Dragon's Lair Fans - Arcade Lifestyle
General Chat => Technical Area => Topic started by: Superully on May 11, 2011, 08:05:47 PM
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don't kill me, guys, but i could get a couple of old pcs from school (for free) for potential future mame setups (like pole position or zookeeper). don't know the exact configuration yet, but as far as i know, we're talking pentium 2 pcs here. are they good enough for old school gaming?
PLUS, should i also get one (or more) monitors to use it (them) for a nokia monitor test setup (still having the color issue on my paperboy)?
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Yes, should be fine to run DOS or Linux Mame, probably even old Win versions.
But it'll run the really old-school games fast enough only !!!
I don't understand your question about the monitors though ? You mean the original PC monitors ?
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if you want to use a old pc as a testrig for testing Arcademonitors, you dont need a pc monitor, you need some kind of output solution that takes care of the signal needed for the monitor you want to test.
so if you want to test a 25 Khz monitor, you need something like soft25Khz to make the outputsignal 25Khz, so you can test your monitor then..
Or the ArcadeVGA card which also produces the correct output AFAIK.
The PII will be sufficient like andre describes, for simple games under DOS
Windows is needed for Nokia Monitor test, but that runs since win95 i belief, and win 98 you can install with 32 MB's so for pure testing purposes, it will be sufficient
if you want a few test / mame PC's i can drop some P4's at eurocade into my car tough... (P4 1,8Ghz) 5-6 pieces "on stock" on my attic ;D
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so if you want to test a 25 Khz monitor, you need something like soft25Khz to make the outputsignal 25Khz, so you can test your monitor then..
Guess you mean 15 kHz ?
if you want a few test / mame PC's i can drop some P4's at eurocare into my car tough...
Eurocare ? Where and when's Eurocare ? ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
You CAN buy one of those el-cheapo Chinese VGA to CGA converters to connect those PC's to real arcade monitors though...
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Yeah, i mean 15 Khz, but paperboy uses a midres monitor IIRC
you mean these boards andre ?
http://www.uniarcade.com/video_converters/vga_to_cga_converter.htm (http://www.uniarcade.com/video_converters/vga_to_cga_converter.htm)
anyway, i have also a "quiet" solution for the Harddisk in the setup in case of a Dos mame setup
they are just 128Mb so for DOS they are fine. (although win95 should also fit)
These where leftovers when i upgraded some thin clients at a customer..
(http://www.opdenkelder.com/pics/ideflash.jpg)
I have 5, and i want to keep 2 for a yet to reveal project... so 3 are available too ;)
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Ooooooooo nice, me want !!!
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thats 1 for Andre ?
2 available 8)
ps sorry for derailing the threat ully..
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I'd like one or two if possible:
I still want to buy a MyIDE+ for my Atari 8 bit home computers and these are PERFECT for it :)
(in fact, you can see one "in action" on the site: )
http://www.atarimax.com/myide/documentation/
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thats 1 for Andre ?
2 available 8)
ps sorry for derailing the threat ully..
EDIT:
Thats 2 for Andre, and one for Ully, since its his topic ;) :D
EDIT2:
Funny, they use exact the ones i have here for them...
(http://www.atarimax.com/myide/documentation/images/transcend.jpg)
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Yup, they offer the 256 MB version for sale though, but at crazy price...I can find the really large one's for much cheaper....anyway, those 128 MB will be FINE for me, imagine how many 127 kB floppy's you can put on them ;)
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Yup, they offer the 256 MB version for sale though, but at crazy price...I can find the really large one's for much cheaper....anyway, those 128 MB will be FINE for me, imagine how many 127 kB floppy's you can put on them ;)
around 1032 ;)
and yes, you are right about insane prices...
http://www.misco.nl/search/~query~ide+flash~/index.htm (http://www.misco.nl/search/~query~ide+flash~/index.htm)
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Yeah, I was looking at getting that 1GB version first, extremely cheap (I think they still had even smaller one's for even less sp,e time ago but not sure). The big plus of the 128 MB I can be sure about that it works with the MyIDE, I wasn't sure if the 1GB would work....THANKS !!!!
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don't kill me, guys, but i could get a couple of old pcs from school (for free) for potential future mame setups (like pole position or zookeeper). don't know the exact configuration yet, but as far as i know, we're talking pentium 2 pcs here. are they good enough for old school gaming?
PLUS, should i also get one (or more) monitors to use it (them) for a nokia monitor test setup (still having the color issue on my paperboy)?
