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486u

Posted 2017-08-24 6:11 PM (#885 - in reply to #71)
Subject: RE: Recently Played/Bought/Messed with

UMC U5S

Posts: 54

Nice little Ensoniq OPUS ISA card sold by NEC. This is a full 14" card which is ridiculous for 1995.

Cheap Intel server board, no AGP so its pretty useless for gaming but might be fun to do other things with. I have a case for this board ready to go too.

Diamond Flower PMMX board to replace my PCChips board. The PCChips board was working just fine but this seems like a better quality board and I can use 128MB SDRAM.

Also a FIC PII AGP motherboard. More cheap Taiwanese shit of questionable quality.

CyrixInstead

Posted 2017-08-26 4:44 PM (#893 - in reply to #71)
Subject: Re: Recently Played/Bought/Messed with

Intel P5

Posts: 85

Location: UK

I've had great luck with DFI motherboards, currently running 3 of them, DFi P5BTX/L Rev C with my K5 DOS rig, another intel TX but ATX format with a 200MMX & AK74 socket A with a Duron spitfire.

DXZeff

Posted 2017-08-29 9:42 PM (#895 - in reply to #893)
Subject: Re: Recently Played/Bought/Messed with

TM Crusoe

Posts: 618
500

Location: Hull, UK

DFI, generally good overall. Except that NF2 Ultra I had, that one sucked, everything else worked well though.

Anyway, this thing is here, check out that packaging!

That is the most 90s packaging I have ever seen, it's like a giant VHS case where someone dug into my graphics design library.
Someone has modified the card, I think, not sure what effect that might have as yet. Could be factory though, I don't suppose it's entirely uncommon to have the odd bodge on stuff like this, I think even the Celebrity has one somewhere. This card has a choke and resistor array cut off, it also has a resistor bodged between the leg of a chip and SMD capacitor, there is a flux mark on the large PLCC chip next to it from the iron. The S-Video port, or I assume that's what the hole is for, appears to have never been populated, but the circuitry seems to exist for it. Oddball card, 1992 design it seems, made in early 1993. Not sure which machine to install it in, perhaps my U5S or my 386DX? Not sure. Perhaps I will save it for the Deskpro? We'll see.

Probably going to try getting a floppy emulator again. Hopefully this time it will actually come with the buttons and shit.
Also going to look into capture cards and camcorders, can't grab both, but might be able to get hold of one in the near future, I have to bail off of this crappy stuff I'm stuck with. The StarTech holds everything up and the camcorder isn't really very happy these days.

Edited by DXZeff 2017-08-29 9:47 PM

waybacktech

Posted 2017-08-29 10:09 PM (#897 - in reply to #895)
Subject: Re: Recently Played/Bought/Messed with

IDT WinChip

Posts: 237
100

Location: USA

I'd bet those missing components are factory rework after production. That was so common back then for some time to see. If not, then I hope it works! Original packaging is nice but the cables are so important to have and so many of these cards are always for sale without their cables because I guess no one is smart enough to ever think the cables are kind of an important thing to hang on to when removing the computer and/or card from service.

I think you should put a poll on your next video as to which computer this should go into, or perhaps a poll on this site. My first instinct would be this would be a nice addition to your Deskpro, but since you already have that other P66 system with capture gear in it, this might be better for the U5SD. I think trying this in a 386 would be interesting but I think you'd be happier with it in a 486 or Pentium.

Last week I went to Goodwill, and other than the usual junk and clothes, with almost no electronics to speak of, I did find an AOPEN 52X cdrom in box for $8 which was originally sold from the store I work at, which I thought was kind of cool. I know what our price stickers look like so that's how I know. Anyway took it home, and turned out that it's actually not the 52X speed in the box, but an NEC IDE Quad Speed drive. I had to do a slight repair of the drive, and cleaned the front under the sink with soap while I had it apart. Was really clean on the inside actually. Works great, not yellowed, using it in the Cyrix 586/120 system. So I thought that was a good score given the prices of IDE quad speed cdroms now days on ebay.

