Recently patched a number of Brøderbund MPU and Ad Lib routines for RS-232 MIDI and OPL3LPT usage, respectively. Brøderbund heavily supported the Tandy DAC as well, making the 286/10Mhz-based Tandy 1000 RLX an excellent system for these titles.

Prince of Persia 2 and Where in Space is Carmen Sandiego both have exceptional MT-32 scores, for what it's worth. The latter was a complete surprise.

I love that background! What is it?

It's one of Stanley "Artgerm" Lau's Pepper-themed pieces (NSFW link), converted to 800x600, 1-bit black+transparency.

I love it. Thanks for the link.

TheAbandonwareGuy wrote on 2022-11-23, 06:32:

Does anybody know if there is a modded BIOs available for the XPS M60 that overrides the need for the correct power supply? It doesn't recognize the 130w adapter I have for my XPS M1710 or the one for my XPS Gen1, apparently it only works with model PA4E. The underclock this thing applies without the correct power supply is brutal.

You should be able to use any 65W or above dell power brick for laptop.The M1710 may be to much whattage , on M70 or so the normal pa-12 19.5A 3.3a dell power brick worked well

LE/ PTherapist = there is a youtube video to fix the PSP3000 motherboard , they usually blow a fuse or SMD part. (easly fixed with hot air station).

BTW ,a few years back, I jerryrigged one of thiese in my G5 pwrmac because it has a broken fan /temp speed regulator that I was unable to fix , so I had to move most of fans on the controler so it won't go full all the time. (2 were, back ones, just unpluged).

mrfusion92 wrote on 2023-04-21, 14:34:

debs3759 wrote on 2023-04-21, 14:32:

I thought VGA was DB15 😀

Not for Apple since they re-arranged the pins in only two rows!

It's still DB15 😁

Cloudschatze wrote on 2023-04-24, 00:07:

https://www.symphoniae.com/misc/vogons/bbund_s.jpg […]
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Recently patched a number of Brøderbund MPU and Ad Lib routines for RS-232 MIDI and OPL3LPT usage, respectively. Brøderbund heavily supported the Tandy DAC as well, making the 286/10Mhz-based Tandy 1000 RLX an excellent system for these titles.

Prince of Persia 2 and Where in Space is Carmen Sandiego both have exceptional MT-32 scores, for what it's worth. The latter was a complete surprise.

What is this GUI? I vaguely remember using something similar (Win9x look) on my 286 back in the 90s... I recently searched for it and found some similar GUIs but I think yours closest to what I've used back then...

isn't that GUI IBM OS/2 ?

LE. I did some testing on T3100e , tryed to install (copy) Wolf3D CGA but had no luck in runing the game. (worked on that 2h)

HanJammer wrote on 2023-04-24, 09:13:

Cloudschatze wrote on 2023-04-24, 00:07:

https://www.symphoniae.com/misc/vogons/bbund_s.jpg […]
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What is this GUI? I vaguely remember using something similar (Win9x look) on my 286 back in the 90s... I recently searched for it and found some similar GUIs but I think yours closest to what I've used back then...

NewDeal Office 3.2a (or "GeoWorks 3.2a"), with some additional aesthetic tweaking to make it better-resemble a Windows 95 desktop environment.

i rescued a P3 800 mhz from an ailing computer with an MSI MS-6303 motherboard - one of those 'spaced saving' ones. i cannot think of another use, it's been unreliable anyway so its gone along with the 'too tiny to work with' case

then inspecting another computer, a slot with P3 500 Mhz and noticed its motherboard (an MS-6183) has quite a few capacitors with what looks like corrosion/leakage. I guess its game over for this old board which hasnt been fired up for a couple of years. Always a shame, this one had the oddity of both AMR (audio modem riser) and PTI (PanelLink TV-Out interface) slots neither of which i have ever used and seem to have been dropped fairly quickly anyway. I doubt i will re-use the noise 90w PSU either. Working on the motherboard is an option, i'll probably set it aside for now. The case will be re-used, I have a couple of athlon XP motherboards suitable, and the drive and ram are all ok

Cloudschatze wrote on 2023-04-24, 15:13:

NewDeal Office 3.2a (or "GeoWorks 3.2a"), with some additional aesthetic tweaking to make it better-resemble a Windows 95 desktop environment.

