1237a0bcb3f1
tech



Hello Wayne - 

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WC> Well almost, Sound plays waves and otherwise behaves itself
WC> but the order on the audio plugs between the SoundBlater
WC> and Turtle beach cables don't match. SB blank, white,
WC> black, red Turtle Beach white, blank, black, red Both
WC> connectors are labeled audio on the respective CD-ROM
WC> drives and aside from the wiring order being wrong the
WC> plugs don't match. The SoundBlaster card had a proprietary
WC> interface to the CD-ROM but now my new 40X sits on IDE 1
WC> master with the hard drive on IDE 0. I've very tempted to
WC> cut the plug with pigtail off the PCI sound card and solder
WC> it onto the Sounblaster cable correcting the order
WC> regarding where the blank pin is but matching white, black
WC> and red. What do you think? 

In usenet groups Turtle Beach is considered a 'collectible' and
I think was quite expensive in it's day? Some pros keep one on
hand and might even pay a good sum of money to get a working TB
card? I wouldn't chance doing damage to it myself. I would
either find the proper wiring schematic or try offering it for
sale on EBAY. 

CA>> I've mixed feelings about those numbers quoted for CD rom
CA>> drive speeds. They aren't 'real' numbers but some sort of
CA>> derived number or average access rate or possibly maximum.
CA>> I don't pay much attention to them. 

WC> It's fast, way fast but than I'm used to a 2X and this
WC> bugger is a 40X, I'm impressed. 

I noticed the speed of my 24x and 32x CD drives was 'good' but
I seldom use them for anything other than CD-DA and restoring
from backups of the system files.

CA>> Some websites are just fubar'd beyond belief. I viewed the
CA>> source HTML for www.juge.com and it's apparently generated
CA>> by a program of some sort (the HTML is quite laughable)
CA>> and won't display anything but the title/logo when using
CA>> Opera v3.62. :-\ 

WC> Try Tom's Hardware site with Basic Linux LINKS, it's
WC> useless. 

Sad part is few of these people really care. If "it works for
me" is their response then they ignore any mention that it
might be keeping others away. At times I think websites are
there to entertain the owner of the website more than to be
available to others? You may recall BBS'g was/is like this. The
owner doesn't always care if others find it useful. 

CA>> I'm not aware of an I/O card that can increase hard drive
CA>> transfer rates. It seems dependent on the bus speed and
CA>> size of the cache on the controller. I am told anything
CA>> above 2meg cache on a hard drive controller is overkill
CA>> though. 

WC> I do not believe this older on board IDE interface supports
WC> Ultra 133 and that's what's going in here. Fortunately hard
WC> drives are largely backwards compatable but I will lose
WC> speed. 

Hard drive transfer rates are worth spending time to get right.
They are the #1 limiting factor for all systems. 

WC>> 8.1. Only secured the CD with one screw so I can move it
WC>> forward when I go out Monday to purchase a new CMOS
WC>> battery. 

CA>> Roy uses small wooden wedges you can push in and pull them
CA>> out. No screwdriver required. ;-) 

WC> I want a heavy ground to chassis thus one screw. 

Alligator clips? 

WC>> Come March it's a definate I'll have a new 60 gig drive in
WC>> this very machine. Another neato thing is this machine's
WC>> BIOS has a CD-boot option 

CA>> I guess that will help with Linux 'distros' when you lose
CA>> it and become a linux freak that must reinstall each week
CA>> and try every distro you can get your hands on. ;-) 

WC> I've got the Dillo browser binary already on hand here :-)
WC> I'll snag the source next as I'll have room for a complete
WC> Slackware 8.1 install as well as many others. I also ran
WC> across some information where there's now a utility that
WC> allows one to boot Linux well above the previous 1,024
WC> cylinder limit :-) 

I somehow had the impression that Linux could _always_ boot
beyond that limit? If it's something new it's a surprise to me. 

WC>> however what's not so good is I've not been able to find a
WC>> driver for the ATI video card for Win 3.1 as there doesn't
WC>> appear to be one :-( So I've actually less graphics
WC>> capability than when it was on the 486. 

