BitWrangler wrote on 2024-02-25, 19:06:

Well this was a total bust in terms of computer hardware. I arrived 10 minutes before official start and the "riot" was already […]
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zuldan wrote on 2024-02-24, 21:03:

BitWrangler wrote on 2024-02-24, 18:29:

I think I'm gonna take a look, it's a one time grab what you can deal tomorrow. The monitors might be 5:4 rather than 4:3 .... well if google recognised them right. I don't really need any more core2 stuff, but I want an mATX box to throw some other bits in, light modding required or not, so will give them an eyeball, though they are probably much the same. Maybe one has a PCIe gfx card in that works in 98. I know how the dell thing goes, got a Optiplex 360 and a Dementia 5150, annoying lack of drive connectors quite often, both power and interface. Might just scoop all those laptops at the back and figure them out later. Depends how much of a scrum it all is though, nothing worth fighting for. May drag one of the UPS bricks home on the offchance there's enough in the batteries to keep my modem and phones up an hour or so through power outages.

Yep those Dell 1908’s are 5:4. Perfect 😀

Well this was a total bust in terms of computer hardware. I arrived 10 minutes before official start and the "riot" was already in progress, computer shelf picked clean apart from the 2 phones.

Picked up a bunch of old file folders to interleave between boards when storing them, that was it.

Was in a town over so checked the thrifts while I was there, got a little excited when I found some fans and a 2x6pin to 8pin PCIe power adapter up front of one, thinking they'd got a bunch of stuff in... nope, just strays.

I recently missed out on the retro computing giveaway of a lifetime. A local guy put up an ad saying that he had a bunch of old computers to giveaway. The ad mentioned 286s and 386s. All he wanted was a donation to the Heart and Stroke Foundation. I made sure to show up early and waited outside his place until the specified time. However, it was already picked ove. He mentioned that he just reposted the same as the previous week without updating it. No computers left. Mainly broken printers and car parts. Worse yet, he mentioned that he gave away some Tandys and PC JRs, which I would have loved to have grabbed. I was lucky to pick up an old RGB monitor though. I think no one grabbed it rhe previous week because it just looks like an old CRT TV. I'm still grumpy over missing out on that giveaway, but appreciate the monitor nonetheless.

Ensign Nemo wrote on 2024-01-26, 21:59:

Just grabbed a Toshiba Satellite Pro 435CDS.

Please pull out the CMOS and hibernation batteries!!! They're two varta batteries, located right under the keyboard on the left side. They WILL leak and destroy the laptop if you don't do this.
Edit: Saw you were already warned later on in the thread 😀
Also didn't realize how far back I was!

3lectr1c wrote on 2024-02-26, 02:40:

Please pull out the CMOS and hibernation batteries!!! They're two varta batteries, located right under the keyboard on the left […]
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Ensign Nemo wrote on 2024-01-26, 21:59:

Just grabbed a Toshiba Satellite Pro 435CDS.

Please pull out the CMOS and hibernation batteries!!! They're two varta batteries, located right under the keyboard on the left side. They WILL leak and destroy the laptop if you don't do this.
Edit: Saw you were already warned later on in the thread 😀
Also didn't realize how far back I was!

Thanks! No need to apologize. I have been working a ton of overtime and haven't gotten around to it. I needed a second reminder!

ubiq wrote on 2024-02-25, 21:21:

Yay, a coin cell, but boo, it's a soldered-in BR2335. Haven't had to deal with one of these yet. Should I try to replace it with same, or is there a drop-in CR-2032 holder I can use?
I

Thru hole CR2032 holder should fit with some slight massaging.
Pins might be off the PCB holes by 1-2 mm, but its doable.
Did the exact same swap in my Deskpro 2000.

