NautilusComputer wrote on 2020-02-29, 14:29:

$54.95 plus tax new in box at my local computer store with a LOT of leftovers from 1997-2005.

Nice, NOS with the box, but you probably have to spend the same amount of money to recap the thing. That's one of the many reasons why I don't buy S462 boards anymore.

gex85 wrote on 2020-02-28, 15:19:

It was only about 14€ shipped and should make using the "slightly accidental Pentium 4 build" much more enjoyable.

We might want to see that system 😉

flupke11 wrote on 2020-02-28, 22:50:

Dualllies with a dual GPU, yes please 😀

A 4870X2 joins the club @ 15 euro, postage included. Still need to test it, but this boy (girl?) is heavy!

4870x2.jpg

But does it run Crysis? (not funny anymore asking this 🤣) 😁

So, my quest for a portable PC led me to this:

It's an Ocean Systems machine, but I figure it's just a rebranded ACME TAP-763. It has a 15 inch 1024x768 screen, a mechanical keyboard with a built-in touchpad, a built-in A/V converter for VGA. The bottom line — it can take any standard ATX motherboard, a standard PSU and any videocard with VGA output. It also weighs 12 KG (just the chassis, screen and keyboards)

The machine originally had an AMD Phenom inside, so I'm pretty sure the original hardware was long gone. Right now I've installed an Intel SE440BX-2 with a Pentium 3/1GHz, a Voodoo 5 and some ISA soundcards. This is going to be my box for LAN parties, so I'm pretty sure I'm going to switch to a Tualatin-based system with GeForce 3/4, but for now it just amuses me that a pretty much "ultimate" DOS/Win9x machine can be lugged around.

There are some issues, though. The case smells like cat piss (it was stored in a garage for a while), so I foolishly rubbed the whole chassis with IPA. That nearly destroyed the rubber coating on the keyboard. Another issue is that the locking mechanism on the keyboard is semi broken. Does anyone know where I could get a replacement keyboard for a TAP-763? 😀

Also there is a dead pixel on the LCD, the power LED connector was modified from 3-pin to 2-pin and there are some cracks and broken screw holes. I'll do a dedicated post with lots of photos once I do some work on the system.

PTherapist wrote on 2020-03-01, 14:39:

The slim is a good choice. It's easier to mod & play PS1 backups (no fiddling around with a paperclip or eject tool)

The fat Ps2 is more easy to mod. More space inside to do hardware mod. Less anti-mod prevention from Sony (older model). You can add a HDD, using a network adaptor, wich is something you can only do to the V12 slim (as far as I remember). And even then, you need to solder in a ribbon cable and even then you will have to find the space inside.

That said.
Every Ps2 model, up to and not included, the last slim with a glossy strip and internal PSU. Can be soft modded, using Free MC Boot. And even then you need a flip-cover to be able to prevent the eject mecanism to sense that the tray or the lid have been opened.

Going for Free MC Boot, modding the Ps2 game ISO to DVD movie ISO and burn it. You can still use the eject mecanism. As the machine thinks that it is a movie. That however only works on Ps2 games on DVD.

As long as it is not the last slim version, you equal options. The older the machine is, the easier a mod is. And going back to the fat ones, you have an awesomme machine for even a Linux setup with keyboard, internal harddrive, mouse and VGA output. Of course you need to Invest heavy in such a kit. Unless you know enough to use third part stuff. Yup, it is possible.

And yup. Every Ps2 can do Ps1 games. And does a generally better job than a Ps1 at that. Few games are incompatible and you get a better video output signal. Heck... Even a Ps3 does Ps1 games.

Got a 5.25" floppy disk puncher today.

brostenen wrote on 2020-03-02, 09:36:

The fat Ps2 is more easy to mod. More space inside to do hardware mod. Less anti-mod prevention from Sony (older model). You can […]
Show full quote

PTherapist wrote on 2020-03-01, 14:39:

The slim is a good choice. It's easier to mod & play PS1 backups (no fiddling around with a paperclip or eject tool)

The fat Ps2 is more easy to mod. More space inside to do hardware mod. Less anti-mod prevention from Sony (older model). You can add a HDD, using a network adaptor, wich is something you can only do to the V12 slim (as far as I remember). And even then, you need to solder in a ribbon cable and even then you will have to find the space inside.

