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486u

Posted 2017-08-03 10:58 PM (#833 - in reply to #832)
Subject: Re: Recently Played/Bought/Messed with

UMC U5S

Posts: 54

No doubt I'd check it out. Could give Mystic a shot too although I think Mystic is pretty bloated these days.

DXZeff

Posted 2017-08-04 6:52 AM (#834 - in reply to #833)
Subject: Re: Recently Played/Bought/Messed with

TM Crusoe

Posts: 618
500

Location: Hull, UK

I'll look at it somewhere down the line. Meanwhile, here's that brass pump that I bought as broken;

And here's what I've been working on mostly as of late;

At the front you can see the new 28x1½ Rim and identical K7 hub - Yeah, before the AW was the "K" hub, with models suck as "K5" "K6" and "K7" stamped on them, the number signifies the year it was made - this will be built into a new wheel because the original got bucked in the move and is missing several spokes. Rather than try to straighten it and repair the damaged hub, I will just have a new wheel made and stuff that on. Amazed I can still get Westwood rims this size, but I think some company in Holland and one in India, possibly China too, make a model with such wheels... None are 40 spoke versions though, those are harder to track down, even 36 isn't so common now. This is for the nearest bike, the Raleigh Tourist.

The All-weather roadster behind it should be completely working now, but I haven't tested. Also replaced the 6W bulb from the dynamo side with an "LED Car bulb" at the same voltage, I went with car bulbs because they put out far more light, but being LED hardly stress the dynamo, it is extremely bright and I may incorporate a second set of batteries for it with an automatically switching circuit, one that uses the dynamo once it supplies enough voltage but runs on batteries when the bike is stopped. The switch actually lets you select batteries anyway, but only small batteries and using smaller bulbs. Notice the Raleigh doesn't use electricity, that one uses kerosene, a part of me is still tempted to move to acetylene, but they're more sensitive to wear as they rely on reactions in water to create pressure, they give better light than kerosene though and some cavers still use them.

The furthest most bike is a ladies bike... yeah, should maybe find a lady to go with it some day, it's a long story as to why I have it, also a boring one, so I'll spare you that. Anyway, yeah, that one works. Finally replaced the shitty gel saddle with a Brooks B73 as I believe that to be the model Philips supplied when it was made in the 40s, or the equivalent at the time. Can't always get it exact, the Raleigh seems correct according to what I have (but this version of the bike is unusual, I haven't really seen another with such a huge frame) as they always used Brooks, the B66 was in production when the bike was made and it explicitly states this model in catalogs of the time. The all-weather is unconfirmed, seems to have used an Olympic saddle which was essentially a 1:1 clone of the B33. I do have the original saddle and it could be restored easily, but I chose to preserve it instead.

So yeah, bikes are about running, hopefully test them later on today. It will take more than rough handling to break something made by the British Empire, I'd like to see Chinese steel make it this far, good luck seeing a Flying Pigeon still going ~9 decades on, although they're utilitarian enough that they may have a chance. Unfortunately I think Brooks, between me getting that B33 (The B66 and B73 are more recent, but second hand) may have since moved production out of the UK. Raleigh, who bought out the brands of the other two bikes years ago, was sold to TI China years ago.

Sorry for the lack of focus on PC stuff as of late, but I really have to get out of this house, so this has been the majority of my attention as of late.

RobW0lf

Posted 2017-08-04 2:58 PM (#835 - in reply to #71)
Subject: RE: Recently Played/Bought/Messed with

Chips 386

Posts: 28

Location: Wigan, UK

Had a very stressful few weeks/months due to personal stuff, though I'm back to my normal routines and shit now.

Friend of mine sent two AGP cards up to me, a X1600 512mb 9800 Pro 128mb, both great cards. Also bought 512mbs of ram for my Pentium II system, yes, overkill but that's exactly how I like it. I also run the 9800 in the PII too, seems like a stupid idea but my only other agp card that could work in there is an ATI Rage Pro Turbo, not really that great of a card for Windows/3D stuff. (Still waiting on some discs so I can actually install an os onto this Pentium II, outside of a MS-DOS 6.22 install I had on a 6.4gb hdd)

Other than that, not been up to much. Just spending my time being social, anyone else here use Discord? I wouldn't mind talking with all of you guys sometime, outside of this forum.

