Another day, another PC. That's how it goes here in Spalls-Central.--
This time, it's not a curb-side find (things have been rather bare on
that front recently, actually). Rather, I was helping a colleague with
some electronics work at his residence, and I spotted an older
computer hidden beneath some books on a shelf.
"Golly," says I (yes, I really say stuff like that IRL), "An old retro
PC. Man, that's a classic."
"What, that old thing? That's just junk. I was going to throw it out." "Reeeeaalllly...." You know how misers in cartoons have dollar signs
that pop up in their eyes when they see a business opportunity? I'm
pretty sure I had little PC cases appear in mine when I heard that.
"Can... can I have it?"
"You want that old computer? Why?"
"Because it's beige!"
Long story short, there is now another PC in my possession. And this
is a classic; a mid-90s tower, with goodies ranging from a Sound
Blaster AWE to a ReelMagic MPEG Decoder card. It's got 128MB RAM, a
Pentium II, an ATI Rage IIc, and a hardware modem. The only thing
missing was a hard-drive, and I'm sure I can scrounge one of those up somewhere. ;-)
I've no idea if any of it works, much less its performance. I spent a
few hours cleaning it all up - the previous owner shared residence
with a cat so there was A LOT of hair - but my testing bench and my
cleaning station aren't proximate so I didn't get an opportunity to
turn it on. Still, everything looks in good condition - no leaky caps,
not even in the power supply - so I'm hopeful. But even if the magic
smoke does leak out, that's okay. I'm sure there will be SOMETHING to salvage, and besides, I enjoy repairing old PCs.
I'm mostly interested in the chassis, though. It's so incredibly
beige. As you may remember, I was forced to settle for a mid-2000s
chassis when I built my "Windows95" PC a few months ago. It worked
well enough, but it doesn't LOOK the part. It was all black and silver
and had blue LEDs everywhere. This new chassis is a lot more suitable
to the hardware inside. And it just /might/ have room for my Gravis Ultrasound. Bonus!
Anyway, it was a great way to end the day. I've no need of another PC
(and God knows, no room for one either) but even if I ultimately am
forced to get rid of it (or bounce another PC from the herd to make
room), it's a fun way to while away a few hours.
And, God, it's just so beige!
Another day, another PC. That's how it goes here in Spalls-Central.
This time, it's not a curb-side find (things have been rather bare on
that front recently, actually). Rather, I was helping a colleague with
some electronics work at his residence, and I spotted an older
computer hidden beneath some books on a shelf.
"Golly," says I (yes, I really say stuff like that IRL), "An old retro
PC. Man, that's a classic."
"What, that old thing? That's just junk. I was going to throw it out." "Reeeeaalllly...." You know how misers in cartoons have dollar signs
that pop up in their eyes when they see a business opportunity? I'm
pretty sure I had little PC cases appear in mine when I heard that.
"Can... can I have it?"
"You want that old computer? Why?"
"Because it's beige!"
Long story short, there is now another PC in my possession. And this
is a classic; a mid-90s tower, with goodies ranging from a Sound
Blaster AWE to a ReelMagic MPEG Decoder card. It's got 128MB RAM, a
Pentium II, an ATI Rage IIc, and a hardware modem. The only thing
missing was a hard-drive, and I'm sure I can scrounge one of those up somewhere. ;-)
I've no idea if any of it works, much less its performance. I spent a
few hours cleaning it all up - the previous owner shared residence
with a cat so there was A LOT of hair - but my testing bench and my
cleaning station aren't proximate so I didn't get an opportunity to
turn it on. Still, everything looks in good condition - no leaky caps,
not even in the power supply - so I'm hopeful. But even if the magic
smoke does leak out, that's okay. I'm sure there will be SOMETHING to salvage, and besides, I enjoy repairing old PCs.
I'm mostly interested in the chassis, though. It's so incredibly
beige. As you may remember, I was forced to settle for a mid-2000s
chassis when I built my "Windows95" PC a few months ago. It worked
well enough, but it doesn't LOOK the part. It was all black and silver
and had blue LEDs everywhere. This new chassis is a lot more suitable
to the hardware inside. And it just /might/ have room for my Gravis Ultrasound. Bonus!
Anyway, it was a great way to end the day. I've no need of another PC
(and God knows, no room for one either) but even if I ultimately am
forced to get rid of it (or bounce another PC from the herd to make
room), it's a fun way to while away a few hours.
And, God, it's just so beige!
And, God, it's just so beige!
On 7/17/2023 6:56 PM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
Another day, another PC.
