PcBytes wrote on 2025-03-15, 21:31:

You've probably done that already... but have you tried connecting it to a video source? I've bought a CRT that was initially deemed broken (AOC 7K+), only to find it literally lacked a implementation of the "CONNECT VIDEO CABLE/CHECK VIDEO CABLE" notification. Plugging it to a Athlon 700 build I had at the time fixed the "issue".

Yes, I don't rely only on the monitor's interface. Thank you for the advice anyways.

Came across this video yesterday. His parent probably bought these parts for him, but anyway, it's nice to see the younger generation took interest in vintage computing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrKyeK5UNrg

Duting the last few days;
- Built a 486 (well, 5x86-P75) with VLB graphics, SB16 and 3c509 NIC. Still need to finish up mTCP etc.
- Tested a BX6r2 and Soltek SL-54u5 and listed them on a local site
- Made some room in storage so I can relocate some of the built pc's in some place other than inside living areas
- Recapped a GF6600GT - haven't tested it though...
- Repaired said 486 motherboard and a 386 motherboard
- Gave theta 386 a case, hdd etc. Will need to setup bios etc. All in due time.

I built a bootable dos based "service pack" iso for winme.

It's built off the very diligent work of iMic on ocau.

~5mins to patch ME up to the level of his automated, but slower installer.

It's crude and hacky, and needs proper testing, but it seems to work.

https://forums.overclockers.com.au/threads/sh … 8#post-19635402

25mb zipped iso.

Boot, run, reboot, done.

Bought those games from Retro Game Center Tel Aviv, in them event last week.

TheChexWarrior wrote on 2025-03-17, 08:15:

Bought those games from Retro Game Center Tel Aviv, in them event last week.

Nice! I've been to that store, but they rarely have PC games I want. 😜
Curious about that "100 Best Windows Games" CD. Are these all demos, or is it a collection of pirated rips, like were popular in Russian and other east-European markets.

The Mission Jacklin need telephone approve, In the 90s systems.... 🤣🤣🤣 I need to find a hack to play that. You have also a official Compedia Pink Phanter, and Hebrew "You Think You're Smart, ah?" Game with a celeb here as a guider. Really childhood filings.

dr_st wrote on 2025-03-17, 10:41:

TheChexWarrior wrote on 2025-03-17, 08:15:

Bought those games from Retro Game Center Tel Aviv, in them event last week.

Nice! I've been to that store, but they rarely have PC games I want. 😜
Curious about that "100 Best Windows Games" CD. Are these all demos, or is it a collection of pirated rips, like were popular in Russian and other east-European markets.

Shareware + Demos and free legal games. Some of them with Windows 95 port windowed. Very cool.

Been trying to find a good match for turning my childhood retro PC into a near-perfect Alienware Area 51 clone.

So far, I'm faced with the following array of boards. SCSI is a must by the way.

- Gigabyte GA-6BXU - REJECTED, only DIMM 3 and 4 slots work, and Primary IDE doesn't work.
- Gigabyte GA-6BXDS
- Gigabyte GA-6BXDU (thanks to @Socket 3 for the mobo!)
- ASUS P2B-S
(unknown yet) - ASUS XG-DLS.

CPU wise:

- Pentium 3 Katmai 500 single
- Dual Katmai 500 (6BXDS/6BXDU)
- Dual Coppermine 650 (same boards)
- Dual P3 Xeon (if the XG-DLS works)

I'm waiting on your thoughts. I have a lot of the other parts (TNT2 albeit it's a Pro, V3 PCI, Vortex AU8830) but I'm not specifically aiming at 100% correctness - think of Area 51 being the base specs and that I'd be upgrading it in any way over the years.

First run for the Compaq ProSignia that I bought recently: Re: Bought these (retro) hardware today was ended with the fire show. One of the tantalum capacitors was blown.

For the second day in a row I had to pop a key on my Thinkpad T430s keyboard (retrofitted classic 7-row) and clean some speck of dirt stuck inside the scissor switch which was making it hard for the key to be pressed fully and register. Fortunately, it's pretty straightforward on this keyboard.

Susanin79 wrote on 2025-03-18, 14:32:

First run for the Compaq ProSignia that I bought recently: Re: Bought these (retro) hardware today was ended with the fire show. One of the tantalum capacitors was blown.

Tantrum caps strike again !

Little fetchers love to throw random fits of electronic violence, the older they get the more cranky they be !

I finished my refurbishing job of this filthy and rusty AT power supply. Happy with the results. Good for another 35 years!

Did a partial recapping of the system control board of a BVW-50 portable tape recorder.
Notably, replaced the through-hole caps so I could put the board back before I forget how to put it back. The SMD electrolytics can be done while the board is installed.

(anything with a teal marking is "to be replaced")

Result: it still is broken, but slightly less broken. It can now operate a camera without everything resetting (the camera shuts off then reboots, then shuts off after 5 seconds and reboots, repeat)
But still nothing but FForward, reverse, stop and play works. And with a camera attached, when I do the mentioned actions, it starts doing that old behavior again. BTW, the power management board has been recapped.

Improvement, but still broke. Would be fun to do component recording on this when it's fixed.

My "new" Windows 98 build finally has a proper home. I got it all crammed inside a nice tiny case the best I could. I really wanted to keep this build as small as possible to fit into my limited use space. Sure, I have room to store things, but I like to use what I build, so keeping this build small enough to fit where I needed it was a must.

