Gosh, I slept a lot today. Energy drink withdrawal feels like a long road for recovery but I'm at least making HUGE progress health-wise after the heatstroke episode in July, which was also fueled by those awful energy drinks.

Anyways, I'm probably gonna look into taking a 800MHz (or 850? Forgot which one exactly) Duron Spitfire into a overclocking spin with my trusty Soltek SL-75KAV.

The "Redstorm Overclocking" feature was really a neat thing on Soltek's part and very very helpful - you could jot down the highest FSB your chip will take, and apply that info to a whole array of mainboards, like ABIT KT7A, Gigabyte 7DXE, ECS K7VZA, and the list may very well go on.

Once that's taken care of, I hope to find a way to get stable operation after downgrading to Q8.1. I want to make the board's BIOS as period correct as possible... and I love seeing that "PhoenixNet BIOS" POST screen. I wish my old and long trashed Soyo 6VBA133 would have survived, as IIRC it's one of the few to implement the same POST sequence (PhoenixNet) on the older 4.51 AwardBIOS core version.

I was a bit lazy this time, but the Philips P3230 mainboard doesn't suffer from Alzheimer's anymore.

StriderTR wrote on 2024-08-27, 05:41:

Still watching Knight Rider as I work on projects, and I had forgotten in a lot of episodes when they wanted to show "scrolling information" on a computer monitor, it was often just a BASIC program being listed.

Even back then I never understood why they just didn't write a simple BASIC program and run it to display the information they wanted, or even "technobabble" to look cool, rather than someone just typing "LIST" and recording that. I assume it's likely becasue a majority of viewers at the time would have no idea what they were looking at anyway, so it didn't matter. It was geeks like me that noticed. I went so far as to write some simple BASIC programs as a kid on both my TI-99 and Commodore 64 and pretended it was from the show. I thought it would have been cool back then to work in special effects and just work on the displays and screens you see, similar to what Michael Okuda did on Star Trek TNG.

Really brings back memories!

Who knows what computer that is? I do!!!

Hint: there were desktop and portable versions of it. Actually there were multiple versions of each (and soooo rare). I have both!!!

2nd hint: their calculators are very popular in this modern age. Their computers are non existent. For years!!!

This thread has become a trip down early PC memory lane. I almost having the schnitzels over it!

oldhighgerman wrote on 2024-08-27, 16:21:

Who knows what computer that is? I do!!!

Hint: there were desktop and portable versions of it. Actually there were multiple versions of each (and soooo rare). I have both!!!

2nd hint: their calculators are very popular in this modern age. Their computers are non existent. For years!!!

Back then, I thought they just branded many of the computers seen on screen with Texas Instruments logos, becasue the only computer I ever knew TI for was the TI-99/4 and 4A. As mentioned above I got the 4A the year it was released (1981) as a gift from my uncle who worked for McDonnell Douglas at the time. So, I always just assumed the computers used on screen were IBM clones with TI branding. In the pre-interweb days, and in my young age, I had no knowledge of any other TI computers.

Fast forward a few years and I discovered the existence of "Texas Instruments Professional Computer", and it quickly became obvious that was what I was seeing in Knight Rider, but I never had the opportunity to own one. 🙁

Yep.

oldhighgerman wrote on 2024-08-27, 04:16:

I can't believe you have a Tatung 286. And multiple Epson Equity's. I've been looking for an original 1 for a while. Have a real nice keyboard to go with it.

I've been collecting old Epson's for awhile. Finding the original Equity 1 and 1+ took some time.

I also have an Equity III+ which is also quite rare and took awhile to get. Prior to finding one, there weren't even any photos of it on the internet.

StriderTR wrote on 2024-08-27, 16:57:

oldhighgerman wrote on 2024-08-27, 16:21:

Who knows what computer that is? I do!!!

Hint: there were desktop and portable versions of it. Actually there were multiple versions of each (and soooo rare). I have both!!!

2nd hint: their calculators are very popular in this modern age. Their computers are non existent. For years!!!

