exxos's Atari, Amiga & retro forum

I'll resist the urge to bring down the large collection of Marpet memory upgrades I've accumulated in the second hand ST purchases (or Carpet if autocorrect had its way... :roll: )

Though it might be worth it just to see the expression on @exxos's face... ;)

JezC wrote: 18 Sep 2025 13:38 I'll resist the urge to bring down the large collection of Marpet memory upgrades I've accumulated in the second hand ST purchases (or Carpet if autocorrect had its way... :roll: )

Though it might be worth it just to see the expression on @exxos's face... ;)

I had a box of them a while ago, I tend to bin them as I can't be bothered to unsolder them all for starters :lol:

exxos wrote: 18 Sep 2025 13:41

JezC wrote: 18 Sep 2025 13:38 I'll resist the urge to bring down the large collection of Marpet memory upgrades I've accumulated in the second hand ST purchases (or Carpet if autocorrect had its way... :roll: )

Though it might be worth it just to see the expression on @exxos's face... ;)

I had a box of them a while ago, I tend to bin them as I can't be bothered to unsolder them all for starters :lol:

Yes, they do seem to be very widely fitted in many of the STs ... especially the less-reliable ones...

I keep meaning to go through the SIMMs fitted to them....

JezC wrote: 18 Sep 2025 13:44

exxos wrote: 18 Sep 2025 13:41

I had a box of them a while ago, I tend to bin them as I can't be bothered to unsolder them all for starters :lol:

Yes, they do seem to be very widely fitted in many of the STs ... especially the less-reliable ones...

I keep meaning to go through the SIMMs fitted to them....

I just have the one that I really don't need, won't take much room in the car :)

More of a want than a sell, does anyone have a spare/unused AT (or even XT) motherboard I could buy off them, I have a number of MFM drives that I would like to test with some DOS software (spinrite, speedstor etc.) but my oldest PC is a Pentium and although it has ISA slot it doesn't have capacity on the motherboard BIOS for anything but IDE to be recognised. My Atari can see the majority of them fine and are usable its just the others, I want to exhaust all avenues before consigning them to the bin. . . .

Even a rental TBH and I can give it back at next years Cyber Event!

@jwd I've got a 486slc motherboard but you'll need the mfm controller card if that helps?

jwd wrote: 24 Sep 2025 09:01 More of a want than a sell, does anyone have a spare/unused AT (or even XT) motherboard I could buy off them, I have a number of MFM drives that I would like to test with some DOS software (spinrite, speedstor etc.) but my oldest PC is a Pentium and although it has ISA slot it doesn't have capacity on the motherboard BIOS for anything but IDE to be recognised.

Like @PhilC mentioned, another option would be an old MFM HDD ISA card for your Pentium board.

Im not sure I still have one, but I will certainly have a look for you when digging out stuff for CL. Keep your fingers crossed. :lol:

PhilC wrote: 24 Sep 2025 09:07 @jwd I've got a 486slc motherboard but you'll need the mfm controller card if that helps?

yes perfect, I have a MFM card already so am able to do certain things with the drive (direct access) but the actual machine motherboard won't recognise/see it as a HD due to it being a locked down firmware (specialised Compaq SFF).

Thanks Phil.

mrbombermillzy wrote: 24 Sep 2025 09:12

jwd wrote: 24 Sep 2025 09:01 More of a want than a sell, does anyone have a spare/unused AT (or even XT) motherboard I could buy off them, I have a number of MFM drives that I would like to test with some DOS software (spinrite, speedstor etc.) but my oldest PC is a Pentium and although it has ISA slot it doesn't have capacity on the motherboard BIOS for anything but IDE to be recognised.

Like @PhilC mentioned, another option would be an old MFM HDD ISA card for your Pentium board.

Im not sure I still have one, but I will certainly have a look for you when digging out stuff for CL. Keep your fingers crossed. :lol:

Thanks, more old stuff brought along the better! :)

jwd wrote: 24 Sep 2025 09:41

PhilC wrote: 24 Sep 2025 09:07 @jwd I've got a 486slc motherboard but you'll need the mfm controller card if that helps?

yes perfect, I have a MFM card already so am able to do certain things with the drive (direct access) but the actual machine motherboard won't recognise/see it as a HD due to it being a locked down firmware (specialised Compaq SFF).

Thanks Phil.

No worries. You might need to remind me a couple of days beforehand though