Wow! That is a seriously awesome find!!

bearking wrote on 2020-06-01, 22:44:

pentiumspeed wrote on 2020-06-01, 19:59:

Bearking,

Been searching the ebay for long time and this is not among these. Where did you get this Deskpro XE?

Cheers,

Bought it from a scrapper locally, Romania... This one was the first I saw here in more then a year... Wasn't looking for it specifically, just bumped into it...

Good score, then. Our scrappers are bound by the rules of recycling where I live so I cannot buy off or pick up anything that they collected and they chase away collectors from the open bin and drop off areas.

So I ended up paying a fortune on two compaq computers one is deskpro M in good condition but need more work and missing power supply and 486/33i from another, with some rust and front bezel broken. both are from ebay.

Cheers,

pentiumspeed wrote on 2020-06-01, 23:16:

Good score, then. Our scrappers are bound by the rules of recycling where I live so I cannot buy off or pick up anything that […]
Show full quote

bearking wrote on 2020-06-01, 22:44:

pentiumspeed wrote on 2020-06-01, 19:59:

Bearking,

Been searching the ebay for long time and this is not among these. Where did you get this Deskpro XE?

Cheers,

Bought it from a scrapper locally, Romania... This one was the first I saw here in more then a year... Wasn't looking for it specifically, just bumped into it...

Good score, then. Our scrappers are bound by the rules of recycling where I live so I cannot buy off or pick up anything that they collected and they chase away collectors from the open bin and drop off areas.

So I ended up paying a fortune on two compaq computers one is deskpro M in good condition but need more work and missing power supply and 486/33i from another, with some rust and front bezel broken. both are from ebay.

Cheers,

I sough a nice retro pc enter into one of those bestbuy recycling areas a while back, looked like a Pentium 1/mmx era machine. Very clean. Even ended up talking to the guy dropping it off,
Unfortunately he placed it down on the pile before i got to him and when i went back to investigate it more, a employee came up and told me i couldn't take it.

Despite all my begging and pleading, knowing it wouldn't endup anywhere happy in that pile, alas the machine was left to probably burn in an incinerator.
Woulda happily snuck away with it if the chance arose. A vintage PC saved is a sneak worth doing ;-;

bearking wrote on 2020-06-01, 09:25:

A few days ago I bought this Compaq Deskpro XE 560 Compaq_Deskpro_XE_560.jpg It came in a pretty bad shape, the front plastic is […]
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A few days ago I bought this Compaq Deskpro XE 560
Compaq_Deskpro_XE_560.jpg
It came in a pretty bad shape, the front plastic is very yellowed.
It has a Pentium 60 MHz SX948, a Conner CP3421 540 Mb HDD and a Sony MPF420-4 FDD.
Unfortunately it came with a non original heatsink, glued directly to the CPU with some kind of super glue or something. Anyway, it fell off, but luckily didn't do any damage to the mainboard.
Pentium_60_SX948.jpg
It has only the 8 Mb of RAM soldered to the board, and no cache memory on the COASt slot.
So far I've cleaned the whole system, I need to change the CMOS battery(unfortunately it's soldered to the mainboard) but for now I'm using an external battery.
With the help of a Compaq Diagnostics/Setup disk(sp1363.exe softpaq) I managed to save the BIOS settings and boot the system with a Win95 startup disk.
I have some issues with the floppy drive, sometimes it doesn't want to read the disk.
So far I couldn't boot it from the hard drive, it has DOS 6.22 and Win95 on it, but the system searches for an SO only on the FDD... If I remove the startup disk, it says something like "Missing operating system..."
Also, I need to find an appropriate heatsink/cooler and a way to attach it to the CPU. It's a LIF socket, so it will be challenging. For now I'm using a 486 heatsink with a 40 mm fan, hold in place only by the thermal paste I applied... It's ok for testing, but not for a permanent solution...
For 45 euros I'm happy with it...

Very cool! When you posted this I first thought of the one that sold on eBay about a week ago and was wondering if you got it. Cool to see another pop up.

Check to see if yours has the FDIV bugged Pentium 60 (mine does). It’s a neat computer though in a somewhat crappy way: Pentium but ISA slots only. The onboard video is local bus and quite fast (faster than any ISA card I tried) but the VRAM expansion seems unobtainable . I do not believe the IDE interface is local bus. This machine runs quiet and is well built. Note there is a cache module slot however I don’t believe it is populated or at least supported in the Pentium variant, at least per documentation.

