/r/retrobattlestations

Photograph via snooOG

Show off your old-school computer rig! Dig out your retro computers and set them up, or dig out your vintage photos from when your computer was new!

The RetroBattlestations community is about using, repairing, replicating, emulating, and reminiscing about retro & vintage battlestations. Posts should be about using retro equipment or news about retro stuff, whether it’s personal projects, new products, old articles, or reusing old hardware in new ways.

Feel free to show off your machines, but please keep your posts about actual battlestations. No pictures of old software, documentation, accessories, unless a complete battlestation is included.

"Wanted" posts and free items for pickup are ok (as text/self posts, include your location & [Wanted] or [Free] in title), but "for sale" posts, ebay links, or "what's this stuff worth" posts are not. No you didn't just find a pot of gold or win the lottery, and if you did, there's a better place for that.

Looking for more Retro Computing subreddits? Check out this huge multi! Not enough Retro Gaming action here? Check out retrogaming!

Be sure to check out the BBS! It supports old-school dialup modem access, as well as telnet & web!

Looking for help?

When you're asking a question or starting a discussion you need to make a "self" or text post. Feel free to ask for help with getting an old computer or game console resurrected or how to get old software into an emulator.

Challenges and Contests

Calendar of upcoming events

Complete list of past contests

Need software for your old computer?

If you know more old software resources not listed, please share!

/r/retrobattlestations

95,027 Subscribers

0

Monterey K104 AT Keyboard not working with a modern computer

I've recently acquired an old Monterey K104 mechanical keyboard, and I've had some trouble getting it to work on my modern Windows 10 machine.

I have it plugged in with an AT to PS/2 Adapter, with the AT/XT switch on the bottom set to AT (it also has an S option, haven't found what this means yet). It's detected in device manager as a standard PS/2 keyboard, and the NUM/CAPS Lock lights light up when I press them on my regular keyboard, but nothing happens when I press any of the keys. I've also tried a PS/2-USB adapter, but I think the keyboard part of that has been busted for at least 10 years and the lights don't even light up. I'm plugging it in only when the computer is off, too.

I even tried a registry editor trick I found on google, setting the "Start" DWORD in Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\i8042prt to 1 or 0 and restarting, but that didn't help either.

I have plenty of retro systems with PS/2 and AT that I can test it with, but I won't have access to them for at least a few days, and I'd like to know if there's anything I'm missing. For reference, my motherboard is an ASRock Fatal1ty X470 Gaming-ITX/ac.

0 Comments
2024/10/30
21:41 UTC

3

CPU Fan Compatible with Socket 370 for 1.4 GHZ Tualatin

Hello wonderful people, I'm nearing my computer build, but I was trying to find a CPU fan that is compatible with my CPU.

I notice there are a couple Startech CPU's that are compatible with the Socket 370, I was wondering if any of you wonderful people had any experience and see if they work?

I see the TX3 Size and the TX3 & LP4 sizes.

Any of those do you think would work? Or do you have other preferences I should look into.

Thank you.

2 Comments
2024/10/30
20:56 UTC

2

Where's to find .bmp wallpaper for Windows 95

Hi,
I'm sick of the classics Windows 95 wallpapers. So i wanted to change it. But, windows 95 seems to only accept bitmap pictures. And all the old websites with a collection of wallpaper only have jpeg pictures.

Then i deciced to convert files from jpeg to bmp. This is easy, with tools online or software to download. But all my new bmp files have been refused by windows 95 to be wallpapers !

So, is there some tricks to convert a proper bmp file for Windows 95, or a library online with wallpapers ready to use for Win95 ?

9 Comments
2024/10/30
17:33 UTC

360

Still going at it

18 Comments
2024/10/30
05:38 UTC

53

18,4" Battle Station from 2009 - Core 2 Extreme QX9300, GT 130M. Runs Stray at 0.3fps :D

8 Comments
2024/10/29
20:33 UTC

100

Listening to some Apple IIgs tracks, as one does

10 Comments
2024/10/28
16:16 UTC

3

Discovered a very strange IBM 2121 PS/1 system. Need help to get it working.

Hey folks, Two days ago I bought a complete IBM 2121 system, mainly for the peripherals, as it came with a Model M keyboard and a funny giant two button mouse IBM made in the early 90’s.

After I unpacked it thought, I become quite interested in the system as-well, as it reminded me a lot of a fallout terminal and I wanted to see if it works, tried to start it, but didn’t understand where the PSU cable was supposed to go, after some reading I was baffled to find out that the power supply was integrated into the monitor itself. 😵‍💫

Plugged it all in and was disappointed to find, that the monitor worked as intended but the system received zero power.

