I wouldn't worry that much about the price as you can end up buying several cheap devices and still have poor results.

First step for great image quality is using, modding, RGB Scart, or at least, S-Video. Composite is just bad to begin with.

Framemeister seems the way to go.

Finally made space to create a home for my new retro hobby. It's a mess, I'm not done yet, had to end early as it was getting late.
Left most machine is a finished P1 200mhz, 64mb, SB AWE64, nvidia TNT2 running Win98/DOS
The machine to it's right is an unfinished P4 WinXP machine.

I'm going to need a switch for the video or else keep switching the monitor and audio manually. Any ideas?

Original mess:

New Retro Space:

may i introduce you my new 386 build based on Asus ISA-386C, the very first (by asus) mass produced mainboard.

-ASUS ISA-386C Mainboard
-Intel 386DX-33
-8MB memory
-Genuine Connor 420MB hdd
-Tseng 4000AX with 1MB
-Goldstar Gear Multi I/O Card
-Sound Blaster Vibra 16S (CT2800) or Sound Blaster AWE64 (CT4500) - not sure which to use yet and not yet in place

not a beauty (yet) and cheap PSU with a very noisy fan but it was the best I could get quickly, will replace that as I get better parts (case and PSU).

philscomputerlab wrote:

First step for great image quality is using, modding, RGB Scart, or at least, S-Video. Composite is just bad to begin with.

The purpose of this exercise is to find a more convenient substitute for a bulky CRT, I didn't mention anything about great image quality. Composite's fine for my purposes, and regardless, I ain't breaking out my soldering iron on my vintage Sega.

Last night I stayed up past my bed-time trying out a Winfast TV 2000 XP tuner card, which has composite in. This I installed in my P4 machine, which was then hooked up to a 17" CRT monitor. I tell you what, this + DScaler (http://deinterlace.sourceforge.net/) is almost workable. The most excellent DScaler has heaps of options - including an "old game" setting, resolution options, overlays, etc.

Very impressive, but not a convenient enough setup unfortunately. It's back to the drawing board for me.

Cool. 386DX is a nice platform for DOS gaming.

Today I used the CD-ROM in my 286 to play a Curious George audio CD for my almost 3 year old son. He really likes that 286 with QuickMenu and an array of games / software to goof around with. 🤣

Iam being busy with my 286-12 build for now..

Both boards i need to solder.. One board is already fixed.. The DIN keyboard connector was bent to the board.(because of heavy usage). Also the connector wasnt sturdy anymore.. So had to replace it with a new one.
Also removed the 3.6 battery barrel.. Now iam building the system.. Thinking for which cards i want to install..

Finally got around to reinstalling Windows SE on my 1996 Packard Bell Platinum 55 and then installing a Belkin 10/100 Ethernet PCI card and a Belkin 4 port USB PCI controller card. I was having issues with conflicts when I tried using the Belkin USB card with a Linksys card I had but when I tried the Belkin Ethernet card I had no conflicts.
The Linksys Ethernet card has been installed in the 1995 Packard Bell 812CD so that I can easily transfer files. This is the beginning of setting up a serious LAN for my vintage computers. 😁

Spent a big chunk of my night last night transferring data from my old bigfoot hard drive in my 486 to a compact flash card.
I also installed an amd 586 133 chip and spent the time while waiting for files to copy trying to get the jumper settings correct.
Tonights plans are to keep working on the jumpers issue, work out the best way to mount the compact flash to ide adaptor (didnt get the rear slot version, I will be ordering a bay version on payday)

jmannik wrote:

Spent a big chunk of my night last night transferring data from my old bigfoot hard drive in my 486 to a compact flash card.
I also installed an amd 586 133 chip and spent the time while waiting for files to copy trying to get the jumper settings correct.
Tonights plans are to keep working on the jumpers issue, work out the best way to mount the compact flash to ide adaptor (didnt get the rear slot version, I will be ordering a bay version on payday)

Nice! I didn't know those CF cards would even work with the older computers like 486's. I just did this with the 1995 Packard bell 812CD mentioned above (which is a Pentium 100). From the unhealthy sounds coming from my 1996 Packard's HDD I may have to replace that one as well. 😒

King_Corduroy wrote:

jmannik wrote:

Spent a big chunk of my night last night transferring data from my old bigfoot hard drive in my 486 to a compact flash card.
I also installed an amd 586 133 chip and spent the time while waiting for files to copy trying to get the jumper settings correct.
Tonights plans are to keep working on the jumpers issue, work out the best way to mount the compact flash to ide adaptor (didnt get the rear slot version, I will be ordering a bay version on payday)

Nice! I didn't know those CF cards would even work with the older computers like 486's. I just did this with the 1995 Packard bell 812CD mentioned above (which is a Pentium 100). From the unhealthy sounds coming from my 1996 Packard's HDD I may have to replace that one as well. 😒

