CharlieFoxtrot wrote on 2023-03-01, 17:11:

Just got this boxed Roctec external 5.25" 360kB drive. It is practically unused and looks brand spanking new. Not too bad for 30 […]
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Just got this boxed Roctec external 5.25" 360kB drive. It is practically unused and looks brand spanking new. Not too bad for 30€.

In the third picture there is a 3.5" IBM PS/2 drive and bracket in the background waiting to be recapped, it has nothing to do with this unit 😀
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Wow, that's super nice! I haven't seen many drives that are meant to actually hook up to the external floppy port on an IBM PC\XT.

I have an in-box PS/2 external floppy in storage, but I don't think they are compatible with PC\XT floppy ports.

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2023-03-01, 17:24:

Wow, that's super nice! I haven't seen many drives that are meant to actually hook up to the external floppy port on an IBM PC\XT.

I have an in-box PS/2 external floppy in storage, but I don't think they are compatible with PC\XT floppy ports.

Well, I didn't read the manual that closely if drive can be connected straight to external port you mentioned, but this one came with a sort of splitter/power box (left on the third picture) which is placed inside the case and connected to the internal floppy controller and PSU. From that box there is a flat cable to normal expansion slot bracket with external connector to the drive.

But yeah, it is pretty neat and I've been looking for a 360kB drive lately, but they are getting hard to find, at least for a decent price.

CharlieFoxtrot wrote on 2023-03-01, 17:31:

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2023-03-01, 17:24:

Wow, that's super nice! I haven't seen many drives that are meant to actually hook up to the external floppy port on an IBM PC\XT.

I have an in-box PS/2 external floppy in storage, but I don't think they are compatible with PC\XT floppy ports.

Well, I didn't read the manual that closely if drive can be connected straight to external port you mentioned, but this one came with a sort of splitter/power box (left on the third picture) which is placed inside the case and connected to the internal floppy controller and PSU. From that box there is a flat cable to normal expansion slot bracket with external connector to the drive.

But yeah, it is pretty neat and I've been looking for a 360kB drive lately, but they are getting hard to find, at least for a decent price.

I see. Yeah, that's a strange looking setup. I would assume that the extra parts are there to offer flexibility with PCs that don't have an original IBM floppy card with an external port, but apparently even those don't supply power through the port.

Is there any kind of power connection on the back of the drive, or is it just the one cable?

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2023-03-01, 17:56:

Is there any kind of power connection on the back of the drive, or is it just the one cable?

Nope, it just has a power switch back and power is delivered from the splitter box where you connect a molex connector from the PSU and the juice is delivered to the drive through one cable which handles also the floppy data.

CharlieFoxtrot wrote on 2023-03-01, 18:02:

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2023-03-01, 17:56:

Is there any kind of power connection on the back of the drive, or is it just the one cable?

Nope, it just has a power switch back and power is delivered from the splitter box where you connect a molex connector from the PSU and the juice is delivered to the drive through one cable which handles also the floppy data.

Ah, definitely not compatible with the IBM card's external connector then. That card can do 2x internal and 2x external drives, but they need to be powered externally.

Regardless, this is a really cool drive. I'd be interested to know if you get it working in a PC. I'm guessing you have to connect the internal box to the slave connector on whatever floppy cable you're using in your PC, which makes the external drive act as Drive B... assuming you want to have an internal floppy in the PC as a master.

Hard to picture it all hooked up together, but it must have worked somehow. 😁

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2023-03-01, 18:53:

Ah, definitely not compatible with the IBM card's external connector then. That card can do 2x internal and 2x external drives, but they need to be powered externally.

Regardless, this is a really cool drive. I'd be interested to know if you get it working in a PC. I'm guessing you have to connect the internal box to the slave connector on whatever floppy cable you're using in your PC, which makes the external drive act as Drive B... assuming you want to have an internal floppy in the PC as a master.

Hard to picture it all hooked up together, but it must have worked somehow. 😁

It is cool, yeah! It also came with a regular looking floppy cable with both edge and 34 pin connectors and as I understood from a quick glance of the manual, you connect it to the box too (there is a 34 pin and edge connector not visible in the photo), and with that, If I understood correctly, you can set the system so that external drive can be either a or b drive.

I really didn't have time to dig in to it, only took a quick glance to the system, but it is a weird one and at first all those flat cables don't make a lot of sense. Gladly it is boxed and with manual, so I don't think there are any problems to get it working, if the drive is just functional (seller said he tested it and claimed that is the only case it has been used).

I might make a separate thread about the drive and installation, when I have time to actually test it. And I'll scan the manual at some point.

