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Computer Speak -> General Computing | Message format |
DXZeff |
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TM Crusoe Posts: 618 Location: Hull, UK | An update on the 486SX, complete with what would be a tense moment if I weren't so outwardly apathetic; | ||
Robman |
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Chips 386 Posts: 38 Location: Canada | up and flawlessly running now? | ||
DXZeff |
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TM Crusoe Posts: 618 Location: Hull, UK | It certainly appears so. Otherwise, my K5 is now running Windows 95C and I ordered a replacement keyboard for my laptop, but there was an error on the sellers part so they can't get more. I am definitely looking at just returning the laptop under warranty. If it comes to that, I will not be returning it with the hard drive as I don't have the patience to back up my stuff and wipe the disk. | ||
Brostenen |
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TM Crusoe Posts: 671 | Looks good, that 486 you cleaned. Yeah... Great job on it. I recieved both cards today, and took some better pictures of them. It looks like the ET6000 need a new capacitor down at the PCI connector. Hmmm.... Need to shop for that. The GF3 looks good enough. A bit dusty, yet the cooler looks decent for it's age. A couple of the caps, look like they are starting to get tired/old. Not really shure about it, to be honest. Edited by Brostenen 2017-02-17 9:22 PM (ET6000-HerculesDynamite128-01.jpg) (ET6000-HerculesDynamite128-02.jpg) (Geforce3-ti200-128mb-01.jpg) (Geforce3-ti200-128mb-02.jpg) (Geforce3-ti200-128mb-03.jpg) Attachments ---------------- ET6000-HerculesDynamite128-01.jpg (129KB - 650 downloads) ET6000-HerculesDynamite128-02.jpg (105KB - 669 downloads) Geforce3-ti200-128mb-01.jpg (120KB - 628 downloads) Geforce3-ti200-128mb-02.jpg (112KB - 609 downloads) Geforce3-ti200-128mb-03.jpg (169KB - 623 downloads) | ||
waybacktech |
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IDT WinChip Posts: 237 Location: USA | A rather interesting 486 motherboard I recently picked up quaintly named Predator. Just about everything except the kitchen sink is contained in this AT form factor ISA motherboard, even PS/2 Mouse port on board. No VGA as far as I can tell though. Symphony chipset and no less than 16 30 pin memory slots with a 486 DX-50 CPU Installed. Yes that is indeed a 386 socket as this board supports both processor types and contains one of those combo 387/486 sockets under the DX50 chip. Edited by waybacktech 2017-02-21 5:51 PM (s-l1600.jpg) Attachments ---------------- s-l1600.jpg (340KB - 593 downloads) | ||
DXZeff |
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TM Crusoe Posts: 618 Location: Hull, UK | Neat. I have one which is a similar, an AMI Baby Voyager. It only takes 486 chips and Weitek Co-Processors though. It is very heavy due to being four-layer and the insanely dense component population. The board itself has this neat kind of 3D effect; Uses an AMI chipset which is on par with the UM8498 assuming both systems were only using ISA (The 8498 has VLB and can outrun the ISA-only AMI, but with identical ISA-only card configurations the scores are identical) though has a different footprint. This board is used for a web server that is not currently online. I hope to find time to work on that project again some day. To those who are still here, sorry I've been quiet around here, busy trying to re-arrange my living room. On the up-side, my K5 is definitely kicking again. Excuse the temporary wiring. Hoping to move onto the Athlon and PPro after this one. | ||
DXZeff |
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TM Crusoe Posts: 618 Location: Hull, UK | The PT-7502 is still displaying stability issues. They are small, seemingly random, and I think I've tracked down the problem. The Voltage Regulators share a heatsink and I think the overheating "VR1" might have damaged "VR2", at least, this is what my ghetto testing indicates - it seems that once the system has been loaded hard for a while there is a small dip in the voltage and this is when things start going wrong (BSOD, program crash, random reset) and I can speed this process up by warming the heatsink up, so I'm not ready to write off this board as busted just yet. I am extremely confident that this is the problem and that the board will work properly again when the second regulator is replaced. When it does work now it is still very responsive and everything seems to be doing what it should be doing. On the other hand, I need this thing now and do not have a suitable regulator to hand (Annoyingly, I have the model from either side of this one) so I will be shelving the board again for the time being. As a stand-in I have this Chaintech 5VGM1 which isn't as quick and has some compatibility problems (it also hates K5 chips) hence it wasn't my first choice, though it is still a fairly good board. It was stable last I checked though and it is another VX board. To the OS they are similar enough that switching over is pretty seamless and it shouldn't require a re-install of Windows 95. It should work well enough to get me through for the time being and I'll just add a regulator to my shopping list - I need a laptop keyboard and a PCI SCSI card anyway, so I'll just grab one when I order those, just waiting for a refund to clear for my first keyboard order, which was out of stock. Here's hoping. I'm aware of the missing RTC. The one from the PT-7502 will work as it's the same chip. I have a spare left over from a project that I'll try to find later and I found a spare Dallas chip that would work if I really need it. | ||
