Posted 2022-09-10 4:05 PM (#2414 - in reply to #2411) Subject: Re: Recently Played/Bought/Messed with
TM Crusoe
Posts: 618 Location: Hull, UK
Probably nothing, but the links seemed to be dead anyway, so I removed them.
That disk controller is annoying, but I've just about gotten it working. Unfortunately I need new RAM for the system and cannot afford it yet, so it might be a while before I can do much with it.
Posted 2022-09-18 1:45 AM (#2415 - in reply to #71) Subject: Re: Recently Played/Bought/Messed with
TM Crusoe
Posts: 671
Great success with the controller and harddrives. But yeah. Money does not grow on tree's. But if anyone here is good with genetics and plant dna, then perhaps....
Anyway, jokes aside.
Personally I have been a bit off the net for some time. I have been using my time on playing with different mac mini's. I have had one of them Core2Duo/GMA950 ones set up for my daughter, to play some games. Both OsX and WinXP. I had actually done a nice setup for her, installing some old Dos games that were packed with Dosbox for OsX. Last week I played Minecraft, UT99 and Counterstrike with her. I also bought some games, sadly the DVD drive have halfway given up the spirit on her computer. So I had a choice, between getting a spare drive or buying another machine.
Now... Cracking opne one of them old polycarbonate-body (first gen exteriour design), is not really my idea of a good evening. I would rather eat a glass of jalapenos and have rectum-pain the next day. Than to sit with two thin bladed knifes and slide the cover off one of those Mac Mini's. And I found a newer alu-unibody Mac Mini for around 94 British pounds (including shipping) that had wireless keyboard, wireless mouse and a wireless trackpad. And a spare drive cost around 17/23 pounds (plus shipping). So it was a no-brainer, getting that newer machine, moving data and then setting the old up for sale with the three wireless things in one bundle.
Now the bad news.... I had to install Win7 instead of WinXP on the new machine. As the driverpack Apple had released, were not XP compatible. But the good news is that we can still play Minecraft together in LAN gaming. I also installed Outrun 2006 Coast 2 Coast under OsX, as it is a nice arcade game, and why not, as I had the game anyway. Before I found out that the drive was nearly dead, I got a switch for a closed cabled network, and I had to relearn how to set XP manually up in a network. Dang... It has been aprox 20 years since I did any manual LAN setup under XP. But a little fiddeling and running a wizard, then it eventually got running. But yeah. Took longer than I thought it would.
Now. This new Mac I bought. That is an ok machine. Just under 3ghz Core2Duo and some Geforce 300-something gfx. True 2gb Ram is not much, but I can always buy some more. I think 4gb is enough to start with. As she like to draw and make paintings, then I have installed a program called Comic Life on her Mac. And I have installed Gimp too. Now she need a scanner. Comic Life is a strange and kind of nice program with a cool interface.
Else there is not much going on around my place. I have been using some extra time with my children. Been experimenting with food with my daughter and I have been using some time with my son, talking about strange stuff for his age. He is 11 years old, but he is already interrested in space and stars. Magnetics as in a planets magnetic field. And he is really interrested in basic electronics. I drew a simple linear power supply with transformer and diode bridge, and he kind of ate it raw. I also explained ripple effect and explained him why we use capacitors in such a power supply. The wierdest thing with him and the topic of magnetics. Is that he have always talked about levitation and pull of magnets. That simple basic stuff. And he has never seen, nor been explained a maglev train. And then he just drew up the maglev concept on paper, without even knowing that it has been a thing for many years now, down in Germany or whatever. Like. 11 years old. Just being able to perfectly visualize the maglev concept. Wonderfull for him.
And then I asked him how he would do the engine-part, using magnets only. Yeah, yeah, I am the devil him self, asking that question to an 11 year old. :-D But without big questions, how is he going to think deep?
Posted 2022-09-23 11:44 PM (#2416 - in reply to #2415) Subject: Re: Recently Played/Bought/Messed with
TM Crusoe
Posts: 618 Location: Hull, UK
My Granddad actually worked on very early maglev trains, but our country decided not to bother developing them further. He's never forgiven the nation for this. He said that he did have fun throwing bits of scrap metal towards the rails, though, and watching it go flying.
