VOGONS


A new covid lockdown project - help if you can

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Reply 160 of 176, by BSA Starfire

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Thanks! I'll make those disks up and take a look! Something new for the 286 & 386 😀

286 20MHz,1MB RAM,Trident 8900B 1MB, Conner CFA-170A.SB 1350B
386SX 33MHz,ULSI 387,4MB Ram,OAK OTI077 1MB. Seagate ST1144A, MS WSS audio
Amstrad PC 9486i, DX/2 66, 16 MB RAM, Cirrus SVGA,Win 95,SB 16
Cyrix MII 333,128MB,SiS 6326 H0 rev,ESS 1869,Win ME

Reply 161 of 176, by Vipersan

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BSA Starfire wrote on 2020-05-26, 13:00:

Thanks! I'll make those disks up and take a look! Something new for the 286 & 386 😀

You may not have to make the disks up ..
As there is no actual install ..
Just dump all contents in a DOS folder and run the batch file
rgds and have fun.

Reply 162 of 176, by BSA Starfire

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OK, will do, thanks!

286 20MHz,1MB RAM,Trident 8900B 1MB, Conner CFA-170A.SB 1350B
386SX 33MHz,ULSI 387,4MB Ram,OAK OTI077 1MB. Seagate ST1144A, MS WSS audio
Amstrad PC 9486i, DX/2 66, 16 MB RAM, Cirrus SVGA,Win 95,SB 16
Cyrix MII 333,128MB,SiS 6326 H0 rev,ESS 1869,Win ME

Reply 163 of 176, by Vipersan

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Been trying for a few days now to recover the floppy disks for Fate of Atlantis...using Kryoflux.
All disks had errors and the only success I had was Disk 3
Disk 1 has 11 bad sectors
Disk 2 has 12 bad sectors
Disk 3 had 2 bad sectors but now fully recovered
Disk 4 has 10 bad sectors
Disk 5 has 3 bad sectors

I'm Gutted ...but as discussed earlier in the thread ..more recent floppy disks dont fare well over time (bit rot)
I am attaching a photo to prove I own it...and am hoping someone takes pity on me and has those floppy disks in good order and can image them so I can create replacements.
PM me if you can help.
rgds
VS

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Reply 165 of 176, by kolderman

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Vipersan wrote on 2020-05-30, 13:54:
Been trying for a few days now to recover the floppy disks for Fate of Atlantis...using Kryoflux. All disks had errors and the o […]
Show full quote

Been trying for a few days now to recover the floppy disks for Fate of Atlantis...using Kryoflux.
All disks had errors and the only success I had was Disk 3
Disk 1 has 11 bad sectors
Disk 2 has 12 bad sectors
Disk 3 had 2 bad sectors but now fully recovered
Disk 4 has 10 bad sectors
Disk 5 has 3 bad sectors

I'm Gutted ...but as discussed earlier in the thread ..more recent floppy disks dont fare well over time (bit rot)
I am attaching a photo to prove I own it...and am hoping someone takes pity on me and has those floppy disks in good order and can image them so I can create replacements.
PM me if you can help.
rgds
VS

I think the odds of a four disk set having at least one bad sector is close to 100% today.

Reply 166 of 176, by Vipersan

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kolderman wrote on 2020-05-30, 20:20:
Vipersan wrote on 2020-05-30, 13:54:
Been trying for a few days now to recover the floppy disks for Fate of Atlantis...using Kryoflux. All disks had errors and the o […]
Show full quote

Been trying for a few days now to recover the floppy disks for Fate of Atlantis...using Kryoflux.
All disks had errors and the only success I had was Disk 3
Disk 1 has 11 bad sectors
Disk 2 has 12 bad sectors
Disk 3 had 2 bad sectors but now fully recovered
Disk 4 has 10 bad sectors
Disk 5 has 3 bad sectors

I'm Gutted ...but as discussed earlier in the thread ..more recent floppy disks dont fare well over time (bit rot)
I am attaching a photo to prove I own it...and am hoping someone takes pity on me and has those floppy disks in good order and can image them so I can create replacements.
PM me if you can help.
rgds
VS

I think the odds of a four disk set having at least one bad sector is close to 100% today.

For the most part I agree ..but early floppies do ..in my opinion last much longer..
I guess I've proved that to myself having loaded quite a few games already direct from floppy to the 386.
fingers crossed someone reads this and can help me restore INDY FoA

The Irony is that I now have the equipment to back up/archive all my floppy disks..but sadly too late for some.

