BitWrangler wrote:

All hail the model M.

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

Though I swear the damn things are getting bigger as they get older, or modern "full size" keyboards are still shrinking... I'm favoring the M2s now.

godfrackingdamnit, now I got this song in my head: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaUqpnHvua8

BitWrangler wrote:

All hail the model M.

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

Though I swear the damn things are getting bigger as they get older, or modern "full size" keyboards are still shrinking... I'm favoring the M2s now.

I have an M2 that is nearly PRISTINE externally, possibly unused. The problem is, that one SMD cap (that I apparently always fails) had failed on it at some point which apparently caused it to burn\blacken several traces on the key matrix sheet. I replaced the cap which got it "working" and I even went as far as to use the remnants of a rear-window defogger repair kit to patch the traces, and it seemed to work for a while but kept crapping out and missing key presses. Really disappointing. I really wanted to use this keyboard. If I can ever find a beat up M2 with working (preferably refurbished) internals I'd love to swap it out and get this thing working. Otherwise, selling or trading the pristine casing of this one has crossed my mind. Since the little PCB is incredibly hard to get out, one of the plastic tabs did crack, but I just used a tiny screw to hold it tight (the plastic is thick enough that it doesn't show).

This was one of the most infuriating experiences I've ever had with this hobby. So frustrating, since having to dismantle the keyboard and remove all of the keys takes SO long.

Decided to install the Riva TNT2 M64 card from the HP Pavilion 7955 that I purchased for $10 into my Socket 370 build, and it works!!!

The AGP card has 2 modes: 4x and 2x (never seen a Riva TNT2 card that supports both modes) and the framerates in the games I own are amazing. Even DooM runs at 137FPS within Windows, and about 105FPS in pure DOS with the FM Synthesizer and SFX drivers loaded.

The card is an ASUS AGP-V3800M/32M card (nVidia Riva TNT2 M64 with 32MB SD-RAM). The Pavilion 7955 might/will get the GeForce 6200 AGP since the system supports AGP 4x (have to look and see if the card is actually supported by checking to see how many gaps there are on the AGP portion).

I'm messing around with a 4 port version of this:

I'm in need of a male to male 5 pin DIN cable for the switch to AT keyboard port on my Pentium 233. Is that pin and connector compatible with one of these "Midi" cables on ebay:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/3-28Ft-4-92Ft-MIDI-5 … hkhIUoWI_SoQGog

MIDI cables don't necessarily connect all pins. They only need three of them.

(edited)
Scratch that, looks like monoprice cables are wired through (all 5 points) end to end and they have them at prime cables for us Canadians.

^^ Roland's DIN-SYNC protocol uses a 5-pin DIN with all pins connected. I've found about 2/3rds of storebought MIDI cables are actually made "out of spec" with 1:1 connections on all pins. It might work; unfortunately there's no easy way to tell without testing them with a voltmeter.

Note that MIDI spec has pin 2 (center) actually connected to the shield at both ends, which is the data line on AT keyboards. So you'll be transmitting your keypresses through the braided cable shield. Again, it might work.

Thanks xjas, excellent info! Once I get them, I'll post on here whether or not they work for my purposes. If they don't work, I'll give up on retro computers and become a DJ.

bjwil1991 wrote:

Decided to install the Riva TNT2 M64 card from the HP Pavilion 7955 that I purchased for $10 into my Socket 370 build, and it works!!!

The AGP card has 2 modes: 4x and 2x (never seen a Riva TNT2 card that supports both modes) and the framerates in the games I own are amazing. Even DooM runs at 137FPS within Windows, and about 105FPS in pure DOS with the FM Synthesizer and SFX drivers loaded.

The card is an ASUS AGP-V3800M/32M card (nVidia Riva TNT2 M64 with 32MB SD-RAM). The Pavilion 7955 might/will get the GeForce 6200 AGP since the system supports AGP 4x (have to look and see if the card is actually supported by checking to see how many gaps there are on the AGP portion).

So what are you going to do with the pavilion? It sounds like a higher end model considering it has AGP.

bjwil1991 wrote:

Decided to install the Riva TNT2 M64 card from the HP Pavilion 7955 that I purchased for $10 into my Socket 370 build, and it works!!!

The AGP card has 2 modes: 4x and 2x (never seen a Riva TNT2 card that supports both modes) and the framerates in the games I own are amazing. Even DooM runs at 137FPS within Windows, and about 105FPS in pure DOS with the FM Synthesizer and SFX drivers loaded.

The card is an ASUS AGP-V3800M/32M card (nVidia Riva TNT2 M64 with 32MB SD-RAM).

That's the same card I have in my Pentium 2 build (the "M" stand for "Magic"). It was released around 2000/2001 as a low budget passively cooled gaming card with MPEG support for playing DVDs.

Usually it works pretty well as long as you don't try too high resolutions with too much detail enabled (it tends to choke on too many sprites on-screen at once though...). It can be upgraded with Asus' VR-100 Virtual Reality daughter board, which enables you to use the Asus VR-100G 3D glasses (although I've never seen either the daughter board or the glasses...). I recommend installing Asus' drivers, as they add lots of tuning options (including overclocking) and are nicely stable.