There's not much going on here, either. I've been having a bad time with my stomach again, but I'm giving a lot of thought to starting on my second book early next year, especially if I'm not going to be able to go outside much. In the mean time I'll be slowly writing web pages, as I tried to put my 486 web server back online, but it's had board failure, so a 286 has taken its place at dos.dxzeff.com, but the site is really, really unfinished and I've set a goal of only two pages a week so I don't get burned out.
If you try the URL and it doesn't work, try again later, as I can't update while it's running now due to the less powerful machine, so it has to be switched off if I need to change something on it. I'm not even sure NOS' FTP feature is meant to be used internally for fucking about with HTTP pages anyway.
Posted 2022-09-29 7:22 PM (#2419 - in reply to #2418) Subject: Re: Recently Played/Bought/Messed with
TM Crusoe
Posts: 671
Got my self another Xbox360 250gb. With two original wireless controllers, one original wired controller and two gamestop controller. It came with 4 games (not in picture) that are in near mint condition, with only wear is on covers and of course it came with the PSU. I guess I got lucky, as the console is in cosmetically nearly new. No dust, one or two minor scratches and from non-smoker home. I paid 20 Euro plus shipping.
I needed it for a backup unit, just in case the other dies. As my son plays Xbox360 and he will be sad once he can no longer play his Lego games.
EDIT:
And yes. The wired controllers are working perfect on a RaspberryPI with RetroPIE installed. Just tested it today. :-P
Posted 2022-10-05 10:25 PM (#2420 - in reply to #2419) Subject: Re: Recently Played/Bought/Messed with
TM Crusoe
Posts: 618 Location: Hull, UK
Can't stand Xbox 360 but at the end of the day if it makes your kid happy, it's probably worth the money.
286 web seems to be holding up while slowly being worked on, as in very slowly. Otherwise I'm making plans to build an electric quadracycle. I wanted to get a moped next year, but it seems I won't be financially able to do it, so I may as well just have fun instead.
Posted 2022-10-14 2:48 PM (#2422 - in reply to #2420) Subject: Re: Recently Played/Bought/Messed with
TM Crusoe
Posts: 671
DXZeff - 2022-10-06 12:25 AM
Can't stand Xbox 360 but at the end of the day if it makes your kid happy, it's probably worth the money.
286 web seems to be holding up while slowly being worked on, as in very slowly. Otherwise I'm making plans to build an electric quadracycle. I wanted to get a moped next year, but it seems I won't be financially able to do it, so I may as well just have fun instead.
Fully worth it. Actually both of my children like Xbox360.
Good to hear that the 286 is comming together, and it does not matter how long it takes, as long as the goal is reached.
Posted 2022-10-14 2:56 PM (#2423 - in reply to #71) Subject: Re: Recently Played/Bought/Messed with
TM Crusoe
Posts: 671
As for me. I have also started to finish up a project that I have had in storage for long time. Many moths ago I bought this external harddrive for Amiga500's. It is a Rocktec RocHard RH800C. One of them side-card thingy, that I bought untested and without any PSU. I have been modding it today, so it can get power internally from the side-slot. Just two wires. One for 5v and one for 12v. I found that the power input on the backside, have direct connection to the HDD power plug inside, so my guess is that the external PSU delivers power to the HDD and the Ram gets the power from the Zorro-slot. Does not look pretty with the brown tape, but it will never be seen, once it is reassembled. And by golly, it was dirty inside. Big dark brown and black cakes in the internal fan. I hope it is working so I can use it on one of my 500's.
Posted 2022-10-15 2:33 PM (#2424 - in reply to #2423) Subject: Re: Recently Played/Bought/Messed with
TM Crusoe
Posts: 671
Got the RocTec RocHard RH800C Amiga500 sidecar to fully work. But there is something really strange about the drive.