Edited by waybacktech 2017-08-29 10:11 PM

DXZeff

Posted 2017-08-29 11:32 PM (#898 - in reply to #897)
Subject: Re: Recently Played/Bought/Messed with

TM Crusoe

Posts: 618
500

Location: Hull, UK

My suspicions are as such, but I won't know until I try it and hopefully find nothing acting in ways it shouldn't. With such a complex device I wouldn't be surprised if the bodge resistor was simply to save on PCB costs, it crosses a path which would need a 4 layer PCB (or some seriously long re-routing of tracks) and that would have ramped up the production costs significantly, more so with this almost certainly not being a high volume thing.
It annoys me immensely when something cool comes up for sale, they say it is "100% Working" and "Pulled from a working system" yet there's no cables, no software, no nothing, they still usually write "Fully Tested" in there somewhere though. The cable with white cords appears to be custom, it's not listed in the manual and has slight differences in how it was made, the connectors are also hugely different, mostly 3.5 jacks, one RCA and a BNC. I've seen A/V gear with that on before, but can't remember what it did now. This is the only thing which makes me suspect the modifications were made by the user. The manual is littered with phone numbers and odd notes about the system it was installed in, which is neat in a way.

We'll see what happens I guess. The U5S can't take it, the card is just a little too long for the chassis and I also need the high color modes on that system. As such, it looks like the 386 will end up with it, that can't go above 256-Color, which is the maximum without some add-on board (High Color module for AITech's "WaveLength" BUS on the card) I don't have. I'd like the AVer 2000 for the VGA card that is in there, but I suppose I could switch it over if I ever found one - I doubt I will find one. I don't plan to capture video with this, got it more for the novelty than anything, plus I always wanted one which used the VESA cable, so it should be fine in that system. Helps that the 386 will have a 5.25 floppy drive on the other side of its rebuild, the bulk of the software is on those, same goes for other peripherals in there, plus it's the right age to fit pretty seamlessly, much as it doesn't matter the board is even the right color. The model of this card is "AITech VideoSurge" which the box suggests is part of their "Pro" range and not the more common "WaveRider" which explains the lack of tuner. This suggests to me that where the Hauppauge Celebrity and CinemaPro were clearly trying to break into consumer space, with the incentive of "You can watch Television on your PC!" that this line had no interest in that, aiming for the professional market.

Soooo... 4x drives are costly now, are they? (Glances at stack of like six drives and rubs hands together fiendishly) Hmm...
Sounds like a good find, neat that the box had a label from your store on it. I don't know if it's a good or bad thing, but I've yet to run into anything linked to myself in the wild. NEC's old drives seem to be quite good, at least, the ones I used were and they had that "Made in Japan" label on them, which seems to be a good omen on optical drives for whatever reason.

In other news, I scored this for £90

I have it on good authority that many of the problems I have were fixed. Prefer to avoid the Intensity 4K as long as possible, because it would require changing my scaling to 720p, the scaler doesn't like doing that in some modes and it makes editing harder too.
Still, this should leave funds to grab some floppy emulators, but probably only one at first to make sure they have the buttons and stuff, given the last ones were listed as having them and wound up being paperweights.

You know, now I think about it, it's kinda weird to think that in effect, the P66 can do almost everything the Xeon can do, just not to as greater extent. Definitely thinking of creating an entire video with the system, already have some ideas for that.

waybacktech

Posted 2017-08-30 2:41 AM (#900 - in reply to #898)
Subject: Re: Recently Played/Bought/Messed with

IDT WinChip

Posts: 237
100

Location: USA

Multimedia PC was the next big thing in the 90's to get people buying new computers and everyone was trying to find something new to throw in with the multimedia pc craze, at least that's why I think those TV/FM cards ever existed. I did come across on ebay an interesting, guessing a custom Creative Vibra 16 with a built in FM tuner on the card which I thought was a neat idea. Usually FM in a computer is either a separate card, or mingled with the TV card.