I’ve been looking for one of those P120 overdrive upgrades to see if it works on the XE560.

pentiumspeed wrote on 2020-06-01, 23:16:

Good score, then. Our scrappers are bound by the rules of recycling where I live so I cannot buy off or pick up anything that they collected and they chase away collectors from the open bin and drop off areas.

yeah same here, and all the collection places usually have surveillance and not even employees are allowed to take stuff, it's such a pity to see so much stuff just go to waste (literally)

SodaSuccubus wrote on 2020-06-02, 05:12:

I sough a nice retro pc enter into one of those bestbuy recycling areas a while back, looked like a Pentium 1/mmx era machine. V […]
Show full quote

I sough a nice retro pc enter into one of those bestbuy recycling areas a while back, looked like a Pentium 1/mmx era machine. Very clean. Even ended up talking to the guy dropping it off,
Unfortunately he placed it down on the pile before i got to him and when i went back to investigate it more, a employee came up and told me i couldn't take it.

Despite all my begging and pleading, knowing it wouldn't endup anywhere happy in that pile, alas the machine was left to probably burn in an incinerator.
Woulda happily snuck away with it if the chance arose. A vintage PC saved is a sneak worth doing ;-;

My heart sinks thinking about all the great retro tech that gets thrown out (recycled) at Best Buy. I worked at Geek Squad for a few years in the late 2000’s when they first started the recycling program. At first we were required to remove the hard drives and return them to the customer. That made it really easy to check the computers for other valuable parts and set them aside. I got a ton of CPUs, RAM, and expansion cards that way. After a while they stopped requiring us to return the drives, but I’d still offer to do it and volunteer to help any customer who brought in recycle systems so I could save some of the parts. At the time, most stuff coming in were OEM systems from 1998 to 2005, but occasionally people would bring in a 486, early Pentium, or custom super socket 7 system. I was the only person there who cared about saving old parts. I’m sure management wouldn’t have approved, but I felt like it was a fairly victimless breaking of the rules.

pentiumspeed wrote on 2020-06-01, 23:16:

Good score, then. Our scrappers are bound by the rules of recycling where I live so I cannot buy off or pick up anything that […]
Show full quote

bearking wrote on 2020-06-01, 22:44:

pentiumspeed wrote on 2020-06-01, 19:59:

Bearking,

Been searching the ebay for long time and this is not among these. Where did you get this Deskpro XE?

Cheers,

Bought it from a scrapper locally, Romania... This one was the first I saw here in more then a year... Wasn't looking for it specifically, just bumped into it...

Good score, then. Our scrappers are bound by the rules of recycling where I live so I cannot buy off or pick up anything that they collected and they chase away collectors from the open bin and drop off areas.

So I ended up paying a fortune on two compaq computers one is deskpro M in good condition but need more work and missing power supply and 486/33i from another, with some rust and front bezel broken. both are from ebay.

Cheers,

Let me describe you how things are going here regarding recycling. And I guess it is valid for all of the Eastern European countries ...

Basically there are three levels of recyclers. At the top level there are large recycling companies, also multinational companies having contracts with cities and other smaller businesses for gathering waste or recycling basically anything. They have all kinds of recycling plants or they are exporting to other countries, like China, everything they gather(like iron, aluminium, copper, plastic or electronics waste). They are the "big guys". Usually they get the stuff already in pieces and sorted. From these guys you can't get anything!

At the second level are local businesses, with only a few employees(let's say 5 to 10), and they are gathering waste(electronics, household appliances, plastics, metals, etc.) from other local businesses or companies. Also, they are buying waste from anybody, of course for a small amount of money and per kilogram. Usually they dismantle and sort everything and sell the sorted wast to the big guys. Sometimes you can buy things from these recyclers, most of the time without a receipt 😀. they are the "middleman".

