I finally managed to run mp4 with VLC 0.8.6d on Windows 95. This is the last version that does not require SSE instructions or something. Well, it "works", but dropping about 75% of frames.

informatyk wrote on 2023-05-21, 22:21:

I finally managed to run mp4 with VLC 0.8.6d on Windows 95. This is the last version that does not require SSE instructions or something. Well, it "works", but dropping about 75% of frames.

Interesting ! Did you re-encode the .mp4 to be more "age" related ? I have used Xmedia Recode to make newer vids more "old system" playable....

I spent the afternoon testing ATX power supplies, found three that failed, two 600watt P4 era PSUs and a nice Cooler master 500watt that failed badly, the CM500 had massive over voltage on the +5v rail. The two 600watts that failed one was making a loud squealing noise that wasn't the fan, pretty sure it was from the coils on the board but the PSU was tripping its OCP after a second or two on the tester, the other wouldn't even power on fully, the fan would twitch but the PSU itself was no bueno.

All three have been sent to the great Ewaste yard in the sky, I don't have the experience or knowledge to fix these PSUs at the component level and they are not worth passing on to others who do. Its a shame about the Cooler Master as it was a nice looking PSU but the +5v was hitting ~8v without tripping OCP. (Its possible the PSU didn't have OCP on the +5v rail)

If I didn't live in rural South Australia I may have offered them up here as a free giveaway to anyone wanting to repair them, but shipping costs are stupid right now so that's the only reason they got wasted.

I did have another I tested its a 600watt P4 Era PSU but it worked fine aside from its +5v being a little high but its delivering 57Amps on that rail and without a load it may have been confusing the tester, it checked out fine with a multimeter and a fan on that rail, might make that PSU my Athlon XP supply, with 57Amps on the +5v rail its for sure the perfect PSU for it, also has the 4pin plug and 33 Amps on +12v too so not a bad little PSU overall.

Horun wrote on 2023-05-22, 03:41:

informatyk wrote on 2023-05-21, 22:21:

I finally managed to run mp4 with VLC 0.8.6d on Windows 95. This is the last version that does not require SSE instructions or something. Well, it "works", but dropping about 75% of frames.

Interesting ! Did you re-encode the .mp4 to be more "age" related ? I have used Xmedia Recode to make newer vids more "old system" playable....

Yes, I also converted to mpeg1 and it was able to run in Windows Media Player but quality was awful.

I was able to get mp4 to playback fine on a Celeron 300Mhz with Windows 98 by using the special Microsoft derived subset. This is an option when encoding with ffmpeg. I don't know why, but it's much less CPU intensive to decode than the standard encoding type. It will also playback using Windows Media Player, so you don't need something like VLC.

Nexxen wrote on 2023-05-21, 20:42:

Minutemanqvs wrote on 2023-05-21, 20:13:

I could save a bunch of Athlon MP systems, too much for me alone but I needed to rescue them. Some are damaged (DIMM slots), one […]
Show full quote

I could save a bunch of Athlon MP systems, too much for me alone but I needed to rescue them. Some are damaged (DIMM slots), one doesn't POST and a mosfet smells like burned electronics and 2 POST but crash on Windows boot. But I'm slowly booting every one of them into Windows and running some 3Dmark loops to verify stability...

Fortunately they are the B2 chipset revision of the 760MPX platform.

This is simply great!!!

Yep, once tested some will go to friends and the others probably sold 😀 What's nice is that they fit in (somewhat larger) ATX cases. At least it fits in my 40€ cheap case and they take power from the 20-pin ATX connector and either a Molex or the 12V CPU for additional power. Windows XP runs like a charm on them.

Installed and played Command and Conquer, the 1st one, on my Gateway GP6-400 system today! So much fun at 640x480 resolution!

Almost finished setting up my old cobbled together P3 Slot 1 machine. Had to use a more modern PSU and Case for logistics reasons.
I am trying to get retronas running on a vm as it is a real pain trying to get files over to the machine, which is fine for small files now I have usb drivers running.
But for games, I'm hoping I could store them as ISOs and share them from retronas for mounting locally.
It's a shame I'm struggling to setup retronas.
I did try the SD card adapter route, but that was so unreliable, with partitions getting messed up quite regularly.