P II (at last 400 Mhz) will be enough for advancemame dos but only for the early games such Galaxian, SI... or other 'very' simple ones (meaning games with no scrolling and no too fast 60hz action or no stereo sounds/music for example).
The graphic card will be VERY important on these early processors. Old setup requires also a lot of 'fine tuning' in order to have the game running 'just right' & accurate 8) It also needs the a good Motherboard / Sound card combination to be effective.
If not, you'll have to catch faster processor to help you in the setup... but it any cases, nothing can beat experimentations 8)
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anyway, i have also a "quiet" solution for the Harddisk in the setup in case of a Dos mame setup
they are just 128Mb so for DOS they are fine. (although win95 should also fit)
since i have ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA on anything mame-related (the only thing i sometimes to is click on the mame.exe file and choose a game to have a short look at it, i don't know either what that "thing" is you're showing here. i don't know how to setup a mame computer, i don't know what jpac is, i don't know how advancedos works - in short: i know sh**! that's why i've (successfully) avoided setting anything up yet, although that nokia test thingy would come in handy for my paperboy, but where to start ... ?
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That thing is a Flash IDE drive, so very simple stated, its a 128mb harddisk 8)
only no moving parts, its flash memory, like the card in your camera
so the "noise" from a spinning harddisk is not there, and there is less change of crashing, not to mention the powersavings..
i assume you have installed windows before, or not even that ?
With the nokia monitor test software i can help you out, but as far as mame-ing, i think bruno is your man.
he is the master in mame-setups AFAIK, i mean look at today's post ... ;)
https://www.dragonslairfans.com/smfor/index.php?topic=2125.msg33740#msg33740 (https://www.dragonslairfans.com/smfor/index.php?topic=2125.msg33740#msg33740)
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I still don't understand why there isn't a "one go" MAME set-up still...
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I still don't understand why there isn't a "one go" MAME set-up still...
Sure, things like mame32 for windows can be 'one go' setup, and working fine for 99,999% of the users on pc/windows...
But things like advance mame DOS are really working with the hardware in place. That build of mame is doing 'un-natural things' like outputting 15kHz RGB signal through a card supposed to output 31 kHz VGA signal for example...
The tricks for doing that are very close to the graphic card hardware. In addition, the same card model, for example ATI Rage II, are working different if it's the PCI or AGP version... it's the same card/chipset, but because of that difference, you'll have difference on screen : graphic glitches or not, pixel ratio 1/1 or not ... perfect refresh rate at 60 hertz or not... full screen display or not... when using a real monitor, sometime you've to send H+V sync, sometime only the V (or H)...
Add the same kind of problems with sounds cards...controls...multiply all of that with the software setup... and you can imagine how 'tricky' it can be to find the right setup...
Unfortunately for us, the 0,001% who are using use such 'mame build' in order to have an accurate arcade graphic display emulation... are a minority, and so we cannot expect update and improvement as much as we would like from the genius developers, and so we have to compose with these solutions for the moment.
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That thing is a Flash IDE drive, so very simple stated, its a 128mb harddisk 8)
only no moving parts, its flash memory, like the card in your camera
so the "noise" from a spinning harddisk is not there, and there is less change of crashing, not to mention the powersavings..
:) sounds nice, so if there's still one available, please put me down for it and send me the check
i assume you have installed windows before, or not even that ?
yeah, i'm not that bad with computers, it's just that i never had to deal with mame, so i wouldn't know where to start, but i'm sure bruno or max (or someone else) are going to help me out eventually!
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:) sounds nice, so if there's still one available, please put me down for it and send me the check
Well, today is your lucky day my friend ;)
they are just 128Mb so for DOS they are fine. (although win95 should also fit)
These where leftovers when i upgraded some thin clients at a customer..
That means, € 0,- 8)
EDIT:
Thats 2 for Andre, and one for Ully, since its his topic ;) :D
earlier in this topic i already reserved one for you :)
it could be that there are more available at that customer that i attend, but i am still having some days holiday atm so i cannot check now
if i find more leftovers, i will bring them and then there are more available
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it's just that i never had to deal with mame, so i wouldn't know where to start, but i'm sure bruno or max (or someone else) are going to help me out eventually!
