Nothing much - about two 2006-2007 ASUS DVD burners, a ~2003 MSI-8216S DVD-ROM drive, and... a nice beige-ish Queen T-Shirt.

All three drives need new belts, and the 8216S needs a WD-40 session to potentially "grease" the gears.

PcBytes wrote on 2023-04-15, 22:02:

Nothing much - about two 2006-2007 ASUS DVD burners, a ~2003 MSI-8216S DVD-ROM drive, and... a nice beige-ish Queen T-Shirt.

All three drives need new belts, and the 8216S needs a WD-40 session to potentially "grease" the gears.

Correct kind is lithium grease for these plastic wheels and plastic gears.

No WD40 please. It is *not* a lubricant, it is corrosion protector, even sprays out in a thin fluid but the chemicals evaporates leaving behind very terrible greasy stuff that is poorly made for grease, primarily developed long ago to protect stainless steel in rocket building at that time.

Cheers,

Scored a 9600 AIW for a VHS digitization rig I am building, based on S939/XP. New in box from CompUSA! I felt very strange opening it, but glad to have something I know is reliable and in excellent shape with the accessories.

I've never tried ATI's products, but Hauppauge makes a lot of TV tuner products with RCA inputs that are great for VCR recordings.

You haven't used Hauppauge products...

ATi_Loyalist wrote on 2023-04-15, 23:30:

Scored a 9600 AIW for a VHS digitization rig I am building, based on S939/XP. New in box from CompUSA! I felt very strange opening it, but glad to have something I know is reliable and in excellent shape with the accessories.

I would add a small 40mm molex fan to that heatsink. I just distrust the Radeon 9000 series for longevity in general, NIB or not.

Received this MX460.
Previous owner hacked this ghetto style 2 slots cooler.
~10€ shipped
I have this type of cooler on a spare MX440. Will replace the fan.

And I just bought a small lot of untested cards for ~30€. Not yet received.
This includes a 8800 Ultra (with missing cooler cover) and a 8800 GT (+3 lower range cards)

Finger crossed for the ultra to work. Luckily, I already have a non working one with aftermarket cooler on it. I will do a cooler swap if the card works.

luckybob wrote on 2023-04-16, 02:44:

You haven't used Hauppauge products...

I don't understand this response. I own several.

pentiumspeed wrote on 2023-04-15, 23:18:

Correct kind is lithium grease for these plastic wheels and plastic gears. […]
Show full quote

PcBytes wrote on 2023-04-15, 22:02:

Nothing much - about two 2006-2007 ASUS DVD burners, a ~2003 MSI-8216S DVD-ROM drive, and... a nice beige-ish Queen T-Shirt.

All three drives need new belts, and the 8216S needs a WD-40 session to potentially "grease" the gears.

Correct kind is lithium grease for these plastic wheels and plastic gears.

No WD40 please. It is *not* a lubricant, it is corrosion protector, even sprays out in a thin fluid but the chemicals evaporates leaving behind very terrible greasy stuff that is poorly made for grease, primarily developed long ago to protect stainless steel in rocket building at that time.

Cheers,

Nevermind, it didn't even need greasing. Checked it, there was plenty.

The issue was of course, the drive belt. Replaced it, works like brand new.

ODwilly wrote on 2023-04-16, 04:13:

ATi_Loyalist wrote on 2023-04-15, 23:30:

Scored a 9600 AIW for a VHS digitization rig I am building, based on S939/XP. New in box from CompUSA! I felt very strange opening it, but glad to have something I know is reliable and in excellent shape with the accessories.

I would add a small 40mm molex fan to that heatsink. I just distrust the Radeon 9000 series for longevity in general, NIB or not.

Yes, no doubt! I can't resist adding fans! Too fun.

As far as video capture, the ATi Theater 200 chipset from this era is considered cream of the crop by the VHS digitizing forums. You can definitely get good results with the hauppauge stuff too but the ATi stuff is considered to be as good as it gets. Further reading: https://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/video-captur … .html#post13441

ATi_Loyalist wrote on 2023-04-15, 23:30:

Scored a 9600 AIW for a VHS digitization rig I am building, based on S939/XP. New in box from CompUSA! I felt very strange opening it, but glad to have something I know is reliable and in excellent shape with the accessories.

Hi,
would it be possible for you to check if the pins 19-24 in this table are assigned correctly in general (i.e. 22 & 23 = S-Video signals) and maybe even assign the correct signal names?
Re: What retro activity did you get up to today?