The same night I was studying the model online, only to find out it was very badly documented.

So hyped to see what I have, I went back to my storage unit the very next day to see the numbers of my machine.

Sadly though, the numbers on my machine do not match up anything online, not even on the peripherals, so obviously it seems that these serial and board numbers are specific for the Bulgarian market, as the keyboard has the Bulgarian language integrated into the keycaps as well.

I even found out that the keyboard I own might be a cheaper version of the model M, manufactured for the PS/1 system specifically.

After some digging I found the serial number of my keyboard on the IBM website stated it was the Bulgarian version of the IBM Enhanced Keyboard so it must be a genuine Model M V2, if not please correct me.

So with all that said, I would be delighted if someone can assist me, in order for me to identify what I have here and if possible to also give me a couple of tips or solutions on what to do, in order to make the system functional again.

First thing I am thinking of doing is changing the CMOS battery on the MOBO, as I found out the clock circuit is quite an important thing for these boards to function properly.

I am posting some pictures of serial codes and the machine as a whole and a video of the starting process of the PC.

Video of boot attempt (YouTube)

Pics:

https://preview.redd.it/7bm5chxezhxd1.jpg?width=4284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ffd93dd8b16ad075bf35100c472fcbbd023f8f22

https://preview.redd.it/23dpmhxezhxd1.jpg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=22686f81e0902096c39d024aec0cc90853d07055

https://preview.redd.it/x3766gxezhxd1.jpg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3175815a2ef72b56ea2a4a46c3bec0539a136744

https://preview.redd.it/d3me0hxezhxd1.jpg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=457dff45c0ea9935d9d4208e0ec46b4efd173faa

https://preview.redd.it/5a9odhxezhxd1.jpg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=73d161703da64dfb0454825ce7361f2236698297

https://preview.redd.it/3rw75hxezhxd1.jpg?width=4284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b16a93d5154a8824d5be99e0c566ad1e0a3ae815

https://preview.redd.it/isn4whxezhxd1.jpg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2ddb01130d92b42aff4b932a26b389e82798448e

https://preview.redd.it/ltghlixezhxd1.jpg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=02e6660a9966e07cb03e603549d131f1aeaf7fec

https://preview.redd.it/l7q8qixezhxd1.jpg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5bd21dfcebdce895f2e93954a4c4fa77f8c71832

https://preview.redd.it/3hww9jxezhxd1.jpg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1b766623409b3a8f2a78896e722dc355e6a34f68

https://preview.redd.it/j5vheixezhxd1.jpg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=dd0eba1e1cb38acc6f7d3651062df6c448f2d8a6

https://preview.redd.it/hzs51mxezhxd1.jpg?width=5712&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a2b781edf26c7cd94fdcbe3ffcb856bb974323fb

https://preview.redd.it/1sh5ulxezhxd1.jpg?width=5712&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=75fcd0e6e90e9e1623886dc6cf51948a8859394a

https://preview.redd.it/sdqcdvyezhxd1.jpg?width=5712&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=19f6abf69962776664207794a77145ba2a6472d2

https://preview.redd.it/6vlk0mxezhxd1.jpg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a9c094db3f8341191f14689dbe81ed8321a945ba

https://preview.redd.it/ekaacrxezhxd1.jpg?width=5712&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3b72b55e6a285987432ae2692057dd87a4c9794d

https://preview.redd.it/5uyxxvyezhxd1.jpg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b43ee5faa1eb278cc73bc103a6fc1b7d07626288

Excited to see this one alive again, thanks in advance guys! 👌

10 Comments
2024/10/28
13:18 UTC

7

What would be the best card to pair with a 3DFX Voodoo 1 ?

Hi,

I'm currently trying to make a battle station from an Olivetti Xana 53.

Pentium 166, 256kb of cache with a COAST, 64mb of EDO RAM (4x16mb)

Now for the graphic card i want to use a 3DFX Voodoo 4mb from Maxi Gamer, i have to pair it with an another PCI graphic card.

I have the choice between an ATi Rage IIc + DVD or an ATI Rage Pro PCI 8+8Mb

I want your opinion, what would the most accurate graphic card to pair with the Voodoo ?