No problem Ully :spaceace:
start to check this site - very well explained:
http://dosmame.mameworld.info/index.php/DOS_MAME_Support
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never digged into that, but that is indeed very well documented ! +1 :spaceace:
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That means, € 0,- 8)
earlier in this topic i already reserved one for you :)
it could be that there are more available at that customer that i attend, but i am still having some days holiday atm so i cannot check now
if i find more leftovers, i will bring them and then there are more available
thx so much, etienne, you're a genius! and if you manage to find more leftovers and don't know where to store them, i'd gladly help you out, because i might need one or two more ;)
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I'll keep that in mind
they are excellent for this kind of solutions
by the way do i need to reserve also some of these ? :
(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_g23luxfc5AY/TGC_lx5SkjI/AAAAAAAAfz8/c65fnRDjhn4/s1600/vectra_vl420mt.jpg) (http://www.flc.dk/doc/hp_old/pc/vectra_vl420.pdf)
Clickpic..
i believe they have the Nvidia TNT Vanta cards, which are supported by advancedmame as i read here:
http://dosmame.mameworld.info/index.php/DOS_Hardware_Compatibility (http://dosmame.mameworld.info/index.php/DOS_Hardware_Compatibility)
NVidia
All TNT based video cards
TNT1, TNT2 & TNT2 Ultra
EDIT:
Just checked "the attic storage tm" and i count 4 by just putting my head through the entrance, could be more there ;D
at least 4, and also some other models are haning out there..
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I have set up an old 600mHz PIII with advanceMame (DOS) and JammASD on a board as a plan-b-option if any of my boards fails when a party is going on ;) mine works with DOS and mame installed on an old harddisk but with no ROMs on it. I have installed a 3,5" floppy, which holds the wanted ROM and the corresponding mame.ini which includes the modelines (yes, this is possible in advanceMame!) for the game and other settings neccessary to play the game as it is.
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Great topic! I'm about to start messing around with mame myself.
I was thinking about using tiny XP, because it's seems so easy to install and i haven't used DOS for 10/15 years.
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by the way do i need to reserve also some of these ? :
(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_g23luxfc5AY/TGC_lx5SkjI/AAAAAAAAfz8/c65fnRDjhn4/s1600/vectra_vl420mt.jpg) (http://www.flc.dk/doc/hp_old/pc/vectra_vl420.pdf)
that would be awesome, i'd take what you are willing to give (and get rid off), because i might need some pcs for future maming and it can't hurt to have some in the back of your hand. i will have to choose a small cab for eurocade to have enough space in my car ;)
THX ETIENNE!!! :-*
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i will have to choose a small cab for eurocade to have enough space in my car ;)
Yeah......WoW is not that big really ! ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D :spaceace: :spaceace: :spaceace: :spaceace: :spaceace: ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
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Great topic! I'm about to start messing around with mame myself.
I was thinking about using tiny XP, because it's seems so easy to install and i haven't used DOS for 10/15 years.
DOS:
format c: /u
;D ;D
Reminds me about the time I was working in IT. About 9 years ago already. We were in the Win 95 period still at that company (which was great, LOTS of support to do !). Some (much younger) colleague called me and asked: "Hey, I here you know something about old stuff. How can I print a .PRN file ?" So I told him to open a DOS box (he said, no no, I want to print it) I say: OPEN A DOS BOX :) then type:
copy filen.....he says again, no I don't want to copy anything I want to print it........so I say, listen young chap, you want this think printed or what ? "Yes" Good, then you listen and do as I say !
Copy filename.prn Lpt1:
And press Enter.....
Some wild exclamation following that it worked ! (duuuuuhhhh)
Loved that :P
I'm not a DOS expert though. Always hated it. Already then when DOS PC's came up, I was used to a menu (text, but still) driven DOS on my A8.....much more ahead of it's time then MS-DOS ! ;)
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/ca/Ataridos-2.5.PNG)
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that would be awesome, i'd take what you are willing to give (and get rid off), because i might need some pcs for future maming and it can't hurt to have some in the back of your hand. i will have to choose a small cab for eurocade to have enough space in my car ;)
THX ETIENNE!!! :-*
Yeah, the are just eating space in my "attic storage tm" ;D
so if i can donate them to a guy who will use them to save a classic from the past, than i feel good about it.
I have many time customers where i "renew" networks and PC's so many time there are free leftovers that otherwise will go into the trash.
these pc's dont have any value for "standard" people anymore, but i hate to trash something that is working.
