I was the thinking more along the lines of using it as a replacement for wifi in computers running operating systems that don't support modern wifi or the hardware is too old to connect to WPA2. By using an Ethernet card plus a wall adapter, you could get networking to the retro machine without having to run a cable.

Yes, it's not so cheap to get a ethernet WAP for each retro box, that handles all that... though you can do it with discarded routers, but they're a little clunky, you can use one as a wifi bridge per 4 or 5 machines though, have a little local segment on it. But you do need to initialise the powerline network with a less old machine that runs XP or higher to use the config wizard... but after it's going you can plug what you like in I think, at least it's working for me with that machine off.

debs3759 wrote on 2022-03-14, 02:19:

BitWrangler wrote on 2022-03-14, 01:13:

Yeah, I may have mentioned Powerline/Homeplug 1.0 vs 1.0 Turbo, any experience mixing? having some before. […]
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HanJammer wrote on 2022-03-14, 00:15:

Powerline adapters are nothing unusual. Pretty popular solution.

Yeah, I may have mentioned Powerline/Homeplug 1.0 vs 1.0 Turbo, any experience mixing? having some before.

I think I just like X10, '80s smart home tech, Radio Shack Plug'n'power etceteraaaa.... all sorts of strange crap.

Hmmm so I can maybe plug x10 controller to RS232 over ethernet, plugged into a homeplug/powerline adapter and have the other end plugged in to a PC somewhere else. Which miiiight be useful if the x10 controller doesn't communicate well from a far flung branch circuit, so I could stick it in the nearest socket to the breaker panel or something so it gets best reach.

I'd be surprised (nay, shocked!) if it can communicate between different properties. That would be a major security risk (and I imagine the signal would degrade over great distances). Would be fun to hack into a neighbour's internet connection through one though. Easier than hacking a wireless connection (although I do know someone who got free access to wifi for a few years, when a local network security engineer forgot to secure his own home connection. Fair game, I say, in the circumstances)

Powerline LAN was all the rage before Wifi really caught on.
Maybe especially in Germany as a) many people rent, so putting a cable thruogh a wall is off limits, technically and b) for landlords, putting any cable professionally through any wall is bloody expensive due to red tape BS.
And there's always the WAF.

Powerline LAN turns the grid to a glorified makeshift antenna, so don't expect anything like privacy for the signal itself. No hard, physical basis for not reaching the next apartment or even property.

Then again, Wifi without some modern, serious encryption is close to skywriting, let's not kid ourselves.
I did not try, but mooching off the neigbours wifi to save on provider costs is almost child's play, for what I've heard.

It's clearly a MS-8870 gf4 TI-4200 by MSI, but it has creative labs fan, creative labs parts number and probably was made before catalytic converters.

Didn't know these hybrids existed.

Got it for a buck in the "some kind of old graphics card" section.

I have on of these but the label on the back doesn't say Creative. At first I thought someone had swapped the fan from another card, but then saw pictures of similar looking cards. Maybe these were made by MSI for Creative?

devius wrote on 2022-03-14, 21:37:

Maybe these were made by MSI for Creative?

They were, for sure. Just didn't think that CL would stoop that low.

Their Voodoos were probably made by Mattel, but at least they had the residual dignity to get their "ctxxxx" number on the PCB.

Finally I got the last piece of hardware that I was looking for. (I mean hardware I am planning to use and not just stuff into boxes and call it a collection 😀) A VLB graphics card for a future 486/66 build. It has only 1 MB but back in the days that was quite common and for DOS I don't see a demand for more.
Of course there are some more items that I'd like to have but those I will probably never get because I'm not willing to spend a fortune on old hardware.

HanSolo wrote on 2022-03-15, 00:22:

Finally I got the last piece of hardware that I was looking for. (I mean hardware I am planning to use and not just stuff into boxes and call it a collection 😀) A VLB graphics card for a future 486/66 build. It has only 1 MB but back in the days that was quite common and for DOS I don't see a demand for more.
Of course there are some more items that I'd like to have but those I will probably never get because I'm not willing to spend a fortune on old hardware.
SpeaVegaPlus.jpg

Are your kidneys doing alright?
Here there's a fair trade... 🤣

HanSolo wrote on 2022-03-15, 00:22:

Finally I got the last piece of hardware that I was looking for. (I mean hardware I am planning to use and not just stuff into boxes and call it a collection 😀) A VLB graphics card for a future 486/66 build. It has only 1 MB but back in the days that was quite common and for DOS I don't see a demand for more.
Of course there are some more items that I'd like to have but those I will probably never get because I'm not willing to spend a fortune on old hardware.
SpeaVegaPlus.jpg

What's the chipset of this card then?

HanSolo wrote on 2022-03-15, 00:22:

Finally I got the last piece of hardware that I was looking for. (I mean hardware I am planning to use and not just stuff into boxes and call it a collection 😀) A VLB graphics card for a future 486/66 build. It has only 1 MB but back in the days that was quite common and for DOS I don't see a demand for more.
Of course there are some more items that I'd like to have but those I will probably never get because I'm not willing to spend a fortune on old hardware.
SpeaVegaPlus.jpg

What do you mean by only 1 MB? 🤣

appiah4 wrote on 2022-03-15, 07:55:

HanSolo wrote on 2022-03-15, 00:22:

Finally I got the last piece of hardware that I was looking for. (I mean hardware I am planning to use and not just stuff into boxes and call it a collection 😀) A VLB graphics card for a future 486/66 build. It has only 1 MB but back in the days that was quite common and for DOS I don't see a demand for more.
Of course there are some more items that I'd like to have but those I will probably never get because I'm not willing to spend a fortune on old hardware.
SpeaVegaPlus.jpg

What's the chipset of this card then?