waybacktech |
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IDT WinChip Posts: 237 Location: USA | If you go through the work of VR replacement, you might want to also hit it with some new electrolytics. Ohh, btw.. the super rare 486 processor I picked up on ebay is nearly here, maybe tomorrow if the weather ( hell of a lot of snow ) doesn't hold back the drivers. All the way from Russia too. Edited by waybacktech 2017-02-23 6:11 PM | ||
Brostenen |
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TM Crusoe Posts: 671 | Well... This is not old. I installed this toy a couple of days ago, on my wifi. It is actually quite awesomme. EDIT: Bought a Sandisk 16gb SD-Card and a 5volt 3amp power brick for my OrangePI Plus 2. Need to buy a SATA cable for the OPI too and a case, unless I can make my own case. Going to be sweet, building a RetroOrangePI, modded to play 80's music in the menu. Edited by Brostenen 2017-02-23 9:22 PM (Dino-01.jpg) Attachments ---------------- Dino-01.jpg (106KB - 620 downloads) | ||
Brostenen |
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TM Crusoe Posts: 671 | Yesterday, I tested the GF3-ti200 128 megabyte, that I bought some time ago. Working flawless. The fan was a bit noisy. So I pealed back the sticker, and let a few drops of oil into the hole. This made the crackling noises go away. Still really loud, though sounds like a new fan. In time, I have to replace it. Yet for now, it is working. Then I soldered in a new cap on the ET6000 card, and I found that two pins on the 3 yellow chips were lifted off the soldering pads. Soldered them on again. And the card makes picture and works. Not bad for the price I gave for it. So it is ok that the card is not 100% cosmetic in order. Yeah.... Can't expect everything for some 15 US Dollars can you? Then I tested my ZIP-100 SCSI drive, that I found in a dumpster around 2011/12 or something. Just recently I got a disk, and it is actually the first time that I have seen ZIP drives in action. Shure I have seen them on YouTube. Though not up close and in person. Wich is really strange, as I saw the first drive ever, back in 1995. Today, I gave the GF3 a first run. Ran 3D-Mark99 a few times, both benchmark and demo mode. Then I loaded up UT99, and everything is running smooth and 100% nice. Another good 15 dollars purchase I might add.... | ||
DXZeff |
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TM Crusoe Posts: 618 Location: Hull, UK | I've been busy, I have ~25 songs to learn and record and I'm not setting myself much time to do it. Three songs in, K5 holding up, sanity slowly disappearing... Why, oh why, did I think it would be fun to attempt music which is mostly orchestral with 80s synths? Possibly not one of my better ideas. Nah, I like the challenge, though it seems the end results vary considerably. @Brostenen; All I can think of when I see that dinosaur is Barney :P Good to know your cards are working, I actually like fans that have a "healthy" noise because that way, I know they're working. If the noise is constant I generally don't notice it after a few minutes and only pick up on it again if it changes for some reason, but I like to go a little overboard with cooling anyway. @WaybackTech; Looking forward to finding out what it is, though I can probably make a few guesses. | ||
Brostenen |
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TM Crusoe Posts: 671 | #DXZeff 25 songs? Damn that is one big mouthfull. Hope you will be getting through this without problems. When you are finished, will you be sharing some of them then? As for the Dino, then it is a toy that you tell how old you are and what you'r name is. You can name it too. The idea is that children can ask it a question, in order to learn stuff. Tell it to start a wordplay, play a song, tell a tale. And so on. It is driven by the internet and IBM Watson. Pretty cool idea. Cognitoys Dino As for the GF card.... Well.... I am going to look for a better suited heatsink and fan. Personally I really do not like when it is loud as a vacume cleaner. A little noise is ok. Just not too much. | ||
Brostenen |
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TM Crusoe Posts: 671 | Speaking of the devil.... And THIS came up when searching for "VL Controller". Bought it straight away. Now I need not to look further for a VLB 486 board. (Still missing them two AT cases) | ||
DXZeff |
