TheAbandonwareGuy wrote on 2025-09-24, 22:41:

https://i.imgur.com/LTUgMhc.jpeg […]
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So I wanted cheap MIDI for the AST Adventure 575 I picked up. This is what the eBay gods have bestowed upon me. $26 USD shipped for a well regarded MIDI device.

Seems to be a slightly modernized Ensoniq VIVO-90 with no external ports. But that's fine, the AST 575 has an integrated ESS AudioDrive I can just loop this thing into the line-in of (or failing all else directly highjack its 3.5mm jack with a bodge wire). Its a Gateway OEM card from a Gateway Destination2000 according to the seller.

Does anybody know what the pin outs are for this? I am assuming that IDE-ish connector up top contains all the missing audio jacks. I'm hoping the lone connector on the top left is the optical drive audio connector.

Wow, I've never seen one of those before. Definitely a rare variant of the VIVO 90.

I found a thread about it, so maybe what you're looking for can be found here:
Is it possible to get this card working? Ensoniq Soundscape VIVO with no audio jacks.

EDIT: Just took a glance through the thread and people posted some leads as to who might have more info about it, but no pinouts were found.

I guess these cards came out of a Gateway Destination media center PC from the mid 90s. That would be such a cool system to find... especially with matching CRT TV that had a VGA input. Maaaan... 🤤

https://youtu.be/s4HAqGrJFCU?t=1006 (relevant part at 16:46)

https://wiki.preterhuman.net/Gateway_2000_Destination_D6-266

I noticed the PC I got recently says Genius 1 Win 3.1 on the side.

Obviously windows is windows but I wonder what genius 1 refers to? A network name for the PC? The user's nickname? Some obscure software?

Genius was a big name in mice, not sure about anything else.

dukeofurl wrote on 2025-09-25, 02:07:

I noticed the PC I got recently says Genius 1 Win 3.1 on the side.

Obviously windows is windows but I wonder what genius 1 refers to? A network name for the PC? The user's nickname? Some obscure software?

maybe there was a genius 2 and more at one point, a coding system in an office for user PC's maybe?

the Genius brand for mice seems like a natural connection too

Couldn't resist buying this never soldered XT PCB...

to3cutter wrote on 2025-09-23, 07:43:

Bought this arcade machine (without cabinet) made by Quantum 3D https://hydro-thunder.fandom.com/wiki/Quantum … _Quicksilver_II […]
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Bought this arcade machine (without cabinet) made by Quantum 3D https://hydro-thunder.fandom.com/wiki/Quantum … _Quicksilver_II

Inside enclosure is Intel bx440-II board with Celeron 333 and just this Obsidian 2 PCI Voodoo2 without any 2D card (?), on HDD found strange
some sort of embedded system ( no gui, no windows folder, 3 partitions FAT, just game exe and some sort of save games or something like that).
Game won't boot, just hangs and nothing happens.

Obsidian Voodoo was tested and I can't make it work in 3D applications whatever drivers used (tried win98 and winxp) .
Will play with it few days. Maybe is some sort of incompatibility with motherboard I'm using... will try another one (P1 or P2).

Motherboard from the cabinet still is not tested.

nice find! theres some info here which isnt in the link you posted, about the Quantum3D QDK utility which should boot the game automatically, from the pic in your link it shows the machine has a floppy drive which is odd, i know a lot of these pc based machines usually have a security device like a usb fob, the floppy could be for this purpose so you may need some sort of security floppy for it to boot.
https://www.system16.com/hardware.php?id=620
also arcade graphics cards usually have a custom bios, so may not work as a normal pc graphics card with standard drivers.

VIA Cyrix III 550, for a benchmarking project. 😁

Wow that's a not so common CPU, congratulations!

mtest001 wrote on 2025-09-25, 16:11:

Wow that's a not so common CPU, congratulations!

I didn't know 😬 Too little too late or just not fast enough to keep up with the competition? These CPU's are my blind spot so I'm anxious to get benchmarking, even when the results may be disappointing.

The other Cyrix CPU I have is inside a Compaq laptop, some MediaGX. Oh and a 100MHz 5x86C

Cyrix was common in 1996 to 1998, it competed well with pentium mmx and even with early pentium ii. By competed I mean they offered decent performance at a very low price. But then they couldn't keep up, and Pentium III and Athlon processors were too fast, not even the low price was not enough. You can find Cyrix 6x86 at around 200 MHz, and Cyrix M2 up to about 300 MHz, both on socket 7, but Cyrix III are much rarer.

The wikipedia article for the Cyrix III is pretty interesting. I knew about the Via "C3" which came later, but never really thought much of its origins.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyrix_III

I guess after the Joshua core Cryix III CPUs failed to impress and were phased out, the Samuel cores were based entirely on a design from Centaur Technology which was actually an evolution of WinChip processors! After a while the name was changed to C3 since it no longer had anything to do with Cyrix.

