TPU's Nostalgic Hardware Club

[micropage7]

FPS gun from 8600 era

 

[Trekkie4]

Hi @Trekkie4 ! Thanks! Anything you need I got it!

As far as I know this is the last of the "true" Plextor drives.

Its story is kind of sad but I won't spill the beans just yet!

That V7700 was quite an unexpected find! I really dig your Adison stuff. From experience when it rains it pours so when you really want something, life plays tricks on you and you get much more than you bargained for. I guess now you have enough Adison builds to last a lifetime

Interesting... Take a look at BTC DVD-RW model down below & tell me if it seems any familiar


And yes, it's quite ironic how the Adison story played out in the end... My only regret is that my friend is not alive to be part of it, but even in my wildest dreams I wouldn't expect to have 5 of them, not after 15 years of searching & not being able to find (at least) one of them!

As for the whole project, I'm pretty much finished ... I still have to address the "sleeper", I'm currently waiting on (yet another) BTC CD-ROM unit from Germany, along with the face plate mask(s) for two of my Plextor CD-RW drives. Only one of them is actually used, the other one will be a spare - Justin Case


And here's the latest Adison build, P4B aka the talking motherboard which really gives it "character". The SLI bridge is home-made ... after all these years of tinkering with 3dfx hardware, I finally perfected my cable-making skills ... except for the fact that I placed the central 180 twist upside-down, it's supposed to be up and not down (but it really doesn't matter)


As for the actual tower(s), they're pretty much done, apart from previously mentioned Plextor CD-RW which is currently missing the plate & outer trim. Yes, I realize that at first glance it looks odd, even ugly ... but the color difference between floppy, ZIP & CD-ROM drive(s) are really not THAT different from rest of the case. Somehow the camera (probably the flash) amplified the effect so everything seems out of place.


Adison #1
CPU: Intel Pentium II, 350MHz (Slot 1)
MBO: Chaintech 6BTM (Intel 440BX)
RAM: 1x 64MB PC133 (radi pod PC100)
VGA1: ATI Rage IIc, AGP
VGA2: Diamond Monster 3DII, 12MB (Voodoo2)
PCI: Creative SoundBlaster 128
HDD: Quantum Fireball 3.5" Series, 6.4GB
ODD: BTC BCD-40XH
OS: Windows 98

Adison #2
CPU: Intel Pentium II, 350MHz (Slot 1)
MBO: Chaintech 6BTM (Intel 440BX)
RAM: 1x 64MB PC133 (radi pod PC100)
VGA1: ATI Rage IIc, AGP
VGA2: Diamond Monster 3DII, 12MB (Voodoo2)
PCI: Creative SoundBlaster 128
HDD: Quantum Fireball 3.5" Series, 6.4GB
ODD: BTC BCD-40XH
OS: Windows 98

Adison #3
CPU: Intel Pentium III, 1133MHz (Socket 370)
MBO: Asus P3B-F (Intel 440BX)
RAM: 2x 128MB PC133
VGA1: Asus V3800 Pro (nVidia TNT2)
VGA2: Creative 3DBlaster, 12MB (Voodoo2)
VGA3: Creative 3DBlaster, 12MB (Voodoo2)
PCI: Aureal Vortex2, Creative WaveBlasterII MIDI
HDD: Western Digital, 40GB
ODD: BTC BCD-40XH
OS: Windows 98SE

Adison #4
CPU: Intel Core2 Duo (Socket 775)
MBO: MSI (not sure which one)
RAM: 2x 2GB DDR3
VGA1: nVidia GeForce 8600GTX
HDD: Western Digital Blue, 500GB
ODD: (currently none)
OS: Windows 7

Adison #5
CPU: Intel Pentium 4, 2.6GHz (Socket 478)
MBO: Asus P4B (Intel 845)
RAM: 2x 256MB PC133
VGA1: Asus V7700 Deluxe (nVidia GeForce2 GTS)
VGA2: Creative 3DBlaster, 12MB (Voodoo2)
VGA3: A-Trend Helios 3D, 12MB (Voodoo2)
PCI: Creative SoundBlaster Live!
HDD: Quantum Fireball 3.5" Series, 16GB
ODD1: BTC BCD-40XH
ODD2: Plextor 52/32/52
OS: Windows Millennium

 

[micropage7]

Interesting... Take a look at BTC DVD-RW model down below & tell me if it seems any familiar


And yes, it's quite ironic how the Adison story played out in the end... My only regret is that my friend is not alive to be part of it, but even in my wildest dreams I wouldn't expect to have 5 of them, not after 15 years of searching & not being able to find (at least) one of them!

