Re: How low can you go with modern, user-friendly Linux?

Posted on 2021-09-16, 02:30

by

by maximus

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

RE the original question: the bare minimum these days seems to be any 64-bit CPU and 2 GB of RAM. I'm writing this post on my Acer Aspire One 532h netbook from 2009. It has an Atom N450 and 2GB of RAM and runs Debian 11 with Xfce. The OS boots in less than a minute from the HDD and the desktop …

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Dimension 4650: A Compact Pentium 4 / AGP Build

Posted on 2021-09-04, 21:45

by

by maximus

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

Hi, all! It's been a while since I shared a build here. I wanted to show this one off because it has some interesting quirks and features. https://i.imgur.com/spV4dWIm.jpg https://i.imgur.com/9CpOVbdm.jpg I call this my Dimension 4650. It's a Dimension 4700 case with Dimension 4600 guts. My work …

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Re: Radeon drivers fail to install on Windows XP

Posted on 2021-08-21, 19:28

by

by maximus

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

I was having the same problem getting Catalyst 14.4 to work with a Radeon HD 8490 on an Optiplex 760 SFF with Windows XP SP3. rod's workaround worked for me. Thanks!

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Re: Rage Dawning demo on Windows XP?

Posted on 2021-05-17, 16:13

by

by maximus

in Marvin \ Software

in Marvin \ Software

Fixed. Sorry 'bout that!

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Re: Good value Win98 Graphic Card

Posted on 2021-03-04, 21:15

by

by maximus

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

Right. From a purely unscientific, gut feeling standpoint, the GeForce2 is also just a better bet for Windows 98 builds. It was released during Windows 98 and DirectX 7's lifetime, so that is where the driver development effort went. The GeForce4 MX belongs to the post-Windows XP, post-DirectX 8 …

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Re: Good value Win98 Graphic Card

Posted on 2021-03-04, 17:54

by

by maximus

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

GeForce2 Ti outperforms Pro by a wide margin? Indeed. Quake III Arena timedemo results from my Sempron 3000+ test system: 71.3 FPS -- GeForce4 MX420 83.8 FPS -- GeForce2 GTS 87.9 FPS -- GeForce2 Pro 103.0 FPS - GeForce2 Ti 120.7 FPS - GeForce2 Ultra 147.7 FPS - GeForce4 MX440 8x Agree with Joseph …

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Re: Good value Win98 Graphic Card

Posted on 2021-03-03, 03:57

by

by maximus

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

"Good value Win98 graphic card" GeForce2 GTS / Pro/ Ti cards are awesome for Windows 98. Pair with ForceWare 45.23 and you are good to go. These are some of the only good AGP cards that are still affordable. I got a couple on eBay within the last year for less than $20 US. (I'll stop now, I have …

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Rage Dawning demo on Windows XP?

Posted on 2021-02-11, 06:22

by

by maximus

in Marvin \ Software

in Marvin \ Software

I can only find two download links for ATI's Rage Dawning demo, created by 3DForge for the Rage 128: https://archive.org/download/R128Demo/R128Demo.rar https://soggi.org/video-cards/tech-demos.htm The Internet Archive version is part of my Windows 98 test kit. I've run it up on lots of systems with …

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Re: Do you keep your retro rigs offline?

Posted on 2021-01-27, 02:55

by

by maximus

in Milliways

in Milliways

I don't connect my Windows 98 and Windows XP systems to the LAN. Not really a security concern (nothing important on those systems anyways), it would just be extra work to set up and I don't see a compelling use case. Flash drives work great for day-to-day file transfers to and from modern Internet- …

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Choppy sound in Expendable and Star Wars: Episode I Racer

Posted on 2020-12-22, 03:16

by

by maximus

in Marvin \ Software

in Marvin \ Software

Expendable from Rage Software and Star Wars: Episode I Racer from LucasArts. Both great games. Both games I use to test Windows 98 and Windows XP systems. And strangely united by a recurring problem... These two games frequently have sound issues for me. Sounds and music are choppy and distorted. …

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Re: Best drivers for GeForce4 Ti4600

Posted on 2020-11-04, 16:34

by

by maximus

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

So with the MSI GeForce4 Ti 4600, I did have some stability problems, but they turned out to be cooling related. Those cards run pretty hot, and I had replaced the noisy (and probably barely adequate) aluminum stock cooler with a Chinesium one that was definitely not adequate. I remember having …

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Re: It is worth it to upgrade a SB PCI128 to a Live!?