And in the third category are, what I call "the scrappers". They represent the lowest level in the chain of recycling(oh, big words...), and are individuals making a living(mostly honest living, not stealing...) gathering all kind of stuff for reselling or selling to the middlemen.
I can put them in three categories:

1. individuals gathering all kind of shit from Western European countries(Germany, France, Austria...) and selling it on-line or at the flea markets. This is how I got a Roland SCB-7 for 1 euro(!!!), a SB Pro 2 CT1600 , a SB32 CT3670 and other nice mainboards and ISA/VLB expansion cards for like 65 euros(this was a bigger lot, also posted here...), just to mention a few... They really make a living from this activity.
2. other individuals gathering from only God knows where, again, all kind of stuff and selling it on-line or at the flea markets... I got a lot of things from them too...
3. lastly, the really low level scrappers, gathering "interesting" things basically from the trash bins or things thrown out by people or smaller businesses and selling these things on flea markets or to the middlemen. Mostly they are homeless or really poor people, trying to make a living without stealing... From them I got another SB Pro 2 for 2 euros, a SB16 CT2770 for 1 euro, an MSI K7-D Master-L dual socket A for like 3 euros, etc. I always pay what they are asking!

Most of the scrappers, when it comes to PC's and components, they really don't know what they are selling and the prices are really low. BUT, take a look at this on-line ad, I couldn't believe my eyes...

You can look it up on olx.ro, a local classified ads site... This is a screenshot of a valid ad posting from a few minutes ago... 😀

Putting it all together, the "scrappers" are my best friends when in comes to retro hardware hording...

LE: I saw on German ebay a similar Siemens DX2/66 for an asking price of 3500 euros, and another one for 1500.... what is so special with this systems, anyway?

Swiego wrote on 2020-06-02, 11:54:

Very cool! When you posted this I first thought of the one that sold on eBay about a week ago and was wondering if you got it. Cool to see another pop up.

Check to see if yours has the FDIV bugged Pentium 60 (mine does). It’s a neat computer though in a somewhat crappy way: Pentium but ISA slots only. The onboard video is local bus and quite fast (faster than any ISA card I tried) but the VRAM expansion seems unobtainable . I do not believe the IDE interface is local bus. This machine runs quiet and is well built. Note there is a cache module slot however I don’t believe it is populated or at least supported in the Pentium variant, at least per documentation.

I’ve been looking for one of those P120 overdrive upgrades to see if it works on the XE560.

No, it was a local on-line buy. I saw the system like 2 months ago, buy the guy was asking about 100 euros for it... Two or three weeks ago he dropped the price to more then half and I grabbed it.
I didn't test the CPU for the FDIV bug, but it is a later S-spec SX948 and according to cpu-world "This processor doesn't have FDIV bug."...
I have a Compaq VRAM module, but it is for a later '95 Deskpro model... I was hoping to be compatible, but it's not 🙁
Initially I thought it supports a COASt cache module, but then I saw the slot is way longer... So no cache for this PC.
A vogoner in 2016 found a cache card for this(see page 530 0f this topic), but I think is pretty rare.
Indeed, it's a quiet machine, but for now I couldn't boot it from the original Conner CP3541 HDD... I can access the data from the disk if I boot the system from a floppy disk, but the HDD is not booting. Probably I need to find the correct CHS parameters... With the default TYPE 61 parameters(C=903, H=24, S=49) the drive is not booting...

Type 61 refers to compaq-unique type drive table. I can see the "compaq" in the conner hard drive.

This is compatible with old bios and clone motherboards: if you can type in these parameters and use IDE port on card. Leave it as single. Conner is a big bear to setup in dual hard drive setup and is incompatible with another hard drive, no matter what even another conner!

CP3541 formatted size: 510MB cylinders: 989 Heads: 16 Sectors: 63. Notes: Compaq drive type: 61

Source:
file:///D:/Downloads/compaq/pc_engineers_vol3dl.pdf

Cheers,

bearking wrote on 2020-06-02, 21:27:

LE: I saw on German ebay a similar Siemens DX2/66 for an asking price of 3500 euros, and another one for 1500.... what is so special with this systems, anyway?

Nothing special, just yet another case of sellers having wet dreams.
Once I had a similar Siemens, I think with 486DX-33 - complete, working, in good visual condition, and sold it for... like 25 EUR.

Bought me a Texas Instruments Extensa E610CDT/TI Extensa-Scholar ESS2 (or ESS3, hard to read the label on top due to the lighting).

The laptop is in good shape (keyboard's keys are faded on a few of them, but that's no problem, I could print out stickers of said keys or do something to make it more appealing).

