appiah4 wrote on 2020-05-29, 22:18:

PCI Radeon 7500 and Radeon 9100 cards do have fans and are two of the fastest PCI 3D cards out there, good catch. If you happen to find a 128-bit 9250 that will be faster than the 9100 though.

I have one of these. I've never benched it though. Maybe I should?

The area I'm in used to have some easily accessible electronics dropoff locations. After some time, though, people basically started pulling up with minivans and cleaning the entire drop-off zone out on the regular, so they moved them to closely monitored locations. That is, except for one sketchy dropoff that is clearly some random guy just hoping people will see a sign and leave their stuff.

Normally I avoid this one because I suspect the person who "operates" it lives within viewing distance, but today I saw something I couldn't at least try to grab.

Managed to pick up this:

I originally thought it was AT-class, but it appears to be a Turbo XT! In surprisingly nice condition.

Looks like an 8088-2, Seagate ST-238R, 5.25" and 3.5" floppy of some description.... the only on-board battery appears to be on the floppy controller and hasn't leaked. Motherboard says it's a "Turbo Plus!", I see what looks like 1986 dates on it.

This is really a bit outside my normal area of expertise. I think it's got a CGA card? And a decent amount of on-board RAM? Not sure if I should try to power it on? I don't have any CGA compatible monitors, but maybe I can try composite? Will the composite work on an LCD?

All of this happened yesterday. The courier service I had picked for the caps couldn't get the capacitors shipped to my home address because they couldn't find the doorbell (yeah, right). I decided to just go get the parcel myself from their warehouse and pay there. I might as well have just gone and bought the capacitors from the store itself, but I noticed something in the e-waste bin of the courier: a laptop! So I asked the lady who worked there: "Is that a laptop there? Who drops these there?" She said that she considered it wasteful too and someone could indeed make some decent use out of it, so I started to chat with her while another went to fetch the package for her. I told her of how it probably could be something trivial, like needing a service and/or a new LCD, something that had indeed happened with another laptop that I found almost a year ago and now I use it daily. Hearing all this she said not everyone really cares about that. I agreed saying that well, I know that stuff because I want to, being a technician and all. Anyway, I paid the parcel and got it, and stopped for a moment to looked at the bin. She says "Come on, go ahead, take it". It was a bit of a pain to get it out, but it was worth it. I had a look at it when I got in my dad's car and the screen was pristine! My dad is like "Seriously? Another computer? Your room is full of them!" 😁 Anyway, I saw the ATI Graphics sticker on it and expected the worst. (Usually, GPU's tend to die in old laptops due to crappy thermal design or poor maintenance). Turns out, the GPU is fine, and the laptop is a Toshiba Tecra A4 PTA42E-0C801QGE in mostly pristine condition, save for the outside of the lid and the HDD that has failed. The BIOS on it seems a bit weird, and the entire laptop seems like it hadn't been used in a loooong time. Even the CMOS battery seemed dead, but it holds a charge now.

Nice 486 case I've found on scrapyard. For now, I put it on on my "to do" pile.

Not in bad shape. Slight yellowing or lots of it (where the turbo display, LEDs, buttons, and keyboard lock are at on the plastic cover) and some scuffs, but all in all, looks pretty cool. I always liked the 3 digit turbo display.

bjwil1991 wrote on 2020-06-09, 14:21:

Not in bad shape. Slight yellowing or lots of it (where the turbo display, LEDs, buttons, and keyboard lock are at on the plastic cover) and some scuffs, but all in all, looks pretty cool. I always liked the 3 digit turbo display.

The best part is, inside is PCI/VLB/ISA board with DX4-100 CPU 😉 It has also 16MB RAM. VGA is some ISA Trident...

LHN91 wrote on 2020-06-09, 02:28:

This is really a bit outside my normal area of expertise. I think it's got a CGA card? And a decent amount of on-board RAM? Not sure if I should try to power it on? I don't have any CGA compatible monitors, but maybe I can try composite? Will the composite work on an LCD?

Wow, very cool find! Looks clean from the inside, therefore it would try to power it on. Disconnect all other devices execpt the mainboard before trying...

But you need a monitor first. Yes, this is a nice CGA-card. If your LCD has composite Video-in you can can connect it via a simple cinch-cable, you can also use an audio one. Most TVs have this connector, too, maybe with a scart-Adapter.

derSammler wrote on 2020-06-09, 15:05:

Predator99 wrote on 2020-06-09, 14:54:

Yes, this is a nice CGA-card.

Pretty sure it's EGA, as CGA cards normally only had one RCA connector, not two.

Maybe its EGA. In the worst case there will be no display as the EGA-RCA connectors are usually unconnected.

I think its CGA. Its a full length card and I have several with 2 RCA connectors.

I'll have to give it a try with a TV. Any chance this would work with a PS/2 keyboard (like a Model M) through an AT compatible PS/2-DIN adapter?

I don't think I have any XT compatible keyboards.

LHN91 wrote on 2020-06-09, 19:40:

I'll have to give it a try with a TV. Any chance this would work with a PS/2 keyboard (like a Model M) through an AT compatible PS/2-DIN adapter?

I don't think I have any XT compatible keyboards.

Not without a special converter. You really need an XT protocol keyboard.

canthearu wrote on 2020-06-09, 22:03:

LHN91 wrote on 2020-06-09, 19:40:

I'll have to give it a try with a TV. Any chance this would work with a PS/2 keyboard (like a Model M) through an AT compatible PS/2-DIN adapter?

