Assembled my Lo-tech 2MB EMS board yesterday evening. Computer would not even POST with it, so I looked at it with fresh eyes this morning and found the problem quickly. Luckily I ordered spares for most of the parts needed. Apologies for the fuzzy pictures.

Wrong:

Fixed:

IC5 is flipped

It passes all tests, also the thorough ones!

Yes I need to clean it some more. I used obscene amounts of flux.

appiah4 wrote on 2020-01-08, 07:38:

I just can't decide on the color.

Green for AMD, Blue for Intel maybe? How about Cyrix, did they even have a brand color?

I would choose color by CPU type, not by maker, otherwise you'll run into limitations when filling the trays.

Cyrix had green, btw.

Started working on the Carry-1 PC I got lately. Removed the Celeron 500 and installed a Coppermine 1 GHz, which is running at 750 MHz now, since the board uses the BX chipset. While I did find a setting for an FSB of 112 MHz (after 30 minutes of jumper-testing, as this thing has tons of jumpers - all with no description at all), I don't want to stress the chipset. Not in that tiny case anyway.

Also set the on-board CF card slot to primary, as I'm going to install the OS onto it and games/stuff on a separate HDD.

Cyrix200+ wrote on 2020-01-08, 11:46:

http://i.imgur.com/l4KxYE7l.jpg […]
Show full quote

Ahhh... the nostalgia when I see a monitor with such screen colors! I felt like an 8 yr old kid now.

shamino wrote on 2020-01-08, 03:14:

Last weekend I replaced a DIN keyboard connector on a Tyan S1590 baby-AT socket-7 board. I noticed it would be possible to install a pair of PS/2 connectors for mouse+kb, but doing so would require switching to an ATX case. That's a problem for this board because the layout puts the AGP slot too high to use with ATX cases. Therefore I stuck with the AT style DIN connector, even though I don't own a single DIN keyboard.

I've got this same motherboard and it looks like I need to do some DIN repair as well. Do both the AT keyboard and mouse connector share the same footprint with a standard MiniDIN 6 header so that you can solder directly to the board? If so, I might go that route as well since the case I'm using has a small IO panel that can be removed to accommodate more than just an AT keyboard connector. I'd check myself but there's a lot of cable in the way at the moment.

Today I installed a Cooler Master Auora cold cathode light tube into my AST Bravo 10 MHZ 286 PC. I got the light for $1 at the thrift store, and I figured it would give my build a cool glow - which it did! I have the box thing for the light mounted outside the case, with the light tube mounted on the top of the case lid. Since it was new old stock, it still had the 17 year old sticky pads installed which stick pretty well. I adhered it better with duct tape for added security. I have the light hooked up to a external power supply for a SATA to IDE converter. It had a Molex cable so it was able to be used. I'm a fan of light in my computers, and I think once I am done doing what I want to do with the case the light will look cool. I am thinking about possibly adding a small plexiglass side window next to the ISA cards and processor so I can drool over them while I play games 😉. There's a little annoying part of the case that is blocking the vent so less light comes out of the case. It's not removeable. I don't know wether it is a structural integrity support or not. I'm thinking about cutting it off to let the light through, but i'll have to look into it's purpose first. I don't want the case to lose any integrity because I have a 30 pound CRT monitor on top. Today I also browsed the internet on the 286 using Arachne. A lot of sites complain about unknown protocols when I use them, but so far I have gotten Vogons, Google, Uncreative Labs, and the CNN OJ Simpson murder trial webpage that has been around since 1996 to load on the computer. Images display well on websites, but not all images work for some reason. It's a lot nicer experience than I could have imagined though. I did use Telnet BBS servers for a little bit and Quakenet IRC on the machine after that. I also downloaded Dune over FTP, but I ran out of hard drive space. I guess I gotta use FTP to get all these files off and reformat the drive under another disk type. Tommorow's priorities will be to see if I can load the CoolMathGames site in Arachne on the 286 (because someone told me to 🤣) and getting all the files off of the computer using FTP, and maybe playing some Microprose F1 Grand Prix.

Below are the images of the new light modification:

Been doing some old fashion ircing on my 286/12

Reminds me of the PIRCH vs mIRC wars of Windows plebs. ircii for life.

For me the answer was simple. mIRC wont run on a 286 😀 I actually stumbled on it by pure accident.

Played some more Warcraft1, discovered it sounds (midi) absolutely amazing on a Kawai GMega (this module does not always sound so good).

Caluser2000 wrote on 2020-01-09, 06:40:

For me the answer was simple. mIRC wont run on a 286 😀 I actually stumbled on it by pure accident.

We should definitely all get together in a mIRC channel! Which server and channel are you guys?

bfcastello wrote on 2020-01-09, 11:20:

Caluser2000 wrote on 2020-01-09, 06:40:

For me the answer was simple. mIRC wont run on a 286 😀 I actually stumbled on it by pure accident.

We should definitely all get together in a mIRC channel! Which server and channel are you guys?

Without wanting to sound like a Stalker it seems he is Doggy on slashdot.org and hangsout at #retrodreams.

I am on my way there soon. 🤣

EDIT: Here I am.

That's cool. I'll have to join that IRC with you guys.

I've been in the mood to work on my "Dimension95" / Pentium 1 project some more lately. I don't want to spoil too much, but today I did a very nondescript 3D render from Autodesk Release 14 (1998) 😀

I love old 3D renders.

I also tested another IDE hard drive I bought, a 20GB Maxtor D740X. Seller didn't wipe it, so it booted to XP when plugged in unexpectedly. Still had a cached version of the homepage presumably from the last use in 2010 which was most amusing.

Made some more progress on the Carry-1. Most parts are cleaned and reassembled. Installed Win98se on a dedicated 1 GB CF card (seems small, but it's really just for the OS - nothing more). Next is adding a sound card, a Voodoo 2, and a hard disk for all the "stuff". 😉

What oh what could I be up to?!

You're definitely running into more trouble hahahaha

Oh well, that screams for installing the additional case fan on the left side... (or an overheating Voodoo2 otherwise)

Installing the sound card did not work out as planned. Wanted to install the YMF744-based A/Open Cobra, but it collided with the RAM slots. So I needed a narrower card and that one is now an ESS Solo-1. Not really worse by any means, but no General MIDI unless I add a wavetable.

Tried and tested a few RIMM-based maiboards:

MSI 6339 version 1 with 2.0 Willamete Socket 423: Ok with 4*128 PC-800 RIMM

ASUS P4T533-C with 2.4 Celeron Socket 478: Ok with 4*256 PC-1066 RIMM after replacing CR2032

ASUS P4T533-R with 1,6A Northwood Socket 478: one dead, other ok with 2*256 PC-4200 (32bit) RIMM after replacing CR2032 and fixing North Bridge cooling

Compaq AP550 with 1 PIII 866 SLOT 1: OK with 2 * 128 PC-800

The P4T533-R is a strange fish, seems to be the only MB ever to be sold with RIMM-4200.
The Compaq is a dual, but I need to purchase a VRM to have the second slot work.

Not too sure whether I should make a WIn98 build out of one of these survivors.

Swapped motherboards in my Gateway Pentium III box (upgraded from Slot 1 to Socket 370, both Gateway OEM versions of Intel boards) but now the damned thing won't POST and I have no idea why because it doesn't beep. Guess I just have to start yanking cards and RAM.