BitWrangler wrote on 2024-02-25, 23:45:

rkurbatov wrote on 2024-02-25, 22:07:

I don't know why, but I bought that strange 486 early board with ISA ports only. Soyo SY 020C. And 486 DX-50 in pair to it. […]
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I don't know why, but I bought that strange 486 early board with ISA ports only. Soyo SY 020C. And 486 DX-50 in pair to it.

Typical 486 is DX2-66 with VLB - that is quite interesting per se, but it's PC of year 1994, that transition between Win3.11 and Win95.

But finding something of the early high end is somewhat problematic - components are much more rare and expensive (were and are).

It could be pretty interesting build - I have ATI Mach 32. If it really has Bus mouse onboard , then I need Microsoft Bus-mouse.

Probably one of my 2.88 floppy drives can be an interesting match. And if I had Adlib Gold - it would be something really special - full of strange and expensive components that never became popular and quickly became obsolete.

Logitech bus mouse should also work. If you see Microsoft "kidney" mouse with a serial connector, check the label underneath it might be serial and busmouse, just needs an adaptor. Think it was "in port mouse" they called it.

I have an old CAD system, has Asus ISA-486 motherboard and Diamond Stealth VRAM ISA, it only had a DX33, but I am thinking of putting my DX50 in it.

ISA only? No VLB? If it has VLB, the following is worth to consider:

https://dfarq.homeip.net/486dx-50-versus-dx2/

ubiq wrote on 2024-02-25, 21:21:

Picked up a Compaq Deskpro XE 450 for a decent price. IMG_0761.jpeg Some damage in shipping, but doesn't look too bad - a little […]
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Picked up a Compaq Deskpro XE 450 for a decent price.
IMG_0761.jpeg
Some damage in shipping, but doesn't look too bad - a little bending and gluing back together should put it right.
IMG_0762.jpeg
Not much interesting inside:
IMG_0764.jpeg
Oh joy, a token ring card. (Maybe I can put XT-IDE on it?) No HD, no CDROM, no additional RAM (4mb on-board).
IMG_0765.jpeg
Yay, a coin cell, but boo, it's a soldered-in BR2335. Haven't had to deal with one of these yet. Should I try to replace it with same, or is there a drop-in CR-2032 holder I can use?
IMG_0767.jpeg
What's going on with the video connector? Compaq making people use proprietary monitors? Assuming it's VGA-compatible. It's got 3 full-size ISA slots, so a video card and sound card to replace the terrible onboard ones is probably the way to go anyway.

Anyway, it's been a few decades since I've touched a 486. I'm gonna give this one some attention and see how well I get can get it looking and working. 🙂

That style VGA port was fairly common. In the past I've used a hot pin and opened the whole so I could use a regular vga cable. Worst case get a short VGA extension cable and clip that pin back some. But the hot pin trick should be good.

BitWrangler wrote on 2024-02-25, 23:45:

I have an old CAD system, has Asus ISA-486 motherboard and Diamond Stealth VRAM ISA, it only had a DX33, but I am thinking of putting my DX50 in it.

That's so interesting. Like for 1992 such a system was not a bleeding edge, but pretty top. But if I bought DX2-66 VLB a year later it would have lasted longer.

Today I'm gonna party like it's 1992! Thanks to a great friend I was able to buy a long wanted treasure. It will stand perfect and very nice next to especially my MSX FS-A1 ST and Acorn 3010 which are also from the early 90's 😀

The Commodore Amiga 1200!

The 1200 came in it's original box and with some nice goodies too:

- Mouse
- MIDI interface
- All the cables and powerbrick
- Blizzard 1220/4 accelerator and ram expansion board

Also it's already recapped.

Ensign Nemo wrote on 2024-02-26, 03:51:

Thanks! No need to apologize. I have been working a ton of overtime and haven't gotten around to it. I needed a second reminder!

I've got a 430CDT coming in from eBay tomorrow probably, so those vartas have been on the mind!
I hope the one I got ends up being ok. It was tested to post, but you can have instances where the corrosion is bad enough that cleaning it off causes the thing to die because remaining barely intact connections break. These are a pain.