As for the whole project, I'm pretty much finished ... I still have to address the "sleeper", I'm currently waiting on (yet another) BTC CD-ROM unit from Germany, along with the face plate mask(s) for two of my Plextor CD-RW drives. Only one of them is actually used, the other one will be a spare - Justin Case


And here's the latest Adison build, P4B aka the talking motherboard which really gives it "character". The SLI bridge is home-made ... after all these years of tinkering with 3dfx hardware, I finally perfected my cable-making skills ... except for the fact that I placed the central 180 twist upside-down, it's supposed to be up and not down (but it really doesn't matter)


As for the actual tower(s), they're pretty much done, apart from previously mentioned Plextor CD-RW which is currently missing the plate & outer trim. Yes, I realize that at first glance it looks odd, even ugly ... but the color difference between floppy, ZIP & CD-ROM drive(s) are really not THAT different from rest of the case. Somehow the camera (probably the flash) amplified the effect so everything seems out of place.


Adison #1
CPU: Intel Pentium II, 350MHz (Slot 1)
MBO: Chaintech 6BTM (Intel 440BX)
RAM: 1x 64MB PC133 (radi pod PC100)
VGA1: ATI Rage IIc, AGP
VGA2: Diamond Monster 3DII, 12MB (Voodoo2)
PCI: Creative SoundBlaster 128
HDD: Quantum Fireball 3.5" Series, 6.4GB
ODD: BTC BCD-40XH
OS: Windows 98

Adison #2
CPU: Intel Pentium II, 350MHz (Slot 1)
MBO: Chaintech 6BTM (Intel 440BX)
RAM: 1x 64MB PC133 (radi pod PC100)
VGA1: ATI Rage IIc, AGP
VGA2: Diamond Monster 3DII, 12MB (Voodoo2)
PCI: Creative SoundBlaster 128
HDD: Quantum Fireball 3.5" Series, 6.4GB
ODD: BTC BCD-40XH
OS: Windows 98

Adison #3
CPU: Intel Pentium III, 1133MHz (Socket 370)
MBO: Asus P3B-F (Intel 440BX)
RAM: 2x 128MB PC133
VGA1: Asus V3800 Pro (nVidia TNT2)
VGA2: Creative 3DBlaster, 12MB (Voodoo2)
VGA3: Creative 3DBlaster, 12MB (Voodoo2)
PCI: Aureal Vortex2, Creative WaveBlasterII MIDI
HDD: Western Digital, 40GB
ODD: BTC BCD-40XH
OS: Windows 98SE

Adison #4
CPU: Intel Core2 Duo (Socket 775)
MBO: MSI (nisam siguran koji model)
RAM: 2x 2GB DDR3
VGA1: nVidia GeForce 8600GTX
HDD: Western Digital Blue, 500GB
ODD: (trenutno nema)
OS: Windows 7

Adison #5
CPU: Intel Pentium 4, 2.6GHz (Socket 478)
MBO: Asus P4B (Intel 845)
RAM: 2x 256MB PC133
VGA1: Asus V7700 Deluxe (nVidia GeForce2 GTS)
VGA2: Creative 3DBlaster, 12MB (Voodoo2)
VGA3: A-Trend Helios 3D, 12MB (Voodoo2)
PCI: Creative SoundBlaster Live!
HDD: Quantum Fireball 3.5" Series, 16GB
ODD1: BTC BCD-40XH
ODD2: Plextor 52/32/52
OS: Windows Millennium

BTC what a recall, when i was in college

 

[Trekkie4]

BTC what a recall, when i was in college

Indeed... I seem to be obsessed (perhaps a little bit too much?) with BTC drives, but with good reason. When I first got my hands on "Adison" system back in 1998, it came with BTC BCD 36X (identical to the one posted earlier, only "24X")

About a year or so later, the 36X drive broke down & was replaced under warranty by 36XH and then shortly after with 40XH ... same as the other drive from the picture above. Apparently that "H" stands for Hitachi Loader ... whatever that means. And so I wanted ALL of my Adison builds to feature BTC drives, regardless of their questionable reputation. Finding these on the other hand was a nightmare, since no one bothered to actually keep them so in the end I had to buy units from UK, Germany, even locally here in Croatia and then do my best to combine everything together into the best possible combination.

