Tech Relics: Now integrating PIII processors for the wank factor.

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Humphreys: Jan 26, 2013; We conceived a way to use my mother as a porn mule

The Wurst Poster posted:

Some BBSs actually run off of VoIP. You aren't going to get a solid connection over 14400 but any decent BBS is built to be usable at lower speeds. There are carriers that provide a SIP trunk that will give you a number with multiple channels. Voip.ms and voipvoip.com are ones I've used that are modem friendly.

It sure is.

I really should just make a longer video with a full explanation. Maybe even show ISDN BRI in action.

I know people that want a longer video showing it off.

(me)

# ? Jan 31, 2024 07:31

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# ? May 17, 2024 18:52

EoRaptor: Sep 13, 2003; by Fluffdaddy

The Wurst Poster posted:

Even at 815kbps the modern internet still sucks. I could double the link speed by just using the T1 but there is no stupid fun in that.

Back in my early days I did a whole bunch of testing of setups like this for a major telecom, before 56k was a thing.

The Windows ppp stack is poo poo, and you get rapidly diminishing returns on additional lines. You might be able to improve performance by clamping MTU down to 280

Do not get me started on how bad the mppp implementation on Linux was at the time. All the documentation talked about setting it up with only a few commands, but the fact that it only worked on ISDN modems and only for two channels wasn�t mentioned unless you read some really obscure mailing list archives or understood the code.

# ? Jan 31, 2024 08:39

Killer robot: Sep 6, 2010; I was having the most wonderful dream. I think you were in it!; Pillbug

3D Megadoodoo posted:

This is probably a dumb-rear end question, but can I simply replace an AMD K6-2 CPU with a faster one, and it'll work?

Most Socket 7 boards have jumpers for voltage, bus speed, and multiplier. A few, like a weird PC Chips board I have, use software settings in the BIOS. That said, it's usually easy to do with just a few jumpers, not like switching CPUs on a 486 board. The biggest pain point is getting the right multiplier and bus speed. Like if the motherboard only supports 66MHz bus a K6-2/400 needs a 6x multiplier. If your board doesn't support high multipliers, the good news is that the CPU interprets a 2x multiplier as 6x.

Another issue is checking the voltage. Most K6-2s run at 2.2V but they can range from 2.0-2.4 depending on revision. Individual chips might tolerate higher or lower but you want to match if you can. Older boards especially were manufactured with guesses at what AMD was going to put out and might not have the right options.

Finally, if you luck out and get a K6-2+ (sometimes just sold as regular K6-2) you need to have BIOS support in the motherboard, otherwise it probably won't boot right.

# ? Jan 31, 2024 09:21

3D Megadoodoo: Nov 25, 2010

Killer robot posted:

Most Socket 7 boards have jumpers for voltage, bus speed, and multiplier. A few, like a weird PC Chips board I have, use software settings in the BIOS. That said, it's usually easy to do with just a few jumpers, not like switching CPUs on a 486 board. The biggest pain point is getting the right multiplier and bus speed. Like if the motherboard only supports 66MHz bus a K6-2/400 needs a 6x multiplier. If your board doesn't support high multipliers, the good news is that the CPU interprets a 2x multiplier as 6x.

Another issue is checking the voltage. Most K6-2s run at 2.2V but they can range from 2.0-2.4 depending on revision. Individual chips might tolerate higher or lower but you want to match if you can. Older boards especially were manufactured with guesses at what AMD was going to put out and might not have the right options.

Finally, if you luck out and get a K6-2+ (sometimes just sold as regular K6-2) you need to have BIOS support in the motherboard, otherwise it probably won't boot right.

Aren't all K6-2s Super Socket 7 tho? IDK I just want to put the faster CPU from my old Compaq into my dad's old IBM because it's a complete system and, well, looks better.