You could take these for reference:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S-Video
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phone_con ... e_plug.svg

Also a definite connection for pin 9 would be great.

Thank you!

Went to the local second-hand store and to my surprise they have a bunch of old hardware around for next to nothing. So I'm back with:

- A Matrox Millenium G400 16MB
- Intel 486 SX-25
- Intel 486 DX-33
- Intel 486 DX4-100 supporting write-back
- 2x Intel Pentium 166 with different markings
- AMD K6-2 350
- AMD Athlon XP 2400+ Thoroughbred

They also have lots of RAM of all types, COAST modules (is this worth getting?) and PII/PIII of different sorts...

Do I need it? No. Was it cheap enough to be saved? Yes.

ATi_Loyalist wrote on 2023-04-16, 20:42:

ODwilly wrote on 2023-04-16, 04:13:

ATi_Loyalist wrote on 2023-04-15, 23:30:

Scored a 9600 AIW for a VHS digitization rig I am building, based on S939/XP. New in box from CompUSA! I felt very strange opening it, but glad to have something I know is reliable and in excellent shape with the accessories.

I would add a small 40mm molex fan to that heatsink. I just distrust the Radeon 9000 series for longevity in general, NIB or not.

Yes, no doubt! I can't resist adding fans! Too fun.

As far as video capture, the ATi Theater 200 chipset from this era is considered cream of the crop by the VHS digitizing forums. You can definitely get good results with the hauppauge stuff too but the ATi stuff is considered to be as good as it gets. Further reading: https://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/video-captur … .html#post13441

Interesting, I have a load of VHS I want on disk, I have incomplete boxed AIW 9600 and hoping ChrisK's efforts with the cable bear fruit. Also have one in the shrinkwrap which I will have to break into should that be suboptimal. Then there's the 8500AIW I can try too. Wish I had a socket 775 AGP board though, to get some grunt applied to the editing etc. Maybe will just have to pipe them out to a C2Q rig to mess with. Otherwise it's a choice between 2.8 prescott 478 or a s754 with an A64 3000.

BitWrangler wrote on 2023-04-17, 14:33:

ATi_Loyalist wrote on 2023-04-16, 20:42:

ODwilly wrote on 2023-04-16, 04:13:

I would add a small 40mm molex fan to that heatsink. I just distrust the Radeon 9000 series for longevity in general, NIB or not.

Yes, no doubt! I can't resist adding fans! Too fun.

As far as video capture, the ATi Theater 200 chipset from this era is considered cream of the crop by the VHS digitizing forums. You can definitely get good results with the hauppauge stuff too but the ATi stuff is considered to be as good as it gets. Further reading: https://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/video-captur … .html#post13441

Interesting, I have a load of VHS I want on disk, I have incomplete boxed AIW 9600 and hoping ChrisK's efforts with the cable bear fruit. Also have one in the shrinkwrap which I will have to break into should that be suboptimal. Then there's the 8500AIW I can try too. Wish I had a socket 775 AGP board though, to get some grunt applied to the editing etc. Maybe will just have to pipe them out to a C2Q rig to mess with. Otherwise it's a choice between 2.8 prescott 478 or a s754 with an A64 3000.

Yeah for sure, according to some on digitalfaq an A64 X2 is the minimum recommended spec to avoid occasional frame drops, but any AIW card will work. I am using an A64 X2 4400+.
I will do whatever I can to help ChrisK! 😀 good luck.

ATi_Loyalist wrote on 2023-04-18, 00:25:

BitWrangler wrote on 2023-04-17, 14:33:

ATi_Loyalist wrote on 2023-04-16, 20:42:

Yes, no doubt! I can't resist adding fans! Too fun.

As far as video capture, the ATi Theater 200 chipset from this era is considered cream of the crop by the VHS digitizing forums. You can definitely get good results with the hauppauge stuff too but the ATi stuff is considered to be as good as it gets. Further reading: https://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/video-captur … .html#post13441

Interesting, I have a load of VHS I want on disk, I have incomplete boxed AIW 9600 and hoping ChrisK's efforts with the cable bear fruit. Also have one in the shrinkwrap which I will have to break into should that be suboptimal. Then there's the 8500AIW I can try too. Wish I had a socket 775 AGP board though, to get some grunt applied to the editing etc. Maybe will just have to pipe them out to a C2Q rig to mess with. Otherwise it's a choice between 2.8 prescott 478 or a s754 with an A64 3000.