Long story short, there is now another PC in my possession. And this
is a classic; a mid-90s tower, with goodies ranging from a Sound
Blaster AWE to a ReelMagic MPEG Decoder card. It's got 128MB RAM, a
Pentium II, an ATI Rage IIc, and a hardware modem. The only thing
missing was a hard-drive, and I'm sure I can scrounge one of those up
somewhere. ;-)
*cue Fibber McGee's closet of hard drives*
But I'm not quite THAT bad. My storage is very neatly organized. But I
admit, once I get started, everything gets yanked out of storage so
the overall effect is the same.
So right now, yeah, it is all a bit of a mess.
https://imgur.com/a/G3b4s28
(Behold chaos unfolding. But at least those of you who wanted pictures
of the beige box can see it in all its (unfinished) glory. It's so wonderfully bland, in the way mid-90s PCs all were.)
On Mon, 17 Jul 2023 20:12:00 -0700, Dimensional Traveler
<dtravel@sonic.net> wrote:
On 7/17/2023 6:56 PM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
Another day, another PC.
Long story short, there is now another PC in my possession. And this
is a classic; a mid-90s tower, with goodies ranging from a Sound
Blaster AWE to a ReelMagic MPEG Decoder card. It's got 128MB RAM, a
Pentium II, an ATI Rage IIc, and a hardware modem. The only thing
missing was a hard-drive, and I'm sure I can scrounge one of those up
somewhere. ;-)
*cue Fibber McGee's closet of hard drives*
I admit, I had to look up that reference. ;-) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9FGC68YcwM
But I'm not quite THAT bad. My storage is very neatly organized. But I
admit, once I get started, everything gets yanked out of storage so
the overall effect is the same.
So right now, yeah, it is all a bit of a mess.
https://imgur.com/a/G3b4s28
(Behold chaos unfolding. But at least those of you who wanted pictures
of the beige box can see it in all its (unfinished) glory. It's so wonderfully bland, in the way mid-90s PCs all were.)
* * *
Anyway, after some fiddling, I'm happy to report the PC boots. It took
a while to get there - for one thing, I had to find a manual for the motherboard so I could plug in the front panel connectors. But no
magic smoke, the voltage rails are pumping out 11.97 and 4.91 Volts,
and the newly lubricated fans are as quiet as you'd expect the fans
from a mid-90s PC to be.
Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:
...
But I'm not quite THAT bad. My storage is very neatly organized. But I
admit, once I get started, everything gets yanked out of storage so
the overall effect is the same.
So right now, yeah, it is all a bit of a mess.
https://imgur.com/a/G3b4s28
(Behold chaos unfolding. But at least those of you who wanted pictures
of the beige box can see it in all its (unfinished) glory. It's so
wonderfully bland, in the way mid-90s PCs all were.)
You need a bigger place!
On 7/18/2023 1:08 PM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
Anyway, after some fiddling, I'm happy to report the PC boots. It took
a while to get there - for one thing, I had to find a manual for the
motherboard so I could plug in the front panel connectors. But no
magic smoke, the voltage rails are pumping out 11.97 and 4.91 Volts,
and the newly lubricated fans are as quiet as you'd expect the fans
from a mid-90s PC to be.
So something like this? "My nightmare is the Boston Red Sox at playoff
time, and 100 users who arrive at work at 8:00 AM and decide to log in
and watch some highlights from last night's game. Total gigabytes-wise,
this isn't too scary. But the fans in the Cisco racks go from a quiet
hum to something that sounds more like a C-130 Hercules spooling up for >takeoff."
On Tue, 18 Jul 2023 17:12:36 -0700, Dimensional Traveler
<dtravel@sonic.net> wrote:
On 7/18/2023 1:08 PM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
Anyway, after some fiddling, I'm happy to report the PC boots. It took
a while to get there - for one thing, I had to find a manual for the
motherboard so I could plug in the front panel connectors. But no
magic smoke, the voltage rails are pumping out 11.97 and 4.91 Volts,
and the newly lubricated fans are as quiet as you'd expect the fans
from a mid-90s PC to be.
So something like this? "My nightmare is the Boston Red Sox at playoff
time, and 100 users who arrive at work at 8:00 AM and decide to log in
and watch some highlights from last night's game. Total gigabytes-wise,
this isn't too scary. But the fans in the Cisco racks go from a quiet
hum to something that sounds more like a C-130 Hercules spooling up for
takeoff."
It is not quite so bad, no, but you definitely know the machine is on.
It's only got the two fans (CPU and PSU) after all, and even at full
speed they aren't loud... but they do make a constant noise that seems extraordinarly raucous compared to modern PCs.