About Roctec, I really haven't any personal experience with the brand, but I know that it was a company in Hong Kong and relatively well known manufacturer of external Amiga drives, both floppies and HDDs.

I like that your external floppy came with an internal adapter to use whatever native controller you already have. I have an external floppy with a parallel cable on it that I still have yet to test.

How many pins are on your cable? More or less than a parallel cable?

Got two Oak cards I always wanted to play with

OK so the FX5700VE I got for $30 showed up. Needless to say I am not impressed, all the capacitors are vented on the top. Card didn't boot, then I reseated it and now it just displays garbage on screen. Obviously needs recapped. This was mentioned nowhere in the listing description. "A little dust otherwise clean" yeah right. Debating leaving a negative review over this, but I can't PROVE the seller realized this was a problem.

ON THE FLIPSIDE:

I grabbed a supposedly tested, supposedly NOT working 6600GT AGP for $20ish shipped and it works flawlessly. From the description the seller gave me when I asked what issue the card was having originally, I'm pretty sure he didn't connect molex power. This is one of the rare universal AGP 6600s and it wont even spin the fan without Molex. Most AGP 4x/8x only 6000 series cards will spin the fan and display an error on screen or make a horrendous beeping noise without Molex which makes me wonder if the universal AGP versions of the 6600 don't draw 100 percent of their power from the Molex to enable supporting the older AGP voltage spec. So not a bad purchase.

I also tested the GF2 Ti I grabbed off FB Marketplace a while back, which initially tested bad when I tried it in my Compaq (which currently has a GF2 Ultra in it) and in my test bed machine it works fine. Not sure what the issue with the Compaq was, considering the 2 Ti and the 2 Ultra are literally the same board design save for the Ultra having DVI and a slightly higher clock speed.

AGP graphics can be weird as hell also in that you test on board 1, acts dead, test on board 2 comes alive and seems perfect, move it back to board 1 and it's working there now too, just being an awkward bugger.

The GF2 ti issue is why I have two test benches setup, one with Uni AGP and the other is a old 440BX board with 1x/2x AGP, if it wont work on the Uni AGP then Ill throw it in the BX board and test it again. I have had quite a few 2x/4x AGP cards not like the Uni AGP board but run fine on the BX board ..not entirely sure why this is but perhaps something weird with voltages on the Uni AGP that doesn't affect the older AGP 2x slots. I have two other boards with Uni AGP so perhaps its worth checking to see if its a Uni AGP thing or if its specific to the test bench board.

That said it could also be a chipset thing too .. lots of older AGP cards don't like Via chipsets.

BitWrangler wrote on 2023-03-02, 04:38:

AGP graphics can be weird as hell also in that you test on board 1, acts dead, test on board 2 comes alive and seems perfect, move it back to board 1 and it's working there now too, just being an awkward bugger.

...I fucking hate cards that do this...makes me want to pull my hair out.

I have a special box for these cards as you can be 100% sure that they will eventually spit the dummy again.

I have always suspected that this is due to aged capacitors reforming over subsequent reboots. I have even managed to bring a card that just wouldn't work back to life by installing it as a secondary graphics card and letting it idle for 30 minutes to an hour (I can't recall anymore, but it was a long time). I then removed the other card, making the "dead" card primary, and it started working. It was fine for every reboot and insertion afterwards.

See here for my other thread on this subject:

Has anyone else tested hardware that seems defective but comes back to life on it's own?

I would argue that a dead card is almost always a result of either bad capacitors or damaged SMD components. However, some cards do need some coaxing to get going, even without any damage to it.

Kahenraz wrote on 2023-03-02, 07:17:

I have always suspected that this is due to aged capacitors reforming over subsequent reboots. I have even managed to bring a ca […]
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I have always suspected that this is due to aged capacitors reforming over subsequent reboots. I have even managed to bring a card that just wouldn't work back to life by installing it as a secondary graphics card and letting it idle for 30 minutes to an hour (I can't recall anymore, but it was a long time). I then removed the other card, making the "dead" card primary, and it started working. It was fine for every reboot and insertion afterwards.

See here for my other thread on this subject:

Has anyone else tested hardware that seems defective but comes back to life on it's own?

I would argue that a dead card is almost always a result of either bad capacitors or damaged SMD components. However, some cards do need some coaxing to get going, even without any damage to it.

By reforming you are referring to the electrolyte in the caps ?

This may actually be one explanation, sitting unused for 20 years would not be great for caps but I can never fully trust a card I have had resurrect itself in this manner, ill use it but it ll never be in a complete rig unless I recap it.

Yes, this is a behavior of electrolytic capacitors. I don't have any information on how this may affect the health of the component. I've experienced this on expansion cards as old as ISA Sound Blasters without any noticable complications afterwards.