So many times i take the leftovers with me, and make somebody happy with it.
i did some comparing and i can get 15 - 25 € for them, but i rather donate them like described above.
like the laptop screen from Andre, same story, old laptop, slow and leftover at a customer, so i stripped it and saved the screen, memory, hdd, keyboard, and wifi module, trashed the rest ;D
talking about space, i can ofcourse strip them, and just bring a box with 3 mainboards, powersupplies and some videocards ;)
the cases i can ditch, or do you want to use the metal mountings for the cards ?
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the cases i can ditch, or do you want to use the metal mountings for the cards ?
once again, etienne: YOU ROCK!!!
please leave the pcs "as is", because some of them will go into storage in my mother's attic ;) and it's better to have some protective casing around them!
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Run an older MAME version. They tried to improve accuracy of the classics in the more recent versions, and this accuracy takes a hefty demand on the PC. The latest version for example needs a 3Ghz Core2Duo for fluent Donkey Kong for example!
Guess below 0.119 makes a big difference, and you even can consider the real oldies like 0.36 and around that version.
In general newer ROMS work on older versions, but not the other way around.
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Question for the DOS mame experts here :
I have the PC's for Ully, but some are without memory.
I have a bunch of old memory banks, the questions is, how much ram should i provide in those PC's for Ully ?
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Question for the DOS mame experts here :
I have the PC's for Ully, but some are without memory.
I have a bunch of old memory banks, the questions is, how much ram should i provide in those PC's for Ully ?
I can say (for my experience) 128mb minimum - 256mb optimal using Advancemame 0.106
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Ohhh, no problem then, i have three slots and alot of 128Mb and 256 modules
so i will fill them up with 2x 128 Mb modules so the pc's will have 256 each
or is 512 per pc even better ?
i seem to remember that windows 98 maximum effective memory is 256 MB, i dont know what is the effective max for dos ??
Anyone ?
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Under advance mame in DOS mode, with the purpose to emulate only one old game (let's say before 1983) you won't need more than 64 or 128MB of memory... just check the size of the .zip file of the rom you want to emulate.
Do not try to use the latest mame build that would slow down the emulation and require too much memory for 'nothing'. Do not hesitate to pick up very old build.... experimentation is the key ;)
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ok, so if i provide 2x 128 in every pc, youre good to go ully
will prepare them for you
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thx so much, etienne, you're really giving 100%!
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yeah, i hate to "deliver/sell" crap, so i always say, if you do something, better do it right. 8)
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..... if you manage to find more leftovers and don't know where to store them, i'd gladly help you out, because i might need one or two more ;)
I did found 1 more today, so its 2 for you now
(don't know if they are working though, need to test them...)
will do that when i digg the PC's out of "the Attic tm" ;)
I did have one at hand and checked the video card,
it is a ATI RAGE 128 PRO GL graphics 16 MB:
(http://www.opdenkelder.com/pics/ati1.jpg)
(http://www.opdenkelder.com/pics/ati2.jpg)
I belief from what i read the chipset "Ati Rage Pro 128" is supported.
Maybe the advancemame guru's here can confirm / help you with that.
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Back on this.. Good news and Bad news..
First the good news, i found 2 more "leftovers" and i found a little time to test these parts :
A total of 7 x 128MB IDE modules, and a bunch of memory banks..
(http://www.opdenkelder.com/pics/pc5.jpg)
Installed 2 pieces 128 MB of memory, and lets see if it works..
P4: check, 1,8 Ghz. : check, memory: working, HDD&CDROM: Check ;D
(http://www.opdenkelder.com/pics/pc4.jpg)
After windows was loaded (that was still on the HDD) i went to see what windows made of the Video adapter..
Ladies and gentle man we have a "Rage Fury Pro/Xpert 2000" :pac:
(http://www.opdenkelder.com/pics/pc1.jpg)
Now its time to check the IDE modules...
There comes the bad news :evil:
None of them are recognised by this mainboard... :'(
(http://www.opdenkelder.com/pics/pc2.jpg)
I do seem to recognise the way "P4B-MX" is printed in the mainboard, lets check it out closer...
(http://www.opdenkelder.com/pics/pc3.jpg)
Hmm what to do with unrecognised hardware.... Ofcourse ! BIOS Update ! ;D
downloaded the latest bios from the HP site, and installed it:
(http://www.opdenkelder.com/pics/pc6.jpg)
Too bad, the bios update was succesfull, but the modules are still not recognised.. :'(
Another option, i remembered that i saw the printing of the model on the mainboard before....
Yes! : ASUS..