BNC connectors makes me think security cameras, which if that was the case, could explain the "customized" nature of the card and cable. Might have been done by a company that sold security camera systems, some smart people modded the card and installed it into a custom computer they provided to drive the cameras. I am not sure where or what else would use BNC connectors except in a studio setting, maybe a local TV station. Could be the card had an interesting life.

I don't know if anyone actually buys 4x drives. I am probably one of the few that likes them.

Edited by waybacktech 2017-08-30 3:04 AM

CyrixInstead

Posted 2017-08-30 7:12 PM (#902 - in reply to #71)
Subject: Re: Recently Played/Bought/Messed with

Intel P5

Posts: 85

Location: UK

That is one impressive looking card, if i'm honest , i'd have bought that just for the packaging alone if the price was right! Nice one

Deksor

Posted 2017-08-30 7:32 PM (#904 - in reply to #902)
Subject: Re: Recently Played/Bought/Messed with

Chips 386

Posts: 34

I just received 200 floppy disks (half of them are 5"1/4 DD and the rest are 3.5" floppy disks) as well as a working 5"1/4 floppy disk drive. There was even a cleaning kit that was only used once !

Previously I only had 30 working 5"1/4 floppy disks so this is really good ! And they contain a lot of cool programs (none of these are original though) that are translated to my tongue so some of them aren't available on the internet (yet

). I only paid shiping, as it was free but too far from my home.

For some reasons, most of the floppy disks I find around where I live are dead. (They make a rattling sound when I put them in a drive and they come back with circular marks and then the next floppy (even if it was ok) you'll put in the drive will die in the same way unless you clean the drive) I don't know why it behaves that way at all. It's like this problem is only caused on floppy disks that were stored in the north of france and not elsewhere (one of my friends that live in "Marne" which is like 150km from me gave me 20 untested floppy disks and they did the exact same thing. The on I just bought on the other hand were located 300-400Km from me).

You may say "it will depends on how it was stored all these years". The thing is, 3 weeks ago, I bought a lot of things (I did a video showing this and I translated it so you can look at it without wondering what the hell I'm saying ^^). There was 20 sealed 5"1/4 floppy disks and they are working great. But there was also 3 of them that weren't brand new and they ALL had problems. I saw where all of these were stored because I went to the home of the seller. It was just in the old office that was changed into the storage room (but one of the computer that I bough there as well as the monitor (by the way, that monitor is AWESOME !) were still plugged in and ready to be used even though it must have been more than 10 years that these weren't use :lol:

Anyways, now I have a lot of good old floppy disks that work to play with ^^

DXZeff

Posted 2017-08-31 4:49 PM (#907 - in reply to #904)
Subject: Re: Recently Played/Bought/Messed with

TM Crusoe

Posts: 618
500

Location: Hull, UK

I saw that SB16 with an FM tuner, they seem to show up every once in a while. If I didn't have a dislike of the local FM radio stations I'd probably have gotten one, but I can't bring myself to listen to the crap they play between the ad reels around here.

I need more floppies. I have 5 working 5.25's and 1 mostly working 3.5 now, sucks. Have a bunch of labelled originals, not writing over them. Environmental factors do affect the ageing process of things, I know for a fact that machines in houses near the sea and especially ones used at leisure centers, ones which have swimming pools, are prone to rusting due to salt or chlorine in the air. Humidity will influence it too, I would guess. Stands to reasons floppies are similar, something in the air obviously makes them decay faster. I'm generally quick to blame air fresheners and body spray when those things are around, they make me feel shit anyway, probably not good for electronics.

Anyhow, I got around to messing with this;

It does some pretty weird advanced stuff which I don't fully understand yet. Setting the buffer is nice because it's a text field and you just type where you want it, typically 2MB past the amount of RAM you have installed - so I enter 34 for this system.

It can display an input, it even seems to have both fields though I turned that off here because the interlacing looked shit, replicating only the even field to fill the screen. For 1992 I'd say it's not bad, the software is also slightly more responsive than Hauppauge's stuff, things happen almost instantly where theirs actually drags its heels about showing up from time to time.

