woops - disregard!

feipoa wrote:

Is that 6 case LEDs I see? Whatever for?

Yes it's a cool case, smaller than I expected though and I'm sure the CPU isn't getting any airflow at all, the IDE cables pretty much cover it. But I guess they knew what they were doing, it's still alive all these years later! It would be an issue for a faster chip though I think.

The LED are:
- power
- turbo (although there's no switch so always on)
- HDD1
- HDD2 (I assume the controller supports this but haven't looked)
- AUX1
- AUX2

Not sure what the AUX ones are - whatever you want I suppose!

awergh wrote:

I'm still hoping to stumble on a 486 or older being chucked out

I've been on the lookout for a while and haven't seen anything of this era in junk shops, hard rubbish, etc. It surprised me how hard 486's are to come by; I was assuming I'd be able to walk into a retro PC shop, plonk down 200 bucks and get whatever I wanted. Nothing like that exists around here (Melbourne) which I guess means that there's no market for such a thing.

badmofo wrote:

I've been on the lookout for a while and haven't seen anything of this era in junk shops, hard rubbish, etc. It surprised me how hard 486's are to come by; I was assuming I'd be able to walk into a retro PC shop, plonk down 200 bucks and get whatever I wanted. Nothing like that exists around here (Melbourne) which I guess means that there's no market for such a thing.

My guess is it's not profitable enough to sell 486 parts. Theres relatively very few of us when compared to "ordinary" people 😜

badmofo wrote:

Yes it's a cool case, smaller than I expected though and I'm sure the CPU isn't getting any airflow at all, the IDE cables prett […]
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feipoa wrote:

Is that 6 case LEDs I see? Whatever for?

Yes it's a cool case, smaller than I expected though and I'm sure the CPU isn't getting any airflow at all, the IDE cables pretty much cover it. But I guess they knew what they were doing, it's still alive all these years later! It would be an issue for a faster chip though I think.

The LED are:
- power
- turbo (although there's no switch so always on)
- HDD1
- HDD2 (I assume the controller supports this but haven't looked)
- AUX1
- AUX2

Not sure what the AUX ones are - whatever you want I suppose!

awergh wrote:

I'm still hoping to stumble on a 486 or older being chucked out

I've been on the lookout for a while and haven't seen anything of this era in junk shops, hard rubbish, etc. It surprised me how hard 486's are to come by; I was assuming I'd be able to walk into a retro PC shop, plonk down 200 bucks and get whatever I wanted. Nothing like that exists around here (Melbourne) which I guess means that there's no market for such a thing.

There's a market, there probably just aren't a lot of parts available for sale except through ebay. Anything that goes to the junk shops or charity shops probably gets sold on to a recycler and is never made available for retail purchase since it would likely sit for a long time before someone shows any interest.

The thing is....

Ebay IS the market.

There is not much you can't get. If you want that fancy UMC 486 board with PS/2 and all the goodies you can get it from Germany no problem 😀

More info here.

That looks surprisingly modern. Much more so than my PIII box.

Just thought I'd post a pic of my K6 rig. Specs are:
K6-2 500mz @ 495mhz (110x4.5), 448mb ram, Gigabyte GA5AX motherboard, Geforce 256, SB Live!, 40gb Maxtor, 2x CD rom, floppy, big 'ol generic beige case + generic 200w PSU. Win98SE + Unofficial SP

Whoops1 double post!

No new builds, but rather some updates to two builds.

First, the Packard Bell Legend 316SX. I've replaced the ESS AudioDrive ES1869F with this:

(And ImageShack rotated the image... >.<)

It's a slightly modified Audio Excel AV300. This sound card is a clone of the SoundBlaster Pro 1.0 complete with dual OPL2, however, the digital audio on the left side is COMPLETELY screwed up and no matter what I do, I can't fix it. So I simply sent the right audio channel to both the left and right audio outputs. Now, it's a SoundBlaster 2.0 clone. Not that I care as I just wanted any sound card with OPL2 in this computer(and the AV300 is the only sound card I have with OPL2).

Also installed this(excuse the blurry picture, but you can still see the card):

A Trident ISA graphics card. I don't remember what card it is, but the picture quality is better than the integrated Oak Technologies graphics card. Not sure which is more powerful, though.

Now for the Pentium MMX build. First off:

It's now got a new Prosys desktop case(I prefer these flat cases over towers). Though as you can see, there is a small problem with the front of the case. This computer originally had an AMD Sempron CPU in it, though when I got the case, the only things it were the PC speaker, CD-ROM drive, floppy drive and ATX power supply(this computer along with several other computers were being thrown out and someone already took out the motherboard).

Also, oddly enough, the power LED lights up yellow on this computer.