Happy to say, it worked out OK ... for the most part. BTC can be quite stubborn sometimes & tends to surprise me when I least expect. Like, the other day for example ... one of the BCD-40XH drives ejected a CD at full speed, around 8,000RPM. This here is the end result:


But I'm not complaining. It really gives it character & brings back all those horrible memories of BTC & problems which I had to endure as a kid, in 1998/1999

 

[r0x]

Not long ago, beautiful dual pentium 2 combo (asus p2b-ds + 2x p2 400mhz) was added to my arsenal of peculiar hardware. Since I dislike pausing my work to take pictures, worklog pics are few and not that good, but here's the build:
Stage 1, cleaning + disassembly:

Motherboard was very clean, except some dust and zerg infestation.


Coolers were really dirty, lubrication on fans non existent and again more traces of zerg infestation. These cocoons do damage plastic parts, surfaces are no longer smooth but coarse.

Stage 2, cleaning + reassembly:

Philosophy of no paste under chipset heatsink was quickly banished with a shot of mx-2, while bearings were soaking in fine machine oil.

Stage3, reassembly + quick test:


Final build (I guess):

P2B-ds, dual PII 400MHz, asus voodoo banshee, 256Mb RAM, SCSI 18Gb HDD, AWE 64.
Special thanks to @stef for awe64+case, and @Trekkie4 for SCSI HDD

P.S. I didn't forget to post about asrock CPU bridge adapter. Free time issues in progress....

 

[Trekkie4]

Not long ago, beautiful dual pentium 2 combo (asus p2b-ds + 2x p2 400mhz) was added to my arsenal of peculiar hardware. Since I dislike pausing my work to take pictures, worklog pics are few and not that good, but here's the build:
Stage 1, cleaning + disassembly:

Motherboard was very clean, except some dust and zerg infestation.


Coolers were really dirty, lubrication on fans non existent and again more traces of zerg infestation. These cocoons do damage plastic parts, surfaces are no longer smooth but coarse.

Stage 2, cleaning + reassembly:

Philosophy of no paste under chipset heatsink was quickly banished with a shot of mx-2, while bearings were soaking in fine machine oil.

Stage3, reassembly + quick test:


Final build (I guess):

P2B-ds, dual PII 400MHz, asus voodoo banshee, 256Mb RAM, SCSI 18Gb HDD, AWE 64.
Special thanks to @stef for awe64+case, and @Trekkie4 for SCSI HDD

P.S. I didn't forget to post about asrock CPU bridge adapter. Free time issues in progress....

I still say that V3 3000 would make better choice IMHO. Other than that spot on! You only seem to be missing one thing for that TRUE vintage experience. Care to guess which one?

Spoiler: The Ultimate Secret

A disc-shattering, self ejecting BTC drive!

 

[r0x]

BTC is fine idea...but for home made ripper

 

[Valantar]

Indeed... I seem to be obsessed (perhaps a little bit too much?) with BTC drives, but with good reason. When I first got my hands on "Adison" system back in 1998, it came with BTC BCD 36X (identical to the one posted earlier, only "24X")

About a year or so later, the 36X drive broke down & was replaced under warranty by 36XH and then shortly after with 40XH ... same as the other drive from the picture above. Apparently that "H" stands for Hitachi Loader ... whatever that means. And so I wanted ALL of my Adison builds to feature BTC drives, regardless of their questionable reputation. Finding these on the other hand was a nightmare, since no one bothered to actually keep them so in the end I had to buy units from UK, Germany, even locally here in Croatia and then do my best to combine everything together into the best possible combination.

Happy to say, it worked out OK ... for the most part. BTC can be quite stubborn sometimes & tends to surprise me when I least expect. Like, the other day for example ... one of the BCD-40XH drives ejected a CD at full speed, around 8,000RPM. This here is the end result:


But I'm not complaining. It really gives it character & brings back all those horrible memories of BTC & problems which I had to endure as a kid, in 1998/1999

Can I suggest a mod where you spring-load the eject mechanism for extra exit velocity?