Back then, I thought they just branded many of the computers seen on screen with Texas Instruments logos, becasue the only computer I ever knew TI for was the TI-99/4 and 4A. As mentioned above I got the 4A the year it was released (1981) as a gift from my uncle who worked for McDonnell Douglas at the time. So, I always just assumed the computers used on screen were IBM clones with TI branding. In the pre-interweb days, and in my young age, I had no knowledge of any other TI computers.

Fast forward a few years and I discovered the existence of "Texas Instruments Professional Computer", and it quickly became obvious that was what I was seeing in Knight Rider, but I never had the opportunity to own one. 🙁

I have never even heard of that. I just read up on it on Wikipedia and it seems like it had some nice benefits over the original IBM PC. The keyboard looks pretty slick too.

Out of curiosity, did any games ever exist specifically for these machines? Since they were only produced for about 2 years and were heavily business focused, that probably limited things quite a bit, but it seems that people have a tendency to make video games for just about anything that accepts user input.

Chances are no. Whereas the Mindset had a few games made specifically for it, on account of it's custom graphics and sound asics, few other pseudo/semi compatibles did. One that did as I recall was the Sanyo MBC-550/555 series, but that was somewhat more compatible then the rest (probably the first computer to sport 16 color 320 x 200 graphics, and I think maybe 4 colors at 640 x 200. Similar to the IBM Peanut and the Tandy 1000s.

The TIPC was only compatible at the BIOS and DOS function call level. These facilities are built into all DOS machines and DOS itself. But in order to eke out extra performance for certain applications it behooves a programmer to ignore these and write their own routines. IIRC Lotus 1-2-3 was written in 100% assembly language. But all the BIOS and DOS shit wasm't used at all.

So some text based games would work (Infocom). A few others that were "well behaved" maybe also

The TI was superior to the IBM PC in a couple respects. Faster (7.16mhz clock I think), graphics was better. It may not have had DMA, can't remember. Strangely it's graphics chip was the 6845, the IBM used the 6845. They're identical in most respects, but the TI pushed it harder so to speak.

Shponglefan wrote on 2024-08-27, 19:49:

I've been collecting old Epson's for awhile. Finding the original Equity 1 and 1+ took some time.

I also have an Equity III+ which is also quite rare and took awhile to get. Prior to finding one, there weren't even any photos of it on the internet.

So I want to ask you a question and I ask that you think through your answer carefully. Let's take the original Equity 1. The most m****r *u**I** plain Jane run of the mill vanilla PC compatible . Barely more interesting then a big standard Taiwanese PC clone assembled from parts obtained from ads in the back of BYTE or Radio Electronics. So tell me then what is it's appeal? Did you own one as a child? Do you have stock in Epson?

They seem to have a small bit devoted following. Maybe it has to do with the old ads showing them owned by law firms.

Sometimes simple and plain, yet elegant in its own way, has a way of drawing you in.

oldhighgerman wrote on 2024-08-27, 21:04:

So tell me then what is it's appeal? Did you own one as a child?

Our first family computer was an Epson Equity II+. In an effort to recreate that specific PC, I acquired a pair of Equity II+ systems.

This sparked an interest in the rest of the Epson lineup, hence I started collecting other models.

The most interesting to me is the Equity III+, since it features nine ISA slots, three external 5.25" bays, and three speed options (6MHz, 8MHz and 12MHz). It feels a bit more unique compared to many of the 5170 clones of the day.

It also does this in a case that's smaller than a 5170.

And mind you I personally find vanilla clones very interesting. Most of which were made at least in part in Yaiwan. In particular my AMT ATjr, which is in rough shape at the moment. It's a PC/xt form factor, but in a baby at case. IBM made them change the name for obvious reasons. Mine was made after the fact. But while it was working the boot screen still proclaimed it was an ATjr. The only PC I know of that used the Sony v20 clone.

I consider the vanilla Taiwan clones of the 80s the best value to be had in those days. You didn't have to deal with proprietary nonsense. There were a few that weren't as standard as they should have been. Minor idiosyncrasies. Loads of parts to be had anywhere and everywhere. They weren't as "colorful" as other PC's of course. Some were notable really only for their external characteristics. The Tandys come to mind.

