View Profile: SomeGuy - Vintage Computer Forum

Yesterday, 03:42 PM

SomeGuy replied to a thread Best lightweight word processor for MS-DOS 3.3? in Vintage Computer Software

The DOS word processor I liked a lot was Professional Write 2.x. It has a good built in spiel cheekier. For text editing, I still like Useful...

20 replies | 258 view(s)

Yesterday, 01:24 PM

SomeGuy replied to a thread runaway shipping cost on fleaBay in General Off Topic

Shipping has gotten beyond ridiculous here is an example: ...

27 replies | 1300 view(s)

Yesterday, 04:52 AM

SomeGuy replied to a thread Making your own floppy cleaning disks in Vintage Computer Hardware

There was a commercial disk cleaner that actually used paper? The ones I have seen use some kind of stiff smooth white fiber cloth. The...

5 replies | 75 view(s)

January 24th, 2021, 06:58 PM

SomeGuy replied to a thread RLL HDD failure at boot in Vintage Computer Hardware

Two hard disk controllers in a system at the same time like that is just asking for trouble. Even if it says it can change the address, or disable...

1 replies | 35 view(s)

January 24th, 2021, 03:08 PM

SomeGuy replied to a thread Problems using eBay on K-Meleon 76.3.1 on Windows 10 in General Off Topic

I've been using NewMoon 27.x on XP, and just the other day eBay screwed something up so that when I click on a "this item has been relisted" link...

5 replies | 60 view(s)

January 19th, 2021, 09:06 PM

SomeGuy replied to a thread Why no integrated electronics in floppy drives? in Vintage Computer Hardware

When floppy drives were new, the controller hardware was expensive. Why would you waste money putting a controller on each drive in a systems, when a...

9 replies | 170 view(s)

January 19th, 2021, 08:47 PM

SomeGuy replied to a thread All 3.5" HD (1.44M) drives are not the same--and neither are 5.25" DD drives. in Vintage Computer Hardware

It seems like every time I have to archive a damaged Macintosh disk with my Kryoflux, I wind up trying every single drive I have to find one that...

12 replies | 245 view(s)

January 19th, 2021, 10:01 AM

SomeGuy replied to a thread Force a 1.4MB 3.5" to only act as a 720K drive? (CoCo) in Vintage Computer Hardware

Basically, if you plop a 720k disk (or 1.44mb with notch covered) in to a 1.44mb drive, the drive will look and behave just like a real 720k drive,...

4 replies | 162 view(s)

January 17th, 2021, 10:28 AM

SomeGuy replied to a thread Good vintage picture viewer/capture program? in Vintage Computer Software

The better viewers that I recall were DOS based. VPIC, and CSHOW supported pile of formats. I do recall some PNG enabling browser plug ins for...

3 replies | 152 view(s)

January 15th, 2021, 08:44 PM

SomeGuy replied to a thread Why does TRS-80 Model III/4 corrupt inserted disks on power-on/off? in Tandy/Radio Shack

I thought that was mainly with the Model I. Off hand I don't recall any Model IIIs doing that, but that sort of thing could vary. It is not...

8 replies | 222 view(s)

January 14th, 2021, 09:41 PM

SomeGuy replied to a thread Getting an 8" FDD working with an IBM 5170? in PCs and Clones

Depending on what you are using it for, you might consider connecting those drives to a Kryoflux instead. Of course, a real PC is more fun :) ...

14 replies | 256 view(s)

January 14th, 2021, 10:43 AM

SomeGuy replied to a thread Installing an OS on a P166 without floppy drive in Vintage Computer Hardware

Is that the exact error message? If so, that is not a standard message and is probably coming from the BIOS, which means it is not even getting to...

15 replies | 295 view(s)

January 14th, 2021, 10:12 AM

SomeGuy replied to a thread Installing an OS on a P166 without floppy drive in Vintage Computer Hardware

BIOSes in ~Pentium era and later machines include an LBA Int13 extension. Windows 9x DOS uses this. Dos 6.22 does not. One can not access more than...

