It's the first time I'm seeing a computer with 4 serial ports instead of just 2 (or less) and the option in the BIOS to configure 2 more. Could it be that those were used to control the packaging hardware?

devius wrote on 2025-12-24, 16:57:

It's the first time I'm seeing a computer with 4 serial ports instead of just 2 (or less) and the option in the BIOS to configure 2 more. Could it be that those were used to control the packaging hardware?

I'd bet that is right yes. Although COM4 is apparently shared with the touchscreen, not sure if that would impact this kind of usage?

When I collected the seller (who also had all kinds of old oscilloscopes, hifi equipment etc) had a second one of these. That had a custom connector that looked like a 8 pin version of the green pluggable screw terminal things, in place of the audio connectors. Obviously I wanted the audio! But I guess those were for an even more bespoke industrial connection?

Nothing major, just a couple of components for my 386 overkill machine. The Ti 486DLC-40 chip should arrive later today. I doubt I paid a fantastic price for it, but $60 US shipped didn't seem too bad.

The Cyrix 83D87-40 I ordered should arrive early next week. Again, nothing special to report on the price ($58 US shipped).

I'm looking forward to plugging in the co-processor first to get a baseline with the current AMD 386DX-40. I'll then replace the AMD chip with the Ti chip for a performance comparison. None of this is groundbreaking, but I'm just having a ton of fun playing around with an old school 386 platform again.

I'm really looling forward to eventually getting everything I want for a reverse sleeper build. I already have the case. I still need to get 32 MB of FPM RAM, a 3D printed SD-to-IDE mount and ATX back plate, a PicoGUS, and a network card. All in good time.

I occasionally buy a mundane part that doubles as a secret weapon.

The one that arrived today is a (pre-Intellimouse) Microsoft mouse with extra-heavy steel ball that had a reputation for rolling a tiny bit too far. These were not the best for hitting menu items on a high-resolution CAD workstation, and they were not the most popular with gamers either - but I loved them for the exact same feature that caused others to look away.

The way I played First Person Shooters (i.e. Quake3) was to only rarely stop my 360 rotations, and those 360 rotations were achieved by flicking a ball mouse off of its surface. One quick wrist flick would make the mouse airborne and the ball inside would keep spinning. That meant my in-game character would keep spinning. I'd either slam the mouse down to stop spinning (because I had locked onto my target), or flick again to continue spinning (because I'm scanning for threats).

An optical mouse can't do that - no moving parts to carry inertia. Boomslang gaming mouse can't do it well either - it's smaller lighter extra-precise ball quickly stops moving when airborne. Later Intellimouse with ball - usable. Some trackballs - usable. But, heavy balls of steel - that was me.

I'd practice against configured UT bots. I remember one in particular: 10 speed. 10 accuracy. Preferred headshots. Preferred sniper rifle. Duels against that bot were about one thing only: How long I could survive, and with a ball mouse I lasted longer than with any optical mouse. I used to hunt heavier balls and trying different balls in different mouses. I broke one unbranded OEM mouse during gameplay by slamming it down too hard - a plastic spindle snapped. Microsoft mouses generally survived longer.

I remember LAN gamers rejecting my method some time after Y2K and just refusing to play against me, but here’s the thing: FPS games were designed and tested in the 1990s under ball mouse input physics and under that constraint, what I call “Continuous Ball Spin” was a mechanically correct technique. Optical consumer mice did not exist when Quake and Unreal launched—that’s simply the historical record!

I’d go further and argue that "Continuous Ball Spin" made the game more visceral and immersive because no real world combatant can instantly freeze their bodily motion the way an optical mouse freezes input. Imagine Mike Tyson locking into perfect stillness - it would be cheating reality! I lost this argument after Y2K (I suspect because already sold beige office mouses were not sponsoring new tournaments) but history is on my side, physical reality is on my side, biology is on my side, and esport assumptions changed after the competition began.

I’ll be pairing this ball mouse with a 3Dfx Voodoo and some FPS games 😄

Hope everyone had a great Christmas!

The time off finally allowed me to have a good look at an Asus A8N32-SLI Deluxe that I won from an eBay auction.

It's in reasonable condition; a few blemishes here and there. Working well though; after redoing the paste/pads I broke out the 7950GTs to test SLI.

The voltage readout in the bios is reading the 12v rail incorrectly. Given the board otherwise works flawlessly I assume this is either a bios glitch or sensor issue. I confirmed the PSU was outputting the correct voltage with a multimeter.

