What retro things have you done today?

!bluetonic! · 9 Feb 2025 at 16:56

Another 386 update:

I saw on eBay you can get an ATX to AT convertor and this got me thinking, this could be a quick win.

So I did a further inspection and now understand the PSU to be an XT one, similar to AT, but the power rocker switch is built into the PSU. Gah. There's only one I can see on eBay and that case looks worse than mine, which, is in good nick for the age.

The PSU works, but it has a 'buzz' for a minute on cold start and then it goes away. I'm wondering if a capacitor or something could be replaced to fix this issue.

I've reached out to my electronic specialist friend and will update if he wants to help here.

My head says get rid. My heart says fix it.

Akagi · 9 Feb 2025 at 18:11

!bluetonic! said:
Another 386 update:

I saw on eBay you can get an ATX to AT convertor and this got me thinking, this could be a quick win.

So I did a further inspection and now understand the PSU to be an XT one, similar to AT, but the power rocker switch is built into the PSU. Gah. There's only one I can see on eBay and that case looks worse than mine, which, is in good nick for the age.

The PSU works, but it has a 'buzz' for a minute on cold start and then it goes away. I'm wondering if a capacitor or something could be replaced to fix this issue.

I've reached out to my electronic specialist friend and will update if he wants to help here.

My head says get rid. My heart says fix it.

IIRC an ATX PSU may not have one of the voltages that an AT has, might be -5v, +5v, -12v, one of or a few of those. Not sure what its used for mind you.

Akagi · 9 Feb 2025 at 18:13

The cards that came with the industrial PCs, im sure I have no use for them but...

Three of these:

Two of these:

Six of these:

Also lots of flooper doopers

!bluetonic! · 9 Feb 2025 at 19:46

Interesting boards above.

Television Tim has agreed to look at the 386.

I'm happy to do a 60 mile round trip to drop of a retro computer to a man in Bath, but I won't spend money socially or choose to visit relatives. I'm a terrible human being..

!bluetonic! · 9 Feb 2025 at 19:47

Meanwhile..

The Checkmate is back out to tide me over.

Akagi · 9 Feb 2025 at 21:48

Opened up the Industrial PCs to see what lurks within... I believe all are 486 DX2 66MHz. I didn't bother to make a note of the RAM and HDD sizes, I'll refer to my pictures later

#1

Uh oh...

Weird button cell looking thing, but I think its attached to the PCB?

#2

Ooh Seasonic

Ah a Dallas RTC... I know how to get those going again, but annoyingly it isn't socketed.

But a Cyrix DX2 66! This one may be my favourite.

#3

Another Dallas RTC.

And the presumed faulty ones:

#4

Not sure I've heard of that one...

Phew, a CR2032!

Hrm...

#5

Oh, a theme is emerging! Portwell, more like... Port... Not well..

Weird button cell thing again.

nitram100 · 12 Feb 2025 at 08:35

Just modded a Dreamcast with a new shell, battery and blue LED.

Kyle009 · 12 Feb 2025 at 09:31

nitram100 said:
Just modded a Dreamcast with a new shell, battery and blue LED.

You can't come here, say that and not post a picture

!bluetonic! · 13 Feb 2025 at 06:21

Having set the Checkmate up again, which in my setup is a AMD Ryzen 5 3400 based PC, I feel indifferent. It's a lovely looking thing, I was impressed by my tidy install and this motherboard had VGA so it connects to a CRT monitor.

This was the second attempt at finding the innards after the first PC bundle was generations old and didn't deliver on performance.

The mild dream was to install an old A500 motherboard inside, but the costs would escalate in peripherals and upgrade lust.

My Checkmate runs WinUAE and Amiga Forever on Windows 11. I have a USB Tank Amiga Mouse and Cheetah Bug joystick connected by USB to 9 pin adapter.

I guess it's like owning a supercar. You know it's going to be the fastest thing on the road that day and you've just valeted it, so don't want to drive it and get it dirty. So it just sits there.

This setup may be short live. Time to rotate.

Karl · 13 Feb 2025 at 09:13

Dug my old OG Xecuter 2 modded xbox out of the garage, plugged it in and realised quickly that the old composite video -> scart lead wasn't going to cut it. Ordered a new XBOX -> HDMI adapter on Amazon, and it runs fine!