(I do wonder about the cooling potential of that CPU fan. Slot-1
Pentium IIs used a cartridge form-factor, with the CPU embedded in a
plastic case and the fan clipped to the outside of the case. But I
guess Intel must have known what they were doing, right? Anyway, the
BIOS has a configurable option for shutting down the PC if it gets too
hot. It's currently set to 60C, and it hasn't triggered yet, so I
guess things are okay so far)
But boy-howdy, I'd forgotten how SPOILED we are with modern
plug-n-play hardware. Both my soundcards are ISA, and wrangling the
two of them into playing nice together was a challenge. Alas, I had to
give up on my SoundBlaster Pro; Windows95 completely refused to
acknowledge the existence of its FM Synthesizer, which meant that -
although it played digital fine, there was no music. So I swapped in
the SoundBlaster AWE64 instead.
The Gravis Ultrasound works too, which honestly was something of a
surprise. Lacking compatible hardware, the card has been sitting
unused in storage for close to 20 years, and I had no idea if it was
still functional until I actually got it running. But it's fully operational... if as finicky as ever. The GUS cards were excellent for
their time, but getting them to play nice with software was always a challenge. My GUS Max plays in Windows95... but only barely. It's
crackly and lacks DirectSound support. But in DOS, it's as good as I remember. I'm fine with this, though; I mainly want it for DOS games
anyway. And hearing it running on "Doom" again for the first time in
20 years? I almost teared up.
Other than that, the hardware is coming together nicely. While I'm
still not entirely sure I want to go with the Voodoo3, for the time
being that's what I'm using. I've also added an SMC 10/100 networkcard
(not that I'm ever really going to use it) and threw in my other
Zip-100 drive. It took ages too, but eventually I got Win95 to
recognize flash-drives too, which GREATLY sped up the installation (no
need to burn a CD or transfer drivers over by floppy!)
Now it's mostly down to software: what games and apps to install. Once
that's done, it will be time to benchmark the beast. And after that, I
have to turn my eye to the 'old' Windows98 PC (from whence came the
Voodoo3 card) and decide how to upgrade that.
Such is the life of a manic retro-computer fan. ;-)
I'm mostly interested in the chassis, though. It's so incredibly
beige. As you may remember, I was forced to settle for a mid-2000s
chassis when I built my "Windows95" PC a few months ago. It worked
well enough, but it doesn't LOOK the part. It was all black and silver
and had blue LEDs everywhere. This new chassis is a lot more suitable
to the hardware inside. And it just/might/ have room for my Gravis Ultrasound. Bonus!
It's weird really how fashion enters something like what a PC looks
like. It felt like everything was beige and then all of a sudden
everything was black. Saying that my PC case of over twenty years is a
deep mauve colour.
On Fri, 21 Jul 2023 10:18:17 +0100, JAB <noway@nochance.com> wrote:
It's weird really how fashion enters something like what a PC looks
like. It felt like everything was beige and then all of a sudden
everything was black. Saying that my PC case of over twenty years is a
deep mauve colour.
Ooh, is it an SGI?
(For those not in the know, Silicon Graphics computers for the longest
time used shades of purple on their PC chassis. It was sort of their trademark thing. as an example, their Indigo2 from 1994 https://i.pinimg.com/originals/67/c4/9c/67c49c64f937c6b740ab285fca080e12.jpg)
I've never owned an SGI machine (I used one briefly for a job in the
early 90s). It had - IIRC - an early optical mouse that required a
special mousepad to work. Its OS - while a GUI - was fairly barebone.
But the machine was fast; I remember that). It's not quite a "white
whale", but were one to cross my path I wouldn't be averse to
snatching it up. ;-)
Meanwhile, back to PC fashions... Between "beige" and "black" you must
not forget the awful iMac days, when every PC maker seemed to be
trying to emulate Apple and it's awful transparent Bondi blue design.
Black was such a relief after that era...
On 21/07/2023 13:39, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
On Fri, 21 Jul 2023 10:18:17 +0100, JAB <noway@nochance.com> wrote:
It's weird really how fashion enters something like what a PC looks
like. It felt like everything was beige and then all of a sudden
everything was black. Saying that my PC case of over twenty years is a
deep mauve colour.
not forget the awful iMac days, when every PC maker seemed to be
trying to emulate Apple and it's awful transparent Bondi blue design.
Black was such a relief after that era...
Could be worse, imagine if the fashion was for transparent sides and
lots of LED's!
On Sat, 22 Jul 2023 10:11:20 +0100, JAB <noway@nochance.com> wrote:...
<looks at current PC>
That's just mean, man. ;-)
(the /really/ sad thing is, I now own THREE PCs with transparent side
panels. Of course, one of them I got simply to satirize the whole
idea. Who knew that just a couple years later I'd actually /pay/ for
the privilege?)
Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:
On Sat, 22 Jul 2023 10:11:20 +0100, JAB <noway@nochance.com> wrote:
<looks at current PC>
That's just mean, man. ;-)
Mine just has vents to see through, but they get dusts easily. :( I
never cared for fancy looking cases. I just want good designs for air
flows, access, etc.
