I think I finally fixed an Epox KT133 motherboard that's been hanging around needing repair for over 10 years. Back when I got it I was new to soldering. I had replaced the major caps but it had a shorted MOSFET. I replaced that MOSFET but it was unstable.
Over the past week I re-recapped it, replaced all 5 of those MOSFETs, and I *think* it's good now but I've only used memtest86.

I tested it with a Thunderbird at 1300/100 and 3x256MB PC133 and it eventually froze.
Clocked it down to 1200/100 with same RAM and it passed.
Guess what Epox listed as the highest supported CPU.
My PSU might be an issue, the 5V supply was sagging a bit.
You're also not supposed to run that many banks of RAM at PC133 speed on this chipset, something I had forgotten.

I was going to sell this board off. Now I don't want to. I think I should have one KT133 board around.

So in the search for boards to get rid of, I remembered having a few crappier KT133 boards (different brand) that I really don't want. I got them in a bulk lot in the late 2000s and had been selling them, but stopped because they were troublesome. Nowadays they could be worth something and I need to clear stuff out.
A few hours ago I dug one out (that used to run) intending to test it.
It turned on for a few seconds and a MOSFET smoked. I probably shouldn't have put a CPU in it.

USB mechanical keyboard mod for my Amiga 2000 -- I still need to hook up the reset pin to the Gary chip, but I need to extend it some to reach since this USB adapter was made for the Amiga 500. And yes, RGB does work on the keyboard. 🤣 So, this is a CIA adapter that I used a USB header to USB Female adapter --> Male to Female USB plate mount adapter --> USB PCI slot adapter to make it have a nice interface on the rear of the case to connect to. No hacking up the case to fit a USB connector somewhere. Just plugging in a USB cable to the USB port on the CIA adapter wouldn't fit because of the Vidiot board sticking up. I suppose you could use a 90 degree adapter, but I didn't have one in my parts bin.

The only thing other than reset which doesn't work at the moment is the # sign. It might just be the keyboard layout needing to be redefined on the Amiga side, or possibly the firmware on the CIA adapter that I need to compile and reflash.

Installed Windows ME on my Celeron rig. While I don't have any good memories of this OS from back in the day, I think I may have found a niche use case for it - better WDM driver support.

My ESS AudioDrive 1868F crackles in certain Windows games under 98SE when using VxD drivers. Switching to stock WDM drivers reduces the crackling, but doesn't eliminate it entirely. With WinME and its built-in WDM drivers, the crackling is nearly gone. It happens once on game startup and that's it.

And for anyone wondering why I'm even using the ESS 1868F under Windows, it's a native 44.1 KHz card which has the best resampling that I've heard so far. Even old DOS 11 KHz games sound great on it, and Windows 22 KHz games like StarCraft and Quake 2 sound super crisp. Much nicer than on my SBLive.

I'd use Windows ME on a machine where DOS sound compatibility doesn't exist.
But then again, usually Windows XP works fine on such a machine.

So I never use it. Maybe one day...

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2020-08-24, 14:46:

Installed Windows ME on my Celeron rig. While I don't have any good memories of this OS from back in the day, I think I may have found a niche use case for it - better WDM driver support.

My ESS AudioDrive 1868F crackles in certain Windows games under 98SE when using VxD drivers. Switching to stock WDM drivers reduces the crackling, but doesn't eliminate it entirely. With WinME and its built-in WDM drivers, the crackling is nearly gone. It happens once on game startup and that's it.

And for anyone wondering why I'm even using the ESS 1868F under Windows, it's a native 44.1 KHz card which has the best resampling that I've heard so far. Even old DOS 11 KHz games sound great on it, and Windows 22 KHz games like StarCraft and Quake 2 sound super crisp. Much nicer than on my SBLive.

My guess for the "crispness" would be the lack of or improper implementation of a low-pass filter that would normally eliminate high frequency aliasing noise above the Nyquist threshold . The extra noise, though not technically part of the original signal, can contribute to a perception of crispness or the presence of higher frequencies . At least, that's my non audio expert understanding of it .

Today I installed a new PRAM battery into my Beige Power Macintosh G3 Desktop. I'd previously also swapped about some RAM chips, so the new config is 416MB RAM. At first I thought it wasn't working, but then I forgot how long it takes for this Mac to reach the Happy Mac screen. All back to working order, played a couple of games just to ensure stability and booted into OS X 10.4 to do some more testing before switching back to OS 9 which is my preferred OS on this Mac.

Also tested out a PlayStation 2 controller on a Windows 98 1998/1999 PC build, using a cheap USB adapter I recently bought. The adapter is extremely picky, only working with 1 out of the 3 PS2 pads I have, but otherwise it worked fine. I personally prefer Mouse & Keyboard for most games, but it's good to have options and if I have friends using this PC they may prefer to use a controller. The only thing that doesn't seem to work is the vibration, probably needs some kind of special driver so I'll have to look into it.