Yeah for sure, according to some on digitalfaq an A64 X2 is the minimum recommended spec to avoid occasional frame drops, but any AIW card will work. I am using an A64 X2 4400+.
I will do whatever I can to help ChrisK! 😀 good luck.

Thank you!
Please keep in mind that this is only the Video-Out cable I'm rebuilding. I have both VGA outputs working so far with only the Composite, S-Video and audio signals missing.
Not sure if I will add them to my own cable in real since they are of second interest for me personally (I also don't have any device where I could sink these signals into what makes testing for the right connection a bit complicated), but I'd very much like to see the documentation complete if possible.

For Video-In and hence for capturing purposes there's a second connection box that relies on a somewhat standard mini-DIN connector.
I don't have plans for reverse engineering that too. But if you like we can add the pinout to the documentation as well.

Minutemanqvs wrote on 2023-04-17, 12:27:

Went to the local second-hand store and to my surprise they have a bunch of old hardware around for next to nothing. So I'm back […]
Show full quote

Went to the local second-hand store and to my surprise they have a bunch of old hardware around for next to nothing. So I'm back with:

- A Matrox Millenium G400 16MB
- Intel 486 SX-25
- Intel 486 DX-33
- Intel 486 DX4-100 supporting write-back
- 2x Intel Pentium 166 with different markings
- AMD K6-2 350
- AMD Athlon XP 2400+ Thoroughbred

They also have lots of RAM of all types, COAST modules (is this worth getting?) and PII/PIII of different sorts...

Do I need it? No. Was it cheap enough to be saved? Yes.

I'd consider the coast modules worth getting, even if just to resell. There's always someone looking for them, and it's not always easy to find the right one.

ChrisK wrote on 2023-04-18, 05:55:

For Video-In and hence for capturing purposes there's a second connection box that relies on a somewhat standard mini-DIN connector.
I don't have plans for reverse engineering that too. But if you like we can add the pinout to the documentation as well.

Yah those are almost standard in comparison. If they are not all the same, I'd figure they're like serial headers, 2 or 3 variations. I was tending to come across pinouts for those all over the place while I was looking for the other one in the past.

debs3759 wrote on 2023-04-18, 10:43:

Minutemanqvs wrote on 2023-04-17, 12:27:

Went to the local second-hand store and to my surprise they have a bunch of old hardware around for next to nothing. So I'm back […]
Show full quote

Went to the local second-hand store and to my surprise they have a bunch of old hardware around for next to nothing. So I'm back with:

- A Matrox Millenium G400 16MB
- Intel 486 SX-25
- Intel 486 DX-33
- Intel 486 DX4-100 supporting write-back
- 2x Intel Pentium 166 with different markings
- AMD K6-2 350
- AMD Athlon XP 2400+ Thoroughbred

They also have lots of RAM of all types, COAST modules (is this worth getting?) and PII/PIII of different sorts...

Do I need it? No. Was it cheap enough to be saved? Yes.

I'd consider the coast modules worth getting, even if just to resell. There's always someone looking for them, and it's not always easy to find the right one.

Indeed. Most of the time it's "Q: How do I tell which COAST module my board takes? A: Get a shoebox full of COAST modules and try them all." so, apart from a few which might have maker, like Compaq on them, or chipset like VX or HX, it's hard to be sure what will work. If you want one for specific board or two, best plan is to hunt out photos of that board with one installed, and see if you can match the photo to parts in front of you or for sale with pics. Sometimes the motherboard manual says something helpful like 256kB COAST 1.1, but then again the modules often aren't marked with version they are, but you can figure out size from the chip part numbers. All in all, it's good to have a stash to go through every time you need one.

Headsup for Canadians, The "Buck or Two Plus" dollar stores, have got classic blue mousepads, also black. They are thinner than the early 90s ones though. "elink" brand, MP-431, HRS Global is the distributor. I think they were $1.75

Is there every any reason to remove a coast module from a motherboard to intentionally slow down performance?

Kahenraz wrote on 2023-04-18, 15:21:

Is there every any reason to remove a coast module from a motherboard to intentionally slow down performance?

I have an AT box with a PCChips VX motherboard that came with fake L2 cache and no COAST module. I bought one on Ebay, and it does work; but it will only work @ 66 MHz. If you set the FSB to 75 MHz, it won't work. I bought an Evergreen 400 MHz upgrade, and swapped the standard K6-2 400 for a K6-3+ 400 that runs @ 450 MHz with no issue, negating any need for the COAST module.