It could be worse, though. I could have one of those gimmick PC
chassis which are designed to look like something (e.g., "a PC that
looks like He-Man's castle", or an aquarium, or something). THERE I >definitely draw the line.
On Sun, 23 Jul 2023 09:01:04 -0400, Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:
It could be worse, though. I could have one of those gimmick PC
chassis which are designed to look like something (e.g., "a PC that
looks like He-Man's castle", or an aquarium, or something). THERE I >definitely draw the line.
Aquarium PCs are definitely a thing. I don't know about He-Man, but
Hot Wheels PCs were also definitely a thing.
Mike S. <Mik...@nowhere.com> wrote:
On Sun, 23 Jul 2023 09:01:04 -0400, Spalls Hurgenson <spallsh...@gmail.com> wrote:
It could be worse, though. I could have one of those gimmick PC
chassis which are designed to look like something (e.g., "a PC that >looks like He-Man's castle", or an aquarium, or something). THERE I >definitely draw the line.
Aquarium PCs are definitely a thing. I don't know about He-Man, buthttps://hardware.slashdot.org/story/03/05/22/1236213/ant-farm-pc :P
Hot Wheels PCs were also definitely a thing.
On Sunday, July 23, 2023 at 11:02:35?PM UTC-7, Ant wrote:
Mike S. <Mik...@nowhere.com> wrote:
On Sun, 23 Jul 2023 09:01:04 -0400, Spalls Hurgenson
<spallsh...@gmail.com> wrote:
It could be worse, though. I could have one of those gimmick PC
chassis which are designed to look like something (e.g., "a PC that
looks like He-Man's castle", or an aquarium, or something). THERE I
definitely draw the line.
Aquarium PCs are definitely a thing. I don't know about He-Man, buthttps://hardware.slashdot.org/story/03/05/22/1236213/ant-farm-pc :P
Hot Wheels PCs were also definitely a thing.
Unfortunately the page is dead. It shows up in archive, but pictures aren't >archived. You can see one thumbnail from PC mag saved somewhere in
google from PC mag Australia on a search, but that pic & page don't exist >anymore either. >https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1HLDY_enUS717US717&sxsrf=AB5stBhfL5Pth3J5tbe0mMo8jYKBcPDAAA:1690214251151&q=ant+farm+PC+case+mod&tbm=isch&source=lnms&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwipp6Lg2qeAAxVMHTQIHVqYAVoQ0pQJegQIChAB&biw=1920&bih=937&dpr=1
On Mon, 24 Jul 2023 09:02:20 -0700 (PDT), Justisaur
<justisaur@gmail.com> wrote:
On Sunday, July 23, 2023 at 11:02:35?PM UTC-7, Ant wrote:
Mike S. <Mik...@nowhere.com> wrote:
On Sun, 23 Jul 2023 09:01:04 -0400, Spalls Hurgenson
<spallsh...@gmail.com> wrote:
It could be worse, though. I could have one of those gimmick PC
chassis which are designed to look like something (e.g., "a PC that
looks like He-Man's castle", or an aquarium, or something). THERE I
definitely draw the line.
Aquarium PCs are definitely a thing. I don't know about He-Man, buthttps://hardware.slashdot.org/story/03/05/22/1236213/ant-farm-pc :P
Hot Wheels PCs were also definitely a thing.
Unfortunately the page is dead. It shows up in archive, but pictures aren't >> archived. You can see one thumbnail from PC mag saved somewhere in
google from PC mag Australia on a search, but that pic & page don't exist
anymore either.
https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1HLDY_enUS717US717&sxsrf=AB5stBhfL5Pth3J5tbe0mMo8jYKBcPDAAA:1690214251151&q=ant+farm+PC+case+mod&tbm=isch&source=lnms&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwipp6Lg2qeAAxVMHTQIHVqYAVoQ0pQJegQIChAB&biw=1920&bih=937&dpr=1
Okay, now I am disappointed. /NOBODY/ has made a custom PC case out of
the He-Man castle? It seems purpose built to be glued to the outside
of a PC chassis!
People of the Internet, you have failed me.
(No, brain, we are NOT searching EBay for a He Man castle playset
tonight. No, I say. NO!)
Okay, now I am disappointed. /NOBODY/ has made a custom PC case out of
the He-Man castle? It seems purpose built to be glued to the outside
of a PC chassis!
People of the Internet, you have failed me.
(No, brain, we are NOT searching EBay for a He Man castle playset
tonight. No, I say. NO!)
"Too late."
On Mon, 24 Jul 2023 09:02:20 -0700 (PDT), Justisaur
<just...@gmail.com> wrote:
On Sunday, July 23, 2023 at 11:02:35?PM UTC-7, Ant wrote:
Mike S. <Mik...@nowhere.com> wrote:
On Sun, 23 Jul 2023 09:01:04 -0400, Spalls Hurgenson
<spallsh...@gmail.com> wrote:
It could be worse, though. I could have one of those gimmick PC
chassis which are designed to look like something (e.g., "a PC that
looks like He-Man's castle", or an aquarium, or something). THERE I
definitely draw the line.