Ensign Nemo wrote on 2024-02-25, 23:51:

I recently missed out on the retro computing giveaway of a lifetime. A local guy put up an ad saying that he had a bunch of old computers to giveaway.

One year ago I saw an IBM PC XT in beautiful condition, complete with keyboard and monitor, as a giveaway in a local ad. Title: "Old PC". It was gone within 5 minutes. It didn't bother me because I don't want one, but I hope the person who got it was a collector, not some a****e reseller.

asdf53 wrote on 2024-02-26, 18:40:

Ensign Nemo wrote on 2024-02-25, 23:51:

I recently missed out on the retro computing giveaway of a lifetime. A local guy put up an ad saying that he had a bunch of old computers to giveaway.

One year ago I saw an IBM PC XT in beautiful condition, complete with keyboard and monitor, as a giveaway in a local ad. Title: "Old PC". It was gone within 5 minutes. It didn't bother me because I don't want one, but I hope the person who got it was a collector, not some a****e reseller.

I once contacted someone in the past because she was selling a mint condition Commodore Pet for $25. It felt unethical to buy it for $25, but she didn't seem interested in increasing the price. Just wanted to get rid of it I guess. I think her husband had just past away, so she probably had bigger concerns in her life. I hope whoever bought it appreciates what they got.

3lectr1c wrote on 2024-02-26, 14:22:

Ensign Nemo wrote on 2024-02-26, 03:51:

Thanks! No need to apologize. I have been working a ton of overtime and haven't gotten around to it. I needed a second reminder!

I've got a 430CDT coming in from eBay tomorrow probably, so those vartas have been on the mind!
I hope the one I got ends up being ok. It was tested to post, but you can have instances where the corrosion is bad enough that cleaning it off causes the thing to die because remaining barely intact connections break. These are a pain.

Varta removed and no leakage! Thanks again for the reminder. It ended taking only 2 minutes. I couldn't find my spudger, but a guitar pick worked fine. Now, I'll just have to find a replacement battery. I'm sure that there are dozens of threads here that could help.

For replacing the batteries, do you mean the main battery or the cmos and hibernation batteries?
There aren't any new main batteries being made, you'd have to try to recell one.
CMOS battery: https://www.ebay.com/itm/325248099782
Hibernation battery (only useful if you have two working main batteries and want to sleep-swap them, otherwise pointless): https://www.ebay.com/itm/325183050322

3lectr1c wrote on 2024-02-26, 21:28:

For replacing the batteries, do you mean the main battery or the cmos and hibernation batteries? There aren't any new main batte […]
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For replacing the batteries, do you mean the main battery or the cmos and hibernation batteries?
There aren't any new main batteries being made, you'd have to try to recell one.
CMOS battery: https://www.ebay.com/itm/325248099782
Hibernation battery (only useful if you have two working main batteries and want to sleep-swap them, otherwise pointless): https://www.ebay.com/itm/325183050322

Thanks. Just the CMOS battery. I don't plan on using the hibernation feature.

Got two socket 478 boards:
MSI 845E MAX (Intel 845E) and MSI 651M-L (SIS 651)

MSI 845E MAX
MSI 651M-L

Yesterday and today, I've tested them, both working.

My findings about booting from USB on 651M-L can you find here:
Little trick to try to boot with USB removable Flash disk on vintage motherboards

3lectr1c wrote on 2024-02-26, 21:28:

For replacing the batteries, do you mean the main battery or the cmos and hibernation batteries? There aren't any new main batte […]
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For replacing the batteries, do you mean the main battery or the cmos and hibernation batteries?
There aren't any new main batteries being made, you'd have to try to recell one.
CMOS battery: https://www.ebay.com/itm/325248099782
Hibernation battery (only useful if you have two working main batteries and want to sleep-swap them, otherwise pointless): https://www.ebay.com/itm/325183050322