Recap another sound card. Also add an RGB heatsink for amplifier IC 😁

i love when mods cost more than the device themselves. ^.^

luckybob wrote on 2024-08-29, 15:13:

i love when mods cost more than the device themselves. ^.^

For me that's the fun part, repairing and upgrading these old parts.

Yesterday, the passive backplane for sbc board i ordered had been arrived so i start testing my two sbc board

the socket 8 one is pci-p6vt according to the bios post screen, for some reason, it won't boot with pentium overdrive but work fine with regular 256k pro, bios image is non-existence and there zero document about it. The battery somehow still hold the charge.
the slot1 one is a P228BX, the battery sadly is depleted and will need to repair. I'm still able to find the manual for this one on archive.org and for some reason, the guide to connect the soft start is not in original document but it in document for later board 😁

nhattu1986 wrote on 2024-08-30, 02:31:

Yesterday, the passive backplane for sbc board i ordered had been arrived so i start testing my two sbc board https://i.imgur.co […]
Show full quote

Yesterday, the passive backplane for sbc board i ordered had been arrived so i start testing my two sbc board

the socket 8 one is pci-p6vt according to the bios post screen, for some reason, it won't boot with pentium overdrive but work fine with regular 256k pro, bios image is non-existence and there zero document about it. The battery somehow still hold the charge.
the slot1 one is a P228BX, the battery sadly is depleted and will need to repair. I'm still able to find the manual for this one on archive.org and for some reason, the guide to connect the soft start is not in original document but it in document for later board 😁

Wow, I don't know much about SBCs but I have never seen a Slot 1 SBC before. Those things are insane looking on the CPU side!

(Images pulled from ebay)

I just picture the engineers of those flat Slots saying "They are getting rid of sockets and using what? And they want them where? In WHAT orientation? ... uuhhggg..."

I wonder if you could use a cooler off of some modern GPU to cool those... maybe a 9800GX2 or GTX 690 cooler would work best? 🤣

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2024-08-30, 04:31:

Wow, I don't know much about SBCs but I have never seen a Slot 1 SBC before. Those things are insane looking on the CPU side! […]
Show full quote

nhattu1986 wrote on 2024-08-30, 02:31:

Yesterday, the passive backplane for sbc board i ordered had been arrived so i start testing my two sbc board https://i.imgur.co […]
Show full quote

Yesterday, the passive backplane for sbc board i ordered had been arrived so i start testing my two sbc board

the socket 8 one is pci-p6vt according to the bios post screen, for some reason, it won't boot with pentium overdrive but work fine with regular 256k pro, bios image is non-existence and there zero document about it. The battery somehow still hold the charge.
the slot1 one is a P228BX, the battery sadly is depleted and will need to repair. I'm still able to find the manual for this one on archive.org and for some reason, the guide to connect the soft start is not in original document but it in document for later board 😁

Wow, I don't know much about SBCs but I have never seen a Slot 1 SBC before. Those things are insane looking on the CPU side!

(Images pulled from ebay)

The attachment slot1sbc.jpg is no longer available

The attachment slot1sbc2.jpg is no longer available

I just picture the engineers of those flat Slots saying "They are getting rid of sockets and using what? And they want them where? In WHAT orientation? ... uuhhggg..."

I wonder if you could use a cooler off of some modern GPU to cool those... maybe a 9800GX2 or GTX 690 cooler would work best? 🤣

those pentium 2/3 does not required much cooling and they can be run passive if the case having a good air flow.
and yes, with the cpu and cooler attach, the board became quite a chonky boy and it cover the nearby slot

Been busy on a BX133-RAID board, how does this look.🤔

The board powers on, but the diagnostic card stays " -- -- ". No beep. BIOS ROM / flash is ok (I have a programmer)

PD2JK wrote on 2024-08-30, 13:07:

Been busy on a BX133-RAID board, how does this look.🤔

The board powers on, but the diagnostic card stays " -- -- ". No beep. BIOS ROM / flash is ok (I have a programmer)

The attachment DSC_1503.JPG is no longer available

they look bad imo