That said.
Every Ps2 model, up to and not included, the last slim with a glossy strip and internal PSU. Can be soft modded, using Free MC Boot. And even then you need a flip-cover to be able to prevent the eject mecanism to sense that the tray or the lid have been opened.

Going for Free MC Boot, modding the Ps2 game ISO to DVD movie ISO and burn it. You can still use the eject mecanism. As the machine thinks that it is a movie. That however only works on Ps2 games on DVD.

As long as it is not the last slim version, you equal options. The older the machine is, the easier a mod is. And going back to the fat ones, you have an awesomme machine for even a Linux setup with keyboard, internal harddrive, mouse and VGA output. Of course you need to Invest heavy in such a kit. Unless you know enough to use third part stuff. Yup, it is possible.

And yup. Every Ps2 can do Ps1 games. And does a generally better job than a Ps1 at that. Few games are incompatible and you get a better video output signal. Heck... Even a Ps3 does Ps1 games.

There was, for a little while, a company that made the "HD Combo" for the V12 (first-gen) PS2 slims. It gave you some extra cooling fans and a 3.5" HDD bay; made them look like 3/4-scale fatboys! I always wanted to buy one, but never did.

NautilusComputer wrote on 2020-03-02, 12:42:

There was, for a little while, a company that made the "HD Combo" for the V12 (first-gen) PS2 slims. It gave you some extra cooling fans and a 3.5" HDD bay; made them look like 3/4-scale fatboys! I always wanted to buy one, but never did.

Cute! I missed those. There's good pics in this psx-scene thread.
http://psx-scene.com/forums/f98/hd-pro-hd-combo-101864/

brostenen wrote on 2020-03-02, 09:36:

And yup. Every Ps2 can do Ps1 games. And does a generally better job than a Ps1 at that. Few games are incompatible and you get a better video output signal. Heck... Even a Ps3 does Ps1 games.

Good morning. I think PTherapist was only being specific about the backups being fiddly.

PS1 games also have easy & excellent emulators that are at least PC/Linux. Don't recall about Mac or others just now. Best non-emu is PS2 through Component to your TV /if/ your TV will show a 240p signal. Some do, some don't, regardless of whether it's listed in the specs, so that's a try & see.

To be completist another thing about playing backups is an awful lot of used PS1 are already chip-modded. That was extremely common in the day. Usually a part-timer at a local game or computer shop did conversions for beer money.

pewpewpew wrote on 2020-03-02, 13:51:

brostenen wrote on 2020-03-02, 09:36:

And yup. Every Ps2 can do Ps1 games. And does a generally better job than a Ps1 at that. Few games are incompatible and you get a better video output signal. Heck... Even a Ps3 does Ps1 games.

Good morning. I think PTherapist was only being specific about the backups being fiddly.

What I read, was that he said that the slim is a better choice than the fat. And that is not true. Even without flip-top, the fat are a better choice. And without a mod chip, you can not play Ps1 backups without swapmagic.

I have a set of swapmagic and slide card in my collection.

brostenen wrote on 2020-03-02, 14:10:

I have a set of swapmagic and slide card in my collection.

Yup, me too. Though I moved to using PC emulation to play PS1 backups. ... I haven't updated my mods for ages. I've been presuming by now, surely the PS2 scene would have figured out how to play PS1 games from the HDD. Still not yet?

pewpewpew wrote on 2020-03-02, 14:46:

brostenen wrote on 2020-03-02, 14:10:

I have a set of swapmagic and slide card in my collection.

Yup, me too. Though I moved to using PC emulation to play PS1 backups. ... I haven't updated my mods for ages. I've been presuming by now, surely the PS2 scene would have figured out how to play PS1 games from the HDD. Still not yet?

Perhaps it is now possible. All I know is that they used some code from Crazy Taxi, in order to make Ps2 Backups possible.
There were some talk about making it happen for Ps1 games, using HD-Loader. Yet there were something about hardware trouble.
Something with the way the Ps2 arcitecture was operating. Yet that was a long time ago, that I looked into that.