9 Comments
2024/10/27
19:25 UTC

224

Bryce 1.0 on the Quadra 700

13 Comments
2024/10/27
16:00 UTC

1

Searching for the tower case of my childhood PC

For a number of years now I've been trying to find the generic case that my first PC came in, but until now I'd been unable to even find any info online, and I only had the original cardboard box (which I still own) to go on. Now that I've finally found some images of it though I just want to reach out on the absolutely minuscule chance anyone out there knows of somewhere that has one of these cases for sale, or even just some info about which countries they were most commonly sold in so that I can keep searching.

Old Reddit doesn't seem to want to embed the photos correctly, but they are attached to the post below.

The one difference my case had was the clear plastic parts were purple instead of grey, but honestly I'd take either colour at this point. Should note that I'm in the UK, so I'm going to end up needing shipping even if it is just to a proxy, condition isn't much of a concern as I'll restore it if needed.

Grey button variant front

Original box of the purple variant

Grey button variant side

3 Comments
2024/10/27
09:45 UTC

137

Getting my family into the spooky Halloween mood the goofiest way I possibly can

7 Comments
2024/10/27
08:53 UTC

2

Problems copying or installing files from CD in W95 build

So I have this strange issue in the battle station I’m currently working on.

I’m aiming for a more-or-less period correct 1996 build (though I’ve made a couple of compromises for usability). This means Windows 95 OSR2.

The HDD has been replaced with an IDE-to-CF card adapter (I’m using an industrial rated CF card). Windows 95 installs without issue.

The problem comes when I try to install stuff afterward from the CD drive, or even copy files from it. During install I’ll get a “severe” error pop up saying it can’t copy “D:\Textures*.*” (the directory is arbitrary, this example was from sub culture but same issue with other programs -the install crashes out after failing to copy files). I also occasionally got a page fault error during install, but I’m not sure if that’s related.

For testing I tried copying the files from the CD, and quickly got a failure with “the device doesn't recognize the command”. I also every now and then got a “the destination is not ready” error.

I’ve pretty much eliminated hardware as the issue. I can install and run games from CD in DOS with zero issue (Dark Forces installed and run fine). I also have zero issues in Windows 98SE with the exact same hardware configuration. I can install and copy from CD just fine.

I’ve swapped IDE cables and well as IDE channels as well as tried various combinations of master/slave, and everything hardware-wise functions fine in 98SE.

I think the only thing I haven’t tried is not installing the W95 chipset drivers (which is basically the IDE driver).

Any thoughts?

I can go with 98SE, but I already have a late 98 era PC and was hoping to do this one late DOS/W95 era.

Specs: Pentium-S 150, 32MB RAM, ATI Graphics eXpression, Lucky Star 5I-VX1C main board, SB16C ISA sound card.

4 Comments
2024/10/27
00:36 UTC

47

980x in a Dark Fleet 85

7 Comments
2024/10/27
00:00 UTC

150

A Mac for work, and another for play

14 Comments
2024/10/26
10:17 UTC

393

A simple, mobile retro battle station from 2006

17 Comments
2024/10/26
09:28 UTC

2

Macintosh IIsi monitor

I recently got my hands on a Macintosh IIsi, and I've had trouble getting any display out of it. I got it with a DB15 to VGA adapter, so I've been trying to connect it to a 1920x1080 monitor (HP 24f) via that VGA connection.

Does anyone know why I haven't been able to get video out? Or how I could fix this?

5 Comments
2024/10/26
01:03 UTC

198

One of my fav power PC Mac’s I own :)

19 Comments
2024/10/25
21:42 UTC

0

Need help with Dell M2010!

So I picked up a Dell M2010, and when I turn it on I get this weird lines or afterimage kind of thing in the back. I would like to know if its the GPU or the screen is toast or the fact that I am only running it on a 120w power adapter (and it not getting enough power), because I haven't been able to buy a 150w one. It is mostly only seeable at bootup, but depending on the background you can also sometimes spot in during normal use, but not as much. And more so the afterimage side of it like in the picture with the windows logo to the left.

https://preview.redd.it/uu5711w78swd1.jpg?width=1920&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=df6b3a93ca6ee973cff12c4efaf7eb7996622b86

0 Comments
2024/10/24
22:38 UTC

1

Can I run a downloaded windows xp on my windows 11 pc?

I would like to play the game "Little Witch Parfait" on my PC. The game doesn't seem very well known so my only solution is to buy it in download version. The game is not very expensive but I would like to be sure to be able to launch it if I buy it. On the site it is written that the supported OS are: Windows 98SE/Me/2000/XP

12 Comments
2024/10/24
16:02 UTC

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