🤣, I absolutely love them ^^

will check the voltage jumpers on my Pac 64 now though ^^

also can't quite take that video seriously for some reason, seems like he really got no patience whatsoever, I had no problems taking one apart and putting it back together again, and the keyboards are highly regarded, and if he really just threw it on a garbage dump that makes me just sad 🙁

unfortunately most people buy them just for the keyboards/keycaps and scrap the rest.
https://deskthority.net/wiki/Cherry_G80-1813

Horun wrote on 2020-05-04, 01:02:

imi wrote on 2020-05-03, 23:29:

got this one a few days ago, my third Dolch Pac computer :3 first one is a Dolch Pac 64 that is missing a few parts second one b […]
Show full quote

got this one a few days ago, my third Dolch Pac computer :3
first one is a Dolch Pac 64 that is missing a few parts
second one basically just the shell of a Dolch Pac 586.

and now this nice Dolch Pac 61 which is still in good original condition :3 (apart from the one missing rubber foot on the keyboard)
and this one finally has an ISO DE keyboard ^^
I'm planning to build a nice portable retro gaming machine in the empty shell probaby since I don't want to tear the original ones apart.

Nice looking portable ! Does it have the original 486DX2-66 ? Read that is what the PAC 61's came with.

yep, apart from different networking cards it's the same motherboard/CPU as in the video I linked.

imi wrote on 2020-05-03, 16:01:

this is the card I got, it's slightly different.
is there an easy way to tell if this is EISA or OPTiLB since it was apparently available in both?

Try this:

Re: Pre-VESA Proprietary 32-bit Local Buses?

Also I remember some QVision cards were designed for Alpha computers with no VGA BIOS.

QVision also for OPTi Localbus? That's news to me, Compaq was a solid EISA shop iirc. But if in doubt, check the continuity of the GND pins as per that topic.

Last week responded to one of those ads with fuzzy picture, received it today:

Had been hoping that the dual DE-style connector card would be a Voodoo 1/2. Nope, Matrix G450.

Nonetheless not an awful haul. I have odd 50p SCSI problems, so the AHA2940U is welcome. ISA VGA, Aztech sound and 3C509 cards equally so. The Mitsumi CD card is also nice, although I already have one and only one matching drive. And the rest is at least amusing - isn't that tiny black 56k Modem cute? ;(

Slowly working on my "ultimate" 486. Right now I'm working on the case. To that end I got this PC for cheap:

Turned out to be a really fun machine. Obviously it was a 286 at some point, but someone upgraded it to a VLB motherboard with Unichip chipset:

The odd thing is that the machine still has the original VGA card (a Prisma one) and two MFM drives (no IDE). To make things worse, it's running a combination of PC DOS 7.0 and Windows 95. Can you imagine how "well" Win95 is running on a DX2 with 8MB RAM? Now imagine that, but running off MFM drives. Seems like the system was used for manipulating external storage (there is some software for streamers). The MFM drives roar like a jet fighter, but man they are cool. I kind of feel bad about dismounting a working MFM setup, and I briefly thought about maybe rebuilding a 286 around that, but I really have no use for anything slower than a 386.

On the bright side, I really love the layout of this case. It doesn't have a metal wall in the middle (like many late 486/Pentium desktop AT cases do), and the 3 inch floppy drive is well removed from the motherboard (nothing obstructs the expansion slots or the CPU socket).

Gonna retrobrite the front panel today and then move my 5x86 VLB build into this.

That's a fun find and that case is really well laid out.

imi wrote on 2020-05-03, 23:29:

got this one a few days ago, my third Dolch Pac computer :3 first one is a Dolch Pac 64 that is missing a few parts second one b […]
Show full quote

got this one a few days ago, my third Dolch Pac computer :3
first one is a Dolch Pac 64 that is missing a few parts
second one basically just the shell of a Dolch Pac 586.

and now this nice Dolch Pac 61 which is still in good original condition :3 (apart from the one missing rubber foot on the keyboard)
and this one finally has an ISO DE keyboard ^^
I'm planning to build a nice portable retro gaming machine in the empty shell probaby since I don't want to tear the original ones apart.

I didn't wanna take it apart fully right now I just quickly opened it to see if it indeed has this really nice VLB/EISA combo motherboard inside (and no leaking battery), someone did a video about it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-tjq7WnFKs
and sure enough it does :3

Haha, I had my jaw set and was ready to outbid you on that auction but as the last minute was counting down I had one of those crystalising moments of realising that I didn't really need another computer and that I should do something else with the money.

Anyway, I hope that little Dolch brings you many hours of vintage computer bliss!

well, thank you for not driving the price up further ^^ these are expensive enough to begin with.

You're welcome ^^

Now excuse me while I shop for vintage cameras!

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2020-05-03, 10:48:

[*]Using FASTVID, it can reach 70+ FPS in Quake 1 under pure DOS while running in software mode at 640x480

As for me, on the GeForce 6800 GT, I get 140 FPS at 640x480@60 Hz and about 164 FPS at 640x400@70 Hz. I don't use FASTVID but instead MTRR LFB WC. This is using the timerefresh console command in the level selection room.

cde wrote on 2020-05-04, 14:29:

As for me, on the GeForce 6800 GT, I get 140 FPS at 640x480@60 Hz and about 164 FPS at 640x400@70 Hz. I don't use FASTVID but instead MTRR LFB WC. This is using the timerefresh console command in the level selection room.

I used this:

1timedemo demo1

If I use timerefresh I get 104 FPS, but I don't think that's representative of the real use case. Also, I don't disable sound during the time demo, I only take the CD out of the drive to prevent slowdown caused by accessing the music tracks. As for the refresh rate, I believe it was the default DOS 70Hz since I didn't change it manually and my monitor supports it.