# ? Jan 31, 2024 09:24

Killer robot: Sep 6, 2010; I was having the most wonderful dream. I think you were in it!; Pillbug

3D Megadoodoo posted:

Aren't all K6-2s Super Socket 7 tho? IDK I just want to put the faster CPU from my old Compaq into my dad's old IBM because it's a complete system and, well, looks better.

A "real" Super Socket 7 board should support 100MHz FSB and at least a 4.5x/5x multiplier so if it's that you're good barring some weird voltage situation. Just that lot of boards billed as Super Socket 7 didn't meet full expectations, and a lot of boards had K6-2 support without 100MHz FSB, like that PC Chips I mentioned. Which will hurt performance if it doesn't have it, but faster is still better even at 66MHz FSB.

It should still work anyway. You'll just have to check the settings that get you closest to what the chip is labeled as. The board's jumper settings are probably on The Retro Web if nothing else.

# ? Jan 31, 2024 09:38

The Wurst Poster: Apr 8, 2005; Literally the Wurst...

Seriously...

For REALSIES.

EoRaptor posted:

Back in my early days I did a whole bunch of testing of setups like this for a major telecom, before 56k was a thing.

The Windows ppp stack is poo poo, and you get rapidly diminishing returns on additional lines. You might be able to improve performance by clamping MTU down to 280

Do not get me started on how bad the mppp implementation on Linux was at the time. All the documentation talked about setting it up with only a few commands, but the fact that it only worked on ISDN modems and only for two channels wasn�t mentioned unless you read some really obscure mailing list archives or understood the code.

I absolutely noticed this and that I couldn't get any better performance with more than 6 modems. I though I did something wrong on the cisco side. I will give the MTU thing a shot.

# ? Jan 31, 2024 18:22

c0burn: Sep 2, 2003; The KKKing

Killer robot posted:

A "real" Super Socket 7 board should support 100MHz FSB and at least a 4.5x/5x multiplier so if it's that you're good barring some weird voltage situation. Just that lot of boards billed as Super Socket 7 didn't meet full expectations, and a lot of boards had K6-2 support without 100MHz FSB, like that PC Chips I mentioned. Which will hurt performance if it doesn't have it, but faster is still better even at 66MHz FSB.

It should still work anyway. You'll just have to check the settings that get you closest to what the chip is labeled as. The board's jumper settings are probably on The Retro Web if nothing else.

A 2x multiplier is treated as 6x iirc.

# ? Jan 31, 2024 22:45

EVIL Gibson: Mar 23, 2001; Internet of Things is just someone else's computer that people can't help attaching cameras and door locks to!; Switchblade Switcharoo

c0burn posted:

A 2x multiplier is treated as 6x iirc.

????

Not sure why or when x2 would become x6 unless it was some hackey motherboard

# ? Feb 1, 2024 21:37

I would blow Dane Cook: Dec 26, 2008

Dataman and the little professor, vintage learning calculators (for learning maths)

Thanks to the wonders of 3D printing, Dataman has a battery cover again.

# ? Feb 2, 2024 05:17

CaptainSarcastic: Jul 6, 2013

I remember seeing those Little Professor calculators when I was a kid. Never wanted one, but I saw them.

We did have a Speak and Spell we learned various ways to abuse, though.

# ? Feb 2, 2024 05:33

credburn: Jun 22, 2016; A tangled skein of bad opinions, the hottest takes, and the the world's most misinformed nonsense. Do not engage with me, it's useless, and better yet, put me on ignore.

I would blow Dane Cook posted:

Dataman and the little professor, vintage learning calculators (for learning maths)

all i see is goatse

# ? Feb 2, 2024 05:35

monolithburger: Sep 7, 2011

I'm curious if the people who designed the "Little Professor" knew that phrase was also a euphemism for kids diagnosed with Aspergers?

# ? Feb 2, 2024 05:45

wa27: Jan 15, 2007

I would blow Dane Cook posted:

Dataman and the little professor, vintage learning calculators (for learning maths)

Thanks to the wonders of 3D printing, Dataman has a battery cover again.