Is there any reason to run version 3.2a vs 2000?

Kahenraz wrote on 2023-04-24, 16:43:

Cloudschatze wrote on 2023-04-24, 15:13:

NewDeal Office 3.2a (or "GeoWorks 3.2a"), with some additional aesthetic tweaking to make it better-resemble a Windows 95 desktop environment.

Is there any reason to run version 3.2a vs 2000?

The PC/GEOS 4.x kernel found in NewDeal Office 2000 and later contains 386 instructions. NewDeal Office 3.2a is the last version that will run natively on V20/30 and 286-bearing systems.

Wow. That's actually a pretty incredible looking GUI for a 286. Also, it's really fun to read your comment as if the 386 is some new technology that has only just be introduced. Most of us are still rocking the 8086 anyways. Who needs a GUI!

Kahenraz wrote on 2023-04-24, 19:27:

Most of us are still rocking the 8086 anyways.

Windows 3.0 and GeoWorks 1.2 are decent options on those systems. I run both on the 8086-based Tandy 1000 RL, in any event:

Kahenraz wrote on 2023-04-23, 21:31:

pentiumspeed wrote on 2023-04-23, 20:28:

Back in the day before PWM technology became widespread, which was the Socket 462 era which I had, knew this from having PII machine was noisy so I set out to make a high current voltage regulator with large capacitors bank and a potimeter allowed me to spin fans slower. Worked well.

Cheers,

I hate fans that run off of PWM. I can often hear their distinct whine and it drives me crazy. If there is no way to disable it, will sometimes clip off the yellow wire and adjust the speed manually with a fan speed controller.

I vaguely remember people wrapping the fan cable around a ferrite core back in the day to get rid of coil whine. It could have just been black magic though.

Thermalwrong wrote on 2023-02-23, 02:11:

Wow that's a good quality 3d scan compared to what I can get. Is it one of the handheld type scanners or a turntable one? It loo […]
Show full quote

iraito wrote on 2023-02-18, 15:29:

4: I got thanks to the kindness of acl a slot 1 mobo with a pentium 2, it's a non common form factor, so i'm planning to create a WIP thread and work on a 3d printable case for it, lucky me i work with professional 3d scanners and printers so i already have a 3d scan of the board to work with.

Wow that's a good quality 3d scan compared to what I can get. Is it one of the handheld type scanners or a turntable one? It looks like it handled scanning the reflective PCB really well, good luck with the case build 😀

-------------------

A long time ago I plugged my Citizen VIDA-15B floppy drive from the Compaq LTE Lite 4/25E into a regular 26pin floppy cable and burned out the drive. That sucked.
So of course I had to convert my Compaq LTE Lite 4/25E to a direct drive floppy! The pinout is basically the same as the Compaq SLT's Citizen OSDA-53B pinout listed here.
I had to get familiar with what connection does what and verify all of the pinout which is basically the same:
compaq-citizen-vida-15b.png

Fitting a Teac FD05-HG in the bay works really well - 3 of the 4 screw holes match up with regular floppy drives so the drive sits properly without major modification. I had to trim down the eject peg so I didn't have to trim the case.
IMG_0892 (Custom).JPG

This took a while and after getting it all together, the drive didn't work? It didn't seem to do anything and I spent ages checking I had the lines right with the oscilloscope (shoulda used logic analyser but scope is easier for these quick checks). The original Citizen VIDA-15B drive just made the computer upset since I burned out some components on it plugging it into a flat cable connector that put 5v into its sensors and things, so that was rather useless for reference.

I also spent a really long time figuring out how the connections are done on the mainboard - some of them are exposed on the docking connector which really helped, but after it didn't work I was second guessing everything and was about to go back to the drawing board.
It turned out I didn't have any pins wrong, but the flat flex cable connector I'd wired it up for had the connector pins on the other side than what I soldered it up for, argh. These are all just salvaged from dead drives so it's tough to know what's what.
Citizen-VIDA-15B-adapter-wiring.jpg

Once it was resoldered the drive has just worked! Considering the trouble that Citizen belted floppy drives have given me, a direct drive floppy on this LTE Lite is awesome. It predates PCMCIA so getting files on and off of it is otherwise a hassle.