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TM Crusoe Posts: 618 Location: Hull, UK | The songs are for a Let's Play I recorded some time ago, I committed to learn a song for each part which seemed like a good idea. Of course, I didn't think of how the game is quite long and so there are 25 parts. Ah, I've heard of things like that, seems like a neat idea (the Dino) I guess. My limits for fan noise are much higher than most people's, I don't know whether it was the time spent sharing my work space with a 19" cabinet or running a Presler for a very long time, but it simply doesn't bother me. Yes, a VLB board and an ABit one at that, I've become rather fond of their boards from that time. Surprisingly reasonable price in comparison to what you usually see nowadays too. I doubt you'll be as lucky with AT cases, the last time I searched for them people were asking silly money. Maybe worth trying AmiBay assuming people actually bother to approve your posts over there. I forgot to mention last time I was here, that I got bored of the blank squares on the front of my cases and ordered a bunch of those resin domed OEM labels, with my logo. They're not here yet, but I'm looking forward to sticking them on. This is what the site displays as their estimated appearance though; Edit: Oh, also, the MIDI setup; The Korg on top of the monitor is not connected and I am not using it, it is there as a kind of tease to myself of "Yeah, I could emulate these noises at the push of a button, but no." just to motivate myself. The small monitor is connected to the K5 which is recording, the larger monitor is connected to a P4 I was given some time ago which runs Cakewalk and allows me to program the keyboard faster with VirtualCZ, which it doesn't run entirely well, but is good enough. The K5 records because it has the best sound card out of what I own now, the P66's PAS16 is decent but has a rather strong DC bias which isn't always easy to remove and everything else I have is extremely noisy. The Terratec in the K5 is somewhere in the middle (Minimal DC, though higher noise floor than I'd like and it is audible at time) and I've got just enough power to do some mixing and such in a decent time frame instead of stuttering and waiting with the P66. I could have used the Xeon in theory, but there is about a second of delay between sound going in and then coming out, which is impossible to work with and I don't really have any way to split the audio properly without introducing more noise into the signal. I might upload one of the tracks on its own at some point prior to the project being completed. Edited by DXZeff 2017-02-28 5:37 AM | ||
Brostenen |
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TM Crusoe Posts: 671 | Nice setup. I see that you even have a plate of the best chokolate from England. :-P Personally I prefer Danish, yet English is so damn near in quality. Like 98/99% close to my personal taste preferance. The best are those thick plates with dark chokolate. Yummy. Anyway... As I said. Nice setup. Though I am not a musician, I too have created a small album back in 01/02. It sounds shitty, and I used something called Dance Ejay3 or something like that back then. It was only an experiment, to see if a non musician, could create an album. Hence showing that techno and dance at that time, was really poor music. I grew up on The Door's, Beatles, Roling Stones, Uriah Heep, Jimmy Hendrix, Queen and Abba. Yeah.... I hope you will be getting them case badges soon. Edited by Brostenen 2017-02-28 10:13 AM | ||
DXZeff |
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TM Crusoe Posts: 618 Location: Hull, UK | I'm not a musician either, in fact, I take pride in that I honestly have almost no idea what I'm actually doing. I can vouch for the simplicity of techno and such though, this is what I fall back on if I just want a song fast to demonstrate that something works. Some of it is enjoyable though, for me at least. I like Eurodance which I know is technically rubbish, but it's fun. I also like soppy 80s ballads which, again, I know are trash, but I enjoy them. I grew up around a lot of music. My Dad listened primarily to Country, so I had a constant barrage of Boxcar Willie and Johnny Cash from him, though he did listen to the pop music of the time, complained about it a lot mind, but still listened anyway and also had a vast collection of 60s music. My Mother listened to punk rock, so I heard records from the Sex Pistols, Anti-Nowhere League and such quite often before I was even born. My Granddad always listened to Classical music. This provided amusement as my Grandma would be listening to Meatloaf elsewhere in the house and he didn't like it, so he'd turn his hearing aid down and start blasting things like Gustav Holst or Motzart full pelt, then claim he didn't mean to when my Grandma would yell at him "What's that Rita? Oh, my hearing aid batteries must have run out again. You know, I thought it was a bit quiet." trying not to smirk - yeah, Granddad is a troll sometimes, as well as a computer technician long ago (though he prefers electrics to electronics) so I guess I've inherited a few traits from him. People will tell you that Metal will drown anything (and hell, do I love me some metal) but I assure you, Classical will drown out other music even more. Waltz is also good. This caused havoc in the kid's home because when I tried to blast Megadeth they told me it was "violent" and I would get told off. But I was trying to study and the girl in the next room could play Westlife (eww) as loud as she wanted and the lad in the other room could play his J-Lo (Even worse) which was distracting, so I started blasting Classical, Baroque and Waltz which also annoyed them. I got out of it by stating that it was inoffensive and was known to expand the mind, which was good as I was doing college work... Totally got away with it and successfully blocked out the pop crap. I might start posting in the music thread again I think. Case badges are not far away, I received an e-mail a few hours ago saying they are ready and have now been posted. Best chocolate I ever ate was this dark chocolate that was sold in some bargain store, it was made in Germany of all places. The store is long gone and I don't think they make the chocolate any more. Lastly, song progress; (blerhg.png) Attachments ---------------- blerhg.png (59KB - 638 downloads) | ||