Aquarium PCs are definitely a thing. I don't know about He-Man, buthttps://hardware.slashdot.org/story/03/05/22/1236213/ant-farm-pc :P
Hot Wheels PCs were also definitely a thing.
Unfortunately the page is dead. It shows up in archive, but pictures aren't >archived. You can see one thumbnail from PC mag saved somewhere inOkay, now I am disappointed. /NOBODY/ has made a custom PC case out of
google from PC mag Australia on a search, but that pic & page don't exist >anymore either. >https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1HLDY_enUS717US717&sxsrf=AB5stBhfL5Pth3J5tbe0mMo8jYKBcPDAAA:1690214251151&q=ant+farm+PC+case+mod&tbm=isch&source=lnms&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwipp6Lg2qeAAxVMHTQIHVqYAVoQ0pQJegQIChAB&biw=1920&bih=937&dpr=1
the He-Man castle? It seems purpose built to be glued to the outside
of a PC chassis!
Okay, now I am disappointed. /NOBODY/ has made a custom PC case out of
the He-Man castle? It seems purpose built to be glued to the outside
of a PC chassis!
(bad dubbing) "My Google-fu is stronger than yours!"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nO2i0Ext2zc
- Justisaur
By the power of Greyskull!
(I was a bit old for He-Man when it was popular to be a fan,
but know a bit of it of course.)
Dimensional Traveler <dtravel@sonic.net> wrote:
...
Okay, now I am disappointed. /NOBODY/ has made a custom PC case out of the He-Man castle? It seems purpose built to be glued to the outside
of a PC chassis!
People of the Internet, you have failed me.
(No, brain, we are NOT searching EBay for a He Man castle playset tonight. No, I say. NO!)
"Too late."
I used to have that castle as a callow during the rad 80s. I loved He-Man! ;)
Ant <ant@zimage.comant> wrote:
Dimensional Traveler <dtravel@sonic.net> wrote:
Okay, now I am disappointed. /NOBODY/ has made a custom PC case out of >> > > the He-Man castle? It seems purpose built to be glued to the outside
of a PC chassis!
People of the Internet, you have failed me.
I used to have that castle as a callow during the rad 80s. I loved He-Man! ;)I had to ask: https://www.reddit.com/r/DIY_tech/comments/advyl9/castle_greyskull_gaming_pc/ :)
I had to ask: https://www.reddit.com/r/DIY_tech/comments/advyl9/castle_greyskull_gaming_pc/ :)
People of the Internet, you have been redeemed.
But a very specific Searcher Of The Internet must now hang their head
in shame!
(obediently hangs head)
See? This is what I want. A case made out of a He-Man castle. How cool
is that!
I mean, I don't want it. I Definitely do not want it.
And I definitely am not eyeing a He-Man castle set for $60USD on Ebay.
I am not pulling out the credit card now. It's not happening brain,
stop trying to make it happen! Let go of my hands! We have rent to
pay!
(Brains: what can you do, eh? You can't live with 'em, and are
drooling on the floor without 'em)
On Sat, 22 Jul 2023 10:11:20 +0100, JAB <noway@nochance.com> wrote:
On 21/07/2023 13:39, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
On Fri, 21 Jul 2023 10:18:17 +0100, JAB <noway@nochance.com> wrote:
It's weird really how fashion enters something like what a PC looks
like. It felt like everything was beige and then all of a sudden
everything was black. Saying that my PC case of over twenty years is a >>>> deep mauve colour.
not forget the awful iMac days, when every PC maker seemed to be
trying to emulate Apple and it's awful transparent Bondi blue design.
Black was such a relief after that era...
Could be worse, imagine if the fashion was for transparent sides and
lots of LED's!
<looks at current PC>
That's just mean, man. ;-)
(the /really/ sad thing is, I now own THREE PCs with transparent side
panels. Of course, one of them I got simply to satirize the whole
idea. Who knew that just a couple years later I'd actually /pay/ for
the privilege?)
I understand why people want something more than just a boring beige box
but the whole bling makeover, that I don't really understand. Not that
means I'm against people doing it if they want to.
On Tue, 25 Jul 2023 11:10:37 +0100, JAB <noway@nochance.com> wrote:
I understand why people want something more than just a boring beige box
but the whole bling makeover, that I don't really understand. Not that
means I'm against people doing it if they want to.
I want my PC to look nice. It sits right next to me on the floor and I
do not want an ugly eyesore in my room. Of course, what I think is
nice and what you think is boring and what someone else thinks is too
much bling is going to differ.