Consoles don't work, it shows only the frame which was being sent as the application started. Presumably this is because they don't fill the screen and the timing is probably pretty fixed on this card. It tries though, about on par with the Intensity Pro in behavior here, beats the PEXHDCAP2 because it doesn't crash.

Seems good, but I have to dock points for everything being stuck behind a copy protection mechanism. Luckily some of those numbers in the manual also be serial numbers. I don't imagine this information or the software is easy to find, so I may upload it at some point. Chances of someone finding it should they need it are slim though and, to be honest, I'm considering withholding things like this on purpose in future. The largest place preserving such things never granted me access, so everyone else can lose out too because of their inaction, why should it go on my bandwidth bills? Anyway, yeah, the software works but I need to fix a conflict with my Ethernet card that I've caused.

But yeah, fuck copy protection, Hauppauge would later pull this shit with their devices, the Colossus I have can never be used again because the driver, even if downloaded, requires you have the original CD the card came with. The disc from another Colossus doesn't work with it. I remember Creative doing something similar once, this is another reason I despise the Live cards, other than them being flat-out shit. By contrast to devices like the Colossus, the VideoSurge / AITech Pro seems to be a good card so I'll forgive it, but I'm still going to bash on them for putting this restriction there in the first place - seriously, what the fuck am I going to do with a copy of the software? I'd have to own one of their cards anyway so why do it? Fucking dickheads.

Whatever they did to the card, it doesn't seem to have broken it in any way, perhaps it was factory modifications after all. I thought the missing RP would mess up the VGA colors or something (though it seems this card is digital) but no, maybe they discovered it wasn't needed. Anyway, I can grab stills, haven't attempted video capture yet, but I doubt it will be pretty in the 386, drive access is slow anyway, likely due to the fact it's already sharing a bus with the VGA card and everything else, not a good omen for such things.

Seems weird using it, because the monitor plugs into the AITech now, so the VGA card's monitor output on the back of the case just sits there doing nothing, it just feels weird to me to see it sitting there disconnected, yet still have an image on the screen. You can still use the socket, but obviously nothing but a pink box will show up if you start the capture card. This card also doesn't suffer the pink edges because you can adjust the palette skew, it also appears to configure things like this and alignment automatically at start-up, presumably because of its digital communications with the video card making such co-ordination possible with minimal effort, handling this via analog means (as with the WinTV) would be more challenging and require heftier firmware, likely also extra hardware on a card which is already over-sized, in fact, I believe slightly longer than a de-facto full-length board where this one is exactly the same length as the MGA clone I use for reference, hence the little notch at the back that one has, probably just to make it fit the card holding slots at the front of the chassis.

Anyway, I didn't capture video with it, but I captured a clip of me using the software to view an input and save a still, so you can see how it handles; https://www.mediafire.com/file/h840h3pj6t9dxzq/20170831150114.MP4

waybacktech

Posted 2017-08-31 5:58 PM (#908 - in reply to #907)
Subject: Re: Recently Played/Bought/Messed with

IDT WinChip

Posts: 237
100

Location: USA

Have you looked into a hack / mod / crack for the Colossus driver? I noticed some mention of a driver for it under Linux.

DXZeff

Posted 2017-08-31 6:30 PM (#909 - in reply to #908)
Subject: Re: Recently Played/Bought/Messed with

TM Crusoe

Posts: 618
500

Location: Hull, UK

Never bothered, it's the principal of it. Otherwise, the Colossus was a horrible card anyway, so once the system it was in got decommissioned I never tried to get it working again.
One thing I do remember is having to saw part of the board off to make it fit in the slot.

waybacktech

Posted 2017-08-31 11:04 PM (#910 - in reply to #909)
Subject: Re: Recently Played/Bought/Messed with

IDT WinChip

Posts: 237
100

Location: USA

My DATAPATH vga capture card works really well most of the time, though with it being PCI bus, it is limited to lower than 30 fps above 640x480, but as far as having issues with switching resolutions, it works pretty much as well as a monitor really, with the only real issues being sometimes the picture gets off center. Given that card comes from the early naughties, it makes sense it works. From what you describe with your capture card, it seems that these cards are probably all about the same regardless of who's name is on them. My Avermedia card is damn picky about refresh rates making some cards just flat out not work unless there are some refresh tweaks in the driver including resolution changes, but I haven't had the lock up problems you describe, but still it is not an easy to use card and prefer my Datapath card far more even though it can't handle the higher resolutions without dropping frames.

