darry wrote on 2020-06-17, 02:54:

If the Powermate 433 is similar to a Powermate 433D , there seems to be some info. https://support.necam.com/download/pm486ipb […]
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RussellM wrote on 2020-06-17, 00:16:

Spent the whole day trying to get some sort of documentation and/or resources for a Dell Netplex 425s/p and an NEC Powermate 433. All I can find online seems to be a magazine advertisement and I think there’s one or two pictures of the NEC, maybe one of you folks here know something I don’t. Seriously considering creating some sort of online visual archive, since I have an ever growing collection.

408FD9AF-3F84-4BF1-AAA0-DBC12AB883E3.jpeg

If the Powermate 433 is similar to a Powermate 433D , there seems to be some info.
https://support.necam.com/download/pm486ipb.pdf
https://support.necam.com/download/180968sr.pdf

EDIT: If you are really luck, since Packard Bell and NEC merged their PC operations in the1990s, you might be able to something out of the Packard Bell ftp dump on archive.org .

Ah great find, I’ll have to scan through the components list and compare, apart from the extra drive bays it looks to be a very similar machine. Maybe just an updated model with exactly that, space for more drives.

The netplex is proving to be the real elusive one. Lots of reference to other models though, hoping I can find another owner.

RussellM wrote on 2020-06-17, 03:03:

darry wrote on 2020-06-17, 02:54:

If the Powermate 433 is similar to a Powermate 433D , there seems to be some info. https://support.necam.com/download/pm486ipb […]
Show full quote

RussellM wrote on 2020-06-17, 00:16:

Spent the whole day trying to get some sort of documentation and/or resources for a Dell Netplex 425s/p and an NEC Powermate 433. All I can find online seems to be a magazine advertisement and I think there’s one or two pictures of the NEC, maybe one of you folks here know something I don’t. Seriously considering creating some sort of online visual archive, since I have an ever growing collection.

408FD9AF-3F84-4BF1-AAA0-DBC12AB883E3.jpeg

If the Powermate 433 is similar to a Powermate 433D , there seems to be some info.
https://support.necam.com/download/pm486ipb.pdf
https://support.necam.com/download/180968sr.pdf

EDIT: If you are really luck, since Packard Bell and NEC merged their PC operations in the1990s, you might be able to something out of the Packard Bell ftp dump on archive.org .

Ah great find, I’ll have to scan through the components list and compare, apart from the extra drive bays it looks to be a very similar machine. Maybe just an updated model with exactly that, space for more drives.

The netplex is proving to be the real elusive one. Lots of reference to other models though, hoping I can find another owner.

For some reason, the Packard Bell ftp site archive is no longer on archive.org . I happened to have access to a copy, but did not find anything useful .

darry wrote on 2020-06-17, 03:08:

RussellM wrote on 2020-06-17, 03:03:

darry wrote on 2020-06-17, 02:54:

If the Powermate 433 is similar to a Powermate 433D , there seems to be some info. https://support.necam.com/download/pm486ipb […]
Show full quote

If the Powermate 433 is similar to a Powermate 433D , there seems to be some info.
https://support.necam.com/download/pm486ipb.pdf
https://support.necam.com/download/180968sr.pdf

EDIT: If you are really luck, since Packard Bell and NEC merged their PC operations in the1990s, you might be able to something out of the Packard Bell ftp dump on archive.org .

Ah great find, I’ll have to scan through the components list and compare, apart from the extra drive bays it looks to be a very similar machine. Maybe just an updated model with exactly that, space for more drives.

The netplex is proving to be the real elusive one. Lots of reference to other models though, hoping I can find another owner.

For some reason, the Packard Bell ftp site archive is no longer on archive.org . I happened to have access to a copy, but did not find anything useful .

I think that this is for the Netplex 425S/P (It is linked under 4xxS/P) :
https://web.archive.org/web/19961222130910/ht … SIP/default.htm

darry wrote on 2020-06-17, 03:20:

darry wrote on 2020-06-17, 03:08:

RussellM wrote on 2020-06-17, 03:03:

Ah great find, I’ll have to scan through the components list and compare, apart from the extra drive bays it looks to be a very similar machine. Maybe just an updated model with exactly that, space for more drives.

The netplex is proving to be the real elusive one. Lots of reference to other models though, hoping I can find another owner.

For some reason, the Packard Bell ftp site archive is no longer on archive.org . I happened to have access to a copy, but did not find anything useful .

I think that this is for the Netplex 425S/P (It is linked under 4xxS/P) :
https://web.archive.org/web/19961222130910/ht … SIP/default.htm

That’s the one! Perhaps I’m not the hardware sleuth I thought..

I guess Dell weren’t dishing them out like they did in the mid 2000s judging by the lack of imagery. These two systems came from a BBC employee and I think he was given them so I guess they were popular for business use, I just don’t really know yet. I’ll probably get this type of documentation printed and bound to store with each machine respectively.

RussellM wrote on 2020-06-17, 03:24:

darry wrote on 2020-06-17, 03:20:

darry wrote on 2020-06-17, 03:08:

For some reason, the Packard Bell ftp site archive is no longer on archive.org . I happened to have access to a copy, but did not find anything useful .

I think that this is for the Netplex 425S/P (It is linked under 4xxS/P) :
https://web.archive.org/web/19961222130910/ht … SIP/default.htm

That’s the one! Perhaps I’m not the hardware sleuth I thought..

I guess Dell weren’t dishing them out like they did in the mid 2000s judging by the lack of imagery. These two systems came from a BBC employee and I think he was given them so I guess they were popular for business use, I just don’t really know yet. I’ll probably get this type of documentation printed and bound to store with each machine respectively.

