I was off work today, so I spent some quality time with my SAM9733 4MB GS based Monster MIDI rev. B daughterboard on my Audiotrix 3D/XG (I don't use the original DB60XG because if have an MU500 when in the mood for XG) . I listened to it and then to an SC-88 in both native and SC-55 modes to get a feel for similarity differences using the Duke Nukem 3D soundtrack .. I mostly prefer the SC-88 native map . The Monster MIDI sounds OK on some tracks, but sounds bad on others .

Before that, I spend some time balancing gain on the multi-track recorder I use as a mixer (Akai DPS12) .

Using line out on both an AWE64 CT4500 and an Audiotrix 3D/XG (both at max wave and FM volume in windows and all inputs mutes) and balancing the pre-amp gain on the mixer based on OPL3/CQM playback (they play simultaneously, so they are easy to compare) , the AWE64 actually seems slightly less noisy to me when nothing is playing, even though I had to apply more gain to it than to the 3D/XG . I was expecting the opposite . Maybe I should try recording the silence on each and actually comparing noise floors ( would have to learn how to actually use the DPS12 to do that, a worthy endeavour ) .

computerguy08 wrote on 2020-04-23, 10:25:

I made this today: […]
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I made this today:

you can find more details here

Haha while looking through my cover plates today, I have the exact hard disk cover (or at least I think) off an old Seagate of some sort, maybe it was a WD. The 3.5 inch floppy covers don't line up perfectly height wise, there's 2-3 mm gap. How did you fill it?

On another note, got my 286/8 working with a 1.44Mb floppy seen as a 720k. Good enough for me. That was a fun trip down fleeting memory lane!

For the past couple of days I have been struggling to get a fresh copy of Win95 installed to my Compaq LTE 5100. Something seems to be wrong with the hard disk. It does pass all tests that I have thrown at it and the first half of the installation always goes pretty well. But after the first reboot (when the "Getting ready to run Windows 95 for the first time" shows up) things start getting weird with all sorts of errors that I suspect are related to corrupted system files. I made many attempts and my mileage varied, but I never really got it to boot into Windows.
To make sure that the issue is not related to some other hardware (like RAM), I used a IDE-USB adapter, hooked the drive up to my main PC and attached it to a VirtualBox VM as raw vmdk disk. As with the LTE, the first half of the installation went well in the VM, but after reboot the system starts acting funny and throwing errors.
I have now ordered a CF to 44pin IDE adapter to try a CF card instead, since all the other 2.5" IDE drives I have at hand are 20GB+ and therefore don't play well with the LTE that limits HDD size to 8GB in BIOS.

Figured out the whole turbo button thing. Turns out, only Write-Thru CPUs support the turbo button, whereas Write-Back CPUs only support cache controlling programs to lower the speed and bring it back up. Going to order an Evergreen 586 and set it to WT mode once the person that's selling it on Amazon lowers the price.

Jed118 wrote on 2020-04-24, 05:21:

Haha while looking through my cover plates today, I have the exact hard disk cover (or at least I think) off an old Seagate of some sort, maybe it was a WD. The 3.5 inch floppy covers don't line up perfectly height wise, there's 2-3 mm gap. How did you fill it?

I didn't 😁 , there is a wide hole below the hard drive. I was thinking about making a 3D print in order to fill that hole, but I will leave it like this for now.

Besides, the hard drive will get some cooling as well, it does get warm after some runtime.

computerguy08 wrote on 2020-04-24, 10:26:

I didn't 😁 , there is a wide hole below the hard drive. I was thinking about making a 3D print in order to fill that hole, but I will leave it like this for now.

Besides, the hard drive will get some cooling as well, it does get warm after some runtime.

It looks good on the pictures, I don't think 3D printing is necessary, just use a trim part from a window, like the outer gasket of a car (I'm specifically thinking Matiz, I know there are a LOT of them in Romania 😉 ). It looks pretty good though! Are there pictures of the inside

*Edit a wiper blade would be ideal, make kind of a flap too so some air can circulate.

Finished up my Amiga600 build, by installing a fan in the case, to suck out that extra heat. Not silent, however not something I can not live with. Used cable strips to keep the fan in place, instead of using glue and other nasty things. The power comes from a homemade cable, that provides power to both the fan and the floppy drive.

Love this Amiga600. It is a wonderfull little beast now.

Try to find another fan made by OEM brands that has much lower current, this will be much quieter. Your fan is generic.

https://www.ebay.ca/itm/NIDEC-U40X12MLZ7-53-1 … PwAAOSwSmJdJLv4

https://www.ebay.ca/itm/DELTA-EFB0412MA-4CM-4 … wIAAOSw1EZdhh09

Cheers,

Jed118 wrote on 2020-04-24, 13:26:

It looks good on the pictures, I don't think 3D printing is necessary, just use a trim part from a window, like the outer gasket of a car (I'm specifically thinking Matiz, I know there are a LOT of them in Romania 😉 ).

There are actually a whole LOT more VW/Audi parts around compared to Matiz. Eastern europeans love german cars.

