I have 192-one and I didn't know about ISA variant 😮 Beautiful!

imi wrote on 2021-01-26, 18:10:

oh nice ^^ is that a "LWHA151A00" card with YMF719 by chance? if so I can add the name Xwave-128 to my list, I have one a few of those too ^^

edit: here should be a picture of the card in question download/file.php?id=90283&mode=view (the two on the right)

Yes, that's the one. Here's a photo of it.

Just so we're all on the same page:

Xwave was just the retail sound card branding used by Labway.
https://web.archive.org/web/20010309111516/ht … m/xwavepage.htm

I believe Labway cards can generally be identified by the "LWHA", though the fancier looking "Waveforce 192XG" doesn't seem to have this numbering, it should be functionally the same as any other YMF724 PCI card (though there are lots of cheap knock off cards that aren't made properly). I don't think Yamaha built the card because any examples I can find online say "Made In Indonesia", but they certainly took over the branding of it. It had it's own website!

The YMF718\719 and 724\744 are very different, so I wouldn't say that one is a PCI variant or an ISA variant of the same type of device. They both use Yamaha chips and have built in OPL3, but they're from a totally different generation, with the PCI based 724\744 being more focused on Windows support with hardware assisted GM\XG wavetable synth available under Windows (in a DOS box, but not in pure DOS). The 71x series are focused on DOS support and have no hardware wavetable assist at all, and instead rely on the CPU to run a software synth like S-YXG50 under Windows. S-YXG50 can be run on almost any sound card though, as far as I know.

Here's a great writeup of the features of the various YMF 724\744 based cards out there.
Yamaha YMF7x4 Guide

The Xwave brand was also put on non-Yamaha based cards like this ESS Allegro "Xwave 512":
http://telecommander.com/pics/links/Sound%20C … /essallegro.htm

yeah "variant" is the wrong word, they're just both labway cards with similar names and very similar box artwork x3

they were also resold by a lot of different companies apparently, as that one Xwave-128 in my picture has an Addonics sticker and I have a Xwave-192 card that was apparently sold by Genius.

I also have that Xwave-512 and I'm still confused as to why there is an actual XG logo on the card itself as there is nothing XG about it but the included softsynth at retail x3

imi wrote on 2021-01-26, 20:35:

yeah "variant" is the wrong word, they're just both labway cards with similar names and very similar box artwork x3

they were also resold by a lot of different companies apparently, as that one Xwave-128 in my picture has an Addonics sticker and I have a Xwave-192 card that was apparently sold by Genius.

I also have that Xwave-512 and I'm still confused as to why there is an actual XG logo on the card itself as there is nothing XG about it but the included softsynth at retail x3

I'm not sure, but I would guess that Addonics and Genius are other brands affiliated with Labway, as most of those cards also have an LWHA FCC ID.

Pretty confusing for consumers, that's for sure.

As for the XG branding... yeah, I've seen that on some cards that have nothing to do with Yamaha. These kinds of things would have been a huge deal back in the early 90s, but by the late 90s no one seemed to care about PC MIDI standards. Imagine a company just printing the General MIDI logo directly onto any random sound card back in 1994 because it could be connected to a synth through MPU-401. 🤣

Labway is probably just the OEM for these specific cards, as Addonics and Genius sold a lot of other things too.

I mean to be fair they did include the XG midi softsynth in the box, so the logo is somewhat warranted, it's just weird they printed it on the card without there being actual XG hardware on it and not just on the box ^^

Today this MB arrived, a PCChips M747 (PC100) Slot1 Baby-AT.
It has 3 DIMMs for a maximum installable of 384MB.
Video is integrated, SiS 6326AGP with 8MB on-board, and unfortunately there is no AGP slot.
The audio is integrated is SoundPRO, the chipset is BXPRO but in reality it is a SiS both the NB and SB.
For PS / 2 USB and IR you need an ATX form Card (which I don't have).
Despite being an MB AT, there is also an ATX connector for the power supply.

imi wrote on 2021-01-26, 20:52:

Labway is probably just the OEM for these specific cards, as Addonics and Genius sold a lot of other things too.

