bestemor wrote on 2026-01-29, 17:30:

Sorry for stupid question, but... what is so great about a Roland RAP10 ?
(genuinly curious)

I remember almost buying one many many years ago, while looking into Roland sound cards, but could not find a worthwhile usecase for its limited capabilities, so I left it alone.

Basically, it is a Roland SC-7 wavetable synth on a sound card, combined with Roland-specific (not sound blaster compatible) digital audio. A fair amount of games in the early to mid 90s specifically supported it, but from a practical standpoint it makes more sense to just use a more common (and compatible) card alongside an external Roland MIDI module to get similar or better music quality.

As for why I want one, I'll just copy and paste what I posted a while back when I tried to explain my interest in the RAP-10...

I've been keeping an eye out for a Roland RAP-10 for a while and they have so far eluded me. And it isn't exactly a practical thing... I have six or seven Roland modules that have the same or better MIDI samples. I think for me I just remember messing with the sound setup in DOS games in the late 90s under Windows 98 and in my totally uneducated mind when I selected "Roland RAP-10" as the music device it always sounded 100 times better, so I figured that device must have been really special. In reality, it was just the GM soft synth on whatever sound card I was using at the time being used rather than some kind of poor FM emulation if I selected a Sound Blaster or other similar device. Still, it created a kind of mystique around the RAP-10 for me. Totally illogical now that I know what I know and have so many alternatives, but I still want one in my collection.

bestemor wrote on 2026-01-29, 17:30:

Sorry for stupid question, but... what is so great about a Roland RAP10 ?
(genuinly curious)

I remember almost buying one many many years ago, while looking into Roland sound cards, but could not find a worthwhile usecase for its limited capabilities, so I left it alone.

As a RAP-10 owner... honestly not much.

It has a genuine Roland sample set, so it's good for General MIDI playback. However, there is limited support for its digital audio capabilities and it doesn't even have an intelligent mode capable MPU-401 interface.

A Roland SCC-1 along side a Sound Blaster compatible card is a much better option than a Roland RAP-10.

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2026-01-29, 17:43:

I've been keeping an eye out for a Roland RAP-10 for a while and they have so far eluded me. And it isn't exactly a practical thing... I have six or seven Roland modules that have the same or better MIDI samples. I think for me I just remember messing with the sound setup in DOS games in the late 90s under Windows 98 and in my totally uneducated mind when I selected "Roland RAP-10" as the music device it always sounded 100 times better, so I figured that device must have been really special. In reality, it was just the GM soft synth on whatever sound card I was using at the time being used rather than some kind of poor FM emulation if I selected a Sound Blaster or other similar device. Still, it created a kind of mystique around the RAP-10 for me. Totally illogical now that I know what I know and have so many alternatives, but I still want one in my collection.

This sounds like one of those situations where the wanting is better than the having.

I've had a lot of similar situations over a lot of hardware, where once I actually acquire the thing it ends up being disappointing.

Shponglefan wrote on 2026-01-29, 17:59:

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2026-01-29, 17:43:

I've been keeping an eye out for a Roland RAP-10 for a while and they have so far eluded me. And it isn't exactly a practical thing... I have six or seven Roland modules that have the same or better MIDI samples. I think for me I just remember messing with the sound setup in DOS games in the late 90s under Windows 98 and in my totally uneducated mind when I selected "Roland RAP-10" as the music device it always sounded 100 times better, so I figured that device must have been really special. In reality, it was just the GM soft synth on whatever sound card I was using at the time being used rather than some kind of poor FM emulation if I selected a Sound Blaster or other similar device. Still, it created a kind of mystique around the RAP-10 for me. Totally illogical now that I know what I know and have so many alternatives, but I still want one in my collection.

This sounds like one of those situations where the wanting is better than the having.

Of course, that's a big part of collecting.

Stamp and coin collectors dream of getting certain things even though they literally do nothing. At least these can be used for something if we choose. 😁

I found an SCC-1 last year and I have several Roland modules, so no, a RAP-10 isn't a practical addition to the retro hardware arsenal by any means.

I wouldn't have anything to be disappointed about because I have realistic expectations of what it is good at, what I would use it for and how much I would actually use it. This is also why I do not pay the ultra premium prices for these things.

tried and tried to install a Realtek RTL8139D PCI Network card on windows millennium here it is cost $2.00 so not a big loss I'll keep it for an XP system instead. Google AI said its good for WinMe but maybe that's an earlier revision.

ordered this for my retro pc 3COM 3C905C-TXM apparently windows 98 and newer have built in drivers so we shall see but if it doesn't work on millennium i go back to 98SE!

ordered this for my retro pc 3COM 3C905C-TXM apparently windows 98 and newer have built in drivers so we shall see but if it doesn't work on millennium i go back to 98SE!

zapbuzz wrote on 2026-01-30, 09:30:

tried and tried to install a Realtek RTL8139D PCI Network card on windows millennium here it is cost $2.00 so not a big loss I'll keep it for an XP system instead. Google AI said its good for WinMe but maybe that's an earlier revision.

The RTL8139D network card should work in Windows ME. It works perfectly fine here with Windows 95, 98 and 98SE. Maybe try another PCI slot?

Yoghoo wrote on 2026-01-30, 09:37:

zapbuzz wrote on 2026-01-30, 09:30:

tried and tried to install a Realtek RTL8139D PCI Network card on windows millennium here it is cost $2.00 so not a big loss I'll keep it for an XP system instead. Google AI said its good for WinMe but maybe that's an earlier revision.

