View Profile: Timo W. - Vintage Computer Forum

Yesterday, 11:21 PM

Timo W. replied to a thread Why no integrated electronics in floppy drives? in Vintage Computer Hardware

@alank2: You must be thinking about the IBM PC line of systems only, as on the Atari and Commodore 8-bit machines for example, the controller was...

9 replies | 129 view(s)

Yesterday, 02:00 AM

Timo W. replied to a thread IBM 5170 restoration - PSU fixed, now RAM problems - SRAM replacement? in PCs and Clones

To be honest, I don't think you get anywhere with your floppy issue without removing that SRAM expansion and try it with ordinary DRAM. I saw many...

8 replies | 175 view(s)

January 17th, 2021, 11:29 PM

Timo W. replied to a thread Interest check Windows NT 3.1 July 93 Beta CD in Vintage Computer Items For Sale or Trade

As for legality, your are, strictly speaking, not allowed to sell the real CD either. Beta software is confidential and even MSDN discs with ordinary...

18 replies | 242 view(s)

January 17th, 2021, 01:40 AM

Timo W. replied to a thread Interest check Windows NT 3.1 July 93 Beta CD in Vintage Computer Items For Sale or Trade

Same here. I have two large MSDN boxes full of every OS from DOS to Windows 2000. Every version, every language, DDKs, SDKs, and what not. Wanted to...

18 replies | 242 view(s)

January 16th, 2021, 07:15 AM

Timo W. replied to a thread Composite color artifacts: made by design or happy coincidence? in PCs and Clones

Of course not, because of the high resolution and b/w anyway, which makes no sense having color burst enabled. But you say yourself that for all...

19 replies | 337 view(s)

January 16th, 2021, 05:48 AM

Timo W. replied to a thread Composite color artifacts: made by design or happy coincidence? in PCs and Clones

A BIOS mode? It's not a different mode. The artifact colors work in any of the standard modes, even in 640x200x1 when toggeling the "color burst...

19 replies | 337 view(s)

January 16th, 2021, 02:57 AM

Timo W. replied to a thread IBM 5150 PC, two slim 5.25 floppies, keyboard, monitor, printer, DOS 2.1 on eBay in Vintage Computer Items For Sale or Trade

My comment would be to compare prices to other 5150 sold on ebay, because $850 for a non-working, used 5150 with a 3rd-party monitor is insane. Look...

8 replies | 200 view(s)

January 15th, 2021, 10:59 AM

Timo W. replied to a thread What exactly is this?! in Tandy/Radio Shack

Seems you are right. After correcting the typo made by the guy who sold it (it's MACROTRONICS, not MICROTRONICS), I was able to find infos about it...

12 replies | 287 view(s)

January 15th, 2021, 10:30 AM

Timo W. replied to a thread How to set up CR-ROM drive with a Sound Blaster 16? in Vintage Computer Hardware

If you have a port free on your normal IDE controller card then yes, you can connect the CD-ROM drive there. For CD audio, you connect the analog...

5 replies | 109 view(s)

January 15th, 2021, 07:09 AM

Timo W. replied to a thread What exactly is this?! in Tandy/Radio Shack

Yes, it's a low-cost TNC for packet radio. Bandwidth is most likely 1200 baud, given its age and that it's for 8-bit computers.

12 replies | 287 view(s)

January 15th, 2021, 06:20 AM

Timo W. replied to a thread What exactly is this?! in Tandy/Radio Shack

That's a modem which uses citizens band radio instead of the phone line. That's something still in use today.

12 replies | 287 view(s)

January 15th, 2021, 03:12 AM

Timo W. replied to a thread Composite color artifacts: made by design or happy coincidence? in PCs and Clones

Certainly intended on the Apple II. Not sure about CGA. I would say it was intended there as well, otherwise they would have just made the...

19 replies | 337 view(s)

January 15th, 2021, 12:04 AM

Timo W. replied to a thread How to set up CR-ROM drive with a Sound Blaster 16? in Vintage Computer Hardware

The CT1750 has *no* IDE connector. Mitsumi, Panasonic, and Sony are all proprietary connectors from back then for early single- and double-speed...

5 replies | 109 view(s)

January 14th, 2021, 12:46 AM

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

Err... what? DOS talks to the BIOS and the BIOS would do LBA when talking to the hard disk - or CF card in that case. DOS does not access the hard...

15 replies | 241 view(s)

January 13th, 2021, 06:06 AM

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

CHS values of the CF card shouldn't matter on a P166. This was way into the era of LBA. More likely that there is no valid MBR on the card. I...