I'm actually surprised it was ever there to begin with . When manufacturers transitioned to the WEB in the mid to late 90s, most of them never put their legacy (486 and older) products on their web pages (some of the bigger players did) . We were lucky if they had them on their (now usually long-dead) ftp sites .

CMB75 wrote on 2020-06-17, 03:01:

Caluser2000 wrote on 2020-06-17, 02:34:

Sharpening the chain saw teeth and getting the '76 Honda 550F Super Sport ready for its next warrant of fitness(MoT)

Good luck with that, I always had to argue with the inspector when checking my ‘71 Honda CB 750 Four K1 because it doesn’t have a automated Power-Off for the side stand...

... seems they don’t like retro.

They are generally fairly good here. Last time I went I'd just gotten the ol gal on road last Nov. after a 5 year bout of bad health and the front break bad hadn't beaded in so wasn't the best braking up front. The inspector mentioned lack of stopping power up front. I explained to him that and got through. Done around 4,000kms since then and the pads are well settled in now. I normally use a combo of both brakes and engine braking to pull up anyway on older bikes. Nice thing is rego is only around $50 per year. Had the 550 since '86 and know every nut bolt and component intermently 😀

I just returned from a post office. Such a beautiful retro morning! 🙂

You bought great stuff. DB15 in particular has been an incredibl useful peripheral for me..

CMB75 wrote on 2020-06-17, 03:01:

... seems they don’t like retro.

I think they're trying to screw you over.

TechieDude wrote on 2020-06-17, 18:18:

CMB75 wrote on 2020-06-17, 03:01:

... seems they don’t like retro.

I think they're trying to screw you over.

Or they were just stupid.
When I was in the auto repair business, one of our customers came in and told us that he needed tires for his minivan, and decided to have the tire store do a motor vehicle inspection because it was due.
He ended up calling the Highway Patrol because the inspector failed it for not having a third brake light even though it never had one from the factory.
The officer looked at it and told the inspector to pass it.

Upgrading the NEC Powermate, this thing has been put together like Fort Knox

More playing around with my Commodore VIC-20 today and for the past couple of days, trying out a bunch of games as well as some modern homebrew.

When I bought the computer from eBay it came with the boxed game Mastermind, VIC-20 version of the BBC TV Quiz show. Unfortunately the actual game cassette was missing and I only have the question tapes. I found the .tap file on the internet, but no matter what I tried I couldn't get it to load on the VIC-20 and even Vice struggled to load the .tap file.

So on the off-chance, I popped over to the Denial forums and found somebody had converted it to disk format and included a question creator/editor. Not only that, somebody else even modified the game code to improve it, making it more lenient towards mistypes and spelling & punctuation errors. It's now a very playable & fun game!

Does mini binging Command and Conquer Remastered count?

Never got far into the console ports or OG PCs releases but God this remaster is wonderful

Still gathering obscure information for a tips page that all of twelve people on the planet could make use of. No, not those twelve people. I think they use personal Linux installations.

I finished upgrading and restoring my Compaq EN-SFF. I also did a few days 'sunbrighting' in the process and I must say the reults are extraordinary with absolutely no chemicals.

Before:

After:

I found another AWE64 at a thrift store the other day. I found it (luckily) in an antistatic bag under a pile of AV cables. There appears to be no damage, so hopefully it works.

I've been trying to get my Tecra A4 to work properly, but the GPU won't accept the drivers. The drivers install just fine on Win7, WinXP and Linux Mint, but they refuse to initialise the GPU after the reboot. Basically:
XP Pro SP3: Driver installs, after reboot reports the device couldn't start.
7 Pro: Driver installs, after reboot freezes on boot logo.
Mint 19.3 32-bit: Doesn't load graphical environment unless I use XVesa.
Looks like the GPU IS toast after all. I got my hopes up for nothing because the laptop looked mostly clean outside and inside and the screen didn't artifact all over the place. Might try to fix it later.
I also found a plastic clip for my GA-K8VT800Pro in good condition. In my own room, no less. I'm slowly getting to the point where I don't remember where I even got some of my stuff. Good thing I keep some stuff that otherwise looks useless 😀

Tonight I booted up a 2008 MacBook with a dead screen after hooking it up to an external monitor, waited extremely long until the thing had actually booted, got logged in automatically, and noticed how the whole thing was extremely slow. I spent about half an hour disabling all of the useless crap the previous owner had installed on it (including Flash Player and about every single remote desktop software that existed for the thing, all active and with no password protection*), ran Disk Utility twice in a row, deleted all wireless networks it automatically logged on to (95% of which were insecure), and then discovered that it hung when trying to access the printer preferences. Removing the printer driver that was installed twice (both active) lead to a considerable speed up, and got rid of about 250 Mb of RAM usage. One reboot later and it was considerably more nimble.

* What's the use of the firewall if you're going to leave a machine wide open by any other means possible?

The worst thing is that this was owned by someone who has a technical university degree and otherwise isn't a stupid person... 🙄 They still want their data, so the next step is to get a USB stick, back up the data, and then wipe and reinstall (which should rid the laptop from the remaining crap that can't be uninstalled). And do something about the cleanliness, too. Yuck.

Let's stay on topic, please?

seleryba wrote on 2020-06-14, 17:47:

About pr0n: I have sent PM for @OldCat, if anyone is intrested too, just give me note and I will just upload it here.

Let's not do that either.

appiah4 wrote on 2020-06-18, 09:12:

I finished upgrading and restoring my Compaq EN-SFF. I also did a few days 'sunbrighting' in the process and I must say the reu […]
Show full quote

I finished upgrading and restoring my Compaq EN-SFF. I also did a few days 'sunbrighting' in the process and I must say the reults are extraordinary with absolutely no chemicals.

Before:

After:

Great result of the brighting! And absolutely great design of that air duct! Very aeronautic 😀