(9800Pro_X1600_AGP.png)

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486u

Posted 2017-08-04 3:50 PM (#836 - in reply to #835)
Subject: RE: Recently Played/Bought/Messed with

UMC U5S

Posts: 54

I can definitely do Discord.

DXZeff

Posted 2017-08-04 5:13 PM (#837 - in reply to #836)
Subject: Re: Recently Played/Bought/Messed with

TM Crusoe

Posts: 618
500

Location: Hull, UK

Only found out what Discord was a few days ago. I'm not there yet, but I'll be checking it in the near future as a few of my friends can't use Skype anymore, anyway, and that's what they're moving to.

PA8600

Posted 2017-08-05 5:14 AM (#838 - in reply to #71)
Subject: Re: Recently Played/Bought/Messed with

Slow 8088

Posts: 3

Location: /dev/null

So some friends on Discord showed me this site and I decided to join.

As for stuff I've messed with, well I recently got a Sun Ultra 45 and it's a pretty good machine, with SATA drives and PCIe.

Edited by PA8600 2017-08-05 5:16 AM

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DXZeff

Posted 2017-08-05 6:12 PM (#839 - in reply to #838)
Subject: Re: Recently Played/Bought/Messed with

TM Crusoe

Posts: 618
500

Location: Hull, UK

Cool, Sun machines are pretty hardcore. Always well built and designed to last quite a while at full load.

Welcome aboard.

486u

Posted 2017-08-05 7:00 PM (#840 - in reply to #71)
Subject: RE: Recently Played/Bought/Messed with

UMC U5S

Posts: 54

My 386 arrived and everything is looking good except for- where the 30-pin SIMM banks are at are just neat rows of mounting holes leading me to believe someone ripped the brackets off the board trying to take out the SIMMs. I've ordered replacement brackets but I have no idea on the orientation to mount them.

Edit: They're SIPPs, and these seem to be very rare and expensive.

Edit Again: Turns out I can mount a 30-pin SIMM socket onto the SIPP socket and that will work.

Edited by 486u 2017-08-05 8:53 PM

DXZeff

Posted 2017-08-06 6:09 PM (#841 - in reply to #840)
Subject: Re: Recently Played/Bought/Messed with

TM Crusoe

Posts: 618
500

Location: Hull, UK

Indeed. If you can't find Pin 1 you might have to turn the board over and see if one of the pins has a square pad. Otherwise, if there's no marking at all, you'll be reduced to testing known pins. Unfortunately, +5V and GND are in the same positions at each end, so I'm not sure what you'd want to be probing for without testing myself, never had to probe one before.

Brostenen

Posted 2017-08-08 10:40 AM (#842 - in reply to #841)
Subject: Re: Recently Played/Bought/Messed with

TM Crusoe

Posts: 671
500

My dx4-120 was treated with a new "home". I moved the guts from an ATX case to an AT case...

- FIC 486 VIP-IO motherboard.
- Amd 486dx4-120 (running stock speed, no overclocking and passive cooling)
- 32mb Ram.
- Cirrus Logic CL-5446 2mb PCI.
- Creative AWE64 Value/Standard.
- CD-Rom drive.
- 512mb Transcend CF card in adaptor, mounted inside an removeable drivebay.
- A-Open 300watt ATX PSU with an homemade ATX to AT converter.

(dx4-120.jpg)

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DXZeff

Posted 2017-08-08 9:59 PM (#843 - in reply to #842)
Subject: Re: Recently Played/Bought/Messed with

TM Crusoe

Posts: 618
500

Location: Hull, UK

I really need to transplant my 386 to a proper case at some stage, that ATX one it lives in now was scrap when I got it and it shows, the front of it is falling to pieces.

Brostenen

Posted 2017-08-08 10:42 PM (#844 - in reply to #843)
Subject: Re: Recently Played/Bought/Messed with

TM Crusoe

Posts: 671
500

A 386 allways need a decent case. I have had the dx4 in an A-Open HX45 case, so a 386 board would fit without mods.
The picture below is that case. It has an ATX to AT power converter and the power button is the one on the 5,25 cover.
Making the case still usefull for building an ATX system without damage to the case it self.