15 replies | 295 view(s)

January 13th, 2021, 06:55 PM

SomeGuy replied to a thread Kicking around a Tava PC in PCs and Clones

Found a TAVA PC manual. It's been scanned and for now posted here: http://s000.tinyupload.com/?file_id=17030671833276865591 Not very lengthy but...

14 replies | 2685 view(s)

January 13th, 2021, 03:27 PM

SomeGuy replied to a thread Hires graphics problem in Early Apple (I, ][, ///, etc.)

Swapped out all of the chips? Never underestimate the power of worn out sockets, bad solder joints, or scratched traces. Does it return to normal...

5 replies | 164 view(s)

January 13th, 2021, 01:04 PM

SomeGuy replied to a thread Cleaning 3.5'' drive heads without disassembly? in Vintage Computer Hardware

They made 3.5" cleaning disks, and they turn up on eBeh every now and then. (Just don't use 30 year old cleaning fluid, it is only isopropyl...

5 replies | 124 view(s)

January 13th, 2021, 10:19 AM

SomeGuy replied to a thread Opening a Samsung SyncMaster 753DF in General Off Topic

Yay! It looks like I was able to repair that bad connection in the SyncMaster 755DF. I did fiddle with that good board a bit more, it is...

1 replies | 109 view(s)

January 13th, 2021, 10:10 AM

SomeGuy replied to a thread Installing an OS on a P166 without floppy drive in Vintage Computer Hardware

I suspect he tried to use DOS 6.22 which does NOT support LBA. Win9x DOS 7.x can use LBA, but it still sometimes uses CHS values, and from my...

15 replies | 295 view(s)

January 13th, 2021, 05:24 AM

SomeGuy replied to a thread Installing an OS on a P166 without floppy drive in Vintage Computer Hardware

If it were me, I would still try again to hunt down another cheap "parts" laptop to repair the floppy drive. Something like:...

15 replies | 295 view(s)

January 12th, 2021, 05:07 AM

SomeGuy replied to a thread Tandon TM-100-2 drive problems in CP/M and MP/M

If it doesn't format, then it is not an alignment issue. If three different drives do exactly the same thing, I'd suspect the machine or a...

18 replies | 469 view(s)

January 11th, 2021, 07:11 PM

SomeGuy started a thread Opening a Samsung SyncMaster 753DF in General Off Topic

As I have mentioned before, I have several Samsung SyncMaster 753DF VGA CRTs that have developed various problems. One has a CRT with too much burn...

1 replies | 109 view(s)

January 11th, 2021, 05:36 PM

SomeGuy replied to a thread TRS-80 Discord Server in Tandy/Radio Shack

Please tell me that doesn't require a stupid cell phone.

8 replies | 943 view(s)

January 10th, 2021, 02:05 PM

SomeGuy replied to a thread Do VGA monitors distinguish between NTCS and PAL? in PCs and Clones

VGA monitors do neither NTSC or PAL. You may need to consult the manual to determine which extended VGA modes (anything 800x600 or above) and refresh...

13 replies | 479 view(s)

January 9th, 2021, 03:10 AM

SomeGuy replied to a thread Loud 5.25 floppy noise when starting Win98, not a normal floppy sound in Pentium (First generation)

While Windows 9x is loading, at some point it loads its protected mode floppy disk driver. When it does this, it performs a quick seek test on each...

5 replies | 335 view(s)

January 8th, 2021, 11:19 AM

SomeGuy replied to a thread Sound cards: Brands and compatibility in Vintage Computer Hardware

This is a good question. I would have thought by now there would have been a list of cards and their level of compatiblity. Even genuine Sound...

15 replies | 679 view(s)

January 6th, 2021, 06:46 PM

SomeGuy replied to a thread Writing Mac 800kB disks in Later Apple (68000+ based machines - Mac, Lisa, etc.)

It's definitely something in the drive. I've never gotten down to the signal level, but reading the same Macintosh disk with a Kryolfux or similar...

29 replies | 1128 view(s)