What retro things have you done today?

LewisRaz · 4 Feb 2025 at 19:46

99p PC (Yes, I am still calling it that even if postate was £10

) Is working great... The hissing/buzzing noise I was hearing was from the freaking power strip I use for my retro corner... Apparently the cheap lidl thing is crap :eek:

Its got a clean install of some Linux I have not seen before so will scrib that and try XP for some games

Akagi · 5 Feb 2025 at 03:42

I bought a VCR... I didn't think I would ever buy a VCR, but I found myself wanting a VCR, then I discovered that it is actually rather difficult to find a working and decent quality VCR which is reasonably priced...

Then after a week of casually browsing I spotted this on eBay and pulled the trigger

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/186928283149

I'm fairly sure the "slight issue" mentioned isn't actually an issue either, I think they just do that. Also offered £5 for a remote from another seller...

I've been really enjoying reliving my PS2 playing days on this JVC CRT, I think I've played more PS2 games in the last couple of weeks than I've played PC games in the last 6 months!

So I thought why not see if I also enjoy the tactile experience of inserting a VHS into a VCR and watching a 90s movie while tucked up with a blanket.

!bluetonic! · 5 Feb 2025 at 10:49

I kept hold of a VCR. This is what nostalgia is all about!

386 update. It's alive!

The VGA is showing lots of artifacts. I've given the card a good clean and will try again later.

I reseated the controller card and that seemed to recognise the HDD (CF card) and FDD drives.

!bluetonic! · 6 Feb 2025 at 13:27

386 Update:

The PSU makes a disturbing sound on power on and the VGA is still showing artifacts. Looking at current prices, an AT PSU is £30-£60, a new VGA card is £25 to £35. Do I cough up the readies for this one or do I sell it on?

Akagi · 7 Feb 2025 at 00:27

!bluetonic! said:
386 Update:

The PSU makes a disturbing sound on power on and the VGA is still showing artifacts. Looking at current prices, an AT PSU is £30-£60, a new VGA card is £25 to £35. Do I cough up the readies for this one or do I sell it on?

is it an ISA or PCI video card?

Akagi · 7 Feb 2025 at 01:30

Laser in my PS2 died

(completely, it wont read anything, CD, DVD, etc, tried adjusting the height, and the resistance, cleaning all the connectors, nada!)

Have a new Chinese special laser on order for it. Since those are all you can get! Some are listed as genuine but I'm 99% sure they are actually fakes, they all have "Sony" embossed in them, but the ones that are open about being third party have it edited out in the pictures.

I also bought a "spare" PS2 in the mean time because I don't want to stop playing for a month.

I had just finished the Japan 90's Championship in Gran Turismo 4 having placed first in all races using a modified MX5 (no mean feat, up against things like GTRs and NSX-Rs, they were 100 point races!!) and the laser died on the final loading screen before I got my winnings... :mad:

!bluetonic! · 7 Feb 2025 at 04:45

Akagi said:
is it an ISA or PCI video card?

ISA.

Akagi · 7 Feb 2025 at 04:51

!bluetonic! said:
ISA.

Ah, I was going to see if I could loan you one to test but I don't know if I have any ISA ones...

!bluetonic! · 7 Feb 2025 at 04:58

Akagi said:
Laser in my PS2 died (completely, it wont read anything, CD, DVD, etc, tried adjusting the height, and the resistance, cleaning all the connectors, nada!)

Have a new Chinese special laser on order for it. Since those are all you can get! Some are listed as genuine but I'm 99% sure they are actually fakes, they all have "Sony" embossed in them, but the ones that are open about being third party have it edited out in the pictures.

I also bought a "spare" PS2 in the mean time because I don't want to stop playing for a month.

I had just finished the Japan 90's Championship in Gran Turismo 4 having placed first in all races using a modified MX5 (no mean feat, up against things like GTRs and NSX-Rs, they were 100 point races!!) and the laser died on the final loading screen before I got my winnings...

I hope you get this sorted. I haven't got the skills or time to keep on to of everything that breaks. It's my PS1 that is laser-flakey.

Akagi said:
Ah, I was going to see if I could loan you one to test but I don't know if I have any ISA ones...

Thank you. I think I have a spare in the garage. I'll check and update over the weekend.

Akagi · 7 Feb 2025 at 06:18

!bluetonic! said:
I hope you get this sorted. I haven't got the skills or time to keep on to of everything that breaks. It's my PS1 that is laser-flakey.

Thanks, I hope so too, I was a bit upset when it stopped working! I've had it 22+ years and was really enjoying reliving some PS2 days!
I suppose if I can't get it working again I'll just put it back in its box for a rainy day and keep using the "spare" I bought. Maybe I'll replace the whole disk drive at a later date or something.

picnic · 7 Feb 2025 at 08:33

!bluetonic! said:
386 Update:

The PSU makes a disturbing sound on power on and the VGA is still showing artifacts. Looking at current prices, an AT PSU is £30-£60, a new VGA card is £25 to £35. Do I cough up the readies for this one or do I sell it on?

I've a pile of PSU's left over from old computers. Remind me what's significant for an AT PSU?

