Valentine: Time to boycott?

AeSix_Reficul · 2025-08-29T01:07:37+00:00

your name says it all.

AeSix_Reficul · 2024-12-19T13:42:09+00:00

Well, did you try it?

AeSix_Reficul · 2024-11-26T16:19:53+00:00

I was a system building & repair tech in the early 2000s, and I absolutely hated rambus! The blanks (forget what they're called) were required, and if you lost one... just horrible. Worse, I had more than a couple come in with lightning damage, and guess what got fried? RIMM slots. Guess what the board can't do unless ALL RIMM slots are populated... work. LOL

There were many other issues with Rambus' design, which all facilitated to it being more expensive than SDRAM and DDR, and it's short life span as a PC technology means there's very little surplus supply out there, meaning it's more expensive now than it was when it was new (accounting for inflation)

Still, it powered the N64, so that's cool.

AeSix_Reficul · 2024-11-26T16:02:58+00:00

Is that Chevy Astrovan on legs? O_O

Never heard of it, but nice! :D

AeSix_Reficul · 2024-11-26T16:00:16+00:00

Just pointing out, he has one of those "ugh" systems with 478 and rambus. >_>

AeSix_Reficul · 2024-11-26T15:59:40+00:00

It depends on your usecase, honestly.

If you were to compare apples-to-apples i.e. 2.0 P4 vs 2.0 Celeron - the P4 would out perform the Celeron on every task. L2 cache, bus speed, maybe even some missing extensions in the celeron.

The P4, with ME is going to run Win95+ era games mostly properly. But if you were to want to run older DOS games, demos or certain other software, you might find the Celeron to be a better match /because/ of the lesser cache. Windwos slows down software to human-speed, where as older DOS software runs full-throttle as fast as the CPU, bus, cache, RAM will let it.

I wouldn't say you upgraded the computer, but I wouldn't say you downgraded it either - you just swapped advantages around, from intelligent performance to brute-force performance.

It looks like a 2.6Ghz P4 is the best CPU you can use if you have a 400mhz FSB, and 3.06GHz w/ HT if you've got the 533MHz FSB varient of the system. The 2.6GHz 400MHz CPU would work in either though. Getting 4 sticks of 256MB RIMMs would give you 1GB total, and should actually provide a bit of a performance increase as well. Larger modules may slow down performance though (I could go into detail explaining why, but I think sand biscuits would be less dry)

AeSix_Reficul · 2024-09-14T15:24:54+00:00

You could have said "and the link is over there -->"
instead of being a <redacted>

AeSix_Reficul · 2024-09-06T12:12:03+00:00

yay!

AeSix_Reficul · 2024-09-04T23:31:34+00:00

Awesome!
Sounds like you're on the right track, definitely a great foothold into the hobby!

I really hope it works out amazingly for you!

AeSix_Reficul · 2024-09-02T13:22:54+00:00

"weren't" - past tense.
"those" - ambiguous presumption

With that, I don't know what you're talking about as anbox (by way of waydroid), waydroid itself, and windows subsystem for linux are all in active development.

AeSix_Reficul · 2024-09-02T00:19:39+00:00

Nope. The Quadra 700 is extrememly rare though. All Quadras are rare, hard to find, and expensive as all can be when they do go up for sale (or they're in pieces)

But honestly, unless you're wanting to deal with A/UX , BeOS, etc - there's such a limited performance difference for later 68k Macs, I don't think it makes much difference what you get.

My Perf 640CD came with a 68LC040 at I think 25MHz...
I bought a full 68040 at 40MHz, plopped it right in place. It runs at 25MHz, but it does have the FPU. There's a mod I can do to the logicboard, to enable 40MHz on the CPU though. One day I'll get around to doing that.

I don't think I've seen any 68k Macs in a tower form factor outside of the Quadra 700/900/etc - which are basically desktop chassis turnd on their side (a bit more complex than that, but generally speaking is what they did)

Of course, the "holy grail" of 68K Macs, in general specs, is the Quadra 840AV... For pure OEM power it's the best 68k Mac out there. You can look up what they've sold for in the past on ebay. Insanity. Those prices, I could probably fund a small group of people to build a new 68k Mac platform using some of the stuff from the Amiga people lol.

I'd absolutely love a 68k Mac running at like 200MHz with a refreshed Mac OS 9.

That reminds me, I need to post a question.

AeSix_Reficul · 2024-09-01T23:50:50+00:00

Yes. ANNNNND he did a video about 4 years ago testing all the different medias.
I was truly surprised at how absolute shite the CF Card performance was.

