Pierre32 wrote on 2021-05-13, 01:11:

Shreddoc wrote on 2021-05-12, 22:31:

I'll see that and raise you my GBS-Control, which got the premium treatment of a kingly installation within one of the cardboard […]
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I'll see that and raise you my GBS-Control, which got the premium treatment of a kingly installation within one of the cardboard boxes my Ryzen processor came in. Mmmmm, pre-cut cooling hole!! 🤣

What a fit, though.

acme.jpg

Reside in comfort, little buddy!

Looks like you could load that up with tissues too.

"Looks like".

That's what you meant.

Farted around with the Unisys CWD-4002 and its MIDI-rate-compatible serial ports. Oh, boy.

Put together a "Sleeper PC" for a friend. 16gb of ddr2 800, Phenom ii x4 925, HD-6870 and a 200gb Intel ssd in a Dimension 4600 case!

tried swapping older soltek socket a motherboard in one PC for a slightly newer one in the hope of testing a spare athlon xp and a duron, problem after problem ending in black screen no beeps (but power) and then the cpu fan catch breaking! I dont think the motherboard is broken, but possibly the cpus might be problematic (although duron initially ok). Anyway, PC back to how it was and motherboard will go on testbed at some point for further investigation to see if it can be used. not every retro activity day produces dividends!

Got both issues sorted on my Wyse WY-2108 desktop: the keyboard's enter key has been sprayed down with 99.9% Isopropyl Alcohol in the contact plunger along with the side mounts in case they contact the board and the floppy drive by installing a multi I/O card (Promise EIDE Pro) since the Western Digital WD1003-WAZ MFM/Floppy controller wasn't working right (sector not found Track 0 bad errors) and the other multi I/O card refused to work (not ready errors).

Today just finished off my quick & dirty DIY pi1541 case/container job. It's not going to win any design awards, but it cost me nothing to make. It is functional and is better than just the bare circuit board sitting on top of my C64 -

It works well, the buttons all function as expected. I added some extra holes into the bottom of the container for ventilation purposes. All in all, this will be sufficient for now.

PTherapist wrote on 2021-05-13, 21:51:

Today just finished off my quick & dirty DIY pi1541 case/container job. It's not going to win any design awards, but it cost me […]
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Today just finished off my quick & dirty DIY pi1541 case/container job. It's not going to win any design awards, but it cost me nothing to make. It is functional and is better than just the bare circuit board sitting on top of my C64 -

It works well, the buttons all function as expected. I added some extra holes into the bottom of the container for ventilation purposes. All in all, this will be sufficient for now.

It looks good!

Shreddoc wrote on 2021-05-13, 01:43:

"Looks like".

pandemicbucks.jpg

That's what you meant.

This too! 🤣

I decided to change the config of my Pentium 4 retro computer a bit. I swapped out an IDE DVD-ROM drive for a SATA DVD-RW drive on account of a new 2-port IDE to SATA adapter I ordered. I retained the system's IDE CD-RW which left a vacant spot on the ribbon cable. So, I added and attached my LS-120 drive to the system.

After I verified that the BIOS identified it, I decided to test the LS-120 drive in a variety of OS's. Here are some interesting results:

- Windows NT 3.1 refuses to boot with the LS-120 drive attached; I suspect that it interferes with the ATAPI CD-ROM driver
- OS/2 2.1 ignores the LS-120 drive, but still initializes the CD-RW drive
- Apple Rhapsody DR2 properly identifies the LS-120 drive and auto-mounts inserted disks; it even triggers the eject mechanism from software

I haven't decided if I'll keep the system this way. I like the ability to read physical floppies quickly, but I tend to use the system's Gotek a lot more. I also don't like Windows NT's behavior with the LS-120. I might just have to live without this drive once again.

Not computer related, but something that have a relation to computers on it.....

I have been working on my battle vest for some time now, and this is as far as I have come. I have ordered a back patch, that covers most of the back, with a motif/picture of a wood carving from the middle ages. It is basically many hundreds of years old copy of memento mori artwork, that will go on the back. (I am in no way finished with my vest. Need more patches)

And yeah.... Computers are a big part of my life, so naturally it goes next to 90's Sepultura...

brostenen wrote on 2021-05-14, 11:46:

Not computer related, but something that have a relation to computers on it..... […]
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Not computer related, but something that have a relation to computers on it.....

I have been working on my battle vest for some time now, and this is as far as I have come. I have ordered a back patch, that covers most of the back, with a motif/picture of a wood carving from the middle ages. It is basically many hundreds of years old copy of memento mori artwork, that will go on the back. (I am in no way finished with my vest. Need more patches)

And yeah.... Computers are a big part of my life, so naturally it goes next to 90's Sepultura...

BattleVest-May-01.jpg
BattleVest-May-02.jpg

That is just too cool.

And (original) Sepultura as well! What a pairing!! Very impressed with this work so far.

That vest is sweet!