I can use 8 and 32 megabyte CF cards, but a 512 megabyte will not be partitioned. As I have no cards between 32 and 512, then I am kind of stuck.
Anyway... I now have a fully working drive/memory expansion that attaches to the side of Amiga500.
As to the size issue. I have no idea why it reports wrong parameters when using 512mb cards. Even a 512mb DOM will not work.
When trying with a 1gb CF card, the Amiga wont boot at all. So I guess something like 256 or 125 megabyte is max on this controller.
But it is ok. It is for a classic late-80's setup anyway, and 256 or even 125 would be massive for that time periode.
Posted 2022-10-30 7:23 PM (#2426 - in reply to #2425) Subject: Re: Recently Played/Bought/Messed with
TM Crusoe
Posts: 671
DXZeff - 2022-10-21 9:29 PM
Not sure what to suggest, but sometimes CHS, LARGE and LBA parameters look quite different and some controllers can only do one of the three.
Hoping to start filming something soon, but it'll be a smaller video as I'm still stuck with just the broken JVC.
I have googled the controller. And on some Amiga forum called something in the neighrbourhood of eab, I found a post saying that v1 rom takes up to 256mb IDE and v2 rom takes up to some 1g SCSI. That is all the info that I was able to find. A post from around 2014 or something. Anyway.... I have been testing that Guillemont Soundcard. I popped it into a P4 Socket 478 machine. Just some standard ECS motherboard and GF2-GTS. And what do you know. It just springs to life in Win98se. It has that classic Dream chip, and is SB-Pro compatible. So far I have only hooked everything up, and tested with some MIDI files. It really sounds nice, when playing those MIDI files that comes stock with Win98se.
I might test Doom and Duke3D later on, though it will be through Win98se and not MS. Dos. 6.22. I would really have loved to have pure dos and not Win9x support. But the card is PCI and does not have PcPCI/SB-Link header. :-( :-( Nor MS. Dos 6.22 drivers as such. Unless I figure out how to get a full copy from the location in a Win98se installation.
Anyway.... It will run these late-dos era games through Win98se anyway. So in that sence, the experience is not really gone in a way when in the game it self.
Unpacking of card..... REALLY sorry about bad English.... My accent is like that of crap.
EDIT:
I hope, that the soundcard does not have the same guitar as Creative AWE cards. Those have like the absolute worst guitar of all these wave-table cards.
Posted 2022-11-26 10:03 AM (#2428 - in reply to #2426) Subject: Re: Recently Played/Bought/Messed with
TM Crusoe
Posts: 618 Location: Hull, UK
Only EMU chips should have the AWE guitar.
A board was ordered to replace the big Everex. I've done all I can, but it seems like one of the PALs has gone wonky and without the original formulas - which would only ever have been known to the design team at Everex - there's no way to fix it. As such, I bought this board and a very similar broken one for spares:
As this one uses LSIs instead of PALs, it should be repairable if it runs into a similar failure mode. It isn't quite as capable, however. No big deal as I have a fast 386 for that stuff, so it should be fine if I can make it work.
Posted 2023-01-05 11:20 PM (#2436 - in reply to #71) Subject: Re: Recently Played/Bought/Messed with
TM Crusoe
Posts: 671
Today I recieved a set of brand new Amiga keycaps from a1200.net and I love them. So I installed them on my Amiga1200. This is the last piece in a full restauration, as I bought the machine last year. In pieces and as a rust pile. So far I have done and upgraded the following on the machine....
- Recapping of the motherboard. Solid state caps. Machine will work untill chips die.
- New membrane.
- Changed floppy drive.
- New a1200.net case. Should have been grey, but is blu'ish-grey instead. (I like the colour)
- New a1200.net keycaps for Mitsumi Hybrid keybards.
- IndivisionAGA-MK3 scandoubler.
- Tsunami-1230 64mb Ram Accelerator.
- Buffered CF-IDE adaptor with extra 40-PIN IDE port.
- Kickstart 3.1 from Cloanto.
- Replica case badge with black chickenlips logo.
I am extremely happy with the result, and sorry for bad light when taking pictures.... It was a long process and not cheap.
