Designed and printed a couple of these...

Grab the design here: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4669790

luckybob wrote on 2020-11-29, 07:51:

In other news, I went totally Office Space on my old Brother Printer. I bought brand new toner for it, only for something in th […]
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In other news, I went totally Office Space on my old Brother Printer. I bought brand new toner for it, only for something in the paper path to screw up. I wasn't having a good day to start with, and truth be told smashing that 100lb monster on my basement floor felt AMAZING.

Side note, I REALLY should have taken the brand new toners out before I smashed it. CMYK toner is expensive.

I feel you man. I hate printers with a burning passion.

fosterwj03 wrote on 2020-11-29, 16:54:

I decided to spend some time this morning testing out my “new to me” IBM-branded Matrox G200 PCI video card with Windows NT 3.51 on my Ivy Bridge Core i5-3570. The G200 has a programable RAMDAC which makes 2D-accelerated widescreen resolutions possible in these older operating systems. You just need to modify the monitor definition file (MGA.MON) to specify the correct signal parameters for a custom resolution. This works with OS2 Warp as well.

The card’s 8MB of SDRAM also allows 32-bit color depth at 1080p.

Nice. It's good to see NT 3.51 get some love too.

HanJammer wrote on 2020-11-30, 08:30:

Designed and printed a couple of these...

Very nice. Reaching to the back of the PC for the card is sometimes difficult, and putting the card back is a pain. The only downside is that the card is sticking out of the front side, so you have to remove it, when not using the PC just for aesthetic reasons of it. However, all in all, good work and thank you for sharing the files.

HanJammer wrote on 2020-11-30, 08:30:

Designed and printed a couple of these...

Grab the design here: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4669790

This is really cool, very well designed and looks very professional. I'm impressed!

HanJammer wrote on 2020-11-30, 08:30:

Designed and printed a couple of these...

Grab the design here: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4669790

That adapter looks fantastic excellent work. I really wish I had a 3D printer.

Turbo -> wrote on 2020-11-30, 15:19:

HanJammer wrote on 2020-11-30, 08:30:

Designed and printed a couple of these...

Very nice. Reaching to the back of the PC for the card is sometimes difficult, and putting the card back is a pain. The only downside is that the card is sticking out of the front side, so you have to remove it, when not using the PC just for aesthetic reasons of it. However, all in all, good work and thank you for sharing the files.

I can make it stick less, maybe just flush with the front of the "drive" as it should be enough to remove the card. I already have some ideas for improving this design.

Pics? […]
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drosse1meyer wrote on 2020-11-28, 16:08:

Trying to fix a retrobright that ran wild...

Pics?

What method do you use? I use the hair bleach cream, saran wrap + sun. You gotta get it on there somewhat evenly and apply the wrap tight around it and not let bubbles appear. I've never had a bad turnout, only one was "fair" (still better than the yellowed color it started with) because I didn't apply the wrap properly and I put it in front of a dirty window, so when the sun moved, the dirt eclipsed certain parts of the computer. The solution was to do it again, outside, with an even coat. It markedly decreased the blotching, at first glance it looked great, but some spots were still a bit darker than others. I wouldn't call this marbling per-se.

Other than that, I'm down to 30-40% of the bottle, which I bought probably 2, maybe 3 years ago. Investment has paid off though 😉

Yea this was my first time retrobrighting and I used that same method. Everything I read said it takes at least a day in full sun, so I did it in the morning, left it on the windowsill, and went out for the day. Probably not a good decision for the gray trim which was way overbleached. Also dealing with saran wrap is a PITA and i think that partially causes the unevenness, especially if it's not perfectly set up. The 40-cream application was very smooth, I used a foam brush. Clearly there was a different impact on the gray trim, those parts definitely came out with more problems than the beige.

Heres some pics. The one with Diablo on the screen shows how bad the front trim's marbling was. I ended up fixing this by sanding with progressively finer sandpaper. Lost a bit of the texture but looks 100% better than before.

Still need to find a beige floppy drive 🤣.

HanJammer wrote on 2020-11-30, 08:30:

Designed and printed a couple of these...

Grab the design here: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4669790

Looks very nice!

I just got an sdcard-ide adapter and have been highly impressed with its performance and compatibility (socket7 system). Are CF cards still used by the majority here?

HanJammer wrote on 2020-11-30, 08:30:

Designed and printed a couple of these...

