OOOOOHHHHH DAMN!!!!

Got for free this weekend:

* Dell D420 with dock
* Chaintech FX5700 256MB
* SB Live!
* Another 5.1 card but forgot which. Some Hercules one.
* GF4 MX

All need testing but hell, it's free.

RIP. Hope you get a full refund.

I suppose that loose trackball might be salvageable :p

So sad that peoples dont understand how electronics should be shipped, i ordered a latop few weeks ago and it came in the latopbag in a box which turned out to mess up the screen, but the seller said it was nothing wrong with the packaging, but i didnt get any comment after asking him if he would buy led tv if it came in a bag in box..

Last time i bought a compay presario 425 i sended the guide lines which fedex, ups and other companys have made video for packaging a computer, sure it did cost me extra but 100% worth it instead of reciving one in pices which did happen 1month earlyer, it was the same nice package as yours but the computer weighs 10x more 🙁

The picture only shows alitel, but the inside of the computer looked something like your picture.

This Compaq Deskpro was for sale at a walking distance from where I live, it set me back only $10 so I grabbed it.

No idea what to expect in it, or what the exact model is for that matter. Anyone familiar with this case and generation of Compaqs?

Some goodies.

appiah4 wrote:

No idea what to expect in it, or what the exact model is for that matter. Anyone familiar with this case and generation of Compaqs?

I had three of these machines about 10-12 years ago but got rid of them because they were "too old" to keep and the retro bug hadn't but me yet. Kicking myself now, they were really great cases, I enjoyed working in them.

Mine were, and I assume yours is, Slot 1 PII system with basic "OEM" type stuff... nVidia RIVA that fits into a not-exactly-standard slot (it's regular AGP slot but the bracket isnt the usual full height bracket) and IDE drive of a small description. Probably no other add on cards (onboard audio). The most interesting this about the case is that the drive bay mechanism can be rotated to allow the case to be used either desktop or tower orientation. Very neat.

[edit]
Just looked closer at your pic of the back... definitely newer than the ones I had... maybe yours is as new as a PIII... looks like onboard video (Intel 740?) and only (3com?) network card add in.

RJDog wrote:

[edit]
Just looked closer at your pic of the back... definitely newer than the ones I had... maybe yours is as new as a PIII... looks like onboard video (Intel 740?) and only (3com?) network card add in.

Yeah, looks like one of the PIII revisions.. I'm thinking it's probably an i810 with ISA slots, which makes it a great Go-To retro desktop system. I will probably add an AWE64 with 32MB RAM and a Matrox G450 PCI to this, and turn it into a system that can run pertty much all 1990-2000 games.

That also means I can return my current i810 system (Optiplex GX110) to its original configuration and store it. It's also a very charming PC but this case is much more spacious, has ISA slots and looks a lot more vintage..

Cancel that plan, the i810 revisions have mATX boards with no ISA slots, so I will continue sticking to the GX110 for this as it takes less space than this. I will probably just refurbish and restore this PC, and store it away..

Since my 286 build is nearing its completion, I have snatched up the next step: A 386 board with an Opti chipset. Probably not the fastest thing, but it came with beeper, battery and 8 MiB of RAM. I will hold off firing it up, until I get my smart ATX2AT converter. I do not want to risk frying another board...

appiah4 wrote:

This Compaq Deskpro was for sale at a walking distance from where I live, it set me back only $10 so I grabbed it. […]
Show full quote

This Compaq Deskpro was for sale at a walking distance from where I live, it set me back only $10 so I grabbed it.

Compaq Deskpro.jpg

Compaq Deskpro Back.jpg

No idea what to expect in it, or what the exact model is for that matter. Anyone familiar with this case and generation of Compaqs?

Nice! It might be a PII or PIII... fire it up and enter the BIOS. Should tell you what it has.

After going to a fleamarket yesterday that absolutely sucked - I didn't even enter, the "large and diverse" event in a "very large" hall was being held in what basically amounted to a dirty four-car garage and mostly consisted of clothes (and they wanted 2 Euros entrance fee) - I came home today to find this on a bench in the hall of my apartment building:

JVC HR-J880EU PAL VHS video recorder with remote control. I haven't tested it yet beyond powering it on.

yawetaG wrote:

After going to a fleamarket yesterday that absolutely sucked - I didn't even enter, the "large and diverse" event in a "very large" hall was being held in what basically amounted to a dirty four-car garage and mostly consisted of clothes (and they wanted 2 Euros entrance fee)...

I have been to plenty of duds like that and you just want to take a shower afterwards. 🤣

root42 wrote:

Since my 286 build is nearing its completion, I have snatched up the next step: A 386 board with an Opti chipset. Probably not the fastest thing, but it came with beeper, battery and 8 MiB of RAM. I will hold off firing it up, until I get my smart ATX2AT converter. I do not want to risk frying another board...

don't count on that mobo being much faster than a 286/16 ... it's "flaw" is that there is no cache on this thing. I benchmarked once a 286/16 and a cacheless old
386DX/20 , pretty much the same performance 😵

keropi wrote:

root42 wrote:

Since my 286 build is nearing its completion, I have snatched up the next step: A 386 board with an Opti chipset. Probably not the fastest thing, but it came with beeper, battery and 8 MiB of RAM. I will hold off firing it up, until I get my smart ATX2AT converter. I do not want to risk frying another board...

don't count on that mobo being much faster than a 286/16 ... it's "flaw" is that there is no cache on this thing. I benchmarked once a 286/16 and a cacheless old
386DX/20 , pretty much the same performance 😵

Yes, I believe this might be the case. The advantage of this thing is: SIMM sockets, 387 and 386 protected mode. So running windows and early 90s games will be possible.

yawetaG wrote:

JVC HR-J880EU PAL VHS video recorder with remote control. I haven't tested it yet beyond powering it on.