I want to buy a 3d printer for the sole purpose of printing battery covers to random things.

# ? Feb 2, 2024 06:22

Killer robot: Sep 6, 2010; I was having the most wonderful dream. I think you were in it!; Pillbug

EVIL Gibson posted:

????

Not sure why or when x2 would become x6 unless it was some hackey motherboard

It's not a motherboard thing, it's a CPU thing. And unfortunately not universal, it depends on the CPU stepping. Steppings 7 and earlier will accept a 2x multiplier, but steppings 8 and up (CXT core) by design interpret a 2x motherboard setting as 6x. They're not gonna hit 600MHz on 100MHz FSB, but the design was to allow 400MHz speeds on boards that are limited to 66MHz FSB, 450 at 75MHz, etc.

The good news is that as far as I can tell (nearly?) all K6-2 CPUs that are labeled 400MHz or higher are Stepping 8 or higher. The other good news is that if your motherboard supports higher bus speeds you don't need to worry about it and can just use a normal multiplier like in your screenshot.

Now getting even the latest models to 600MHz is the real trick. I've seen people do it, but too much trouble for me to try it on an ancient board today.

# ? Feb 2, 2024 07:07

3D Megadoodoo: Nov 25, 2010

credburn posted:

all i see is goatse

Turn on your VDU.

# ? Feb 2, 2024 08:17

LifeSunDeath: Jan 4, 2007; still gay rights and smoke weed every day

monolithburger posted:

euphemism

more like an aspersion

# ? Feb 2, 2024 13:04

monolithburger: Sep 7, 2011

LifeSunDeath posted:

more like an aspersion

# ? Feb 2, 2024 13:23

JnnyThndrs: May 29, 2001; HERE ARE THE FUCKING TOWELS

wa27 posted:

I want to buy a 3d printer for the sole purpose of printing battery covers to random things.

Not gonna lie, it was a factor in my purchasing one last year. I have way too many vintage electronic devices missing their battery doors.

Now all I need to do is find filament in �slightly discolored off-white�.

# ? Feb 3, 2024 05:23

Killer robot: Sep 6, 2010; I was having the most wonderful dream. I think you were in it!; Pillbug

wa27 posted:

I want to buy a 3d printer for the sole purpose of printing battery covers to random things.

One of the first things I used mine for was a floppy drive lever for my Laser 128.

I just ordered some beige filament for some computer-related tasks. Though after I did that I saw a shop with specific Amiga 500 and Commodore 64 colors.

https://www.printedsolid.com/collections/filament/products/jessie-pla-1-75mm-x-1kg-beige-500

https://www.printedsolid.com/products/jessie-pla-1-75mm-x-1kg-tan-64?variant=39502751694933

It's' okay though, I'm printing for various 1980s/1990s PCs mostly.

# ? Feb 3, 2024 05:37

Trabant: Nov 26, 2011; All systems nominal.

I would blow Dane Cook posted:

Thanks to the wonders of 3D printing, Dataman has a battery cover again.

I wanted to go down the 3D printing path for that purpose myself, for a missing battery cover on one of my Sinclair Sovereigns, but this nonsense is what I'd have to replicate:

Look at this curvy, thin, stamped steel thing. I haven't modeled anything other than basic shapes in CAD -- and this seemed incredibly unlikely to succeed -- so I gave up on that idea.

Now my plan is to use the battery cover I do have to create a silicone mould, then cast a high-strength resin duplicate. But if you/others think I'm wrong and 3D modeling could work, I could use a really good resource to learn how do :sweatdrop:

# ? Feb 4, 2024 07:20

Kazinsal: Dec 13, 2011

So that would explain why the floppy controller isn't recognizing any drives on the PS/2 I bought.

Time to pick up some new 4.7uF 35V capacitors and replace the burnt-out husk of that tantalum (and probably the one next to it just to be safe).

# ? Feb 4, 2024 07:32

longview: Dec 25, 2006; heh.

