weedeewee wrote on 2022-03-20, 18:02:

-ide-scsi firmware jumper mod

Wot is the meaning of this

chris2021 wrote on 2022-03-20, 18:20:

weedeewee wrote on 2022-03-20, 18:02:

-ide-scsi firmware jumper mod

Wot is the meaning of this

meaning can be found here https://68kmla.org/bb/index.php?threads/conve … e-3#post-428071

Considering I don't want to do any damage to the board and considering that using a socket for the eeprom might not be such a great idea, and considering that I need a spot to place the jumper which would select between the hdd and cdrom firmware, I just haven't gotten round to placing all the pieces of the puzzle in the right place.

idea is simple. place on adress line of eeprom either high or low depending on which firmware one wants.
fairly certain that, since firmware is only 16 or 32K, and eeprom is 512? can't recall atm that there is enough playroom to try it out.

About 10 years ago I had this idea of thinning down my collection buy just building the best PC money could buy for each year between 1981 and 2000. This I now look at with laughter as my thinning down consists of buying more hardware. I have managed a few years but the research I have put into it is mind-boggling. Like spending hours trawling thru infoworld etc trying to find and EISA video card from 1990. There isn't one. Well there isn't one that you could use with windows 3.0, well the one i know of only got drivers in 1991, till then it was autoCAD only...Yes I can bore you with many many more things.

Don't, don't try to do this, you will end up spending 100 GBP on a CDC 160MB hdd from 1986 because it was the fastest hdd around. Then look for an early ESDI controller. You will eventually go mad. Though I did create my EISA config archive, and the Chipset Encyclopedia because of it. So the madness hopefully benefits others. Try finding a dual CPU pentium 66 from 1993.

I then completely lost the plot and decided I should document ALL PC hardware from 1981 to very recent. I met some enablers you know who you are:) who have the same goal.

I have so many unfinished projects, because they are waiting on various parts, like trying to find period-correct-best-you-could-get NIC from the late 80s. Meanwhile i have things like my mac II that have sat for 20 years waiting to be fixed. Some of this stuff is just never going to happen I know.

mR_Slug ,
Does that mean that you're the guy to ask for info about a compaq prosignia system I threw out several years ago.
I remember it was a dual 486 system with 4 hard drives on what I guess was a raid controller and it had an EISA bus.
I'm not sure it were IDE drives. the floppy drive didn't work and had an annoying 26pin connector, which at the time I wasn't in a good mental state to replace it.
Just looking for any applicable softpaqs was annoying enough.
then again, this is more a nostalgic feeling speaking
nevermind and thanks for all the data !

The only Compaqs I know of are here http://66.113.161.23/~mR_Slug/deviceInfo/comp … q_qrg/index.htm

Are you sure it wasn't the Systempro XL? That was a dual 486 with an IDE RAID option. ShadowLord on vcfed.org has one I think. Didn't know of a prosignia dual 486, be cool of there was one.

I've got a pair of VAXstation 2000 that need some motherboard repairs. At some point the NiCd battery in both machines leaked and has damaged a corner of the motherboard. I'm going to have to desolder a chunk of the motherboard, clean it, repair all the damaged traces, solder everything back on and hope at least all of the proprietary ICs still work. When these machines were last tested (by the previous owner over a decade ago) they did kind of work so there is a chance they'll some day work again.

Also got a pair of MicroVAX 3500s, a pair of AlphaStation 200s, a pair of SPARCstations (an IPX and an IPC plus probably the PSUs in their various disk/tape units), a Prioris LX (small EISA pentium server) and a couple of PCs that need their power supplies recapped. And a DECpc 325sxLP that needs a new tatalum capacitor on its ISA riser card. Went to order some capacitors last night to finally get started on some of this but it turns out the ones I need are out of stock with no deliveries expected for a few months.

And my DEC Multia VX42B wasn't working reliably last time I tried to use it. Sometimes it just gives me a blank screen with clicking from the speaker - either straight from power on or from the ARC console. Maybe this is just another machine for the PSU Recap pile.

davidrg wrote on 2022-03-20, 20:14:

And my DEC Multia VX42B wasn't working reliably last time I tried to use it. Sometimes it just gives me a blank screen with clicking from the speaker - either straight from power on or from the ARC console. Maybe this is just another machine for the PSU Recap pile.

don't know the exact number of my multia but It had corrosion on the power connector, causing a high enough voltage drop on the connector to stop the board from working correctly.
If you're lucky, it might just be the only problem on yours as well.

Hmm how about that YouTube channel I’ve been meaning to start. Any day now..

I have to finish modelling printable AT case I started a month ago. There aren't any used ones where I live, at least not for less than $150 for empty case... so I tried making my own.

