Caluser2000 wrote on 2021-06-17, 23:15:

Got the Shuttle Xpc sorted. About a minute and a half to boot to the desk which is Cinnamon on Linux Mint Debian Edition. If you look at the system info shot below you'll see how much resources this little beauty has. So if someone says Xwindows is slow or there is no modern operating system for older 32-bit x86 hardware that is regularly updated tell them to go pound sand 😉

I'll create a dedicated thread some time to explain the small issue I had a some time.

Peace out.

Just for giggles, I pulled out an old SFF Compaq with 1gig ram, 2.4ghz P4 and ATI Radeon 9550. Installing the operating system (LMDE) went ok, and I'll admit, it wasn't really slow when it first booted.

But loading firefox and going to a website caused it to slow to a bloody crawl. Youtube is completely out of the question.

I also tried playing a video on it, old SD DIVx file. It worked ok at standard size, but started chugging once expanded to full screen. I'm going to try VLC, see if it will perform better than the default media player.

The P4 is obviously not the best PC to be running a modern linux distribution. If I were a patient person, then I suppose I could use it to do some basic office style work. But I'm far too spoiled by actual fast hardware and the capabilities and snappy performance to even put myself through "trying to do work on really old PCs" again. I tolerated it while I was young because I couldn't afford any better, but always pushed for more performance.

Been working tirelessly on the new website since Friday - re-learning HTML, including how to use CSS Style Sheets and all that stuff I started using WYSWYG for years ago. Still kinda using WYSIWYG - but only really for writing the long spans of the site when I'd rather focus on the content rather than the code. I had to start over because I figured out how to make top-of-page-drop-down navigation!

The new site is going to consolidate all my old sites including The Creeping Network vintage x86 IBM Compatible site into it under the name "Creepingnet's World" - more as an extension of my YouTube channel How is this retro? Well, I am writing a lot of stuff to go on here that has to do with a ton of vintage stuff I tinker around with, and I'm going to be using my vintage computers for some of the artwork. The link is in my signature - only the index is uploaded. Got a 1GB USB I'm working off of to fit within NEocitie's capacity limit.

Also scrapped and started a new, original design for my FNaF Style DOS game in AGS. With recent event's, I'm taking it as an opportunity to distance myself from the drama going on over there and come up with something more inline with us older retro-DOS gamers in that style of gameplay.

creepingnet wrote on 2021-06-21, 17:50:

Been working tirelessly on the new website...

I like your website design. seems to work well on mobiles, text in menu have a good size and buttons seem responsive (even though most don't do anything).

Joakim wrote on 2021-06-21, 18:21:

creepingnet wrote on 2021-06-21, 17:50:

Been working tirelessly on the new website...

I like your website design. seems to work well on mobiles, text in menu have a good size and buttons seem responsive (even though most don't do anything).

Thx. Yes, the links on the online version don't work yet as I'm working on the full version offline on a USB stick. I want to have the base-level content and all flaws in navigation worked out before I upload everything. That way it's sort of like the Google Sites are continuing their life on this site instead without interruption. My deadline is 9/1/2021 because that's a little before Google shuts down my "Classic Sites" and gives me the option to use the new interface or delete them.

What's fun here is if I want to create a new page I don't need a modern PC to do it anymore. I can literally download one page to any of my vintage PC's and use as a template and just build off that and upload using FTP. There may still be some things I'll change over time but good to see it's working on mobile and other platforms than just my stuff (Linux, Windows 10) - I still want to do some testing on my vintage PC's in LInks and RetroZilla, so it'll be neat to see what it looks like on those platforms.

Jed118 wrote on 2021-06-19, 01:57:

then you are from the same generation 😁 I still have the tape in my retro car 😁

Which I spent 6 hours on this week just getting a replacement door on straight. Hinge pins - no body shop wanted to touch it, I ended up making it work with a 5/16ths trailer pin, a washer, and a few drillbits that I burned getting the orignal pin from 1984 out. I do not wish this on my worst enemy, that was some seriously tedious work.

