Finally organized some CPU's and RAM from my workplace scrap haul. Lots of ECC RAM, everything from 512MB PC133 ECC DIMMs up to 8GB DDR3 ECC DIMMs, and some standard RAM from every generation since PC100. CPU's range from 486 DX2/66 up to socket 1366 Xeons of various types. Next up is a few Alpha DS10's we are getting rid of.. Gonna keep those complete.

Last night, I was playing around with a old PC-chips M912 with fake cache.

Kinda rough getting this motherboard into somewhat stable state using a Plug and Pray soundblaster, 486-DX33 and 72pin 8meg RAM.

After about 3 re-installs of windows 95, I think I have some stable settings.

Mister Xiado wrote:

Item 131867610900 on ebay. About 9 EUR total, ships worldwide from Taiwan. Had I the need for one, I'd get one right now. Seems like it fits the bill.

I need one to replace a 'Para Light A-502G' (datasheet attached):

- dual digit
- 18 pins (there is also a 10 pin variation of the A-502G called the A-502G-10)
- common anode
- .5 inch character height

The Lumex LDD-A5002RI seems to be a valid replacement. https://nl.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Lumex/LDD … FA5rozQXUUwg%3D

It *ucking insane. Try repair

GigAHerZ wrote:

Maybe Greater Tallinn Area? 😉

Make Tallinn Great again.

gotohell wrote:

https://imgshare.io/images/2019/08/16/photo_2019-08-16_10-05-16.th.jpg https://imgshare.io/images/2019/08/16/photo_2019-08-16_10 […]
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It *ucking insane. Try repair

Intel VC820?

That's a lot of damage and a lot of missing caps.Good luck!

That board was probably a victim of someone who was repairing capacitor plague affected LG TVs - When those boards seemingly had no value they were often harvested for their caps. When local suppliers wanted $2 per cap and online sellers at the time has ridiculous shipping charges or minimum orders pulling good caps from old boards seemed like a good idea at the time.

After finishing Spycraft: The Great Game, I started on "Sam & Max: Hit The Road" with my retro gaming fun.

It's a bit disappointing to be "cheating" a little with the game, using a walkthrough guide found on Google. But to be fair, the guide helps to make certain game actions make sense. For example, I used a guide for Spycraft, only because the game didn't have subtitles (but Sam & Max does have). For a deaf player, back in 1996, was a huge mountain to escalate. Now with a cochlear implant and in 2019, I still needed it... I'm sure that for "Indiana Jones and the fate of Atlantis" I will not need a walkthrough guide.

bfcastello wrote:

After finishing Spycraft: The Great Game, I started on "Sam & Max: Hit The Road" with my retro gaming fun.

It's a bit disappointing to be "cheating" a little with the game, using a walkthrough guide found on Google. But to be fair, the guide helps to make certain game actions make sense. For example, I used a guide for Spycraft, only because the game didn't have subtitles (but Sam & Max does have). For a deaf player, back in 1996, was a huge mountain to escalate. Now with a cochlear implant and in 2019, I still needed it... I'm sure that for "Indiana Jones and the fate of Atlantis" I will not need a walkthrough guide.

To be honest: some puzzles in Sam & Max don't make a lot of sense. I mean, you can't get into dead ends, but still... Speech or no speech it doesn't matter much. Although I have to admit that the talkie version of Sam & Max is pretty well made. But you aren't missing out on much fun.

Have you ever tried interactive fiction? I.e. Infocom adventures or modern homebrews? They have some of the best story telling and best puzzles. Of course no graphics, if you are into that. This year's XYZZY awards have also just been out: https://xyzzyawards.org/?p=536

Regained a copy of Little Big Adventure. I had a cheapo jewel case version back in the day, since I couldn't afford the big box first edition. But got this one for cheap on eBay, and started playing in Boxer on the Mac, since my 386 won't handle it... 😉 Next up: I will try to run it on my Raspberry Pi, attached to the big TV. Should be fun!

root42 wrote:

bfcastello wrote:

After finishing Spycraft: The Great Game, I started on "Sam & Max: Hit The Road" with my retro gaming fun.

It's a bit disappointing to be "cheating" a little with the game, using a walkthrough guide found on Google. But to be fair, the guide helps to make certain game actions make sense. For example, I used a guide for Spycraft, only because the game didn't have subtitles (but Sam & Max does have). For a deaf player, back in 1996, was a huge mountain to escalate. Now with a cochlear implant and in 2019, I still needed it... I'm sure that for "Indiana Jones and the fate of Atlantis" I will not need a walkthrough guide.

To be honest: some puzzles in Sam & Max don't make a lot of sense. I mean, you can't get into dead ends, but still... Speech or no speech it doesn't matter much. Although I have to admit that the talkie version of Sam & Max is pretty well made. But you aren't missing out on much fun.

Have you ever tried interactive fiction? I.e. Infocom adventures or modern homebrews? They have some of the best story telling and best puzzles. Of course no graphics, if you are into that. This year's XYZZY awards have also just been out: https://xyzzyawards.org/?p=536

Actually, I haven't tried yet. I will give a look. I have been thinking about trying a game I have never played before - The Oregon Trail. I might do that after Sam & Max and Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis. I've spent much of my childhood playing simtower, racing games and... Carmen Sandiego.

Tiido wrote:

That particular one seems to have muxed digits so it isn't gonna work on the turbo displays that I know of.

Cyrix200+ wrote:

I need one to replace a 'Para Light A-502G' (datasheet attached): […]
Show full quote

Mister Xiado wrote:

Item 131867610900 on ebay. About 9 EUR total, ships worldwide from Taiwan. Had I the need for one, I'd get one right now. Seems like it fits the bill.

