Re: Windows 95/98 Hangs Copying Files Needed For Setup

Posted on 2023-01-13, 23:12

by

by betamax80

in Marvin \ Software

in Marvin \ Software

I've got over this problem by having a batch file hand over to another batch file which gets copied to the target media. This seems to work around this easily and I am able to launch setup with flags and msbatch using this method.

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Re: VIA Epia 800 experience

Posted on 2023-01-12, 22:53

by

by betamax80

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Most games up to 1999 can be comfortably played on the Blade 3D line in openGL or D3D at 640x480, with older titles like GLQuake running well even at 800x600. So far I tried Homeworld, GL Quake, Quake 2, Dungeon Keeper 1 and 2, Forsaken, Croc, MDK, Lego Racers and Diablo 2, they all ran great* @ …

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Re: VIA Epia 800 experience

Posted on 2022-12-23, 01:46

by

by betamax80

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I'm not sure if I've already documented this - but folowing a recommendation on another thread, I have been successfully bridging the Ethernet on the Epia to Wifi-N using a Vonets bridge. I successfully use a Vonets VAP11N-300 on the Epia, which I think is still their fastest uncomplicated bridge. I …

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Re: VIA 686B AC'97 audio works really well in DOS (SB Pro stereo + OPL3 emulation!)

Posted on 2022-12-10, 18:59

by

by betamax80

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

Did anyone notice how terrible Monkey Island 2 sounds with VIAFMTSR ? It sounds like if it was saturated or being clipped, even with everything set at the lowest volume. I'm unsure if this is a VIAFMTSR issue or something else in my setup (it's a T5710). I think the VIAFMTSR is a very shonky TSR to …

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Re: VIA Epia 800 experience

Posted on 2022-12-10, 18:57

by

by betamax80

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I don't believe that the pins are for that purpose - they are certainly not in the main header block for the front case as I have used every pin on there. You may be referring to the CIR or FIR headers. I have a question by the way - has anyone found affordable options for using the FIR header for …

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Re: Star Trek Voyger Elite Force A3D Sound

Posted on 2021-07-31, 17:46

by

by betamax80

in Marvin \ Software

in Marvin \ Software

I do seem to recall the 2050 drivers are VERY buggy and were mainly an alpha for never-realised A3D 3.0 support. I did find 2048 stable but yes, the reversed stereo.... I seem to recall it was the "proper" drivers for the 4-speaker output of the SQ2500 thought. Voyager Elite Force... I do seem to …

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Re: My P3 Retro DOS PC

Posted on 2021-07-10, 18:26

by

by betamax80

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

I see the seller still has stock 07/2021: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/284366749455?hash= … AQAAOSwsXFZNFY-

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Re: Necroware's GamePort to USB adapter for analogue and digital joysticks

Posted on 2021-07-10, 17:24

by

by betamax80

in Release Announcements

in Release Announcements

Actually I have a good use-case for this (including your DOS suggestion @Pierre32) - the early VIA EPIA 5000/800 boards have good DOS graphics + sound compatibility but do not have a gameport in hardware. This device would be the perfect accessory for these boards.

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Re: Release -New Aureal DOS Mixer Util-

Posted on 2021-07-10, 17:05

by

by betamax80

in Release Announcements

in Release Announcements

Thankyou for your continued work on this @ZanQuance, hopefully I'll be reunited with my favourite retro system soon to try this out.

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Re: Which USB 2.0 cards for old motherboards

Posted on 2021-07-01, 14:22

by

by betamax80

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I think that the issue for 486 systems is that that USB is a host-based -protocol, and always was. Any early USB 0.9 or 1.0 controllers are next-to-useless beyond being PS/2 port alternatives. This was the reason for the excitment and (percieved) supremacy of FireWire as it was supposed to use a …

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Re: Aureal Vortex 2 SQ2500

Posted on 2021-06-29, 15:54

by

by betamax80

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

I own a SQ2500 as well (its in a machine I'm not currently using). One great thing about all Aureal cards is that they pair really well with an ISA card because the Low-level stuff is fairly non-disruptive (Phils computer lab has inf files that let it co-exist with an AWE64 for example). From what I …

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Re: Best video cards with DOS / Win 3.x / Win 9x support

Posted on 2021-06-12, 20:18

by

by betamax80

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

From what I understand (without having tested yet - I am still waiting on the card) the XL drivers are not directly compaitble with Rage Pro drivers. I accept the XL was always going to be integrated / cost reduced as it was essentially a low-end chip released at the time of the Rage128 which was …

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Re: Which USB 2.0 cards for old motherboards

Posted on 2021-06-05, 11:18

by

by betamax80

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Do note that a number of the PCI USB 2.0 cards that have more than 2 ports (for example the very obtainable StarTech card with 5 external, 2 external) actually have a USB Hub chip on board - so the card is going to be 2 devices - a USB 2.0 controller and a USB Hub. This may have an impact on what …

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Re: ITX and Win98

Posted on 2021-05-09, 23:51

by

by betamax80

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

The card needed is called the "EXT-PCI", it's a VIA-specific board and I have seen them going for ~£30 on the bay. For the SB-Pro compatible audio, you need to go for one of the really early EPIA boards with the VT8231 southbridge (they have Trident instead of S3 graphics - Apollo 1 chipset equiv). …

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Re: VIA EPIA-M mITX build attempt for retrogaming

Posted on 2021-05-07, 19:28

by

by betamax80

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Ideally for Win9x / DOS era that original EPIA-5000 / 800 or EPIA-V 800 / 10000 are the strongest choices due to the aforementioned VT8231 chipset with the older audio chip (and actually the onboard Trident graphics are handy in Win9x / DOS too). They struggle a lot with Windows XP sadly. I found …

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Re: Aztech Waverider Pro 32-3D

Posted on 2021-05-04, 13:36

by

by betamax80

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Oh thats terriffic, I didn't know about that mirror.

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Re: Best video cards with DOS / Win 3.x / Win 9x support

Posted on 2021-05-03, 19:02

by

by betamax80

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

Could I put a word in for the ATi Rage XL? It seems that a chinese manufacturer has brought up the remaining chips and is selling cards new for £10-£15. These are chopped-down Rage Pro's basically. I dont think there is any stated Win3.x compatibility but there should be good MS-DOS (VBE) …

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Re: Different Versions of Ensoniq AudioPCI

Posted on 2021-05-03, 17:57

by

by betamax80

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

I've got a card listed at the "Creative SoundBlaster Digital 4.1" on its way - from pictures this seems to be the listed CT4750 card with a CT5880CQN chip on it - apparently with a SigmaTel codec, and according to some sources with an EEPROM. I'm aware that this card does the SP/DIF output for sure, …

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Re: Different Versions of Ensoniq AudioPCI

Posted on 2021-05-03, 17:54

by

by betamax80

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

If not covered I think the EMU10k1X cards would be those marketed as the "PCI512". These were sold for around £79 (then £49) I remember in the UK in the early 2000s, and they seem to be highly integrated / cost reduced SB Live! Value relatives. There are reports the the "full fat" SB Live! drivers …

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Re: Did PC-Chips ever release a high quality motherboard?

Posted on 2021-05-03, 14:50

by

by betamax80

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

The TX-Pro II boards M571 were very solid performers (SiS 5598 chipset) for standard socket 7 (upto say a Cyrix MII 333 at max). I can testify that the SX-Pro M598 (SiS 530) was very ropey and not a well through-through board - while current 1 over-voltaged and I got a warranty replacement. https:// …

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