For the most part. Swapmagic and a slide card are good enough. Sometimes you gotta work before pleasure. 😉
The best option are still a mod chip. No doubt about that.

jheronimus wrote on 2020-03-02, 09:13:

So, my quest for a portable PC led me to this:

2020-03-01 17.45.38.jpg

It's an Ocean Systems machine...

cool little machine! Apparently hydrogen peroxide works well for removing smell, and it might be safer for plastics than IPA, but don't quote me on that.

What is this DOOM version showing on the screen?

MMaximus wrote on 2020-03-02, 16:19:

cool little machine! Apparently hydrogen peroxide works well for removing smell, and it might be safer for plastics than IPA, but don't quote me on that.

What is this DOOM version showing on the screen?

That's Icarus WAD from Team TNT. I really love the "Heart of the Hive" track from the fifth level, particularly using Gravis Ultrasound (with ProPatches Lite) and Yamaha DB50XG. Here's a rendition, but I'm not sure what hardware is used here.

Intensifying my efforts to make the "slightly accidental Pentium 4 build" more quiet.
After equipping the FX 5900 Ultra with a NOS Zalman VF900 Cu, the CPU cooler is up next.
I found a nice Thermalright XP-90 bundled with a 92mm Papst 3412 N/2GLE fan (looks like it has some sort of temperature sensor, too) for 16€ shipped. While it's probably not the best S478 cooler you could possibly get (tower format coolers will outperform it easily and the XP-90C full copper variant would be better too), you sometimes just have to go with what's available for a reasonable price.
So yeah, this will be a big step up from the Intel boxed cooler.

On a different note, I got two Seasonic SS-350ET-F3 power supplies, 17€ shipped (for both).
One of them will go into the Pentium 4 build as well, the other one will probably be stored away for a future build.

The only thing that is missing for the Pentium 4 build now is a decent fan controller. I'll probably go for either a Zalman or a Scythe Kaze Master.

The xp-90 is easily in the top 5 best coolers for the Pentium 4 era. Certainly the easiest to still get, i have several in storage. ^.^

I bought one of these DB9-Joystick to USB converter's. The reason is that the new "TheC64" machine, can use old 80's digital joysticks with the use of an adaptor. And I can use the keyboard for navigating the menu. Aaaand.... I always hated ZIP-Stick and Competition PRO sticks.

Basically. It is going to so sweet, to use my The-Arcade or my Wico Command Control with this machine.

Got a decked out Dell Precision M60 for $25 shipped. It arrived today. The CMOS battery recharged but the regular battery is toast.
The video card is the Quadro version of the Geforce FX 5700. I think this is the highest end Geforce FX based card ever put in a laptop. Kinda low clocks and the cooler really sucks but it should cool a lot better with the shim mod as opposed to the dumb thermal pad that was in there. The Geforce Go 5700 has way higher GPU clocks (not sure if I believe techpowerup on that) but only has 32MB RAM.

I have copper shims on the way but wanted to get it going before that.

Uggghh.. the cooler is sooo horrible. Basically a plate of aluminum with a heatpipe mounted on the very edge and a very small fan to cool the very small fin array. How is that ever supposed to work? I wonder if I could find a heatpipe that I could use to move heat from the GPU area over to the area where the stock heatpipe is. It would need to be super flat and short. What about using one of those crazy thermal pads that has super good lateral thermal conductivity... hmmm.

Removed the aluminum shim / pad for the CPU heatsink and used good thermal paste instead.

Should I make this into a Win98SE laptop or XP? Any games that use palletized textures that won't run in XP or would run bad in XP?

If I did use XP, that would allow me to also use a PCMCIA Audigy 2 which would be nice.

Got a few things in the mail today.

First is a Quickshot QS201 in pretty good condition.

Second is an IBM 6x86MX PR233 for my Socket 7 video source PC

This arrived today for tinkering with old systems. Came across it looking for SD to IDE adapters and thought it'd be more useful. It only reads ONE card at a time (can't put CF + SD in together), but having both in a single 3.5" drive bay seemed like a good deal!

Not sure on read/write speeds yet; the chip is made by OnSpec so I don't know if it'll have the 25 MB/sec limit the JMicron ones do...?