Brostenen

Posted 2017-09-02 4:55 PM (#916 - in reply to #71)
Subject: Re: Recently Played/Bought/Messed with

TM Crusoe

Posts: 671
500

This... Tested and fully recapped with long lasting tantalum capacitors. RF modulator removed. Sellers picture.
A bit expensive, yet these things do not come cheap anymore. :-(

(a600-mobo.jpg)

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a600-mobo.jpg (123KB - 503 downloads)

Deksor

Posted 2017-09-02 5:43 PM (#917 - in reply to #916)
Subject: Re: Recently Played/Bought/Messed with

Chips 386

Posts: 34

The two caps for sound are missing, that's strange !

I've got the same amiga. I've never ever had an amiga before. Unfortunately it's fdd is busted and I don't have any ram expansion so I can't really use it for now. I don't even have floppy disks for it ! I've bought a floppy disk emulator. I'll buy an original fdd when I'll come across a cheap one

Brostenen

Posted 2017-09-02 6:17 PM (#918 - in reply to #917)
Subject: Re: Recently Played/Bought/Messed with

TM Crusoe

Posts: 671
500

#Deksor
The seller said that the board have been fully recapped, so my guess is that the picture was taken right before caps were added.
I did not notice it before you spotted it. So I have asked the seller if caps are added at a later stage. Thanks fro noticing. :-)

waybacktech

Posted 2017-09-05 8:32 PM (#929 - in reply to #71)
Subject: Re: Recently Played/Bought/Messed with

IDT WinChip

Posts: 237
100

Location: USA

NIB, or supposedly new AIW 9000 for $10. Thought it was a good deal. Don't know yet where this will go, probably an Athlon, but for the price, had to get it.

Edited by waybacktech 2017-09-05 8:45 PM

(AIW9000_2.jpg)

(AIW9000_1.jpg)

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AIW9000_1.jpg (104KB - 480 downloads)

Old Guy 88

Posted 2017-09-05 9:52 PM (#931 - in reply to #929)
Subject: Re: Recently Played/Bought/Messed with

Intel P5

Posts: 68

Location: N.E. Pennsylvania USA

Very Nice

486u

Posted 2017-09-06 2:13 AM (#932 - in reply to #71)
Subject: RE: Recently Played/Bought/Messed with

UMC U5S

Posts: 54

New Quantum Fireball 4GB and AT case arrived today.

You dumb motherfuckers. Whole resume, everything.

The AT switch on this case sucks dog dick (contacts bounce like crazy) so I went with the classic.

Brostenen

Posted 2017-09-06 9:27 AM (#933 - in reply to #929)
Subject: Re: Recently Played/Bought/Messed with

TM Crusoe

Posts: 671
500

waybacktech - 2017-09-05 10:32 PM

NIB, or supposedly new AIW 9000 for $10. Thought it was a good deal. Don't know yet where this will go, probably an Athlon, but for the price, had to get it.

Cool... Yeah... You are right. It is not NIB. Even the inner cardboard is missing and it looks like the bag is not sealed, because of the way it is closed. Though that said, I think it is a good find and I hope for you that it is working as it should. Nice catch. :-)

Brostenen

Posted 2017-09-06 9:36 AM (#934 - in reply to #917)
Subject: Re: Recently Played/Bought/Messed with

TM Crusoe

Posts: 671
500

Deksor - 2017-09-02 7:43 PM

The two caps for sound are missing, that's strange !