I mean to be fair they did include the XG midi softsynth in the box, so the logo is somewhat warranted, it's just weird they printed it on the card without there being actual XG hardware on it and not just on the box ^^

Right, I forgot that you actually need a license to use the softsynth, so they technically did give you something you didn't have before (not the case with my GM example)... but printing it on the card was definitely a stretch. Back in the day it probably made some kind of sense, but in this world of "Hey, I found a thing in a pile of junk, and has an XG logo!" it seems pretty odd. 😀

I had a few boxed Asus A7V mothboards a few years ago, and they came with S-YXG50 license certificates like the one posted earlier even though the board had NO integrated sound. Talk about weird.

PC@LIVE wrote on 2021-01-26, 21:09:

Today this MB arrived, a PCChips M747 (PC100) Slot1 Baby-AT. It has 3 DIMMs for a maximum installable of 384MB. Video is integra […]
Show full quote

Today this MB arrived, a PCChips M747 (PC100) Slot1 Baby-AT.
It has 3 DIMMs for a maximum installable of 384MB.
Video is integrated, SiS 6326AGP with 8MB on-board, and unfortunately there is no AGP slot.
The audio is integrated is SoundPRO, the chipset is BXPRO but in reality it is a SiS both the NB and SB.
For PS / 2 USB and IR you need an ATX form Card (which I don't have).
Despite being an MB AT, there is also an ATX connector for the power supply.

Re: PC100 M747 - The bane of my existence

Ordered another board for the Versa 40EC (Blew the other one diagnosing LCD panels) - thinking about picking up a $58 NL6448AC30-06 or -10 - so I can have those three laptops up and running while I figure out the NL6448AC30-12 that only works with a certain board installed in my M/75 (and gets stupid hot), or finish grafting together a good, working NL6448AC30 out of the -03 and -10 from the old M/75. I'm replacing the faulty logic board on the -10 with the one from the -03 and putting FFC connectors on both sides so I can just swap out cables and boards at will without soldering.

Got the Ultralite In - crumbled like a cookie. Tempted to Jigsaw Puzzle it back together if I can figure out why the logic board is not taking power - including battery status. Maybe if I BS+SG it back together, I'll do some Epoxy and some aluminum or fiberglass mesh in some spots.

Still keeping the old boards, maybe if I fix them and get them working, I'll put them up for Auction on E-bay for other people's NEC to be brought back to life. Two boards have something wrong with power to the LCD, the other two won't POST at all.

megatron-uk wrote on 2021-01-26, 15:22:

Just bought an EMS memory card to go in my 286

I think I only knew of the EMS memory type from starting Wolfenstein 3D.

"Come on stacked blocks, turn green!"

creepingnet wrote on 2021-01-26, 21:29:

Ordered another board for the Versa 40EC (Blew the other one diagnosing LCD panels) - thinking about picking up a $58 NL6448AC30-06 or -10 - so I can have those three laptops up and running while I figure out the NL6448AC30-12 that only works with a certain board installed in my M/75 (and gets stupid hot), or finish grafting together a good, working NL6448AC30 out of the -03 and -10 from the old M/75. I'm replacing the faulty logic board on the -10 with the one from the -03 and putting FFC connectors on both sides so I can just swap out cables and boards at will without soldering.

Got the Ultralite In - crumbled like a cookie. Tempted to Jigsaw Puzzle it back together if I can figure out why the logic board is not taking power - including battery status. Maybe if I BS+SG it back together, I'll do some Epoxy and some aluminum or fiberglass mesh in some spots.

Still keeping the old boards, maybe if I fix them and get them working, I'll put them up for Auction on E-bay for other people's NEC to be brought back to life. Two boards have something wrong with power to the LCD, the other two won't POST at all.

I have had similar MB PCChips in the past, but none of BXPRO.
I have an i810 M766 chipset, which has been my PC for about 10 years, a few years ago I upgraded the Celeron 400 to 533, then I put a PIII 1000-100 with Slot1-370 adapter.
Other MB PCChips M741 (Slot1-370) but with SiS chipset, with a PIII 500, slow with the Celeron 500, slow also with the PIII, I think it is the SiS chipset that slows down, because on an ASUS I have the same chipset and it is slow that too.
As soon as I can post something in your link.

Bought a CD-ROM + external FDD enclosure for my Toshiba Satellite Pro 410CDT laptop (made an offer and got accepted after a minute or two).