Really nice design 😀

In a moment I will be reballing one of the memory chips of mobile Radeon 9000 card. I bought a spare one for one of my Dell Inspiron laptops (8100 or 8200). It was described as defective, because it generates artifacts, but that didn't discourage me.

I had exact the same problem with another Radeon 9000 5 years ago. Artifacts disappeared when touching exact the same spot on the video card. After reballing it never had this problem again. I guess that there is excessive mechanical pressure in that spot, which deforms the PCB and snaps the solder balls off. The keyboard is pressing down on the GPU and acting as a heatsink in this model. I guess that after all these years the PCB has achieved its "final", neutral shape, and after resoldering the chip problem most likely will never come back. There was also exact same problem with Geforce 4 Go, but I didn't bother reballing it. So that's clearly a manufacturing defect.

HanJammer wrote on 2020-11-30, 08:30:

Designed and printed a couple of these...

Grab the design here: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4669790

Does it need to be exactly the same model of adapter, or just a similar design? I ask because I have looked on a few UK sites and have not found that exact part number.

HanJammer wrote on 2020-11-30, 15:52:

Turbo -> wrote on 2020-11-30, 15:19:

HanJammer wrote on 2020-11-30, 08:30:

Designed and printed a couple of these...

Very nice. Reaching to the back of the PC for the card is sometimes difficult, and putting the card back is a pain. The only downside is that the card is sticking out of the front side, so you have to remove it, when not using the PC just for aesthetic reasons of it. However, all in all, good work and thank you for sharing the files.

I can make it stick less, maybe just flush with the front of the "drive" as it should be enough to remove the card. I already have some ideas for improving this design.

Yeah, doesn't a CF Card have an edge, that one could grab with a nail?

drosse1meyer wrote on 2020-11-30, 16:23:

I just got an sdcard-ide adapter and have been highly impressed with its performance and compatibility (socket7 system). Are CF cards still used by the majority here?

I use both; the CF cards and SD cards. Almost all of my systems have CF cards, however, I think people use SD cards more and more often.

Some people like their systems in an original pristine setup. I respect that. I also like the sound of old HDD's. And I will also build systems with old HDDs. As it is an experience listening to an old hard drive, it is also an experience playing DOS games in sweet silence. Not to mention ease of data transfer and mobility.

Today I was repairing some old joysticks for the Commodore Plus/4.

I bought 3 broken original Commodore-branded joysticks from eBay with the hope of at least fixing 1 of them and I've ended up fixing 2 out of the 3 which is a bonus. The 3rd needs a new plug, as the pin for the "up" direction snapped when I tried to straighten it, also it's in poor cosmetic condition as well as damaged plastic inside so I might just leave the 3rd for parts for now, with a view to fixing it someday and replacing the broken DIN plug with a DB9 (no point trying to find the DIN plug for the Plus/4 when DB9 adapters are common enough and I already have 1 such adapter).

Also repaired another joystick for the Plus/4 - a Spectravideo branded joystick. The fire button wasn't working as the wires inside had snapped, so I soldered on 1 new wire and repaired another with solder + insulation tape.

So I now have 3 fully working joysticks for the Commodore Plus/4:

All right, I wasn't in mood to replace these 144 balls without stencil using tweezers (I actually did that once), so I just went the "oh-no" way and did a reflow by preheating entire board, injecting flux under that memory chip and heating it up with hot air. Then I removed remaining flux with alcohol and compressed air. Seems to work now...

drosse1meyer wrote on 2020-11-30, 16:23:

HanJammer wrote on 2020-11-30, 08:30:

Designed and printed a couple of these...

Grab the design here: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4669790

Looks very nice!

I just got an sdcard-ide adapter and have been highly impressed with its performance and compatibility (socket7 system). Are CF cards still used by the majority here?

I like them mosty because they are a bit more 'substantial' and colorful ;D than SD cards which I always loose in my drawer. Also they are pin-compatible with IDE so it's natural choice for me. I also don't use CF cards bigger than 1GB as they are enough to transfer files and I still like the real HDDs.

debs3759 wrote on 2020-11-30, 17:37:

HanJammer wrote on 2020-11-30, 08:30:

Designed and printed a couple of these...

Grab the design here: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4669790

Does it need to be exactly the same model of adapter, or just a similar design? I ask because I have looked on a few UK sites and have not found that exact part number.

This design is widely used so as long as it has the power connector in the same place and the same dimensions - it will fit.

