Finally picking up effects processing project again
the past years i made several prototypes (such as FX1 FX1 : USB audio, midi interface, and live multi effects )
but never released anything. It still itches to complete and release something, but is there a use case for gamers ? i think not

Never say never. Any path taken can lead to any number of other paths that go to other things and ideas. I think we're at the point where there's a real demand for a customized micro-PC machine built off of these new ARM chips that can certainly compete with low-end x86 hardware and they would benefit from the work you've been doing. I know we have that in the Pi-stuff, but I think there's definite room for improvement in those designs and form-factors, which could lead to something better, especially for those who are interested in vintage gaming and music creation.

DarthSun wrote on 2024-12-29, 00:09:

You have to go with Via as well. UOSP is worth installing (+kernel enhanced+EIDE UDMA addon/repair). At me: Epox MVP3G2/2x128MB […]
Show full quote

dominusprog wrote on 2024-12-28, 16:06:

So I start working on the super socket 7, and I encountered a couple of issues. One, the BIOS detect the hard drive as UDMA-82, […]
Show full quote

So I start working on the super socket 7, and I encountered a couple of issues. One, the BIOS detect the hard drive as UDMA-82, which is got fixed by downgrading the BIOS. But no matter which version I put into ROM, installing the VIA chipset driver and enabling the DMA for HDD will cause the Windows to freeze during boot. On top of that, the throughput of both RAM and HDD are lower than expected, so is it the fault of Windows ME or the Apollo chip?

https://theretroweb.com/motherboards/s/a-tren … c-5200m-v1#bios

You have to go with Via as well. UOSP is worth installing (+kernel enhanced+EIDE UDMA addon/repair).
At me:
Epox MVP3G2/2x128MB SD @112MHz CL2-3-3-6/AIW Radeon9800Pro@398/351/Awe64/IDE-SD-8-32GB/Maxtor 33GB/LG DVDR/DTK 300W/RIG

The attachment sandra_8g_sd.jpg is no longer available

The attachment 1_cse_ideMaxtor-sd8g.jpg is no longer available

So I've found a Win ME Update CD on archive.org. Is this a same thing?

https://archive.org/details/wmeupd-r2

After procrastinating for 6 months, I finally repaired the AGP's 12v trace on my QDI Advance 10f. I can finally use a card other than my TNT 2!

dreamblaster wrote on 2024-12-29, 09:37:

Finally picking up effects processing project again
the past years i made several prototypes (such as FX1 FX1 : USB audio, midi interface, and live multi effects )
but never released anything. It still itches to complete and release something, but is there a use case for gamers ? i think not

For what it's worth I have been doing most of my effects processing in software for practicality and space reasons in the last few years, but I really really dislike doing it this way. There is a certain magic to doing this in hardware, and I miss it. I'd be interested in hearing about what you have been cooking up to be honest.

Today I made some 3D printed mounting brackets for my Asus S370-DL slotket:

aspiringnobody wrote on 2025-01-01, 05:03:

Today I made some 3D printed mounting brackets for my Asus S370-DL slotket:

The attachment IMG_6792.jpeg is no longer available

Very nice. Any chance of sharing the 3d files?

zuldan wrote on 2025-01-01, 09:58:

aspiringnobody wrote on 2025-01-01, 05:03:

Today I made some 3D printed mounting brackets for my Asus S370-DL slotket:

The attachment IMG_6792.jpeg is no longer available

Very nice. Any chance of sharing the 3d files?

Yeah, of course. I've got to test them in the motherboard and make sure they work, and then I'll upload it to printables.

Edit: My design won't work. In fact, I'm not even sure that the default Asus clips would work with the style of motherboard retention clips I have. I can't modify the design of what I have to work with these clips, I'm going to have to go back to the drawing board. The part of my clips that lays on the slotket PCB would have to be about a millimeter thick to fit between the motherboard clips. The screw would also need to fit completely inside that 1mm. I think that's why the Asus clips must have used flat (v-shaped) screw heads to achieve the lowest profile possible. With a pan head screw and a nut on the other side, you'd be looking at maybe 0.2mm thickness under the screw head holding down the clip. Not enough unless you get flat screwheads.

