3DO Blaster project

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Primergy
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3DO Blaster project

Post by Primergy » Wed Mar 26, 2008 4:47 am

I want to dedicate this thread to my plan/project, building a PC with a 3DO Blaster card!

Most important ingredient: Creative Labs 3DO Blaster card
I have at least 3 of those cards, all untested and all potentially dead,
since none of them have ever been tested by me.

As for now they are NOT for sale - I might think about it once I have a machine up and running and tested them all!

Eep, I just realized I "only" have 2 boards here - in the US!
The rest most likely is still in one of several already packed packages at a friends house over in Germany, waiting to be shipped!
(moved over a few months ago)

Here is some proof... 2 cards, inner boxes, controllers and cables.
http://h8h.org/jan/moeb/DSC00759_resize.JPG
http://h8h.org/jan/moeb/DSC00760_resize.JPG

I also have a few Creative / Panasonic CDR-563B CD-Roms in the garage, already shipped over from Germany
and a couple of compatible Creative Soundblaster cards.

Sorry for my English - after all, I am German...
Last edited by Primergy on Wed Mar 26, 2008 5:23 am, edited 1 time in total.

Primergy
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Post by Primergy » Wed Mar 26, 2008 5:22 am

Here is a bit of my plan:

Moherboard:
IBase MB 800 or MB820
( I have several of both flying around - RMA returns, untested,
potentially dead - but had good experiences with other IBase RMA stuff 8)

http://www.ibase.com.tw/mb800.htm
http://www.ibase.com.tw/mb820.htm

It is a P4 based motherboard, meant for the industry where you might want to combine old ISA hardware
(like a 3DO Blaster *g) with the power of a P4.
Yes, I know, the P4 wont do anything, playing 3DO games, but having a 2Ghz 3DO sounds cool
and with multi-boot (the Blaster Software requires Win3.11) I also might want to use the machine for MAME.
Case
Standard 4U rackmount case - short version!
Its sturdy, boxy and with the front handles you can also carry it around easily.
Soundcard
Creative Soundblaster AWE32
CD-Rom
There is only one choice - Creative / Panasonic / Matsushita CDR-563B
Harddrive
Something with 80-120GB - mainly for all MAME crap
Graphics
Well, I need a card with a 26pin VGA feature connector.
The fastest cards you find are for AGP and have ~32MB Ram.
Because of drivers etc. I might have to go for 2 separate cards.
An old PCI card with good Win3.11 drivers an something with decent acceleration for Mame.

I have no real Win3.11 experience and NO idea if this will work out.
Biggest problem I can see right now are the drivers & comparability of some listed hardware with Win3.11.

Be patient with me! It might take 2-3months to get it up & running!

Please feel welcome to post any comments, opinions, questions, information, etc. you have!

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bonefish
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Post by bonefish » Wed Mar 26, 2008 6:32 am

To avoid complications, you should probably stick to the requirements as much as possible. After all, the 3do Blaster was an unusual piece of hardware. A 3do on a board merely using your computer for input and output.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-Compaq-486- ... dZViewItem

I'd pick up a machine like the one above to use exclusively (or at least test the cards). Of course, I wouldn't buy that one, wayyyyyyy too much money!

Primergy
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Post by Primergy » Wed Mar 26, 2008 7:44 am

To avoid complications, you should probably stick to the requirements as much as possible.
True, but since I want both, 3DO and MAME, I will give the combination a try.
As you said - it merely interferes with the rest of the PC - the Blaster, Soundcard and CD-Rom create some kind of sub-system within the PC.
As long as I create it as the manual says, I should be ok.
Once I got Win3.11 up and running without drivers & hardware problems, the 3DO should also do.

I volunteer at http://www.vscavengers.org, they have huge amounts of hardware - from the mid 80s to Pentium 4s, you have a chance to find it there. An old system would always be at hand.

But hmm.. your view at it has one more point! Since I have no clue if the cards are running,
I should build some bulletproof old system according to the requirements and go from there, once I have results!
Off to bed with me, lets hope I wake up convinced to go for the more practical solution. :wink:

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bonefish
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Post by bonefish » Wed Mar 26, 2008 8:29 am

Yeah as long as the criteria is met all should be good to go! I think the only difficulty in building a dual purpose machine will be the 3do blaster requiring a VGA Feature Connector, some kind of old vesa crap. That pretty much limits your video cards to really old AGP video cards at best. Unless you run dual video cards :)

This could be an interesting project for ya! :D

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