Turbo -> wrote on 2020-11-30, 18:05:

drosse1meyer wrote on 2020-11-30, 16:23:

I just got an sdcard-ide adapter and have been highly impressed with its performance and compatibility (socket7 system). Are CF cards still used by the majority here?

I use both; the CF cards and SD cards. Almost all of my systems have CF cards, however, I think people use SD cards more and more often.

Some people like their systems in an original pristine setup. I respect that. I also like the sound of old HDD's. And I will also build systems with old HDDs. As it is an experience listening to an old hard drive, it is also an experience playing DOS games in sweet silence. Not to mention ease of data transfer and mobility.

If I even find time for playing DOS games I play in the headphones anyway so I don't personally mind the computer does all the 'correct' noises. I find pleasure listening to them, just like I find pleasure listening to a V8 or transmission how in my old Camaro - it's a part of this whole 'retro' experience after all...

Turbo -> wrote on 2020-11-30, 18:05:

drosse1meyer wrote on 2020-11-30, 16:23:

I just got an sdcard-ide adapter and have been highly impressed with its performance and compatibility (socket7 system). Are CF cards still used by the majority here?

I use both; the CF cards and SD cards. Almost all of my systems have CF cards, however, I think people use SD cards more and more often.

Some people like their systems in an original pristine setup. I respect that. I also like the sound of old HDD's. And I will also build systems with old HDDs. As it is an experience listening to an old hard drive, it is also an experience playing DOS games in sweet silence. Not to mention ease of data transfer and mobility.

Oh I agree, hdd noise is part of the experience.. I kept the 3.5" drive mounted so i can plug it in at any time. SD card just seems more practical for playing around... easily create/restore image files locally or over the network, swap in another sdcard with a particular OS install, etc. Also I don't want to kill that 25 year old spinning disk from overuse. Speaking of, im thinking it would be prudent to buy a few small capacity IDE drives.

drosse1meyer wrote on 2020-11-30, 16:17:

Yea this was my first time retrobrighting and I used that same method. Everything I read said it takes at least a day in full sun, so I did it in the morning, left it on the windowsill, and went out for the day. Probably not a good decision for the gray trim which was way overbleached. Also dealing with saran wrap is a PITA and i think that partially causes the unevenness, especially if it's not perfectly set up. The 40-cream application was very smooth, I used a foam brush. Clearly there was a different impact on the gray trim, those parts definitely came out with more problems than the beige.

On a good day, I put them out in the sun at 11am (as late as mid OCtober) and they're done by 1-2PM. I live in the great white north, so if you're like in Florida or something, I would say a day would overcook it. The beauty of using this method is that I don't even have to take anything apart - hair bleach goes on the part with a paint brush (I usually put way more on than you have), saran wrap right over top, outside, and then it gets wiped off. This works great for fascias - just take the metal cover off the case and apply away. Crevices and corners get a damp toothbrush until all the formula is gone.

Easiest method IMO.

It looks decent, definitely an improvement.

BTW I also use CF - in all my systems, up from my 286 all the way to my MMX. I have a variety of them around here, but all my computers boot off a regular hard disk, mostly for the nostalgic sounds. My MMX boots from a 15,000 RPM SCSI II drive, it's eerily quiet without it. The only system that is completely without conventional drive is my 486 DLC, which uses an Innodisk IDE disk on card, and the secondary drive is an SCSI2SD. That computer is an ongoing experiment and doesn't get used often anyhow.

Got an old Packard Bell 316 Legend (386 SX 16) back to life - came with 1 30 PIN SIMM, so I added another one and tested it. 3 Mb RAM total now (1Mb on board). The CMOS battery (not leaking) was also replaced, and the hard drive whirred to life - won't boot though. I booted off a diskette and found out why - DoubleSpace! Gonna format it, there's some games on there I wanna put on diskettes first. Pretty clean otherwise, there's some personal data I want to see if the original owner wants (if he does contact me) before I wipe it.

I have a matching monitor for it too, which doesn't power on. Might be an easy fix.

Have this helariously fake Pentium 133.

I was just watching a video on the fake Pentium pandemic of the mid 90s a few days ago, and was wondering if any of mine where slower processors in disguise.

I just got this in the mail like, a day after and didn't notice untill I swapped it for a 200MMX today. The Intel logo isn't even on center and You can see the re-badge paint chipping away!

What a coincidence!

SodaSuccubus wrote on 2020-12-01, 16:38:

Have this helariously fake Pentium 133.

Has to be a Pentium 120 under the hood. Maybe we should play 'scratch and win' to find out? 😁