/retro/ - Old computers, tech and software

> tfw shipment arrived edition

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Pls gib PET

Old tech is useless tech.

That's just like, your opinion man.

>mfw you will never ever get accurate Glide emulation
>same shit goes for dx7-8 era quirks like shadow buffer, trueform, various DAC-related hacks
>also no proper A3D 2.0/3.0 emulation
>most of the hardware will be dead in next 15-20 years
all those moments will be lost in time like tears in rain

C64 can do 80 col.
But C64 BBSes are 40 col anyways.

Nice b0ards!
The battery pack of one board is trying to run away.

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10 out of 10, would rush B.

i'm almost certain i have that overdrive motherboard somewhere

I love the black version of that same IBM case

Post more user! I love your stuff!

Here's your pic related user.

Snip snip snippety snap all those barrel batteries

You're way over exaggerating things here.

bump

Anybody heard of SDIO expansion cards?
Turns out that some of my PDAs support these things. How plausible is that if I get one of these overpriced pieces of shit and get WPA2 PSK functionality on a Palm/WinMobile PDA?

I haven't tried myself, but I've heard about it.
I think it's possible, might want to search around google for a little.

It's 100% possible for just file exchange. But I think WinCE/WinMobiel supports using it as an active connection also with special software. I think it actually did that by writing and reading a file on the card and the card acts like a bridge with the WiFi and internet.

Well I'm not gonna throw $60 out of a window for a card that might not even work

Apparently Juniper Networks Odyssey Client for WinCE/WinMobile is another way to get WPA2 functionality without an expansion card? I posted the Pocket Loox in the last thread and I saw mentions on the internet that WPA2 works out of the box with a custom ROM, but it appears not to be the case with mine. Shame, I would use it more often if it could do WPA2

Make a temporary hidden MAC address filtering WEP network for it when you use it.
That's what I do for machine without WPA2 compatibility.

True, but old tech is based tech. And that's reason enough to be into retrocomputing.

Based user

>LGR aka Clint
>a 28 year old guy
>is now the leading head of retrocomputing
How did this happen?

Just like your mom.

Contiki

Could it open Sup Forums?

>a 28 year old guy

Really? I thought he was older than that.

he is older
he's exactly 30

He's significantly older than his average 13-16 year old fan. That's how.

t. clint

Seriously though, it is kind of disturbing how much of a word he has now, not only by making videos about hardware that after that sells like hotcakes, but that actually he gets included in a lot of retrocomputing related things.

The 8-Bit guy's game review though was probably more of a way for the 8-Bit guy to get LGR fans to buy his game and rack in cash.

If that's true(ish), is it a bad thing that retro computing interests the younger generation too?

This.
It shouldn't be a problem. It's actually good and cool.

Obviously there's the hipster factor among the young crowd that does it "because it's cool" and not out of actual interest. A lot of awesome hardware can suffer because of that.
Also knowing that this changes the market for the worst of the rest of us, I can imagine people would dislike that. Like skyrocketing prices.

I guess the babble from younger crowds who think they are serious smartasses (let's be honest, we all where young once and know how it can be) can make the hobby of retrocomputing seem bad to 3rd parties also. Not that most of us would care what others think, but reputation is reputation.

New tech is botnet tech.

knowing how unpopular this has been specially to younger people over the past decades
I can't imagine many of them being genuine and are only interested in it because it's the flavor of the month thing to do
I don't like the idea of some kid making his mom or dad buy some nice hardware for a overpriced price only to dump it in trash latter because he lost interest

Go away. That's not why /retro/ hobby exists.

The botnet is why I use retro tech, I'm posting this with my P6 with 128mb, good try CIA Nigger.

>tfw this hobby is full of tinfoil hats

I won't fall for your tricks CIA nigger.

>not wanting to get fucked by a glow in the dark nigger cock
What's wrong with you?
Dianna sure loved it, don't you want to try?

>have quite a stockpile of old computers in the basement
Think they'd still work? I glimpsed a few and they are durons, semprons, pentium 4s with corresponding mobos, a couple AGP video cards.
Mostly worried about 20 year old PSUs. Sounds like a fire hazard.

They are mostly in parts so assembling isn't really feasible. Best I can do short term is do a indexing endeavor and catalogue everything.
Haven't been touched in decades. Not really sure if I should disturb their slumber.

>Grandma gives me a Z88 a while back
>Still in its case with instructions and everything
>Go to turn it on today
>'ON/OFF - Hold both SHIFT keys'
>Nothing
>Check batteries I just put in (4 x AA), one kinda weak
>Replace, try again
>Nothing
>Notice right shift isn't actually doing anything when pressed
So how about them old rubber keyboards eh

>2017
>not posting from pre-botnet TEMPEST certified hardware

it's true
all contemporary processors have backdoors

Only way to find out is to try.

Did you try cleaning it?

Of course.
I just didn't think I'd see actual tinfoil hats here.

hahahah
the fuck
you have no idea where you are kiddo
Posting from C2Q

>C2Q
literary botnet

You must be new here.

Not if you fix it up
2008 were the last of the unbotnettable chips

that's what Intel wants you to believe

install libreboot

not retro

As in, modern ones are unbotnettable, or older ones aren't?

