kingcake wrote on 2023-10-24, 21:34:

BitWrangler wrote on 2023-10-24, 12:21:

kingcake wrote on 2023-10-24, 05:09:

Yep 60mmx15mm. Darn, I was hoping it would perform better than the stock HSF since it's a solid copper base. Guess this chip will just run warm because I'm not spending $40 on a NOS socket A performance cooler 🤣

It was generally said that most socket A temperature readings were 10C higher than other platforms, so might not be as high as it seems like.

Edit: this is the best deal I know about in Socket A higher capacity, but not super high end coolers, https://www.cablesalescanada.com/index.php?ma … products_id=227

Cool site. Great prices on retro cpu coolers. I bought a few to make the shipping worth it.

Screenshot 2023-10-24 163213.png

Yeah I got a bunch off them in the spring, they had some early noughts GPU coolers then as well, guess it's just NOS that's clearing out. Also got weird crap like thinnet terminators and PCMCIA to SATA and AT case switches.

BitWrangler wrote on 2023-10-24, 23:37:

kingcake wrote on 2023-10-24, 21:34:

BitWrangler wrote on 2023-10-24, 12:21:

It was generally said that most socket A temperature readings were 10C higher than other platforms, so might not be as high as it seems like.

Edit: this is the best deal I know about in Socket A higher capacity, but not super high end coolers, https://www.cablesalescanada.com/index.php?ma … products_id=227

Cool site. Great prices on retro cpu coolers. I bought a few to make the shipping worth it.

Screenshot 2023-10-24 163213.png

Yeah I got a bunch off them in the spring, they had some early noughts GPU coolers then as well, guess it's just NOS that's clearing out. Also got weird crap like thinnet terminators and PCMCIA to SATA and AT case switches.

Awesome, very relevant to my interests. I tossed a $10 bid at this ebay auction and apparently just bought a "ASUS A7V8X-MX SE, Socket A, AMD Motherboard Athlon XP 2600+ Barton 512M RAM". Hopefully they actually send it out for that price, heh.

To keep this on topic, tonight I had to remember that "fdisk /mbr" exists for the first time in decades for... reasons..

I've been thinking about putting my win 98 machine back together and leaving it in a mostly static state for a while. I'd have to tear down my DOS machine, as I only have one case for my intel hardware, but that's not too big an issue. The problem I am having with going through with this is threefold:

1. Should I keep using my 700MHz Coppermine, overclocked to 933 via a 133MHz FSB speed, or should I start trying to find a S370 board to use my 1.2 Tualatin-S processor?
2. Is it worth putting my Voodoo3 in there as a secondary card with a fan directed at it, and should I use my Geforce 2 Ultra or my Quadro 4 980 xgl
3. Should I use my fancy Audigy 2 ZS, or should I use my Aureal Vortex 2

Otherwise, I know I'm going to be throwing in a SATA card and a modern SSD, 512MB of RAM, and a few other modern niceties like fan header splitters for proper cooling. It's just those three things that are hanging me up at the moment.

I also spent a good two and a half hours earlier messing around with trying to get a May Computers 286 up and running for my local recycler, but only got as far as realizing that both MFM hard drives are just dead. It can at least boot DOS, but can't save anything thanks to the CMOS battery being gone, and it requiring a setup disk to actually change BIOS settings. Someone will have fun with that machine and the Sound Blaster 2.0 inside it, but it won't be me.

700@933 + V3 + Aureal

stef80 wrote on 2023-10-25, 11:00:

700@933 + V3 + Aureal

Why not both sound cards? The Aureal can work alongside an Audit just fine, albeit with careful negotiation with the drivers.

I washed some gross Sound Blasters that arrived from China.

Kahenraz wrote on 2023-10-25, 11:08:

I washed some gross Sound Blasters that arrived from China. […]
Show full quote

I washed some gross Sound Blasters that arrived from China.

20231025_050643.jpg

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i like the way they are sat alongside a couple of glass tumblers and a disk in the last pic, like this is just part of a regular daily process 😀 (maybe it is!)

Riced my Xubuntu (Ubuntu + XFCE), moved to MATE (previously known as GNOME 2). The first version of GNOME 2 is from 2002, that's quite retro.
In the process, I fixed my bluetooth mouse. Turns out the XFCE GUI for Bluetooth managment didn't work. I had to use the terminal. Not anymore with MATE's GUI. Nice.

xcomcmdr wrote on 2023-10-25, 11:48:

Riced my Xubuntu (Ubuntu + XFCE), moved to MATE (previously known as GNOME 2). The first version of GNOME 2 is from 2002, that's quite retro.
In the process, I fixed my bluetooth mouse. Turns out the XFCE GUI for Bluetooth managment didn't work. I had to use the terminal. Not anymore with MATE's GUI. Nice.