Posted on 2020-11-03, 06:26

by

by maximus

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

Don't be too quick to ditch the PCI 128. Sound cards with the ES1371 and ES1373 chips are awesome for Windows 98 builds. Creative's latest Sound Blaster PCI 128 drivers are super solid and seem to work on all cards with those chips, even on integrated sound. Signal quality is generally excellent and …

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Re: Need Video card for P3-933mhz. computer ( 2001 )

Posted on 2020-11-03, 06:07

by

by maximus

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

+1 for the GeForce2 GTS. Good match for the CPU, perfect compatibility for Windows 98 games, and great performance at 1024x768x32. GeForce2 Ti is also good if you're looking for a little extra speed. ForceWare 45.23 works well with these. Nice system, by the way. Always been a fan of Gateways 👍

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Re: Windows 7 licenses

Posted on 2020-11-02, 19:11

by

by maximus

in Marvin \ Software

in Marvin \ Software

andrea wrote on 2020-11-02, 19:01: **The source leak from last month it's missing Winlogon and, therefore, the activation stuff, so that can't be either. Darn. I was hoping a one-and-done offline activation patch would come out of that.

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Re: Playing games on periodcorrect retro computer versus playing on newer/modern machine

Posted on 2020-11-02, 07:03

by

by maximus

in Milliways

in Milliways

> wanting to have an authentic experience versus wanting games to Just Work This makes no sense. Games tend to "Just Work" on near period correct hardware, especially for Win98 games that have no reliable emulation. Meant that more in the sense of not having to fiddle with settings and make …

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Re: Playing games on periodcorrect retro computer versus playing on newer/modern machine

Posted on 2020-11-02, 06:45

by

by maximus

in Milliways

in Milliways

I've also enjoyed reading the responses here. Can definitely relate to the push and pull of wanting to have an authentic experience versus wanting games to Just Work (and be fast and smooth). Here are some of my thoughts: When it comes down to it, retro gaming is basically about playing the same old …

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Re: Windows 7 licenses

Posted on 2020-11-02, 06:07

by

by maximus

in Marvin \ Software

in Marvin \ Software

Not sure how much of this applies to Windows 7, but I've learned some interesting things about Windows XP activation over the years. This will likely provoke some cries of "but that violates the license agreement, blah blah blah"... yeah, okay, maybe. What interests me is whether Microsoft actually …

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Re: Which video card would be best for my Win 98 SE?

Posted on 2020-11-02, 03:28

by

by maximus

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I'd go with either the TNT2 for a more period-correct, "slumming it" feel, or the 9800 Pro for high FPS, AA+AF bliss. I spent some time with a TNT2 Ultra on P3 1000 Windows 98 system a few years ago and enjoyed the heck out of it. It wasn't the fastest, but the VGA signal was incredibly clear and …

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Re: Does a no-steam retail version 0f Half Life 2 even exist?

Posted on 2020-10-30, 02:00

by

by maximus

in Marvin \ Software

in Marvin \ Software

The Xbox port of Doom 3 is also pretty impressive. Too bad some levels had to be cut down to fit in 64 MB of RAM, but the game still looks good and runs smooth. The engine has a render path tailored for the NV20 architecture; probably helps a lot. But yeah, Half-Life 2 on the Xbox is superb. The …

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Re: Does a no-steam retail version 0f Half Life 2 even exist?

Posted on 2020-10-28, 15:20

by

by maximus

in Marvin \ Software

in Marvin \ Software

I kid you not, when I first got Half-Life 2 in 2005 and saw that it wanted to install some other (then unknown) internet-connected software, it was such a turn-off that I canceled the installation, put the game on a shelf, and didn't touch it again for a year. Glad I did eventually play it, though. …

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