PcBytes wrote on 2022-09-30, 20:34:

Yae Miko in (what I suppose is) 8 bit depth...

Alas, no. It's an 8-color, "4-bit" image conversion.

The 8-bit version is over on the Tandy 1000 RSX ...

Ah yes, I forgot the 4-bit image conversion. Funny, considering I used to do this to a few of my fave wallpapers using paint dot NET.

Got a couple Blue Lava Systems XT-CF adapters this week.

Decided to try one out in my Tandy TL2. Popped it in, plugged in the included pre-installed CF card, and it booted right up!

After spending all that time fighting with the other Lo-tech adapter and not having success, having this Blue Lava adapter work right off the bat almost feels anti-climatic. Almost. 😜

Bancho wrote on 2022-09-30, 20:15:

I picked up a Lian Li PC-A05N which arrived today which I rehoused my P4 ISA build in. I love the compact form factor of this ca […]
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I picked up a Lian Li PC-A05N which arrived today which I rehoused my P4 ISA build in. I love the compact form factor of this case.

I have one of these cases. Bought it new, might even still have the box for it. I loved how small it was, wasn't a big fan of the psu placement. Use to house my x2 4200 939 build. Yours is missing the internal hdd bays though.

Veeb0rg wrote on 2022-10-01, 04:18:

Bancho wrote on 2022-09-30, 20:15:

I picked up a Lian Li PC-A05N which arrived today which I rehoused my P4 ISA build in. I love the compact form factor of this ca […]
Show full quote

I picked up a Lian Li PC-A05N which arrived today which I rehoused my P4 ISA build in. I love the compact form factor of this case.

I have one of these cases. Bought it new, might even still have the box for it. I loved how small it was, wasn't a big fan of the psu placement. Use to house my x2 4200 939 build. Yours is missing the internal hdd bays though.

I do have the HD Cage, just left it out the case as i'm using SSD and a 2.5" WD Black drive. I think the PSU could only be placed at the front to keep the height of the case small.

Hard drive shuffling!

The 486 DX4-100 Desktop is getting a 250GB ATA-133 drive now......it's kind of scary that that thing is taking considerably less time to install Windows 95 OSR 2.5 now. It's so I can repurpose the other 95 drive for my BSi/NanTan FMA3500C laptop as I have some snap-fit molex connectors from the dead VersaDock power supply that I can use to build a custom adapter to modify for regular 4-pin molex on that laptop (The FMA3500 series used stock 3.5" desktop HDDs).

The goal is to xfer the Windows 3.1 install from the old 250MB drive to the 20/30/40GB ATA-133 DDO'd drive with DOS 7 GPL on it. Then copy over any ISO files using OMI that I might want to use in DOS/Win31 using SHSUCDHD. I'm toying with building a Win7 install for my ThinkPad T61 so I can swap the HDD out from linux on the SSD To do file copy/management/backup operations on old hard drives. My USB->IDE/SATA Converter works best in 7 and Win 10, OSX, and Linux Mint refuse to load FAT-16 formatted drives, and sometimes refuse to pick up on drives with a DDO as well (while 7 works fine for that).

I've got the other NanTan (the Generic FMAK9200D) running great but the floppy drive is....uh....making noises like a nest of bees. So that's probably the next thing to fix. It's staying a DX2-66. I tried a AMD 100MHZ CPU in it but regardless of jumper settings I just could not get that darned thing to detect it as a DX4, which I think is a part of the RAM issues I was having at that point. Since going back to DX2-66 it's been stable. Oddly, I found jumper settings that allowed it to run at 132MHz and the DX4 seemed nice a swift at that speed (did not run it long though). The DFI has gone back to it's original 250MB HDD for now, until I can get a nicer drive.

I was thinking the 250MB from the BSi NanTan will go to my Compaq Deskpro 386s/20 Blue Lightning setup as a second HDD, since it's the same exact HDD (CONNOR), since it needs more disk space, and Compaq's of that era are silly catankerous about huge hard disks. The controller just can't handle them. So that's going to be my "true to the period" MS-DOS setup.

Checking out some REMOVED on my voodoo 3, Piii 700, vortex 2, sc-55, Cambridge soundworks 2.1, 440bx, antec300, win98 PC. V. Compatible

Today I completed my resurrection of a 2nd Philips CD-I player. A few weeks back I bought this 2nd CD-I as a backup, in case I wasn't able to repair the previous one I damaged. Since I was able to repair it afterall, this 2nd CD-I was basically surplus to requirements, but I decided to try and fix it anyway.

