Testing what remains of my working 50-pin SCSI drives for an EISA build I'm hoping to start before years end. I rigged up the board and (EISA) controller on the bench and ran thru the basics on the following

full-height Seagate Wren 640MB from 1990-91
half-height Digital DSP 850MB from 1992
low profile(1") Quantum Fireball ST 6.4GB from 1997

These all passed as good (were all my original purchases back in the day)

Sadly, my last drive was a non-starter, literally - a Compaq 0662 1.05GB from 1994. Stone dead! 🙁 . Checked both sides of the pcb for damage but couldn't find any so I guess something has failed quietly, either on the pcb or the spindle motor. I didn't buy this myself but got it as a pulled freebe round about 1997-98 from our then server support guys, so its probably had enough.

I might have considered buying a couple of extras online, but not at the prices being asked.

Digged in my cellar for some machines I plan to swap
- Compaq Systempro LT (386 junkie is waiting for the case for ages allready)
- Tatung Sparc workstation (swap for a sun blade 1000)
- IBM 7011-250 Powerpc (swap for a Mac Pro dual Xeon)
Found some parts I allready forgot I own
- EISA graphic card (I will present in the according thread)
- Boxes with NIB EISA and microchannel boards like 3C770 EISA FDDI boards or Hercules Graphicstation Gold TIGA
- Tektronix X-terminals
- HP Vectra XU Dual PPro

aha2940 wrote on 2020-09-30, 00:34:

I've been playing "No one lives forever GOTY". Very fun game, too bad a re-release seems not to be possible now.

I discovered it two years ago. It's a shame I didn't sooner. I loved it from beginning to end !

I still need to play the sequel, I was stuck in the snow (poor sense of orientation, even in a FPS).

pan069 wrote on 2020-09-30, 00:26:

I'm rearranging a bunch of stuff and dug out my 386SX-20 based system. It's some no name OPTi based motherboard with an Intel i3 […]
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I'm rearranging a bunch of stuff and dug out my 386SX-20 based system. It's some no name OPTi based motherboard with an Intel i386SX-20 and an IIT 3C87X FPU, 4 megs of ram, a no name IO controller, a Trident TVGA9000C with 512kb and a Pro Audio Spectrum 16 (650-0060-53).

I love the case. I'm using one of those Startech front loading CF/IDE trays. It matches well with the other black elements on the case. The left digit on the turbo display has a doggy segment (I can live with it, adds to the charm).

My favorite is the case badge that simply says "Computer". 😀

PXL_20200930_000954618.jpg

PXL_20200930_001059061.jpg

That's a beautiful case!

xcomcmdr wrote on 2020-09-30, 06:14:

aha2940 wrote on 2020-09-30, 00:34:

I've been playing "No one lives forever GOTY". Very fun game, too bad a re-release seems not to be possible now.

I discovered it two years ago. It's a shame I didn't sooner. I loved it from beginning to end !

I still need to play the sequel, I was stuck in the snow (poor sense of orientation, even in a FPS).

I like a lot the sense of humor in this game. Also, the main character is very likeable, having personality with the dialogs that can have with others. I wonder if the fact that you play a girl made the game more or less popular...or if it didn't matter at all.

Retro-modern mixed activity. Installed an Indivision ECS V2.

Edit: it works!

Inspired by Robert B's PC builds [1], today I replaced a noisy 486 CPU fan with a Noctua NF-A4x10 FLX fan. Combined with the Startech 300W ATX PSU, this little machine is now super quiet. Love it...

[1] Hello, World! :D - Robert B's PC builds - oogle away freely :)

Edit: Thought I add some photos. I love looking at other people pics and maybe I'm not the only one:

My Aquarius MB-4DUV suddenly dislikes hard disks... Trying to get things back to work, I tested all of my VLB controllers.

No success yet...

On recommendation of some other forum users I monkeyed around with my first Asus TUSL2-C socket 370 board yesterday to see if I could get the rear USB ports to work and voila disabling +5vsb did the trick!

Now to address the new-to-me Quadro4 900XGL graphics card which had 4 capacitors bulge and shoot smoke/steam out their tops when it first powered on... seems to be working but I feel like it's running on borrowed time with those bulged caps - the black part at the bottom has pushed down and the top silver part is clearly convex upwards...

