derSammler wrote on 2020-03-05, 16:06:

Got this in the mail today:

IMG_20200305_165816926.jpg

A REALmagic DVD/MPEG2 decoder card. This is actually the third one I own now, but the first one that includes the cables.

Gonna find me one of those too .. I still have the remote and receiver .. Maybe even also the cables ..

Saw an add on FB market "does anyone buy old computers?"
Well yes. I do!
£30 later and I have picked this up:

I am a sucker for matching monitors!
I already have a compaq kb/mouse.
Was very surprised to see an AGP slot although it appears to only take compaq shaped cards.
the specs are 350mhz p2. 128mb ram ATI rage pro (not sure on memory but it does have expansion slot on the card.) and 6gb HDD.
Nothing really of note but a nice system that will become my primary retro gaming rig. Once I have got rid of windows ME!

That's a really nice and complete setup, matching case & CRT is awesome 😀
btw I've seen your stuff on ebay (and had to stop myself from buying), good to recognise a fellow vogonser on here.

This evening just a few minutes ago, I decided to pull the trigger on a 486SLC board, mostly for the BIOS. I wonder if I'll regret that? A birthday present of sorts:

I have another MX306 board and I'm really hoping this one will have LBA support to avoid having to use a NIC+ROM to get past the 504MB limitation.

Thanks! I am trying to thin out my parts before I turn into a hoarder! (I think its way too late for that! 😀 )
I have had some pleasant interactions with some buyers and sellers on eBay and I often wonder if they frequent these forums. I have been scoping this thread to see if anyone posts something they purchased from me! 😀

LewisRaz wrote on 2020-03-05, 22:54:

...before I turn into a hoarder!

Dude, if you're here and posting in this forum it means it's way too late to be thinking about that now. 🤣

My wife has branded me a hoarder. Every week a new computer or add-in card shows up at the door. 🤣

When empty 2 liters and spent pizza boxes (not filled with motherboards) start to pile up then you have a problem.

What you have is an interest and a hobby.

Artex: Raises Hand
Group: "Welcome Artex"

LewisRaz wrote on 2020-03-05, 22:18:

Saw an add on FB market "does anyone buy old computers?" Well yes. I do! £30 later and I have picked this up: https://i.ibb.co/k […]
Show full quote

Saw an add on FB market "does anyone buy old computers?"
Well yes. I do!
£30 later and I have picked this up:

I am a sucker for matching monitors!
I already have a compaq kb/mouse.
Was very surprised to see an AGP slot although it appears to only take compaq shaped cards.
the specs are 350mhz p2. 128mb ram ATI rage pro (not sure on memory but it does have expansion slot on the card.) and 6gb HDD.
Nothing really of note but a nice system that will become my primary retro gaming rig. Once I have got rid of windows ME!

I own the 266MHZ variant of that. Mine is currently configured as follows:

* 266MHZ Intel Pentium II
* STB Velocity 128 8MB (NVIDIA RiVA 128)
* STB BlackMagic II (3DFX Voodoo2 12MB)
* Creative Labs Soundblaster LIVE Gold (1st generation, for Windows sound)
* Creative Labs AWE64 Value PnP (for DOS Audio)
* 256MB Memory
* 40GB HDD
* 12xish CD-ROM
* Windows 98 SE

You can take the bracket off of the RAGE Pro and fit it onto the variant of the STB Velocity 128 that looks like this:

That little piece of blank cut out PCB on the lower end needs to be removed, it doesnt do anything and it wont fit into the case with it on there. The Diamond Viper V330 also has a variant like this. There is actually a name for this form factor of video card but I've long forgotten it. There are also some Matrox cards that exist in this form factor. Alot of them actually but they are all 2D cards as far as I know. The 128 is really your best option for D3D/OGL video acceleration. If you install a sound card you can run the CD ROM audio cable over the center divider in the case, it will bend slightly but it wont hurt anything long term. I run my CD audio to the AWE64 and use the WDM drivers for the LIVE so it can bitstream the CD audio digitally. The onboard soundcard actually is somewhat DOS capable and it can cause problems with add in ISA sound as it has full IRQ and DMA allocation, I keep it disabled in the BIOs.

Note, these things have a VERY annoying case locking solenoid. Its BIOS operated and when its engaged no force from heaven nor hell will open that case. If your BIOs should ever become locked or inaccessible with that thing engaged you can very carefully guide a flathead screwdriver through the rear vent holes and pop out the CMOS battery and reboot the PC. The default BIOs settings will unlock the case.

LewisRaz wrote on 2020-03-05, 22:18:

Was very surprised to see an AGP slot although it appears to only take compaq shaped cards.
the specs are 350mhz p2. 128mb ram ATI rage pro (not sure on memory but it does have expansion slot on the card.) and 6gb HDD.
Nothing really of note but a nice system that will become my primary retro gaming rig. Once I have got rid of windows ME!

Those specs look very similar to the one I had years ago.

