Xanxi wrote on 2023-09-15, 17:55:

Kahenraz wrote on 2023-09-15, 17:10:

I tend to be a very harsh judge if MIDI synthesizers. Doom. Duke Nukem 3D. And Warcraft 2. These are my litmus tests. 👍

Youtube has a sample of Doom with this device. What do you think?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1STRYKY5_M

I would say that it's not bad for electric guitar for Doom.

I find the music from the first level of Duke Nukem 3D to be particularly challenging. Wait until, what I think are cymbals, to chime in. It's a real make-it-or-break-it moment for legacy synthesizers, and many fail terribly here.

Kahenraz wrote on 2023-09-16, 04:05:

Xanxi wrote on 2023-09-15, 17:55:

Kahenraz wrote on 2023-09-15, 17:10:

I tend to be a very harsh judge if MIDI synthesizers. Doom. Duke Nukem 3D. And Warcraft 2. These are my litmus tests. 👍

Youtube has a sample of Doom with this device. What do you think?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1STRYKY5_M

I would say that it's not bad for electric guitar for Doom.

I find the music from the first level of Duke Nukem 3D to be particularly challenging. Wait until, what I think are cymbals, to chime in. It's a real make-it-or-break-it moment for legacy synthesizers, and many fail terribly here.

The biggest difference for me between this one and something like the SC-55 is the hi-hat. It sounds more natural on the Sc-55 and can be barely noticeable on other devices.

EvieSigma wrote on 2023-09-15, 23:11:

I got this little friend-shaped Compaq, been wanting one of these...but mine seems to be quite ill, the motherboard is just not initializing at all.

PXL_20230915_205956186.jpg

PXL_20230915_211125292.jpg

I had one of those and had the same problem.

The solution was the CPU type and speed selection jumper in the wrong position. And the Overdrive cpu wasn't making good contact in the socket. Hope that works for you!
Be gentle with the plastic backplate, the pushpins break easily.
Say hi to the cyclops for me. 😉

Kahenraz wrote on 2023-09-16, 04:00:

EvieSigma wrote on 2023-09-15, 23:11:

I got this little friend-shaped Compaq, been wanting one of these...but mine seems to be quite ill, the motherboard is just not initializing at all.

I used one of these when they were contemporary with Windows 95. They're little troopers and we're a delight to use. What are their specs?

This particular one has a PGA (thankfully not soldered) 486SX at 33MHz...for now. It's getting a DX2-66 once I get it to actually work.

Xicor wrote on 2023-09-14, 18:41:

Finally, the last batch of noteworthy retro hardware......

A nice Atari 1040STE. A first for me, i never had contact with the ST machines because they tend to go for a pretty penny. So it was on the wish list for ages, until this came along for the low price of 59€ and no shipping !!!!!

1040STE.jpg

A great price and looks in pretty good condition!

I'm still amazed at how cheap those STE machines can go for, since they're very capable computers and very easy to upgrade to 4MB RAM. I got mine for around the same kind of price a couple of years back, though mine needed some retro brighting.

It's as if everybody is so fixated on grabbing the Amigas for silly money, they thankfully forget about the ST and allow us some bargains. 🤣

Xanxi wrote on 2023-09-15, 17:07:

Just bought a Miniplus USB MIDI device to add to my MIDI music stack. […]
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Just bought a Miniplus USB MIDI device to add to my MIDI music stack.

Not retro in itself but will join my older Roland/Yamaha/Korg stuff.
Is it any good?

according to wavetable.nl : https://www.wavetable.nl/external-midi-modules/
it is based on the DREAM SAM2635 chip with 1MB of rom
so maybe it uses some variant of the old dream samples that were close to sc-55 as the newer Dream banks are larger AFAIK

edit:
on photo the eeprom used is a 8MB one so further looking revealed that this is most likely the 8mb CleanWave bank , as it is stated here: https://www.dream.fr/items.php?item=14

Getting migraines from the GamePort card that is not working on my laptop. I have the drivers installed and nothing. Gives me either a driver cannot be found or throws a code 10 after I manually select said driver.

Anyone have advice for this? BWSICA by New Media Technology Corporation GamePort PCMCIA card. PCMCIA slots are detecting it, but Windows 95 throws a tantrum.