Also, it's funny... I keep associating these things with the late 90s because that is what the performance resembles, but all Cyrix III and C3 chips were released in 2000 or later.

Mobile Pentium MMX 200 2.45V.
Was on the wanted list for quite a long time.
Seems to be a bit of a unicorn around here.

I’ve just pulled the trigger on two covetous pieces, though they may stretch the definition of “retro” for most people on these boards.

One is an ASUS Rampage III Black Edition, a god-tier LGA1366 motherboard. It came with an Intel Core i7 Extreme 980X as a bonus.

The other is the much prized ASUS ARES II graphics card. Only 999 cards were ever released, making it a damn rare piece of hardware.

ChrisK wrote on Yesterday, 09:42:

Mobile Pentium MMX 200 2.45V. Was on the wanted list for quite a long time. Seems to be a bit of a unicorn around here. […]
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Mobile Pentium MMX 200 2.45V.
Was on the wanted list for quite a long time.
Seems to be a bit of a unicorn around here.

The attachment SL2Z8.jpg is no longer available

Cool. Wonder if it's Tillamook core, and if it will run on a normal Socket 7 board ...

H3nrik V! wrote on Yesterday, 11:11:

ChrisK wrote on Yesterday, 09:42:

Mobile Pentium MMX 200 2.45V. Was on the wanted list for quite a long time. Seems to be a bit of a unicorn around here. […]
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Mobile Pentium MMX 200 2.45V.
Was on the wanted list for quite a long time.
Seems to be a bit of a unicorn around here.

The attachment SL2Z8.jpg is no longer available

Cool. Wonder if it's Tillamook core, and if it will run on a normal Socket 7 board ...

It is not and it does 😉

There's not much info out there on this one. At least as far as I could find. No official document mentioning this variant by name (which doesn't mean there isn't any somewhere out there).
It looks a bit as if Intel couldn't decide on what it should be like. The sSpec number smells a bit like a Tilly (SL2Z...) and there's actually a hole at 200 MHz within the 166-266 MHz PPGA Tillamook lineup.
The CPUID, however, is that from a "regular" 0.35µ MMX core (0x543). But even there, the mobile Pentium MMX datasheets only reach up to 166 MHz.

Those 2.45V parts look like beeing regular MMX ones just beeing able to run on a lower voltage.

ChrisK wrote on Yesterday, 09:42:

Mobile Pentium MMX 200 2.45V. Was on the wanted list for quite a long time. Seems to be a bit of a unicorn around here. […]
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Mobile Pentium MMX 200 2.45V.
Was on the wanted list for quite a long time.
Seems to be a bit of a unicorn around here.

The attachment SL2Z8.jpg is no longer available

what is the difference between a "normal" pentium 200 and "mobile" pentium 200 ? I have several pentium 200 cpus and I dont think they are that uncommon...

"normal" has 2.8Vcore
"mobile" has 2.45Vcore, or even only 1.9Vcore if it's a "Tillamook"

Tillamook is also called an "embedded Pentium MMX".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentium_( ... d_variants
(see also the embedded versions table a bit below)

ChrisK wrote on Yesterday, 13:56:

"normal" has 2.8Vcore "mobile" has 2.45Vcore, or even only 1.9Vcore if it's a "Tillamook" […]
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"normal" has 2.8Vcore
"mobile" has 2.45Vcore, or even only 1.9Vcore if it's a "Tillamook"

Tillamook is also called an "embedded Pentium MMX".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentium_( ... d_variants
(see also the embedded versions table a bit below)

aha ok thank you
and they all look the same? I need to take a look at my MMX CPUs

Nunoalex wrote on Yesterday, 14:11:

ChrisK wrote on Yesterday, 13:56:

"normal" has 2.8Vcore "mobile" has 2.45Vcore, or even only 1.9Vcore if it's a "Tillamook" […]
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"normal" has 2.8Vcore
"mobile" has 2.45Vcore, or even only 1.9Vcore if it's a "Tillamook"

Tillamook is also called an "embedded Pentium MMX".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentium_( ... d_variants
(see also the embedded versions table a bit below)

aha ok thank you
and they all look the same? I need to take a look at my MMX CPUs

unfortunately, yes. look at sSpec codes and voltage markings.

AndreaColombo86 wrote on Yesterday, 10:30:

I’ve just pulled the trigger on two covetous pieces, though they may stretch the definition of “retro” for most people on these boards.

One is an ASUS Rampage III Black Edition, a god-tier LGA1366 motherboard. It came with an Intel Core i7 Extreme 980X as a bonus.

The other is the much prized ASUS ARES II graphics card. Only 999 cards were ever released, making it a damn rare piece of hardware.

Like that Rampage and wondering if you got the LAN/Audio card with it. Combined with the 980x and XFire, it would make a fun 4.2+ Ghz Win7 box 😀