I managed to get a Voodoo 3 AGP graphics card to fit into there. I upgraded the CPU in mine also, to a 600MHz PIII.

Got an Atari 1010 tape drive and a modded PlayStation 2 (Fat) incl. one Dual Shock controller today.

Sir, have you seen this sound card?

Chip-wise, it strongly resembles the original Terratec Maestro 16 and Cards known as "Gallant 6000", among other names.
- Crystal CS4248 Chip, yet the Crystal logo replaced by an "E" in the same font.
- C-Media ASC-9308 Controller, yet branded "1993 GALLANT"
- GALLANT DSP-9309A
- original OPL3
So, I'm rather optimistic that it'll work with Terratec drivers or others made for those chips. Unsure about the SW1 jumpers and input settings, though.

BUT: None of those other cards feature RCA-sockets als line out. In fact, I coudn't find a single image even close to that.
- Is this the AWE64 Gold of SB-Clones? Is it the last Unicorn? Is it cursed?

Edit: OK, today, google must have been in a different mood. So, there's one. But my Polish's a bit rusty.

Cuttoon wrote on 2020-03-06, 13:25:

Sir, have you seen this sound card? […]
Show full quote

Sir, have you seen this sound card?

Chip-wise, it strongly resembles the original Terratec Maestro 16 and Cards known as "Gallant 6000", among other names.
- Crystal CS4248 Chip, yet the Crystal logo replaced by an "E" in the same font.
- C-Media ASC-9308 Controller, yet branded "1993 GALLANT"
- GALLANT DSP-9309A
- original OPL3
So, I'm rather optimistic that it'll work with Terratec drivers or others made for those chips. Unsure about the SW1 jumpers and input settings, though.

BUT: None of those other cards feature RCA-sockets als line out. In fact, I coudn't find a single image even close to that.
- Is this the AWE64 Gold of SB-Clones? Is it the last Unicorn? Is it cursed?

Edit: OK, today, google must have been in a different mood. So, there's one. But my Polish's a bit rusty.

Google Translate does a good job on that site: https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=aut … lant-sc-8000%2F

That site link to this one with all the info you could need: http://laurent.caprani.free.fr/sc-6000/index.html

Cyrix200+ wrote on 2020-03-06, 14:00:

Google Translate does a good job on that site

Thanks mate, I already tried that and was quite surprised how good the translation was. Little help, though - he assumes the RCAs are digital, I very much doubt that.
Yes, that French Site is where it's at, even some obscure driver disk. And the hardware settings for SW1. Not sure about JP1, but most likely the game port, with or without Midi connection...

TheAbandonwareGuy wrote on 2020-03-06, 01:24:

I own the 266MHZ variant of that. Mine is currently configured as follows: […]
Show full quote

LewisRaz wrote on 2020-03-05, 22:18:

Saw an add on FB market "does anyone buy old computers?" Well yes. I do! £30 later and I have picked this up: https://i.ibb.co/k […]
Show full quote

Saw an add on FB market "does anyone buy old computers?"
Well yes. I do!
£30 later and I have picked this up:

I am a sucker for matching monitors!
I already have a compaq kb/mouse.
Was very surprised to see an AGP slot although it appears to only take compaq shaped cards.
the specs are 350mhz p2. 128mb ram ATI rage pro (not sure on memory but it does have expansion slot on the card.) and 6gb HDD.
Nothing really of note but a nice system that will become my primary retro gaming rig. Once I have got rid of windows ME!

I own the 266MHZ variant of that. Mine is currently configured as follows:

* 266MHZ Intel Pentium II
* STB Velocity 128 8MB (NVIDIA RiVA 128)
* STB BlackMagic II (3DFX Voodoo2 12MB)
* Creative Labs Soundblaster LIVE Gold (1st generation, for Windows sound)
* Creative Labs AWE64 Value PnP (for DOS Audio)
* 256MB Memory
* 40GB HDD
* 12xish CD-ROM
* Windows 98 SE

You can take the bracket off of the RAGE Pro and fit it onto the variant of the STB Velocity 128 that looks like this:

That little piece of blank cut out PCB on the lower end needs to be removed, it doesnt do anything and it wont fit into the case with it on there. The Diamond Viper V330 also has a variant like this. There is actually a name for this form factor of video card but I've long forgotten it. There are also some Matrox cards that exist in this form factor. Alot of them actually but they are all 2D cards as far as I know. The 128 is really your best option for D3D/OGL video acceleration. If you install a sound card you can run the CD ROM audio cable over the center divider in the case, it will bend slightly but it wont hurt anything long term. I run my CD audio to the AWE64 and use the WDM drivers for the LIVE so it can bitstream the CD audio digitally. The onboard soundcard actually is somewhat DOS capable and it can cause problems with add in ISA sound as it has full IRQ and DMA allocation, I keep it disabled in the BIOs.

