An FPGA is not an emulator. (Nor is it genuine hardware but I digress..) It's very difficult to exactly describe FPGA and I've yet to hear anyone come out with a brilliant definition. If you call it emulation you don't do it justice, and if you call it real hardware you may be kind of right in …

I've been browsing and reading other places, and it does read as if the project to re-create the AWE64 might tick all of my boxes. Allowing soundfonts of sufficient complexity to mirror MT32 /GM output. Having an OPL3 and having digital output. Am I right in thinking if all I need to do is hope it …

PnP means the same for sound cards as for any other cards: So my ancient memory did finally come to the right conclusion. In that case I do not want PnP for cards I want to use in DOS and I do want PnP for cards I want to use in Windows. That means the combination of cards I use for DOS mode would …

Dionb that's super helpful thanks! I have no real desire to stick to a single soundcard, and secretly I quite like as many expansion slots, ports etc filled as I can so having more than one sounds great to me. "Only if you set it up incorrectly. Trick is that Windows is a PnP OS and that many older …

I think you should consider how much you want to spend and as well as whether you use DOS or Windows more for gaming. If you have that clear, it would be easier to recommend a few models. I'd certainly welcome suggestions. The machine will probably be a P3 and will run Win98SE/DOS. I have a SB live …

This is a really helpful chart as I'm trying to choose a card. What I'm struggling with is the meaning of the issues. MPU-401 slowdown/pauses seems to be on every card so I shouldn't be choosing based on that. However it is fairly concerning that it happens since my intention would be to use the …

Is this a reasonable plan? [...] (which is why I have literally 20 microcomputers in this room...) I think you're the only one who can decide what is and is not reasonable. I've not been clear then. I'm not asking if it's reasonable to have 3 old PCs, that is of course entirely subjective. I'm …

Ok, I'll perhaps do that afterwards if it becomes necessary. I do have a C2Q board with a couple of spare CPUs for it. And maybe I'll keep an eye out for a nice P4 board just so I have one... I'll never close down everything and cover everything perfectly, not without way more machines than I can …

So continuing my quest to find ways to justify to myself spending money I'm thinking the following will allow me to cover the majority of games I'd want to play, on real hardware, in as pleasant an experience as possible. Anything falling outside this would be done by emulation, 86box, PCEm, DOSBox, …

so long as it feels right If you're aiming for "feelings", there doesn't seem to be much point in debating whether one component or another is necessarily "better". I think that's a bit too reductive, and presented out of context that phrase leads to the wrong conclusion. Based on what you've said …

Well thank you very much for the replies! I've now decided that Win98SE will be done through emulation in 86box/PCem or through period hardware, or not at all. >If you want to fill your living space with dusty components and spend hour after hour mucking with hardware configurations in desperate …

Feel free to skip ahead to the --- if you don't want to read why I'm asking. I have a room which contains several old computers as well as main main modern PC. I have all of the systems I grew up playing up until I switched to PC for a 386. I wanted to have a DOS machine to cover right through to …