I don't think I have any XT compatible keyboards.

Not without a special converter. You really need an XT protocol keyboard.

Not necessarily . Later PC BIOSes were apparently able to talk to AT keyboards . Clones are an unknown .

https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=6916.0

darry wrote on 2020-06-09, 23:26:

canthearu wrote on 2020-06-09, 22:03:

LHN91 wrote on 2020-06-09, 19:40:

I'll have to give it a try with a TV. Any chance this would work with a PS/2 keyboard (like a Model M) through an AT compatible PS/2-DIN adapter?

I don't think I have any XT compatible keyboards.

Not without a special converter. You really need an XT protocol keyboard.

Not necessarily . Later PC BIOSes were apparently able to talk to AT keyboards . Clones are an unknown .

https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=6916.0

Hmm..... And this machine reports a 1986 BIOS date.

So maybe.

I started a thread for this machine over here where I'll continue the discussion: Turbo XT Dumpster Find

I'm going to think for a few as to whether I want to try/risk one of my Model M's through an adapter or not.

LHN91 wrote on 2020-06-09, 23:50:

Hmm..... And this machine reports a 1986 BIOS date. […]
Show full quote

darry wrote on 2020-06-09, 23:26:

canthearu wrote on 2020-06-09, 22:03:

Not without a special converter. You really need an XT protocol keyboard.

Not necessarily . Later PC BIOSes were apparently able to talk to AT keyboards . Clones are an unknown .

https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=6916.0

Hmm..... And this machine reports a 1986 BIOS date.

So maybe.

I started a thread for this machine over here where I'll continue the discussion: Turbo XT Dumpster Find

I'm going to think for a few as to whether I want to try/risk one of my Model M's through an adapter or not.

It does not have to be a model M. If the BIOS makes the board AT keyboard compatible, any cheapo AT or PS/2 keyboard could be used to test it .

Picked up two discarded systems from a family member.

PC #1: Red Apevia full tower, Evga P67 FTW, i5-2500k, 16gb g.skill ripjaws ddr3 1600, gtx 750 ti ftw and a Kingwin 1k watt Lazer.

PC #2: Blue Apevia, dead Abit in9 32x-max, 2x2 and 2x1 kingston ddr2, Rosewill 750watt PSU and a gtx 250 (replacement for a pair of 8800 GTX's that died a few years ago).

ODwilly wrote on 2020-06-10, 03:03:

Picked up two discarded systems from a family member.

PC #1: Red Apevia full tower, Evga P67 FTW, i5-2500k, 16gb g.skill ripjaws ddr3 1600, gtx 750 ti ftw and a Kingwin 1k watt Lazer.

PC #2: Blue Apevia, dead Abit in9 32x-max, 2x2 and 2x1 kingston ddr2, Rosewill 750watt PSU and a gtx 250 (replacement for a pair of 8800 GTX's that died a few years ago).

🤣 do you own a lumber yard or hardware store ? Nice racks ! Yeah I was given a few of those era machines, can't really call them vintage but anything 10 years old or older is always nice if the price is right 😁

Horun wrote on 2020-06-11, 01:50:

ODwilly wrote on 2020-06-10, 03:03:

Picked up two discarded systems from a family member.

PC #1: Red Apevia full tower, Evga P67 FTW, i5-2500k, 16gb g.skill ripjaws ddr3 1600, gtx 750 ti ftw and a Kingwin 1k watt Lazer.

PC #2: Blue Apevia, dead Abit in9 32x-max, 2x2 and 2x1 kingston ddr2, Rosewill 750watt PSU and a gtx 250 (replacement for a pair of 8800 GTX's that died a few years ago).

🤣 do you own a lumber yard or hardware store ? Nice racks ! Yeah I was given a few of those era machines, can't really call them vintage but anything 10 years old or older is always nice if the price is right 😁

Haha, nope. My aunt's garage/uncle's woodworking space, it's a pretty sweet setup!

Not directly computer related, but I was dumpster diving a few day ago, and I found, as it seems a TV box multimedia player. Nonetheless I take these components due to the parts which can be harvest out of them. Well inside this one there was also a 320gb HDD, which is in a good condition as crystal disk info says (no bad sectors).

Turbo -> wrote on 2020-06-13, 08:44:

Not directly computer related, but I was dumpster diving a few day ago, and I found, as it seems a TV box multimedia player. Nonetheless I take these components due to the parts which can be harvest out of them. Well inside this one there was also a 320gb HDD, which is in a good condition as crystal disk info says (no bad sectors).

These were sold as the Telstra Tbox here and were often given out as free bonus when signing up for an internet/phone contract. I find a lot of them new in box, so I guess a lot of people who received them never used them. The firmware used here will not allow them to do anything until they connect and register with a server so I just pull the hard drive - usually a 320GB, but some have 500GB - and the USB Wi-Fi stick. From memory the Wi-Fi is an RAlink part - It works under Windows (using one now) and also works in some Samsung TVs.

dr.ido wrote on 2020-06-13, 09:18:

The firmware used here will not allow them to do anything until they connect and register with a server so I just pull the hard drive - usually a 320GB, but some have 500GB - and the USB Wi-Fi stick. From memory the Wi-Fi is an RAlink part - It works under Windows (using one now) and also works in some Samsung TVs.

Yes I concur that Windows 7 automatically installs drivers for USB stick, which I will also keep, but haven't tested it if it really works.