I need one to replace a 'Para Light A-502G' (datasheet attached):

- dual digit
- 18 pins (there is also a 10 pin variation of the A-502G called the A-502G-10)
- common anode
- .5 inch character height

The Lumex LDD-A5002RI seems to be a valid replacement. https://nl.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Lumex/LDD … FA5rozQXUUwg%3D

Bleh, nothing simple is ever permitted to be easy.

Spent a couple days sunbathing a yellowed Microsoft Optical Wheel Mouse, and bought a system disk (3.something) and a 3rd party mouse for my Mac Plus, that either needs general re-soldering, or a lot of cap replacements. Don't remember if I posted these yet, but hey, more 4-bit color Win95 icons. The readme contains detailed instructions on how to use them, but you can also use MicroAngelo to change a lot of them without having to root around in the registry.

I recapped a PSU that failed in my server yesterday. Very nicely built Bestec but with all the 10V 2200µF capacitors burst on top. I'm amazed the server ran as long as it did with those 🤣.

Right now I'm determining lowest voltage the Athlon II X2 250 will stably run at when at stock 3GHz clock, for minimal power use and heat generation. 1.400V is the stock voltage, currently at 1.325V, 1.300V comes next ~

Just finished Sam and Max. The game puzzles really makes no fuc*$#*ing sense at all. But it's still hilarious as it was 20 years ago.

Now I will try Atlantis next day.

bfcastello wrote:

Just finished Sam and Max. The game puzzles really makes no fuc*$#*ing sense at all. But it's still hilarious as it was 20 years ago.

Now I will try Atlantis next day.

I'd recommend Day of the Tentacle if you haven't played it already. Very similar to Sam and Max in some respects, apart from the fact that you are controlling three characters at a time which make for a whole new level of weird.

gca wrote:

bfcastello wrote:

Just finished Sam and Max. The game puzzles really makes no fuc*$#*ing sense at all. But it's still hilarious as it was 20 years ago.

Now I will try Atlantis next day.

I'd recommend Day of the Tentacle if you haven't played it already. Very similar to Sam and Max in some respects, apart from the fact that you are controlling three characters at a time which make for a whole new level of weird.

The Fate of Atlantis

I can highly recommend this one. The iMuse system is used to absolute perfection in this one. The soundtrack is superb. It is forever engraved into my cortex.

jaZz_KCS wrote:

gca wrote:

bfcastello wrote:

Just finished Sam and Max. The game puzzles really makes no fuc*$#*ing sense at all. But it's still hilarious as it was 20 years ago.

Now I will try Atlantis next day.

I'd recommend Day of the Tentacle if you haven't played it already. Very similar to Sam and Max in some respects, apart from the fact that you are controlling three characters at a time which make for a whole new level of weird.

The Fate of Atlantis

I can highly recommend this one. The iMuse system is used to absolute perfection in this one. The soundtrack is superb. It is forever engraved into my cortex.

If you ever can get it running right. iMuse games are always problematic on my late DOS rigs (Pentium 100+s, S3 Video Cards, 32-64MB of RAM, Late SB16's)

gca wrote:

bfcastello wrote:

Just finished Sam and Max. The game puzzles really makes no fuc*$#*ing sense at all. But it's still hilarious as it was 20 years ago.

Now I will try Atlantis next day.

I'd recommend Day of the Tentacle if you haven't played it already. Very similar to Sam and Max in some respects, apart from the fact that you are controlling three characters at a time which make for a whole new level of weird.

Thanks, it will be added to my list 😀

Tbh I wouldn't really call this 'retro', but seeing as Mint Linux did, I'll consider it as such 😮

Knocking together a PC for my youngest son. He's hogging his brother's Core2Duo system to play Super Mario via emulators and is getting a surprising amount of fun out of Minecraft too. So to keep my sanity (fighting children...) I'm building him a build. My in-laws recently returned an Athlon64 X2 system as it was too slow for them, mainly due to the 2006-vintavge WD1600JS HDD in it. Before I got a chance to fix that, they bought a new Core i3 system, so I have a decent 'modern' system to burn.

It's a Biostar MCP6PM M2+ with Athlon 64 X2 3800+ "Windsor' CPU with 4GB RAM and a Radeon HD4350 passive low-profile GPU. FIne for any modern OS I'd say... unfortunately Linux Mint says 'nope', as does Lubuntu 19.04. Eventually I managed to boot Ubuntu 18.04LTS, so that's what it's running now. Looks great on the 2004-vintage Eizo L768 monitor I found at the thrift store last week. Peripherals are definitely retro too, SGI Granite PS/2 keyboard and MS Trackball Explorer - but those are for my retro-setup. Still need to see what the little one gets, but probably some Logitech MX-based keyboard (his brother has a Compaq-branded G80-1800 with MX black) and a Kensington or Logitech trackball. He knows and likes the Orbit Scroll, so I'll give him that. That means I need a new device for the HTPC in the living room, but I have enough pointing devices, so no problem there 😉

Crazy that a 2010 motherboard with 2006 CPU should be so 'retro' that modern stuff doesn't boot, but maybe I'm just getting old. Now, time to boot up that old 486 😜

^^ I'm curious what part of the boot process failed. I've run Linux Mint 18 & 19 on Athlon 64x2 (AM2) systems relatively recently and have Lubuntu 19 installed on a 2006 Core Duo (32bit!) Mac Mini. Linux devs generally don't "remove support" for older hardware unless there's a very good reason* (i.e. the 64-bit transition) and in my experience HD 4xxx Radeon cards still work fine.

(* you're about to get a string of complain-y harpers who like to find fault with everything tell you otherwise, but it's not what I've found)