First version looks more or less OK, I have to rework rear plate a bit, for easier printing so it requires minimal support.

Apart from that I still have to make front panel. And I'll have to see if it'll actually all fit inside. There will be two 5.25" slots so potentially PSU cables will get in the way and maybe I'll have to make it a bit larger. But I'd like to avoid that if possible. I have 30x30x40 cm volume printer so I can print it bigger, but I'd like for parts to fit on Ender 3 type printer as they're more common. Currently they fit on Ender 3 buildplate.

As for top, bottom, left, right panels, I'll probably model some plates that would interconnect to build whole panel, as whole panel wouldn't fit on most home 3D printers. But currently I intend to use acrylic/plexiglass plates for panels.

Far too much projects, all linked to my YT channel ...
- NuXT PC explaining and mounting to make the ultimate retrosleeper
- test of a brand new 3DFx build by some russian fellow
- finishing my retrosleeper (a 486 with a "special" badge, I let you see the video I posted in the dedicated topic)
- trying to make a VGA Ambilight thingy based on a RPi
- test the Orpheus ISA soundcard I've buy some time ago
And of course, a whooooole lot of retro game testing 😀

Hoping to soon getting time to build a "BP6-MAX" setup, consisting of 2 GoldenOrb coolers modified to fit the BP6 board, screening 400 MHz Mendocinos to find 2, that will run at 600 Mhz and max out the memory to 3x256 MiB. As for the latter, I do have sticks, that are supposed to have the correct memory organisation to run on a BX chipset. The big question is if it will all run together.
As for GFX, I'm not sure what - but I suspect that my Matrox m3D will have a role as an accelerator. Hope to find some Voodoo stuff down the line. I was originally looking for a Rage Fury Maxx to keep the "dual" theme, but experiencing it won't work on an NT core, I dropped that. Maybe I'll just opt for a Matrox G400 for maximum 2D quality, and a Voodoo (2) for 3D

This will hopefully be mounted on an ATX plate and hung on the wall of my Man-Cave home office ...

Tetrium wrote on 2022-03-20, 07:00:

There is lots that I never ended up doing, the most important one is learning how to solder (and I mean really, not just solder 2 wires together and that kind of stuff) and getting the gear needed to do repairs.

And like some others here, I got plenty parts (and cases) still left to test and work with.

That's where I'm at, too. I've never been too good with the low-level electrical/hardware side of computers, but lately I've been itching to learn.

I recently acquired a handful of new boards to play with, one of them being a SOYO 462 board with bad caps. The board doesn't seem to be anything special, so it's perfect as a guinea pig to practice on. I've also got a PCI GeForce card that blew out a cap when I tested it, as well as a FIC SD-11 Slot A board that needs some TLC.

I've been bingeing repair videos on YT and reading up on the how and what of it, as well as filling my Amazon list. My bank account isn't going to be happy, but then it never is. They say it's never too late to learn, but I wish I'd had this interest 20 years ago, when learning seemed so much easier and I had more time for it.

I've also got a few other half started systems in various stages of (dis)assembly. Never enough time.

X3J11 wrote on 2022-03-21, 09:51:

That's where I'm at, too. I've never been too good with the low-level electrical/hardware side of computers, but lately I've bee […]
Show full quote

Tetrium wrote on 2022-03-20, 07:00:

There is lots that I never ended up doing, the most important one is learning how to solder (and I mean really, not just solder 2 wires together and that kind of stuff) and getting the gear needed to do repairs.

And like some others here, I got plenty parts (and cases) still left to test and work with.

That's where I'm at, too. I've never been too good with the low-level electrical/hardware side of computers, but lately I've been itching to learn.

I recently acquired a handful of new boards to play with, one of them being a SOYO 462 board with bad caps. The board doesn't seem to be anything special, so it's perfect as a guinea pig to practice on. I've also got a PCI GeForce card that blew out a cap when I tested it, as well as a FIC SD-11 Slot A board that needs some TLC.

I've been bingeing repair videos on YT and reading up on the how and what of it, as well as filling my Amazon list. My bank account isn't going to be happy, but then it never is. They say it's never too late to learn, but I wish I'd had this interest 20 years ago, when learning seemed so much easier and I had more time for it.

I've also got a few other half started systems in various stages of (dis)assembly. Never enough time.

Most common repair job will probably be replacing caps and perhaps some other less common things.
Yes, I've watched quite a bit of repair vids and always found them interesting 😀
But I also know that for repairing you really kinda need to create a somewhat dedicated workspace for this and atm I just don't have the room.
Also the investment cost is something that makes me postpone it as I need to take it seriously (I also don't have deep pockets, so better to know what I'm doing before committing to it). Like I'd also need to get the right caps etc.

But at least I'll have plenty of boards to practice on 😜