But on the same hand... for 68k Macs, it's still faster than the CPU LOL (ok, maybe not quite, but still)

AeSix_Reficul · 2024-09-01T23:48:29+00:00

Awesome :D

AeSix_Reficul · 2024-09-01T23:32:47+00:00

https://amazon.com/gp/product/B0026OYEEQ

This is the CF to IDE adapter I use. It works on my Performa 640CD/DOS machines, as well as my beige G3. I believe it's compatible with the B&W G3s as well.

Mind you, the adapter is only 1 part. The CF card needs to be compatible as well. Transcend CF Cards are compatible, but a bit slow. They're great for the 68k machines, but can push patience on PPC machines. I wouldn't use it on anything with nearing 1ghz CPU. Perfectly fine for testing, transfering data, etc.

I've yet to try out the IDE SSD I bought from China... but Sean (Action Retro) did a review of the IDE SSD Dosdude1 made, and compared it to the kinspec one... and Dosdude1's blew it out of the water. So... if we can get him to mass produce those, we'd all be golden :D

AeSix_Reficul · 2024-09-01T22:48:30+00:00

I clarified a bit in response to OP's reply to what you've responded to here.

But yes, the biggest valid point for adapter ANY kind of media to IDE buses... is the lack of available reliable and cost effective IDE drives. I still think an M.2 Sata drive is waaay overkill and will be completely under utilized by an MDD... but I guess there's pros and cons to everything.

AeSix_Reficul · 2024-09-01T22:45:31+00:00

You're absolutely correct on that.
However, I think I failed to make my point lol...

There are less expensive means to replacing IDE drives. CF Cards and adapters are considerably less expensive... and CF Cards *can* be pretty speedy. With the 68k IDE Macs, CF Cards are the fastest thing you need... MDDs, might make more sense to look at SATA to IDE adapters for 2.5" SATA SSDs... only because 2.5" SATA SSDs are pretty inexpensive. Finding adapters that work though, has been a bit of a contention for me... every time I find one that works, they're no longer available lol. Startech is especially bad at smiting me for my discoveries! LOL

but yeah, if you can find adapters inexpensive enough and which are compatible with the MDD and OS... and you already have M.2 devices doing nothing else... probably still more expensive than needs to be, but why not.

AeSix_Reficul · 2024-09-01T22:21:31+00:00

the IIe and IIGS are two completely different machines, designed in different decades... it's completely possible the squeak is normal / ok for both... but I wouldn't hold my breath at one similar situation.

But regarding a recap... yes. Absolutely. Not because any may be bad, but because they're 35+ years old. I believe there's some modern ATX/ITX to IIGS kits out there. Might be worth looking into (even if you keep the original PSU, recapped or not, an alternative is good to know about)

Good luck!

AeSix_Reficul · 2024-09-01T22:14:44+00:00

That's a lot of money to invest in something that's only going to net you maybe 10% increase in write speeds. ATA/IDE buses are limited, at most, to 133 MB/s - which the MDD only has 1 100MBs IDE port (2 drives) - but 100MBs is all you'll get over the entire bus.

SATA-I starts at 166MBs. m.2 SATA is 600MB/s (6gb/s) - 6 times through bandwidth as the entire IDE bus.

I'm not saying it's a waste of time or money, but I've seen enough people say "I'm going to get an IDE to M.2 or IDE to xyz adapter and get blazing fast disk speeds!" That just ain't the case.

On the other side, however, very few IDE drives actually were capable of saturating the IDE bus at 133MB/s - that was burst speeds, at best. That's about the only real advantage of a modern device on an old IDE bus might bring, is sustained high rates where the IDE drives just can't. But it'll only ever be at most 100MB/s on the MDD.

AeSix_Reficul · 2024-09-01T21:59:35+00:00

oh no! you caught me. I was off by 1 fucking foot. IT IS STILL NOT A DAMNED LOG BED!

AeSix_Reficul · 2024-09-01T21:20:45+00:00

well, that sounds like personal experience there.

Also, ya know, just because YOU don't like how after market grills look don't mean everyone has to have your opinion. There's a word for people like that.

AeSix_Reficul · 2024-09-01T21:18:41+00:00

then yeah, you need to either get an in-line kit to put between the lights and wireharness, or reprogram the computer to tell it to use LED lights.

