AdLib soundcard Original 1990 with Box

This is like the 3rd or 4th one that's come up in the past month or so (not all with retail box).
 
It's the knock-on effect at work. Someone is casually browsing a forum like this and sees where someone sold a really ancient piece of hardware for a gold nugget and immediately starts digging through their box(es) of old stuff to see if they can also cash in on that. If I had kept all of my old hardware around, I'd be independently wealthy by now. You ever see what a freaking slot-ket (Intel Socket 370 to Slot 1 Adapter) is going for!?
 
adlibs regularly turn up on ebay. knock-on effect for sure too, because a casual wouldn't expect that card to be worth anything. It's practically glue logic with the worlds most ubiquitous yamaha chip.

the funny thing, can you imagine how many are buried in landfills that had nothing wrong with them prior to being tossed? This wasn't a rare card at all.
 
Mode13 said:
adlibs regularly turn up on ebay. knock-on effect for sure too, because a casual wouldn't expect that card to be worth anything. It's practically glue logic with the worlds most ubiquitous yamaha chip.

the funny thing, can you imagine how many are buried in landfills that had nothing wrong with them prior to being tossed? This wasn't a rare card at all.
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Roland MT-32s in working condition go for $300 on ebay. The economy of it doesn't make sense.

If you lived through that era, you'd know that owning a Roland MT-32 made you a badass. If you owned an Adlib, it meant you, like anyone else that used their PC for gaming, had something better than an onboard speaker.
 
Absalom said:
Roland MT-32s in working condition go for $300 on ebay. The economy of it doesn't make sense.

If you lived through that era, you'd know that owning a Roland MT-32 made you a badass. If you owned an Adlib, it meant you, like anyone else that used their PC for gaming, had something better than an onboard speaker.
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Yep and the MT-32 and Sound Canvas (SC-55 / SC-88) were actually extremely expensive when they were new. interesting how that works.

I still have an SC-55 laying around, don't care much for the sound of the MT-32 short of a selection of games that would make it nice to own.

adlib also sounds atrocious through headphones, much prefer a Vibra 16 w/ yamaha YMF262 and far superior line filtering.

still... would be nice to have one just because. Ours went the way of the dinosaur when the XT/286 got junked.
 
Mode13 said:
Yep and the MT-32 and Sound Canvas (SC-55 / SC-88) were actually extremely expensive when they were new. interesting how that works.

I still have an SC-55 laying around, don't care much for the sound of the MT-32 short of a selection of games that would make it nice to own.

adlib also sounds atrocious through headphones, much prefer a Vibra 16 w/ yamaha YMF262 and far superior line filtering.

still... would be nice to have one just because. Ours went the way of the dinosaur when the XT/286 got junked.
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Ahh yes, the SC-55. Doom still sounds great through one of those. That was the dream setup.
 
I don't understand. Why are people paying more than like $2 for this?

It's not like it's a classic car or something. Obsolete PC hardware is just junk.
 
I'll bite...

history, uniqueness, and now scarcity bringing the collectors along (all of these items are now appreciable investments to collectors..)

dosbox sound emulation is pretty damned good now but its not perfect. Most people collecting isa soundcards are going for authentic sound when they play vintage games. Modern sound cards do not have the yamaha OPL synth chips, they have merely been emulated ( usually horribly) since the late 90s.

I still have my 486, its the pc i learned how to program on and I love the history and learning about older systems.. There's something nostalgic and stress relieving about firing up that old black screen and blinking cursor.. no discord, email, Facebook spam to drive me insane.. just fire up doom and kick back.

Lastly, to somebody who doesn't absolutely appreciate a classic car, classic cars are just obsolete junk. Young guys call my 01 SS Camaro a "dinosaur" and scoff at it while to me the car is fully modern.. Classic cars consume far too much fuel, have horrible suspension, steer like boats, lack all modern electronics, etc etc etc. You see classic cars the way computer historians and vintage hardware enthusiasts see classic PCs.. if you can understand that then maybe you can see why people still love their old computer.

Note: I'm not willing to pay big money for my retro hobby. The fun for me is in getting dirt cheap obscurities that aren't topping the mainstream charts for retro guys.
 
also this was boxed

s-l1600.jpg


s-l1600.jpg
 
Maybe I should sell my old voodoo 5 and voodoo 3's then....

I'm certainly never going to use them again.

No boxes though...
 
Zarathustra[H] said:
Maybe I should sell my old voodoo 5 and voodoo 3's then....

I'm certainly never going to use them again.

No boxes though...
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Prices on those has gone up exponentially over the past few years.. I'd just hold them a little longer and take more profit if you don't care for them. Lots of the people buying these things on ebay are hoarding them, they make posts on forums like Vogons showing off their giant collections. Voodoo 5 is becoming harder and harder to find in the wild...

Or hook me up with the v3 on the cheap so I can actually test glide mode on the "retro" game engine I've written, :p
 
Mode13 said:
Prices on those has gone up exponentially over the past few years.. I'd just hold them a little longer and take more profit if you don't care for them. Lots of the people buying these things on ebay are hoarding them, they make posts on forums like Vogons showing off their giant collections. Voodoo 5 is becoming harder and harder to find in the wild...

