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  1. X

    How many PCs for all the games?

    How many PC machines does one need to play all PC games? Well, *almost* all - I don't care about some crap games that only run on some very specific hardware. I don't care for the games to run to their best - I just want them to run good enough to be fun. It's more important to keep the number...
  2. X

    XT-style controller for IDE/CF disks

    Yes, I know about XT-IDE. But there's one problem with it: incompatibility with classical XT MFM controllers, like that IBM/Xebec thing found in a 5160, which prevents it from working with systems that bypass BIOS, notably PC/IX and Xenix. So I'm thinking about another approach: a controller...
  3. X

    The Worst Computer Of All Time

    Oh, and one more Microsoft keyboard from my nightmares... I can understand vertical layout of Home/End/Insert/Delete/PgUp/PgDn keys - space-saving is sometimes a must - but what's the point of the big Delete key, at the cost of the lack of Insert!? Grouping the function keys by three, instead...
  4. X

    The Worst Computer Of All Time

    Thinking about bad hard drives, there were those Quantum Bigfoot disks - still 5.25", when all others were already 3.5". They were very slow, especially the original series (1.2 GB and 2.5 GB), later series were somewhat better. And they had a hole, covered with just a sticker - must be very...
  5. X

    Novell key card

    I've found a card marked "NOVELL INC.", "BOARD 738-61-001 REV. B", apparently from 1987, just like this one - https://www.recycledgoods.com/novell-inc-738-61-001-rev-b-810-61-001/ Seems like a key for some software - but what exactly? Some early Netware version?
  6. X

    SB 2.0, CT1336A, and CMS upgrade

    It was considered impossible. But now there's this - https://www.ebay.com/itm/Improved-CMS-Upgrade-Kit-for-Sound-Blaster-2-0-CT1350B-compatible-with-CT1336A/283307302605 Can anybody confirm that it actually works?
  7. X

    Trident TVGA 8800CS

    I've got a card with TVGA 8800CS chipset, 512 KB of RAM, for 8-bit ISA. Thought it would be the perfect card for a fast Turbo XT. But I can't find fully working software for it - there's something on Vogonsdrivers, but SVM.EXE refuses to work, needs 8900 chipset. I've found some Windows 3.1...
  8. X

    The Five Generations of PC

    I've been thinking about PC history in general, since the very beginning, till now. And it occured to me that many important technologies were introduced (or got common) pretty much together, within short time periods. So, it's possible to draw five eras in PC history, each characterized with...
  9. X

    8088-II 8Mhz vs. 286 8Mhz is not same?

    BTW, it should be noted that - contrary to what Landmark says - according to Topbench, late turbo XTs can be faster than early ATs: That "11 MHz" must be a typo/bad measurment, safe bet it's actually 12 MHz - pretty common for those "Juko Super Turbo" boards. I've seen XTs running at 4.77...
  10. X

    Need help with ET4000W32P and IBM8514 compatibility

    Just tried BGIDEMO with DOSBox machine=svga_et4000 and RIXAI, and all the arifacts I saw on a real ET4000/W32i are visible as well, see the attached picture: Can anybody try BGIDEMO on a real 8514/A and/or XGA? Anyway, this thread - https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?t=16789 suggests that...
  11. X

    What's PGA?

    One of the display types supported by many BIOSes is "EGA/PGA/VGA". EGA and VGA are obvious, but what's PGA? I heard an explanation that it must be IBM PGC, that 640x480x8bpp card from 1984. However, there's a problem: the "EGA/PGA/VGA" setting seems to expect the card to come with its own BIOS...
  12. X

    Norton AntiVirus for DOS/Windows 3.1

    IBM PC DOS 7.0 was shipped with IBM Antivirus. Later on, IBM ceased to support their Antivirus, instead licensed Norton AntiVirus, making it available for download for PC DOS users. And it's still downloadable - ftp://ftp.symantec.com/comwrap/navibmdw.exe ...along with the tool to uninstall IBM...
  13. X

    Windows 3.1 and DHCP

    I'm playing with Windows 3.1 and TCP/IP - works OK with Trumpet Winsock 3.0, but requires manual IP address setup, there's also "bootp" option but doesn't work with DHCP server. So, the question: anybody can recommend some TCP/IP package for Windows 3.1 (regular, not "for Workgroups" or 3.11)...
  14. X

    Disable 387 FPU

    So I'm benchmarking some math software on a 386 with FPU, and want to measure the performance impact of the FPU. But I don't feel like physically removing the chip - anybody knows a program to disable it?
  15. X

    PCI IDE controller with ATAPI support

    I want to build a modern PC with a bunch of older drives, mostly ATAPI: ZIP, LS-120, etc. Due to shortage of conventional PCI slots, I want them all controlled by a single card. There's plenty of PCI controllers with many PATA ports, up to 12 even, like 3Ware Escalade 7500 or Promise SuperTrak...
  16. X

    Nubus IDE controller

    In the 90s I used to transfer large data amounts between PCs by temporarily-attached regular IDE HDDs, sometimes with the help of removable racks. Once I wanted to do that with a Macinstosh, but no luck, as it only had SCSI. So the question is: is there an IDE controller for pre-PCI Macs? Was...
  17. X

    AHA-1542CF + PAS16 = problem

    I've got a 386DX/40, which was working fine with AHA-1520B (non-bus-master, DMA disabled) and Pro Audio Spectrum 16. But I've replaced the SCSI host adapter with AHA-1542CF (bus-master, needs DMA). Seemed to work great, disk throughput increased by 40%. But then I tried to play some music - WAV...
  18. X

    XT with HDD >20MB

    The original 5160 had a 10 MB HDD. Later 5160 variants had 20 MB. PS/2 Model 30 (8086) had 20 MB. All the clones I saw had 20 MB, with the exception of some low-end ones with no HDD at all - eg. Amstrad PC1512SD, Commodore PC-10, and many portables. But I've never seen an XT-class machine with...
  19. X

    Software for 8514/A AI

    I've got an ET4000/W32i card, with 8514 emulation drivers - obviously providing the Adapter Interface. So I'm looking for some software to test this feature. Apparently AutoCAD can use the AI, but it's complicated and probably needs a hardware key. Anything else?
  20. X

    Adding more RAM on an unknown 286 board

    I'm trying to install more RAM on this board. Currently it has 1 MB in DIP chips. I installed 4 x 1 MB SIPP modules, but the board couldn't see them, and still counted to 1024 KB. Obviously I need to set the DIP-switches, but can't find any info on this board. Anybody recognizes it and can help?
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