Posted 2023-02-01 10:58 PM (#2437 - in reply to #2436) Subject: Re: Recently Played/Bought/Messed with
TM Crusoe
Posts: 618 Location: Hull, UK
The forum went out for a little while. Seems Beavis & Butthead (the VMs it runs on) had their dates being set all over the place and they're no longer able to sync time from the internet. We've been to 1970 and 2323 and a day behind, but now things are working again... though it looks like the forum won't be working by 2323.
Otherwise, I got sick of swapping the cable behind the desk, so I built a shitty passive mixer with ten inputs.
In order this accounts for:
Swap System, U5SD-40, Pentium 66, K5-166, Output
Turbo XT, 286-6, 286-16, C&T 386, Swap Accessory, 286-16 CD-ROM via RCA
Shouldn't need to swap cables again. Otherwise I've started building a clock using entirely TTL, but I'll share some of that once I've build the second version of the frequency counter, the board which uses the mains frequency as a clock source and generates a 1Hz pulse, which will drive the rest of the timekeeping circuitry, which in turn will drive the logic that controls the clock face.
Posted 2023-02-14 12:51 AM (#2441 - in reply to #2437) Subject: Re: Recently Played/Bought/Messed with
TM Crusoe
Posts: 671
I am playing a bit with my PiStorm and this EMU68 software. It is a JIT Motorola 68K translation layer for the Pistorm. Though I had to realise something fundamental about this software first.
The software is a bare-metal type. It does not require an operating system to run from, like the official PiStorm software, that are an actual CPU emulator, running on top of a Linux distribution. What I had the biggest trouble understanding, was how the harddrive storage works on EMU68. And it is kind of a genious move from the author of the software.
From the AmigaOS's point of view, it is just a regulair harddrive. But from the EMU68's side of things, it is a whole partition on the SD card. Not a "traditional" harddrive image file. The partition need to have type (ID) 76, that are basically unknown to most operating systems. And inside that partition, the AmigaOS can create partitions.
As I am using Linux, then I used Linux fdisk to create a partition, and set the ID to 76. It can also be done with diskpart in Windows. Anyway. Create a raw empty partition and then change the ID number. Then back in terminal in Linux, I can use the DD command, to restore the IMG file of my entire Amiga harddrive, directly into the type 76 partition.
Guess I learned something completely new, and found yet another task that I do not need Windows 10 or 11 for. Hehe.... Yeah. I can not stand the road of add's and defunct user interface, that MS have gone with the recent years. Win7 are still their best Windows to date, if you ask me.
Posted 2023-02-16 8:09 AM (#2442 - in reply to #2441) Subject: Re: Recently Played/Bought/Messed with
TM Crusoe
Posts: 618 Location: Hull, UK
It'll be a cold day in hell that I use Unix. As time moves on things move towards ARM and Unix type operating systems, so I've already planned for my eventual retirement from this and also have no plans to buy a new computer.
Lots of small annoyances have gone on, but I've been playing with TTL otherwise with the goal to build a 24 hour clock:
There is no frequency generator onboard and instead it does what train stations used to do and derives its clock from the mains sine wave. This then runs a 5-stage ring counter at 50Hz, which in turn drives a 10-stage ring counter at 10Hz, producing 1Hz with a rather short 10% duty cycle, a pulse of about 100ms. This will drive the next board which will count seconds. There will be about seven boards on a backplane which provide signals to drive more logic which will run an LED dot matrix digital clock face. As yet I'm unsure whether to use more ring counters or to use flip/flops for that.
The Hz counter was first built with flip/flops, but it turned out my dodgy Chines 2N3904s couldn't switch faster than 200ms so it kept deadlocking and doing weird things. They're supposed to be able to switch down to about 3.3ns, so it took me ages to figure out why they were being dodgy as 20ms should be glacial in electronics terms - even 1950s silicon could do that with ease. By pure luck I had just enough salvaged C945s and C944s from dead stereos to build this ring counter, which were fast enough, but their gain is bloody horrible and they seem to pull way more current than 3904s would, so they get quite hot. Thankfully I've since found a cheap source of Japanese 2N3904s and 3096s from the 80s/90s that will be used for the rest of the clock circuitry.