I was going to go fix (yet another) two Dallas clocks in computers that need it...
Disaster struck me.
Out of cr2032 holders. -_-

wiretap wrote on 2020-08-24, 11:25:

USB mechanical keyboard mod for my Amiga 2000 -- I still need to hook up the reset pin to the Gary chip, but I need to extend it some to reach since this USB adapter was made for the Amiga 500. And yes, RGB does work on the keyboard. 🤣 So, this is a CIA adapter that I used a USB header to USB Female adapter --> Male to Female USB plate mount adapter --> USB PCI slot adapter to make it have a nice interface on the rear of the case to connect to. No hacking up the case to fit a USB connector somewhere. Just plugging in a USB cable to the USB port on the CIA adapter wouldn't fit because of the Vidiot board sticking up. I suppose you could use a 90 degree adapter, but I didn't have one in my parts bin.

The only thing other than reset which doesn't work at the moment is the # sign. It might just be the keyboard layout needing to be redefined on the Amiga side, or possibly the firmware on the CIA adapter that I need to compile and reflash.

That is just amazingly cool.

konc wrote on 2014-07-12, 18:22:

Just finished transferring all XT-Hercules (or simcga) capable games I own and could think of to a Schneider Euro XT. Time to s […]
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Just finished transferring all XT-Hercules (or simcga) capable games I own and could think of to a Schneider Euro XT.
Time to see now on a so-rare-yourself-and-your-geeky-things Saturday night what actually runs on the 512KB RAM this XT beauty has.
Sorry about the phone photos, I reallly don't know any better way to get a screenshot out of an XT running DOS 3.3 😀
(that amber... it can't be just memories, somehow I love it more than I probably should!)

It is beautiful! I wanted to get one, but managed to snag my Tandon PC in the meantime ( "Childhood Embers" - 286 AT with Hercules graphics build ). I love Hercules yellowish amber goodness.

One kind request: would you be able to add this list (second screenshot) to the thread about Hercules and mono-CGA games: Best CGA & Hercules monochrome games ?

OldCat wrote on 2020-08-26, 07:25:

One kind request: would you be able to add this list (second screenshot) to the thread about Hercules and mono-CGA games: Best CGA & Hercules monochrome games ?

Most classics are already there and this is by no means a "best cga & hercules games" list as per your thread requirements , it's more of a "native hercules or simcga-playable games that I enjoyed as a kid" list.
But I'll gladly check my games against what's posted over the other thread and add what's not already mentioned

Today I pulled together an ITX Windows 98 build. It has an 800MHz VIA C3 CPU soldered on, mediocre VIA UniChrome Pro graphics and mediocre VT1617A sound.

It had one PCI slot and I can either put a Voodoo 3 2000 in there and play some mid / "classic" Windows 98 games with the built in soundcard that is "fine" for Windows 98 but no DOS sound...

Or I can put a soundcard in there and play DOS games with working DOS sound but be limited to early Windows 3D accelerated games on the built in VIA UniChrome Pro graphics .

It's been a while since I've posted here. Thought this was interesting enough to post.

Tired of the noisy and puny heatsinks on my Voodoo Banshee and V4, I have went ahead and de-heatsinked them with some freeze spray and replaced the stock heatsinks with these nice Titan TTC-CUV3AB VGA coolers and a generous application of Arctic MX-4 thermal paste. While the heatsink barely went on the Banshee, with the holes being almost too close together for the push-pins to bend into, the pushpins go straight into the holes on the Voodoo4. On either GPU, though, the cooler sits not centered on the die, with a sizable amount of the bottom-right of the cooler hanging over the dies.

I might test thermals later, but right now I'm just happy to be able to now use whatever cooler I want with these guys. Soon I'll do the same with my V5, but that's for another day. 😁

Oh, and if you are concerned with what it was like to remove the heatsinks after about 15 seconds of freeze spray, the Banshee's needed a good amount of torque from my flat-head screwdriver to pop it off with a both satisfying and concerning crack, whereas the V4's actually kinda just almost slid off (if you are into that loud cracking noise, it's a let-down; personally, I'm happy it came off so easily). The adhesives 3dfx used must have changed over the years, and possibly gotten weaker in design?

Final note: I used a small piece of coffee filter between the die's green... PCB substrate (?) and the heatsink, so that the flat-head wouldn't scratch it so easily.

Banshee de-heatsinked:

V4 de-heatsinked:

Banshee re-heatsinked:

V4 re-heatsinked:

the_ultra_code wrote on 2020-08-26, 16:43:

It's been a while since I've posted here. Thought this was interesting enough to post.

Tired of the noisy and puny heatsinks on my Voodoo Banshee and V4, I have went ahead and de-heatsinked them with some freeze spray and replaced the stock heatsinks with these nice Titan TTC-CUV3AB VGA coolers and a generous application of Arctic MX-4 thermal paste.