I've had good results with a CR2032 that has two 1n4148 diodes protecting the positive side from being charged. Seems to work well on the Toshiba laptops with 2-cell and 3-cell RTC batteries.
Usually it's soldered directly because most of my Toshibas the RTC and Standby battery headers were so corroded that where they're surface mount headers, the pull off the mainboard with little resistance. Also means you can clean underneath the battery connector. There's usually a test pad by the RTC positive pin that I solder on to and using any ground is fine.
I do wonder if some kind of circuit could be put together that could hang off the original RTC that uses a lithium rechargeable cell but protects it from overcharging, that'd be such a great improvement. CR2032 do last quite a while though.

Without the battery, get used to pressing [F1] > [End] > [Y] 😁

Brickpad wrote on 2024-02-25, 23:41:

Purchased a Compaq 2895 docking station by mistake thinking it was for the LTE 5000 series laptops. Confirmed in another Facebook group that it is for the Armada 7300 and 7700 series. Realizing this mistake, I reached out to the seller ASAP to have them cancel the order before it shipped, but unfortunately they either ignored my message, or did not see it. I figured at that point it's a $79 loss...whatever. I buy plenty of stuff from them in the past and never had a problem, so I'll let it slide and figured I'll just re-sell somehow.

Package arrived last week and just opened it today. Having a look at the docking station, I noticed there were two occupied PCI slots of what appeared to be two VGA outputs and two VGA inputs. At this point I'm thinking there is NO WAY those could be Voodoo cards, so I hastily cracked open the back cover of the docking station and to my astonishment, discovered THEY'RE VOODOO 2 CARDS IN SLI (Creative Labs CT6670)

Best $79 mistake I've spent!

Woah what a find, I've put a 3dfx card in my big toshiba dock for a laugh but I guess I'm not the only one to consider that

Thermalwrong wrote on 2024-02-27, 01:20:

Without the battery, get used to pressing [F1] > [End] > [Y] 😁

And that's what I've gotten used to on my Tecra 500cDT 😁

Thermalwrong wrote on 2024-02-27, 01:20:

I've had good results with a CR2032 that has two 1n4148 diodes protecting the positive side from being charged. Seems to work we […]
Show full quote

3lectr1c wrote on 2024-02-26, 21:28:

For replacing the batteries, do you mean the main battery or the cmos and hibernation batteries? There aren't any new main batte […]
Show full quote

For replacing the batteries, do you mean the main battery or the cmos and hibernation batteries?
There aren't any new main batteries being made, you'd have to try to recell one.
CMOS battery: https://www.ebay.com/itm/325248099782
Hibernation battery (only useful if you have two working main batteries and want to sleep-swap them, otherwise pointless): https://www.ebay.com/itm/325183050322

I've had good results with a CR2032 that has two 1n4148 diodes protecting the positive side from being charged. Seems to work well on the Toshiba laptops with 2-cell and 3-cell RTC batteries.
Usually it's soldered directly because most of my Toshibas the RTC and Standby battery headers were so corroded that where they're surface mount headers, the pull off the mainboard with little resistance. Also means you can clean underneath the battery connector. There's usually a test pad by the RTC positive pin that I solder on to and using any ground is fine.
I do wonder if some kind of circuit could be put together that could hang off the original RTC that uses a lithium rechargeable cell but protects it from overcharging, that'd be such a great improvement. CR2032 do last quite a while though.

Without the battery, get used to pressing [F1] > [End] > [Y] 😁

I'll have to look into the CR2032 solution, as the replacement CMOS batteries on eBay are nearly $40 when you include shipping to Canada. I don't want to double to price of my laptop just to add a little battery to it.

Bought this Macintosh IIcx for 52€ + shipping. Haven't tested it yet, but it looks pretty good. Original battery from 1989 has not leaked, but those six capacitors next to it look a bit sweaty, causing green corrosion in component legs nearby. Recapping will the first thing to do.

Nice. The price is good also.