Modern MATE uses GTK3, not GTK2.

I made an effort to migrate Clearlooks to GTK3 MATE, but never finished. It has some issues with the most recent release:

https://github.com/gnome-themes/clearlooks-f14

Kahenraz wrote on 2023-10-25, 11:08:

I washed some gross Sound Blasters that arrived from China. […]
Show full quote

I washed some gross Sound Blasters that arrived from China.

20231025_050643.jpg

20231025_070056.jpg

20231025_070352.jpg

Giving it some TechYes loving?
Are you going to follow up with multi-purpose spray on them?

Added a 360K 5.25" drive to my 286. The drive's handle is 3d printed and painted, but I really failed to match the yellowed bezel. The sunlight somehow made it 10x worse than it looks 🤣

I'm trying to figure out why my 386 seems to be running somewhat slower than usual. I went to BIOS and I saw that L1 cache is disabled and I can't enable it. 386's don't have L1 cache do they?

Kahenraz wrote on 2023-10-25, 11:08:

I washed some gross Sound Blasters that arrived from China. […]
Show full quote

I washed some gross Sound Blasters that arrived from China.

20231025_050643.jpg

20231025_070056.jpg

20231025_070352.jpg

Is that soapy water?

DerBaum wrote on 2023-10-23, 18:05:

The lack of individual addressable RGB LEDs and orange car wrapping film in modded early 2000s industrial PCs is not accaptable!

2023-10-23 19.09.01.jpg

I cant wait to see how it will turn out. I try to just use the leds in placec where you cant see them directly (below the backplane, behind fans ...) .

First tests.
I think i will make my own led controller instead of using a pre made one.
Maybe an Arduino set up to take serial commands to control the leds. Then i could write small dos and windows programs to control the leds... that would be awesome.

Turbo -> wrote on 2023-10-25, 20:48:

I'm trying to figure out why my 386 seems to be running somewhat slower than usual. I went to BIOS and I saw that L1 cache is disabled and I can't enable it. 386's don't have L1 cache do they?

This BIOS option is for when you install a Cyrix/TI 486slc/486dlc. They are basically 386s with the 486 instructions added and can have 1K or 8K of L1 cache.

ElectroSoldier wrote on 2023-10-25, 20:54:

Kahenraz wrote on 2023-10-25, 11:08:

I washed some gross Sound Blasters that arrived from China. […]
Show full quote

I washed some gross Sound Blasters that arrived from China.

20231025_050643.jpg

20231025_070056.jpg

20231025_070352.jpg

Is that soapy water?

Brian from techyescity does that

ElectroSoldier wrote on 2023-10-25, 20:54:

Kahenraz wrote on 2023-10-25, 11:08:

I washed some gross Sound Blasters that arrived from China.

Is that soapy water?

It's dish detergent. I like to use Joy Ultra for most cleaning, since it is very mild and easy to wash off. If there is something really gross or oily I might use Dawn.

I use compressed air to blast any residual soap and water out from underneath all of the large chips before letting things air dry.

Kahenraz wrote on 2023-10-26, 01:38:

ElectroSoldier wrote on 2023-10-25, 20:54:

Kahenraz wrote on 2023-10-25, 11:08:

I washed some gross Sound Blasters that arrived from China.

Is that soapy water?

It's dish detergent. I like to use Joy Ultra for most cleaning, since it is very mild and easy to wash off. If there is something really gross or oily I might use Dawn.

I use compressed air to blast any residual soap and water out from underneath all of the large chips before letting things air dry.

A bold choice.

I use IPA myself.

IPA is a good tool, but it's not as good pain old soap and water when it comes to washing away dust and dirt. I find that straight IPA often dries too quickly, which just ends up moving the dirt around instead of washing it off.

ElectroSoldier wrote on 2023-10-26, 04:17:

A bold choice.

I use IPA myself.

It's not really that risky. Unless you have access to an ultrasonic cleaner, water + detergent and some scrubbing is the ideal way to clean very dirty PCBs, as long as you make sure it has completely dried. It is better to use demineralized water to prevent it from leaving residues when it dries, but I've used tap water on multiple occasions without issues. IPA is OK for cleaning small areas or to push out the remaining water after cleaning, but when it's really filthy and it needs to be submerged and scrubbed it's not that useful.