!bluetonic! · 7 Feb 2025 at 08:45

picnic said:
I've a pile of PSU's left over from old computers. Remind me what's significant for an AT PSU?

Hello! Firstly it's the connection to the motherboard, the AT units have a P8 and P9 connector to power the motherboard, with black wires from each connector that sit together on the motherboard. Also, there should be a switch or electric spades that connects to the chassis power switch as there's no soft power on, only a clunky switch on the desktop unit. If there's a chunky 20 or 24 pin to the motherboard power, then it's an ATX unit.

!bluetonic! · 7 Feb 2025 at 08:48

Akagi said:
Thanks, I hope so too, I was a bit upset when it stopped working! I've had it 22+ years and was really enjoying reliving some PS2 days!
I suppose if I can't get it working again I'll just put it back in its box for a rainy day and keep using the "spare" I bought. Maybe I'll replace the whole disk drive at a later date or something.

I went with a HDD for my chunky PS2. But I do have 2 spares also. One is built into a rucksack, 12v for road trips.

picnic · 8 Feb 2025 at 09:11

!bluetonic! said:
Hello! Firstly it's the connection to the motherboard, the AT units have a P8 and P9 connector to power the motherboard, with black wires from each connector that sit together on the motherboard. Also, there should be a switch or electric spades that connects to the chassis power switch as there's no soft power on, only a clunky switch on the desktop unit. If there's a chunky 20 or 24 pin to the motherboard power, then it's an ATX unit.

Sorry that's a no then. I wondered if this old PSU I had was one or not. No idea where it came from. It has MOLEX connectors and this one

!bluetonic! · 8 Feb 2025 at 09:39

Thank you for looking and uploading a photo.

It's not too far off, but it should look like this:

I'll have got AT power units, but they're in other working machines. I'll see if I have another ISA VGA card to rule out the artifacts and then make a decision on the machine.

Akagi · 8 Feb 2025 at 17:24

When you set out to pick up a 486 DX2 industrial PC and you come home with...

5x 486 DX2 industrial PCs, each one complete with 14 slot ISA backplane, 486DX2 single board computer, serial cards, some other cards, hard drives, floppy drives, AT PSUs, and keys.

Three of them have never been used.

As well as a bunch of serial splitters and cables, about 7 boxes of brand new sealed floppy disks including some of those cool translucent ones, an internal ZIP250 drive with a few zip disks, and a PS3... Oh and a couple of Quadro GPUs... Probably some other things I've forgotten.

All for £50!

Love swooping in at the last minute when people are moving house and beginning to panic...

My VCR arrived as well, waiting for a couple of VHS' to arrive so I can make sure the mechanism survived shipping, but it is physically immaculate.

Also picked up a near mint boxed Thermaltake Soprano for £20, complete with a decent AM2/2+/3 motherboard, optical drive, and a cheapy PSU still in it.

Vinno · 8 Feb 2025 at 20:32

I spent the whole day cable managing and paving the way to getting my PS2 & Retrotink 5x set up - Which I did, eventually.

I haven't messed with any settings but just using the defaults so far it's looking very promising. Can't wait to get stuck in properly!

Bubo · 8 Feb 2025 at 21:46

Akagi said:
When you set out to pick up a 486 DX2 industrial PC and you come home with...

5x 486 DX2 industrial PCs, each one complete with 14 slot ISA backplane, 486DX2 single board computer, serial cards, some other cards, hard drives, floppy drives, AT PSUs, and keys.

Three of them have never been used.

I used to have one of these cases at work, it had a 486dx2 single board card in it along with data acquisition hardware. It was the most powerful PC in our office at the time, and when it wasn't being used on site, which actually was that often, it was on my desk and I just played VGA Planets on it, pretending to use it for work.

Akagi · 8 Feb 2025 at 21:54

Bubo said:
I used to have one of these cases at work, it had a 486dx2 single board card in it along with data acquisition hardware. It was the most powerful PC in our office at the time, and when it wasn't being used on site, which actually was that often, it was on my desk and I just played VGA Planets on it, pretending to use it for work.

I'm curious if I can run multiple 486 single board cards on one backplane, because two of them have faults unrelated to the sbc, so it would be neat to put multiple in one chassis.

LewisRaz · 8 Feb 2025 at 22:11

Akagi said:
When you set out to pick up a 486 DX2 industrial PC and you come home with...

5x 486 DX2 industrial PCs, each one complete with 14 slot ISA backplane, 486DX2 single board computer, serial cards, some other cards, hard drives, floppy drives, AT PSUs, and keys.

Three of them have never been used.

As well as a bunch of serial splitters and cables, about 7 boxes of brand new sealed floppy disks including some of those cool translucent ones, an internal ZIP250 drive with a few zip disks, and a PS3... Oh and a couple of Quadro GPUs... Probably some other things I've forgotten.

All for £50!

Love swooping in at the last minute when people are moving house and beginning to panic...
My VCR arrived as well, waiting for a couple of VHS' to arrive so I can make sure the mechanism survived shipping, but it is physically immaculate.

Also picked up a near mint boxed Thermaltake Soprano for £20, complete with a decent AM2/2+/3 motherboard, optical drive, and a cheapy PSU still in it.

Incredible pickup!