Doing a wee project on my old P200mmx box. I'll create a thread specifically for for it. I'm sure it'll bring sight to the blind and perform other wonderful miracles... 😉

Stay tuned......

MotoPete wrote on 2021-06-28, 02:55:

Modded a RTC to accept a CR2032, no more CMOS errors on POST now!

Good job, modify those bastards. The one on my ECS SI5PA AIO still holds enough power. But one day...

Well, still waiting on the insurance on the motherboard package that got a hole pocked in it.

Worked yesterday and today on CPU trays designed to fit inside 6" x 10" anti-static bags.

download/file.php?mode=view&id=113353

Printed out single-CPU samples for fitting before working in the trays.

I desoldered and reflashed a plc32 bios chip.
Soldered a socket and now, after 13 years, I 100% got back an old 939 board.
Added a second socket on the free dual bios socket and boots ok even from there.

When I say I "hold on to things" 😀

Updated the website - now I have all the NEC Versa downloads on here, doing hosting for files on the old Creeping Net Classic site (geocities.ws) for a "Lightspeed's Reference Page" type webpage. I also massively updated the NEC Versa section to have all the info I have on screens and whatnot.

Also did some work on the NEC's this weekend after the in-laws left. Started attempting to restore/rejuvinate the original batteries - I have 2 OP-570-4701 smart batteries, and an OP-570-4001 from the Ultralite that fell apart. I got the Ultralite battery back to life. I might be rigging up a rejuvination rig for old laptop batteries. The V/50 runs under it's own power now, not long, but it runs. I'm using the guts from a Skill NiMH cordless drill battery charger to zap em and it seems to work really well.

Really want to get a spot-welder so I can re-cell those packs eventually though. However I'm surprised the 27 year old cells in the V/50 and the 2 P/M packs can hold a charge at all, let along enough of one to run for 10-20-30-ish minutes.

Turbo -> wrote on 2021-06-20, 20:56:

Got an untested Legend QDI Socket 370 motherboard P6V693A/A9 without, I believe, north bridge heatsink. I've installed an Intel Celeron 400 MHZ CPU and turns out she works fine. However, I only tested it in DOS. I hope I will find appropriate drivers when Windows 98 installation comes in order.

Hi
can this help u ?
https://archive.org/details/qdi-niv-18

Lots of puzing with Versas and batteries. The 40EC's screen power connector somehow came loose, so I fixed that. Getting that one primed for the wife. I find cycling the dumb battery for the 40EC/V50 is netting me more runtime the more I use it, crazy since that's one of the 27-28 year old batteries. My Smart battery that works in the M/P has a weird memory effect going on but it still gets around 20-30 minutes runtime at worst so I'm happy - for now. Never fully discharges though.....so I"m going to figure that one out.

DOS Tweaks....

Got FLMAIL Working on my 800x600 Versa M/75 - a bit funky though since the pallet in 800x600 8-bit (256 color) mode is a bit jacked up, but it's usable. Seems UniVBE gives some extra speed - works with a perfect pallete in a higher color depth when docked. Early laptop screens had limitations in wiring that sometimes limited you to a lower palette when mobile - so I might build dual Batch FIles (Docked.bat and undocked.bat - which I Do with the games that use the virtual CD-ROM as well as the CD-ROM goes up a letter when docked).

Also fixxed JEMM386 to not interfere with my Cisco Aironet WiFi Card, really improves internet performance with 710K DOS RAM free to run - whcih is how I've been Running Docked this whole time because somehow the SMC 8416 does not have a problem with this.....probably different firmware set resources, but it works, so I'll let sleeping dogs lie.

Well, at least the USB is unreliable in my XPS 8700 (fairly convinced it's the "updated" driver and the old one was purged in the Intelpocalypse), so at least it isn't boring.

I continue to revise the CPU trays, reduced the weight on the first model from 73 grams to 53 grams to save on filament and print time.

download/file.php?mode=view&id=113459

download/file.php?mode=view&id=113460

The larger trays you usually see may fit in a motherboard anti-static bag, but I happen to have these 6" x 10" bags for expansion cards, so it made sense (and they are readily available, 152mm x 254mm for people with a fear of fractions).

I have one or two minor revisions to do, probably not worth disposing of this one. Coming up, sockets 478, 775/115x, Turion (754)/Socket M/P, and 939/940/AMx.

Also, just as Cato the Censor ended every speech with "Carthago Delenda Est," I should end every post with "I have to pare down this massive pile of junk!"

Almost finished testing my ATX64 board with a multimeter. All voltage lines and ground, have perfect continuity. All I am missing to test before I dare to insert chips, are to check if socket pins are bridged. Then I can test voltage levels on all sockets. If things turn out positive, then I will insert all chips. So far all soldering have been done without mistakes at all. Nice! 😜

Still need to make that custom bin file with the roms, and have it flashed to a single AT28c256 chip.