The only thingWell you probably can put a modern ssd into it with an pata2sata adapter. Benefit... well SSD!
missing was a hard-drive, and I'm sure I can scrounge one of those up somewhere. 😉
I want my PC to look nice. It sits right next to me on the floor and I
do not want an ugly eyesore in my room. Of course, what I think is
nice and what you think is boring and what someone else thinks is too
much bling is going to differ.
Am 18.07.23 um 03:56 schrieb Spalls Hurgenson:
The only thingWell you probably can put a modern ssd into it with an pata2sata adapter. >Benefit... well SSD!
missing was a hard-drive, and I'm sure I can scrounge one of those up
somewhere. ?
costs of a 240 Gig ssd, bought one for 14 bucks today!
probably cheaper than trying to hunt down a still working pata
drive!
On Wed, 26 Jul 2023 18:35:08 +0200, "Werner P." <werpu@gmx.at> wrote:
Am 18.07.23 um 03:56 schrieb Spalls Hurgenson:
The only thingWell you probably can put a modern ssd into it with an pata2sata adapter. >Benefit... well SSD!
missing was a hard-drive, and I'm sure I can scrounge one of those up
somewhere. ?
costs of a 240 Gig ssd, bought one for 14 bucks today!
probably cheaper than trying to hunt down a still working pata
drive!
It's amazing how inexpensive SSDs have become. I bought a three-pack
of 250GB PNY SSDs for $30USD the other day. I didn't need them for any
of my main machines (250GB is a rounding error when it comes to
disk-usage here ;-) but with all of my older PCs, I thought, "Why
not?"
Still, when it comes to retro-PCs I'm not entirely sanguine about the
idea of using SSDs. For one thing, the interface limits a lot of the
speed benefits; old PCs counted disk speeds in megabytes/second, not gigabytes, and superfast SSDs aren't really going to give you that
much of a boost. Using translation interfaces (SATA-to-PATA) only
slows things down even more. There can be compatibility issues too,
not only with the adapters, but with too-fast drives (yes, some
applications balked at getting data faster than was logically possible
when they were programmed). Plus, the lack of TRIM commands on older operating systems means they'll kill SSDs faster than if they were
used on modern hardware (built-in garbage collection routines help,
but TRIM helps even more).
Then again, I suppose it depends what you mean by 'retro'. If an old
PC for you is something from 2015, then an SSD can revitalize it. But
the stuff I'm working on tends to be a bit older than that.
Anyway, I have a good number of spinning-rust drives just waiting to
be put to use in older machines anyway. If I am going to buy SSDs, I'd
rather use them on newer computers. It's not really a retro-PC if you
can't hear the harddrive clicking anyway. ;-)
It's amazing how inexpensive SSDs have become. I bought a three-pack
of 250GB PNY SSDs for $30USD the other day. I didn't need them for any
of my main machines (250GB is a rounding error when it comes to
disk-usage here 😉 but with all of my older PCs, I thought, "Why
not?"
Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:
On Wed, 26 Jul 2023 18:35:08 +0200, "Werner P." <werpu@gmx.at> wrote:
Am 18.07.23 um 03:56 schrieb Spalls Hurgenson:
The only thingWell you probably can put a modern ssd into it with an pata2sata adapter. >>> Benefit... well SSD!
missing was a hard-drive, and I'm sure I can scrounge one of those up
somewhere. ?
costs of a 240 Gig ssd, bought one for 14 bucks today!
probably cheaper than trying to hunt down a still working pata
drive!
It's amazing how inexpensive SSDs have become. I bought a three-pack
of 250GB PNY SSDs for $30USD the other day. I didn't need them for any
of my main machines (250GB is a rounding error when it comes to
disk-usage here ;-) but with all of my older PCs, I thought, "Why
not?"
But how much is a 5 TB SSD? Still expensive compared to HDDs' prices. :P
On 26/07/2023 20:45, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
It's amazing how inexpensive SSDs have become. I bought a three-pack
of 250GB PNY SSDs for $30USD the other day. I didn't need them for any
of my main machines (250GB is a rounding error when it comes to
disk-usage here 😉 but with all of my older PCs, I thought, "Why
not?"
Well as long as you didn't end up buying those too cheap to be true
external SSD's that turned out to be a micro SD card glued into a package!
On 7/27/2023 1:45 AM, Ant wrote:
But how much is a 5 TB SSD? Still expensive compared to HDDs' prices. :PBought an external 5TB SSD from Staples two months ago for $114.70. A
10TB was $297.97.
On 7/27/2023 9:42 AM, Dimensional Traveler wrote:
On 7/27/2023 1:45 AM, Ant wrote:
But how much is a 5 TB SSD? Still expensive compared to HDDs' prices. :P >>>Bought an external 5TB SSD from Staples two months ago for $114.70. A
10TB was $297.97.
