Been working on a Macintosh LC I recently picked up cheap...

First power on I hear odd noises... I open the PSU to check capacitors etc. Turn it on and have sparks and fire 🤣
Look on eBay for replacement PSUs, see the price and give up.
The PSU is +12V, +5V and -5V... I realised I don't need negative voltages if I don't use serial so ripped out the PSU, used an external power brick for the 12V, used an adapter meant for cars for 5V and put it all back inside... now it works just fine!

I have some funny squealy noises from the speaker though which goes when I touch the leaking capacitors, so that's my next job!

kingcake wrote on 2022-09-07, 13:29:

Made some dual CR2032 boards for my old motherboards with external battery header. I still feel better having the batteries off-board. (The diodes bring the voltage down to 4.8V. I feel more comfortable with a voltage around ~5V compared to 6V.)

IMG_4493.jpg

Why 2 of these? Is this board for 4.5V boards?

appiah4 wrote on 2022-09-08, 08:57:

kingcake wrote on 2022-09-07, 13:29:

Made some dual CR2032 boards for my old motherboards with external battery header. I still feel better having the batteries off-board. (The diodes bring the voltage down to 4.8V. I feel more comfortable with a voltage around ~5V compared to 6V.)

IMG_4493.jpg

Why 2 of these? Is this board for 4.5V boards?

This is for boards that use discrete Motorola MC146818A RTCs. The datasheet says the battery should be 3 to 6 volts. There's usually a diode (or two) on the mobo that would bring a single CR2032 below 3V.

Pretty much maxxed out what I can get out of this Gemlight 486 Board, Waiting on some more L2 chips should be here tomorrow. Working with a no-name VLB board next that has better bios options. The Gemlight I have to push changes to the registers while it's running to modify the cache and memory timing settings.

Did browse some of the gud NES 8 bit games. The main reason was to copy the emulator from that laptop, since i did configure it for best performance (sadly the VGA is ATi Rage Mobility 8MB, cant install Radeon with at least 32MB..), and to copy all that on the Voodoo V/ IBM system to have them.

The laptop did come with 128MB 1 stick originaly, and 10GB IBM TravelStar HDD, now is with WD Scorpio 80GB IDE and x2 128MB SDram. When i find cheap AF x2 256MB SDram (and ofc quality one such as Infineon, Micron or HyniX), will upgrade the machine. CPU wise is fine, but the GPU bothers me alot...

Radical Vision wrote on 2022-09-09, 20:03:

Did browse some of the gud NES 8 bit games. The main reason was to copy the emulator from that laptop, since i did configure it for best performance (sadly the VGA is ATi Rage Mobility 8MB, cant install Radeon with at least 32MB..), and to copy all that on the Voodoo V/ IBM system to have them.

The laptop did come with 128MB 1 stick originaly, and 10GB IBM TravelStar HDD, now is with WD Scorpio 80GB IDE and x2 128MB SDram. When i find cheap AF x2 256MB SDram (and ofc quality one such as Infineon, Micron or HyniX), will upgrade the machine. CPU wise is fine, but the GPU bothers me alot...

How is the input lag with NES emulation?

Decided to open the Xerox MemoryWriter, some later models have a 8088 cpu, dual floppy drives and a monitor, there's a video on youtube if you're interested.
This is a simpler model, a 627 I think:

The boards from front to back:

Desoldered the battery off a PCChips M321 board and gave it a vinegar treatment. Also removed the glue before treatment.

Continued working on my living room retro table setup.

Since it's in front of a hearth, it limits the floor space for putting a tower. I can only really fit one tower PC at the far end.

Also added the console gaming setup with the 1702 monitor. I'll probably build a stand for it so I can fit a pair of consoles underneath it with a video switcher.

I'm really liking the 1702 monitor for retro console gaming. Surprisingly good audio, even though it is mono (not a big deal for retro games though).

Shponglefan wrote on 2022-09-09, 20:21:

Radical Vision wrote on 2022-09-09, 20:03:

Did browse some of the gud NES 8 bit games. The main reason was to copy the emulator from that laptop, since i did configure it for best performance (sadly the VGA is ATi Rage Mobility 8MB, cant install Radeon with at least 32MB..), and to copy all that on the Voodoo V/ IBM system to have them.