Took apart a Shuttle XP (socket A board) bought it for €10 some time ago. The whole thing was absolutely caked in dust. So i set about cleaning all the parts and things are cleaning up nicely. However i decided to wash the mainboard together with another board and my method seems to suck. I wash it with a brush in a plastic container with distilled water and dishwashing detergent ... so far so good. Then i partially blow dry the board to get most of the water off and dunk the board in 99% IPA ... that's when it goes wrong. It leaves a large amount of white residue on the board leaving it dull as chalk. When i google it i see tons of pictures with the same problem. I think i'm just going to skip the IPA dunk alltogether. I did this to purge all water from the board but this is probably not necessary if i leave it to dry long enough. The board looks even worse than before now. Had the same thing happen to my P5W-DH board.

EDIT: this is an A8N premium board not the shuttle board btw. This board was given to me as being defective, haven't tried to use it yet.

I have now washed the board a second time skipping the IPA dunk and it has cleaned up somewhat better. Not all residue is gone but better at least.

That white residue is partially dissolved flux that was leftover on the board from wave soldering. IPA will dissolve it but you need to scrub it off. Regular dish soap doesn't to a good job at getting it off. It won't hurt anything to leave it on there. It will just look weird.

Made a set of DOS 6.22 installation disks - not sure why, as I remembered, I haven't run pure DOS since the 486 days 🤣 And even then, I think I installed 95 on it ...

Also played GTA2, mostly to show it to the kids who play GTA V on their Gaming PC and PS5 respectively.

Running in W98 on a PIII 600, it's pretty impressive, how much smoother it ran in GLiDE on an Voodoo1 than on a Matrox G400 (The G400 at 1024x768 though, but still)

I agree. Glide is often and surprisingly much faster on period-correct hardware where the CPU is the bottleneck. It's not that the other cards are bad but rather they are being held back by overhead in the drivers that expect a faster system.

A perfect example is using a GeForce FX 5200. Even though it should be overkill for many old games in a retro system, it's often slower than contemporary or older accelerators due to the driver overhead.

I did a test a few years ago and found an FX 5200 and an FX 5950 to benchmark at the have speed on an old Intel Mendocino CPU, due to the drivers themselves being CPU limited.

dominusprog wrote on 2024-12-28, 16:06:

So I start working on the super socket 7, and I encountered a couple of issues. One, the BIOS detect the hard drive as UDMA-82, which is got fixed by downgrading the BIOS. But no matter which version I put into ROM, installing the VIA chipset driver and enabling the DMA for HDD will cause the Windows to freeze during boot. On top of that, the throughput of both RAM and HDD are lower than expected, so is it the fault of Windows ME or the Apollo chip?

https://theretroweb.com/motherboards/s/a-tren … c-5200m-v1#bios

One thing I learned the hard way, VIA southbridges from this era are very sensitive to the IDE cable you use. You should either use a very short 40 pin cable or even better a 80 pin IDE cable.

I was having all sorts of weird issues with my SD adapter on my super socket 7 boards until I found that out.

Not sure if this is related to your problem, but is worth checking.

Kahenraz wrote on 2025-01-01, 19:21:

That white residue is partially dissolved flux that was leftover on the board from wave soldering. IPA will dissolve it but you need to scrub it off. Regular dish soap doesn't to a good job at getting it off. It won't hurt anything to leave it on there. It will just look weird.

Had a go on it with IPA and a brush then locally with cotton swab. It's stubborn stuff...leaves streaks and hardly comes off. Question is if it's even worth rinsing the board in IPA after a clean with distilled water ... most people don't seem to have any issue's without it and it will save me the headache of the residue. Thanks for the info!

No, I wouldn't dunk the whole board in it. I don't think there is any value in that. What I do is use a small squeeze bottle to soak the larger BGA chips like the north/south bridges and any large QFP packages and then blast them clean with compressed air.

