vlask wrote:

1]Use tripod and delayed shutter - 2sec is enough 2]Take photos at daylight, usually close to window (outside is better, but in […]
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MMaximus wrote:

Nice cards! I'm afraid I can't answer any of your questions but I have one for you 😀 - How do you take pictures of your cards? They're very good quality! It looks like you scan them somehow? I've tried on my flatbed scanner but the results are very poor. So I default to taking pictures with my DSLR and an external flash - however I'd like to get results closer to yours where the light is a more even and there aren't any perspective issues.

1]Use tripod and delayed shutter - 2sec is enough
2]Take photos at daylight, usually close to window (outside is better, but in winter not comfy....). Flash is useless, it reflects a lot on PCB. You can try some lights, but they needs to be done from all sides and soft. Not easy and cheap to do.
3]Leave some space on sides, don't zoom max to the edges, this usually does undesired efects (they can be solved in Photoshop using lens correction plugin).
4]Use RAW format if available, then in import move shadows slider till they almost dissappear (usualy is PCIE/AGP port in shadow because of coolers). Then use also sharpen plugin.

Still my photos are not always as sharp as i want them and i must do corrections about shadows and sometimes little lens corrections. Better lightning would be great, but commercial will be expensive and i rather invest into more cards....

Excellent advice. I'm lazy and usually use my phone instead of my good camera. I have one thing to add to your list.

5.) Don't concentrate so much on megapixels. Instead, get as big of a sensor as you can afford. So many people make this mistake and only look at what bazillion megapixels the camera has.

MMaximus wrote:

vlask wrote:

Got 2 profi cards and and same amount of questions for you 🤣

Nice cards! I'm afraid I can't answer any of your questions but I have one for you 😀 - How do you take pictures of your cards? They're very good quality! It looks like you scan them somehow? I've tried on my flatbed scanner but the results are very poor. So I default to taking pictures with my DSLR and an external flash - however I'd like to get results closer to yours where the light is a more even and there aren't any perspective issues.

If you want to use a scanner to take pics, you need a CCD based one and then you also need to make an enclosure to put the stuff under so no other light can get in. A cardboard box works great.

You can get very nice pictures like this.

As was already said, flash ruins everything.

For DSLR, I don't use natural lighting as it is much easier to use artificial lighting which also doesn't have to cost very much at all.

For the light enclosures, I use these which can be had for less than $10 a piece:

I use CFL or LED bulbs with "daylight" color temperature.

The backdrop can be whatever color as long as it is not glossy.

Desktop Computer with AMD AM5X86-P75 ( Restore project ).
Why? Because I was looking to build a am5x86 computer and found this entire system for dirt cheap.
and a Sound Blaster Vibra16s ISA with Yamaha OPL 262.

Okay, who bought the Hercules Stingray Pro VL card, sealed in box on ebay? I'm not really a "sealed box" collector so it wasn't worth that much to me, but for $100 it was probably a steal, going by the sale prices of other high end VLB cards ($200+ for a loose ET4000W32i... yikes). I think ARK1000 VLB cards are super rare and they have to be the absolute fastest thing on VLB (ARK1000 is great on PCI). This is a card that really deserves to be used, which IMO, makes a sealed card a tougher sell than one that is unused but open box. Knowing how serious "sealed box" collectors can get, I'd feel a little odd cutting open the box for an incredibly rare card just to get a 10% performance gain in a few old games that would probably work better on a PCI system anyway.

In such moments I always refill my tanks of hatred towards those bastards who are guilty for the closed eBay thread...

Anyway, it's New Year today, so I thought that nobody was going to give me a present as nice as I would myself, so I bought this (seller's pic):

It even has sort of a New Year tree! 😁

Not entirely retro, but these ECS Hydra cards finally came in from Russia. I honestly thought these never made it to market since all I can find are some reviews on them.

Also came with the Thermaltake pump that ECS just slapped a Hydra sticker on. I'm sure the 9800 coolers are rebranded as well, but still a neat kit for the day.

Unfortunately no box, but I might see if I can make a repro of it somehow.

First part of my next build.

vlask wrote:

1]Use tripod and delayed shutter - 2sec is enough 2]Take photos at daylight, usually close to window (outside is better, but in […]
Show full quote

1]Use tripod and delayed shutter - 2sec is enough
2]Take photos at daylight, usually close to window (outside is better, but in winter not comfy....). Flash is useless, it reflects a lot on PCB. You can try some lights, but they needs to be done from all sides and soft. Not easy and cheap to do.
3]Leave some space on sides, don't zoom max to the edges, this usually does undesired efects (they can be solved in Photoshop using lens correction plugin).
4]Use RAW format if available, then in import move shadows slider till they almost dissappear (usualy is PCIE/AGP port in shadow because of coolers). Then use also sharpen plugin.

Still my photos are not always as sharp as i want them and i must do corrections about shadows and sometimes little lens corrections. Better lightning would be great, but commercial will be expensive and i rather invest into more cards....