Posted 2023-02-27 11:37 AM (#2448 - in reply to #2442) Subject: Re: Recently Played/Bought/Messed with
TM Crusoe
Posts: 671
DXZeff - 2023-02-16 10:09 AM
It'll be a cold day in hell that I use Unix. As time moves on things move towards ARM and Unix type operating systems, so I've already planned for my eventual retirement from this and also have no plans to buy a new computer.
Well....
At some point, you will have to use a computer for everyday use and life related tasks. You know. When communicating with the gouverment, in regards to housing and other things. Perhaps NHS if that becomes as digitalised as here in Denmark. Yup. I can go online and see anything health related journals or I can reserve time at the doctor. Or simply something as basic as home banking. Ordering a new passport have to be in person though, because of all this finger printing and because it is a specific kind of ID. Personally I dont think there are any chance of Windows being put into the grave soon. Sure you will have to make due with the newest Windows version, even thiugh it might be running on the ARM platform. For a life-related "workstation", you dont need anything fast. All computers that you buy from new, no matter what OS, can do these things today. Just get a ruggid and durable construction, because it really does not matter if the website loads in 5 or 15 seconds for these tasks.
And it really does not matter if it is x86, ARM or RISC-V based. As log as you can throw it against the wall without it breaks, cheap enough and silent enough. Then it is a nice machine for these things.
EDIT:
To give a context.... My everyday and daily driver. Is an old HP ProBook 6460b. It is running Linux Mate, because it is old and because I can not work with Win8 to and including Win11 GUI. I simply can not, and would rather use the newest MacOS than Windows11. And only because of the design of the GUI it self. But the reason why I chose this laptop, is not what OS it can or can not run. The reason why I am using this HP laptop is because it is extremely well build. It has a nice cooling construction, and everything are accessible through the the lid on the bottom. If I remove it, I can unscrew the CPU cooler and replace the CPU it self or I can swap memmory. It is sliding locks and no screws. And the best part, is that the machine, as I wrote, is running cold enough to have on my lap. Also, it is silent.
I do not give a rats ass what CPU it is, as long as it is useable as a life-workstation so to speak. But is is sturdy and top notch construction quality. And that is what I am looking for in a computer. Not the fastest, but it is soooo good and nice to have between the hands and to use. I would not even mind if it was pink, that is how well this machine is constructed. :-)
Posted 2023-03-01 8:28 AM (#2449 - in reply to #71) Subject: Re: Recently Played/Bought/Messed with
Harris 286
Posts: 19
Found a Turtle Beach Montery recently. It's a two-part card, a Turtle Beach Tahiti with a Rio waveblaster daughterboard on top. I really like how the Rio sounds and I'm probably going change my current build to integrate it. The cards however did have some damage, the Rio having a nasty corner from drop damage and the Tahiti had markings that when cleaned showed bare traces. For now I've sanded the corners of the Rio as I couldn't stand that gnarly drop damage on an otherwise pristine board.
Posted 2023-03-04 6:10 PM (#2450 - in reply to #2449) Subject: Re: Recently Played/Bought/Messed with
TM Crusoe
Posts: 671
So....
I recieved this MacBook Pro from last half of 2011. The usual suspects from a laptop that era, wich is Intel 3000 gfx, 2,4ghz I5 CPU and all that jazz. Really a nice build quality, and there are light in the keys. So far, so good. True it is a Mac. But it can run Windows and Linux as well. Good build quality, great selection in operating systems, and at a price of 62,5 British pounds, with everything working (except battery, dead due age), then it is not bad. Nope....
However there were some issues.... It can update to last known OS installed or to OS that it was sold with, reinstalling through the internet. However that service were not able to run, due some strange stuff on the harddrive. The installer for the OSX that I want to run on it, can not complete, due to Apple having A FUCKING EXPIRED certificate. Wow Apple.... Clap, clap.... Also, the HDD had some funky stuff going on, that a normal install halted and was unable to complete.... But I fixed it. I grabbed the UBC disc and got rid of all data on the HDD. Then I was able to install from scratch. A lot of work.