I already knew about the HAP bit form working with govt systems.

Right, let's get back on topic then...

Is that the same Altair that's on the gif?

This one? Yeah.
Funny, I don't remember the last thread. Maybe they're reposts.

Really nice.
Could you use the PET as a serial terminal for the Altair?
I mean have you tried it, do you think it would be worth it?

I haven't, unfortunately the motherboard has a bunch of bad chips and traces that I haven't got around to repairing.

Moar. This is relevant to my interests.

That last pic:
CPU: PDP-8/e
Memory: 16KW Core (24KB, as it's a 12-bit machine)
Storage: None yet, I've been using an RK05 disk emulator over RS-232.
I/O: X2 RS-232
ToDo: Get RL02 (8" floppy) controller, test floppy drives, repair various spare boards, install OS/8, run a BBS.

This pic:
CPU: PDP-11/34a
Memory: 128KB
Storage: X1 RL02 removable disk pack (10MB)

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Really sweet user!
Love the PDP's.
Is that a IBM branded 486?
I used to have a T3200.

Thanks!

>Is that a IBM branded 486?
Nope, the case badge was salvaged from a smashed XT keyboard. The PC itself is a Viglen Contender 486 in a generic AT clone case.

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Holy balls, you have so much awesome stuff.

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Someone sure loves the Half Life universe.

You guys doing anything with your old tech?

I'm thinking of porting nethack to be able to run on my apple iie, but it seems like I'd need a memory expansion for that, which is probably not an actual sentence anyone has ever said about nethack...

How much memory do you have? Stock?
The IIe has up to what, 1MB memory expansions?
With a lot of optimization, you might be able to pull it off with an older version of NetHack.

I've looked into it a bit, and there are a few forum posts from the 90s still up asking if the port was possible, but I guess no one ever really tried. 1MB of memory seems to be the only issue I'd run into, so if I can find an expansion I should have relatively no issue

Doing a web search for required system specs for things like nethack or dwarf fort feels like I deserve ridicule

Versions before 3.0 will easily fit under 1MB of memory.

And oh yeah, I am on stock memory right now

Versions before and including 2.2 worked under DOS with 640KB conventional memory.
So that's a good sign.

juiblex.co.uk/nethack/source.html

Source code.

Correction, versions before 2.3e (including).

>run a BBS
Aw yiss

I use as serial terminals on a daily basis (configure routers, check emails, BBSes, IRC), and use the T3100e at work with an EEPROM programmer. I've also taken them on holiday when I want a writing machine without the distraction of the internet.

For shits and giggles I wrote a BASIC program on the Altair to verify the accuracy of a number plate scanner that my company is developing.

I also buy, sell, and repair PDP-8/11 PCBs and convert tapes and floppies for people as a side business, which pretty much pays for itself. I don't do much of that these days though, as I'm working full time elsewhere.

cute

Still running the Renegade BBS I started in 1994.

THE Renegade BBS?

As in the software. To think it would have been Maximus if a coin toss went the other way...

Yeah, I mean the software itself came out in '93, you've been using it since then and constantly?

>To think it would have been Maximus if a coin toss went the other way...
Eh

Not constantly. It has died and revived a few times depending on living circumstances. Like college, or whether bundling landline service is cheap/free when moving to a new place.

>Eh
I was 14. 'Gade and Max were the two prominent BBS packages in the area and I had poor decision-making skills.

Was going through some stuff and found a old video card and soundblaster.

Makes me want to build a PIII win98 machine now.

The video card is a Lancer 64-210-m01 and the sound card is a creative CT4810

>Makes me want to build a PIII win98 machine now.

I'll definitely do it if i find a IBM Aptiva case.

My first PC was a pentium MMX aptiva, cost 2k and had bose speakers built into the monitor.

I really wish we kept it. that was the sexiest thing ever.

mine didnt have the base under the monitor. disk drives were in the tower.

SWEET!
I had a dual P3 IBM with almost the same case like 16 years ago.

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I had a an aptiva, 1997 model. came with AMD k6 200 mhz 32MB ram, 2.1GB hdd, CD rom. Mom got it at radio shack. First modern pc w/internet (28.8 dial-up). I wish I had it still. Still got the Recovery CD though. Also got the ibm screensaver. Back when a whole system could be restored via a single 650mb cd rom. Now it takes what 3-5 DVDs?

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I bought an ati 9800SE but I have no agp system to boot it up in...

I so wanna try to mod this into a pro. This was my dream card back in the day but even the SE version was out of my price range.

Looks really cool though with the base.

All I could afford around then was a 9500 but thankfully that was successfully modded into a 9700.

Like 10 years ago I picked up a dual slot 1 server board but threw it away because it had a row of bulging caps. I still have all the parts for it, creative awe 64, voodoo 3, dual pentium 3's, and about a gig of ram. I wish I kept it because the damn things are so expensive now and I could probably fix it now.

Man, I can't find any images of it, I can't remember anymore what model it was, the outside looks where basically the same as , it was IBM and it had a dual slot 1 motherboard inside, mine had one 500MHz P3 but I added a second one later.

bump

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