It's a Philips CD-I 210/45, so the later revision with a newer GUI, completely different internals and a later model CD drive - the more unreliable CDM 12.4 type. As expected the laser was toast, so I ordered a replacement from Aliexpress (actually a complete drive mechanism + laser replacement).

The build quality of these Chinese replacements is a bit shoddy. After soldering the power cables to the new mechanism & motors, I put it back into the player for a test and immediately spotted an issue with the spindle hub - it was struggling to make proper contact with the discs as it was slightly warped. So I removed it and attached the spindle from the old mechanism, which cured the issue. A very minor tweak to the laser power potentiometer and this thing is now working as good as it can get.

The CDM 12.4 is generally pretty terrible all around even with a new laser, but it seems to be working ok now and I've been testing it for several hours playing Lemmings & Micro Machines. So that's now another fully working Philips CD-I. It just needs some cosmetic work now to finish 100% - it received some minor damage during shipping, a plastic tab/screw hole snapped inside which should be a very easy fix.

I replaced the flyback on my 1081 monitor , I'll have to calibrate the monitor and see if it works , hopefully nothing blows up.

Did some sorting in my storage locker .

I found
- 3 IBM model M keyboards
- a new in box Compaq SDM4540UL keyboard
- a MOS 6502 clone from UMC
- a MOS 6522 clone from UMC
- a few UV erasable EPROMs
- A Gravis Ultrasound MAX v1.8
- More external USR 56K (X2, v.90 andv.92) USR modems than I'll likely ever need (I stopped counting after 3)
- An Atari 2600 Jr
- A new in box Asus CD-S520/A5 CD-ROM drive
- A Compaq Deskpro EN (the non-SFF variant)
- A couple of big box games I forgot I had (from Sierra and Origin, mostly)

So I basically went "thrifting" in my locker and found stuff I (mostly) forgot about . Great way to save money . 😉

Went through all the loose HDD I had laying around to decide what to do with them. Including attempting to upgrade the NanTan FMA3500C laptop.

First part is those FMA3500's use special Connor/Maxtor drives with the 3-pin power connector, however, I had a dead VersaDock power supply and as it turns out it has molex connectors in it that work like RJ jack punch downs. So I managed to properly wire that into the FMa3500C like it's factory, so now I can use pretty much any hard disk (within the limitations) on that BSi/NanTan monster I want. Unfortunatley I broke the screen latch though...sheesh. More BS & Superglue time later.

Got a ton of leftover drives - one 250MB from the NanTan FMAK9200D with the color screen, which I wiped. A 540 from one of the NEC Versa that all have 40/80GB ATA-133 drives in them now. 2 160GB, one 320GB, and one 500GB SATA HDD I've been messing with iwht the SATA to PATA adapter. I'm probably going to sell some of them, since I prefer ATA-133s or at least a 8GB ATA-66 in my computers when possible. I also tested out the 256GB mSATA SSD in the 44-pin converter, Windows would not pick it up (doh), I think that's going back into the FitPC Slim computer so it'll be more likely to sell. I can't seem to find a system it gets on with that well. Strange since the 486 DX4 LOVES that Samsung 256GB SSD I threw in it on the SATA converter for some crazy reason.

My end game is this now.....

I have 2 Amazon shelves that look really cool in black, when I started putting Laptops and little bonzai trees and whatnot next to them the wife has been saying to buy more. So now I'm looking at nabbing an AT&T 3180 or Ultralite Versa (yep again), and a few more NanTans, and then throw big HDD in all of them and have them where I can just grab one and go to town gaming on it whenever I feel like, and when not, I have these cool looking shelves with cool, FUNCTIONAL laptops on them.

Then I'm keeping only four desktops: Tandy 1000A, GEM 286, Compaq Deskpro 386s/20, and the CN486 desktop. One per monitor. I'm also trying to narrow down the keyboards and have specific setups for all...

TANDY 1000 = Tandy keyboard (obviously), Tandy Deluxe Mouse, NEC MultiSync II 14"
GEM 286 = one of the AT keyboards, Microsoft Dove Bar Mouse, KDS SVGA 14"
Compaq Deskpro 386s/20 = Compaq Keyboard, Compaq Mouse, Micron SVGA 14"
486 DX4-100 = One of the AT Keyboards or PS/2 Model M, Microsoft Dove Bar, Dell 17" SVGA

The troublesome part is picking the AT keyboard.....