After checking the site , there was an entry for this model, so i downloaded it , but the mainboard was locked for flashing by others than HP.. so thats a NO-GO unfortunately..
I can imagine that one or two of the modules are broken, but all 7 ? no way
What i can do Ully, is prepare the PC's with normal HDD's, and i have tested all memory modules that i have here, and there are 3 banks on the board, so i can fill them up with 768 Mb each.
That does gives you also a possibility to install windows on them if needed.., thats a plus than 8)
So shall i do that instead for you Ully ?
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I can imagine that one or two of the modules are broken, but all 7 ? no way
What i can do Ully, is prepare the PC's with normal HDD's, and i have tested all memory modules that i have here, and there are 3 banks on the board, so i can fill them up with 768 Mb each.
That does gives you also a possibility to install windows on them if needed.., thats a plus than 8)
So shall i do that instead for you Ully ?
wow - first of all THX A LOT for trying so hard, etienne, you obviously spent a lot of time on this one! so basically what you're saying is leave out the modules and use a normal harddisk instead, right? nevertheless, would it be possible to get some of those modules for use on other pcs? perhaps they'll work there ...
once again, thanks for your efforts and your patience - you rock!!! :-*
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Yeah well, its my job on daily basis :P
Also i like to "hobby" when i have some spare time, and i hate it when i "deliver" something that does not work,
I mean whats the point of a configuration that is not working..
that only leads to dissapointments.
so i wanted to be sure that it worked the way i had imagined.
Your conclusion is right, with a normal HDD they work fine, and with a clean install of XP they are still very "workable"
I still want to know if the modules work, so i have made a screenshot of the settings in the bios in the thinclient where they come from, and i have the parameters now:
(http://www.opdenkelder.com/pics/pc7.jpg)
what i will do is try to enter the parameters manually in the bios, and see if it works then, of not, than its just a case of bad luck.
Also i will test all the IDE modules in this Thin client and let you know the results.
If they work fine (which i expect since they came out working) i will add them to "the Package" ofcourse, and also for andre ofcourse.
I have counted the PC's i have in "the Attic Storage" and i have 5 available of this, and some other brands / models
but that i will list later when i "reorganise" the Attic.
How many you need of them ?, then i can prepare them and bring them to eurocade.
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Hey Etienne, if you got 2/3 of these modules checked working can you let me know please ?
Then I can order this:
http://www.atarimax.com/myide/documentation/
and have it shipped to my uncle & aunt's....will fit easily in my luggage ;)
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Now its time to check the IDE modules...
There comes the bad news :evil:
None of them are recognised by this mainboard... :'(
I can imagine that one or two of the modules are broken, but all 7 ? no way
Maybe a very stupid question, but do your modules have a power connector? I have a 2GB version of this module running in one of my Amigas, and it needs a small cable to get power from a molex connector, it can't take it's power from the IDE port...
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Good point !, i seem to remeber simular modules that have this connector,
I'll Check ! Thanks for the Tip !
On the other hand, they are working on a baby ATX board without powerconnector...
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Don't think the smaller one's need it as this would not work on the Atarimax cartridge (anyway, not without hacking the power).
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After checking, it does have a connector...
but in this pc, its working without the connector connected..
(http://www.opdenkelder.com/pics/pc8.jpg)
I will try to find a connector and check if it works then.
The + is connected to the red lead of the molex, so that means +5V.
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Good news..
all of the 7 modules work in the thin client, so i formatted them and put windows 98 dos on it
(http://www.opdenkelder.com/pics/pc9.jpg)
i have extracted the files from the windows 98 startup disk to a folder "DOS" so there are some tools available for you;
like fdisk, format, edit, himem etc.
the boot time is also very fast ;D
(http://i2.ytimg.com/vi/UDpNOX3w45E/default.jpg) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDpNOX3w45E) click pic for a short videoclip
I have not tried yet to power them with 5 Volts and check them in the HP pc's, but will do that soon.
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And the time has come to see what they do with "external" power like Mr Venco suggested.
first i tried to find some connector, but i think we throw them all out, since they work without external power in our application :-\
So time has come to just solder some wire on the connector and see if it works then.
I have tried to find images of the cable to see where is the + and where is the - connector, it was not in the datasheet (http://www.transcendusa.com/support/dlcenter/datasheet/Datasheet_DOM40V-S_128MB_16GB_%20v1.3.pdf) that i found on the trancend website..
well i was almost sure from the lousy pics on the internet that the pin on the outside of the module must be the ground, but i dont want to blow the module, so lets open it up and see if we can follow some traces...