 

[lexluthermiester]

Like, the other day for example ... one of the BCD-40XH drives ejected a CD at full speed, around 8,000RPM. This here is the end result:


But I'm not complaining. It really gives it character & brings back all those horrible memories of BTC & problems which I had to endure as a kid, in 1998/1999

I've done that, deliberately. It was a different brand drive, but I rigged it to pop open while the disc was still spinning at full speed. That disc shot out of the drive so fast that it flew across the room(seriously!) bounced off two walls and hit my poor cat in the nadds! We all laughed out butts off!! He couldn't sit properly for a week! Every time he tried he'd let out a yelp of pain... Felt so bad I took him to the pet store and bought him a new bed he could lay in and a months worth of premium cat food. My friends and I STILL laugh about it to this day.

 

[Robert B]

You guys and cats and whatever living being are lucky to still be alive. If that CD was a saw blade you wouldn't be around to tell the tale.

Ripper

If you're looking for the weapon from Unreal and Return to Na Pali, you might want to check Razorjack. The Ripper (also called Ripjack) is a weapon appearing in the Unreal series. The weapon is the successor of the Razorjack. Its primary fire is the same: it launches a serrated disc at the...

unreal.fandom.com

I also had a BTC 36X drive that was complete garbage but I still remember it fondly. It had a spring loaded door and the tray pushed it down as the tray slided out.

Also my first ASUS CD-S520/A5 52x broke a CD inside and it was replaced under warranty. It took some convincing of the Asus representative in Romania to replace it as the local seller didn't want to replace it saying that it was my mistake as I used a bad CD.

​

 

[Trekkie4]

I've done that, deliberately. It was a different brand drive, but I rigged it to pop open while the disc was still spinning at full speed. That disc shot out of the drive so fast that it flew across the room(seriously!) bounced off two walls and hit my poor cat in the nadds! We all laughed out butts off!! He couldn't sit properly for a week! Every time he tried he'd let out a yelp of pain... Felt so bad I took him to the pet store and bought him a new bed he could lay in and a months worth of premium cat food. My friends and I STILL laugh about it to this day.

Oddly enough mine remained inside the tray, as you can probably tell by the scratches to the outer rim. True, it was spinning insanely fast & making grinding noises (imagine using an angle grinder on a CD) but from what I can tell, the actual CD was only touching the outer lip of drive's tray hence the smaller/minor damage, restricted to the outer section only.

Not that it really matters, it's just a home-made copy of Broken Sword 1. I got the real thing safely stored inside my desk drawer, specifically due to reasons such as this one. Besides, it wouldn't be the first time for optical drive to blow up one of my discs...

You guys and cats and whatever living being are lucky to still be alive. If that CD was a saw blade you you wouldn't be around to tell the tale.

Ripper

If you're looking for the weapon from Unreal and Return to Na Pali, you might want to check Razorjack. The Ripper (also called Ripjack) is a weapon appearing in the Unreal series. The weapon is the successor of the Razorjack. Its primary fire is the same: it launches a serrated disc at the...

unreal.fandom.com

I also had a BTC 36X drive that was complete garbage but I still remember it fondly. It had a spring loaded door and the tray pushed it down as the tray slided out.

Also my first ASUS CD-S520/A5 52x broke a CD inside and it was replaced under warranty. It took some convincing of the Asus representative in Romania to replace it as the local seller didn't want to replace it saying that it was my mistake as I used a bad CD.

​

Yup, spring loaded flip-down door/trim, with the actual mechanism suspended on rubber suspensions. For what it's worth, BTC made surprisingly good units, but they've done some "questionable" decisions which caused some (if not all) issues with these things.

 

[lexluthermiester]

Not that it really matters, it's just a home-made copy of Broken Sword 1. I got the real thing safely stored inside my desk drawer, specifically due to reasons such as this one. Besides, it wouldn't be the first time for optical drive to blow up one of my discs...

And that is the main reason I started doing backups BITD.

 

[Valantar]

And that is the main reason I started doing backups BITD.

Backups? Don't you mean PIRACY OMG STEALING? That's certainly how rights holders view it.