NEC AT Keyboard = one of my favorites, it does not click too loud, but it has a confirming click. Works with everything great. Very heavy, very solid, very sturdy, but also very big.

IBM Model "M" = another favorite, clicks a lot, very loud, built like a tank, I love them, but they are not invincible, my wife has killed 3

Generic AT Keyboard = also great, feels a lot like my Chicony 5661 XT/AT, more reliable than the Chicony

Chicony 5661 AT/XT = Keyboard I've had since 2001 with Creeping Net 1. It's been run HARD. It's a little flaky on the 486 at times but it's my favorite one for that because that machine is really a mix of parts from the old original CN machines from the 2000's build in the best formation ever.

creepingnet wrote on 2022-10-02, 05:33:

Went through all the loose HDD I had laying around to decide what to do with them. Including attempting to upgrade the NanTan FM […]
Show full quote

Went through all the loose HDD I had laying around to decide what to do with them. Including attempting to upgrade the NanTan FMA3500C laptop.

First part is those FMA3500's use special Connor/Maxtor drives with the 3-pin power connector, however, I had a dead VersaDock power supply and as it turns out it has molex connectors in it that work like RJ jack punch downs. So I managed to properly wire that into the FMa3500C like it's factory, so now I can use pretty much any hard disk (within the limitations) on that BSi/NanTan monster I want. Unfortunatley I broke the screen latch though...sheesh. More BS & Superglue time later.

Got a ton of leftover drives - one 250MB from the NanTan FMAK9200D with the color screen, which I wiped. A 540 from one of the NEC Versa that all have 40/80GB ATA-133 drives in them now. 2 160GB, one 320GB, and one 500GB SATA HDD I've been messing with iwht the SATA to PATA adapter. I'm probably going to sell some of them, since I prefer ATA-133s or at least a 8GB ATA-66 in my computers when possible. I also tested out the 256GB mSATA SSD in the 44-pin converter, Windows would not pick it up (doh), I think that's going back into the FitPC Slim computer so it'll be more likely to sell. I can't seem to find a system it gets on with that well. Strange since the 486 DX4 LOVES that Samsung 256GB SSD I threw in it on the SATA converter for some crazy reason.

My end game is this now.....

I have 2 Amazon shelves that look really cool in black, when I started putting Laptops and little bonzai trees and whatnot next to them the wife has been saying to buy more. So now I'm looking at nabbing an AT&T 3180 or Ultralite Versa (yep again), and a few more NanTans, and then throw big HDD in all of them and have them where I can just grab one and go to town gaming on it whenever I feel like, and when not, I have these cool looking shelves with cool, FUNCTIONAL laptops on them.

Then I'm keeping only four desktops: Tandy 1000A, GEM 286, Compaq Deskpro 386s/20, and the CN486 desktop. One per monitor. I'm also trying to narrow down the keyboards and have specific setups for all...

TANDY 1000 = Tandy keyboard (obviously), Tandy Deluxe Mouse, NEC MultiSync II 14"
GEM 286 = one of the AT keyboards, Microsoft Dove Bar Mouse, KDS SVGA 14"
Compaq Deskpro 386s/20 = Compaq Keyboard, Compaq Mouse, Micron SVGA 14"
486 DX4-100 = One of the AT Keyboards or PS/2 Model M, Microsoft Dove Bar, Dell 17" SVGA

The troublesome part is picking the AT keyboard.....

NEC AT Keyboard = one of my favorites, it does not click too loud, but it has a confirming click. Works with everything great. Very heavy, very solid, very sturdy, but also very big.

IBM Model "M" = another favorite, clicks a lot, very loud, built like a tank, I love them, but they are not invincible, my wife has killed 3

Generic AT Keyboard = also great, feels a lot like my Chicony 5661 XT/AT, more reliable than the Chicony

Chicony 5661 AT/XT = Keyboard I've had since 2001 with Creeping Net 1. It's been run HARD. It's a little flaky on the 486 at times but it's my favorite one for that because that machine is really a mix of parts from the old original CN machines from the 2000's build in the best formation ever.

How did your wife manage to massacre a model M 3 times? The only methods I can think of are liquids, a hydraulic press or an industrial incinerator . 😉

Also, what is your shelving unit model ? I have one of these https://www.homedepot.ca/product/hdx-36-inch- … rome/1000740458 and am considering others.

