millobo2016 wrote on 2025-03-13, 14:53:

I personally agree with paying for bios , because modifying the bios requires a lot of time and technology, and I don’t think it should be free.

Yes but selling someone else copyrighted code (Award/AMI) is not much correct.
It would be better to distribute a patch that modify original BIOS and don't contain any licensed code inside...

I supply a modded BIOS file for those who’ve obtained my $70 Asus C-P6S1 clones for free. But, I’m not selling anything here. I’m just building an ultimate dual pentium pro system. You can contact me at boosty and donate at https://boosty.to/mentatvvo for a whole bunch of bios files. I have many supported bioses for different mobos , I’ve patched and tested them all manually.

Recently I got a P2B-F and I got stuck on this screen, the same as last time with P2B-D

Now I installed PIIOD to bypass the check. Compared with pentium pro, it is damn fast.

That's a lot of steps to just use a P2 in a slot 1 board...

Yeah yeah muh full speed cache

RayeR wrote on 2025-03-13, 15:29:

millobo2016 wrote on 2025-03-13, 14:53:

I personally agree with paying for bios , because modifying the bios requires a lot of time and technology, and I don’t think it should be free.

Yes but selling someone else copyrighted code (Award/AMI) is not much correct.
It would be better to distribute a patch that modify original BIOS and don't contain any licensed code inside...

It's better if it's free.

It's been almost 25 years since these things were relevant. They honestly could not care less. Now if you were to start selling their code, now they legally have to respond to enforce their copyright. Now if you were to approach Award and ask for a license, I'm sure they would sell you one. But I'm also sure it would cost 6-digits. Just ask how the people who made the mt32-pi project about their dealings with Roland...

Free is better.

I'm so happy today. I almost completed my dream pentium pro system. It's fast and stable.
The motherboard is P2B-F I bought on an auction website. The riser card is designed by Arti9m. I got the special bios from a donation to Mentat-vvo.
XP system, 512MB memory, Geforce4 MX440 graphics card, SSD IDE hard drive,
I almost use pentium pro in the best environment, this is the best PPro system I have ever used

In the current open case test, the test process is absolutely stable, and it will be moved into the chassis soon. I think the bios provided by Mentat-vvo is a masterpiece.
Any one of my components can be replaced. Only Mentat's bios is unique and cannot be replaced.

I find it very strange that we old hardware players are beginning to accept the very unreasonable prices on auction websites.
A good antique motherboard can be sold for 300-500 US dollars in ebay, and an antique graphics card can cost more than 200 US dollars.
What is wrong with paying for a well-designed BIOS?

To be honest, I am not that interested in the dual pentium pro system.
First of all, for some reasons, it is difficult for pentium pro to run on the dual CPU system of 440BX, so it is difficult to obtain the dual CPU platform of 440LX too.
Secondly, most situations where dual processors can be used require MMX and SSE instructions, so the dual CPU system of pentium pro is not that practical.
Of course, it would be nice if I could have dual pentium pro, but it doesn’t matter if I can’t.
In fact, I prefer the dual cpu system with Celeron Mendecino cores. Using the 370 adapter card, the transformation work will not be difficult.
Overclocking Celeron to a speed of over 450MHz, using a 100MHz bus, MMX instructions, it is cheap, energy efficient, and highly stable.
This is the game processor I want to use with P2B-DS. It is also very nostalgic and interesting.
I also want to share this system later.

If you have P2B-D/S then might just put any Slot 1 PIII CuMine in dual and have fast system. It is pointless speedwise, as with old sports cars (hobby which I have been over 25 years), computers etc, it is about pushing the limits of a specific system.

It would be very interesting to play with Slot1/soc8 adapter but I know that I would play with it for few days or week and then it stays in storage for years perhaps.

I built dual PPro 1MB based on IBM PC365 "Little buddy" motherboard, with SCSI stuff running W2K, very nice and fast computer, still don't have much time to play with it. But I will, I promise 😀

I just received a packet from mouser so I could finally complette the adapter by soldering that tiny resistor networks. I'm done with HW part. But now comes another journey exploring what/if I'll find a slot1 MB that will boot / will able to mod the BIOS as I don't have any MB on the compatability list (any Asus)...

I just quickly tried 6 Slot 1 MBs I have with stock BIOS and succes rate is not high:

Abit AB-LX6 Vcc 3,3V, Award, no POST code
intel AL440LX Vcc 3,3V, Phoenix, no POST code
Jet-Way J-791BS Vcc 3,3V, Award, POST code C1
PC-chips M741 Vcc 3,3V, AMI, POST code 86, blank screen, but with PII code 86 has screen with CPU setting incorrect
FIC VB601 Vcc 3,3V, Award, no POST code
Abit BE6 II Vcc 3,3V, Award, no POST code

I wonder that 4 of 6 MBs didn't display any POST code. So it hangs at very early CPU init or I have some HW bug on adapter. Most further went PC-chips M741 that reached POST code where it should be POST screen visible but gut just blank screen. All MBs boots with Slot 1 CPU. I also measured that all MBs VRM sets properly 3,3V for PPro CPU.

RayeR wrote on 2025-04-17, 06:27:

I just quickly tried 6 Slot 1 MBs I have with stock BIOS and succes rate is not high:

Abit BE6 II Vcc 3,3V, Award, no POST code

This one is picky about the PCI slots and POST card, and displaying all the post codes. I wasn't able to boot with ISA post card at all with any CPU!
However you should've been able to at least get to VGA init stage with POST card in any PCI slot.

I think one of the resistor packs might be not soldered properly. I'm afraid you'll have to check the resistance between all GTL signals on the Slot-1 and the termination voltage. I can make a pic of which contacts to check, it will be useful for the future adapters anyway.

Also I've sent you the BIOS image that should be fully working with Abit BE6 II.

I tested with Abit BE6 II modded BIOS but still no any POST code. Can somebody else report his experiences (with POST card) if unmodified BIOS can hangs so early that it can't send any POST code? Or if it is rather a HW bug on my adapter? I'll check it.
Just a note that I tried to put the POST card in every PCI and ISA slot but nothing...

It turned out that my Abit BE6 II has died during experiments (I don't know, maybe shorted something or some solder joints cracked due to age).

But I succeeded with another MB FIC VB-601 v1.4 https://theretroweb.com/motherboards/s/fic-vb-601
Thanks to Kmeaw for the modded BIOS. I had to try play with DIP switch to find undocumented low multiplier settings, it already supports from 2x and up.
Currently the best my PPro 200/256k can do at stock voltage is 250MHz (3*83), 100MHz FSB is not stable.

PPRO@250 (3,0*83), GF3TI200 AGP, 128MB SDRAM CL2
VESATEST: 180 MB/s
Doom: 86,74 FPS
Quake: 62,1/27,2 FPS (320*200/640*480)
Memtest 4 RAM/L1/L2: 1952/670/249 MB/s