No major retro changes around here, but I am happy to report that this one Lacie FireWire 400/USB external drive uses a SATA plug internally and doesn't care what drive it talks to:

I think it's a "Porsche Design" model of some sort, no real markings on it.

So now I have a 1 TB FireWire SSD, pretty neat!
Might try to make a multi-boot installer drive at some point, need to get a fresh install in the G4 AGP at some point after I stole the hard drive for the iMac G4.

# ? Feb 4, 2024 11:07

EVIL Gibson: Mar 23, 2001; Internet of Things is just someone else's computer that people can't help attaching cameras and door locks to!; Switchblade Switcharoo

Trabant posted:

I wanted to go down the 3D printing path for that purpose myself, for a missing battery cover on one of my Sinclair Sovereigns, but this nonsense is what I'd have to replicate:

Look at this curvy, thin, stamped steel thing. I haven't modeled anything other than basic shapes in CAD -- and this seemed incredibly unlikely to succeed -- so I gave up on that idea.

Now my plan is to use the battery cover I do have to create a silicone mould, then cast a high-strength resin duplicate. But if you/others think I'm wrong and 3D modeling could work, I could use a really good resource to learn how do

Let me say one thing, you can design without putting in all the elegance and finesse of a CAD program. Here's a list of tips.

build using more simpler applications that work on a level below CAD. Applications were you don't need to know the weird words of "chamfer", "NURBS", or "Viewport". I use the built in app 3d modelling program from Microsoft called "3d Builder". (https://apps.microsoft.com/detail/9WZDNCRFJ3T6?hl=en-us&gl=US) which is on the level of legos, a bunch of shapes, and lots of boolean subtracting and adding.
just straight up frankenstein the bitch. Goto places like printables.com, thingiverse.com, and yeggi.com (great search engine for all stl places) and instead of looking for the perfect reproduction, build your remote cover bit by bit. Get the top cover seashell thing done and make sure it fits over. Get that small metal clip from another remote and scale it down to your dimensions. You basically turn your project into smaller projects trying to replace each of the features one by one.
You definetly do not need steel replacements. You can replace it a plastic part that is just a bit thicker and printed at the correct angle*. You use a filament like PETG (can even get it in metal colored) which had the benefits of flexibility and strength. To make it less flexible to latch better, you make it thicker while losing none of the strength.

*As an example, I made this replacement for a too-expensive mouse and made it out of one piece instead of the aluminum and plastic pieces

# ? Feb 4, 2024 23:14

Humphreys: Jan 26, 2013; We conceived a way to use my mother as a porn mule

EVIL Gibson posted:

Let me say one thing, you can design without putting in all the elegance and finesse of a CAD program. Here's a list of tips.

build using more simpler applications that work on a level below CAD. Applications were you don't need to know the weird words of "chamfer", "NURBS", or "Viewport". I use the built in app 3d modelling program from Microsoft called "3d Builder". (https://apps.microsoft.com/detail/9WZDNCRFJ3T6?hl=en-us&gl=US) which is on the level of legos, a bunch of shapes, and lots of boolean subtracting and adding.

just straight up frankenstein the bitch. Goto places like printables.com, thingiverse.com, and yeggi.com (great search engine for all stl places) and instead of looking for the perfect reproduction, build your remote cover bit by bit. Get the top cover seashell thing done and make sure it fits over. Get that small metal clip from another remote and scale it down to your dimensions. You basically turn your project into smaller projects trying to replace each of the features one by one.

You definetly do not need steel replacements. You can replace it a plastic part that is just a bit thicker and printed at the correct angle*. You use a filament like PETG (can even get it in metal colored) which had the benefits of flexibility and strength. To make it less flexible to latch better, you make it thicker while losing none of the strength.

*As an example, I made this replacement for a too-expensive mouse and made it out of one piece instead of the aluminum and plastic pieces

I made a few thousand dollars rapid prototyping a safety device for a drilling company that saved lives using Microsoft 3D Builder. It's been a decade since I used anything Autodesk (was trained in Maya, but did 5 yuears in production with 3DS Max).