Magically repaired my LS120 drive that I got some weeks ago. Simply by pluggin it in 😀
The empty disk-tray was lowered as if there was a disk in it. I raised it manually to insert a disk and after pushing the button to throw the disk out the tray stayed raised. I have no idea how it got into that state but now it's working again.
Only the faceplate is still unusable. The lower pin is slightly bent but bending it back might snap it. I'll try a hair dryer to soften the plastic but I assume that's not warm enough.

HanSolo wrote on 2022-10-02, 13:16:

Magically repaired my LS120 drive that I got some weeks ago. Simply by pluggin it in 😀
The empty disk-tray was lowered as if there was a disk in it. I raised it manually to insert a disk and after pushing the button to throw the disk out the tray stayed raised. I have no idea how it got into that state but now it's working again.
Only the faceplate is still unusable. The lower pin is slightly bent but bending it back might snap it. I'll try a hair dryer to soften the plastic but I assume that's not warm enough.

A 1500w hair dryer can be very hot. Be very careful not to deform the faceplate .

Replaced the stock fan on my Tandy TL2's power supply.

I used a Noctua NF-R8 Redux-1800 12V 80mm fan as a replacement. It did require re-wiring the pins to match the connection on the PSU, but that was a minor tweak.

The new Noctua is not completely silent, but is much quieter than the stock fan. I don't mind a little bit of fan noise, since it at least lets me know the machine is powered up.

Also took the opportunity to clean out some grim under the PSU on the main board. Though there was very little as this case is remarkably clean.

After repeatedly failing to get a linux distro working on my pentium 4 rig for an experiment, I decided to give up on it. At the very least my screwed up XP install is gone though I didn't make any backups (thankfully nothing of importance was on it).

So then I decided to install windows 98se because that's kinda what I still want out of a build. Unfortunately, while it installed fine it didn't boot. It threw some error about not having enough memory or something with himem.sys and shut down.

retrogamerguy1997 wrote on 2022-10-02, 21:44:

After repeatedly failing to get a linux distro working on my pentium 4 rig for an experiment, I decided to give up on it. At the very least my screwed up XP install is gone though I didn't make any backups (thankfully nothing of importance was on it).

So then I decided to install windows 98se because that's kinda what I still want out of a build. Unfortunately, while it installed fine it didn't boot. It threw some error about not having enough memory or something with himem.sys and shut down.

If ram is > 512 downgrade to 256.

Nexxen wrote on 2022-10-02, 21:59:

retrogamerguy1997 wrote on 2022-10-02, 21:44:

After repeatedly failing to get a linux distro working on my pentium 4 rig for an experiment, I decided to give up on it. At the very least my screwed up XP install is gone though I didn't make any backups (thankfully nothing of importance was on it).

So then I decided to install windows 98se because that's kinda what I still want out of a build. Unfortunately, while it installed fine it didn't boot. It threw some error about not having enough memory or something with himem.sys and shut down.

If ram is > 512 downgrade to 256.

unfortunatly, I don't have a 256mb stick, just two 1GB sticks

retrogamerguy1997 wrote on 2022-10-02, 23:43:

Nexxen wrote on 2022-10-02, 21:59:

retrogamerguy1997 wrote on 2022-10-02, 21:44:

After repeatedly failing to get a linux distro working on my pentium 4 rig for an experiment, I decided to give up on it. At the very least my screwed up XP install is gone though I didn't make any backups (thankfully nothing of importance was on it).

So then I decided to install windows 98se because that's kinda what I still want out of a build. Unfortunately, while it installed fine it didn't boot. It threw some error about not having enough memory or something with himem.sys and shut down.

If ram is > 512 downgrade to 256.

unfortunatly, I don't have a 256mb stick, just two 1GB sticks

That message is a known issue with ram above 512 (or 768) with Win98.
Unless you downgrade, it'll always display that.

There is a registry hack. Look for Win 98 1gb registry hack, it'll come up here IIRC.
I could be wrong on sizes, you have a starting point.

Finally tested HD2900XT that came some weeks ago. Seems it works fine 😀.
(A very important card in ATI's history. One that cost them company and AMD had to deal with fallout after paying $5BN.)
TODO: Disassemble and cleanup, new thermal pads, new paste, new backplate screws (M2.5x8 ??)