Brostenen |
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TM Crusoe Posts: 671 | Been testing my Hercules ET-6000 card, and looked it up on the vga compatibility chart. The card is working... Sort of. It has mismatched mem chips on it. 2x908 and 2x909 chips. And I guess this is why it is only running with 2mb total. It has these spaghetti lines on a samsung TFT screen, and looking at the poor compatibility on the vga chart. I guess this card is more of a novelty and collectors item. And I deem this card totally inferiour to CL-5446 and Trio64v+/Virge-325. None of those 3 cards make spaghetti lines and they are all 100% compatible. Mmmmm... I gues this card is for these persons... - Collectors. - People wanting the "cool" factor. - People doing nothing than benchmarking. - Hipsters that think Tseng is the best. - People like me, collecting for historical reasons. Yet if you want to build a good campaible gaming rig, then keep a looooong distance to this card. Looking at what it is, combining it with eBay prices, makes it a poor choice. (poorly.jpg) Attachments ---------------- poorly.jpg (26KB - 669 downloads) | ||
DXZeff |
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TM Crusoe Posts: 618 Location: Hull, UK | In that case, thank you for being the Canary in the coal mine, I shall stick to S3 / Matrox / Cirrus cards for such machines, they have never let me down anyway. You know me, I tend to gravitate towards having things which are practical and work well, though I do make some exceptions towards the other extreme, whereby things are woefully impractical and unyielding (My POD being an example) just for fun. Also, my ego has been sufficiently fed now; Plus I can use these when I sell some machines in the coming months, that way people know they're buying a quality product :P | ||
Brostenen |
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TM Crusoe Posts: 671 | Cool. You got them at last. Nice. There is actually something about stickers like those. That is something that we do not see anymore, anywere at all. Yeah... The ET6000. Really expensive. I guess this is the reason as to why it is not recommended harder. Looking at eBay, they go for a "low" price when being viewtop branded, and ultra high when they are hercules branded as mine. So... Well... Perhaps I will sell it in the future, if I find something else I want. Not one of them cards that I absolutely will keep forever, as I suspect that it will not be used much. Until further, my plan is to do some benchmarkings when I have the time, then keep it a couple of years and then finally sell it. | ||
DXZeff |
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TM Crusoe Posts: 618 Location: Hull, UK | LOL! I was rummaging around eBay and stumbled into this; http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Elfidelity-PC-HiFi-Filter-Card-PCI-PCI-Ex... It smells strongly of Audiophool to me. Rest assured, I won't be buying one. | ||
waybacktech |
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IDT WinChip Posts: 237 Location: USA | That card looks impressive. No chance it can possibly do what is claimed. Now if it went between the PSU and the MB, maybe there might be a chance. | ||
DXZeff |
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TM Crusoe Posts: 618 Location: Hull, UK | Perhaps, but I can't help thinking that it would probably be cheaper and much more effective to simply buy a good power supply in the first place, and if you did use a particularly bad PSU then noise will be the least of your problems in the long run. Seasonic / Corsair supplies at around 800 Watts cost about the same last time I looked. I get what you mean though, it does at least look appealing. The thought also occurs to me as I write this that PCB fabrication is much cheaper now than it was a few years ago and it would probably also be cheaper to have one made if someone were so inclined. Still, not for me though, my noise problems come from a lack of earthed outlets and won't be solved by installing random capacitor banks on my computers bus. | ||
Brostenen |
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TM Crusoe Posts: 671 | I bought an transperant acrulic case for my Orange Pi Plus 2, and 10pcs of 300x400mm anti static bags. Looking forward to assemble that Pi and get it on with retro-console gaming. | ||
DXZeff |
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TM Crusoe Posts: 618 Location: Hull, UK | I think I might have to play with SBCs a little more and see what I can come up with, as well as how much your Pi can kick its ass in actual power. Otherwise, the internet is still great around here; Ah, the 21st century, so much to do online these days... Oh... | ||
waybacktech |
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IDT WinChip Posts: 237 Location: USA | Paul, I know you like the mid 90's stuff but, dude it is really time to upgrade to one of those new 56K V.92 modems. I hear they are real screamers to whoever runs your ISP. There is no excuse for that kind of raw speed. | ||
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