Reply 167 of 176, by Vipersan

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Even with bad sectors ..it is often possible to use kryoflux to recover the data from such bad sectored disks..
So I kept trying..
I feel confident I have recovered the compressed files from disks 3 4 and 5 now.
Of course this doesnt help me unless I can recover disks 1 and 2
disk 2 is still being processed to try and recover PCVIQA_B.ND4
I am wasting my time though as disk 1 is completely unreadable due to the bit rot.
So I need the entire content of disk 1 ....and PCVIQA_B.ND4 from disk 2
anyone ??

Reply 168 of 176, by Vipersan

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Problem solved ..
Found a great site on line which requires joining ..but worth it.
Got the image files I needed and wrote 5 new disks.
I may try a 'frankenstein' on these at some point..but for now it is just good to know ..INDY is back..
🤣

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Reply 169 of 176, by Vipersan

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That took a while to get going after installation ..
on account I'd forgotten you have to specify options at launch to use the soundcard of your choice..
It defaults to Roland..which is no use to me.
Anyhoo...starting with Atlantis A S
selects Adlib and or Soundblaster.
Sorry for the rushed photo
rgds
VS

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Reply 170 of 176, by Vipersan

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Some more floppy reconstruction work ...and Leisure suit Larry 5 is now installed.
note to self ..I must clean my camera lense !!
I gave LSL4 a miss on account of those missing Floppies.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EeSbZiCshE
rgds
VS

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Reply 171 of 176, by Vipersan

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The postman just delivered the CD audio patch lead I ordered to get CD audio out to the Soundblaster.
Hooked it up and crossed my fingers as not all CD drives were equipped with the ability to produce analogue audio after a certain date..
This was considered unneccessary and saved them a few pennies.
such is life.
Suffice to say it works just fine ..and to quickly prove it working I installed a DOS CD audio player.
Sounds great and another tick in the checkboxes.
rgds
VS

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Reply 172 of 176, by Vipersan

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This long project is coming to an end soon..
But for now I figured it time to at least try fitting the case.
I have created a custom length IDE dual port cable so I can have the conner as master ...and a 512mb CF card formatted as 400+ mb as slave.
Doing this means I can have a rear slot mounted IDE CF card slot.
I will use the CF for both OS backup and import/export of data.
I also have shared directories under win3.11 via network ...a fully functioning CD drive via scsi and not forgetting a scsi hard drive installed.
Floppy drives are 1.44mb 3.5" and 1.2mb 5.25" which also reads 360k floppies.
A soundblaster card and a WD vga card but I may upgrade this to a CARDINAL TECHNOLOGIES VGA800 1 MB CIRRUS LOGIC CL-GD5422-750C-A ISA VGA.
..as I found one in the USA at a fair price.
and total storage with scsi IDE and CF a monster over 1600mb ...not bad for a lowly 386sx
My only wish is that the DF! motherboard would have accepted 4mb simms ..so I could have maxed at 16mb instead of 8mb.
..but you cant have everything.
All in all a very nice project for the lockdown months...and I have learned much along the way and enjoyed every moment of this build.
rgds
VS

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Reply 173 of 176, by Vipersan

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...and just when I thought I'd done ..it goes kinda 'pear shaped' ...
No keyboard function after plugging it back in.
Close examination shows than part of 1 contact inside the socket has crumbled and fallen off ..as has part of the plastic shell.
So ..out comes the motherboard AGAIN ...old socket removed successfully but searching for 5 pin pcb mount AT keyboard socket returned zero results.
Then it hit me ..
search for MIDI pcb din socket....
Success ..!!
I will have to swap over the original metal front shell ...but apart from that it should do the job.
Is it possible the DFI has feelings and just didn't want to let me go just yet ..??
🤣

..since I had no choice but to pull the motherboard ..
maybe this would be a good time to fit sockets for the 16mhz and 40mhz xtals ..
ya never know ..
I might just wanna try overclocking in the future.

Reply 174 of 176, by Vipersan

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Just begun assembling the 386 once again ..having received and fitted the replacement DIN connector..
Fairly straightforward and also took the opportunity to fit sockets for the crystals whilst the motherboard was out of the case.
Tested and working again ..re- the keyboard..so hopefully fully reassemble in the next hour.

Fingers crossed I can once again declare the build finished.
rgds
VS