Very pleased all in all.

TheIpex wrote on 2025-12-26, 08:40:

Hope everyone had a great Christmas! […]
Show full quote

Hope everyone had a great Christmas!

The time off finally allowed me to have a good look at an Asus A8N32-SLI Deluxe that I won from an eBay auction.

The attachment 1.jpg is no longer available

It's in reasonable condition; a few blemishes here and there. Working well though; after redoing the paste/pads I broke out the 7950GTs to test SLI.

The attachment 2.jpg is no longer available

The voltage readout in the bios is reading the 12v rail incorrectly. Given the board otherwise works flawlessly I assume this is either a bios glitch or sensor issue. I confirmed the PSU was outputting the correct voltage with a multimeter.

The attachment 3.jpg is no longer available

Very pleased all in all.

If it stops while booting to report the voltage error you can probably select that voltage in the monitor and hit + or - to set it to ignore.

Otherwise have fun!

pete8475 wrote on 2025-12-26, 18:26:

If it stops while booting to report the voltage error you can probably select that voltage in the monitor and hit + or - to set it to ignore.

Otherwise have fun!

Thanks, oddly enough no errors are reported during boot.

HP Omnibook XE2.

It stops at "F2 to enter Setup" " F10 to enter diagnostics".
Never going past.

FDD seek is present, CD-rom works, HDD is present but is blank.

Edit: HDD is 80GB, ram is 512MB Pc-100 (2x256). Not bad for what I paid even if I can't repair it.

Nexxen wrote on 2026-01-02, 13:01:

HP Omnibook XE2. […]
Show full quote

HP Omnibook XE2.

It stops at "F2 to enter Setup" " F10 to enter diagnostics".
Never going past.

FDD seek is present, CD-rom works, HDD is present but is blank.

Edit: HDD is 80GB, ram is 512MB Pc-100 (2x256). Not bad for what I paid even if I can't repair it.

Try a smaller HDD, 20-30GB tops. I smell a BIOS HDD limitation, and given that's a PII-class machine that wouldn't be surprising to be the cause.

PcBytes wrote on 2026-01-02, 15:12:

Nexxen wrote on 2026-01-02, 13:01:

HP Omnibook XE2. […]
Show full quote

HP Omnibook XE2.

It stops at "F2 to enter Setup" " F10 to enter diagnostics".
Never going past.

FDD seek is present, CD-rom works, HDD is present but is blank.

Edit: HDD is 80GB, ram is 512MB Pc-100 (2x256). Not bad for what I paid even if I can't repair it.

Try a smaller HDD, 20-30GB tops. I smell a BIOS HDD limitation, and given that's a PII-class machine that wouldn't be surprising to be the cause.

Yep, that was on my list.
Issue is that the post process halts at some point and it freezes (no beep, just before attempting boot), with or without a HDD.
Post codes are 98 9C, bios is phoenix 4 6.0.

CPus is Celeron 433.

Nexxen wrote on 2026-01-02, 15:30:

Yep, that was on my list. Issue is that the post process halts at some point and it freezes (no beep, just before attempting boo […]
Show full quote

PcBytes wrote on 2026-01-02, 15:12:

Nexxen wrote on 2026-01-02, 13:01:

HP Omnibook XE2. […]
Show full quote

HP Omnibook XE2.

It stops at "F2 to enter Setup" " F10 to enter diagnostics".
Never going past.

FDD seek is present, CD-rom works, HDD is present but is blank.

Edit: HDD is 80GB, ram is 512MB Pc-100 (2x256). Not bad for what I paid even if I can't repair it.

Try a smaller HDD, 20-30GB tops. I smell a BIOS HDD limitation, and given that's a PII-class machine that wouldn't be surprising to be the cause.

Yep, that was on my list.
Issue is that the post process halts at some point and it freezes (no beep, just before attempting boot), with or without a HDD.
Post codes are 98 9C, bios is phoenix 4 6.0.

CPus is Celeron 433.

Maybe try swapping in less RAM? I've seen HPs (and Compaqs) be fairly picky of RAM sizes - despite the chipset being 440BX, I've at least had numerous issues using 512MB on a Compaq Armada E500 (which would roughly be around the same vintage, just with a Pentium 3 instead) and lowering the RAM to 256-384MB range solved most issues.