I have a banshee with a stock HSF that is dead...how easy was it to remove using the freeze spray?

What was the benefit of freeze spraying? Was the cooler glued to the chip and would this help to break the bond?

I've never had problems with removing GPU coolers before. Just some screws and (usually very dried up) paste that would hold the fan and heatsink in place.

HandOfFate wrote on 2020-08-26, 19:58:

What was the benefit of freeze spraying? Was the cooler glued to the chip and would this help to break the bond?

I've never had problems with removing GPU coolers before. Just some screws and (usually very dried up) paste that would hold the fan and heatsink in place.

I believe they are referring to thermal adhesive like on this GeForce 256 DDR.

In the process of making backup copies of all my Amiga floppy disks. These are disks from the late 1980's and early 1990's (circa 1987/1992), so I need to preserve the content. For the image backup, I am using an Amiga with HDD and Workbench installed. Running Tracksaver-GUI for the task. So far I am half way through all the disks, only slightly under 300 to go. (two box's are not in the picture)

HandOfFate wrote on 2020-08-26, 19:58:

What was the benefit of freeze spraying? Was the cooler glued to the chip and would this help to break the bond?

I've never had problems with removing GPU coolers before. Just some screws and (usually very dried up) paste that would hold the fan and heatsink in place.

My one has no screws so must be using adhesive.

I have a problem with a build I made using a NOS case that sat in a damp mouldy storage apparently. It looks clean as a whistle but when I turn it on it fills the whole room with a rich mouldy smell. Yuck.

How to get rid of this? I think the smell is from within the PSU. Remove and give it a good soap wash, rinse and dry?

kolderman wrote on 2020-08-26, 19:41:

I have a banshee with a stock HSF that is dead...how easy was it to remove using the freeze spray?

Really easy. Just spray the heatsink for like 15 seconds, take a flat-head, put something underneath the flat-head to protect the card just a tad, twist, and there you go. You shouldn't have to twist too hard, and if you do... yeah no.

HandOfFate wrote on 2020-08-26, 19:58:

What was the benefit of freeze spraying? Was the cooler glued to the chip and would this help to break the bond?

I've never had problems with removing GPU coolers before. Just some screws and (usually very dried up) paste that would hold the fan and heatsink in place.

liqmat wrote on 2020-08-26, 20:06:

I believe they are referring to thermal adhesive like on this GeForce 256 DDR.

Yes. 3dfx and quite a few other cards from the mid-to-late 90s used thermal epoxy instead of thermal paste and screws/pushpins to attach the heatsink onto the GPU die, most likely to save costs. The freeze spray makes the epoxy brittle and helps it separate from the GPU die, so when you pop the heatsink off, +90% of it is attached to the heatsink, not the die. Any remaining epoxy I have found can be removed with a bit of finger-nail action to roughen it up, followed by Goo Gone to weaken it and then 91% isopropyl alcohol to remove Goo Gone residue and fully disintegrate the remaining epoxy.

wiretap wrote on 2020-08-24, 11:25:

USB mechanical keyboard mod for my Amiga 2000 -- I still need to hook up the reset pin to the Gary chip, but I need to extend it […]
Show full quote

USB mechanical keyboard mod for my Amiga 2000 -- I still need to hook up the reset pin to the Gary chip, but I need to extend it some to reach since this USB adapter was made for the Amiga 500. And yes, RGB does work on the keyboard. 🤣 So, this is a CIA adapter that I used a USB header to USB Female adapter --> Male to Female USB plate mount adapter --> USB PCI slot adapter to make it have a nice interface on the rear of the case to connect to. No hacking up the case to fit a USB connector somewhere. Just plugging in a USB cable to the USB port on the CIA adapter wouldn't fit because of the Vidiot board sticking up. I suppose you could use a 90 degree adapter, but I didn't have one in my parts bin.

The only thing other than reset which doesn't work at the moment is the # sign. It might just be the keyboard layout needing to be redefined on the Amiga side, or possibly the firmware on the CIA adapter that I need to compile and reflash.

I have the exact same adaptor in my 500-desktop machine. I have the exact same issue with the # sign. Regarding the reset, then you can use the jumper on the adaptor/converter. Changing the keyboard layout from English to Danish did not solve the issue with the # sign for me. Perhaps it is the kickstart version and Workbench version. I am running 3.1.4 and Workbench 3.1.4.1 (yes, the upgrade/bugfix install that solved some issues) I did notice that there are a modules disk for A500, one for A600 and one for A2000 between the ADF files, that are avaliable on the download page, when you register the AmigaOS 3.1.4 at hyperion. Perhaps that will solve the issue, yet that is a test for later, once I am done making ADF backup of all my disks. If you solve the issue, then please give a heads up.

The picture is from the build process.... I have upgraded the kickstart at a later point....