The RTL8139D network card should work in Windows ME. It works perfectly fine here with Windows 95, 98 and 98SE. Maybe try another PCI slot?

tried them all no good

zapbuzz wrote on 2026-01-30, 09:40:

Yoghoo wrote on 2026-01-30, 09:37:

zapbuzz wrote on 2026-01-30, 09:30:

tried and tried to install a Realtek RTL8139D PCI Network card on windows millennium here it is cost $2.00 so not a big loss I'll keep it for an XP system instead. Google AI said its good for WinMe but maybe that's an earlier revision.

The RTL8139D network card should work in Windows ME. It works perfectly fine here with Windows 95, 98 and 98SE. Maybe try another PCI slot?

tried them all no good

The package look like having a CD-ROM driver disc inside; if so, try that driver first, followed by the universal driver by Realtek.

dormcat wrote on 2026-01-30, 11:17:

zapbuzz wrote on 2026-01-30, 09:40:

Yoghoo wrote on 2026-01-30, 09:37:

The RTL8139D network card should work in Windows ME. It works perfectly fine here with Windows 95, 98 and 98SE. Maybe try another PCI slot?

tried them all no good

The package look like having a CD-ROM driver disc inside; if so, try that driver first, followed by the universal driver by Realtek.

tried same error

NeilKnows wrote on 2026-01-28, 22:09:

Looks like a cool (if monstrous) case...Is that dual ATX power supplies?

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2026-01-29, 00:46:

That thing is crazy. […]
Show full quote

That thing is crazy.

I am a bit confused about the power supply situation though. It looks like two PSUs on the back, but one big one on the inside. And why do they have handles?

Ohhhh... is it like a hot-swap redundant power supply thing? Never seen anything like it personally.

EDIT: Yep! That's what it is. It can utilize both power supplies at the same time, but it will run on just one if there is a failure of some kind. And if that happens, the other can be hot-swapped out without shutting the system down apparently.

https://phred.org/~alex/pictures/servers/forsale/

Yes it has a (hot?) swappable dual PSU, pretty much like servers
I still have to test them, they are probably at least 25 years old at this point and as much as dual PSU is cool, if I had the option I'd picked the normal version with single one, so I can easily use a modern PSU and not worrying about it

zapbuzz wrote on 2026-01-30, 09:40:

Yoghoo wrote on 2026-01-30, 09:37:

zapbuzz wrote on 2026-01-30, 09:30:

tried and tried to install a Realtek RTL8139D PCI Network card on windows millennium here it is cost $2.00 so not a big loss I'll keep it for an XP system instead. Google AI said its good for WinMe but maybe that's an earlier revision.

The RTL8139D network card should work in Windows ME. It works perfectly fine here with Windows 95, 98 and 98SE. Maybe try another PCI slot?

tried them all no good

Does any other PCI card work correctly, like a sound card or graphics card or something? I.e. if not, the system could a general PCI issues.

Just bought an AST-3G Plus II EGA card for one of my IBM systems. Wanted 256k memory vs. my current IBM adapters 64k. Was an EBang "AS-Is, Untested" item but decided to take a chance as it was reasonably priced.
On boot up it looks great but as soon as the screen scrolls it corrupts the previous and newly displayed text. Will try to sort it out 😒

If it was a c64 I'd say corrupted character memory, or failing. Dunno...

If it was a c64 I'd say corrupppted character rrormyyyy, or failing. Dunno...

AndrettiGTO wrote on Yesterday, 02:10:

Just bought an AST-3G Plus II EGA card for one of my IBM systems. Wanted 256k memory vs. my current IBM adapters 64k. Was an EBang "AS-Is, Untested" item but decided to take a chance as it was reasonably priced.
On boot up it looks great but as soon as the screen scrolls it corrupts the previous and newly displayed text. Will try to sort it out 😒

First thing I would do is use a magnifier to inspect every solder joint on the back. Especially the legs of the memory chips. It has some scuffs and scratches on it, so it could have been tossed around at some point.

AndrettiGTO wrote on Yesterday, 02:10:

Just bought an AST-3G Plus II EGA card for one of my IBM systems. Wanted 256k memory vs. my current IBM adapters 64k. Was an EBang "AS-Is, Untested" item but decided to take a chance as it was reasonably priced.
On boot up it looks great but as soon as the screen scrolls it corrupts the previous and newly displayed text. Will try to sort it out 😒

Reseat the BIOS and run a memory tester on the video memory. MT (Empty?) memory is not known for its great chip quality.

Ozzuneoj wrote on Yesterday, 03:12:

First thing I would do is use a magnifier to inspect every solder joint on the back. Especially the legs of the memory chips. It has some scuffs and scratches on it, so it could have been tossed around at some point.

Microsoft Diagnostics didn’t see any RAM issues and visually passed the graphics tests. Of course, buggy CheckIt flagged all sorts of memory. Didn’t feel it was ROM issue as the random characters were all valid extended ASCII.
With my magnifier glasses, started straightening a bunch of badly folded pins that extended to other traces. THEN I SAW A SMALL DEEP SCRATCH!
OMG, I was suddenly filled with real hope! Added four bodge wires and wow, it works great. Such a relief as I didn’t want to sink more money into this.

Everything in this lovable hobby is getting so expensive.

I just did a quick test on this Matrox G400 DualHead. It works, even in this… let's call it a ménage à trois setup.