Will need a new CMOS battery (going to see if it uses the Ni-MH or coin cell (money's on the Ni-MH) or install a CR2032 on it if it's a Ni-MH battery and add a diode to prevent the charging circuit from frying the battery).

Another Pentium laptop to add to my collection.

bjwil1991 wrote on 2020-06-03, 06:54:

Bought me a Texas Instruments Extensa E610CDT/TI Extensa-Scholar ESS2 (or ESS3, hard to read the label on top due to the lighting).

Nice laptop!

bearking wrote on 2020-06-02, 21:27:

Most of the scrappers, when it comes to PC's and components, they really don't know what they are selling and the prices are rea […]
Show full quote

pentiumspeed wrote on 2020-06-01, 23:16:

Good score, then. Our scrappers are bound by the rules of recycling where I live so I cannot buy off or pick up anything that […]
Show full quote

bearking wrote on 2020-06-01, 22:44:

Bought it from a scrapper locally, Romania... This one was the first I saw here in more then a year... Wasn't looking for it specifically, just bumped into it...

Good score, then. Our scrappers are bound by the rules of recycling where I live so I cannot buy off or pick up anything that they collected and they chase away collectors from the open bin and drop off areas.

So I ended up paying a fortune on two compaq computers one is deskpro M in good condition but need more work and missing power supply and 486/33i from another, with some rust and front bezel broken. both are from ebay.

Cheers,

Most of the scrappers, when it comes to PC's and components, they really don't know what they are selling and the prices are really low. BUT, take a look at this on-line ad, I couldn't believe my eyes...
2500_euro_siemens_486_DX2.JPG
You can look it up on olx.ro, a local classified ads site... This is a screenshot of a valid ad posting from a few minutes ago... 😀

Putting it all together, the "scrappers" are my best friends when in comes to retro hardware hording...

LE: I saw on German ebay a similar Siemens DX2/66 for an asking price of 3500 euros, and another one for 1500.... what is so special with this systems, anyway?

Most likely nothing special - maybe it was a machine used in some industrial plant or bank and some retailer thought that there is a payday to be had catering to desperate managers looking for a drop-in replacement for a failed machine. There's at least a few vendors here defending the practice, regardless of how ridiculous it seems.
Oh well, GE Aviation charges big money for a 290C1 Flight management computer (those goes into Boeing 737NGs and maxes), and those have the same CPU firepower as, say, a 040 Mac from 1994. It's rather endemic to the "if it ain't broke don't fix it" thinking.

Katmai500 wrote on 2020-06-02, 12:47:

SodaSuccubus wrote on 2020-06-02, 05:12:

I sough a nice retro pc enter into one of those bestbuy recycling areas a while back, looked like a Pentium 1/mmx era machine. V […]
Show full quote

I sough a nice retro pc enter into one of those bestbuy recycling areas a while back, looked like a Pentium 1/mmx era machine. Very clean. Even ended up talking to the guy dropping it off,
Unfortunately he placed it down on the pile before i got to him and when i went back to investigate it more, a employee came up and told me i couldn't take it.

Despite all my begging and pleading, knowing it wouldn't endup anywhere happy in that pile, alas the machine was left to probably burn in an incinerator.
Woulda happily snuck away with it if the chance arose. A vintage PC saved is a sneak worth doing ;-;

My heart sinks thinking about all the great retro tech that gets thrown out (recycled) at Best Buy. I worked at Geek Squad for a few years in the late 2000’s when they first started the recycling program. At first we were required to remove the hard drives and return them to the customer. That made it really easy to check the computers for other valuable parts and set them aside. I got a ton of CPUs, RAM, and expansion cards that way. After a while they stopped requiring us to return the drives, but I’d still offer to do it and volunteer to help any customer who brought in recycle systems so I could save some of the parts. At the time, most stuff coming in were OEM systems from 1998 to 2005, but occasionally people would bring in a 486, early Pentium, or custom super socket 7 system. I was the only person there who cared about saving old parts. I’m sure management wouldn’t have approved, but I felt like it was a fairly victimless breaking of the rules.

Thank god for the people like you two. I started respecting old hardware a little too late, and I am sorry I wasn't "into it" years before. I mean, I wasn't throwing it away, but I could have saved much more.

