rkurbatov wrote on 2024-02-02, 15:10:

Lol. You are not alone. That's why I prefer buying separate items. Hunting for drivers, investigation is the part of the game. And here you have everything clean, working and having all you need to start. Though unpacking something new is also somewhat interesting.

My Tekram VLB IDE controller also lies somewhere waiting for 5x86 Novell Netware "server" build 😀 I had to find two identical drives for it and found three as a result.

Well, I'd be surprised if I got the newest BIOS and drivers on the controller out of the box, but the sticker saying it has ATAPI support is promising. If the a controller doesn't support at least LBA28, it's just sort of a curiosity, and not worthy of a real build, am I right? I feel like I need to make my kids watch me unbox it.

Netware server? I haven't build one of those since 1994. Once upon a time, I saw a cheap 1GB(!) SCSI drive for only $600(!) and dreamed of setting up a file server for the whole apartment, so I bought a cheap motherboard ($150!) with a built in a SCSI controller to go with it to save money, but instead it taught me the importance of having BIOS support for your drive controller. I had to include an old IDE drive in the build to get it to boot. Are you going to do Netware 3 or are you going for something more adventurous?

rkurbatov wrote on 2024-02-02, 15:19:

Is it worse than cleaning - restoring leaking motherboard? 😀

Doing something in Netware is about as easy as TRS80 DOS.

douglar wrote on 2024-02-02, 15:41:

Well, I'd be surprised if I got the newest BIOS and drivers on the controller out of the box, but the sticker saying it has ATAPI support is promising. If the a controller doesn't support at least LBA28, it's just sort of a curiosity, and not worthy of a real build, am I right? I feel like I need to make my kids watch me unbox it.

Idk, maybe bios patching can help or that's somewhere too deep? Like Tekram had BIOS updates allowing to use slightly larger drives on it. And we have several SCSI patches introducing Int 13H extensions to the existing SCSI adapters.

douglar wrote on 2024-02-02, 15:41:

Netware server? I haven't build one of those since 1994. Once upon a time, I saw a cheap 1GB(!) SCSI drive for only $600(!) and dreamed of setting up a file server for the whole apartment, so I bought a cheap motherboard ($150!) with a built in a SCSI controller to go with it to save money, but instead it taught me the importance of having BIOS support for your drive controller. I had to include an old IDE drive in the build to get it to boot. Are you going to do Netware 3 or are you going for something more adventurous?

I want to try both. I missed Netware ERA and tried it only with Netware Linux but that was more Linux than Netware.

douglar wrote on 2024-02-02, 14:51:

I want to play with it, but I also don't want to open it.
I'd almost rather get a dirty board to clean up than to remove shrink wrap.
Am I weird?

Life is short... Enjoy it! (while you can)

That controller card looks amazing.

I just won the auction for a lot of video cards, audio USB FireWire modems, besides these there is also a motherboard, which is not visible, I don't know what model and socket, so it will be a surprise, I hope it's not too modern, but we'll see when it arrives, the lot includes various VGA AGP, and a PCI, then a PCI-E, the sound cards are all PCI, one has a double bracket, with additional ports.

PC@LIVE wrote on 2024-02-02, 21:10:

... sound cards ... one has a double bracket, with additional ports.

Looks loke one of these :
Re: Zoltrix Nightingale SC-8738 PCI

DerBaum wrote on 2024-02-02, 22:32:

PC@LIVE wrote on 2024-02-02, 21:10:

... sound cards ... one has a double bracket, with additional ports.

Looks loke one of these :
Re: Zoltrix Nightingale SC-8738 PCI

I don't know the exact model, apart from the creative cards, the one with double bracket, it's from Trust, it's possible that it's very similar to the one in the link, but I'll be able to find out more when they arrive.

ubiq wrote on 2024-02-01, 23:14:

Took a chance on an "untested" Voodoo 2 auction because the price was right, and a localish seller (cheap shipping) and well: Hm […]
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Took a chance on an "untested" Voodoo 2 auction because the price was right, and a localish seller (cheap shipping) and well:
Hmm, ok, not the end of the worl...
IMG_0558.jpeg
Oh. 🤦‍♂️

Was it shown in the original listing?

Pretty much. Oh well, caveat emptor baybee!

