TPU's Nostalgic Hardware Club

[NoiseBox]

I'll bet they can... The removal might require taking the system/equipment apart, but it had to be put in, so there has to be a way to remove it..

Well, yeah. ANYTHING can be removed if you are good enough (or have a big enough hammer)
What I meant was since I work for a gov't agency, the lab gear gets surplussed intact, and cannot be dismantled for parts, unless the instrument already doesn't work, then it's okay, but only if the parts are going to repair another identical instrument (the rules under which we work make zero sense)

EDIT:

@QuietBob
"For those of us concerned about the security of older systems (and those bold enough to use them online)..."

Some years ago (say...10?) I took a Dell D630 laptop, installed WInNT 4.0 on it, and used it online.
Briefly.
Opera was the only browser I could find that worked, and I had my original copy of AdMuncher, and USB drivers as well.
Tracking down the patches to NT 4.0 was a monumental PITA, having to visit some very iffy sites to find them (nevermind having to remember what order things had to be installed in)
Much of the Internet just didn't work right, and the AV I used (I think an old copy of AVG) complained bitterly, but the system was never compromised. Security by obsolescence I think...

 

[lexluthermiester]

This floppy was actually introduced by IBM in 1971. The original IBM 23FD 8" drive shipped with the IBM 2835 Storage Control Unit and was used to load microcode (firmware) onto the IBM System/370 mainframe. First floppies were read-only, single-side single-density (SSSD) with 80 KB capacity. The drive was capable of 4.2 KB/s maximum transfer, with the disc rotating at 90 rpm.

8" floppy capacity ultimately grew to 1.2 MB in 1977. The IBM 53FD drive could read these at 62.5 KB/s with 360 rpm. Quite impressive performance there. 5.25" drives that hit the market the previous year read 90 KB floppies at 16 KB/s

Ah that's right. We'd need to see it out of the sleeve to know for sure.

 

[NoiseBox]

Ah that's right. We'd need to see it out of the sleeve to know for sure.

I'll grab some more pics later today

 

[Splinterdog]

This HP Compaq case used to contain a Pentium 4 and in its day was the mutts nuts. I kept the case and put an FX 4300 in it for my long suffering wife. But that's all changing as I'm building a new machine for her and certainly have a retro use for this case because it's practically indestructible

 

[droid-I]

^true, these era(2005-2010?) HP / Compaq cases are sturdy, have front panel connectors that still fit to many newer motherboards as is. Easy to mount components within the case, not using tools of many a kind.
Somewhat good design of airflow as well, for a not so hot gaming/crunching machine, and size vise easier to move around. Even the BTX layout still matches with most uATX boards.
I have a couple of similar units gutted from original hardware and rebuilt with new stuff inside.

 

[Splinterdog]

^true, these era(2005-2010?) HP / Compaq cases are sturdy, have front panel connectors that still fit to many newer motherboards as is. Easy to mount components within the case, not using tools of many a kind.
Somewhat good design of airflow as well, for a not so hot gaming/crunching machine, and size vise easier to move around. Even the BTX layout still matches with most uATX boards.
I have a couple of similar units gutted from original hardware and rebuilt with new stuff inside.

The only thing I had to do was split out the front panel connector block because it doesn't fit standard fpanel pins on most motherboards.

 

[droid-I]

^ok. I had used a MSI and Gigabyte board, and it was just plug and play. But likely my cases are a couple years newer.

 

[WhitetailAni]

It's a Via S3 P86C805, I know that much.

Spoiler

It's VLB, I know that much.

I personally don't have a use for it so off to the eBay it goes, just thought I'd share.

 

[Retrorockit]

Unfortunately, since the chipset appears to be limited in terms of OC, there's not much point in pushing this forward.

My MB was locked at 266fsb. I put it in 2nd place at CPUZ anyway. Raised the bar quite bit too in 2015.

 

[QuietBob]

My MB was locked at 266fsb. I put it in 2nd place at CPUZ anyway. Raised the bar quite bit too in 2015.
View attachment 237041

I see you're on an old version of CPU-Z. Could you run the benchmark using the current one? I'm curious how it stacks up today.