PcBytes wrote on 2026-01-02, 16:05:

Nexxen wrote on 2026-01-02, 15:30:

Yep, that was on my list. Issue is that the post process halts at some point and it freezes (no beep, just before attempting boo […]
Show full quote

PcBytes wrote on 2026-01-02, 15:12:

Try a smaller HDD, 20-30GB tops. I smell a BIOS HDD limitation, and given that's a PII-class machine that wouldn't be surprising to be the cause.

Yep, that was on my list.
Issue is that the post process halts at some point and it freezes (no beep, just before attempting boot), with or without a HDD.
Post codes are 98 9C, bios is phoenix 4 6.0.

CPus is Celeron 433.

Maybe try swapping in less RAM? I've seen HPs (and Compaqs) be fairly picky of RAM sizes - despite the chipset being 440BX, I've at least had numerous issues using 512MB on a Compaq Armada E500 (which would roughly be around the same vintage, just with a Pentium 3 instead) and lowering the RAM to 256-384MB range solved most issues.

I used some 32 and 64 MB of PC-100, no change.
I'll probably need to open a new thread.

I'm left with cmos battery.
Next is find a BIOS and desolder and reprogram the one on the board.

Tried booting from floppy?
If you can, try a bios flash.
One bad bit is all it takes

myne wrote on 2026-01-03, 03:51:

Tried booting from floppy?
If you can, try a bios flash.
One bad bit is all it takes

After seeking CD-rom then FDD and it hangs (becomes unresponsive).
Before finishing seeks it can be reset.

I disassembled it and I'm just waiting to write down the desoldering queue to do a one session do-it-all for the many jobs I have to do.

MattRocks wrote on 2025-12-24, 21:44:

I occasionally buy a mundane part that doubles as a secret weapon. […]
Show full quote

I occasionally buy a mundane part that doubles as a secret weapon.

The one that arrived today is a (pre-Intellimouse) Microsoft mouse with extra-heavy steel ball that had a reputation for rolling a tiny bit too far. These were not the best for hitting menu items on a high-resolution CAD workstation, and they were not the most popular with gamers either - but I loved them for the exact same feature that caused others to look away.

The way I played First Person Shooters (i.e. Quake3) was to only rarely stop my 360 rotations, and those 360 rotations were achieved by flicking a ball mouse off of its surface. One quick wrist flick would make the mouse airborne and the ball inside would keep spinning. That meant my in-game character would keep spinning. I'd either slam the mouse down to stop spinning (because I had locked onto my target), or flick again to continue spinning (because I'm scanning for threats).

An optical mouse can't do that - no moving parts to carry inertia. Boomslang gaming mouse can't do it well either - it's smaller lighter extra-precise ball quickly stops moving when airborne. Later Intellimouse with ball - usable. Some trackballs - usable. But, heavy balls of steel - that was me.

I'd practice against configured UT bots. I remember one in particular: 10 speed. 10 accuracy. Preferred headshots. Preferred sniper rifle. Duels against that bot were about one thing only: How long I could survive, and with a ball mouse I lasted longer than with any optical mouse. I used to hunt heavier balls and trying different balls in different mouses. I broke one unbranded OEM mouse during gameplay by slamming it down too hard - a plastic spindle snapped. Microsoft mouses generally survived longer.

I remember LAN gamers rejecting my method some time after Y2K and just refusing to play against me, but here’s the thing: FPS games were designed and tested in the 1990s under ball mouse input physics and under that constraint, what I call “Continuous Ball Spin” was a mechanically correct technique. Optical consumer mice did not exist when Quake and Unreal launched—that’s simply the historical record!

I’d go further and argue that "Continuous Ball Spin" made the game more visceral and immersive because no real world combatant can instantly freeze their bodily motion the way an optical mouse freezes input. Imagine Mike Tyson locking into perfect stillness - it would be cheating reality! I lost this argument after Y2K (I suspect because already sold beige office mouses were not sponsoring new tournaments) but history is on my side, physical reality is on my side, biology is on my side, and esport assumptions changed after the competition began.

I’ll be pairing this ball mouse with a 3Dfx Voodoo and some FPS games 😄

Interesting post Matt, I think I was doing something similar without conscious identification of the mechanics with the Amiga mouse that came with my A1200 back in the day, would hold it low and lift it a mm on my fingertips to let the ball freewheel for certain games with large mouse movement. I think I probably got trained out of it when into PC gaming though because my PC mouse of the time was a flat ergo style one that you couldn't pinch grip... and as you note balls tended to get lighter.

BitWrangler wrote on 2026-01-05, 16:43:

MattRocks wrote on 2025-12-24, 21:44:

I occasionally buy a mundane part that doubles as a secret weapon. […]
Show full quote

I occasionally buy a mundane part that doubles as a secret weapon.