 

[Athlonite]

I think I still a Black and a Silver version of those BTC flappy doors somewhere around my flat I stopped using the BTC drive after it annihilated a disk in the drive and promptly went out and bought a Pioneer DVD burner which cost no more than the BTC drive did a few years earlier

Backups? Don't you mean PIRACY OMG STEALING? That's certainly how rights holders view it.

At one stage in PC history you were actually allowed to make a single backup copy as long as it was for personal use only as it fell under the Fair Use act

 

[QuietBob]

Also getting a Phenom II 955 BE for my AM2NF3 today from a local dude

Pair that with the HD3850 for the ultimate AGP rig!

FPS gun from 8600 era

"Ergonomic gun" I wouldn't even know how to hold it...

 

[Trekkie4]

And that is the main reason I started doing backups BITD.

Backups? Don't you mean PIRACY OMG STEALING? That's certainly how rights holders view it.

They can call it whatever they like, but there's no friggin' way I would ever put original Broken Sword inside a BTC drive ... or any high-speed unit for that matter. Period! One RPM too many, and that thing is going to end up in particles of dust!

I think I still a Black and a Silver version of those BTC flappy doors somewhere around my flat I stopped using the BTC drive after it annihilated a disk in the drive and promptly went out and bought a Pioneer DVD burner which cost no more than the BTC drive did a few years earlier


At one stage in PC history you were actually allowed to make a single backup copy as long as it was for personal use only as it fell under the Fair Use act

Hehe, true! My first DVD-RW drive, the one from the picture above (posted to @Robert B ) was BTC ... and it had a rather unfortunate fate. It exploded only a day or two after I bought it, the CD tray literally flew out with bits of plastic & foil flying everywhere!

 

[Valantar]

Here's a question: with these retro rigs, are you intentionally using disks for the feel of it? Why not just use ISOs on some sort of stable storage medium instead? Or even just on network storage? I get that it's not authentic at all, but given the extreme unreliability of ODDs that doesn't sound like something I'd stick with for long.

 

[WhitetailAni]

the extreme unreliability of ODDs

???
This is news to me, I've never had an optical drive fail on me, and the two I have that are broken sat in an attic for who knows how long. One of them is so old it uses disc caddies and uses SCSI, not IDE.
The discs can be a bit more unreliable but again, all the discs I've burned in the past 3 years are still working fine with minimal scratches. The most beat-up discs I have are my 98 SE, Me, XP, and 7 Home and those weren't mine until last year.

 

[Trekkie4]

Here's a question: with these retro rigs, are you intentionally using disks for the feel of it? Why not just use ISOs on some sort of stable storage medium instead? Or even just on network storage? I get that it's not authentic at all, but given the extreme unreliability of ODDs that doesn't sound like something I'd stick with for long.

And how would you hook up an older system ... let's say Pentium MMX, or even a Pentium II to a modern day storage - through the USB? Assuming the motherboard even has one, it will be limited to 1.1 standard which takes ages to transfer gigabyte of data. Trust me on this, I know!

Heck, even my Pentium 4 P4B "talking" board doesn't have USB 2.0, all of the Pentium II/III systems are in fact limited to 1.1. Yes, I suppose you could hook up an external controller but this isn't always the case. As for the LAN/Ethernet, once again you would need to hook up modern day hardware through some of those really old PCI slots and would always need to use the LAN in order to access anything. And don't even get me started on security, running a Win98 that has direct inet access.

Nah, CD/DVD drives are the way to go. Usually they're safe & perfectly reliable ... even my BTC drives. That scratched up CD still works, since all the damage is localized to empty, unused area.

 

[Fouquin]

And how would you hook up an older system ... let's say Pentium MMX, or even a Pentium II to a modern day storage - through the USB? Assuming the motherboard even has one, it will be limited to 1.1 standard which takes ages to transfer gigabyte of data. Trust me on this, I know!

Heck, even my Pentium 4 P4B "talking" board doesn't have USB 2.0, all of the Pentium II/III systems are in fact limited to 1.1. Yes, I suppose you could hook up an external controller but this isn't always the case. As for the LAN/Ethernet, once again you would need to hook up modern day hardware through some of those really old PCI slots and would always need to use the LAN in order to access anything. And don't even get me started on security, running a Win98 that has direct inet access.

