an SB-LINK connector and cable is not a bad thing. I don't know anything about the Xwave (edit, it looks like it's also a decent one), but the other two can't get me hyped. As far as I know they are mediocre. I have a bucketful of those CMI8738 cards.

Here a better image of the card. It has a sticker behind with a generic 3DS724A and built late 1998. The SB-LINK connector what was used for?

About the other cards yes, I imagined they might be a good add-in solution for a simple low end still supported (in linux) sound card. I like they have few capacitors so if they need to be replaced it's easier. 😉

Yes, as rkurbatov said, it improves compatibility with older DOS software which otherwise would require an ISA sound card. Keep in mind though, you need a motherboard which also has that connector. But even aside of SB-LINK, YMF7x4 cards are well known for being one of the most DOS compatible PCI sound card with genuine OPL.

Thanks. 😉

Reply 46066 of 53237, by HanJammer

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386SX wrote on 2022-08-22, 20:05:
RandomStranger wrote on 2022-08-22, 18:11:

That harmony card seems to be very interesting. YMF724F-V with an SB-LINK connector and cable is not a bad thing. I don't know anything about the Xwave (edit, it looks like it's also a decent one), but the other two can't get me hyped. As far as I know they are mediocre. I have a bucketful of those CMI8738 cards.

Here a better image of the card. It has a sticker behind with a generic 3DS724A and built late 1998. The SB-LINK connector what was used for?

About the other cards yes, I imagined they might be a good add-in solution for a simple low end still supported (in linux) sound card. I like they have few capacitors so if they need to be replaced it's easier. 😉

I have a boxed version of this card will all the paperwork - in fact it's the very card I bought in the 90s (I had to get it cleaned though ;D ). I had like 3 of them at one point, they are lovely with excellent XG-compatible wavetable (pretty much the same as DB50XG). They also have decent EAX 1 & 2 and Aureal 3D 1 support.

I also never really had to use SB-Link for anything (although my K7M motherboard had this connector I think) - I never stumbled upon a game that wouldn't work without it, although it's likely they do exist.

New items (October/November 2022) -> My Items for Sale
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Reply 46067 of 53237, by 386SX

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HanJammer wrote on 2022-08-23, 09:32:
386SX wrote on 2022-08-22, 20:05:
RandomStranger wrote on 2022-08-22, 18:11:

That harmony card seems to be very interesting. YMF724F-V with an SB-LINK connector and cable is not a bad thing. I don't know anything about the Xwave (edit, it looks like it's also a decent one), but the other two can't get me hyped. As far as I know they are mediocre. I have a bucketful of those CMI8738 cards.

Here a better image of the card. It has a sticker behind with a generic 3DS724A and built late 1998. The SB-LINK connector what was used for?

About the other cards yes, I imagined they might be a good add-in solution for a simple low end still supported (in linux) sound card. I like they have few capacitors so if they need to be replaced it's easier. 😉

I have a boxed version of this card will all the paperwork - in fact it's the very card I bought in the 90s (I had to get it cleaned though ;D ). I had like 3 of them at one point, they are lovely with excellent XG-compatible wavetable (pretty much the same as DB50XG).

I also never really had to use SB-Link for anything (although my K7M motherboard had this connector I think) - I never stumbled upon a game that wouldn't work without it, although it's likely they do exist.

Great, thank you. It's nice to see those old style boxes and indeed is the same card even on the PCB back side and sticker. 😉

Reply 46068 of 53237, by MarkP

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MarkP wrote on 2022-08-22, 23:35:
Got hold of a Packard Bell 8-bit ISA FM tuner card, with software for Dos and Windows. Files dated 2003 , Copyright (c) 1994 AZ […]
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Got hold of a Packard Bell 8-bit ISA FM tuner card, with software for Dos and Windows. Files dated 2003 , Copyright (c) 1994 AZI Labs. Tuning Software attached...

Contents of readme.txt:-

This is Packard Bell FM Radio readme file.

