dionb wrote:

Received my 'mystery box' I bought based on nothing more than the description "Shitec 486SX with CPU and VGA missing". This was […]
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Received my 'mystery box' I bought based on nothing more than the description "Shitec 486SX with CPU and VGA missing". This was an exercise in "how not to ship stuff" - the case was dumped loose in a large box it could (and did) bounce around in. To make matters worse the top wasn't even screwed on so came loose in the box and one corner ended up very badly bent. To add insult to injury the postman left it outside in the rain yesterday.

Fortunately it is incredibly well-build and I could bend back the thick steel top so it at least fit again. This was the result:

Not a minitower as I sort of expected, but an LPX desktop. At first sight no sign of a CPU so I stuck in a Trident VGA card and a 486DX and after setting a few documented jumpers and a lucky guess on an unldocumented one, it worked! Then I disassembled everything to clean it and saw this:

Yep, a big soldered i486SX-25 that had been hiding under the drive bay. I've since removed the DX and set the jumpers back (that undocumented JP6 turns out to select onboard vs socketed CPU). Pretty remarkable board with 12 30p SIMM slots - which were all filled with 1MB parity SIMMs - 128kB of cache and a "Vtech" chipset. Also no identifying features other than that "702496C". Now, googling that doesn't find me anything, but that "496C" sounds suspiciously like a SiS chipset name, so I sort of suspect this is a Vtech board with relabeled SiS chipset. Given that everything works, I'm not hugely worried about not having documentation, but it would be nice to know what all those jumpers around the Winbond I/O section do...

Your pc looks very similar to this one: download/file.php?id=57684&mode=view Nice find.

SpectriaForce wrote:

[...]

Your pc looks very similar to this one: download/file.php?id=57684&mode=view Nice find.

Definitely the same case. I suspect the innards are a bit older, as the HDD is only 120MB, and the 32MB max RAM in this advert suggests a different motherboard than my 12-SIMM beast, which should allow 48MB. The build quality of the case is remarkable - not just thick, heavy steel parts, but also little details like the front panel having metal clips instead of the usual plastic ones that break off as soon as you even look at them. Only problem is the floppy drive - it actually came with one, and it looks original (exactly same level of yellowing as rest of front), but for some reason the mounting slider brackets are missing. Have to dig up some more, or improvise.

Sellers photos as waiting for delivery.

Bought a Unisys Aquanta SC and a 166mhz pentium to max it out? already has 64mb of ram which is the max I believe, only other thing that I could upgraded on it is the cache as the motherboard will accept at least 1mb. (chipset supports up to 2mb)

Then I just need to see what I can put in the isa/pci slot.

kawaii

I just found a Intel Advanced/ATX (Thor) flashed with Mr. BIOS, i was excited to find out that it had the Mr. BIOS instead of the AMIBIOS that it originally came with.

the Advanced/ATX Thor mobo on the Mr. BIOS

The Advanced/ATX Thor mobo itself

Saw these at Goodwill and couldn't help myself.

Though after reading the recent thread about floppies, these are probably rubbish for reliability.

probnot wrote:

Saw these at Goodwill and couldn't help myself.

goodwill_floppies.jpg

Though after reading the recent thread about floppies, these are probably rubbish for reliability.

Those from the main store downtown?

gdjacobs wrote:

probnot wrote:

Saw these at Goodwill and couldn't help myself.

goodwill_floppies.jpg

Though after reading the recent thread about floppies, these are probably rubbish for reliability.

Those from the main store downtown?

Nah, the one on Pembina. I keep forgetting about the downtown store, I need to check it out.

These came in the mail today:

I bought the motherboard thinking it was a DX40, I have to say the SX40 was a bit of a letdown but I guess this at least makes it quite distinct from my U5SX build, chich the DX40 would overlap a tad too much with. This might make an ideal PC for early Sierra etc. games. I removed the barrel battery right away but there was some acid corrosion damage regardless. I intervened with abundant vinegar and then washed it away and wiped it down, but there is visible corrosion on some lanes still. Not enough to warrant a jumper in my experience but I will check for continuity soon. sız çalışabileceği yönünde:

I couldn't find the make or model of the motherboard no matter how hard I tried, the only visible markings are VER1.1 on the front and E98641 and FU YU 20 V0 on the back..

The seller also threw in this riser along with the lot, no idea what kind of PC it belongs to. The only model number I can see on it is TY-01, so I guess it might belong to a Tyan board_ I will keep it in case I need an ISA riser for an XT motherboard some day.

Just received some W27C512 chips. When i get them cooked, i hope i can revive my dead 486 motherboard. 😀

Had my "supplier" do a stock check to see if he had anything left that I would be interested in.

He came back with:
6x ISA VGA and possibly EGA/CGA cards.
8x ISA sound cards
2x VLB cards

So I put an order in and am now awaiting their arrival. No idea at all what the exact cards are, but if they are anything like the last cards I got from him there will be some good ones.

Edit: Also bought about 4 10-ream printer paper sized boxes full of stuff from somebody that was clearing out their old stuff while moving. Not exactly sure what all is in the lot, but they did mention
PCI, AGP, PCIE video cards and floppy drives.

Labels I could read in the picture also showed optical drives, cables, etc. Pictures showed some sound cards, a couple keyboards, and a USB drive dock.

Will be interesting to go through the stuff when it gets here. Hopefully there are some goodies.

appiah4 wrote:

... removed the barrel battery right away but there was some acid corrosion damage regardless. I intervened with abundant vineg […]
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... removed the barrel battery right away but there was some acid corrosion damage regardless. I intervened with abundant vinegar and then washed it away and wiped it down, but there is visible corrosion on some lanes still. Not enough to warrant a jumper in my experience but I will check for continuity soon. sız çalışabileceği yönünde:

Continuity is fine on all lanes that had corrosion, it should work fine.. Yay me, for my first 386 motherboard. I still have no clue what make/model it is though.

