best cheap/free scores 1.1

[momaka]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

160W/ch??? Nice!
Old receivers are great, and this is a neat-looking unit!

...and tomorrow will hook up real speakers and see how many fluorescent tubes we can shake out of their sockets!

I see this receiver can go down to 4 Ohms. In that case, grab 2 pairs of oldschool big high-efficiency speakers and hook up both A and B outputs. Might even knock out some tooth fillings too .

[Topcat]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

I've been sorting some stuff that I've brought down from the attic in the shop....found some interesting relics..... Crap I totally forgot I had... Most was just junk....but here's some of the unique "picks of the litter" I've found:

* Voodoo 3500 with the dongle
* PAIR of Voodoo 2's, the original SLI
* A WORKING Compaq 386. Not sure of the processor speed, but has 8mb RAM
* Tyan Tomcat dual socket7 motherboard, dont know if it still works
* Tons of old modems, NIC's, and a boat ore sound blaster AWE32!!

Still quite a few boxes I havent even looked through yet.

[shovenose]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

I've been sorting some stuff that I've brought down from the attic in the shop....found some interesting relics..... Crap I totally forgot I had... Most was just junk....but here's some of the unique "picks of the litter" I've found:

* Voodoo 3500 with the dongle
* PAIR of Voodoo 2's, the original SLI
* A WORKING Compaq 386. Not sure of the processor speed, but has 8mb RAM
* Tyan Tomcat dual socket7 motherboard, dont know if it still works
* Tons of old modems, NIC's, and a boat ore sound blaster AWE32!!

Still quite a few boxes I havent even looked through yet.

Boat ore?

[Agent24]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Boat ore?

Yeah I don't get that one either!

[Topcat]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_Blaster_AWE32

After reading, I'm sure you'll understand....if not, I guess you've never seen a full length ISA card.

[Sparkey55]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_Blaster_AWE32

After reading, I'm sure you'll understand....if not, I guess you've never seen a full length ISA card.

I would bet that the young folks are still wondering what that funny piece of plastic with all those slots cut in was for inside those old computer cases in the bottom front.

[goontron]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

god, i knew what it was right off the bat, and im 17!
i mean it only IMO the best ISA audio card out there. the best PCI-E IMO is the SB recon 3D.

[Agent24]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

I have seen and do own several large cards, as well as some cases which include the support rack for them.

However I did not think on it too hard, the funny spelling of 'Oar' threw me off, and I started thinking about metal ores, which in connection with 'boat' made me think of 'Boat anchor' - not something I would associated with a card, except perhaps a "Hardcard" or UPS card, such as the Emerson AccuCard.

[stj]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

I would bet that the young folks are still wondering what that funny piece of plastic with all those slots cut in was for inside those old computer cases in the bottom front.

those are for my MYLEX raid cards

[brethin]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

I've been sorting some stuff that I've brought down from the attic in the shop....found some interesting relics..... Crap I totally forgot I had... Most was just junk....but here's some of the unique "picks of the litter" I've found:

* Voodoo 3500 with the dongle
* PAIR of Voodoo 2's, the original SLI
* A WORKING Compaq 386. Not sure of the processor speed, but has 8mb RAM
* Tyan Tomcat dual socket7 motherboard, dont know if it still works
* Tons of old modems, NIC's, and a boat ore sound blaster AWE32!!

Still quite a few boxes I havent even looked through yet.

If your boxes are as old as some of mine then you may have some collectables:

ISA and VESA MFM and RLL HD Controllers and Hard Drives.
ISA and VESA Video Cards (Yep the SLI Voodoo 2's were nice back then).
5 1/4'' and 8'' Floppy Drives (Even the disks for these seem rare now).
ISA and VESA Extended Memory RAM Cards.

I was sad to see
PCI overtake VESA
PCI-E overtake VGA Pro and PCI-X
ATX overtake BTX
SDRAM overtake RDAM / RIMM
etc..

Seems over the years the cheaper has won over better quality and speed
holding back on innovation for the sake of sales.

[Compgeke]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

ATX never really overtook BTX. BTX was just kind of there when ATX was but never took off.

ATX did replace the AT setup though.

[ratdude747]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Off topic bit on newer connections (from the point of view of an EET major who has taken classes on this stuff):

Nah, it's not just lower cost but improved performance in most cases. PCIe's main advantage is fewer connections, as (from a hardware design point of view) it's very difficult to make large parallel systems run well, as you're as slow and as functional as the slowest/most broken data line and it's far more challenging to coordinate in some cases. However, with today's technology, it's far more feasible to make a super high speed serial connection. Less is more in this case, hence why USB, 1394, SATA, SAS, and PCIe are all serial in nature.

Back in older days the technology to get such fast data rates (per data line) wasn't there yet, and it made sense to go to the trouble of making super-complex parallel systems... However, as data rates improved, the limitations of parallel became a bottleneck, most of them being crosstalk between data lines, durability/cost of connectors (addressed with firewire and USB), cable/trace length restrictions, Physical size limitations (due to the large number of connections), and data-rate limitations (due to the high frequency and the behavior of such, also why you won't see a >5GHz CPU any time soon).

That's why new standards are adopted and old ones "retired", as technology improves, we find better ways to make devices communicate. The serial revolution is pretty much over, as the only parallel data systems still in use in new designs (PC's at least) is for RAM where the limitations of parallel are less of an issue and serial wouldn't keep up. Now, the new technology to watch is with fiber-optics, as copper itself has restrictions not found (or far less) in fiber optics. We already have optical audio and fibre channel (and whatever is used for networks)... someday I imagine both internal and external devices will have optical cables, not copper cables.

(that was longer than I intended, but I hope you get the point)

[shovenose]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Got a free almond router. What a genius intuitive device. mediocre performance but that doesn't matter.

[Agent24]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Can it route cashew nuts as well?

[kc8adu]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

set it to route them over here.
i will place a bucket under my router...

Can it route cashew nuts as well?

[kc8adu]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

i think he meant oar.
i still work on stuff with full isa cards.
old cnc i/o and motion controls.

Boat ore?

[ratdude747]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

set it to route them over here.
i will place a bucket under my router...

Send the almonds here (as I'm allergic to cashews)...

[Topcat]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

set it to route them over here.
i will place a bucket under my router...

If peanuts go through, I'll take some of those, preferably salted.

[ratdude747]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

I'll also take some shelled walnuts too.

[shovenose]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Can it route cashew nuts as well?

Lol, yes, if you put cashew in Ethernet port it goes faster.