15 replies | 241 view(s)

January 12th, 2021, 09:23 AM

Timo W. replied to a thread Vintage power supplies (PSUs), powering up, and the +3.3 V. orange wire in Vintage Computer Hardware

You don't really need a video for that. Set your multi- or ohm-meter to ohm/resistance measurement, connect the black probe to GND on the mainboard's...

14 replies | 576 view(s)

January 12th, 2021, 02:47 AM

Timo W. replied to a thread Forum search terms - am I missing something? in General Off Topic

The search sucks, just like in most forums. Just use Google with a query like: "kim video" site:vcfed.org Note that when using quotation marks,...

3 replies | 129 view(s)

January 12th, 2021, 02:39 AM

Timo W. replied to a thread Sound cards: Brands and compatibility in Vintage Computer Hardware

I own a NX Pro 16 as well but not using it. I never understood why a sound card having Covox and DSS support is of any use when it is Sound...

15 replies | 610 view(s)

January 11th, 2021, 11:48 PM

Timo W. replied to a thread Is hard disk failure because of HDD 0 having 2 partitions and HDD 1 having 1: 2+1=3? in Vintage Computer Hardware

Did you set up both drives correctly in the BIOS? If so, perhaps you just swapped the CHS values accidentally. Did you ensure that both drives...

14 replies | 302 view(s)

January 10th, 2021, 11:27 PM

Timo W. replied to a thread Powerbook Kanga G3 replacement parts in Later Apple (68000+ based machines - Mac, Lisa, etc.)

Rare? The G3 Kanga? Certainly not. Not being sold often is no indication of "rare". The only really rare vintage Mac laptop is the 550c. What...

2 replies | 92 view(s)

January 10th, 2021, 11:17 PM

Timo W. replied to a thread Vintage power supplies (PSUs), powering up, and the +3.3 V. orange wire in Vintage Computer Hardware

No, this chip has nothing to do with power at all. Ignore that chip, it's fine. And as you were told already, the PSU has no soft-power on/off. It is...

14 replies | 576 view(s)

January 10th, 2021, 01:23 AM

Timo W. replied to a thread Vintage power supplies (PSUs), powering up, and the +3.3 V. orange wire in Vintage Computer Hardware

So we can assume that the PSU is good and the orange wire has some yet unknown function (which can be ignored for now). 74LS245 is a standard TTL...

14 replies | 576 view(s)

January 9th, 2021, 10:19 AM

Timo W. replied to a thread Picked up an IBM 5150. Keeping it original or upgrade ? in PCs and Clones

When I got my 5150, I installed an XT-IDE with a 32 MB DOM in the only remaining ISA slot and added a 8087. I kept everything that was already there...

14 replies | 488 view(s)

January 9th, 2021, 02:07 AM

Timo W. replied to a thread Mac SE Boot issue in Later Apple (68000+ based machines - Mac, Lisa, etc.)

First, memory is most likely not the issue here. Every single Mac - even the original one from 1984 - does a RAM check at start and shows a Sad Mac...

6 replies | 257 view(s)

January 8th, 2021, 01:24 AM

Timo W. replied to a thread Sound cards: Brands and compatibility in Vintage Computer Hardware

These later Sound Blaster cards are all using CQM for Adlib instead of a read OPL3. You'll not get the same sound (i.e. music) on these as with an...

15 replies | 610 view(s)

January 8th, 2021, 01:14 AM

Timo W. replied to a thread Vintage power supplies (PSUs), powering up, and the +3.3 V. orange wire in Vintage Computer Hardware

Based on what you call "Behavior 2" and "Behavior 3", you have a problem with the mainboard, not the PSU. Probably a short somewhere (I see tantalum...

14 replies | 576 view(s)

January 6th, 2021, 04:26 AM

Timo W. replied to a thread IBM CGA card blown capacitor. in Vintage Computer Hardware

These are normally 16V, 47uF. Or maybe 100uF, but that really doesn't matter much for what they do. And yes, that is a 3-legged tantalum cap. You...

3 replies | 196 view(s)

January 5th, 2021, 11:41 AM

Timo W. replied to a thread Can't get Biostar 486 board to boot from floppy in Vintage Computer Hardware

Please give some more details about "but will not read floppy". Does it show some error message? If it does not even *try* to boot from floppy, maybe...

8 replies | 274 view(s)

January 5th, 2021, 08:23 AM

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

The Mac Classic is. I've used and installed many software from original 800k disks on mine.

29 replies | 1025 view(s)

January 5th, 2021, 08:21 AM

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

I'm not counting on it. I was just adding to hjalfi's post that it does not take much to write a 800k image back to disk in a way a Mac with a...

29 replies | 1025 view(s)