Internally, it's pretty much the same:

However, some things changed. Remember how the motherboard can take both an AT and an ATX power supply, yet the motherboard had no ATX power connector on it? Here's a full shot of motherboard when it was in the first case I used(it's a bit hard to see if you look closely, you can tell there's a missing ATX connector on the motherboard):

Well, using the ATX power connector from a dead motherboard:

I soldered it onto this HOT-569 motherboard so I can use the existing ATX power supply inside this case.

Another thing that's been changed is the primary sound card. The Ensoniq Soundscape is still there, but the SoundBlaster 16 CT2840 has been replaced by:

A SoundBlaster Pro 2.0 CT1600(Mau1wurf's gonna like this). This sound card really grew on me, especially with its heavily filtered OPL3. And I've gotten used to this thing's digital sound, so it's now my sound card of choice to use in MS-DOS computers.

There still is one big problem with this computer(again, excuse the blurry image):

A HUGE hole where the AT keyboard connector is. Is there a back panel I can get to cover this gaping hole?

And if you're wondering what I did with the case I first used for my Pentium MMX build, you'll see later on during the week.

A HUGE hole where the AT keyboard connector is. Is there a back panel I can get to cover this gaping hole?

is this what you're looking for?

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/New-Motherboard-IO … #ht_1857wt_1396

Oh, perfect! That's exactly what I need. Except shipping to Canada costs as much as the panel itself.

Shipping to anywhere costs as much as the thing itself, apparently.

What a drag!

Welcome to ebay..... it sucks but so many people jack up their postage for no good reason. That thin bit of metal will probably cost less than a dollar to stick in an envelope and drop in the nearest post box.

Wow, that will cost about $20 for a 50 cent item. While I also want one of these ATX to AT shields, I refuse to pay such an amount.

Anyway, so for conversion of ATX cases to AT, you need the shield, and if using an ATX power supply, the cable converters (http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem& … em=330380746888).

The part I don't understand is how do you still use soft, momentary on/off switch when the AT motherboard doesn't have such capability?

Most of the adaptors I've seen have a splice that adds a push-on-push-off switch between PWR_ON and ground.

Ace wrote:

A SoundBlaster Pro 2.0 CT1600(Mau1wurf's gonna like this). This sound card really grew on me, especially with its heavily filtered OPL3. And I've gotten used to this thing's digital sound, so it's now my sound card of choice to use in MS-DOS computers.

Good choice 😀

feipoa wrote:

Wow, that will cost about $20 for a 50 cent item. While I also want one of these ATX to AT shields, I refuse to pay such an amount.

Make one. Take a normal motherboard IO shield, measure where the AT keyboard port should be, and cut that area out. You can either use a dremel kit, or a set of close cutting sheers, whichever. The thin metal will cut easy, plus you will probably have a starting point if on that shield you are cutting where a lan or audio jack would be. After you are done, take a piece thin of posterboard, any color will do, and cut a piece down so that it will fit snugly on your new shield, and flip it over. Using the modified IO shield as a stencil, mark the area on the posterboard that you need to cut out for the AT port.

After all of that, if you wish, you can use acrylic paint, and paint the cardboard black, silver, red, etc. Wait 10 mins per layer, and do maybe 3 coats. After that, add a layer of Pledge Floor Finish. Its acrylic based and will provide a clear protective coat to the paint. Let it dry a few hrs. After doing so just superglue it to the IO shield, let the glue dry and cure for a day or so, and you are good to go. If you already have this stuff laying around the house, it wont cost you anything then time. If not, maybe 8 bucks at the most money wise.

Oops, double post, ignore.

feipoa wrote:

Anyway, so for conversion of ATX cases to AT, you need the shield, and if using an ATX power supply, the cable converters (http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem& … em=330380746888).

The part I don't understand is how do you still use soft, momentary on/off switch when the AT motherboard doesn't have such capability?

I still used the momentary switch as I soldered in an ATX power connector from a dead motherboard to the Shuttle HOT-569 used in the Pentium MMX build. Seems you didn't read this bit where I clearly state how I got an ATX power supply working on the HOT-569:

Ace wrote:

...using the ATX power connector from a dead motherboard: […]
Show full quote

...using the ATX power connector from a dead motherboard:

I soldered it onto this HOT-569 motherboard so I can use the existing ATX power supply inside this case

The HOT-569 is fully capable of taking either an AT or ATX power supply, however, my particular HOT-569 only had an AT connector on it, yet still has a header where all the front panel connectors reside on the motherboard for a soft power switch. Since I don't have any spare AT power supplies and wanted to use the existing ATX power supply inside the Prosys case, I simply desoldered the ATX power connector from a dead motherboard(another Shuttle board which wouldn't work at all) and soldered it into the empty ATX connector solder spot on the motherboard. And it works.

As for fitting the motherboard inside the case, there was no need to adapt anything. I just had to move around the screw posts as indicated on the case(this case fits both AT and ATX motherboards).