Now I have to sand down the door and get a primer coat on at least, the door's like 4 different colors, my 2.5 year old counted them earlier 😐

Also in to cars 😀? I only have an old 57 vespa to restore, but haven't gotten around yet. Good luck with the car, they can be a pain to fix 😁

Working on this Pentium 4 2.6ghz machine I am running windows 98SE and windows Me to see which would be best.
However it does have some patches so now windows 9x runs with up to 4gb ram and 2tb hard disks I have a single partiton 500gb ATA133 Boot drive.
Retrozilla browser does some surfing but with a primitive noscript plug configured to save the processor from stressing over too modern java script.
It doesn't surf social media but thats healthy for the mind 😀
Suppose I could load linux but thats not what this is about 😁
Cables will be neatened up sooner or later.
Disk defragger and scandisk have been upgraded with Millennium versions in 98SE to cope with 500gb Hard disk, Also present is the classic DIskeeper lite my favourite defragger for dos windows with ridicilously massive disks and memory spaces..

PD2JK wrote on 2021-06-17, 07:37:

Testing some ECC modules. Not that the nForce northbridge will do anything with the ECC part, but it works. Four 2GB DDR2-800 mo […]
Show full quote

Testing some ECC modules. Not that the nForce northbridge will do anything with the ECC part, but it works. Four 2GB DDR2-800 modules from the Polish manufacturer Goodram (Micron chips). Don't buy their SSD's, they're not so 'good'. 😉

You can say that this machine is a bit of a troll-PC;
-ECC which is not being utilized.
-AMD Radeon HD 2900 XT; lots of heat while not being the best performer of its time. The first DirectX 10 card to market? But little DX10 games available at launch if I remember correctly.
-Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550, not officially supported, but it works. I also have a QX6850 laying around. I'm going to do some benchmarks in the near future, let's see if a bit more cache matters (Q9550) or the 166MHz higher clock speed (QX6850).
-Windows Vista x64, what can I say...
-Two 74GB Raptors RAID0 + 1TB WD Blue.

I have to say owning one of them motherboards the network is really responsive for gaming I may add that using drivers from the stock nvidia offering I would avise that the mocrosoft generic doesn't provide support for its built in firewall thus its vista drivers! also if using a high end nvidia card the boot logo will animate

All this week has been working on the website since the in-laws are coming over this weekend and my computing area is quite nice, so I'm not taking on any projects for a bit. I'm thinking once I'm happy with all the sections of my site I'll upload the most updated version - but still leave the google sites intact so people have time to catch on.

Not sure if it's retro or not but I'm dabbling with DOS Game programming again using AGS. Was a bit inspired by WIlly's Wonderland which I saw over the weekend. I had a kinda-sorta-working FNaF for DOS prototype going a few years ago, but with the light of Scott's contributions lately, and the fact I DO like that game style, I decided to go my own own and build something entirely my own design. Whether I actually finish and release this one is as of yet to be seen. But it'll be a fun experiment nonetheless. Using AGS 2.3.1 for DOS for the "Made on a 486" brag.

creepingnet wrote on 2021-06-23, 23:29:

All this week has been working on the website since the in-laws are coming over this weekend and my computing area is quite nice, so I'm not taking on any projects for a bit. I'm thinking once I'm happy with all the sections of my site I'll upload the most updated version - but still leave the google sites intact so people have time to catch on.

Not sure if it's retro or not but I'm dabbling with DOS Game programming again using AGS. Was a bit inspired by WIlly's Wonderland which I saw over the weekend. I had a kinda-sorta-working FNaF for DOS prototype going a few years ago, but with the light of Scott's contributions lately, and the fact I DO like that game style, I decided to go my own own and build something entirely my own design. Whether I actually finish and release this one is as of yet to be seen. But it'll be a fun experiment nonetheless. Using AGS 2.3.1 for DOS for the "Made on a 486" brag.

I wonder what we'd have for a side scroller combining commander keen and duke nukem
Such has been done by Elvis Presley, martial arts etc
Be happy to try out any games here!

Installing my Asus CT-479 and p4p800-e deluxe for the first time. My toddler wanted to stay up to 10 pm so I did not have time to install everything. Will perform some test on it tonight.🙂

It came with a seemingly sucky processor so I might get an upgrade.

Finished up the riser cards on my ATX-64 build. The only solder job left, is the Cartridge port connector. And correct any solder mistakes that I might have done. The next task is to check if I have bridged any legs on every single socket, check if there is continuity between all Volt inputs and check every single ground connections. Once that is done, I will power it on and check if every single voltages are correct throughout the machine. And then finally I can insert chips and run deadtest cartridge on it. I have also swapped the jumpers with fresh unused ones. I have gone with red for all SID setting jumpers and green for VIC-II setting jumpers.

Pic's or it did not happen!!!

