schlang wrote on 2014-07-10, 17:38:

Don't know if ISA-USB is retro :) […]
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Don't know if ISA-USB is retro 😀

I'm truly sorry I never found the time to test it, but here is somebody else who had all the fun doing it:
http://www.toughdev.com/content/2018/04/usb-f … to-usb-adapter/

Spoilt myself with a completely random mid-1990s bigtower today:

What caught my eye was the top bracket with a DB25 and DE15 "VGA" connector:

Aside from the case I got a PSU, an keyboard and some adapter cables (seller asked me to take a pile of old books and wanted to bump price for a some old opticals - I declined):

Keyboard is a very squishy rubber dome, but this switch underneath is a big redeemer:

Switchable AT/XT, with caps lock /ctrl switchable as well (for the real XT experience).

As for the system, the odd bracket comes straight from the motherboard, a BCM SQ599:

One of the worst-performing So5 boards, but seminal as this is the first integrated UMA VGA chipset, a SiS 6202 that shares (limited EDO with asynch cache) memory bandwidth with CPU on an otherwise lackluster SiS5511 platform. Doesn't come close to i430FX without UMA VGA, activating the VGA halves that performance again... still, every integrated VGA chipset for PCs is a direct descendant of this beast.

Then the cards:

None-too-special Diamond 2MB S3 card and 8b Rockwell modem. Nice surprise on the sound card: Aztech MMSN847, with 2316R chipset, real OPL3 and onboard wavetable courtesy of an Aztech-relabeled Samsung synth chip.

Nothing truly special, but was sort of looking for an Aztech card with that synth (already have the MMSN826 with far better ICS synth), so happy about that. And the board is a nice historical monument if otherwise undesirable.

Can any of you good guys and gals help me identify the type and spec of the SMD components on P55C package?
I got hold of two battered Pentium MMX CPUs - 200MHz and 233MHz, and the 233MHz has the two encircled in red ripped off.
They seem simple to replace....

Pierre32 wrote on 2021-05-15, 00:10:

Nice, I was tempted by that one but with shipping to Aus it was just outside the impulse buy range. I thought it would make a neat pairing with my boxed Cardinal sound card:

Help configuring (and dumping) wavetable ROM - Cardinal DSP16 / MPC700plus

Glad it's gone to someone who will document and archive it properly.

Glad to report all the disks imaged nicely on my black behemoth 486 workstation. I will be boxing up the card and sending it your way for just the cost of shipping. The card was never used so still NOS. Just wanted to archive it all. Cheers!

I never get tired of looking at that big beauty.

luckybob wrote on 2021-05-20, 22:37:

I never get tired of looking at that big beauty.

Oh, you will after you see what shipping costs are to send that monster your way. 🤣

liqmat wrote on 2021-05-20, 22:48:

luckybob wrote on 2021-05-20, 22:37:

I never get tired of looking at that big beauty.

Oh, you will after you see what shipping costs are to send that monster your way. 🤣

HAHAHAHA. Not as much as having a large box full of different sound modules sent from Japan.... Paid way more for shipping than I did for the modules themselves... to the tune of a bit over $200 for shipping. And that was with having Buyee.jp combine everything into one package.

But the package did arrive in less than a week so that was nice. And they packaged it really well. Everything has good amount of bubble wrap. Paid an extra $15 for "protective packaging" which I am not even sure they do anything extra.

And to top it off, almost all shipping options are not even available right now and the default service they recommend that isn't available right now was quoted at over $300.

GuillermoXT wrote on 2021-05-20, 14:46:

Got this cute Mainboard today...can't wait for the weekend and build the system up 😁
IMG-20210520-WA0001.jpeg

Ah! Gorgeous, so clean and simple....

Actually, lurking these forums is starting to drag me to the dark retro-side and I've been feeling an itch to build a system in that same vein....

Bought a never opened box of Express Publisher v3.0 for DOS, includes the full manual and 3.5" HD disks that read perfectly in Winimage (will up images to archive org this weekend) for a few dollars at a local thrift store.
Nothing else good lately except some ammo for my 1950's rifles and pistols but that is a different vintage topic ;p

Latest purchases... just some random boxed items 🤣

Amazing sound card.. *drool*

The was another sound storm?

cyclone3d wrote on 2021-05-20, 23:39:

HAHAHAHA. Not as much as having a large box full of different sound modules sent from Japan.... Paid way more for shipping than I did for the modules themselves... to the tune of a bit over $200 for shipping. And that was with having Buyee.jp combine everything into one package.

But the package did arrive in less than a week so that was nice. And they packaged it really well. Everything has good amount of bubble wrap. Paid an extra $15 for "protective packaging" which I am not even sure they do anything extra.

And to top it off, almost all shipping options are not even available right now and the default service they recommend that isn't available right now was quoted at over $300.

Did you post photos of that yet?

Received ZIP VRAM chips for my ATI Mach32 card to upgrade it to "ATI Graphics Ultra Pro VLB" level.

These chips are not common and was only able to source 80ns parts, but should work just fine.

Now I only need to get a better RAMDAC.

tikoellner wrote on 2021-05-20, 08:37:

Got myself an interesting CRT today, which seems to be EGA monitor. It's Thomson 4460D. It requires some adjustment; we'll see if it works at all. I kinda like the design. EGA CRTs seem to be rare - It's the first one I have seen for sale for a long time.

ega1.png

ega2.png

Looks like the input signal is too high frequency?

assasincz wrote on 2021-05-20, 21:17:

Can any of you good guys and gals help me identify the type and spec of the SMD components on P55C package?
I got hold of two battered Pentium MMX CPUs - 200MHz and 233MHz, and the 233MHz has the two encircled in red ripped off.
They seem simple to replace....

I believe these are the chip capacitors, the exact type you'd need for that exact CPU would require you check through a data sheet from intel

you've certainly given yourself an interesting rescue task!

assasincz wrote on 2021-05-20, 21:17:

Can any of you good guys and gals help me identify the type and spec of the SMD components on P55C package?
I got hold of two battered Pentium MMX CPUs - 200MHz and 233MHz, and the 233MHz has the two encircled in red ripped off.
They seem simple to replace....

Desolder one and measure it.

My guess is these are 0.1 μF low ESR decoupling caps.

They are a very strange package type though..

assasincz wrote on 2021-05-20, 21:17:

Can any of you good guys and gals help me identify the type and spec of the SMD components on P55C package?
I got hold of two battered Pentium MMX CPUs - 200MHz and 233MHz, and the 233MHz has the two encircled in red ripped off.
They seem simple to replace....

Does the CPU still work? These capacitors are just for power smoothing, I lost one when removing the glued heatsink on mine, but it hasn't affected it's performance or stability. They are not immediately critical for CPU operation.