Or hook me up with the v3 on the cheap so I can actually test glide mode on the "retro" game engine I've written, :p
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Lol. Last time I used one of my two Voodoo 3's was when my server (based on an AMD FX-8120 at the time) needed video card to boot :p
 
Zarathustra[H] said:
Lol. Last time I used one of my two Voodoo 3's was when my server (based on an AMD FX-8120 at the time) needed video card to boot :p
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That tells me you have a PCI V3 which is harder to come by than the AGP version. I'd like to put one of those in my ancient pentium pro rig that I've used for my fun little retro game project, but as noted, prices are too damned high.

I use my old S3 virge pci cards for the same reason, just to make sure a system is able to boot.
 
Mode13 said:
That tells me you have a PCI V3 which is harder to come by than the AGP version. I'd like to put one of those in my ancient pentium pro rig that I've used for my fun little retro game project, but as noted, prices are too damned high.

I use my old S3 virge pci cards for the same reason, just to make sure a system is able to boot.
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I went down to the basement to check out the old Voodoo's. I found my two Voodoo 3 PCI boards and my old Matrox Millennium board but I can't find the Voodoo5 :nailbiting:

I hope I didn't throw it out. I don't think I would have.

I did have a pipe burst in the basement about a year and a half ago, and I threw out a ton of shit, but I think I would have remembered throwing out the Voodoo 5. I need to do some organizing down there, it's quite a mess...
 
Zarathustra[H] said:
I went down to the basement to check out the old Voodoo's. I found my two Voodoo 3 PCI boards and my old Matrox Millennium board but I can't find the Voodoo5 :nailbiting:

I hope I didn't throw it out. I don't think I would have.

I did have a pipe burst in the basement about a year and a half ago, and I threw out a ton of shit, but I think I would have remembered throwing out the Voodoo 5. I need to do some organizing down there, it's quite a mess...
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Hurricane Sandy robbed me of most of my goodies back in 2012 or so :p

if you ever decide to sell those pci cards here let me know, maybe when I have some money on tap I'll take one.

It's funny how expensive the 5000s are. I remember them being on sale for $129 at my local store not too long after release in 2000. Rare due to nobody buying them and going for the GeForce 2 IIRC. Hopefully you find it..
 
SamuelL421 said:
Fbody platform was already ancient in ‘01... but I still drool over those later SS and especially that “WS6” trans am.
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True re fbody. I'm more keen to the look appeal of fourth gen camaros over the newer gens anyway.. that WS6 too, just so appealing visually with that violent looking hood.. looks like a pissed off bull to me.

I have an SLP triple black SS.. love that car..

Anyway point is old trash to some is beauty to others....
 
SamuelL421 said:
Fbody platform was already ancient in ‘01... but I still drool over those later SS and especially that “WS6” trans am.
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Well considering that the underlying platform is largely a carry over from the third generation cars (1982-1992), it's hard to argue that point. That said, I have a soft spot for all of those cars. I used to have a Firehawk Trans Am, back when they were new. Like I said, they were ancient then. Compared to a modern muscle car, it feels like your driving something from the 60's.
 
Dan_D said:
Well considering that the underlying platform is largely a carry over from the third generation cars (1982-1992), it's hard to argue that point. That said, I have a soft spot for all of those cars. I used to have a Firehawk Trans Am, back when they were new. Like I said, they were ancient then. Compared to a modern muscle car, it feels like your driving something from the 60's.
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Ah so that's what you meant :p

Yeah good point, I was thinking when I typed my last reply how much better the newer cars are re handling. The 01 really is like a "lead sled" by today's standard. I'd like to drop the body kit from the WS6 he mentioned on top of the new LT1 and suspension.. mmm.. 376 w/ 455hp@6000 455lb-ft@4400 right from the factory... mmmmmmmm.

I'll trade my retro hardware for that :p
 
Actually, third and fourth generation F-bodies still handle pretty well if you set one up right. They are far lighter than modern cars too. The biggest problem is that adding more power brings with it a number of problems that have to be addressed. Mainly, chassis stiffness. The brakes are also not great either, but that's an easy, albeit somewhat expensive fix.
 
I'm no expert and these things are super easy to clone.. however, looks totally authentic to me. The way the yamaha IC is scratched out is pretty much exactly how they did it, the proper 43/90 date on it puts it as an early release of the 1990 model, which looks to be before they stopped scratching out yamaha (I've only seen date code 91 ones with the chip exposed, edit.. after browsing google, it seems they stopped scratching them out around 48/90.. but who knows if some are scratched and others aren't from same batches). The box is dated 1990. Has dust on the volume knob, backet, and pcb in photo.. That would be a ton of effort the the seller to put together the original box and guide, aged looking card with matching dates, etc etc, just to get $500 on a one time deal :p

I'm assuming it has text on the PCB below the adlib inc saying mod-900808 ( i believe that's the number)

The only interesting thing is the glue logic ICs, it has multiple different brands. I don't think anything of that though, because I've seen them with all of these brands and sometimes a mix of 2 or 3, always with the Texas Instruments amp.. I feel like somebody trying to make a knockoff would have went for matching ICs like this 1991 model has:
1280px-Adlib_sound_card_version_1.5.jpg


or (interesting, 49/90 without the IC scratched out)

adlibcard.jpg


but this one owned by LGR also has a mixture of ICs.
 
