One of the most enjoyable things about building and maintaining an old DOS PC is that you can ALWAYS find some way to improve it!

I'm currently running my P133 (Baby-AT motherboard) with a NOS AT power supply that so far has worked fine, but I'm a bit paranoid about it failing (and taking something else out with it). I recently ordered an AT-ATX cable converter (Ebay) and an ENERMAX EG375P-VE from a seller who had several NOS up for sale on Yahoo Auctions JP for just around 20USD before shipping.

I thought I got myself an 8bit ISA serial card for 1Euro. But then I realized that its a female connector. Too few pins for VGA.
Did I buy a CGA/Monochrome video card?
Can I use it on a VGA monitor with a passive adapter?

Munx wrote on 2020-10-25, 18:10:

I thought I got myself an 8bit ISA serial card for 1Euro. But then I realized that its a female connector. Too few pins for VGA.
Did I buy a CGA/Monochrome video card?
Can I use it on a VGA monitor with a passive adapter?

What is the text on the main chip? I can't quite make it out from the photo... is it EICIO or BIGIO or something else?

It probably isn't an MDA, because it lacks the 16.000Mhz or 16.257Mhz oscillator. But you can confirm whether it's an MDA by trying to write a value to the CRTC cursor address register:

1C:\>DEBUG
2-I3BA
3F0
4-O3B4 0E
5-O3B5 55
6-I3B5
755
8-O3B5 AA
9-I3B5
10AA
11-

If you don't see "55" and "AA", it's not an MDA.

Aublak wrote on 2020-10-23, 11:47:

That simple, huh.

CT1350B can also be upgraded to support CMS using some Philips chips. It's super cheap and you can still get those chips on the web/ebay.

Some info:
http://nerdlypleasures.blogspot.com/2013/06/t … ms-upgrade.html

furan wrote on 2020-10-25, 20:48:

CT1350B can also be upgraded to support CMS using some Philips chips. It's super cheap and you can still get those chips on the […]
Show full quote

Aublak wrote on 2020-10-23, 11:47:

That simple, huh.

CT1350B can also be upgraded to support CMS using some Philips chips. It's super cheap and you can still get those chips on the web/ebay.

Some info:
http://nerdlypleasures.blogspot.com/2013/06/t … ms-upgrade.html

Yeah. I watched PCL's review on it. Still, that link you posted has more detailed info. I was intending to upgrade it eventually.

With that said, I don't even know if the card works. I'm still waiting on my Yamaha chip to arrive.

Aublak wrote on 2020-10-23, 11:47:

HanJammer wrote on 2020-10-23, 07:50:

Aublak wrote on 2020-10-22, 23:26:

I spurged today. I bought this all for $60.
I haven't identified some of it yet. I'm kinda curious about this weird Creative video card. And I found an extremely early Creative card. Game Blaster? If I'm not mistaken.

CT7230 is just MPEG2 decoder (PC-DVD Encore).

CT1350B - that's Sound Blaster 2.0 - you just need OPL2 chip (you can still buy them on eBay) and you are good to go (as long as the card works).

That simple, huh.

Thanks.

Yeah. Simple and cheap.
https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_tr … ym3812&_sacat=0

Also card will probably work without OPL2 (in which case no FM music for you, just the PCM sound).

Not sure if this is universally accepted as retro but I picked up a GTX 295 today for £25

Looking forward to putting it with my i7 860 also from 2009!

Awesome find with that GTX 295. Have you been able to test it yet?

No I've been sizing up my power supplies. I think my best PSU should handle it. VGA1 and VGA2 12v has 30a each and it's a 650watt PSU. The reviews state a need for 50a and a total PC power draw of 450 or so (with an overclocked 1366 i7)

Hi!

Just bought this old guy (case with speakers):

XT-Board with some expansion cards from a scrap lot. Board looks like new but DIN connector is broken. The cards seem to belong to the system. Didnt identify the card with the battery yet. Seems to be a Floppy / PAR /SER / GAME card with RTC?

One more ugly-beautiful pc for cleaning.

Looks awesome! Super clean design. I would definitely not call it ugly.

devius wrote on 2020-10-26, 20:18:

Looks awesome! Super clean design. I would definitely not call it ugly.

I meant it must be strange enough, unusual for me to buy it 😉

slimblin wrote on 2020-10-26, 16:44:

Hi!
Just bought this old guy (case with speakers):

WOW - AWESOME. I love it!

Predator99 wrote on 2020-10-26, 17:31:

XT-Board with some expansion cards from a scrap lot. Board looks like new but DIN connector is broken. The cards seem to belong to the system. Didnt identify the card with the battery yet. Seems to be a Floppy / PAR /SER / GAME card with RTC?

IMG_1335r.jpg
IMG_1334r.jpg

Yeah, exactly - multi I/O with RTC. Graphics card is CGA (very nice to have for debugging older hardware as it has composite out and works fine with Landmark Diagnostics) and the little card - MFM controller.

slimblin wrote on 2020-10-26, 20:16:

One more ugly-beautiful pc for cleaning.

I have one like this as well - it has dual-coloured MHz display (green + red).

And make sure to post the speaker case here: Re: The AT cases with built-in stereo speakers thread! (along with the pics of it inside!)

Both excellent finds anyway!

slimblin wrote on 2020-10-26, 20:16:

One more ugly-beautiful pc for cleaning.

I like the inverted tower designs (having the drives on the bottom instead of the top). We didn't get many of those in generic AT/ATX here in the states. I think maybe Compaq or Digital made a machine or two like that, but they are a rarity. Very nice! I wouldn't call it ugly.

HanJammer wrote on 2020-10-27, 00:05:

Predator99 wrote on 2020-10-26, 17:31:

XT-Board with some expansion cards from a scrap lot. Board looks like new but DIN connector is broken. The cards seem to belong to the system. Didnt identify the card with the battery yet. Seems to be a Floppy / PAR /SER / GAME card with RTC?

IMG_1335r.jpg
IMG_1334r.jpg

Yeah, exactly - multi I/O with RTC. Graphics card is CGA (very nice to have for debugging older hardware as it has composite out and works fine with Landmark Diagnostics) and the little card - MFM controller.

Iam guessing that longer ISA card is having dual floppy connectors.

Robin4 wrote on 2020-10-27, 03:04:

HanJammer wrote on 2020-10-27, 00:05:

Predator99 wrote on 2020-10-26, 17:31:

XT-Board with some expansion cards from a scrap lot. Board looks like new but DIN connector is broken. The cards seem to belong to the system. Didnt identify the card with the battery yet. Seems to be a Floppy / PAR /SER / GAME card with RTC?

IMG_1335r.jpg
IMG_1334r.jpg

Yeah, exactly - multi I/O with RTC. Graphics card is CGA (very nice to have for debugging older hardware as it has composite out and works fine with Landmark Diagnostics) and the little card - MFM controller.

Iam guessing that longer ISA card is having dual floppy connectors.

Yeah, seems so, but some of the logic chips are not populated so it may not work with 4 FDDs is not populated (also second UART socket is not populated as well)