Windows9566 wrote:

I just found a Intel Advanced/ATX (Thor) flashed with Mr. BIOS, i was excited to find out that it had the Mr. BIOS instead of the AMIBIOS that it originally came with.

the Advanced/ATX Thor mobo on the Mr. BIOS

The Advanced/ATX Thor mobo itself

is it without l2 cache?

After a long search, I've finally bought a new CRT monitor!

It's a Trust CM-2128, 14" sVGA monitor with 0.28mm dot pitch. Hopefully it should be way better than the one I currently have. It might get shipped today, fingers crossed that it will arrive in one piece.

looking4awayout wrote:

After a long search, I've finally bought a new CRT monitor! […]
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After a long search, I've finally bought a new CRT monitor!

It's a Trust CM-2128, 14" sVGA monitor with 0.28mm dot pitch. Hopefully it should be way better than the one I currently have. It might get shipped today, fingers crossed that it will arrive in one piece.

I always insist the seller ship the original box in a shipping box and not use the product's box as the shipping box even if I have to pay a little extra for shipping. One, because I like original boxes and two, much better chances it will survive. Great that you found a new CRT.

Tiny little package today:

It fitted in here:

Fired it up and this showed up:

Yep, i287XL reporting in as the i387 it really is 😀

Next question is what the practical use of this is. Absolutely none I can think of, as I have no desire to run Lotus 1-2-3 or 1987-era CAD programs. But hell, this 286 board is maxed in any case 😜

arncht wrote:

Windows9566 wrote:

I just found a Intel Advanced/ATX (Thor) flashed with Mr. BIOS, i was excited to find out that it had the Mr. BIOS instead of the AMIBIOS that it originally came with.

the Advanced/ATX Thor mobo on the Mr. BIOS

The Advanced/ATX Thor mobo itself

is it without l2 cache?

There's a CELP slot so i could install a coast module

TheAbandonwareGuy wrote:

Qjimbo wrote:

Samsung SyncMaster 997DF DynaFlat - $65 (CAD) http://qjimbo.com/photobucket/syncmaster997df-1.jpghttp://qjimbo.com/photobucket/s […]
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Samsung SyncMaster 997DF DynaFlat - $65 (CAD)

Not a "true" flatscreen (you can tell it's slightly curved behind the flat glass) but more flat than regular monitors. Very happy with it. There is some fuzziness in the corners so I might have to adjust the focus inside because it may have shifted over the years, but very good even picture.

Nice compromise between CRT and LCD (has more modern LCD-esque styling). Doesn't have the Trinitron Grille lines, though I've never actually noticed these on trinitrons anyway. Should serve nicely with my fast Windows 98 build I am working on.

I was going to say that's a bit expensive for a CRT considering most people here get them for free or very cheap but then I googled it. 20mm dot pitch with 1920x1440 @ 60hz max res and 1600x1200 @ 75hz recommended. That's one hell of a monitor if it has good contrast and color.

In an ironic twist of fate, I just acquired one of these at a thrift store for $5. Over 1 year later.

Still haven't tested it. Will update once I have.

EDIT:

Not impressed. It has that retarded purple gamma (which causes alot of things to have a purple tinge, or everything if the brightness is above 40 on this model) that a lot of CRTs from that time period seem to have. At first it wouldn't even work right:

The weird distortions went away after letting it warm up (it was about 5 degrees in my car where I had just pulled it out of) and degaussed it about 20 times.

Even after that the Geometry in the best alignment I could get out of it is rather shit. I can't get the borders to look anywhere near 100 percent straight nomatter what I do. The corners just wont behave. Things dont change size anywhere though which is a Plus mark for it I guess.

Colors are good. On par with anything else I have or have seen.

It's a tad bit out of focus. Its fine up to 1280x1024 but 1600x1200 shows fuzziness. Ill need to adjust it before its even worth trying its max of 1920x1440.

Over all this monitor is a 6/10. No where near the top end CRT expectations it was suppose to fulfill during its time. I may not keep it, that purple gamma and tinge on things will drive me fucking nuts. It completely ruins the visual experience. Why did Samsung and NEC (theres tends to be green for whatever reason) decide that purple gamma was a good idea?

liqmat wrote:

I always insist the seller ship the original box in a shipping box and not use the product's box as the shipping box even if I have to pay a little extra for shipping. One, because I like original boxes and two, much better chances it will survive. Great that you found a new CRT.

I honestly have no idea if the seller shipped it in an additional box or just with the original one... The monitor comes with the original styrofoam so hopefully that should keep it protected enough. Guess the only thing I have to do is to wait and see... Meanwhile I also bought a new PSU, an Antec High Current Gamer 620W. It has 48A on the 12V rail and 24A on the 5V and 3,3V ones, so it should be plentiful for my overclocked Tualatin RDD. I have to keep looking for three matching 512MB PC133 CL2 Kingston sticks, as I've recently experienced stability issues during 3DMark 2003, solved by shuffling the RAM sticks around...

I consider myself VERY lucky to have found a high end Philips 109P 19" CRT from 2000 with a Trinitron-type display for just €25 including the original box in perfect condition (no yellowing at all and the glass has not a single scratch or scuff). It can do 1600x1200 at 85Hz which is insane and there's very little fuzziness even at the highest resolutions. If anything, it's TOO sharp for a true "authentic" retro experience since I can see the pixels very sharply. I love it though and I hope it lives a long life as my main monitor for all my pre-widescreen games.

https://www.cnet.com/products/philips-profess … crt-monitor-19/