# ? Feb 5, 2024 08:09

3D Megadoodoo: Nov 25, 2010

Took me a while to figure out what was going on with this:

# ? Feb 5, 2024 12:12

Humphreys: Jan 26, 2013; We conceived a way to use my mother as a porn mule

3D Megadoodoo posted:

Took me a while to figure out what was going on with this:

Thats ok, we all have days we can't put on two of the same shoes.

# ? Feb 5, 2024 14:16

Trabant: Nov 26, 2011; All systems nominal.

EVIL Gibson posted:

Let me say one thing, you can design without putting in all the elegance and finesse of a CAD program. Here's a list of tips.

build using more simpler applications that work on a level below CAD. Applications were you don't need to know the weird words of "chamfer", "NURBS", or "Viewport". I use the built in app 3d modelling program from Microsoft called "3d Builder". (https://apps.microsoft.com/detail/9WZDNCRFJ3T6?hl=en-us&gl=US) which is on the level of legos, a bunch of shapes, and lots of boolean subtracting and adding.

just straight up frankenstein the bitch. Goto places like printables.com, thingiverse.com, and yeggi.com (great search engine for all stl places) and instead of looking for the perfect reproduction, build your remote cover bit by bit. Get the top cover seashell thing done and make sure it fits over. Get that small metal clip from another remote and scale it down to your dimensions. You basically turn your project into smaller projects trying to replace each of the features one by one.

You definetly do not need steel replacements. You can replace it a plastic part that is just a bit thicker and printed at the correct angle*. You use a filament like PETG (can even get it in metal colored) which had the benefits of flexibility and strength. To make it less flexible to latch better, you make it thicker while losing none of the strength.

*As an example, I made this replacement for a too-expensive mouse and made it out of one piece instead of the aluminum and plastic pieces

I very much your confidence in my abilities, no matter how misplaced it may be! I'm pretty sure I will eventually try it -- my casting materials are about 2 years past their shelf life and I don't feel like spending another $80+ when I'll be wasting 90% of the silicone and resin.

By the way, I'm pretty sure I do need the metal tabs eventually. I think Sinclair used them to bridge the batteries in series, because... Sinclair :v:

edit: now considering photogrammetry to get me started...

Trabant has a new favorite as of 04:57 on Feb 6, 2024

# ? Feb 6, 2024 04:48

CaptainSarcastic: Jul 6, 2013

3D Megadoodoo posted:

Took me a while to figure out what was going on with this:

Weird - I had no idea about these things. Apparently there was a VIC 1010, too.

I don't know if it is a matter of age or being an American, but it seemed to me growing up that very few families I knew had VIC 20s, but the Commodore 64 became pretty common. We always kind of looked down on the VIC 20 as the younger, weaker sibling.

# ? Feb 6, 2024 06:51

3D Megadoodoo: Nov 25, 2010

CaptainSarcastic posted:

Weird - I had no idea about these things. Apparently there was a VIC 1010, too.

I don't know if it is a matter of age or being an American, but it seemed to me growing up that very few families I knew had VIC 20s, but the Commodore 64 became pretty common. We always kind of looked down on the VIC 20 as the younger, weaker sibling.

Most objectively good games for it came out in the 2000s. I mean sure Omega Race was fine and I think Minter wrote some back in the day but mostly it was Atari 2600 -level dross.

Actually worse since there was no Pitfall II (I think?)

# ? Feb 6, 2024 07:57

Peanut Butler: Jul 25, 2003

clowns

# ? Feb 6, 2024 08:25

3D Megadoodoo: Nov 25, 2010

Peanut Butler posted:

clowns

# ? Feb 6, 2024 08:38

Collateral Damage: Jun 13, 2009

CaptainSarcastic posted:

Weird - I had no idea about these things. Apparently there was a VIC 1010, too.