I've fixed worse, these old QFP chips are quite forgiving of damage to the legs. But it requires a microscope and a tool to carefully gouge out the plastic to expose the traces, then soldering individual strands of copper wire in place of the original legs.
A pretty good deal so long as you didn't pay over 50% of what they're going for on ebay now, you could probably even get someone on amibay to help with repairing that and you'd still have a good deal.
--------------------

To my horror, I discovered that the FX5700LE 128-bit card that I'd never tested would immediately crash when trying to run 3d stuff while fine in 2d mode. So I sourced a replacement as I wanted to see how it stacks up against my Ti4200 that I repaired a while back (I should make a post on that at some point, I had to repair a memory fault on it and rebuild the GPU voltage supply that had burnt out).

The core is a bit crunched on it.

Unfortunately I got a 64-bit card by mistake - I didn't see that they were 4x 16-bit chips until after I'd put in the offer which was accepted. The card arrived today and as usual it's missing some little capacitors off the back but I've got donor cards and a fine tip soldering iron. This card thankfully works, although it was sold as untested this time I'm lucky.

Putting the new FX5700 64-bit 128MB card against the Ti4200 128-bit 64MB card in a P4 2.8GHz PC. Both are clocked around their top speeds, there's probably some more headroom on the core clock for both cards but this was some fun testing and not very in depth. The results in 3dmark03 pretty much fit what I expected but the FX5700 64-bit is a nicely rounded card with much better DX8 performance and some DX9 capability, while DX7 (and likely hi-res gaming) is a bit slower than the Ti4200.

Kinda considering finding a donor card with good fast DDR to fill in those empty spots to see how a 128-bit card performs...

I'm not certain whether these Nvidia cards will instantly recognize the additional memory without a BIOS flash, just to warn you.

douglar wrote on 2024-02-02, 14:51:

I saw a drive controller on Ebay at a low price and ordered it. […]
Show full quote

I saw a drive controller on Ebay at a low price and ordered it.

What showed up was still shrink wrapped.

Photo Feb 02 2024, 9 40 39 AM.jpg

I want to play with it, but I also don't want to open it.

I'd almost rather get a dirty board to clean up than to remove shrink wrap.

Am I weird?

I have an ISA version. of this controller. Boxed

Kahenraz wrote on 2024-02-03, 06:33:

I'm not certain whether these Nvidia cards will instantly recognize the additional memory without a BIOS flash, just to warn you.

Some older cards it needed a component or two, usually zero ohm resistors to jumper it, some newer ones it's definitely needing a BIOS, not quite sure where this one is in the middle.

Received what I think is a perfect candidate for a portable ME machine. Cost me about $22 + shipping which was $7.

It's a Geritec (Gericom) 1230i, which in turn is a rebrand of Uniwill/ECS N340S8.

Specs:

14' TFT, 1024x768 I think
P3 Tualatin 1.2GHz (desktop SL5GN chip)
SiS 630ST iGP w/ 32MB share (normally 8MB but I set it at 32)
512MB PC133
DVDROM
WinME

It's not really stellar, but it works good enough. Given it's a ECS rebrand, it was only fitting that I'd aim for ME.

I am allergic to laptop keyboards where the control key is more in the bottom left. I would forever mistype everything.

On the same note, a pox on whomever decided that it was a good idea to make the power button a physical keyboard key *and* place it in the same location as the delete key (top right). I have a laptop like this and I have to disable the button entirely in Windows, so that I don't cause it to shutdown accidently while typing.

Picked up my 2nd CRT today. Well, 2nd CRT the 2nd time around of course. This is an LG 773N in a Tiny branded case. It's of particular interest to me as I try to re-create the Tiny system my family bought in 1997. This monitor is actually from 2003 but it will look the part, if I ever manage to find the case as well.

Lovely bright picture, no yellowing on the case, really great condition!

Shadzilla wrote on 2024-02-03, 18:30:

Picked up my 2nd CRT today. Well, 2nd CRT the 2nd time around of course. This is an LG 773N in a Tiny branded case. It's of particular interest to me as I try to re-create the Tiny system my family bought in 1997. This monitor is actually from 2003 but it will look the part, if I ever manage to find the case as well.

Lovely bright picture, no yellowing on the case, really great condition!

Ahh, the way it's buckled in is so cute (-:

That CRT will grow up well with a dad like you!