Got this nice lot of Playstation stuff incl. two PC joysticks today.

The PS2 Slim and one of the two Fats are working fine, the second Fat does not read discs (it's a 30004, not very reliable anyway). In the two working ones were still game discs, so two games for free, too. 😁

Paid only 26€ for the lot. 😀

Got this little darling in off eBay today. Dell Dimension 2200 with a 1.3GHz "Tualeron" Celeron CPU and 128MB of RAM.

I'm planning to benchmark this against the 1.4GHz P4 Dell that's supposed to arrive tomorrow to see just how big the performance difference actually is. A proper Tualatin would be a more fair test but I don't have one of those...

imi wrote on 2020-05-03, 18:30:

PC Hoarder Patrol wrote on 2020-05-03, 18:21:

Yours (002930-001) is the 1024/E with the 2nd generation V32 controller

ah! thank you :3

I certainly think it's upgradable, wouldn't know what else the connectors would be for, but good luck ever finding an upgrade module ^^

I was looking thru some other EISA threads and noticed that @slaynmage had previously posted the upgrade module part no (139168-001), which was actually on the card list I posted previously (Doh! - I had assumed that was another QVision card version). There was a similar module for the QVision 1280P (139167-001) but the closest pic I can find of either is the one for the Matrox Athena-based QV2000/+ which has the same style 4-block connectors

Swiego wrote on 2020-05-03, 22:28:

The QVision/1024i controllers only included 512kb onboard with 512kb expansions... never seen a 2MB option for the onboard solutions. Ditto (not seeing a 2MB) option for 1024/e.

I have a computer with a QVision/1280i which has 1MB onboard but have not see the 1MB expansion. I’d love to have one. A QVision/1280e board is super cool!

Other than the 1 > 2MB upgrade options listed above, not sure there are any others 🙁 , least none that I can find.

mpe wrote on 2020-05-04, 09:39:

Try this: […]
Show full quote

imi wrote on 2020-05-03, 16:01:

this is the card I got, it's slightly different.
is there an easy way to tell if this is EISA or OPTiLB since it was apparently available in both?

Try this:

Re: Pre-VESA Proprietary 32-bit Local Buses?

Also I remember some QVision cards were designed for Alpha computers with no VGA BIOS.

Indeed - seems like they used the 1st gen 1024/E, athough I've seen posts of people upgrading their Alpha boxes to the 1280/E

https://manx-docs.org/collections/mds-199909/ … ha/a0653ug1.pdf

dionb wrote on 2020-05-04, 11:53:

QVision also for OPTi Localbus? That's news to me, Compaq was a solid EISA shop iirc. But if in doubt, check the continuity of the GND pins as per that topic.

There's a mention of it on vgamuseum (against a 1280/E) but I think it's a typo

http://wap.vgamuseum.info/index.php/component … a-sc02sh007dk04

I'll stick a link to my card on EISA Graphics / Video Cards for any other comments.

PC Hoarder Patrol wrote on 2020-05-04, 21:24:

There's a mention of it on vgamuseum (against a 1280/E) but I think it's a typo

yeah, that's the only place I found a reference to it, might be wrong ^^

I have taken the risk and agreed a price for that (sellers pic, part of 15 kg lot). Bracket seems to be bent and fans are missing but in overall it seems to look ok. Seller confirmed to pack the cards individually for a safe shipment...

Oooh, a Voodoo 5 - nice catch.

I bought this lot for $20, because why not:

Intel 486 SX-25 (I did not have one, this is now my slowest 486)
AMD K5 PR??? (Model can not be read under the sticker)
Creative Sound Blaster AWE64 Value CT4520 (I now have 6 AWE64 Value cards, would be nice to get a Gold at some point 🙁 )
Avance Logic ALG2302.A (This is a fairly fast DOS card for a 1994/1995 PCI 486/Pentium build, it might compete with my ARK1000 for a place in my Cx5x86 PC)
S3 Trio64V+ (I have a shitload of Trio cards at this point, but why not..)

He also had a bunch of Socket A, Socket 370, Slot-1 and Socket 7 boards that were fairly unappealing to me.. Motherboards take up a lot of storage space and I have enough of these. I wish he had some Socket 3 stuff..

EvieSigma wrote on 2020-05-04, 17:17:

Got this little darling in off eBay today. Dell Dimension 2200 with a 1.3GHz "Tualeron" Celeron CPU and 128MB of RAM. […]
Show full quote

Got this little darling in off eBay today. Dell Dimension 2200 with a 1.3GHz "Tualeron" Celeron CPU and 128MB of RAM.

I'm planning to benchmark this against the 1.4GHz P4 Dell that's supposed to arrive tomorrow to see just how big the performance difference actually is. A proper Tualatin would be a more fair test but I don't have one of those...

Looking forward to see that .. My guess is that the P4 will have a very hard run for it's money, even though it' a Celeron ..

Bought this Socket 7 interposer. Need to establish if this is useful for K6-2 CPU only or I can somehow hack it to work with my Socket 5 motherboards and Pentiums. Ideally, I'd love to have a pass-through 3.3V option and just select multiplier (my board doesn't have jumper for changing BF).

Came across a Creative CT2800 Sound Blaster Vibra 16 with genuine OPL3 that was not in my collection, so I grabbed it for 7 bucks.

This brings my Sound Blaster 16 collection to 9 distinct models. Let's hope I get a CT1740 as the 10th (been looking for one for years...)

It's not really retro but I bought a small mixer to plug all my PCs (modern and vintage) into it. Works a treat and helps to mitigate noise issues with old sound cards.