(s-l1600.jpg)

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DXZeff

Posted 2017-08-09 5:35 AM (#845 - in reply to #844)
Subject: Re: Recently Played/Bought/Messed with

TM Crusoe

Posts: 618
500

Location: Hull, UK

No idea what model the case is I used, just some cheap late 90s ATX Pizza Box. The board doesn't fit well, I'll probably put something less important in there. In contrast to the AOpen, it has a big clicky switch anyway, so putting the AT switch in there was simple, obviously this isn't an issue I will face once I move it to a proper AT case.
I did replace the VGA card already though, at long last, and it's an oddball. It actually shows color in composite CGA to a degree where most cards don't.

In other news, I now have a Discord account. Not sure exactly how to use it yet, the wording on everything is very unprofessional to be honest and it's hard to read. Apparently I'm "DXZeff#5619" or some such.

waybacktech

Posted 2017-08-11 5:11 AM (#846 - in reply to #845)
Subject: Re: Recently Played/Bought/Messed with

IDT WinChip

Posts: 237
100

Location: USA

After a few months of watching this large computer, I decided to go ahead and pop on it. I was hoping the seller would lower the price, but given the rarity of the processor, and what also appears to be the motherboard as well, not to mention the extreme rise in 486 / 586 components, I decided the price for the whole system of $250 shipped is probably worth it. I sold the Acer P60 I purchased back in February as a fully functional system, for double what I payed for it, so that was a nice turn over. So that went into getting this massive tower. Looks like from the post screen there might be a couple hard drives in this system, although the listing does not state that, none can it be seen in the photos either so we shall see. I think I can repair the broken area on the front of this case. Seller photos for now. As this is from the same seller which I purchased the Acer P60 and that Athlon system from back in February which were very well packaged, I hope this large 50lbs computer will arrive in no worse shape than already is, but the case is the lease of the reasons for my purchasing this, as the parts are really what I am after.

Cyrix 586 chips above 100Mhz are very rare to find today, and in fact, I never knew they made a 120Mhz version until this came up for sale. Hoping this chip will run at 133Mhz or perhaps a touch more. The 100Mhz variants I have, in both Cyrix and IBM branding will not reach 133Mhz, so I am really interested to see what this can do at 133Mhz. Also this system does not come with a PSU, one of them full AT jobbers, not a big deal though obviously.

On another note, I am trying to decide what video card I want to use with this system, something perhaps I have not used before. While I have several cards I could use, I am leaning towards an S3 968 based card, such as the Diamond Stealth 64 Video VRAM or the Stealth 64 2001 Video which is a Trio64V+ with a TV tuner I thought would be really cool to use with this system. Millennium 1 or Permedia 1 are couple of other choices but leaning towards Diamond cards mainly. I feel any of these choices will be far more than this processor would really need, but that's ok with me

One question I have is, I came across some Trio64V2/DX based cards, mostly sold outside of the US except for 1 card, and was wondering what the difference is between that and the Trio64V+? Wiki mentions the V2 has vertical bilinear filtering, which would make me think it has some primitive 3D capabilities as it is the predecessor of the Virge and if so would perhaps make for an interesting choice of card to use over the others I mentioned.

Edited by waybacktech 2017-08-11 5:28 AM

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DXZeff

Posted 2017-08-11 6:14 AM (#847 - in reply to #846)
Subject: Re: Recently Played/Bought/Messed with

TM Crusoe

Posts: 618
500

Location: Hull, UK

Neat, not a common processor at all. I also think that your board there has the good SiS chipset, the same one my MSI had, those kick ass.
The Trio 64V2/DX I'm not sure on, I suspect the 2D core is identical to the regular 64V+ though without any explicit support for new features in the application. But yeah, on a machine like that, I'd definitely be tempted to go for something less common, or with a novel feature, just for the hell of it.

Odd you should mention selling your P60, I'm still preparing my old one for likely sale because I've no use for it now. Also keep running into obstacles, trying to get video onto VHS but don't have any machines running cards with TV-Out on them now. Also, I discovered that it's faster to copy a large file to an SD card, install the USB driver in Windows 98SE and copy from the SD card on that system, than it is to just copy the large file over the network between Windows 7 and Windows 98SE.