Watching the demo of Kiloblaster in DosBox on my P200mmx linux box..😉

brostenen wrote on 2021-06-29, 22:06:

Almost finished testing my ATX64 board with a multimeter. All voltage lines and ground, have perfect continuity. All I am missing to test before I dare to insert chips, are to check if socket pins are bridged. Then I can test voltage levels on all sockets. If things turn out positive, then I will insert all chips. So far all soldering have been done without mistakes at all. Nice! 😜

Still need to make that custom bin file with the roms, and have it flashed to a single AT28c256 chip.

Yay!! This is getting exciting can't wait to see it working.

I finally returned the defective EVGA W3 450watt that treated me to 3 power ons before dying. Bestbuy refunded my money but wouldn't swap it out for a new one. Naturally it's no longer $29.99 on sale, but full MSRP. Came home with a $45 EVGA 600watt PSU, put it in my Phenom II Sleeper.

Good news is everything works! Bad news I can't install Windows 10 on it with this bios no matter what settings I change. Looking into it apparently the final 2012 Beta bios fixes ACHI issues and SSD compatibility so next order of business is a bios flash.

Here are a couple pictures of the "retrofitted" Dimension 4600 Phenom ii sleeper build. WIP

Today I reached a milestone with my ATX64.

No bridged sockets, and then I powered it on for the first time. All voltages are perfect. I checked for 12 and 9 volt on SID (old and new SID) plus 12 and 5 volt on VIC-II (old and new VIC-II). Both VIC-II and dual SID turned out perfect. powered off, inserted all logic chips and went over the board again. All voltages are perfect and spot on.

Happy to report, that the build is done (soldering wise), well, nearly... Except for the cartridge slot connector. Still need to source it, so I can run deadtest on the machine. No solder mistakes so far.

ODwilly wrote on 2021-06-30, 04:30:

Here are a couple pictures of the "retrofitted" Dimension 4600 Phenom ii sleeper build. WIP

Glad that fitted okay. Some Dells of the P4 era have their PSUs too close to the usual PS/2 keyboard socket position so regular mATX boards won't fit by a few mm.

brostenen wrote on 2021-06-30, 09:20:

Today I reached a milestone with my ATX64. […]
Show full quote

Today I reached a milestone with my ATX64.

No bridged sockets, and then I powered it on for the first time. All voltages are perfect. I checked for 12 and 9 volt on SID (old and new SID) plus 12 and 5 volt on VIC-II (old and new VIC-II). Both VIC-II and dual SID turned out perfect. powered off, inserted all logic chips and went over the board again. All voltages are perfect and spot on.

Happy to report, that the build is done (soldering wise), well, nearly... Except for the cartridge slot connector. Still need to source it, so I can run deadtest on the machine. No solder mistakes so far.

ATX64-Voltages-All-OK.jpg

That's quite awesome. How long till you think you'll do your first functional power up?

chrismeyer6 wrote on 2021-06-30, 13:30:

brostenen wrote on 2021-06-30, 09:20:

Today I reached a milestone with my ATX64. […]
Show full quote

Today I reached a milestone with my ATX64.

No bridged sockets, and then I powered it on for the first time. All voltages are perfect. I checked for 12 and 9 volt on SID (old and new SID) plus 12 and 5 volt on VIC-II (old and new VIC-II). Both VIC-II and dual SID turned out perfect. powered off, inserted all logic chips and went over the board again. All voltages are perfect and spot on.

Happy to report, that the build is done (soldering wise), well, nearly... Except for the cartridge slot connector. Still need to source it, so I can run deadtest on the machine. No solder mistakes so far.

ATX64-Voltages-All-OK.jpg

That's quite awesome. How long till you think you'll do your first functional power up?

Thanks. 😀

I have to purchase nearly all the custom chips now. I have the large 64-Pin PLA and an ARMSID already. Then modify one of the ROM files, combine them and find someone that can burn it for me. I am guessing that it might take a couple of month's from now, unless I can get the PC parts and Playstation stuff sold, that I have put up for sale. Monthly budget are low for computer parts.

Received an 8GB CF card in the mail, and I'm trying to determine what to do with it. I have a 2GB in my 486, an a 4GB in my Pentium tower. I may just chain-upgrade them and use the 2GB card as possible boot media for another computer.
I now have all of the equipment I need to remove the dead DALLAS chips from the two inflicted boards I have, but I have almost no motivation to do actually do it. I even have replacement chips and sockets. Eh, a project for a later day, I suppose. The two old systems I actually use don't have DALLAS RTC chips anyway.
Barring ludicrous storage enhancements or hunting down better video cards, there are no other upgrades or improvements to what remains of my collection that I feel would be worth the effort.

Caluser2000 wrote on 2021-06-29, 23:38:

Watching the demo of Kiloblaster in DosBox on my P200mmx linux box..😉

What distro of Linux is that?

I am working on building a Win-95 gaming computer that I would have liked to have back before Win-98 came out.
I think I had an AMD 333 or Pentium II 333 or Pentium II 300 ( I don't remember ) but it was just for everyday use. Not built for gaming.
So I want to build one for gaming now.