Managed to secure a rare copy of the PC version of Gex: Enter the Gecko. Gonna make a backup of the disc when it comes in, and keep it in good condition for as long as possible.

Also hoping to build a "new" old computer sometime soon.

Put this fun little system together out of the Job-Lot of parts I picked up the weekend. Originally it had a PII 233MMX, But in the lot was a Celeron 333 Mendocino but the board wouldn't post with it to having a ancient bios (P02). Updated the bios to P14 and the Celly now posts. The board also has both OPL3 & OPL4 populated which i think makes it a great candidate for a high end dos machine. Ignore the PIII sticker and DVD drivers. The case was missing the Blanking Plates for the drive bays.

That's an excellent board. I've got the same AL440LX in my Dell Dimension XPS D233 desktop PC, with the same OPL4 & OPL3 chips. It works wonderfully with Midi & FM, although the period correct case & original Dell PSU stops me from doing anything much beyond upgrading the video t a Voodoo 3 2000. That should be a very reliable machine, cool case too 😀

Thermalwrong wrote on 2020-10-01, 21:54:

That's an excellent board. I've got the same AL440LX in my Dell Dimension XPS D233 desktop PC, with the same OPL4 & OPL3 chips. It works wonderfully with Midi & FM, although the period correct case & original Dell PSU stops me from doing anything much beyond upgrading the video t a Voodoo 3 2000. That should be a very reliable machine, cool case too 😀

Yeah I'm really happy to have picked one of these up, and for it to have both Yamaha chips is a massive bonus. The case is indeed cool. It has a trick up its sleeve too! The Drive cage can be rotated so that the case can become a desktop case. I got two of the cases in the lot. One is in Tower orientation and the other is in desktop orientation!

A Voodoo/Voodoo2 pass through cable is just a standard VGA male to female correct?

TheAbandonwareGuy wrote on 2020-10-01, 23:49:

A Voodoo/Voodoo2 pass through cable is just a standard VGA male to female correct?

Yes but make sure it has as much shielding and EMR sinks as possible. Thicker the better, and it WILL make a difference.

kolderman wrote on 2020-10-01, 23:54:

TheAbandonwareGuy wrote on 2020-10-01, 23:49:

A Voodoo/Voodoo2 pass through cable is just a standard VGA male to female correct?

Yes but make sure it has as much shielding and EMR sinks as possible. Thicker the better, and it WILL make a difference.

I've got some external ferrite core choke things that go around VGA cables that I saved from some ATI kit I ran across that apparently was meant to correct shielding issues with certain X1xxx series cards. Should do the same for a Voodoo cable I figure.

Thoses cases designs look very good too ! (Nice power button)

Bancho wrote on 2020-10-01, 22:00:

Yeah I'm really happy to have picked one of these up, and for it to have both Yamaha chips is a massive bonus. The case is indee […]
Show full quote

Thermalwrong wrote on 2020-10-01, 21:54:

That's an excellent board. I've got the same AL440LX in my Dell Dimension XPS D233 desktop PC, with the same OPL4 & OPL3 chips. It works wonderfully with Midi & FM, although the period correct case & original Dell PSU stops me from doing anything much beyond upgrading the video t a Voodoo 3 2000. That should be a very reliable machine, cool case too 😀

Yeah I'm really happy to have picked one of these up, and for it to have both Yamaha chips is a massive bonus. The case is indeed cool. It has a trick up its sleeve too! The Drive cage can be rotated so that the case can become a desktop case. I got two of the cases in the lot. One is in Tower orientation and the other is in desktop orientation!

What case is that called, and where did you get it?

I have the same case, in a Baby AT form. Mine is yellowed though, and despite retrobrighting it twice both times the yellow returned in a year - it's a stubborn plastic. Not a bad case, but not one I really love either - actually I will rehouse my U5S system in it in a better case very soon..

Iv never bothered to retro-brite any of my cases. I know it can get monsterously ugly at worst (Some of the yellow'd SNES consoles iv seen).

But for computers? It's....kinda charming in a way. Makes it feel a bit more rough and industrial. Especially with a little bit of yellow on the front panel and some woodgrain on the side panels. Just the right amount of ageing. It really screams "classic old"computer personality!

I like my yellow'd cases 😁