Note, these things have a VERY annoying case locking solenoid. Its BIOS operated and when its engaged no force from heaven nor hell will open that case. If your BIOs should ever become locked or inaccessible with that thing engaged you can very carefully guide a flathead screwdriver through the rear vent holes and pop out the CMOS battery and reboot the PC. The default BIOs settings will unlock the case.

There's also variants of the Rage 128 Pro (as opposed to the standard Rage Pro) that work with the short bracket in the Compaq DeskPro's - I've got a P2-450 variant and that's what I've got in it at the moment.

Got this new old stock 833mhz P3 for socket 370. 50 aud on ebay, not bad i'd say. Took me forever to install the cooler - I am definitely sympathetic for anyone who jammed a screwdriver through their motherboards back in the day. I got away with scraping the pcb, lightly narrowltly avoiding smd compnents and only cutting myself twice!

When it booted it was a sigh of relief for sure. Tested it out with quake 2 then rebooted and pumped up the fsb to 146 for 950mhz. Pushing the voodoo 3 3000 just a little bit more 😀 sad to put the 666mhz (667 but thats no fun) aside but 300 more mhz is also fun.

TheAbandonwareGuy wrote on 2020-03-06, 01:24:

I own the 266MHZ variant of that. Mine is currently configured as follows: […]
Show full quote

LewisRaz wrote on 2020-03-05, 22:18:

Saw an add on FB market "does anyone buy old computers?" Well yes. I do! £30 later and I have picked this up: https://i.ibb.co/k […]
Show full quote

Saw an add on FB market "does anyone buy old computers?"
Well yes. I do!
£30 later and I have picked this up:

I am a sucker for matching monitors!
I already have a compaq kb/mouse.
Was very surprised to see an AGP slot although it appears to only take compaq shaped cards.
the specs are 350mhz p2. 128mb ram ATI rage pro (not sure on memory but it does have expansion slot on the card.) and 6gb HDD.
Nothing really of note but a nice system that will become my primary retro gaming rig. Once I have got rid of windows ME!

I own the 266MHZ variant of that. Mine is currently configured as follows:

* 266MHZ Intel Pentium II
* STB Velocity 128 8MB (NVIDIA RiVA 128)
* STB BlackMagic II (3DFX Voodoo2 12MB)
* Creative Labs Soundblaster LIVE Gold (1st generation, for Windows sound)
* Creative Labs AWE64 Value PnP (for DOS Audio)
* 256MB Memory
* 40GB HDD
* 12xish CD-ROM
* Windows 98 SE

You can take the bracket off of the RAGE Pro and fit it onto the variant of the STB Velocity 128 that looks like this:

That little piece of blank cut out PCB on the lower end needs to be removed, it doesnt do anything and it wont fit into the case with it on there. The Diamond Viper V330 also has a variant like this. There is actually a name for this form factor of video card but I've long forgotten it. There are also some Matrox cards that exist in this form factor. Alot of them actually but they are all 2D cards as far as I know. The 128 is really your best option for D3D/OGL video acceleration. If you install a sound card you can run the CD ROM audio cable over the center divider in the case, it will bend slightly but it wont hurt anything long term. I run my CD audio to the AWE64 and use the WDM drivers for the LIVE so it can bitstream the CD audio digitally. The onboard soundcard actually is somewhat DOS capable and it can cause problems with add in ISA sound as it has full IRQ and DMA allocation, I keep it disabled in the BIOs.

Note, these things have a VERY annoying case locking solenoid. Its BIOS operated and when its engaged no force from heaven nor hell will open that case. If your BIOs should ever become locked or inaccessible with that thing engaged you can very carefully guide a flathead screwdriver through the rear vent holes and pop out the CMOS battery and reboot the PC. The default BIOs settings will unlock the case.

Thankyou for that info! I didnt think to put a voodoo in there! It was a pain to get the case off but I did manhandle it and was nearly thrown across the room once it released.
As luck may have it. These 2 cards were in a big lot I recently purchased. So I have spare GPUs 😀

TheAbandonwareGuy wrote on 2020-03-06, 01:24:

There is actually a name for this form factor of video card but I've long forgotten it. There are also some Matrox cards that exist in this form factor.

NLX.

Didn't buy this, but I found something I didn't even know existed at my local Freegeek & it was too amusing not to share:

That's right, a thing that "converts" 3.5" DS/DD disks to HD by punching out the notch in the side. WTF.

This is in no way a good idea and AFAIK generally doesn't result in a working disk (at least, not for very long.) I'm honestly astonished this got made as a commercial product. Doing about five test disks with it would tell you it doesn't work; the media is physically different. There were 'equivalent' disk notchers for 5.25" disks, but those are for allowing you to flip actual double-sided disks to use the back side in a single-sided drive.

Maybe there was some company that mass-produced 3.5" DD disks using HD media, but I would have expected that in the late '90s, not the mid '80s when this thing seems to date from.

It's still there if any of you want it. 😜

I've seen that thing too once, and heck, I know some people used to even drill DS/DD disks to use them as HD disks in 1.44M drives. So no, that concept ain't new.