I'm currently browsing the manual and this thing looks like it was pretty high-end:
- stereo HIFI sound + S-VHS playback at normal resolution (i.e. not S-VHS) but with the other S-VHS advantages intact,
- advanced sound, video, programming and editing options (including what amounts to basically compressing up to three times the video on a standard tape),
- controlling other devices such as the TV or a satellite receiver via the remote (or two different JVC video recorders at once),
- editing video from a camcorder, to/from another video recorder, or directly on this video recorder,
- overdubbing audio tracks,
- computer controlled editing (!) and stills capture with an optional special control box (which I'll need to track down if this thing turns out to be fully functional)

(Funny thing: Page 46 of the manual shows a screenshot listing various Japanese anime - they knew who they were targeting with this thing...)

Pretty good for the price of free. Although I'll have to check whether it has an internal battery, seeing some of the functionality...

I also found a price of 430 Euros for it, back in 2003. 😲

Edit: Gods, the internals are beautiful! (and no battery). Shielded connectors, multiple prints, and the carrier mechanism looks really easy to work on, unlike many consumer-level video recorders.

oeuvre wrote:

Nice! It might be a PII or PIII... fire it up and enter the BIOS. Should tell you what it has.

Most likely a later model Pentium 3, I have a 500MHz P3 Deskpro, that hasn't got the coloring on motherboard ports yet. I would guess that computer has Socket 370 chip in it, although it still may be Slot 1.

I grabbed an Intel VC820 motherboard. I've already got a 440BX machine, but I thought playing with intel's official 133 MHz FSB platform for Slot 1 would be fun. Performance really isn't better than the 440BX, especially when overclocked, but RDRAM is funky and I've got a ton of it lying around with not enough systems in which to use it.

(seller's photo)

Today I bought this beautiful ATI Radeon 9800 Pro on a local flea market. I used to own one 8 years ago, but I had to sell it because I needed the money for newer computer parts back in the day.

(actual photo, that I've just taken)

JidaiGeki wrote:

Avert your eyes if you don't want to witness the horror ... […]
Show full quote

Avert your eyes if you don't want to witness the horror ...

If you thought bubble-wrapped motherboards were bad, how about a laptop shipped in a box with two scrunched up pieces of paper (one on top, one underneath)? Let's see how that one turned out ...

DSC_0118.JPG

RIP rather nice Acer 486 laptop 🙁

Oh God, my condolences.

JidaiGeki wrote:

Avert your eyes if you don't want to witness the horror ... […]
Show full quote

Avert your eyes if you don't want to witness the horror ...

If you thought bubble-wrapped motherboards were bad, how about a laptop shipped in a box with two scrunched up pieces of paper (one on top, one underneath)? Let's see how that one turned out ...

-snip-

RIP rather nice Acer 486 laptop 🙁

Ouch. A few years ago, I bought a Compaq Presario 2100 desktop, it was packed in multiple boxes with paper all over it, the front panel got shattered but the rest of the computer works. I just need to 3D print a replacement front panel.

yawetaG wrote:

JVC HR-J880EU PAL VHS video recorder with remote control. I haven't tested it yet beyond powering it on. […]
Show full quote

JVC HR-J880EU PAL VHS video recorder with remote control. I haven't tested it yet beyond powering it on.

I'm currently browsing the manual and this thing looks like it was pretty high-end:
- stereo HIFI sound + S-VHS playback at normal resolution (i.e. not S-VHS) but with the other S-VHS advantages intact,
- advanced sound, video, programming and editing options (including what amounts to basically compressing up to three times the video on a standard tape),

My Samsung VCR/DVD combo player has those features, although I can't test its S-VHS playback ATM because I don't have any S-VHS tapes to play on it. Supposedly S-VHS playback (known as SQPB) was a standard feature on most newer VHS VCRs and DVD combo units.

For some reason, I always find those high-end VCRs interesting.

Bancho wrote:

sketchus wrote:

Bought myself a ABIT BX133 RAID, along with a tualatin adapter. When the package arrived I was a bit dismayed to see the motherboard wrapped inside standard bubblewrap, but so far the motherboard seems to be fine, just got to see if Windows 98 will install properly.

How are the caps on yours? I recently picked up the same board, but caps were shot. Still powered up and booted with a Tualatin 1400 S. I'm in the process of re-capping with Panasonic caps.

Factor in a recap with this board. The stock caps are shiiiiit junk!

Caps seems fine so far, but I was definitely thinking the board will have to be recapped in the near future. Want to do it sooner rather than later, the board is more or less ideal for what I need it for.