Horun wrote on 2020-05-30, 15:41:

Won a bid on a working DFI socket 8 mobo with both a 200/256k and a 200/1Mb p.pro cpu's.

The DFI G686ipa rev B+ arrived yesterday. Looks and works great ! Included 2x 16m EDO, paper manual and backplate. Also the spare 200M/1Mb cpu seller included works just fine on my Intel Venus, think the DFI needs a BIOS update but it is already at the last version I could find (11/16/96). Sooo am happy ! ... got all that for $67. In my area that is a good buy ! Sorry for the bad pics, was dark last night and phone has issues.

Wow all that for 67 bucks and it all works that is a hell of a good deal.

So I went to pickup "a few" systems in a nearby town a couple of days ago. Well by a few he meant 25+ full ATX towers. Somehow managed to shove them all into my Grand Marquis (glad I sprung for the Monroe Gas Magnum HD Shocks a couple months back....) Alot of generic stuff but a few goodies thrown in. Just started working on this beauty:

350W Rosewill PSU
Gigabyte K8NXP-SLI Socket 939
AMD Athlon 64 3500+ (2.2GHZ I believe)
3GB of RAM
GeForce 7900GTO 512MB
8GB HDD

Reseated the GPU and reset the BIOS and it fired right up.... into Windows 7. This machine was used way past its acceptable lifespan. I have a 2nd 7900GTO sourced as soon as the dude feels safe leaving his house to ship it and I think I'm going to throw a AthlonFX (or X2, not sure yet) in and a 2nd 7900GTO along with my X-FI ExtremeAudio and have an absolute banger of a DX9C system. Maybe I can finally play FEAR at 1920x1200. Needless to say I'm DBAN'ing W7 (part of my deal with this guy is any HDD gets a secure deletion) back to hole from wence it came and putting XP on it.

That case is such a fucking work of art. Does anyone know who made this? It looks like a Falcon Northwest blue to me but I can't find any pictures of FNW cases matching this design.

In more modern news I'm rebuilding my main system onto 4th Gen Intel since thats at a low price point now and still provides performance similar in gaming to a Coffee Lake i5.

* Customized Red/Black CoolerMaster CM690-II Advanced with 5.25 USB3.0 Bay adapter and a Drawer adapter. Also has a 2.5/3.5 inch X-DOCK Hotswap bay ontop.
* ASUS Z87 Deluxe (has built in ASMedia USB/SATA expander)
* Core i7 4770S w/ CoolerMaster Hyper212 EVO (given for free)
* 16GB G.SKill RiPJAWS X XMP2 2133MHZ
* NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780Ti 3GB CC OC (carry over)
- LG IPS 27" 1920x1080, Dell UltraSharp 17" 1280x1024
* Creative Soundblaster X-Fi Titanium FATAL1TY (PCIe version, 109db/115db 5.1/Stereo SNR. Not far behind a Xonar Essence)
- Sony MDR-7506 Studio Reference Headphones, Sony Soundbar (can't remember the model, nice sounding though with big subwoofer) for speakers, Boom mic.
* 128GB NVME SSD (via PCIe to NVME adapter)
* 1x2TB HDD, 2x 1TB HDD
* Creality Ender3

That 939 system will be sweet with the slied gtos and the athlon 64 x2 that will be a great XP machine.

Horun wrote on 2020-06-04, 23:34:

The DFI G686ipa rev B+ arrived yesterday. Looks and works great ! Included 2x 16m EDO, paper manual and backplate. Also the spare 200M/1Mb cpu seller included works just fine on my Intel Venus, think the DFI needs a BIOS update but it is already at the last version I could find (11/16/96). Sooo am happy ! ... got all that for $67. In my area that is a good buy ! Sorry for the bad pics, was dark last night and phone has issues.

that's pretty nice :3

a few random cards...

Tseng ET3000AX and Video Seven "VGA16" (V7VGA?)

this absolutely gorgeous early version of a míro Crystal 20SD PCI, I just love how clean those traces are and how they contrast with the dark PCB
and a DEC S3 805 VLB

two more VLB cards, Hercules Stingray with ALG2228 and a pretty CL GD5428 card

Media Vision Jazz16 with OPL3 clone and an addon board, I presume amplifier? could not really find any info about the chip on it "UTC HM2025" TEA2025 clone?
and a Creative 3DLabs Permedia 2V