I mounted the internal SD/IDE in a 3.5 tray to keep it secured to the inside front of the case, while the external SD/IDE I mounted to an open expansion slot with a simple adapter I printed so I could easily swap out files as needed.

I also added an extra fan blowing right over the chipset heatsink to help keep things cooler becasue the Athlon 3000+ and that chipset get warm. It's a quick and dirty mount, but it works, and it keeps it all a lot cooler.

Now I just need to wait on the stickers I ordered from Geekenspiel to arrive so I can dress up the outside of the case a bit. 😀

Overall, this build it working out really well. It fits in the space it's needed and it's performing wonderfully so far.

Case: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CHPRKW18?

StriderTR wrote on 2025-03-20, 17:39:

My "new" Windows 98 build finally has a proper home. I got it all crammed inside a nice tiny case the best I could. I really wa […]
Show full quote

My "new" Windows 98 build finally has a proper home. I got it all crammed inside a nice tiny case the best I could. I really wanted to keep this build as small as possible to fit into my limited use space. Sure, I have room to store things, but I like to use what I build, so keeping this build small enough to fit where I needed it was a must.

I mounted the internal SD/IDE in a 3.5 tray to keep it secured to the inside front of the case, while the external SD/IDE I mounted to an open expansion slot with a simple adapter I printed so I could easily swap out files as needed.

I also added an extra fan blowing right over the chipset heatsink to help keep things cooler becasue the Athlon 3000+ and that chipset get warm. It's a quick and dirty mount, but it works, and it keeps it all a lot cooler.

Now I just need to wait on the stickers I ordered from Geekenspiel to arrive so I can dress up the outside of the case a bit. 😀

Overall, this build it working out really well. It fits in the space it's needed and it's performing wonderfully so far.

Case: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CHPRKW18?

So, why not use a smaller (50x50mm) fan for the chipset? A smaller fan will cover all the fins, hence it'll do a better job cooling the chipset.

dominusprog wrote on 2025-03-20, 21:42:

StriderTR wrote on 2025-03-20, 17:39:

My "new" Windows 98 build finally has a proper home. I got it all crammed inside a nice tiny case the best I could. I really wa […]
Show full quote

My "new" Windows 98 build finally has a proper home. I got it all crammed inside a nice tiny case the best I could. I really wanted to keep this build as small as possible to fit into my limited use space. Sure, I have room to store things, but I like to use what I build, so keeping this build small enough to fit where I needed it was a must.

I mounted the internal SD/IDE in a 3.5 tray to keep it secured to the inside front of the case, while the external SD/IDE I mounted to an open expansion slot with a simple adapter I printed so I could easily swap out files as needed.

I also added an extra fan blowing right over the chipset heatsink to help keep things cooler becasue the Athlon 3000+ and that chipset get warm. It's a quick and dirty mount, but it works, and it keeps it all a lot cooler.

Now I just need to wait on the stickers I ordered from Geekenspiel to arrive so I can dress up the outside of the case a bit. 😀

Overall, this build it working out really well. It fits in the space it's needed and it's performing wonderfully so far.

Case: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CHPRKW18?

So, why not use a smaller (50x50mm) fan for the chipset? A smaller fan will cover all the fins, hence it'll do a better job cooling the chipset.

The one 50x50 I had in my "fans box" was on its last leg. Sounded like a mini rock tumbler when I fired it up. So, I just used what I had on hand.

It works good. Keeps that whole area of the board cooler. I mean, the fans not even necessary, I just prefer to keep this older hardware as cool as possible. If I ever get my hands on proper sized fan, I'll switch it out, but for now it works so I'm not all that worried about it. 😀

Migrating my W98 disk setup to one ssd having both a Win98SE partition, an ISOs partition, a drivers partition and a partition with Win98SE install files and script for unattended install.
Holy smoke a reinstall is snappy now 😁

H3nrik V! wrote on 2025-03-20, 23:09:

Migrating my W98 disk setup to one ssd having both a Win98SE partition, an ISOs partition, a drivers partition and a partition with Win98SE install files and script for unattended install.
Holy smoke a reinstall is snappy now 😁

I was thinking about doing that. Currently using SD cards, one for the system, one for ISOs etc.

What adapter you using? I've got the one linked below, and it works, but It seems to be picky what drives you use with it.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09GVDK2H1?

StriderTR wrote on 2025-03-21, 00:38:

I was thinking about doing that. Currently using SD cards, one for the system, one for ISOs etc. […]
Show full quote

H3nrik V! wrote on 2025-03-20, 23:09:

Migrating my W98 disk setup to one ssd having both a Win98SE partition, an ISOs partition, a drivers partition and a partition with Win98SE install files and script for unattended install.
Holy smoke a reinstall is snappy now 😁

I was thinking about doing that. Currently using SD cards, one for the system, one for ISOs etc.

What adapter you using? I've got the one linked below, and it works, but It seems to be picky what drives you use with it.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09GVDK2H1?

https://www.startech.com/en-dk/hdd/ide2sat2

I read many places that the StarTech ide2sat2 was indeed highly compatible, and it works fine with my Hynix 128 gig drive - haven't tried other drives, though. But I think I'm gonna buy some more of them and maybe keep the ISO part as a separate disk I can use in all rigs, as separate rather than a partition ...