You're sure it's a Solid State drive? Sounds too good to be true, never
seen them anywhere near those prices before.
Well, if its spinning rust they are the tiniest discs I've ever seen in
a hard drive. Its 4.5" x 3" x 0.75" and holds 5 terabyte.
On 7/27/2023 7:03 AM, JAB wrote:
On 26/07/2023 20:45, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
It's amazing how inexpensive SSDs have become. I bought a three-pack
of 250GB PNY SSDs for $30USD the other day. I didn't need them for any
of my main machines (250GB is a rounding error when it comes to
disk-usage here 😉 but with all of my older PCs, I thought, "Why
not?"
Well as long as you didn't end up buying those too cheap to be true
external SSD's that turned out to be a micro SD card glued into a
package!
At least there was something in the package! A while back I went into
the local Staples for a cable, pulled the package off the shelf myself
and paid for it. When I got home and opened it the was no cable inside!
 Went back and did the "Uh, what happened here?" and they replaced it, checking this time that there was a cable in the package.
On 27/07/2023 21:16, Dimensional Traveler wrote:
On 7/27/2023 7:03 AM, JAB wrote:
On 26/07/2023 20:45, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
It's amazing how inexpensive SSDs have become. I bought a three-pack
of 250GB PNY SSDs for $30USD the other day. I didn't need them for any >>>> of my main machines (250GB is a rounding error when it comes to
disk-usage here 😉 but with all of my older PCs, I thought, "Why
not?"
Well as long as you didn't end up buying those too cheap to be true
external SSD's that turned out to be a micro SD card glued into a
package!
At least there was something in the package! A while back I went into
the local Staples for a cable, pulled the package off the shelf myself
and paid for it. When I got home and opened it the was no cable
inside! Â Â Went back and did the "Uh, what happened here?" and they
replaced it, checking this time that there was a cable in the package.
At least you can see how that could be a honest mistake. Selling what is effectively a 64GB SD card as a 4/8/16TB SSD, that's just a scam.
On 22/07/2023 16:05, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
On Sat, 22 Jul 2023 10:11:20 +0100, JAB <noway@nochance.com> wrote:
On 21/07/2023 13:39, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
On Fri, 21 Jul 2023 10:18:17 +0100, JAB <noway@nochance.com> wrote:
It's weird really how fashion enters something like what a PC looks
like. It felt like everything was beige and then all of a sudden
everything was black. Saying that my PC case of over twenty years is a >>>>> deep mauve colour.
not forget the awful iMac days, when every PC maker seemed to be
trying to emulate Apple and it's awful transparent Bondi blue design.
Black was such a relief after that era...
Could be worse, imagine if the fashion was for transparent sides and
lots of LED's!
<looks at current PC>
That's just mean, man. ;-)
(the /really/ sad thing is, I now own THREE PCs with transparent side
panels. Of course, one of them I got simply to satirize the whole
idea. Who knew that just a couple years later I'd actually /pay/ for
the privilege?)
I understand why people want something more than just a boring beige box
but the whole bling makeover, that I don't really understand. Not that
means I'm against people doing it if they want to.
On 7/27/2023 1:45 AM, Ant wrote:
Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:
On Wed, 26 Jul 2023 18:35:08 +0200, "Werner P." <werpu@gmx.at> wrote:
Am 18.07.23 um 03:56 schrieb Spalls Hurgenson:
The only thingWell you probably can put a modern ssd into it with an pata2sata adapter. >>> Benefit... well SSD!
missing was a hard-drive, and I'm sure I can scrounge one of those up >>>> somewhere. ?
costs of a 240 Gig ssd, bought one for 14 bucks today!
probably cheaper than trying to hunt down a still working pata
drive!
It's amazing how inexpensive SSDs have become. I bought a three-pack
of 250GB PNY SSDs for $30USD the other day. I didn't need them for any
of my main machines (250GB is a rounding error when it comes to
disk-usage here ;-) but with all of my older PCs, I thought, "Why
not?"
But how much is a 5 TB SSD? Still expensive compared to HDDs' prices. :P
Bought an external 5TB SSD from Staples two months ago for $114.70. A
10TB was $297.97.
Dimensional Traveler <dtravel@sonic.net> wrote:
On 7/27/2023 1:45 AM, Ant wrote:
Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:Bought an external 5TB SSD from Staples two months ago for $114.70. A
On Wed, 26 Jul 2023 18:35:08 +0200, "Werner P." <werpu@gmx.at> wrote:
Am 18.07.23 um 03:56 schrieb Spalls Hurgenson:
The only thingWell you probably can put a modern ssd into it with an pata2sata adapter. >>>>> Benefit... well SSD!
missing was a hard-drive, and I'm sure I can scrounge one of those up >>>>>> somewhere. ?
costs of a 240 Gig ssd, bought one for 14 bucks today!
probably cheaper than trying to hunt down a still working pata
drive!