Nah, CD/DVD drives are the way to go. Usually they're safe & perfectly reliable ... even my BTC drives. That scratched up CD still works, since all the damage is localized to empty, unused area.

You can do networked storage that has no external gateway. It's really not that difficult. CDs are still easier if you've got a spindle full already.

 

[Ahhzz]

And how would you hook up an older system ... let's say Pentium MMX, or even a Pentium II to a modern day storage - through the USB? Assuming the motherboard even has one, it will be limited to 1.1 standard which takes ages to transfer gigabyte of data. Trust me on this, I know!

Heck, even my Pentium 4 P4B "talking" board doesn't have USB 2.0, all of the Pentium II/III systems are in fact limited to 1.1. Yes, I suppose you could hook up an external controller but this isn't always the case. As for the LAN/Ethernet, once again you would need to hook up modern day hardware through some of those really old PCI slots and would always need to use the LAN in order to access anything. And don't even get me started on security, running a Win98 that has direct inet access.

Nah, CD/DVD drives are the way to go. Usually they're safe & perfectly reliable ... even my BTC drives. That scratched up CD still works, since all the damage is localized to empty, unused area.

I'd just like to see someone hooking it up and can't get the LAN card to work properly, and not sure what these "4/16" numbers are for....

 

[lexluthermiester]

Backups? Don't you mean PIRACY OMG STEALING?

Arrr matey....

That's certainly how rights holders view it.

I couldn't care less what right holders think. Their rights end where user right begin.

At one stage in PC history you were actually allowed to make a single backup copy as long as it was for personal use only as it fell under the Fair Use act

That hasn't change. Backup's are still perfectly lawful. And they will never not be so.

 

[Valantar]

???
This is news to me, I've never had an optical drive fail on me, and the two I have that are broken sat in an attic for who knows how long. One of them is so old it uses disc caddies and uses SCSI, not IDE.
The discs can be a bit more unreliable but again, all the discs I've burned in the past 3 years are still working fine with minimal scratches. The most beat-up discs I have are my 98 SE, Me, XP, and 7 Home and those weren't mine until last year.

Strange - I've never had a 5 ¼“ ODD that hasn't failed. Some after a few years, some after a few months. Some after nearly no use at all, just being installed in a system. In the end I entirely gave up buying them from the combination of rarely needing them and seeing them fail constantly. Oddly enough, no mobile/slim ODD has ever failed on me, including the two I have lying around currently (at least they both worked the last time I checked).

And how would you hook up an older system ... let's say Pentium MMX, or even a Pentium II to a modern day storage - through the USB? Assuming the motherboard even has one, it will be limited to 1.1 standard which takes ages to transfer gigabyte of data. Trust me on this, I know!

Heck, even my Pentium 4 P4B "talking" board doesn't have USB 2.0, all of the Pentium II/III systems are in fact limited to 1.1. Yes, I suppose you could hook up an external controller but this isn't always the case. As for the LAN/Ethernet, once again you would need to hook up modern day hardware through some of those really old PCI slots and would always need to use the LAN in order to access anything. And don't even get me started on security, running a Win98 that has direct inet access.

Nah, CD/DVD drives are the way to go. Usually they're safe & perfectly reliable ... even my BTC drives. That scratched up CD still works, since all the damage is localized to empty, unused area.

There are CF/SD to IDE adapters if you want that, or SD-based floppy emulators if that's more your thing (including for really vintage non-PC systems). The emulators are no doubt a lot more expensive than an old ODD, but the convenience factor would more than make up for that IMO. The SD adapters are dirt cheap even.

 

[80-watt Hamster]

??
This is news to me, I've never had an optical drive fail on me, and the two I have that are broken sat in an attic for who knows how long. One of them is so old it uses disc caddies and uses SCSI, not IDE.
The discs can be a bit more unreliable but again, all the discs I've burned in the past 3 years are still working fine with minimal scratches. The most beat-up discs I have are my 98 SE, Me, XP, and 7 Home and those weren't mine until last year.

Plenty have gone south on me. Some with next to no use. Conversely, others have lasted over a decade. Mostly older ones.

 

[Athlonite]

Ah I just wanna be able to play Aquanox and Decent I and II (I know they're available but Aquanox isn't) I enjoyed the shiz outta those two games