I don't know if it is a matter of age or being an American, but it seemed to me growing up that very few families I knew had VIC 20s, but the Commodore 64 became pretty common. We always kind of looked down on the VIC 20 as the younger, weaker sibling.

Commodore tried to make a bunch of more or less failed expensive business machines before they changed gear with the VIC-20 and started competing with Radio Shack rather than IBM.

And yes the VIC-20 was absolutely weaker than the C-64, but it also predated it by two years during a time when home computer technology was advancing very rapidly.

I can highly recommend the book "Commodore - A company on the edge" by Brian Bagnall. It's a very good in depth biography of Commodore as a company from its start as a calculator maker up until just before the Amiga. There's a sequel called The Amiga Years but I haven't gotten around to reading it yet.

# ? Feb 6, 2024 09:30

ExcessBLarg!: Sep 1, 2001

Collateral Damage posted:

And yes the VIC-20 was absolutely weaker than the C-64, but it also predated it by two years during a time when home computer technology was advancing very rapidly.

My impression of the VIC-20 (I didn't own one) is that most software (games) shipped on ROM cartridges as they did for the Atari 400, TI-99/4A, etc., and user storage was primarily cassette-based. So that the machine only featured 4K of RAM wasn't perceived as a major limitation at the time of its release.

The C64, despite being superficially similar in design and priced aggressively, was really spec'd for use with a disk drive, and in that sense was really punching up to compete with the Apple II+/IIe. And yes, two years was an eternity back then. After all, only three years after the release of the C64 did the 16-bit machines start to come out (Amiga 1000, Atari ST, etc.).

# ? Feb 6, 2024 16:55

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

I had a Commodore SuperPET and that machine rocked. It had both a 6502 and a 6809 CPU in it as well as a buttload of languages pre-loaded on its ROMs. I learned Fortran and COBOL on that beast.

# ? Feb 6, 2024 20:55

snorch: Jul 27, 2009

Just doing some tidying and found what must have been one of the last SD camcorders ever sold:

The interesting thing about it I think is it solves almost all common camcorder issues, such that by MEGAPIXEL era standards this thing is basically the ultimate camcorder:

- 60gb hard drive stores up to 20 hours of DVD-quality video, or 40 hours in LP mode.
- 25x optical/4000x digital (lol) zoom
- Each video is a plain MPEG2 file which can be downloaded at USB 2.0 speeds

Of course we enjoy all of this convenience and more with any modern digital camera and smartphone, but for anyone used to the mess of tapes and capture cards, this would have been revolutionary.

And of course, having perfected it, we threw it all in the trash and made our lives hard and expensive again by demanding HD everything.

# ? Feb 6, 2024 23:04

Laserjet 4P: Mar 28, 2005; What does it mean?; Fun Shoe

My camcorder story is that I got an SD Canon in tyool 2008 or so that had shittier video in a stupid .mod format that is just renamed mpeg I think and it just broke after 3 years of use.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvzwCPoXclQ

Now that was the poo poo.

All camcorder footage from the late 80s is a special kind of garbage though. I was envious of my uncle who had one which had stop motion functionality and I just dreamt about what I could do with that and my LEGO.

# ? Feb 6, 2024 23:52

EL BROMANCE: Jun 10, 2006; COWABUNGA DUDES!
🥷🐢😬

snorch posted:

- 60gb hard drive stores up to 20 hours of DVD-quality video, or 40 hours in LP mode.

Dealing with a horrendous amount of MiniDV tapes still constantly, I�m both jealous of this but also cognizant of how much of my footage I likely would�ve lost over the years with no easy way to back it up.

Except there is an easy and obvious backup� MiniDV tapes. Dammit, I�m back to where I started!

(The quality must take a crunch at those numbers too, MiniDV is a 13gb/1 hour stream in DVAVI, editing those MPEG2 files might not quite be as fun.)

# ? Feb 7, 2024 00:12