Re: The quest for the perfect retro laptop: a saga

Posted on 2022-09-15, 19:21

by

by snickersnack

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Guys, please remind me the story about Compaq Presario 1800? As i understood, there is a model with SOLO 1 and ATI M3, which is actually good for retro gaming, but there are other 1800 models with worse videocard, am i right? I found one in Russia, but no idea about its config. All i know it is …

---

Re: The quest for the perfect retro laptop: a saga

Posted on 2020-12-22, 06:37

by

by snickersnack

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

The ATA100 capability on the IDE controller has caught my eye. Going to have to see if I can scrounge an SSD for it now. I tend to leave XP for bigger machines so the 384MB memory ceiling is plenty for me. Now a Pentium 4-M with maxed RAM (2GB?), Radeon 9000 mobility 64MB, and ESS Allegro might …

---

Re: The quest for the perfect retro laptop: a saga

Posted on 2020-12-22, 03:11

by

by snickersnack

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I'm surprised you're down on the mobile 815 chipset. The ATA100 capability on the IDE controller has caught my eye. Going to have to see if I can scrounge an SSD for it now. I tend to leave XP for bigger machines so the 384MB memory ceiling is plenty for me. I actually have quite a low opinion on …

---

Re: The quest for the perfect retro laptop: a saga

Posted on 2020-12-21, 00:59

by

by snickersnack

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

It wouldn't. If it was released in Q3'01 it would not be an 815EM, it'll be an 830MP Almador (which is much better from a raw chipset capability standpoint). I would also have more respect for Toshiba if it was an 830 or 440ZX machine with a GeForce2 and the legit YMF - the 815EM machines were a …

---

Re: The quest for the perfect retro laptop: a saga

Posted on 2020-12-20, 18:20

by

by snickersnack

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Ye, we've already discussed it in a separate thread, I currently own the same model but with Savage video... Btw, just to be 100% sure, I bought Toshiba Satellite 2805-S603, specs say that it has Yamaha Sound chip; AKM4543 Codec Chip as I understood it is 754 one, though it's not mentioned in …

---

Re: The quest for the perfect retro laptop: a saga

Posted on 2020-12-20, 05:08

by

by snickersnack

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Gratz, if you want drivers, let me know. I've modded several. Ye, we've already discussed it in a separate thread, I currently own the same model but with Savage video... Btw, just to be 100% sure, I bought Toshiba Satellite 2805-S603, specs say that it has Yamaha Sound chip; AKM4543 Codec Chip as …

---

Re: The Retro Gaming Laptop specs / buying guide thread

Posted on 2019-11-10, 02:41

by

by snickersnack

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Oh nice, a lot of these machines aren't the usual suspects. I'm curious, how well do those Neomagic chips work in DOS? I had assumed they were meant for cheap Windows office machines and had very minimal backwards compatibility but your experience sounds better than my Rendition Verite. Is the …

---

Re: Your Retrogaming laptop/portable machine megathread (recommendations, tips, minutae)

Posted on 2019-11-09, 04:16

by

by snickersnack

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Nice post. You've clearly spent a lot of time looking into this. Thanks for sharing your insight. I totally agree about the early 400 series Toshiba Satellites. The CDT models with active matrix screens are fine late DOS machines. Toshiba Protege 3440/3480CT (S3 Savage IX+Yamaha DS-XG - but …

---

Re: Legitimate Advantages of a Radeon 9200 over a DX9 card?

Posted on 2019-11-09, 02:35

by

by snickersnack

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

If vintage Linux is appealing to you, really old mesa3d drivers support R200 but not R300. That's a huge win for the Radeon 9200. Assuming you like Tux Racer. 🤣

---

Re: Culling the herd

Posted on 2019-11-06, 17:13

by

by snickersnack

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Keep 2 and 4. Lose the the 486 motherboards and keep your childhood machine special in capabilities. If they're similar but better hardware it may frustrate you when it comes time to pick a 486 for hobby activities.

---

Re: History of Intel graphics card

Posted on 2019-11-03, 18:18

by

by snickersnack

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Very interesting article. Thank you for posting. Info on Intel GPUs isn't very plentiful online. I'm curious, do you know if Intel Extreme Graphics is related to the i740 family or if it is a new design?

---

Re: Lithtech game performance

Posted on 2019-11-03, 17:49

by

by snickersnack

in Windows

in Windows

Would love to get a copy of Linux Shogo but sadly, that's a very rare disc. I haven't seen any since LGP imploded.

---

Re: Mass Effect 1 Activation

Posted on 2019-11-02, 18:52

by

by snickersnack

in Windows

in Windows

One of the budget releases for Mass Effect 1 can sidestep activation by deleting a file in the installation directory called "paul.dll". After that it's only disc check. I got mine around the time XP went out of extended support for an offline only gaming rig I was setting up. The keep case has an …

---

Re: Is the risk from static damage overblown?

Posted on 2019-11-02, 17:16

by

by snickersnack

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I've never noticed that I've destroyed anything with a static discharge. Unseen damage is certainly possible. I have made it a habit to try an touch an exposed pipe or power outlet screw before handling electronics so really strong discharges are rare for me. I seem to recall reading that early CMOS …

---

Re: Your Retrogaming laptop/portable machine megathread (recommendations, tips, minutae)

Posted on 2019-11-02, 03:08

by

by snickersnack

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Nice post. You've clearly spent a lot of time looking into this. Thanks for sharing your insight. I totally agree about the early 400 series Toshiba Satellites. The CDT models with active matrix screens are fine late DOS machines. Toshiba Protege 3440/3480CT (S3 Savage IX+Yamaha DS-XG - but remember …

---

Re: Tecra 700CT Gameport not working

Posted on 2019-10-26, 20:20

by

by snickersnack

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

A wild guess, the gameport on your port replicator might not like digital joysticks. You may want to try a simple analog joystick or see if there is a way to switch your SideWinder 3D Pro into analog mode. derSammler says here that digital gameport joysticks require the MIDI functionality found on …

---

Re: Gateway 2000 Intel Thor Bios

Posted on 2017-10-12, 02:40

by

by snickersnack

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Cool, we can swap boards then. I'll send you the v1.00.06.CN0 BIOS board. I'll send you a PM and we can exchange shipping info. I put my Intel Thor in a Rosewill mid tower that accommodates a full ATX motherboard. Nothing special, it's just what I had on hand. If I were to buy a new tower, I might …

---

Re: Gateway 2000 Intel Thor Bios

Posted on 2017-10-11, 02:15

by

by snickersnack

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Good news. The Intel Thor looks good. I loaded up FreeDOS and ran DOS Quake for a bit. Seems fine. I also tried that hack that another user posted about a year ago to update the Gateway firmware to Intel's latest 1.00.06.CN0 BIOS. That also seems fine. If swapping boards sound appealing to you, just …

---

Re: Gateway 2000 Intel Thor Bios

Posted on 2017-10-09, 23:31

by

by snickersnack

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Ah that's great, you're not too far away. I don't currently have the soldering skill either but I've been meaning to build it. I've been playing around with the coreboot/ libreboot replacement firmware on some of my Core2 systems and I'm about at the point where I'd like to try some customizations. …

---

Re: Gateway 2000 Intel Thor Bios

Posted on 2017-10-09, 03:03

by

by snickersnack

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

If your Intel Thor motherboard is like mine, the BIOS flash is unfortunately soldered to the board. You'd probably need to take that off with an iron and then reflash it or a suitable replacement in a compatible eprom programmer. It's delicate work. If you'd rather not go down that rabbit hole, I …

---