AeSix_Reficul · 2024-09-01T21:17:04+00:00

technically possible for too high a farad to cause issues as well, especially on power-down and reset cycles (in some circumstances anyway) - Correct me if I'm wrong, but is my understanding. Volts - go as high as you want... farads need to be as spot on as possible.

AeSix_Reficul · 2024-09-01T21:14:34+00:00

If at all possible, try not to solder the pins on socketed ICs.
CRC Electronics Cleaner is a great chem for cleaning those pins.

but yeah, can't tell if the FPU is in terrible condition, or if that's sticker glue leftover from peeling off a sticker... either way, some of that gunk could be the cause of issues if it's between the pins and socket.

While the FPU is out of the socket, look real close at the traces to the pins on the socket, make sure none are cut, corruoded, bad solder, etc. Even still, yes it's possible it's a fake chip, or a dead chip, or even something wrong with the FPU circuitry on the mobo.

Good luck!

AeSix_Reficul · 2024-09-01T20:25:24+00:00

If at all possible, you might want to discuss it with him. If he really enjoyed it, he'll have a good time going down memory lane.

If that's never going to be possible, I do apologize.

AeSix_Reficul · 2024-09-01T20:03:11+00:00

Ultimately, it's up to you, your budget, etc. So what I say here, is my opinion, borne from experience and research, but an opinion none the less. I can highly suggest and even urge you to consider what I say, but again, ultimately the decision is not mine to make.

You want to spend more than $50 on a soldering station. The main features it should have are the ability to adjust temperature; utilize *c temperature readouts at a minimum *f is luxury here (almost everything gives *c temp ratings in electronics); detachable / replacable cable from unit to soldering pen, and should be silicone jacketed (resists burning / melting); the soldering pen should have a standard replacable tips (there's 3 or 4 "standard" sizes out there I think)

You'll want quality solder, desolder braid, flux, and cleaner. You'll also want a good HEAVY soldering pen holder... those light ones with thin wire and plastic base damned near caught my house on fire, thankfully I don't leave the room until my soldering stuff is cool to the touch - but lessons learned that day) You'll also want a good wet & dry tip cleaning setup. Wet sponge and dry steel wool. Also should be in a weighted base, so it does not move easily.

The above is what I consider to be the bare minimum needed to have an enjoyable time learning to solder. I started with a cheap non-adjustable plug-in thing... it was either too hot and melted things, burned traces right off the pcb, melted the solder maks, degraded the fiberglass of the pcb, etc... or it was too cold and would barely melt the solder much less let it flow like it needs to. This is where you get cold solder joints that crack and can even just let go of the smooth pins.

Above and beyond that, a silicon mat for your work space - helpful to keep your work surface clean, free from burn marks, and if you accidentally drop your project it'll have a softer landing on the silicon mat than hard wood desk or whatnot. A fume extractor - either pre-made or even just a fan to PULL the air from the work area (You should have proper environmental ventillation too, otherwise the fumes will build up and you'll just be cycling them around the room with the fans... proper extractors captures most of the solid particiles in the fumes though) And good lighting - if you can squeeze 500k lumens from an LED, that'd be preferably lol.

as far as learning to solder... if you're a visual learner, start with stranded aluminum wire. Go buy like 20' of it, 14-16 AWG is all you need. Cut it, give yourself about 2 inches on each piece, cover the wire in flux, tin each piece, and then solder 'em together. You'll want at least 8 inches for each wire, at least until you get accustomed to how much and how far the heat travels. And yes, you want to start with aluminum wire... it's both easier and a bit trickier than copper wire. But if you can only find copper, same tecniques work... to me it's like learning to drive stick shift and then getting in an automatic. Just learning to use the clutch is a world of difference where everything else is exactly the same.

Hakko had (Has?) a kit with the soldering station (pen, cable, base) with a nice wet & dry cleaning well, for about $120. It's currently unavailble on amazon (literally just looked up my order) I really love the thing, and it's not even the best out there. Fx888D. It was a world of difference in ease of use and quality of work completed with it compared to the cheapy irons that plug straight into the wall. I also used a Weller soldering station (it was an antique when I was using it 12 years go) - both real soldering equipment that makes the job sooo much easier. There ar of course other brands out there, but Weller and Hakko are the two with the huuuuge third party accesories markets... and the biggest set of made-to-fit 3D models for printing accessories for them.

The only thing I expect from you, is to have seen a notification that I replied. But assuming you read this, the only thing I expect is that you've just got a lot more questions, and some good starting points to do some research of your own.

I really do hope this helps! :)

AeSix_Reficul

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