CyrixInstead

Posted 2017-08-11 7:29 AM (#848 - in reply to #71)
Subject: Re: Recently Played/Bought/Messed with

Intel P5

Posts: 85

Location: UK

For a more unusual and VERY fast PCI VGA card you could go for a ARK LOGIC PV2000. I have one in my 5x86 100 also on a SiS chipset motherboard. For DOS it is VERY quick indeed.

DXZeff

Posted 2017-08-11 8:25 AM (#849 - in reply to #848)
Subject: Re: Recently Played/Bought/Messed with

TM Crusoe

Posts: 618
500

Location: Hull, UK

That's interesting to know, I saw one for sale a while back but didn't like the price because I couldn't find much information about it. I'll stick to my S3 / Matrox gear, but I shall definitely retain this information for potential use in the future.

As I write this, I am recording things onto VHS and have a 3-machine capture card chain going. Ugly setup. I also found a clip on the tape I'm using from ~2006, amusingly of testing out the WinTV Express I was using at the time.

waybacktech

Posted 2017-08-11 7:24 PM (#850 - in reply to #848)
Subject: Re: Recently Played/Bought/Messed with

IDT WinChip

Posts: 237
100

Location: USA

ARK might be an interesting choice. I've only managed to find a couple of them for sale, one bundled with a motherboard and the other from Germany and both are about $70 which is more than I'd really want to spend on it. But I will keep an eye out, someone will probably list one eventually for a price I'd be more comfortable with. I'd like to test one if nothing else. Another option I'm thinking about is a Number Nine Image 128, like this one - http://www.ebay.com/itm/Number-Nine-Imagine-128-LSI-PCI-VGA-Video-G...

I am curious why it appears to have 2 video chips. The MAC version only has the LSI chip. However, this card is a bit out of my comfort zone for price as well, but something I am curious about. I'd like to use something unique so if anyone has any other idea's I'd like to hear them. I have a Paradise card with the western digital chip on it, which I thought about at first but being it is a 2MB card, I think, might be a 1MB, can't remember now, anyway point is, I'd like to get into the 4MB memory range just because. 2MB is fine but 4MB would be better for higher resolutions/bit depths. The Stealth 64 Video VRAM I found is the 4MB version for $17 which is right in my happy place. Weitek Power9000/9100 are also other interesting options.

Edited by waybacktech 2017-08-11 8:41 PM

waybacktech

Posted 2017-08-11 8:10 PM (#851 - in reply to #847)
Subject: Re: Recently Played/Bought/Messed with

IDT WinChip

Posts: 237
100

Location: USA

DXZeff: It looks like a BOSS motherboard, 10 72 pin memory slots is quite unique as well. It seems like this computer was built pretty well with good choice of components, though the video card I don't think is original. Could be but seem like you'd spring for a bit better video card in 95 with a PCI motherboard. SIS496/497 seems to come up as a recommended performance chipset for 486/586 builds, along with the UMC 888x so it should make for a good comparison as well. I think SIS might have the edge on PCI performance on the 486 platform. I've been trying to figure out the maker of this board, I thought it might be ASUS or Soyo, maybe Gigabyte, but I haven't matched up photo's yet to anything on Stason.org yet, though their list is quite extensive. I'll probably have to wait till I have the board to figure it out by the bios id. It still blows my mind how many 486 motherboard were made.

I think you should probably sell that old P60 stuff, you have much better now. I look at things as, if it sits and not something I will probably have a use for, I'd rather sell it if it has some value. I'm trying to thin some stuff out as well. Keep the best, sell the rest!

Brostenen

Posted 2017-08-11 9:19 PM (#852 - in reply to #851)
Subject: Re: Recently Played/Bought/Messed with

TM Crusoe

Posts: 671
500

#Waybacktech
The board and the cpu are a great find these days. Congrats. :-)

As for me... I did a 386 build, wich someone contacted me in order to purchase.
386sx33 + 387, Trident9000c, SB16, controller, CD-Rom, harddrive and floppy.
I have build it in that case, my dx4 was in.