After recently buy an old Dell Dimension 4300, I've been buying a couple of upgrades, most recently a Pentium 4, socket 478 2GHz cpu. I picked up an Ati 9200, but another user suggested I might get more benefit from the new GPU if I stuck a quicker CPU in the system and did away with the stock 1.6ghz P4.

So that's been my purchase this week.

A rather exotic OG Xbox v1.4 and an equally interesting PC have showed up.

Surprised that the noname PSU turned out to be a Seasonic!

My neighbore was clearing his basment storage and look what he gave to me
... as he knows that I am collecting such old stuff 😀

Just scored a Siemens Nixdorf PCD-4H on German eBay for an awesome price. Hope it's working. Except for the CPU (which I will replace with the "appropriate" 25MHz one) it resembles my very first PC I got as a 12yo -> PCD-4hsx with an 80486 SX25, 4MB Ram. I was on the lookout for this thing for a very long time but prices are beyond insane usually.

Recently I picked up a Ti4600 for 50 bucks, seller stated that it worked and had been tested and well it arrived a few days ago and I put it right into the test rig.

SHE LIVES ! Passed 3d Mark 2001 with no issues, now I just have to find a suitable rig to feed it. Its a really nice Golden Sample Ti4600 but I might repaste the cooler and Vram heatsinks just to make sure it keeps running happily.
Not sure if I will bother with a better cooler for it, but if anyone can suggest a nice replacement Ill certainly consider it.

Bought an STB 3dfx voodoo 3 3000 from a seller in Germany for 35 euro's excluding shipping. I think its a great deal, and i think i am Lucky to have it for that price. The card is in good condition.

arnovdheiden wrote on 2023-09-18, 13:37:

Bought an STB 3dfx voodoo 3 3000 from a seller in Germany for 35 euro's excluding shipping. I think its a great deal, and i think i am Lucky to have it for that price. The card is in good condition.

Thats a very good price for a V3 3000, not often you see deals like that !

Trashbytes wrote on 2023-09-18, 13:58:

arnovdheiden wrote on 2023-09-18, 13:37:

Bought an STB 3dfx voodoo 3 3000 from a seller in Germany for 35 euro's excluding shipping. I think its a great deal, and i think i am Lucky to have it for that price. The card is in good condition.

Thats a very good price for a V3 3000, not often you see deals like that !

Yes it actually was part of a lot of parts and laptops.. It all was not specified in the description. So no one would know it contained a v3. I actually spotted the v3 on one of the photos. I offered him 35 for the card and he agreed.

PcBytes wrote on 2023-09-17, 11:09:

A rather exotic OG Xbox v1.4 and an equally interesting PC have showed up. […]
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A rather exotic OG Xbox v1.4 and an equally interesting PC have showed up.

Surprised that the noname PSU turned out to be a Seasonic!

That is quite an interesting way to install mod chip to LPC port. Never seen it done with bunch of wires like here 😅

arnovdheiden wrote on 2023-09-18, 13:37:

Bought an STB 3dfx voodoo 3 3000 from a seller in Germany for 35 euro's excluding shipping. I think its a great deal, and i think i am Lucky to have it for that price. The card is in good condition.

In this case you might as well offered 10€ as he clearly didn't know what it was 🤣

Finally got a good 17" Trinitron CRT - Sony G220 😁

Nice screen without any scratches and image quality is also very good. It's a keeper 🤣

Sellers photo. As it can be seen the image is too bright so it was a gamble as something might be wrong... but fortunately only the brightness was set to 100%

CharlieFoxtrot wrote on 2023-09-18, 16:21:

That is quite an interesting way to install mod chip to LPC port. Never seen it done with bunch of wires like here 😅

What puzzles me is why do that when the header he soldered the wires to was specifically made to make a clean and quick LPC install 🤣
And the soldering he did was god-awful no less - the BT wire and the eject button wire came off without me applying much strain on them, and the D0 wire didn't last long before I started working on the chip.

marbury wrote on 2023-09-18, 08:26:

Just scored a Siemens Nixdorf PCD-4H on German eBay for an awesome price. Hope it's working. Except for the CPU (which I will replace with the "appropriate" 25MHz one) it resembles my very first PC I got as a 12yo -> PCD-4hsx with an 80486 SX25, 4MB Ram. I was on the lookout for this thing for a very long time but prices are beyond insane usually.

Is that a Varta battery near the back of that chassis? In that case, hopefully it hasn't leaked ...