I've got the same amiga. I've never ever had an amiga before. Unfortunately it's fdd is busted and I don't have any ram expansion so I can't really use it for now. I don't even have floppy disks for it ! I've bought a floppy disk emulator. I'll buy an original fdd when I'll come across a cheap one

What rom is in your 600? If it is a 37.300 or 37.350, you can buy a 44-Pin CF or SD card adaptor, and use a PC to install a complete workbench setup, through Win-UAE or FS-UAE. Win-UAE is easy enough, though I went for the more obscore way. Namely FS-UAE on Xubuntu-Linux. If you want a guide, I can write it up here on this forum.

I had WB 2.10 and 2.04 running on my 600, just befor I bought a 37.350 Kickstart rom and swapped it for the original 37.300 rom. And on my 37.300 rom, I can have a 512mb CF card running. The SD adaptor would make the HDD-Led turned on constantly, so if you go that route, you need to make shure that you eighter know how to mod, or it is a certified 600-compatible adaptor. The standard CF card adaptor did not make any fuzz and problems.

Update on the sound Caps.....
I have gone over the picture yet again, and there are indeed caps on the board that are in the picture. They are grey and the picture is not clear. Though they are there, having nearly the same colour as solder pads. Just slightly darker and they are thin/small. So no problemo there.

Brostenen

Posted 2017-09-06 9:42 AM (#935 - in reply to #932)
Subject: RE: Recently Played/Bought/Messed with

TM Crusoe

Posts: 671
500

486u - 2017-09-06 4:13 AM

You dumb motherfuckers. Whole resume, everything.

You did not pass? That is not good, and I know the feeling of having to go through it all again.
Have only happened to me 3 times in my life. Biology in highschool, entry-level and the final exam in Webintegrator.
(it is webprogrammer, bussiness oriented, as it was ASP.Net/C#/SQL object orientated programming)

Edited by Brostenen 2017-09-06 9:43 AM

486u

Posted 2017-09-06 10:47 AM (#936 - in reply to #935)
Subject: Re: Recently Played/Bought/Messed with

UMC U5S

Posts: 54

The person who sold me the drive on eBay didn't wipe the contents of the 4GB Quantum Fireball which contained their family photos and resume.

CyrixInstead

Posted 2017-09-06 1:27 PM (#937 - in reply to #936)
Subject: Re: Recently Played/Bought/Messed with

Intel P5

Posts: 85

Location: UK

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VORTEX-atonce-386SX-emulator-for-ATARI-10...

I'd totally buy this if it wasn't so expensive, a 386 for the Atari ST! Pretty cool!

DXZeff

Posted 2017-09-06 3:11 PM (#939 - in reply to #937)
Subject: Re: Recently Played/Bought/Messed with

TM Crusoe

Posts: 618
500

Location: Hull, UK

If you're sure, then I might nab it. Cost is high, but it might give me enough of a reason to actually play with that Atari.

waybacktech

Posted 2017-09-06 4:11 PM (#940 - in reply to #936)
Subject: Re: Recently Played/Bought/Messed with

IDT WinChip

Posts: 237
100

Location: USA

486u - 2017-09-06 3:47 AM

The person who sold me the drive on eBay didn't wipe the contents of the 4GB Quantum Fireball which contained their family photos and resume.

Earlier this year, I picked up an Athlon slot A system on ebay, posted pics of it on this forum actually, the 3dcool.com computer, anyway, I started messing with it this week, came to find out it had a load of XP on it, which wouldn't boot, and a second partition called "media". Well I reinstalled XP on it, saving the media partition to see what was on it, and it has tons of porn movies, and a text file of the guys full name, with credit cards and bank information. Should have looked at the C drive before I blew it away lol anyway ya it's funny how people don't seem to care about what they leave on a computer they get rid of. I also bought a Packard Bell P60 system last summer, and it has a full load of 98 on it with the guys info, although it was mostly used for school work so the info isn't anything big but still... amazing what you find.

Edited by waybacktech 2017-09-06 4:31 PM

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