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DXZeff

Posted 2017-08-11 9:46 PM (#853 - in reply to #852)
Subject: Re: Recently Played/Bought/Messed with

TM Crusoe

Posts: 618
500

Location: Hull, UK

@WaybackTech; I have no idea what the second video chip would do, though it's certainly strange along with that lone SOJ chip and the single upgrade socket to the left of the LSI. Perhaps it was used for video acceleration or processing of some kind? The GD5424 appears to be an ISA / VLB chip. Another oddity I noticed is "D4" which appears to be an unpopulated space for an LED. The only cards I've seen set up this way are for video-related tasks, but they usually have an extra connector such as a TTL output or a wide input for a breakout connector. Either way, it would have cost a bit to make in its time, it's a double-sided load, thus likely not produced in high numbers because it would take substantially longer to make each card.

I flirted briefly with wanting 4MB but never found a use for it. Even my K5 has a 4MB Virge (Diamond Stealth 3D 2000) and I've never once needed that memory... It's nice to have it there though, just in case. Yeah, no clue on the board, the silkscreen and the general look resembles MSI and Soyo, but I'm not familiar with it and can't spot a model number where I'd expect it to be on such a board. I also notice what appears to be cardboard behind it, odd decision, but OK. From what I understand, yeah, the SiS has the edge on PCI versus other chipsets of the time, the MSI I had was quite quick and generally worked in that department at any rate.

Basically my stance, if I'm not using it and aren't likely to, it may as well go to someone who will.

@Brostenen; For some reason I always forget how small some of these 386 boards were. Personally I'd move the cards around because sandwiching the sound card in the middle like that is a recipe for noise, but on the other hand, it's a SB16 in a 386SX, so it probably won't make much difference. It must be good though, because the battery doesn't appear to be leaking.

Brostenen

Posted 2017-08-11 9:59 PM (#854 - in reply to #71)
Subject: Re: Recently Played/Bought/Messed with

TM Crusoe

Posts: 671
500

#DXZeff:
It has been replaced with a brand new one, arond a year or two ago. The original battery did not leak, so the board in in 100% excellent shape.
That is why the entire machine will not go for cheap. These boards are near impossible to find in such a good shape, and without any battery
damage what so ever. Going to use some of the money, to get my A600 recapped. The rest will be saved to eighter buy an scandoubler for the
A600 or get an A500 OCS (non+ and kickstart 1.3) with 512mb ram upgrade.

Edited by Brostenen 2017-08-11 10:00 PM

DXZeff

Posted 2017-08-11 10:25 PM (#855 - in reply to #854)
Subject: Re: Recently Played/Bought/Messed with

TM Crusoe

Posts: 618
500

Location: Hull, UK

Aye, mine (Shuttle HOT-307H) came with a replacement coin cell holder, but has a patch of serious discoloration where the barrel battery used to live. From what I've seen, the Amiga wasn't immune to such battery problems either, there are some nightmare inducing pictures out there that I've seen over the years.

waybacktech

Posted 2017-08-11 11:48 PM (#856 - in reply to #853)
Subject: Re: Recently Played/Bought/Messed with

IDT WinChip

Posts: 237
100

Location: USA

I should have looked the card up... http://www.vgamuseum.info/index.php/component/k2/item/227-number-ni...

First 128 bit card, cost starting at $1000! Interesting, 5424 is for DOS mode, so the EDO next to the 5424 must be 512k dedicated to that chip for DOS mode and i'd bet the empty socket is for an additional 512K upgrade for 1MB total. Some sort of pass through going on similar to 3dfx perhaps that switches between the 2 chips based on the task? Hmm... well this would certainly be an interesting card... just not sure it would be very good for DOS games though as there are quite a few better chips than the 5424.

People on vogons says the this card is very fast 2d performance, must be under windows 95 since the 5424 is for dos mode, direct draw/directx 1.0 support only, no DX 2.0 or higher.

Strange to have the need of a dedicated video chip just for dos, but that would explain why the MAC version lacks the cirrus logic portion. If I found one for real cheap, I might get one just for the strangeness and testing but probably not much more than that unless it really shined.

Edited by waybacktech 2017-08-11 11:51 PM

waybacktech

Posted 2017-08-11 11:50 PM (#857 - in reply to #854)
Subject: Re: Recently Played/Bought/Messed with

IDT WinChip

Posts: 237
100

Location: USA

I have a small 386 board like that and seeing it installed into an ATX case, ya that's a tiny board for that case, wow! Of course the same can be said for ITX in a full tower case, which I have seen before as well.

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