PC@LIVE wrote on 2021-01-26, 21:09:

Today this MB arrived, a PCChips M747 (PC100) Slot1 Baby-AT. It has 3 DIMMs for a maximum installable of 384MB. Video is integra […]
Show full quote

Today this MB arrived, a PCChips M747 (PC100) Slot1 Baby-AT.
It has 3 DIMMs for a maximum installable of 384MB.
Video is integrated, SiS 6326AGP with 8MB on-board, and unfortunately there is no AGP slot.
The audio is integrated is SoundPRO, the chipset is BXPRO but in reality it is a SiS both the NB and SB.
For PS / 2 USB and IR you need an ATX form Card (which I don't have).
Despite being an MB AT, there is also an ATX connector for the power supply.

This remains me one thread:
PC100 M747 - The bane of my existence

I got a Biostar P4M890-M7 SE, Intel Core2Duo E4600 and 2GB DDR2 Memory for my Win98/Linux build to go with the ASUS X850Pro PCIe I got a few days ago.

Trying to decide on a Linux distro to install on this..

I've bought ATI Radeon X1650 PRO box. The condition is pretty good, I'd say it's almost brand new. Paid $ 25.
The second item is an ASUS Triton 78 heatsink for AMD Socket 939. Paid $ 25. The fan was not working properly, it was shaking. I had to replace it, but except that it works pretty well. Now it is time for some serious overclocking of my Athlon64 X2 4200+ (S939).

The hardware goes straight to my "Windows 2000 overkill build" which already has dual core Athlon64 X2 4200, 2GB of DDR1 450 and 960 GB SSD 😁

winuser_pl wrote on 2020-12-23, 16:03:

While I've been in Poland I've bought these PC cases. These are brand new! Our local shop "ProLine" put huge discount on some "o […]
Show full quote

While I've been in Poland I've bought these PC cases. These are brand new! Our local shop "ProLine" put huge discount on some "outdated" products. These are brand new, packed in an original cartoon package. I'm stunned.
The price for 4 PC cases was ~ 47 USD.

Hi, do any of these PC cases have a removable motherboard tray? I would like to buy one of them and it is important to me.

Got these cards in the mail yesterday...

1. Maxi Gamer 3D Voodoo1
2. ASUS V6600MX/32M GeForce 256 SDR
3. Creative 3D Blaster CT6670 Voodoo2 8Mb
4. Diamond Monster 3D II 12 Mb
5. Creative SB16 value CT2810
6. Creative SB16 CT2290

The good:

• the GeForce 256 is working

• the 12Mb Voodoo2 is working(tested only with 3DMark 99), but when working anything in 2D mode, the screen flickers on any key pressed on the keyboard or mouse click. Maybe it's a driver issue

• the CT2290 is sort of working, when tested with the diagnose.exe, I can hear the 8 bit and 16 bit sounds, but I can't hear the synthesized music. It has at least one cut trace on the back of the card, but it is an easy fix

The bad:

• the Maxi Gamer 3D it's a wreck! A lot of bent pins on the FBI chip, but the worst is pin 240 which is ripped off from the chip 🙁. also has a few SMDs missing...

• the CT6670 has a few bent pin on both TMUs and also on the FBI chip, but nothing unrepairable. Also it has a lot of SMD caps missing form around the empty memory "slots" from the back side of the card. I don't think it worth spending my time to repair this card, maybe I'll harvest de memory chips to upgrade my other 8Mb Diamond Voodoo2

Didn't have time to test the CT2810... I'm a little bit disappointed about the two Voodoo cards, but hey, that's it!

9600 Pro Sapphire:
[img]https://ibb.co/JQ57qJF/[img]

This popped up the other day and I sent a couple offers. Seller finally responded today and accepted. I'm kind of surprised no one nabbed it at the normal price, but I'm guessing the not-very-descriptive title would be to blame there.

Based on my research, it should be a Gainward Tseng ET4000 W32i VLB, likely 2MB.

One of these days I'm going to do finally set up a 486\586 benchmarking machine to test all of my VLB cards. Others have done VLB benchmarks, but there are just so many models and variants that there is inevitably some card I have which is missing from them. I now have an assortment of w32p, w32i, S3 805 and 868, Trio32, WD90C33, ALG2228, CL54(24,26,28 and possibly a 5434, obscured by a sticker), what I think is an ARK1000VL (has a sticker on it) and several Trident cards. I have multiple variants of some of them, so I intend to compare them all and post the results along with pictures so that we can see the range of performance between different implementations of some of the more common cards (mainly CL based).