Now the prototype works I can get some adapter PCBs made - it also means that a Gotek PCB could go in potentially.

Hey! Thanks this worked great with my Lite

i once again got very frustrated at a 486 that wouldn't work properly.

much nostalgia.

very sad.

Thermalwrong wrote on 2023-02-23, 02:11:

Wow that's a good quality 3d scan compared to what I can get. Is it one of the handheld type scanners or a turntable one? It loo […]
Show full quote

iraito wrote on 2023-02-18, 15:29:

4: I got thanks to the kindness of acl a slot 1 mobo with a pentium 2, it's a non common form factor, so i'm planning to create a WIP thread and work on a 3d printable case for it, lucky me i work with professional 3d scanners and printers so i already have a 3d scan of the board to work with.

Wow that's a good quality 3d scan compared to what I can get. Is it one of the handheld type scanners or a turntable one? It looks like it handled scanning the reflective PCB really well, good luck with the case build 😀

-------------------

A long time ago I plugged my Citizen VIDA-15B floppy drive from the Compaq LTE Lite 4/25E into a regular 26pin floppy cable and burned out the drive. That sucked.
So of course I had to convert my Compaq LTE Lite 4/25E to a direct drive floppy! The pinout is basically the same as the Compaq SLT's Citizen OSDA-53B pinout listed here.
I had to get familiar with what connection does what and verify all of the pinout which is basically the same:
compaq-citizen-vida-15b.png

Fitting a Teac FD05-HG in the bay works really well - 3 of the 4 screw holes match up with regular floppy drives so the drive sits properly without major modification. I had to trim down the eject peg so I didn't have to trim the case.
IMG_0892 (Custom).JPG

This took a while and after getting it all together, the drive didn't work? It didn't seem to do anything and I spent ages checking I had the lines right with the oscilloscope (shoulda used logic analyser but scope is easier for these quick checks). The original Citizen VIDA-15B drive just made the computer upset since I burned out some components on it plugging it into a flat cable connector that put 5v into its sensors and things, so that was rather useless for reference.

I also spent a really long time figuring out how the connections are done on the mainboard - some of them are exposed on the docking connector which really helped, but after it didn't work I was second guessing everything and was about to go back to the drawing board.
It turned out I didn't have any pins wrong, but the flat flex cable connector I'd wired it up for had the connector pins on the other side than what I soldered it up for, argh. These are all just salvaged from dead drives so it's tough to know what's what.
Citizen-VIDA-15B-adapter-wiring.jpg

Once it was resoldered the drive has just worked! Considering the trouble that Citizen belted floppy drives have given me, a direct drive floppy on this LTE Lite is awesome. It predates PCMCIA so getting files on and off of it is otherwise a hassle.

Now the prototype works I can get some adapter PCBs made - it also means that a Gotek PCB could go in potentially.

Are the dimensions similar to the Citizen W1D? I haven't found any other drives that will fit the same footprint to match the case molding of my LTE Elite.

checking into which motherboard i could put into a case and found 3 possible athlon xp compatible boards - one wouldn't start at all, the fan jolted once and nothing more, another started with no beeps, no video. in both cases i swapped psu and tried known working components for video and cpu. i'm not sure what's up with them but it would take time to investigate. the final one looked good until i saw a large capacitor on its side with one leg in the air! that's hopefully the only problem but its one to fix another time. that'll teach me for picking up cheap boards, sometimes they are just problems tempting you into wasting a lot of time on them!

Still there was a board with a 478 board with 3ghz P4 cpu on it plus 512mb ram and it worked just fine, so maybe that's the one, it has selected itself by actually working! i already have a similar p4 set up though so i might wait.

ah well, the convoluted paths taken by vintage pc hobbyists!

gerry wrote on 2023-04-25, 19:14:

ah well, the convoluted paths taken by vintage pc hobbyists!

First World problems, don't ya just love them 😀