CA>> I have ATI video here and, to be honest, can't recall if
CA>> there are any for W31 or not? I am using the W31 generic
driver at 800x600x256 and it's not that bad really. 

WC> I cannot get to that as it looks like the old video driver
WC> from the 486 overwrote the file to set resolution :-( I may
WC> have to reinstall Windows over Windows with the keep
WC> settings option. Correct me if I'm wrong but weren't you
WC> able to set resolution in control panel? 

Yes, sort of. You can run setup.exe from DOS and reset the
driver/res combination that way too. 

WC> Set Res from the old 486 video driver sits there now. BTW
WC> ever seen invalid command.com - command com not found when
WC> trying to exit Windows? Been happening every time I try to
WC> close Windows ever since I swapped the drive into the
WC> pentium. Another reason to install over the old Windows
WC> perhaps? 

I get that if I try to load MSDOS v6.22 using "high" from
within config.sys - I can use "umb" but not "high". Never did
figure out why though. In theory it should work but it doesn't
for some reason on this machine. I just assumed it's a memory
conflict of some sort.  I  moved from an 80386 to a Pentium 5
here.  Could be a W31 vs Pentium problem?

CA>> I have one of the oldest ATI vid cards, the 1024, which
CA>> predates the 'wonder' series. There are places you can
CA>> look depending what model ATI you have. 

WC> 264VT-A4 here and search does not reveal a Win 3.1 driver. 

I will check for the URLs I used to search for ATI drivers. 

WC>> In Linux should I get X-Win running in March on the new
WC>> drive I'll install a complete Linux 8.1 Sad too is the
WC>> fact the PCI software modem doesn't have a DOS or Win 3.1
WC>> driver but it DOES have a Linux driver :-) 

CA>> If it was an ISA soft-modem (I assume you mean Rockwell)
CA>> it would have both DOS and W31 drivers. 

WC> PCI and no 3.1 or DOS support. I've already telneted into
WC> the site. OTOH all the nifty Win 95 - 98 answering machine,
WC> voice software IS there. Had it here before the crash but
WC> will snag again. Perhaps Win 95 will install from this new
WC> CD-ROM drive but it balked on the old one as it's supposed
WC> just go into certain machines. 

I'm guessing you have an OEM version of W95? If you had W95SR2
(b) it is reputed to be a good stable and fast OS on the proper
machines. 

WC>> Only one thing remains of the original Packard Bell in
WC>> this "Dempsy Dumpster" PC and that's the SoundBlaster
WC>> sound card that I shall hookup to the CD-ROM tomorrow.
WC>> This machine has room for three hard drives in addition to
WC>> the CD-ROM bay. Basic Linux correctly ID'ed the 40X
WC>> CD-ROM. This machine should successfully deal with MP3's 

CA>> Ah, then you can critique my MP3 files. :-) 

WC> Well the crash lost my MP3 playyer as well. Need to snag
WC> that again as well as that "Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald"
WC> MP3. Getting the video resolution on Windows up and Sound
WC> off the CD-ROM take priority over that stuff. 

I can wait. :-) 

CA>> Two of the recordings I maintain at my website were
CA>> selected by the US Library of Congress to be preserved as
CA>> "...collections of sound recordings that are culturally,
CA>> historically, or aesthetically significant..." in their
CA>> first 50 selections. Not MY own personal versions but the
CA>> same selections. I am very happy that they agree with two
CA>> of my choices. 

WC> Kool. 

CA>> One is a recording of "Who's on First" by Abbott and
CA>> Costello and the other is Scott Joplin's piano rolls (I
CA>> have "Maple Leaf Rag" at my music page). :-) 

WC> When I get a chance but right now I've hardware priorities
WC> to be dealt with first. 

No rush. I was just 'bragging' that two of my choices were also
chosen by the Lib of Congress. :-) 

>
>        ,                                        ,
>      o/      Charles_Angelich  - DOS Ghost       \o       ,
>       __o/
>     / >  www.undercoverdesign.com/dosghost/faf/  < \   __\__
 

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