Uncreative Labs

Joined: 02 Oct 2004 Posts: 377 Location: Stuttgart, Germany

Hey there,

is anybody still out there visiting the board? I have noticed that we have not had a single new post over the last month.

Wheer has everybody gone to? Did vintage computing die or are all problems finallsy solved forever? Smile

I know I haven't been much of a contributor as far as old computers go, but I still enjoy reading the discussions.

Max

Posted: Sat Oct 20, 2012 6:56 am

I'm still around. I've been working on woodworking and model railroading more than computers, so haven't had any issues. Every once in a while I keep wondering if an article or series of articles about upgrading a system would be worthwhile on the website. It would start out with a relatively basic system and each article would focus on a different upgrade.

Joined: 02 Oct 2004 Posts: 377 Location: Stuttgart, Germany

The idea sounds good. A series would probably get people to come back periodically to see if a new article has been published.

What kind of system would you focus on? An IBM 5150 etc. or some less well known system?

Posted: Sun Oct 21, 2012 6:20 am

I don't know... I've got a 486 that needs to be run, no idea of the specs. Maybe an XT-class system, or perhaps I could get a generic 386 system from someone and start playing.

Joined: 02 Oct 2004 Posts: 377 Location: Stuttgart, Germany

XTs and 286s sound interesting. I think 486s might not be vintage enough. Although it might be fun to upgrade them to play 1990s-era games on authentic hardware (which some of them require).

Joined: 03 Feb 2006 Posts: 488 Location: pennsylvanai

I dired yo a hp 486 ib aug or sepot
it had a midding hold on the vga.
so I put ina a vga card
Intent was to test 72 pin ram one at a time.
changed to a gateway 496 and horsed around, got the data and maxed it out.
the ide was or became dead. add3ed a card.
tried a scsi drieb ands a 2g worked
but thr 4g 2g x 2g was a dead drive.
to set it up I took a newer pc and the driev was dead.
this led to another step as I was looking for a spicific fils.
nest DIVERTED step was to start baqcking up ALL my old cd-r.
Then I got a virus that KILLED a 40g driev.,
I fussed around and nrestored the files aqnd copies to another driev., there were STIULL 45 virii ? on the driev
I am being cautious., I copy 10-15g to a drive and scan it and clean and defrag it
mark it ans set it aside. when iyt is proven good ?
I copy evberything to an 80g drive.
eventually I will get back to a dos system use my colorado high speed tape controller and restore a lot of old tapes. awkward as I cannot choose a directory but a drive. I will restore a VOLUME unbder dos and copy it to another driev.. sinbce dos has a 2g limit
I know I can havea 4g drive. but can I have a 6 or 8g 2x2 x2 x2
the tapes are 120m /350m total.
so I can expect some driev swapping.
so I am busy.

Joined: 02 Oct 2004 Posts: 377 Location: Stuttgart, Germany

How long do these tapes last? Back when I used floppy disks on a regular basis they failed fairly quickly, so I am wondering how a tape is withstanding time. Are there many faulty sectors on a tape from let's say the early 90s?

Joined: 02 Oct 2004 Posts: 594 Location: Western NC

As with almost any magnetic or optical media, the durability of a tape to sustain data is directly proportional to the means in which it is stored. Tapes stored in a reasonably cool and dry environment will survive far longer than stored in a warm/damp one. Obviously there were quality tapes as well as poor ones. I read some data over 20 years old a couple years back from some 3M tapes I had; while "generic" ones were pretty much useless...

Joined: 03 Feb 2006 Posts: 488 Location: pennsylvanai

the most long lived media MAY be a hard drive, stored and not spinning.
I was given a big batch of floppies. stored where it was damp, only a few in a tight
plastic box would format.
a lady named sno left another forum in anger., as I said I would sent them all back to Sony for replacements.
her argument was I did not purchase them
My cd-r are being backed up to a hard driev. some date to just after 2000, Possibly a bit later. as I recall when I deparately wanted a cd rw drive.
I bought what was available.
NOW I know it is the manufacturer , boit the brand, that matters. some failes some worked. ordinary means often caused it 2-3 HOURS to copy 700m of data. Now I use fastcopy and it takes less time and goes past errors usually.
I just wal away and let it run by itself.
Tapes: my colorado Jumbo tapes. I gave up when I went "windows" it would not deal well with FILRES.
I will set up a DOS-onlyt machine with my recently " redicobered"
Colorado high speed jumperless isa tape controller.
as said I will need to transfer each "restored volume" out of the way .
as far as the sickening whine, I will set up that pc elsewhere and stop by to check it. we have space here, but the noise will driev us nuts.
this is a few days away as I still have 100 cd to back up.

Joined: 03 Jan 2008 Posts: 8

I think interest in old computers has inceased but a lot of folk seem to be unaware that Uncreative Labs exists. I've mentioned it a few times in other forums like VCF. Some nice community projects coming from it.

Uncreative Labs is certainly looks nicer and is quicker to navigate though.

Joined: 03 Feb 2006 Posts: 488 Location: pennsylvanai

I am now scrounging for MISC cd's so I can combimne the filkes for backing up to new dvd's as well as a sored set on a hard drive., than I can proceed to trying the tapes . I may have to move as that spot is needed so we can run the coal stove. first few weels we will burn everything else
and then the coal when it is below freezing here
and boy do we have old boxes.
I have considered setting up a semi-0vintage pc in a far corner of the house as that :"tape whine" is annoying.

I can than see if I can get the old gateway 486 running better.