Results 1 to 4 of 4

Thread: Advice on 486

  1. 12-31-1999, 08:48 PM #1
    Eric H
    Eric H is offline
    Newbie
    Join Date
    Dec 1999
    Location
    Minneapolis, MN, USA
    Posts
    7

    Advice on 486

    I have an old Packard Bell "Multi-Media" 486 sitting around that I was considering using as a temporary mp3 player. It is a 33Mhz with a 100MB hard drive, 12MB of RAM, and a 2X cd rom drive, and a cheap sound card. What would it take to get this computer to be able to handle playing mp3's? I have mpxplay in a directory on it right now, but every time I try to load it the speakers just fuzz and then the system hangs.

    Is this computer pretty much hopeless? Would I be better of getting a used computer such as a p90 or p133 or faster from an auction (ebay, yahoo, or something)? I don't want to invest too much money in this old dust collector if I would be better off just getting a different system. Any advice is appreciated!

    -Eric H
    Reply With Quote Reply With Quote
  2. 12-31-1999, 09:35 PM #2
    crazybat
    crazybat is offline
    Newbie
    Join Date
    Dec 1999
    Location
    Chicago, IL, USA
    Posts
    17
    dont use a 486 and the windows operating system to play mp3's.....its going to be a bigger headache than you want. Grab a pentium class processor or better and use that...

    the 486 "MIGHT" work if you use a smaller footprint os like dos or linux, but to tell you the truth, get a bonfire going, and chuck it in.....its not worth it hehe

    just my two bits
    Reply With Quote Reply With Quote
  3. 12-31-1999, 11:18 PM #3
    mp3ford
    mp3ford is offline
    Low Bitrate
    Join Date
    Jul 1999
    Location
    Oakville Ontario Canada
    Posts
    109
    Send a message via ICQ to mp3ford
    486-DX33?

    It will work.

    Right after the cows come home, the morning after it rains beer, and finally when hell freezes over.

    Minimum specs are considered as follows:

    Dos 486 DX4-100 Mhz
    Linux P-75 Intel CPU
    Windows P-90 Intel CPU

    Avoid cyrix below 200 mhz like the plague.


    Reply With Quote Reply With Quote
  4. 12-31-1999, 11:29 PM #4
    err head
    err head is offline
    Newbie
    Join Date
    Dec 1999
    Location
    renton, wa, usa
    Posts
    13
    according to pricewatch, there's a couple places you can pick up 486dx100's for $24. If you can determine how to set the multiplier on the motherboard then this should allow you to get mpxplay to work according to mp3ford's info.

    The also have 133 upgrade chips which should work even if you aren't able to modify the multiplier, but they run $69.

    The other questionable thing is wether or not the sound card is soundblaster compatible enough to work with mpxplay
    Reply With Quote Reply With Quote
« Previous Thread | Next Thread »

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  

Forum Rules