Immediately got the itch, after much investigation and questioning on Reddit (the guy on there found my modchip on the wayback machine!!!) , flashed the 22 year old BIOS with an updated one, have FTP'd the entire contents of the hard disk onto my NAS for backup, and have ordered a new 2TB HDD, IDE cable and SATA -> IDE adapter to upgrade the HDD. I've also got to remove the clock capacitor, because I don't think mine has leaked yet (v1.4/5 version!) and it's apparently a matter of time before it does. Few pictures of it running FIFA 2004 and Fight Night 2004 :cool:

(Both PAL games that run in 480i, hence the shonky res)

nitram100 · 13 Feb 2025 at 12:20

Kyle009 said:
You can't come here, say that and not post a picture

My apologies! haha

nitram100 · 13 Feb 2025 at 12:21

with light off

Kyle009 · 13 Feb 2025 at 12:48

Looks great. Love modding older consoles.

nitram100 · 13 Feb 2025 at 13:00

Yeh man, the shells used to be expensive but now you can grab them for about 22 quid Ali express.

Also put in a new rechargeable battery for the Dreamcast!

Akagi · 13 Feb 2025 at 20:12

Spare PS2 arrived, packed really well (sarcasm).

Literally just wrapped in one layer of cardboard with no padding.

Arrived with one small piece snapped off, lucky it wasn't more!

And the #1 controller port non working rendering it unusable as it arrived.

I fixed it (had to bend the contacts in the port back into shape with a jewelers screwdriver) and asked the seller for a partial refund, still waiting to hear...

deardevildude · 13 Feb 2025 at 21:26

Akagi said:
Spare PS2 arrived, packed really well (sarcasm).

Literally just wrapped in one layer of cardboard with no padding.

Does make you wonder how peoiple expect things to make it fine with less than the bare minimum packing. So annoying when its something you were really looking forward to

Akagi · 13 Feb 2025 at 21:30

deardevildude said:
Does make you wonder how peoiple expect things to make it fine with less than the bare minimum packing. So annoying when its something you were really looking forward to

I need to get in the habit of asking people to add padding to the packaging... I shouldn't have to but it might help...

Foghorn Leghorn · 14 Feb 2025 at 12:19

Karl said:
Dug my old OG Xecuter 2 modded xbox out of the garage, plugged it in and realised quickly that the old composite video -> scart lead wasn't going to cut it. Ordered a new XBOX -> HDMI adapter on Amazon, and it runs fine!

Immediately got the itch, after much investigation and questioning on Reddit (the guy on there found my modchip on the wayback machine!!!) , flashed the 22 year old BIOS with an updated one, have FTP'd the entire contents of the hard disk onto my NAS for backup, and have ordered a new 2TB HDD, IDE cable and SATA -> IDE adapter to upgrade the HDD. I've also got to remove the clock capacitor, because I don't think mine has leaked yet (v1.4/5 version!) and it's apparently a matter of time before it does. Few pictures of it running FIFA 2004 and Fight Night 2004 (Both PAL games that run in 480i, hence the shonky res)

Well, what a coincidence

I've just been given an original Xbox,a couple of 3rd party controllers and handful of games. Originally I went the playstation/playstation 2 route before moving to xbox360 so I've never used an Xbox, a bit of reading up needed.

Console fires up fine although doesn't look great on composite cables. Component cables, splinter cell, genuine controller and usb to controller port adapter ordered.
Whilst I'm waiting for those to arrive I might as well open it up. Very clean inside, Thomson dvd, usb daughter board and gpu fan confirm it's an initial launch version 1.0 console. Clock cap removed whilst I'm in there.
I'll be going down the updated firmware and 2tb drive route too. Might even be tempted to replace the av port with hdmi out, we'll see.

Karl · 14 Feb 2025 at 13:05

Foghorn Leghorn said:
Well, what a coincidence

I've just been given an original Xbox,a couple of 3rd party controllers and handful of games. Originally I went the playstation/playstation 2 route before moving to xbox360 so I've never used an Xbox, a bit of reading up needed.

Console fires up fine although doesn't look great on composite cables. Component cables, splinter cell, genuine controller and usb to controller port adapter ordered.
Whilst I'm waiting for those to arrive I might as well open it up. Very clean inside, Thomson dvd, usb daughter board and gpu fan confirm it's an initial launch version 1.0 console. Clock cap removed whilst I'm in there.
I'll be going down the updated firmware and 2tb drive route too. Might even be tempted to replace the av port with hdmi out, we'll see.

Welcome aboard!

How did you remove the clock cap out of interest? Wiggled or de-soldered?

Foghorn Leghorn · 14 Feb 2025 at 13:27

Karl said:
Welcome aboard!

How did you remove the clock cap out of interest? Wiggled or de-soldered?

Cheers!

De-soldered. It had leaked but no damage to the board fortunately. I'm not going to bother fitting a replacement as it'll hopefully end up with xbmc4gamers and insignia on it so can pick up the date/time online.

Thankfully the TSOP is an STMicroelectronics model too.