That ATX 64 is sweet can't wait to see it running

chrismeyer6 wrote on 2021-06-24, 19:08:

That ATX 64 is sweet can't wait to see it running

Thanks.... Assembling the riser cards at the correct hight was a giant PITA. That job really put my skill's to the test, as there are no premade pinheader bars avaliable. I had to use three different types and the ones between the top and bottom is 3x10-pin bars and 1x6-pin bars. Each had to have the sides filed down, in order to be able to sit next to each other. No problem soldering the PCB's though.

This is a real labor of love and it's going to be sweet when it's done.

Dug out the album that I created back in 2001. I did the entire album on one day, mixed it and did a master copy in wav a year later. Yes, yes, I know it is one year (better late than never). Because I did the album as a kind of proof of concept, that it could be done in less than 24 hours. Then I only did 5 tracks.

But hey. 20 year anniversary of the "Diss'gus-Dingo" album. Did it, listened to it, and forgot about it. Fun to look back today. 😜
And only one other person besides me have been alowed to hear it. So I have no clue if it is good, ok or just plain shite. However she liked it.

One day, my closet shelf about 9 feet long suddenly collapsed, I was away at work, prompted complete clean out of my large collection of parts so our apartment staff can install new shelf, this time stronger.

The stuff is fine since shelf held up at one end, few boxes tumbled. The design of shelf is metal railing with a ledge for the hangers to hook on formed structural strength didn't buckle. Reason for this poorly made, 3 pieces of full length wood are nailed into drywall on 3 sides with this metal railing at front and glued which thin plywood loosely sits on (broken on impact along with 2 wood pieces ripped from the walls. This issue is one wall is a projecting from main wall vibrates easily no matter how gentle with impacts was the cause.

Reason I saying that, was shocked to find Asus 386DX with cache motherboard during clean out, that I was totally forgot about.

😀

Cheers,

Working on an NES that doesn't load games (well, SMB + Duck Hunt) and it boots the game with the cartridge toaster at the eject mode and not the insert horizontal mode (pressed down) after adjusting the bottom pins.

And dummy me didn't plug the controller port wiring in the correct spots (port 1 is now port 2, port 2 is now port 1), so it'll get sorted out and the edge connector will get the boiling treatment.

The one at the bottom works without issues (had to spray 99.9% Isopropyl Alcohol on the edge connector and it's good and grippy for how old the console is, which might've been a spare in case the other one didn't work after many years).

Here's the working one in its working glory.

Also greased the trigger on the Zapper since it was making a loud noise when I was playing Duck Hunt.

pentiumspeed wrote on 2021-06-24, 23:55:

One day, my closet shelf about 9 feet long suddenly collapsed, I was away at work, prompted complete clean out of my large colle […]
Show full quote

One day, my closet shelf about 9 feet long suddenly collapsed, I was away at work, prompted complete clean out of my large collection of parts so our apartment staff can install new shelf, this time stronger.

The stuff is fine since shelf held up at one end, few boxes tumbled. The design of shelf is metal railing with a ledge for the hangers to hook on formed structural strength didn't buckle. Reason for this poorly made, 3 pieces of full length wood are nailed into drywall on 3 sides with this metal railing at front and glued which thin plywood loosely sits on (broken on impact along with 2 wood pieces ripped from the walls. This issue is one wall is a projecting from main wall vibrates easily no matter how gentle with impacts was the cause.

Reason I saying that, was shocked to find Asus 386DX with cache motherboard during clean out, that I was totally forgot about.

😀

Cheers,

Reason why I use standing metal shelf's.... 40cm deep and enameled metal. (Basically high quality garage shelf's)

Site's back up. Just needed to e-mail Neocities. Worked on the site some more, fleshing out the NEC Versa Section currently - basically a series of comprehensive guides to the laptops beyond what's on google sites. Not uploaded yet. I'm thinking I'll host the file downloads on my Geocities.WS site, maybe with a backup repository of the files - since I have unlimited bandwidth, storage, and it means people with vintage computers and no TLS/HTTPS support can get to the downloads.

Tested the site on my LG Stylo 6 and the Versa M/75 this morning. Looks nice and is quite usable in both - although a little more spartan. Will probably try out in RetroZilla once the in-laws are done visiting.

I finally, FINALLY managed to get Wing Commander 3 working on my Piii build. Everything that could have gone wrong, went wrong, from dodgy audio drivers to gremlins crashing the game for using an USB mouse, along with parts taking months to arrive or not being up to the task, topping off with an SB16 dying on me, but the satisfaction of having it run reliably is simple bliss.