AKA a M64 card done right.

I'd imagine it was for competition at the low end with the later Rage 128s. I turned up a TNT2 with larger RAM the other week, didn't look into it much so far, so wondering if it's the same deally.

TheAbandonwareGuy wrote:

bjwil1991 wrote:

Decided to install the Riva TNT2 M64 card from the HP Pavilion 7955 that I purchased for $10 into my Socket 370 build, and it works!!!

The AGP card has 2 modes: 4x and 2x (never seen a Riva TNT2 card that supports both modes) and the framerates in the games I own are amazing. Even DooM runs at 137FPS within Windows, and about 105FPS in pure DOS with the FM Synthesizer and SFX drivers loaded.

The card is an ASUS AGP-V3800M/32M card (nVidia Riva TNT2 M64 with 32MB SD-RAM). The Pavilion 7955 might/will get the GeForce 6200 AGP since the system supports AGP 4x (have to look and see if the card is actually supported by checking to see how many gaps there are on the AGP portion).

So what are you going to do with the pavilion? It sounds like a higher end model considering it has AGP.

I might turn it into a sleeper computer running Windows 98SE

Setup a second KVM and audio switcher in my retro garage area and hooked up the first two of four "retro" PCs to it, a 2006 Build and a 2001 Build. Also connected the machines to a switch that is connected to my Retro PC VLAN allowing these, and the 8 PCs on my main KVM Retro Setup to talk to each other and share files, but not be able to get to the internet or to other computers / servers in the house.

Still have two more builds to do and I will have a good run from 1994 - 2008 of period correct PCs and OSs to mess with, game on when I have the time.

Sadly, i am out of room after this setup in my retro / new computer / home servers garage area and still have 2 Tandy's I want to setup on a seperate KVM with an old NEC monitor, but not looking like it will happen any time soon!!

yawetaG wrote:

That's the same card I have in my Pentium 2 build (the "M" stand for "Magic"). It was released around 2000/2001 as a low budget […]
Show full quote

bjwil1991 wrote:

Decided to install the Riva TNT2 M64 card from the HP Pavilion 7955 that I purchased for $10 into my Socket 370 build, and it works!!!

The AGP card has 2 modes: 4x and 2x (never seen a Riva TNT2 card that supports both modes) and the framerates in the games I own are amazing. Even DooM runs at 137FPS within Windows, and about 105FPS in pure DOS with the FM Synthesizer and SFX drivers loaded.

The card is an ASUS AGP-V3800M/32M card (nVidia Riva TNT2 M64 with 32MB SD-RAM).

That's the same card I have in my Pentium 2 build (the "M" stand for "Magic"). It was released around 2000/2001 as a low budget passively cooled gaming card with MPEG support for playing DVDs.

Usually it works pretty well as long as you don't try too high resolutions with too much detail enabled (it tends to choke on too many sprites on-screen at once though...). It can be upgraded with Asus' VR-100 Virtual Reality daughter board, which enables you to use the Asus VR-100G 3D glasses (although I've never seen either the daughter board or the glasses...). I recommend installing Asus' drivers, as they add lots of tuning options (including overclocking) and are nicely stable.

AKA a M64 card done right.

I installed the ASUS drivers onto the computer, and you're right about the tuning options. It's an amazing card, and I've even tested the video card with the 256MB Aperture size, and no conflicts for Windows. I'm blown away.

Some bathroom reading today... and some expensive motherboards in 1991!

probnot wrote:

Some bathroom reading today... and some expensive motherboards in 1991!

For a minute there I thought that AST system in the bottom pic said "Pentium II 486 SX/20" and I was like what?

Yeah, those 486 CPU/board combos were ridiculous when they first came out and that was early 1990s dollars. So let's see that CPU/board combo was $1995 so today that would be over $3500. Crazy.

liqmat wrote:

probnot wrote:

Some bathroom reading today... and some expensive motherboards in 1991!

For a minute there I thought that AST system in the bottom pic said "Pentium II 486 SX/20" and I was like what?

Yeah, those 486 CPU/board combos were ridiculous when they first came out and that was early 1990s dollars. So let's see that CPU/board combo was $1995 so today that would be over $3500. Crazy.

It's amazing how much PCs cost back then. Even before converting to today's dollars, it's insane.

ALSO, got my Fluke 87 working! The rotary dial just needed a good cleaning. Here it is with the other multimeters (can you guess which one I don't use?)

I dont see what is so amazing about the price that is a cpu motherboard combo for a very high end part. Today the highest end intel enthusiast cpu alone is 1700 bucks and the board costs 500 on top of that. It sure didnt get cheaper.

Money is worthless these days. A thousand dollars in the early nineties was a fortune. Inflation and minimum wage differences matter.

appiah4 wrote:

I dont see what is so amazing about the price that is a cpu motherboard combo for a very high end part. Today the highest end intel enthusiast cpu alone is 1700 bucks and the board costs 500 on top of that. It sure didnt get cheaper.

When I saw that 486 CPU/board combo I was like...

--->>> THAT"S AMAZING!!!