The one that arrived today is a (pre-Intellimouse) Microsoft mouse with extra-heavy steel ball that had a reputation for rolling a tiny bit too far. These were not the best for hitting menu items on a high-resolution CAD workstation, and they were not the most popular with gamers either - but I loved them for the exact same feature that caused others to look away.

The way I played First Person Shooters (i.e. Quake3) was to only rarely stop my 360 rotations, and those 360 rotations were achieved by flicking a ball mouse off of its surface. One quick wrist flick would make the mouse airborne and the ball inside would keep spinning. That meant my in-game character would keep spinning. I'd either slam the mouse down to stop spinning (because I had locked onto my target), or flick again to continue spinning (because I'm scanning for threats).

An optical mouse can't do that - no moving parts to carry inertia. Boomslang gaming mouse can't do it well either - it's smaller lighter extra-precise ball quickly stops moving when airborne. Later Intellimouse with ball - usable. Some trackballs - usable. But, heavy balls of steel - that was me.

I'd practice against configured UT bots. I remember one in particular: 10 speed. 10 accuracy. Preferred headshots. Preferred sniper rifle. Duels against that bot were about one thing only: How long I could survive, and with a ball mouse I lasted longer than with any optical mouse. I used to hunt heavier balls and trying different balls in different mouses. I broke one unbranded OEM mouse during gameplay by slamming it down too hard - a plastic spindle snapped. Microsoft mouses generally survived longer.

I remember LAN gamers rejecting my method some time after Y2K and just refusing to play against me, but here’s the thing: FPS games were designed and tested in the 1990s under ball mouse input physics and under that constraint, what I call “Continuous Ball Spin” was a mechanically correct technique. Optical consumer mice did not exist when Quake and Unreal launched—that’s simply the historical record!

I’d go further and argue that "Continuous Ball Spin" made the game more visceral and immersive because no real world combatant can instantly freeze their bodily motion the way an optical mouse freezes input. Imagine Mike Tyson locking into perfect stillness - it would be cheating reality! I lost this argument after Y2K (I suspect because already sold beige office mouses were not sponsoring new tournaments) but history is on my side, physical reality is on my side, biology is on my side, and esport assumptions changed after the competition began.

I’ll be pairing this ball mouse with a 3Dfx Voodoo and some FPS games 😄

Interesting post Matt, I think I was doing something similar without conscious identification of the mechanics with the Amiga mouse that came with my A1200 back in the day, would hold it low and lift it a mm on my fingertips to let the ball freewheel for certain games with large mouse movement. I think I probably got trained out of it when into PC gaming though because my PC mouse of the time was a flat ergo style one that you couldn't pinch grip... and as you note balls tended to get lighter.

Thank you for sharing your memory of freewheeling on Amiga!

Nobody complained about a cleaned ball mouse unless they were using an optical mouse 😉
To put human-computer interface theory to retro practice, today I bought an Eizo 4:3 LCD and another DirectX 6 era graphics card - not tested yet.

EDIT: Spun up a thread for this topic Ball mouse appreciation thread

Bought some quite big haul 2 computers 486 and s7, 7 laptops from 286 to athlon xp and 3 walkmans. Pcs are working laptops mostly needs work walkmans i already fixed (belt change and cleanup and calibration)

Thinkpad and Walkmans 👍 the good stuff

Here is my latest acquisition, an AMI Enterprise III. Only some bend pins and an empty Dallas, so it needs some work.

Free scores:
- Philips 109B5 CRT - fine quality from Philips as always.
- NEI television set - Romanian brand (@Socket3 might also know them), however the TV itself seems to be made in Germany, from a few documents I could find online. Strange.

PD2JK wrote on 2026-01-09, 09:55:

Thinkpad and Walkmans 👍 the good stuff

Here is my latest acquisition, an AMI Enterprise III. Only some bend pins and an empty Dallas, so it needs some work.

The attachment 20260109_095827442.JPG is no longer available

Wow, that is a beautiful board. I just love that deep green PCB. Reminds me of cards like this Canopus Total3D Verite: https://vccollection.ru/wp-content/uploads/20 … te_1000-top.jpg

Also, that's a nice combination! A PS/2 mouse port, 5xEISA, 3xVLB\EISA and a Dallas RTC (rather than varta disaster).

Looks like it should be able to take a PODP5V Pentium Overdrive 83Mhz too, if you wanted to go that direction with it.