I took my lead from @philscomputerlab. I have a few hard drives of the correct size for an old machine like this but thought the compact flash route was the best to take. cheap, easily replaceable, and easy to transfer data too and from etc.

nemail wrote:

*snip*

Nice! Is that a Highscreen case, or were those used by other manufacturers as well?

goge wrote:

Finally made space to create a home for my new retro hobby. It's a mess, I'm not done yet, had to end early as it was getting l […]
Show full quote

Finally made space to create a home for my new retro hobby. It's a mess, I'm not done yet, had to end early as it was getting late.
Left most machine is a finished P1 200mhz, 64mb, SB AWE64, nvidia TNT2 running Win98/DOS
The machine to it's right is an unfinished P4 WinXP machine.

I'm going to need a switch for the video or else keep switching the monitor and audio manually. Any ideas?

What a cosy man cave setup. You need longer table for two systems I think. I have the same problem and think of buiding new wooden table for my needs.
For this system you can go with PowerVR PCX1 or 2. But remember some games got issues with specific hardware, it depends what games you like

oerk wrote:

nemail wrote:

*snip*

Nice! Is that a Highscreen case, or were those used by other manufacturers as well?

yeah highscreen, how did you know that? 😀

nemail wrote:

may i introduce you my new 386 build based on Asus ISA-386C, the very first (by asus) mass produced mainboard. […]
Show full quote

may i introduce you my new 386 build based on Asus ISA-386C, the very first (by asus) mass produced mainboard.

-ASUS ISA-386C Mainboard
-Intel 386DX-33
-8MB memory
-Genuine Connor 420MB hdd
-Tseng 4000AX with 1MB
-Goldstar Gear Multi I/O Card
-Sound Blaster Vibra 16S (CT2800) or Sound Blaster AWE64 (CT4500) - not sure which to use yet and not yet in place

not a beauty (yet) and cheap PSU with a very noisy fan but it was the best I could get quickly, will replace that as I get better parts (case and PSU).

That's nice386 build, I like it. Especially the front indicator panel. Good hardware

Godlike wrote:

nemail wrote:

may i introduce you my new 386 build based on Asus ISA-386C, the very first (by asus) mass produced mainboard. […]
Show full quote

may i introduce you my new 386 build based on Asus ISA-386C, the very first (by asus) mass produced mainboard.

-ASUS ISA-386C Mainboard
-Intel 386DX-33
-8MB memory
-Genuine Connor 420MB hdd
-Tseng 4000AX with 1MB
-Goldstar Gear Multi I/O Card
-Sound Blaster Vibra 16S (CT2800) or Sound Blaster AWE64 (CT4500) - not sure which to use yet and not yet in place

not a beauty (yet) and cheap PSU with a very noisy fan but it was the best I could get quickly, will replace that as I get better parts (case and PSU).

That's nice386 build, I like it. Especially the front indicator panel. Good hardware

thanks 😀 unfortunately the front of the case (the cover) is more yellow than beige... and i can't mount the floppy drive because some part of the case is missing 🙁

nemail wrote:

thanks 😀 unfortunately the front of the case (the cover) is more yellow than beige... and i can't mount the floppy drive because some part of the case is missing 🙁

You can restore brightness for your panel with cleaning cream as here in the same thread:

retrofanatic wrote:

Did some more retrobright restoration work this weekend...bought an old pc off of local classified ad for $10 and now after some retrobright magic it is probably worth $11! 🤣

Try to look for replacement parts or eventually modify it manually if you mean the case components. Of course that will not look pure original but this build desire to be fully complete 😊

Godlike!

Godlike wrote:

You can restore brightness for your panel with cleaning cream as here in the same thread: […]
Show full quote

nemail wrote:

thanks 😀 unfortunately the front of the case (the cover) is more yellow than beige... and i can't mount the floppy drive because some part of the case is missing 🙁

You can restore brightness for your panel with cleaning cream as here in the same thread:

retrofanatic wrote:

Did some more retrobright restoration work this weekend...bought an old pc off of local classified ad for $10 and now after some retrobright magic it is probably worth $11! 🤣

Try to look for replacement parts or eventually modify it manually if you mean the case components. Of course that will not look pure original but this build desire to be fully complete 😊

Godlike!

cool thanks, will try that

You're welcome 😀
Post here your progress!

nemail wrote:

oerk wrote:

nemail wrote:

*snip*

Nice! Is that a Highscreen case, or were those used by other manufacturers as well?

yeah highscreen, how did you know that? 😀

My first computer was a Highscreen 386DX-40 😀

The last week or so I've been busy with going through my collection and picking what I want to sell and what to keep. I have too much stuff and soon I won't have space to keep it all. Testing, taking pictures, putting stuff on Amibay. That sort of thing. Also toying with a VGA card, trying to upgrade it from 256K to 1MB, which I managed in the end 😀 And more..