(http://www.opdenkelder.com/pics/pc10.jpg)
Its very small circuit, but the diode indicates exactly the "Plus" side :P
So i soldered some wire on the terminals and cut up an old molex and used it to tap the 5V line from the powersupply...
now lets test it and see what happens...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ywf3gRHx0Nk (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ywf3gRHx0Nk)
Succes ! it works like a charm !
While i was testing,you can hear that my "little helper" kept me company with some nice singing performance ;D
I have just tested one, but since the others are working also in the thin client without external power, i figured they will also work here with external power.
I just dont wanted to hack up all the modules by soldering on the terminals...
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Succes ! it works like a charm !
ha!!! how cool is that?
if i understand this correctly, i can run the HP pcs without a harddisk now, because the module acts like one, right? now all i need to do is find those cables / connectors. ebay perhaps? however, i have no idea what to look for.
thx to etienne for trying so hard and to mcvenco for the import tip!
EDIT: would this (http://www.nyama.de/shop3/product_info.php?products_id=24408&language=de) work?
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Yes , those are them !
thats basicly what i "soldered" ;)
and you understand correctly, now you got a pc with a 128 Mb C drive 8)
or better, you got 3 ;)
The other two i can leave the HDD in if you want or is 3 pc's enough for you ?
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The other two i can leave the HDD in if you want or is 3 pc's enough for you ?
i'll take what you are willin to share - it can't hurt to have spares for the future ;) thx etienne!!!
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Succes ! it works like a charm !
Nice! I just made a wild guess what the problem could be, but good to hear it worked :)
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Just digged them out of the storage and wanted to prepare them to bring to eurocade...
are you really sure they will fit in your car ? ;D
(http://www.opdenkelder.com/pics/hpully1.jpg)
(http://www.opdenkelder.com/pics/hpully2.jpg)
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Just digged them out of the storage and wanted to prepare them to bring to eurocade...
are you really sure they will fit in your car ? ;D
looking great, etienne! they will fit in the car, if not i simply leave the cabinet at andre's place ;D
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Great, they are all checked, installed and tested, so working.
i will drop them at my mothers in a moment next to the Crazy Kong so i can not forget them ;)
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My 2 cents on this topic:
The biggest task to interface a PC running MAME with a cabinet is the horizontal output frequency that needs to be forced to 15KHz (sometimes 25KHz i.e. Atari System 2 hardware). There are essentially 2 ways to face the problem (or, at least, these are the ways i can confirm are working)
1) using some linux liveCD/DVD specifically developped for the task (i suggest AdvanceCD 2.6.2)
2) using soft 15KHz (combined with a couple of other little programs).
AdvanceCD is not only an emulator, but a complete OS. It allows "brutal" shut off, it could be set to auto-run a game on startup and the OS is 100% masked (you don't see any desktop or icons on startup). The bad is the impossibility to modify your options after burning the CD/DVD, cannot save your states (even if installed on a HDD). This OS runs AdvanceMAME 0.92 (IIRC)
Using Soft15KHz is the most common way to convert a cabinet to a MAMEcab. It's also the best choice if you wanna interface some wheel (expecially true for potentiometers) or spinner controlled cabinet: this sort of controls require some setting and trial and error to be set, then a more flexible windows OS is mandatory. This way also gives you much more freedom in the choice of the emulator you wanna run,
it's options and, in general, the flexibility is much higher.
Both ways can only be used with compatible Video cards and, sometines, even cards tested working could not work (there's some dependency on the processor handling... but take this as a dogma :)).
From the hardware side, there are various PCB's dedicated to inputs and video interfacing, the most famous are JammASD and JPac. JammASD is preferable having an audio amplifier build in then do not need an audio hack for the sound to be reproduced. These hardware are only Jamma compatible so, if you want to interface your prejamma cabinet you will need some soldering work.
ArcadeVGA is a piece of hardware that can help forcing the horizontal feq. output to 15KHz, but it's expensive and not better than a more cheap video cards forced via soft15KHz or AdvanceCD, so it wouldnt be my choice (it's not).
For what concerns the emulator selection, MAME could be run smootly on older hardware using versions up to 0.106 (since 0.106u3 a heavy video renderer revolution was done). This is why i used this version for my port (RacerMAME) ;D
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thx for the 2 cents, although i only understand half of it :D