Jed118 wrote on 2020-04-24, 13:26:

Are there pictures of the inside

I do have some other photos down below.

pentiumspeed wrote on 2020-04-24, 14:54:

Try to find another fan made by OEM brands that has much lower current, this will be much quieter. Your fan is generic. […]
Show full quote

Try to find another fan made by OEM brands that has much lower current, this will be much quieter. Your fan is generic.

https://www.ebay.ca/itm/NIDEC-U40X12MLZ7-53-1 … PwAAOSwSmJdJLv4

https://www.ebay.ca/itm/DELTA-EFB0412MA-4CM-4 … wIAAOSw1EZdhh09

Cheers,

Naaa.... I am good. I won't hear the noise, once I play a game or watch a demo.
Thanks anyway. 😀

Spent most time today setting up my recently bought Xbox 360 from scratch. Since it has a RGH 1.2 but no internal memory, I first added an internal 8 GB Memory Unit with XeXMenu installed, so I can start xex files and have a file manager even with no hard disk attached. After that was done, I added a freshly formatted 500 GB hard disk - that should be sufficient to install "some" games. 😉

Next is installing Dash Launch, Aurora, and Freestyle 3.

The following haiku describes how I'll be wasting the entire night:

Popcorn and coffee
flow freely. Time for a Freaks
and Geeks marathon.

computerguy08 wrote on 2020-04-24, 14:56:

I do have some other photos down below.

That's a wonderful design, I especially like how huge the SFX power supply looks in that case layout. What are you doing for a lid?

Got a Toshiba Satellite Pro 430CDT in the mail today, and have just been messing around with it.

Bought a Windows 98 Upgrade disc for the machine, and plan to upgrade from Windows 95.

computerguy08 wrote on 2020-04-24, 14:56:

There are actually a whole LOT more VW/Audi parts around compared to Matiz. Eastern europeans love german cars.

Wow that's tightly packed. Too bad wood is not a good heat dissipator 😉 What are you using for the cover?

I went to Romania almost a year ago, I saw many more Matizes than in Poland, so I guess I just kept an eye out for them subconsciously. There were many in Constanta, which was a pretty awesome place as well. It was my son's first dip in an ocean 😀

It's been a rather melancholy day. My Weller
Digital soldering station arrived (performs great), but then my 10 year old (and rather poorly made) Radio Shack pushbutton solder sucker broke. Was supposed to desolder a blown cap on my t5720 board , and replace it with a new cap.

Not sure if I really want to buy a better sucker (Engineer SS02, 30USD) or go buy a Hakko FR301 (almost 10x that). The issue is that regardless of how much solder and braid I use, the damn RoHS solder (which is close to the hole on the board and not that easy to get to) doesn't seem to get picked up, and I don't want to throw a massive amount of heat (400 C) just to brute force my way through. I think the bottom of the electrolytic capacitor broke (thought I heard a hiss) with me trying to wiggle it free (even though it already bulged/vented at the top).

Ordered a new Geforce 6200 card to replace the one that half-failed in the t5720 (not sure if the busted cap on the t5720 killed the Geforce or if it's the other way around). Also looking into soldering the missing caps onto the PCI riser so the YMF744 will work...might need some small caps though.

Hello

I have been doing more work on my Macintosh Quadra 700.
Last time I did change the power supply, the hard-disk, installed a led connector on the disk, then reinstall MacOS 7.1 using an old rusty floppy drive because the one in the Quadra was not working.

But I could not let this Quadra without a working floppy disk drive, and then I did repair it

Here is the floppy disk drive:

The drive would not let me insert floppy disk in so I started to disassemble it because there was an obvious mechanical problem:

Once the top part was removed, I could confirm something was wrong in this because the disk could not be inserted:

And I finally found it was not working due to old grease dry which made the system block the retention mechanism.
After a big cleanup, I could insert floppy disks:

Then I did disassemble the bottom part too to do the same cleaning and add new grease:

Then I did cleanup the heads with Acetone and Isopropyl alcohol. But I also took a look à the eject motor stuck in a bad position:

No missing tooth on gears.

So I assembled the drive back and made a test, and it did read the floppy disk on the first attempt:

But the drive would not eject the floppy disk when asked 🙁

So I took the drive out once again and took a look at the eject mechanism again and found the contact was not working:

I spent quite a lot of time fixing this but when I reassembled the floppy disk drive, if would not work better, if was reading fine but not ejecting.
In fact, the motor had no reaction at all. Then I did cleanup the eject mechanism of another very rusty drive to swap them out.

Finally I had a working drive ejecting floppy disk properly when I throw them in the trashcan:

And this last fix granted me with a fully working Quadra 700 (except the missing buttons).
Full video fully English subtitled can be found here: https://youtu.be/4WDX6auE0ZA

Rodrik

ragefury32 wrote on 2020-04-25, 06:40:

IThe issue is that regardless of how much solder and braid I use, the damn RoHS solder (which is close to the hole on the board and not that easy to get to) doesn't seem to get picked up, and I don't want to throw a massive amount of heat (400 C) just to brute force my way through. I think the bottom of the electrolytic capacitor broke (thought I heard a hiss) with me trying to wiggle it free (even though it already bulged/vented at the top).

I've never had much success using braid or suckers on holes connected to a power plane. What I've found works is making a big blob of molten solder on top of the hole, and then (carefully) pushing/wiggling a grey syringe needle (16 G) through. Then once the needle is through leave it there, if needed clean up the other side (there might be spurs of solder around the needle), and then once the solder has solidified wiggle the needle out.

As they're made of inox steel the solder won't stick to them.

As always use Rossmann quantities of flux.

Today I tested some old hardware I have since a long time.
Good news: 4 video cards I thought were nothing but scrap, worked fine after a through cleaning of their contacts. Yay!
Bad news: the video cards are just:

2x 32MB nvidia TNT2 M64 AGP
1x 1MB trident 9440 PCI
1x 1MB ATi Mach32 GraphicsWonder PCI. This one is interesting because it has sockets to expand it upto 2MB, but hwinfo reports it has no VESA compatibility, so...it's crap, I guess?

Well, I guess that's better than nothing, 🤣.