Kahenraz wrote on 2023-03-02, 08:29:

Yes, this is a behavior of electrolytic capacitors. I don't have any information on how this may affect the health of the component. I've experienced this on expansion cards as old as ISA Sound Blasters without any noticable complications afterwards.

heh, I understand the card should be perfectly OK after being zombified like this but it'll always be in the back of my mind that at least one card in the box is known flaky, truth is it ll likely outlive me and be perfectly fine for the next 20 years.

It's always a good idea to clean the AGP (or PCI or whatever) contacts with some alcohol (aka IPA) in such cases. Even if they are gold finished and don't seem to be polluted/oxidized in any way. I had cases where cards just didn't run before a little cleaning session. Could also have been that capacitor thing, who knows, but hey, what do we loose? 😀

Hello,

Well, i don't post often my new things in this section, so i have a few month of hardware to talk about...
I mention price (if i remember them), not for showing off, but for information. I'm sure i overpaid some items and that i got other for a bargain price.
1/3

Graphics cards :

From top left to bottom right :

• Tseng Labs ET4000/W32P PCI (10€ + shipping)
• Matrox G550 AGP (10€ + shipping)
• Matrox G450 PCI (10€ + shipping)
• Matrox Millennium II PCI (10€ + shipping)
• Matrox Impression PCI (15€ + shipping)
• GeForce4 MX4000 128Bit (?!?) AGP (part of a cheap big lot)
• GeForce4 MX440 128Bit + aftermarket memory heatsinks (<10€ + shipping)
• Kyro II (Hercules 3D prophet 4500. 50€ + shipping)
• GeForce DDR 32MB (Well... 80€)
• Radeon DDR 32MB (20€ + shipping)
• Radeon 7000 MAC (flashed for windows) PCI (part of a cheap big lot)
• Permedia 2 (FireGL 1000 Pro)
• Rage 128 pro
• Trident 3DImage9750
• GeForce2 MX400
• CirrusLogic CL5446 PCI

Not less than 6 GeForce 7800 GTX 512. I bought this lot untested.
Four of them works... 2 are showing artifacts. But i (finally) have my SLI for my top 2005 setup.

GeForce 7950 GX2

Diamond Viper770U TNT2 Ultra

Quadro4 980XGL. But seems to have a broken memory chip (physically). Will try to solder a new one.

+ Just won an auction yesterday for an AGP HD3850... around 50€ + shipping.

2/3

Boxed stuff.
I don't hunt for boxed components, but if i find some for a good price... well.

From top left to right bottom :

• A-Trend Intel740 (new open box ~11€ + shipping)
• Point of view GeForce Fx5200 AGP (new open box ~10€ + shipping)
• Rage 128Pro (don't remember price)
• Zalman cooler (brand new. 5€ + shipping)
• Matrox Parhelia 256MB AGP (i actually have it for a long time, not bought in the past month. 50€ + 50€ TaskRabbit pickup + shipping....)
• GeForce 3 (non ti) complete in box (7€ + shipping !!!)
• Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty (quite a long name for a sound card. 15€ iirc)
• AsRock 4CoreDual-Sata2 (20€ iirc)

Not hardware, but still related :

ATI Ruby action figures. Bought separately, but form a set of 3. Limited edition of ~6000... but easy to find for sale online.
Paid around 13€ each (separately)

AMD K6 Label pins 😁

Other hardware :

From top left to bottom right:

• Socket Super 7 Asus P5A (currently not working. Got fo free from a local collector. Thanks !)
• Socket 939 Asus A8N SLI Deluxe (I have one for a long time. I bought the other recently because i thought the first one was dead... ~40€)
• Slot A Aopen AX63 Pro (As a replacement of a nearly identical card i used and that stopped working in december. Shown with a Celeron 300A on the picture. 20€)
• Daewoo Super Socket 7 card. (Got from the same local collector as the P5A)
• Xeno Killer NIC (with USB and Audio jacks)
• Guillemot Maxi Studio ISIS (without the external connectors. Part of a cheap 20€ lot)
• Other... Two NEC Usb PCI cards. Two Serial PCI cards. One raid controller, one Audigy PCI card

Adata Vitesta DDR500 2x 512MB kit (20€ + shipping)

And 3/3...

Asus CUR-DLSR server board.
Got it with the complete 1U server for 30€ + 0.99€ shipping... (yes, and it's 20Kg)
With Dual 1Ghz Coppermine and 1GB of SDRAM

And a Quadro NVS280 PCI (~FX5500 with better clocks. 15€) to go with the dual PIII card (it only have PCIX interface)

And that's it... i think i will slow down a bit because i have a lot of things to play with now...