The software should contain the following

1. DOSRadio.azt
2. FMRadio.azt
3. Install.exe
4. Install.inf
5. Setup.exe
6. Setup.inf
7. Setup.bmp
8. Readme.com
9. Readme.txt
10. Azcom.dll
11. Azhw.dll

For DOS Installation, type "INSTALL" at the DOS prompt.
For Windows Installation, type "SETUP" at the DOS prompt.

Funnily enough I have an original AIMS-Lab floppy disk whose media is bad. I'll use a heat gun to remove the original label and transfer it to a good disk.😉

Reply 46069 of 53237, by Robert B

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A bunch o' Hercs and some other miscellaneous stuff. 😁

PRW-2022-230.jpg PRW-2022-231.jpg PRW-2022-232.jpg

When it rains it pours! 😁

Reply 46070 of 53237, by TrashPanda

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How about a ESS 1869F with its wavetable chip ?

s-l1600.jpg

I think the seller might actually be a member here as the sellers name I have seen here but it may be a coincidence, this card is headed to live with its brothers till I find a nice build to throw it into. Got so many ESS variants now not sure how many are left to collect.

Reply 46071 of 53237, by Robert B

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So much wasted PCB space. 😁

Reply 46072 of 53237, by TrashPanda

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Robert B wrote on 2022-08-23, 13:50:

So much wasted PCB space. 😁

Its a Compaq thing !!

A lot of their cards seem to have a ton of wasted PCB.

Reply 46073 of 53237, by keropi

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Robert B wrote on 2022-08-23, 13:50:

So much wasted PCB space. 😁

these late 1-chip solution soundcards do not really much space due to high integration
what they need is a properly designed pcb
the compaq card is nice - integrated E-WAVE so it will also sound good playing midi , a rarity in the "business wavetable" world 😀

🎵 🎧 PCMIDI MPU , OrpheusII , Action Rewind , Megacard and 🎶GoldLib soundcard website

Reply 46074 of 53237, by bjwil1991

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I made an offer on this Austin MR1C laptop and it got accepted.

Uses the AMI WinBIOS and it needs a hard drive (I'll dig deeper to see which HDD it accepts and if I need an adapter for it).

s-l1600.jpg
s-l1600 (1).jpg
s-l1600 (2).jpg

Discord: https://discord.gg/U5dJw7x
Systems from the Compaq Portable 1 to Ryzen 9 5950X
Twitch: https://twitch.tv/retropcuser

Reply 46075 of 53237, by chrismeyer6

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Nice looking laptop. Is it by anu chance a rebagged ThinkPad?

Reply 46076 of 53237, by drosse1meyer

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New-in-bag IBM Etherjet network card. To be used in a forthcoming 486 VLB build 😁

P1: Packard Bell - 233 MMX, Voodoo1, 64 MB, ALS100+
P2-V2: Dell Dimension - 400 Mhz, Voodoo2, 256 MB
P!!! Custom: 1 Ghz, GeForce2 Pro/64MB, 384 MB

Reply 46077 of 53237, by MarkP

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Some Imation DVDs from this mornings local thrift store crawl.

Reply 46078 of 53237, by JustJulião

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Just received a nice Abit ST-6 for a good price.
I'll have to change at least one capacitor. Maybe the two ones on the left on the second picture are also slightly swollen.
It will be my first time ever. I have basic soldering skills, any advice ?

IMG_20220824_100646.jpg
IMG_20220824_100642.jpg

Reply 46079 of 53237, by TrashPanda

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JustJulião wrote on 2022-08-24, 08:15:
Just received a nice Abit ST-6 for a good price. I'll have to change at least one capacitor. Maybe the two ones on the left on t […]
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Just received a nice Abit ST-6 for a good price.
I'll have to change at least one capacitor. Maybe the two ones on the left on the second picture are also slightly swollen.
It will be my first time ever. I have basic soldering skills, any advice ?
IMG_20220824_100646.jpg
IMG_20220824_100642.jpg

Double .. no triple check polarity before desoldering and then before resoldering ..wrong polarity is bad.

It also might be helpful to practice soldering on a scrap PCB a bit before doing it on something you want to keep.