The laptop did come with 128MB 1 stick originaly, and 10GB IBM TravelStar HDD, now is with WD Scorpio 80GB IDE and x2 128MB SDram. When i find cheap AF x2 256MB SDram (and ofc quality one such as Infineon, Micron or HyniX), will upgrade the machine. CPU wise is fine, but the GPU bothers me alot...

How is the input lag with NES emulation?

Well with the crappy ATi Rage Mobility 8MB it works great.. Ofc i did need to very fine tune the emulator in order to have good quality, resolution, and to work as if this was original Nintendo.. So i have no complains, it works exactly as i remember my fake console back 26 years ago, or even better...

Babasha wrote on 2022-09-07, 16:48:

Just start to tune my Asus-mania project! […]
Show full quote

Just start to tune my Asus-mania project!

Asus P3B-F mobo
Asus V3000ZX 3D Eplorer video
Asus Maestro-1 3D Explorer sound
Asus Intel 100mbit ethernet
Asus (!) DIMM module (in Asus original gold pcb color)
Intel PentiumII with free freq and multiplier…

Ugh.. I want one of those asus NICs... so hard to find. (or the 3com version, I'm not picky)

Babasha wrote on 2022-09-07, 16:48:

Just start to tune my Asus-mania project! […]
Show full quote

Just start to tune my Asus-mania project!

Asus P3B-F mobo
Asus V3000ZX 3D Eplorer video
Asus Maestro-1 3D Explorer sound
Asus Intel 100mbit ethernet
Asus (!) DIMM module (in Asus original gold pcb color)
Intel PentiumII with free freq and multiplier…

Nice mobo u got there, one of the very best Slot 1 440BX. But a word of advice, sell that crap ASUS, and find yourself something else (the other mobo i know that is on Slot 1 and supports native Tualatins is GIGAbyte BX2000+, not sure if MSI have one), since ASUS is so shit, they tend to die from nothing, and then they all do the same, not even spinning fans... I am trying to trade my P3B-F for BX2000+, since the GIGAbyte dying from no reason is far less possible, and the BX2000+ is superior board in terms of color and features...

Otherwise ur idea is good, whole system build from 1 brand only. But i like to look on that idea from another angle. For example some nice colored system like whole blue or whole black, and to have quality parts too, but is hard to mix and match the colour scheme and even more hard to be period corrected, but that is not 100% needed anyway...

Nexxen wrote on 2022-09-07, 17:35:

It's like a drink, ice or no ice is your choice :) Also for scsi, didn't know that but I guess everything, except tapes and othe […]
Show full quote

Radical Vision wrote on 2022-09-07, 09:53:

Sure there are Sata or CF ones. But i prefer the original look and feel, so just use on older system IDE. The flat IDE cable is just nice to watch...

It's like a drink, ice or no ice is your choice 😀
Also for scsi, didn't know that but I guess everything, except tapes and other funky stuff (bernouilli and sorts), are going to get a replacement with some solid state memory.

Today costs are down, cpu power is huge, prototyping is cheap.
Yay!!

Well u are right about that. The cost of newer stuff, that will do as good (or even better), as some older high end tech, but ALOT cheaper is true, for example there are ton of cards that are ALOT more powerful then any 3Dfx card out there (maybe only the Voodoo 1 and Voodoo II are exceptions, since they are very old and 3D accelerators, not GPUs), but yet everyone wants 3Dfx cards and even Voodoo V 5500, no mater that card suck hard vs even GEforce II GTS (hell even Kyro II is faster 🤣 ), but since the V5 is special brand it makes it very expensive. But i myself am all about the classic look, and the high end old school stuff, as they are cool, and they was the cutting edge stuff back when they were released. For example i like Quantum (and mostly FireBall, since i have mostly of them) HDD, since they are not existing anymore in the HDD space, no matter their noise is LOUD af, and after some time u will get stable headache, from that damn noise.. These Quantum HDD are prob. one of the brands that have the loudest noise out there... So yeah CF or SSD will be 100000 better, in noise, but wont be as cool and classic..

Radical Vision wrote on 2022-09-10, 11:26:

Babasha wrote on 2022-09-07, 16:48:

Just start to tune my Asus-mania project! […]
Show full quote

Just start to tune my Asus-mania project!