It's amazing how inexpensive SSDs have become. I bought a three-pack
of 250GB PNY SSDs for $30USD the other day. I didn't need them for any >>>> of my main machines (250GB is a rounding error when it comes to
disk-usage here ;-) but with all of my older PCs, I thought, "Why
not?"
But how much is a 5 TB SSD? Still expensive compared to HDDs' prices. :P >>>
10TB was $297.97.
Wow. Were those good brands? What about internal?
Dimensional Traveler <dtravel@sonic.net> wrote:
Well, if its spinning rust they are the tiniest discs I've ever seen in
a hard drive. Its 4.5" x 3" x 0.75" and holds 5 terabyte.
A 2.5" laptop drive would easily fit inside a case like that and there
are 5TB 2.5" hard drives.
On 7/28/2023 2:52 PM, Ant wrote:
Dimensional Traveler <dtravel@sonic.net> wrote:
On 7/27/2023 1:45 AM, Ant wrote:
But how much is a 5 TB SSD? Still expensive compared to HDDs' prices. :P
Bought an external 5TB SSD from Staples two months ago for $114.70. A
10TB was $297.97.
Wow. Were those good brands? What about internal?
Seagate. No idea about internals, didn't need an internal.
On Fri, 28 Jul 2023 18:31:48 -0700, Dimensional Traveler
<dtravel@sonic.net> wrote:
On 7/28/2023 2:52 PM, Ant wrote:
Dimensional Traveler <dtravel@sonic.net> wrote:
On 7/27/2023 1:45 AM, Ant wrote:
But how much is a 5 TB SSD? Still expensive compared to HDDs' prices. :P
Bought an external 5TB SSD from Staples two months ago for $114.70. A >>>> 10TB was $297.97.
Wow. Were those good brands? What about internal?
Seagate. No idea about internals, didn't need an internal.
Seagate is meanwhile pushing 50TB mechanical drives and the tech it
uses - heat-assisted magnetic recording - promises increased ata
densities beyond that. Bytes-per-dollar, I think spinning rust will
maintain the lead for a while. SSDs are great for OS and apps, but for
data - where you rarely need that sort of speed - mechanical still
remains a viable choice.
I dread the idea of restoring a 50TB drive, though. Moving that much
data even onto an SSD drive would take forever.
On 28/07/2023 06:36, Ross Ridge wrote:
Dimensional Traveler <dtravel@sonic.net> wrote:They are surprisingly small when you're used to what you get for a
Well, if its spinning rust they are the tiniest discs I've ever seen in
a hard drive. Its 4.5" x 3" x 0.75" and holds 5 terabyte.
A 2.5" laptop drive would easily fit inside a case like that and there
are 5TB 2.5" hard drives.
desktop PC. My guess is at that price it's a HDD and the 5TB size is
also strange as SSD's are memory chips so 1/2/4/8 etc.
There is of course the option it was just incorrectly priced.
I have a USB WD Black 5TB HDD that I bought on Black Friday last year
for about $100 including taxes and shipping (Best Buy), but I've seen
them for as little as $89 recently.
Metal Guru <MetalGuru@isityou.com> wrote:
...
I have a USB WD Black 5TB HDD that I bought on Black Friday last year
for about $100 including taxes and shipping (Best Buy), but I've seen
them for as little as $89 recently.
Costco has 5 TB USB3 HDD for $100: https://www.costco.com/seagate-one-touch-5tb-portable-hard-drive-with-rescue-data-recovery-services.product.100761181.html
So far, it works for me. I was told that these external USB HDDs don't
last long like my former Seagate 4 TB USB HDD from 2020 that died a few months ago. :(
On 7/29/2023 5:48 AM, JAB wrote:
On 28/07/2023 06:36, Ross Ridge wrote:
Dimensional Traveler <dtravel@sonic.net> wrote:They are surprisingly small when you're used to what you get for a
Well, if its spinning rust they are the tiniest discs I've ever seen in >>>> a hard drive. Its 4.5" x 3" x 0.75" and holds 5 terabyte.
A 2.5" laptop drive would easily fit inside a case like that and there
are 5TB 2.5" hard drives.
desktop PC. My guess is at that price it's a HDD and the 5TB size is
also strange as SSD's are memory chips so 1/2/4/8 etc.
There is of course the option it was just incorrectly priced.
Yes, the one he mentioned is a HDD for sure - 5TB SSD's don't exist and
if they did the price would be astronomical.
I have a USB WD Black 5TB HDD that I bought on Black Friday last year
for about $100 including taxes and shipping (Best Buy), but I've seen
them for as little as $89 recently.
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