RedSarg99 wrote on 2023-05-22, 21:21:

Almost finished setting up my old cobbled together P3 Slot 1 machine. Had to use a more modern PSU and Case for logistics reason […]
Show full quote

Almost finished setting up my old cobbled together P3 Slot 1 machine. Had to use a more modern PSU and Case for logistics reasons.
I am trying to get retronas running on a vm as it is a real pain trying to get files over to the machine, which is fine for small files now I have usb drivers running.
But for games, I'm hoping I could store them as ISOs and share them from retronas for mounting locally.
It's a shame I'm struggling to setup retronas.
I did try the SD card adapter route, but that was so unreliable, with partitions getting messed up quite regularly.

It's worth it to figure out your SD card issues IMO. I boot off them all the time with rarely an issue, and it makes re-imaging them a breeze anytime I hose Win98 or whatever.

And, personally I think a slot 1 in a modern case can look pretty sweet.. 😉

Well, I'm up to 122 working GPUs.

Assuming there aren't anymore that have managed to evade my 4 years in progress records keeping attempt.

Which there probably are. Oh yeah and I grabbed a GTX 480 for $28 shipped. Fermi seems to have hit the bottom of its depreciation curve.

TheAbandonwareGuy wrote on 2023-05-23, 05:41:

Well, I'm up to 122 working GPUs.

Assuming there aren't anymore that have managed to evade my 4 years in progress records keeping attempt.

Which there probably are. Oh yeah and I grabbed a GTX 480 for $28 shipped. Fermi seems to have hit the bottom of its depreciation curve.

Not a bad price for a space heater, I got a pair of Gigabyte Windforce GTX580 cards a while back for ~100 AUD (~66 USD), both did need new fans but they are a dime a dozen on ebay and both cards work a treat after a repaste and good cleaning.

Not sure exactly what nVidia changed between the 400 and 500 series, pretty sure it may have just been better cooler requirements, they still run hot just not space heater hot.

ubiq wrote on 2023-05-23, 00:32:

It's worth it to figure out your SD card issues IMO. I boot off them all the time with rarely an issue, and it makes re-imaging […]
Show full quote

RedSarg99 wrote on 2023-05-22, 21:21:

Almost finished setting up my old cobbled together P3 Slot 1 machine. Had to use a more modern PSU and Case for logistics reason […]
Show full quote

Almost finished setting up my old cobbled together P3 Slot 1 machine. Had to use a more modern PSU and Case for logistics reasons.
I am trying to get retronas running on a vm as it is a real pain trying to get files over to the machine, which is fine for small files now I have usb drivers running.
But for games, I'm hoping I could store them as ISOs and share them from retronas for mounting locally.
It's a shame I'm struggling to setup retronas.
I did try the SD card adapter route, but that was so unreliable, with partitions getting messed up quite regularly.

It's worth it to figure out your SD card issues IMO. I boot off them all the time with rarely an issue, and it makes re-imaging them a breeze anytime I hose Win98 or whatever.

And, personally I think a slot 1 in a modern case can look pretty sweet.. 😉
IMG_4020.jpeg

How do you get the fdd or odd in there 😂
Which SD card adapter do you use in the build?
I may look at going back as the install I have (smallest sata 2,5" I could find on a ide to sata adapter) seems to be hanging and not quite sure what is causing it..

TrashPanda wrote on 2023-05-23, 05:59:

TheAbandonwareGuy wrote on 2023-05-23, 05:41:

Well, I'm up to 122 working GPUs.

Assuming there aren't anymore that have managed to evade my 4 years in progress records keeping attempt.

Which there probably are. Oh yeah and I grabbed a GTX 480 for $28 shipped. Fermi seems to have hit the bottom of its depreciation curve.

Not a bad price for a space heater, I got a pair of Gigabyte Windforce GTX580 cards a while back for ~100 AUD (~66 USD), both did need new fans but they are a dime a dozen on ebay and both cards work a treat after a repaste and good cleaning.

Not sure exactly what nVidia changed between the 400 and 500 series, pretty sure it may have just been better cooler requirements, they still run hot just not space heater hot.

GTX 500 is a die shrink, and they were able to unlock an extra compute unit in the 580 because of higher yields of fully enabled chips. Improved power efficiency, better cooling. More and faster video ram, higher clock speeds.

500 doesn't have any actual features 400 doesn't, its just everything the 400 series was but better.

BitWrangler wrote on 2023-05-17, 03:58:

I think it might be a custom faceplate for some OEM though, fairly sure I have JU-475 or two, and think they've just got the flat matte black faceplates. I might have a beige beige one (i.e. that almost sandstone beige, not off white greige or yellowed.)