Thanks for all this info - it's much appreciated! I think some corrections are always necessary, especially when you shoot RAW. It's ok as long as it's not overdone 😀 I shoot hand-held for lack of a correct tripod attachment but I know my pics would really benefit from tripod use.

cyclone3d wrote:

If you want to use a scanner to take pics, you need a CCD based one and then you also need to make an enclosure to put the stuff […]
Show full quote

If you want to use a scanner to take pics, you need a CCD based one and then you also need to make an enclosure to put the stuff under so no other light can get in. A cardboard box works great.

You can get very nice pictures like this.

As was already said, flash ruins everything.

For DSLR, I don't use natural lighting as it is much easier to use artificial lighting which also doesn't have to cost very much at all.

For the light enclosures, I use these which can be had for less than $10 a piece:

hdx-clamp-on-hand-helds-stand-up-277894-64_1000.jpg

I use CFL or LED bulbs with "daylight" color temperature.

The backdrop can be whatever color as long as it is not glossy.

Thanks for the advice. I actually didn't think about an enclosure but it totally makes sense. I have a CCD based Epson scanner so I'll see if I can find something suitable.

As per flash, I think it can work as long as you bounce it. I usually bounce it off a wall but it's true that it would probably look more natural if there were more than one light source.

Dell Optiplex GX280 tower... turns on but no post/video/beep. These leaky boys....

Those GX280 are Notorious for caps going bad. I bought some NEW motherboards on eBay for mine for cheap.
Check it out.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/DELL-OPTIPLEX-GX280- … sUAAOSwF1tcIfD2

And

https://www.ebay.com/itm/DELL-OPTIPLEX-GX280- … 0gAAOSwfXBZt-pw

I have 4 bloated caps in my Dimension 4550, yet, it still runs.

Intel486dx33 wrote:

Those GX280 are Notorious for caps going bad. I bought some NEW motherboards on eBay for mine for cheap. Check it out. https://w […]
Show full quote

Those GX280 are Notorious for caps going bad. I bought some NEW motherboards on eBay for mine for cheap.
Check it out.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/DELL-OPTIPLEX-GX280- … sUAAOSwF1tcIfD2

And

https://www.ebay.com/itm/DELL-OPTIPLEX-GX280- … 0gAAOSwfXBZt-pw

Thanks. Bought the cheapest one I could find. https://www.ebay.com/itm/192515477104

Today's one is somewhere between "What I've been doing" and "Bought this (old stuff) today"

I decided to buy a second, "not working" Advantech 6145 SBC because it was cheap and I worked out the jumpers indicated it was either a DX4 100 or 5x86. Thankfully the gamble paid off!

When I got it, the CPU fan, which clips on, was seized and while I got it spinning with some oil, it vibrates terribly when running, I guess the sintered bearing is too worn out to work well.
The CPU fitted turned out to be a nice late model x5 133 chip, and with a FIC VIP IO2 board on its way to me, I'm going to have some fun overclocking some old computers soon 😁
Upon powering, the board beeped angrily at me, which turned out to be a broken EDO ram stick. Unfortunately though, when I replaced the RAM, it would then indicate it was booting on the POST card, but no display, what could be causing that?

This is where I really like having two of something, sadly I don't have an EEPROM programmer yet but swapping the EEPROMs between the two boards, I got video output once I swapped them over. Hooray! My "not working" SBC is now working 😁
(now to buy an EEPROM flasher... or maybe, if it's booting, an auto loading BIOS flash?)

Also bought some of these because it's cheaper than buying ISA slots, which I now need to make ISA connectors for these & other projects:

hard1k wrote:

Anyway, it's New Year today, so I thought that nobody was going to give me a present as nice as I would myself, so I bought this (seller's pic):

s-l1600_new.jpg

It even has sort of a New Year tree! 😁

That is a thing of beauty right there.

SEGamer wrote:

liqmat wrote:

Not a terrible price. Shipping isn't terrible either coming from the Ukraine. Tempting.

Yep, I bought one last week to replace a PC Chips M919 board since it's really picky with detecting the M919 cache stick. I think I need to get fast page RAM for it but all I have is EDO at the moment.

Well, I couldn't resist and I bought one as well. Let's hope they are working boards. Great price if they are.

one of the best AT psu. a nos fsp 300w. classic "old" look - it will be fine, as a primary psu to my 486 😀

Ever since I traded my Mystique 220 away its absence was a pain on my side.. I saw this part listed on eBay from an eastern Europe country, the price was very low, I made an even lower offer and it got accepted; so here I am, proud owner of not only a Mystique but also a Rainbow Runner!

Not sure whether it's a regular or a 220 though. Conventional wisdom says Mystique is 1064SG and Mystique 220 is 1164SG but my previous card was a Mystique 220 with a 1064SG chip, so.. Not sure how to tell them apart.

Found this...

Was happy to take it just for the CPU, but then the guy said he also had the rest of the system. Bought it all. Unfortunately, he disassembled it completely. Fortunately, he still had everything (he thinks).

Will have to puzzle it back together. Curious to see if it might be useful as a DOS machine, compact, silent, has a floppy drive (not pictured), ISA slot.

VLB motherboard "Made in U.S.A."
Does anyone know anything about this motherboard ?
It appears to be missing the CMOS battery ?
With Intel 486dx2-66 CPU.