Most of the board is safe to let air dry. The only thing that worries me is getting water or soap stuck under the larger chips. A bit of alcohol in a few places and compressed air ensures that they are both clear of detergent and dry.

Even if the board "looks" dry, water might have a lot of trouble evaporating out from under the larger chips. The alcohol ensures faster evaporation.

Kahenraz wrote on 2025-01-02, 19:33:

No, I wouldn't dunk the whole board in it. I don't think there is any value in that. What I do is use a small squeeze bottle to soak the larger BGA chips like the north/south bridges and any large QFP packages and then blast them clean with compressed air.

Most of the board is safe to let air dry. The only thing that worries me is getting water or soap stuck under the larger chips. A bit of alcohol in a few places and compressed air ensures that they are both clear of detergent and dry.

Even if the board "looks" dry, water might have a lot of trouble evaporating out from under the larger chips. The alcohol ensures faster evaporation.

Good idea. My idea of dunking it in was exactly the same as yours .. to get water from underneath the large chips on the board (and the socket), but your strategy sounds better. Will try that method next!

It's also cheaper.

Pino wrote on 2025-01-02, 19:03:

One thing I learned the hard way, VIA southbridges from this era are very sensitive to the IDE cable you use. You should either […]
Show full quote

dominusprog wrote on 2024-12-28, 16:06:

So I start working on the super socket 7, and I encountered a couple of issues. One, the BIOS detect the hard drive as UDMA-82, which is got fixed by downgrading the BIOS. But no matter which version I put into ROM, installing the VIA chipset driver and enabling the DMA for HDD will cause the Windows to freeze during boot. On top of that, the throughput of both RAM and HDD are lower than expected, so is it the fault of Windows ME or the Apollo chip?

https://theretroweb.com/motherboards/s/a-tren … c-5200m-v1#bios

One thing I learned the hard way, VIA southbridges from this era are very sensitive to the IDE cable you use. You should either use a very short 40 pin cable or even better a 80 pin IDE cable.

I was having all sorts of weird issues with my SD adapter on my super socket 7 boards until I found that out.

Not sure if this is related to your problem, but is worth checking.

Thanks, I'll keep that in mind. But something that I learned is in Windows ME, the drivers that came with the Windows are the best and most stable.

Cleaning a number of parts. First time I use a foaming multi cleaner because of nicotine. Then scrub it lightly with a toothbrush, rinsed it with hot water and then distilled water. With the hot plate it should be dry in moments.

And I didn't forget the secret metal box. Did not scrub its contents hehe. 😉

Mestre16 wrote on 2024-12-14, 14:05:

BitWrangler wrote on 2024-12-03, 14:18:

Living wrote on 2024-12-03, 11:51:

SPANISH? north americans learn some language in school? thats portuguese...

See, that's how bad my Spanish is, 🤣 ... kind of almost a repeat of the time I told a Dutch guy his German was awful. There are monoglots and polyglots, I am a sesqui-glot, speak English and halfass know a couple of others.

But to reallocate the besmirch-ment of education systems, I schooled in the UK, they only tried to teach me French and German.

Afinal és do Canadá? Aqui no Brasil é comum o meio-glota (nem mesmo a língua materna, a criatura usa direito). Encontrei o termo 'sequilingue', que se refere ao falante de uma língua e meia. Isso é o legal de um fórum, sempre dá pra aprender alguma coisa nova, mesmo depois de mais de vinte e cinco anos navegando a web, e após todas as mudanças que já vimos. Minha intenção de escrever em português, era realmente gerar algum apelo com os conterrâneos, ou mesmo gerar a curiosidade nos amigos do mundo todo. Tem uma música aqui que diz algo como, 'sei de tudo um pouco, mas quase tudo mal' (I know a little about everything, but almost everything is wrong).

A guy from Brazil recently announced his classic ICQ server, so one more Brazilian on here at least and a retro way to keep in touch. Classic ICQ Server