Anyway.
I like the build quality. It is great. The hardware it self are so good. It can run Windows, Linux and of course OsX. So I am kind of spoiled in this regard. But this will be my backup machine. It will also be a machine that I use as a media player sort of solution. I will load it up with music and pictures from my life. Then a bunch of old cartoons and a couple of movies.
I will have to order a new battery. It is dead and hold 10 minutes of power. I have ordered new rubber feet, and a caddy that can hold a second HDD, and I will swap that for the optical drive. SSD for OS, spinning platter for data. And finally I need to upgrade the memmory. 16gb will be nice.
Posted 2023-05-22 2:29 PM (#2455 - in reply to #2451) Subject: Re: Recently Played/Bought/Messed with
TM Crusoe
Posts: 671
I have not had much time to play with computers as such. Due to my daughter getting konfirmated, and time was spend on party preparations and what not. But.....
I sold one of my Amiga's. It was the 600 (recapped, solid state) with Furia-020 accelerator, Indivision ECS V2 scandoubler, Microdrive as HDD (actually pretty awesomme sollution) and more. And I got enough money (400 British Pounds) to put half aside and use half for a new daily driver. Don't worry. I had enough saved up already, so it was just to make the last bit of payment to the bank account for that party. Total cost was around 2600 British pounds (half paid by me, half by her mother) in total with everything and 43 guests. So it was in the cheap end, but my daughter wanted it this way. If she wanted it cheap, then that is what she got.
I bought an HP ProDesk 600 G3 MT machine, and a Radeon RX 550 2gb. The system have 16gb memmory. Primaery HDD is 250GB SSD and secondary is 500GB Platter drive. And yes, totally running Linux on this. I love this machine as it is small, yet it has room for full height cards. And it runs Ubuntu Mate like a dream. I can actually play Minecraft Java with no lag. (Other games I play on consoles, and vintage computers like 486 and Amiga)
Posted 2023-05-22 4:42 PM (#2456 - in reply to #2455) Subject: Re: Recently Played/Bought/Messed with
TM Crusoe
Posts: 618 Location: Hull, UK
Seems the same for most of us. More still are moving away from the hobby, though even more are moving from PCs to Unix and Micros. Even I've been moving my focus towards more general electronics, it seems.
I made more progress on the clock and only really have case building left to do for it. PC wise I've done little, want to get onto the backlog of music and get back to writing stories. I did get a piece of music nearly finished: https://soundcloud.com/high_treason/rat-pirates
But I'll leave the finishing touches until I have a few more songs done from said backlog and do all of them in one sweep.
Minecraft lost its charm after they added that stupid tough slate block and moved all the ores around. Glad to know you're doing OK anyway and congratulations to your daughter (I'm figuring this has something to do with education). Parties. I was at a big family party until late last night as my Granddad is now 90.
Posted 2023-05-22 9:06 PM (#2457 - in reply to #2456) Subject: Re: Recently Played/Bought/Messed with
TM Crusoe
Posts: 671
@DXZeff....
I am still playing around with these old machines, yet as you write, then I am not using them as much anymore. It is just the kids, that I spend time with instead. Personally I am only using Windows on rare ocations, and that is with old hardware. You know, Win98 and XP. On my daily driver's it is fully Linux that I am using. To me, I am back in the old days. But it is with modern'ish hardware and software is modern. Still it is kind of jumping back into the good old Unix days. Regarding C64 and Amiga, then I still have 3 C64's and 4 Amiga's. It was just the Amiga600 that I was not using, and I sold it to someone that will use it for music production in his studio.
Regarding Minecraft, then I only play creative-peacefull and then creating buildings and so on. I never actually play it as a game. But it is nice to have access to one game on my daily driver.
Konfirmation is that christian thing, were baptism is confirmed. You know. So it was my daughters first real big party in her life.
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