Kahenraz wrote on 2024-02-03, 16:50:

I am allergic to laptop keyboards where the control key is more in the bottom left. I would forever mistype everything.

I've got a Lenovo Thinkpad like that. It does have an option in the BIOS to swap Fn and Ctrl, so at least if you don't look the keyboard behaves as expected.

Kahenraz wrote on 2024-02-03, 16:50:

On the same note, a pox on whomever decided that it was a good idea to make the power button a physical keyboard key *and* place it in the same location as the delete key (top right). I have a laptop like this and I have to disable the button entirely in Windows, so that I don't cause it to shutdown accidently while typing.

I had a Chuwi Corebook X, a piece of crap and do not buy Chuwi stuff no matter how good the value looks. That had power on the keyboard. IIRC it had to be held to do anything, and so the occasional press didn't matter. I think it was slightly recessed or otherwise felt a bit wrong, so at least you knew immediately. Power on the keyboard is just cheapness by the manufacturers.

douglar wrote on 2024-02-02, 14:51:

I saw a drive controller on Ebay at a low price and ordered it. […]
Show full quote

I saw a drive controller on Ebay at a low price and ordered it.

What showed up was still shrink wrapped.

Photo Feb 02 2024, 9 40 39 AM.jpg

I want to play with it, but I also don't want to open it.

I'd almost rather get a dirty board to clean up than to remove shrink wrap.

Am I weird?

I don't understand the point in not using vintage computer parts. That is just hoarding.
It is well possible, if you open it after a big amount of time, it does not work, for example a capacitor might have failed.
But that's just my personal opinion, a lot of Vogon users seem to have boxed stuff, and they are not planning to open it.
I suggest as a compromise: Open it, and then sell the original packing and all the stuff it came with on Ebay.
Somebody will buy it 😁

Ensign Nemo wrote on 2024-02-03, 18:33:

Shadzilla wrote on 2024-02-03, 18:30:

Picked up my 2nd CRT today. Well, 2nd CRT the 2nd time around of course. This is an LG 773N in a Tiny branded case. It's of particular interest to me as I try to re-create the Tiny system my family bought in 1997. This monitor is actually from 2003 but it will look the part, if I ever manage to find the case as well.

Lovely bright picture, no yellowing on the case, really great condition!

Ahh, the way it's buckled in is so cute (-:

That CRT will grow up well with a dad like you!

Safety first for the precious cargo!! They grow up so fast though, this one's already old enough to drink, even in the US. Where does the time go.

CoffeeOne wrote on 2024-02-03, 19:12:

I don't understand the point in not using vintage computer parts. That is just hoarding. It is well possible, if you open it aft […]
Show full quote

douglar wrote on 2024-02-02, 14:51:

I saw a drive controller on Ebay at a low price and ordered it. […]
Show full quote

I saw a drive controller on Ebay at a low price and ordered it.

What showed up was still shrink wrapped.

Photo Feb 02 2024, 9 40 39 AM.jpg

I want to play with it, but I also don't want to open it.

I'd almost rather get a dirty board to clean up than to remove shrink wrap.

Am I weird?

I don't understand the point in not using vintage computer parts. That is just hoarding.
It is well possible, if you open it after a big amount of time, it does not work, for example a capacitor might have failed.
But that's just my personal opinion, a lot of Vogon users seem to have boxed stuff, and they are not planning to open it.
I suggest as a compromise: Open it, and then sell the original packing and all the stuff it came with on Ebay.
Somebody will buy it 😁

It’s like people buying Rolex watches and not wearing them. It’s for « future resale value ». But I’m the same as you, I enjoy using what I buy.

CoffeeOne wrote on 2024-02-03, 19:12:

I don't understand the point in not using vintage computer parts. That is just hoarding.

There is a big difference. One thing if you don't use any stuff you buy - that's hoarding or collecting - name it as you wish.

Another one is opening the wrapped stuff. It gives you mixed feelings. On one hand it's something that can't be undone. Unlike opened stuff that can be used, moved to other parts, sold again. It's the only unique moment of unwrapping where stuff loses it's value.
On the other hand, with full package you lose that another part of the quest - cleaning, restoring, searching for manuals, drivers and jumpers.

And you still cannot resist buying something brand new 😀 Though old.