Im guessing its a Mirage by the writing on the BIOS chip, after that ..well itll require the post string.

TrashPanda wrote on 2022-03-15, 08:32:

Im guessing its a Mirage by the writing on the BIOS chip, after that ..well itll require the post string.

Mirage is the name of the card line by Spea. They were based on various S3 chipsets. This particular card is V7 Vega Plus though and it will have Avance Logic ALG2228 chipset.

HanJammer wrote on 2022-03-15, 08:40:

TrashPanda wrote on 2022-03-15, 08:32:

Im guessing its a Mirage by the writing on the BIOS chip, after that ..well itll require the post string.

Mirage is the name of the card line by Spea. They were based on various S3 chipsets. This particular card is V7 Vega though and it will have Avance Logic ALG2228 chipset.

Ahh, never head of the V7 Vega before.

TrashPanda wrote on 2022-03-15, 08:44:

HanJammer wrote on 2022-03-15, 08:40:

TrashPanda wrote on 2022-03-15, 08:32:

Im guessing its a Mirage by the writing on the BIOS chip, after that ..well itll require the post string.

Mirage is the name of the card line by Spea. They were based on various S3 chipsets. This particular card is V7 Vega though and it will have Avance Logic ALG2228 chipset.

Ahh, never head of the V7 Vega before.

Pretty popular, budget cards by Spea although it may be like this in Europe. I stumble upon them all the time (they popup as frequently as generic Cirrus Logic cards).

HanJammer wrote on 2022-03-15, 08:47:

TrashPanda wrote on 2022-03-15, 08:44:

HanJammer wrote on 2022-03-15, 08:40:

Mirage is the name of the card line by Spea. They were based on various S3 chipsets. This particular card is V7 Vega though and it will have Avance Logic ALG2228 chipset.

Ahh, never head of the V7 Vega before.

Pretty popular, budget cards by Spea although it may be like this in Europe. I stumble upon them all the time (they popup as frequently as generic Cirrus Logic cards).

Australia here, we didn't tend to get a lot of European hardware down here, but I do live in a regional area and have done my entire life so we didn't tend to get a lot of variety here back in the day.

TrashPanda wrote on 2022-03-15, 08:59:

Australia here, we didn't tend to get a lot of European hardware down here, but I do live in a regional area and have done my entire life so we didn't tend to get a lot of variety here back in the day.

Spea was a German company known from it's high end CAD accelerators although it made cards for consumer market as well. It was later bought off by Diamond Multimedia.

I don't have that particular VLB chipset in my collection. Hmm..

HanJammer wrote on 2022-03-15, 08:40:

TrashPanda wrote on 2022-03-15, 08:32:

Im guessing its a Mirage by the writing on the BIOS chip, after that ..well itll require the post string.

Mirage is the name of the card line by Spea. They were based on various S3 chipsets. This particular card is V7 Vega Plus though and it will have Avance Logic ALG2228 chipset.

That's correct. There's a sticker on the backside with the serial number and below that it says 'VGA2228', so I assumed it's a ALG2228.

HanSolo wrote on 2022-03-15, 00:22:

Finally I got the last piece of hardware that I was looking for. (I mean hardware I am planning to use and not just stuff into boxes and call it a collection 😀) A VLB graphics card for a future 486/66 build. It has only 1 MB but back in the days that was quite common and for DOS I don't see a demand for more.
Of course there are some more items that I'd like to have but those I will probably never get because I'm not willing to spend a fortune on old hardware.
SpeaVegaPlus.jpg

DOS will be fine, but I'd sure like to have a 4 MB VLB model - that's on my list of "still not quite rich / bonkers enough to buy".
2 MB models abound, but the high end 4 MB cards have been hunted to extinction, years ago - to be stuffed in a box and called a collection.
(How pretentious. Things I hunt down are stuffed in a box and called part of "the heap".)

Spea was rather proficient in Germany in VLB and PCI times. They acquired Video Seven in 1993 and sold high end CRTs under that name.
The German Wikipedia has a list of their cards with the chips used in them.

Cuttoon wrote on 2022-03-15, 09:58:

DOS will be fine, but I'd sure like to have a 4 MB VLB model - that's on my list of "still not quite rich / bonkers enough to bu […]
Show full quote

HanSolo wrote on 2022-03-15, 00:22:

Finally I got the last piece of hardware that I was looking for. (I mean hardware I am planning to use and not just stuff into boxes and call it a collection 😀) A VLB graphics card for a future 486/66 build. It has only 1 MB but back in the days that was quite common and for DOS I don't see a demand for more.
Of course there are some more items that I'd like to have but those I will probably never get because I'm not willing to spend a fortune on old hardware.
SpeaVegaPlus.jpg

DOS will be fine, but I'd sure like to have a 4 MB VLB model - that's on my list of "still not quite rich / bonkers enough to buy".
2 MB models abound, but the high end 4 MB cards have been hunted to extinction, years ago - to be stuffed in a box and called a collection.
(How pretentious. Things I hunt down are stuffed in a box and called part of "the heap".)

Spea was rather proficient in Germany in VLB and PCI times. They acquired Video Seven in 1993 and sold high end CRTs under that name.
The German Wikipedia has a list of their cards with the chips used in them.

Heap huh .. II liike the sound of that ...tell me . .what's living at the bottom of that heap ?