I tried this Slot1 PINE SI21 motherboard.
After installing CPU RAM VGA, I set the jumpers right.
Put an ATX power supply boot, and it starts, unfortunately it hangs at post 41 0d, also beeps endlessly, while changing various CPUs VGA and RAM.
The BIOS is award, and before the block it also makes one long and two short beeps, even if the VGA is present.
The only strange thing is in the POST CARD, the LED of the + 3.3V is off, I don't know if this is normal or not, by measuring the voltages on the mosfets the values ​​seem good, one at PIN2 has a low value (+ 1.48V) , is from Q5 (LX8384) maybe this causes it to fail to boot and crash.
I don't know what the + 3.3V mosfets are, maybe one of them is faulty.

Added a Bluetooth transceiver to my DMG-01 console and added a temporary speaker jumper block (open - Bluetooth, close - internal speaker) and it only powers on once the console's on to preserve the battery life on the CleanJuice USB-C battery.

I'd say it was a successful mod and the jumper block will get either a toggle switch or a push-in, push-out switch for the speaker/Bluetooth.

I still have the headphone jack installed on the system (added a plastic piece between the contact points on the jack to break the connection (speaker enabled without the headphones installed or disabled with the headphones installed).

Shreddoc wrote on 2021-05-14, 20:09:

brostenen wrote on 2021-05-14, 11:46:

Not computer related, but something that have a relation to computers on it..... […]
Show full quote

Not computer related, but something that have a relation to computers on it.....

I have been working on my battle vest for some time now, and this is as far as I have come. I have ordered a back patch, that covers most of the back, with a motif/picture of a wood carving from the middle ages. It is basically many hundreds of years old copy of memento mori artwork, that will go on the back. (I am in no way finished with my vest. Need more patches)

And yeah.... Computers are a big part of my life, so naturally it goes next to 90's Sepultura...

BattleVest-May-01.jpg
BattleVest-May-02.jpg

That is just too cool.

And (original) Sepultura as well! What a pairing!! Very impressed with this work so far.

Thanks.... And yes. We are wearing what tell the world who we are. No need to ask what you listen to. 😉

chrismeyer6 wrote on 2021-05-14, 20:23:

That vest is sweet!

Thanks. 😀 Still not done. I will post pictures when it is ready to be used.

Today I started my "1998 mega video cards compare" 😀

system I'm using

- ASUS P2B
- Pentium II 400MHz
- 128MB PC100 (a little overkill in 1998 but still period correct)

video cards

- 3dfx Banshee (Diamond Fusion Banshee)
- 3dfx voodoo2 8MB (Diamond Monster 3D II)
- 3dfx voodoo2 12MB
- 3dfx voodoo2 12MB SLI
- Matrox Millenium G200 (8MB SG)
- ATi Rage 128
- S3 Savage 3D (Hercules Terminator BEAST)
- nVidia RIva TNT (Diamond Viper V550 16MB)

framebuffer wrote on 2021-05-15, 14:12:

Today I started my "1998 mega video cards compare" :) […]
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Today I started my "1998 mega video cards compare" 😀

system I'm using

- ASUS P2B
- Pentium II 400MHz
- 128MB PC100 (a little overkill in 1998 but still period correct)

video cards

- 3dfx Banshee (Diamond Fusion Banshee)
- 3dfx voodoo2 8MB (Diamond Monster 3D II)
- 3dfx voodoo2 12MB
- 3dfx voodoo2 12MB SLI
- Matrox Millenium G200 (8MB SG)
- ATi Rage 128
- S3 Savage 3D (Hercules Terminator BEAST)
- nVidia RIva TNT (Diamond Viper V550 16MB)

If you have them please also include the i740 and Trio3D.
Every barrel needs a bottom after all.😉

Found an excuse to build an "spiced up" (I think a bit too much?) WinME machine:

Here are some specs:

Acorp 6VIA81P-133 (VIA 693/596B)
LG DVD-ROM/CDRW drive
Palit/ATI Radeon 7500 64MB
20GB IBM HDD (that came out of an IBM Netvista 6570 and sounds like a damn angle grinder yet it's as healthy as it can get)
Sound Blaster 16 PCI
400W Torrent Computers LC-B400ATX PSU (230-250W realistically, but at least I've enhanced it a bit so it doesn't go kaboom on me)
RTL8139C NIC
Pentium 3 500MHz Katmai (I feel like I should've gone with a Mendocino 466 or 500 but oh well, a Katmai will do just well.)
and of course, Windows ME.

Got a couple of ASUS 802.11b/g PCI adapters. Now my Pentium 3 PC (Win98&XP) is connected to the Internet.
And it no longer feels like some ancient device I rarely touch, but rather one more "tool" to get some things done.

I gave my Sound Blaster CT1350B the CMS upgrade this week, so I've been working through the CMS supported titles to test them. I'm logging results along with any notes required to get each game working. Might turn it into a thread at some point, so others can help fill in the gaps.