Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie

Retro styled desktop build

Options
2»

Comments

  • Options
    #32
    TheBoyConor
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,292 ✭✭✭TheBoyConor


    Yeah thats right, and an awful lot of industrial machinery that's a few years old started out with taking their input from floppy disks. As they get rarer there are USB floppy emulators that are retrofitted into the equipment. Basically these are 3.5" drives with the 34 pin connector but they have a USB socket at the front to accept a flash drive as opposed to the traditional disk.

    This is an example: https://www.amazon.com/SFRM72-TU100K-Emulator-Industrial-Control-Equipment/dp/B008HYUDV2

    To complete the look, does anyone have any of the following that they'd be prepared to sell to me?
    - Microsoft Natural keyboard, or any old grey keyboard. If it has the dark grey keys around the edges all the better.
    - grey PC speakers
    - a grey SATA dvd or CD ROM drive


  • Options
    #33
    Shapey Fiend
    Registered Users Posts: 1,997 ✭✭✭Shapey Fiend


    I like the idea of beige box stealth PC's. Check out this one I saw on Youtube. Nice phone to match as well.



  • Options
    #34
    TheBoyConor
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,292 ✭✭✭TheBoyConor


    So I've been tipping away with this project over the last while. Adding outdated but functional components as well as modern high stuff.

    I managed to find a 3.5 floppy drive that I hooked up to the internal USB3 header using a 34 pin to USB adapter i got on ebay for €7.
    I found a CD-ROM drive with an IDE connection that i hooked up with a IDE to SATA adapter off of some other tech website for such small money I bought 2 of them. Handy for reading old IDE hard disks from scrapped PCs.
    Both work lovely.

    On the other side modern side, I've also installed a 240GB Samsumg Evo 970 NVMe SSD by means of a PCIe expansion adapter on the MB (my MB doesn't have a M2 slot)
    I hope to clone the OS onto the SSD in the coming weeks when I get a chance.

    I also got hold of a pair of lovely old grey retro looking PC speakers and a more retro looking keyboard.

    I will post a picture soon....


  • Options
    #35
    TheBoyConor
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,292 ✭✭✭TheBoyConor


    I've just acquired this lovely old DIN / PS2 connection keyboard off of adverts.ie.
    A good scrub up needed to remove the grime but I'm looking forward to hooking it up.
    PS2 will work in Windows 10 but I believe it needs a tweak to the registry to activate PS2 support.

    484251.jpg


  • Options
    #36
    TheBoyConor
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,292 ✭✭✭TheBoyConor


    Finally got a grey CRT monitor you complete the retro build. Here she is completed finally......

    Photos attached.....

    B7Q1xH7ThrtLKog3A

    B7Q1xH7ThrtLKog3A


  • Advertisement
  • Options
    #37
    Sonics2k
    Registered Users Posts: 8,241 ✭✭✭Sonics2k


    Jesus that takes me back.


  • Options
    #38
    Samuel T. Cogley
    Registered Users Posts: 10,684 ✭✭✭✭Samuel T. Cogley


    Careful with speakers close to a CRT. The PC ones are fine. Great build.


  • Options
    #39
    Skerries
    Registered Users Posts: 12,414 ✭✭✭✭Skerries


    bobble head pope for that retro feel
    Untitled Image




  • Options
    #40
    TheBoyConor
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,292 ✭✭✭TheBoyConor


    Thanks guys. For a while I was losing hope that it would be possible to get the likes of an old floppy drive to work with a modern MB and Win 10, but perseverance paid off in the end.

    Thanks for the warning on the big speaker. Doesn't seem to be any interference at this moment. I will keep an eye on it.
    As you will see I am using a Sony car stereo I got off of Adverts.ie as an amplifier for the sound output. I am running it off of a spare PSU I have. Works great, really awesome sound. I have tried various 5.1 and stereo amplifiers but the car stereo was the only one that I was really happy with.

    Would you believe, the hardest part to source was the monitor. I thought these would be lying in attics and garages everywhere but it seems that they are actually quite scarce nowadays. Luckily I picked this one up for free off of guy near Buttevant. I really underestimated the size of CRT monitors. I is freaking ENORMOUS and takes up so so much space on the desk. How did we live with these things!

    Unseen under the desk I also have a HP LaserJet 2100 which I have gotten to work on the LPT port which I installed onto the MB. It is a bit hit an miss with the working of it, I often get the "out of paper" error. Works flawlessly on the USB adapter cable though.

    I also picked up and old school Epson flat bed scanner which I managed to get working by fiddling around with different drivers and patches to make it work in Win 10.


  • Options
    #41
    TheBoyConor
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,292 ✭✭✭TheBoyConor


    At some stage I would like to rebuild the PC in a vertical minitower just for fun, as my first ever computer was a minitower.

    Would anyone happen to have an old grey/beige ATX or mATX case lying around that they would be willing to give or sell?


  • Advertisement
Advertisement