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Mode13 said:
adlibs regularly turn up on ebay. knock-on effect for sure too, because a casual wouldn't expect that card to be worth anything. It's practically glue logic with the worlds most ubiquitous yamaha chip.

the funny thing, can you imagine how many are buried in landfills that had nothing wrong with them prior to being tossed? This wasn't a rare card at all.
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Key word is wasn't. Most of them have been long thrown away. Its to the point you have reproduction cards being made now which are under 100 bucks.

Zarathustra[H] said:
I don't understand. Why are people paying more than like $2 for this?

It's not like it's a classic car or something. Obsolete PC hardware is just junk.
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People trying to relive their past. They want to play on the old school hardware to get the same experience they had. Same with retro console gamers or all sorts of other things. I have a few arcade machines in my back room. Its a different experience playing on them vs a pc with mame. Now you have this guy out too. https://monotech.fwscart.com/NuXT_-...,_SVGA,_Floppy,_Serial/p6083514_19777986.aspx

Lets people relive their old stuff. Personally I think its cool. Honestly if someone makes a micro atx board like that for a late model 486 or early Pentium I could see myself building a system off it maybe. Something that a lot of the games of my past could run on perfectly. To be fair the later stuff isn't as big of a deal, people mentioned the MT-32, scummvm emulates it for the point and click games which is awesome. Dosbox with munt can get you it as well although I haven't tried it.

I mean one can argue that a lot of old classic cars are junk, unreliable junk on modern gas where the ethanol will tear up the carbs. The suspension is going to suck, they are not very fast, and the brakes on a lot of them are horrible. I remember this article from years ago. https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/articles/soccer-moms-revenge/ Look at how great those classic sports cars did against a fucking mini van.

I know people who like to restore old lawn mowers and others that like old tractors. Neither are my thing but they enjoy it and who am I to judge? Others like old guns which are clearly not as good as modern ones.
 
swatbat said:
Key word is wasn't. Most of them have been long thrown away. Its to the point you have reproduction cards being made now which are under 100 bucks.



People trying to relive their past. They want to play on the old school hardware to get the same experience they had. Same with retro console gamers or all sorts of other things. I have a few arcade machines in my back room. Its a different experience playing on them vs a pc with mame. Now you have this guy out too. https://monotech.fwscart.com/NuXT_-...,_SVGA,_Floppy,_Serial/p6083514_19777986.aspx

Lets people relive their old stuff. Personally I think its cool. Honestly if someone makes a micro atx board like that for a late model 486 or early Pentium I could see myself building a system off it maybe. Something that a lot of the games of my past could run on perfectly. To be fair the later stuff isn't as big of a deal, people mentioned the MT-32, scummvm emulates it for the point and click games which is awesome. Dosbox with munt can get you it as well although I haven't tried it.

I mean one can argue that a lot of old classic cars are junk, unreliable junk on modern gas where the ethanol will tear up the carbs. The suspension is going to suck, they are not very fast, and the brakes on a lot of them are horrible. I remember this article from years ago. https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/articles/soccer-moms-revenge/ Look at how great those classic sports cars did against a fucking mini van.

I know people who like to restore old lawn mowers and others that like old tractors. Neither are my thing but they enjoy it and who am I to judge? Others like old guns which are clearly not as good as modern ones.
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I fail to see what this accomplishes that I can't do with Dosbox for free.
 
Zarathustra[H] said:
I fail to see what this accomplishes that I can't do with Dosbox for free.
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What does some shitty pos american sports car from the 70's accomplish that well any new car can't do better?

With a lot of this retro gaming a modern pc is going to not run it the same. Big area is going to be the monitor. A lot of these graphics were designed for crts and don't look as good. Yes you could attach an old crt to a modern machine but most are not going to. People want to use old joysticks, they want to hear the sound of the disk drives, etc.

Some of the software just isn't going to run right on dosbox for various reasons.

Now personally I wouldn't hunt down that soundcard when a reproduction is a lot cheaper. Some people want original though.

I used to have a friend that had more than one complete apple 2 setup. I've had to repair one of its floppy drives for him. There is something different about using the old school hardware.
 
Zarathustra[H] said:
I fail to see what this accomplishes that I can't do with Dosbox for free.
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Honestly, Dosbox AdLib emulation is not perfect. It's pretty close, but there are a few games that I have that sound distinctly different on real hardware vs Dosbox emulated hardware, piped through the same amplifier system.
 
she arrived!
 

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Righteous. Hold on to that puppy.

That was the card that made the PC go from crap to viable against the likes of the Amiga or game consoles (along with VGA). It will be forever in the hearts of true enthusiasts!
 
erek said:
she arrived!
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I'm not claiming to be an expert, but from those photos it looks authentic. There's enough wear and aging to convince me it's the real deal. Sometimes you just can't be 100% certain from lousy ebay photos. The box really seals the deal though.
 
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