Asus P3B-F mobo
Asus V3000ZX 3D Eplorer video
Asus Maestro-1 3D Explorer sound
Asus Intel 100mbit ethernet
Asus (!) DIMM module (in Asus original gold pcb color)
Intel PentiumII with free freq and multiplier…

Nice mobo u got there, one of the very best Slot 1 440BX. But a word of advice, sell that crap ASUS, and find yourself something else (the other mobo i know that is on Slot 1 and supports native Tualatins is GIGAbyte BX2000+, not sure if MSI have one), since ASUS is so shit, they tend to die from nothing, and then they all do the same, not even spinning fans... I am trying to trade my P3B-F for BX2000+, since the GIGAbyte dying from no reason is far less possible, and the BX2000+ is superior board in terms of color and features...

Otherwise ur idea is good, whole system build from 1 brand only. But i like to look on that idea from another angle. For example some nice colored system like whole blue or whole black, and to have quality parts too, but is hard to mix and match the colour scheme and even more hard to be period corrected, but that is not 100% needed anyway...

Tnx for your ideas!

Im already have a Tualatins ready “project” based on Abit BH20 OEM board all in black and gold colors.
My Asus “project” is based on period-correct Asus parts around PentiumII with downclocking possibilities.
PS. I have 6-7 alive P3B-F and 1-2 for spare)))

Hmm P3B-F to be period corrected for Pentium II, interesting... Even when considering the models that should be ASUS P2B, for P2, and the P3B-F to be released at least year later, when Tualatin was made, not before that. But i dont know, the release dates. But just the model names suggest that, the P3B-F is not as period corrected, as the PB2 is.. Unless ASUS released P2B in the beggining of 1998, and the P3B-F in the end of 1998, or something like that..

That is good u have much of these working, mine works too, but some other ASUS boards i had did die..

Radical Vision wrote on 2022-09-10, 12:15:

Hmm P3B-F to be period corrected for Pentium II, interesting... Even when considering the models that should be ASUS P2B, for P2, and the P3B-F to be released at least year later, when Tualatin was made, not before that. But i dont know, the release dates. But just the model names suggest that, the P3B-F is not as period corrected, as the PB2 is.. Unless ASUS released P2B in the beggining of 1998, and the P3B-F in the end of 1998, or something like that..

That is good u have much of these working, mine works too, but some other ASUS boards i had did die..

My P2B needs some minor repair. Will downgrade motherboard later.

Radical Vision wrote on 2022-09-10, 12:15:

Hmm P3B-F to be period corrected for Pentium II, interesting... Even when considering the models that should be ASUS P2B, for P2, and the P3B-F to be released at least year later, when Tualatin was made, not before that. But i dont know, the release dates. But just the model names suggest that, the P3B-F is not as period corrected, as the PB2 is.. Unless ASUS released P2B in the beggining of 1998, and the P3B-F in the end of 1998, or something like that..

That is good u have much of these working, mine works too, but some other ASUS boards i had did die..

what asus boards died on you?

My first attempt to retrobright.

Also, got an old 5.25" for less than $1 - cleaned and greased it - seems working. It's front panel now will stay for a night in my bathroom 😀

Tomorrow will work with a case (and floppy) - try to remove rust and paint it.

Ordered everything I should need to build one of the Pico to AT adapters that's being developed on this forum.

Got the PCS desktop working by swapping the board and GPU (both the Trident VGA/EGA and the BioStar board aren't functional and my plan is to fix the BioStar board and get it installed). The Koalk 20MB drive works and it'll get archived once I receive other components and format a hard drive and the turbo display has 1 speed selection that doesn't show the full number and only has 2 of the 10 segments lit up, yet the others work fine: 33MHz is the one that has issues, which means a reflow of every IC needs to be done and if that fixes it, I'll call it a day. That and I need to label the connectors so I know which one is which for the reset button and keyboard lock since they share the same wire colors blue and indigo.

Today I've been rescuing files from a 2003 era Medion PC. A friend of my fathers sadly passed away earlier in the year and he'd worked as a publisher and had published some of my fathers own work. I was asked if I could get some files off the 'tower' and was told it was 'modern'. Knowing the chap had been in his 70's when he passed I actually expected this to mean Windows 7 or maybe 8 and a SATA HDD or maybe even an SSD. Nope, a Pentium 4 2.66GHz with Geforce MX 440 and 2 x IDE HDD's and complete with a 56K modem and fancy front panel complete with CF, USB, audio jacks and SVHS and composite outputs.

I'm now pulling all the old images, and quark express files off via USB for archiving. No one wants the PC itself so I've offered to give it a home to save it from someone carelessly throwing it in landfill - my offer was accepted 😀