Spot on I'd say, specifically it appears to come from the sexy clone Hyundai Super-16V.
(photos taken from the local forum retrocomputers.gr, as the watermark also shows)

ubiq wrote on 2023-05-23, 00:32:

It's worth it to figure out your SD card issues IMO. I boot off them all the time with rarely an issue, and it makes re-imaging them a breeze anytime I hose Win98 or whatever.

And, personally I think a slot 1 in a modern case can look pretty sweet.. 😉
IMG_4020.jpeg

looks tidy 😀

SD or CF adapters can help with case options too, taking up very little room with potential for slots at front or back for quick changes etc. sometimes the MB just treats an SD as HDD straight off and sometimes not - it might be the adapter itself, there are so many around

RedSarg99 wrote on 2023-05-23, 06:55:

How do you get the fdd or odd in there 😂
Which SD card adapter do you use in the build?
I may look at going back as the install I have (smallest sata 2,5" I could find on a ide to sata adapter) seems to be hanging and not quite sure what is causing it..

No removable media in this build, other than the CF card reader - which can be limiting obviously, depending on what kind of retro activity you're looking to get into. I'm using a Promise S150 card because my BF6 mobo doesn't have EIDE. SD to IDE adapters are all pretty much (exactly?) identical. I've got mine tucked back where this case has room for 2.5 SATA drives:

RedSarg99 wrote on 2023-05-23, 06:55:

How do you get the fdd or odd in there 😂 Which SD card adapter do you use in the build? I may look at going back as the install […]
Show full quote

ubiq wrote on 2023-05-23, 00:32:

It's worth it to figure out your SD card issues IMO. I boot off them all the time with rarely an issue, and it makes re-imaging […]
Show full quote

RedSarg99 wrote on 2023-05-22, 21:21:

Almost finished setting up my old cobbled together P3 Slot 1 machine. Had to use a more modern PSU and Case for logistics reason […]
Show full quote

Almost finished setting up my old cobbled together P3 Slot 1 machine. Had to use a more modern PSU and Case for logistics reasons.
I am trying to get retronas running on a vm as it is a real pain trying to get files over to the machine, which is fine for small files now I have usb drivers running.
But for games, I'm hoping I could store them as ISOs and share them from retronas for mounting locally.
It's a shame I'm struggling to setup retronas.
I did try the SD card adapter route, but that was so unreliable, with partitions getting messed up quite regularly.

It's worth it to figure out your SD card issues IMO. I boot off them all the time with rarely an issue, and it makes re-imaging them a breeze anytime I hose Win98 or whatever.

And, personally I think a slot 1 in a modern case can look pretty sweet.. 😉
IMG_4020.jpeg

How do you get the fdd or odd in there 😂
Which SD card adapter do you use in the build?
I may look at going back as the install I have (smallest sata 2,5" I could find on a ide to sata adapter) seems to be hanging and not quite sure what is causing it..

If it's like a Fractal Design Pop Air, it will have two 5.25" slots hidding at the bottom of the case.

Today I managed to plug everything in, and get a family photo of sorts going with almost all of my Apple hardware.

I'm packing things to go into storage since I'm going to be moving quite soon and I have enough time to finish up this project at least, a few months back I bought this Kapok 5400PT laptop - the flower means it's got a TFT and it's got a gamepad on the palm rest???

The four buttons are actually buttons 1 and 2, with the extra 1&2 buttons having a little circuit added so they're turbo 1&2.

Of course, the hinge plastics are disintegrating so today I made a 3d print to reinforce that area then epoxied it on. Had to grind loads away because I put plastic in the area that the hinges rotate into when opening the screen and they don't want to glue down but it'd holding.

It has this strange little port on the side that looks like it'd be for a floppy drive since it's a 26-pin thin connector that clips in like you'd see on external floppy drives, but this one has it built in already. Nope, that port is for the gameport dongle of course, it does have a little bat in a diamond shape that looks sorta like a joystick printed by it.
I traced this out to how they connect into the ESS sound chip and derived a pinout:

edit: I should add, pin 1 is on the edge facing towards the keyboard, not the front of the machine.

Using a scrap 0.8mm PCB segment from a dock adapter PCB I made - with 1.27mm spacing between each pad, I was able to wire up a gameport and it works just as well as it was designed - which is not very well 😀

For some reason they only wired up one set of the x & y axis and only 2 buttons. It also likes conflicting with the built-in gamepad and switching between joystick and gamepad seems to often require a reboot.

But midi out works and that's great!

BetaC wrote on 2023-05-24, 21:29:

Today I managed to plug everything in, and get a family photo of sorts going with almost all of my Apple hardware.
IMG_1849.jpg

Awww, lookit 'em all! 😊