 

[Retrorockit]

That MB died from the Dell bad cap disease. If you click the link in my sig. and then click the image it will bring up the top 15 lists with newer CPUZ post on that CPUs. A few guys with ASUS P5s got past me by a few MHz. It held up for a couple years. But it's still top 10. I have enough junk around to build another one with fresh caps, and a few tricks up my sleeve to go faster. I have better cooling and the option of overclocking just 2 cores. But that CPU only accepts whole multipliers, so it's 4.26GHz or bust.
The real world speed was 3.72GHZ which was also good for 2nd place at that time.

 

[NoiseBox]

As requested/promised, 8" discs for your viewing pleasure!

 

[lexluthermiester]

As requested/promised, 8" discs for your viewing pleasure!

Yeah, that's a standard 8" floppy. IBM's early discs did not have all of the functionality features shown there.

 

[QuietBob]

As requested/promised, 8" discs for your viewing pleasure!

Nice! Does it mention capacity anywhere on the sleeve? Year of production maybe?

 

[lexluthermiester]

That MB died from the Dell bad cap disease.

Re-cap it. Cap replacement is easy.

 

[Retrorockit]

Re-cap it. Cap replacement is easy.

I have a recapped board, and a virgin MB with no Dell Service tag#. But the T3400/XPS 420 run faster, hold more RAM, and have SSE4. I also don't have to chop up video cards (as much) to get something decent in there. I have one stuck together with a San Ace 150 300cfm fan in it and an XPS cooler, and heatsinked VRM. But whether I'll make it run and try for 4.26GHz remains to be seen.
It was a 10 year old computer in 2015.

 

[Fangio1951]

As requested/promised, 8" discs for your viewing pleasure!

Brings back memories indeed - These + 5 1/4" ones were prone to contamination = Mould between the disc and outer jacket = had quite few fail due to the mould !!!

 

[NoiseBox]

Nice! Does it mention capacity anywhere on the sleeve? Year of production maybe?

Dyson I think, I'll double check when I get back to work, I think it said Double Sided Double Density, but let me verify before you quote me on that

Mould between the disc and outer jacket = had quite few fail due to the mould !!!

I have a 200$ bet with my boss that the data is still readable...
I pulled data of 27 year old 3.5" floppy drives last year (there were 30 disks, 29 were readable.)

EDIT: Those 3.5" disks had been stored in a basement with no climate control...for god only knows how long. Considering how sturdy they have been, I'm going to archive all my data on floppies from now on!

 

[lexluthermiester]

I pulled data of 27 year old 3.5" floppy drives last year (there were 30 disks, 29 were readable.)

That's not uncommon. Floppy technology is far more durable and hardy than the general reputation would suggest.

 

[framebuffer]

my mostly '99 permanent build

• ASUS P3B-F
• Pentium III 600/100
• 128MB PC100 2-2-2-5
• 3dfx Voodoo3 3000 w/ active cooling
• Sound Blaster Live!
• Adaptec SCSI Controller
• IBM 30GB HDD
• Iomega Zip 250
• Plextor PX-708A CD/DVD RW
• HP CD-40X (SCSI)
• Intel PRO/1000 GT

P.S. yep the front cover of the case needs a second retrobright cycle

 

[stef]

Nice job. Retrobrite so so. IMHO, it's overdone already. Liquid peroxide gives best results, no marble effect. And never go all the way. Plastics start looking un-natural at some point.
Personally, I hate the process.

 

[Trekkie4]

/The/ ultimate Windows 98 card?

One way or another, my very first "Audigy" card ... ever!

 

[kiriakost]

"Audigy"

Year 2022

 

[Trekkie4]

Year 2022

View attachment 237146

Darn! Now I need to find one of these 5.25" drive bay modules...

 

[Mr.Scott]

/The/ ultimate Windows 98 card?

One way or another, my very first "Audigy" card ... ever!

I'll raise you a pair.