Re: 2 very different computers to cover many years

Posted on 2021-01-20, 10:54

by

by gerry

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I had a P75 once, with 16mb ram (upgraded!), an 800mb hdd, a 1mb video card and something simple for sound - it was great with any DOS game, even 'late' ones like duke3d and quake, c&c and so on to be honest for really old DOS games I tend to rely on DOSBOX for compatibility reasons if I was to have …

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Re: Do you keep your retro rigs offline?

Posted on 2021-01-19, 10:10

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by gerry

in Milliways

in Milliways

All of my retro rigs are online as much as possible. You would be surprised the utility you can get out of mTCP, Links, Arachne, etc. in DOS, and various old internet programs with proxies in Windows No, you won't get malware. That's a myth. Just don't download anything shady. Nobody cares about …

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Re: Do you keep your retro rigs offline?

Posted on 2021-01-19, 09:59

by

by gerry

in Milliways

in Milliways

however having old machines on a home network completely protected from the online world, seems like a good idea Having all your computers on a network is 100% worth it, even 200%! Anything I have gets a network card. My rigs are on a switch that's connected to the router. I only turn the switch on …

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Do you keep your retro rigs offline?

Posted on 2021-01-18, 10:58

by

by gerry

in Milliways

in Milliways

I do. Out of all the machines I own i only allow a couple cheap 4 year old windows 10 machines and a 7 year old laptop with Linux to go online all the others, even a couple that could still just about cope with the modern internet and have windows 7 - stay offline it's mostly for security reasons, …

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Re: Athlon 64 build for 2001-2006 Windows XP gaming

Posted on 2021-01-18, 10:47

by

by gerry

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

looks great, I can't think of a 2006 game that wouldn't run on this

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Re: Retro Rig Photo Thread

Posted on 2021-01-18, 09:45

by

by gerry

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

My AMD 386 DX 40 build, almost complete. Board with surface mounted AMD 386DX-40 arrived from Ukraine 🇺🇦 this morning! Rest of specs: Installed 8MB Ram -70 Cirrus Logic 5428 1MB ISA Video Creative Labs CT1740 Soundblaster Card 1GB CF-Card for HD 1.44 Floppy GoTek Emulator Drive 52x LG CD-ROM 300w …

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Re: Retro confessions. What are yours?

Posted on 2021-01-18, 09:36

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by gerry

in Milliways

in Milliways

I'm about to throw away the original box of a small IBM CRT monitor... it's only a monochrome POS monitor so not that special, but it was nicely boxed, while cleaning up today I noticed mold on the box though, it arrived in pretty rough shape already so I guess this was always there and I haven't …

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Re: Which old game would you like to see a remastered version of?

Posted on 2021-01-18, 09:25

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by gerry

in Milliways

in Milliways

Quake 2 did get a ray tracing patch that completely overhauls lighting and makes it look like a new game. Steam Store Page: https://store.steampowered.com/agecheck/app/1089130/# Quake 2 RTX is legit fantastic, if you have the hardware to run it. Crucially, none of the gameplay is changed. i watched …

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Re: Amount of old computer hardware produced ?

Posted on 2021-01-18, 09:19

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by gerry

in Milliways

in Milliways

shamino wrote on 2021-01-15, 21:44: I have something like 100 video cards in a dresser drawer. Nobody knows they exist unless I fill out a form. history is relying on your continued covert collecting! 😀

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Re: How much of an issue is "early Windows XP" for a 'fastest XP build"

Posted on 2021-01-18, 09:18

by

by gerry

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

whilst it is possible to get win xp running on later hardware, it may as well be windows 7 at that point I like XP a lot, I like that it can run (comfortably) on a P3 500mhz with a mere 256-512mb and also a core duo with 2gb ram plus loads of graphics cards from early agp to later pci-e but the …

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Re: What old software do you still use daily ?

Posted on 2021-01-13, 11:47

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by gerry

in Milliways

in Milliways

modplug among others, generally windows circa 2000 software often does what I want and is stable when used as standalone applications. Anything that might need to create data compatible with newer software or go online will be forced to 'upgrade' continuously using old software isn't just something …

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Re: Which old game would you like to see a remastered version of?

Posted on 2021-01-13, 11:41

by

by gerry

in Milliways

in Milliways

when games are given the HD treatment it generally does nothing for me, after the initial "that looks nice" the game is the same, and new graphical / sound aspects melt away quickly. If games are given new features like online vs play, compatibility with new controllers etc but withou otherwise …

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Re: Amount of old computer hardware produced ?

Posted on 2021-01-13, 11:36

by

by gerry

in Milliways

in Milliways

There are industry reports written (searches like "number of CPUs manufactured" reveal them but they cost money) and I'd guess you could get at some numbers by reading around individual products but I've next seen lists like we can see for games consoles it's an interesting thing. one thought I had …

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Re: Was Deus Ex rough on contemporary hardware?

Posted on 2021-01-13, 11:21

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by gerry

in Marvin \ Software

in Marvin \ Software

I first played it on an early 2000's spec machine, no probs. Just want to add it's one of the best games ever, I always wanted to wander round more in the cities, have more interaction, more clues, more excerpts to read and so on. Its setting and 'feel' were dark and prescient but the last 20 years …

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Re: advice for mid-2000s winXP build

Posted on 2021-01-13, 11:12

by

by gerry

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

i second mothergoose, the possibilities are broad personally once into the tech of 2006-7 i'd be tempted to consider a Windows 7 (or lovely ol Vista!) for XP you can go with a "last of" build - the final Athlons XPs or the P4 3ghz+ HT and a good AGP graphics card to go with it, add 1gb of RAM and a …

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Re: Putting together my 90’s super computer

Posted on 2021-01-13, 11:04

by

by gerry

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

sounds good to me. I wouldn't worry about lots of RAM for a 1999-ish computer if you want to use Windows 98. Even if you can cajole the OS into accepting more RAM the limit will end up being the software (which wont care for it at all) if I was trying to get a fairly optimal machine based on a …

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Re: p3 500mhz benchmarks

Posted on 2021-01-13, 10:55

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by gerry

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

As they are all MSDOS I'm not sure the cards are doing much different from one another, having the P3 at 500mhz certainly helps max out the CPU capacity for any of these games. it might be interesting to see how they cope with a DirectX of OpenGL game if your willing to accept layers of OS and …

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Re: CPU collectors: do you collect each and every revision or just one?

Posted on 2021-01-13, 10:51

by

by gerry

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I don't understand why anyone thinks having any kind of hobby is odd :) My collection will hold its value, spending the money clubbing or getting drunk won't supplement my pension if I live that long :) your collection has a much higher MIPS rating than most ! :) I like that some collectors are …

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Re: My little PC collection, Xmas Special 2020 (Update today: #6)

Posted on 2020-12-18, 11:46

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by gerry

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

#6 such power! impressive. 😀 strange to think its a spec from 17 years ago and would probably choke on an average youtube vid now!

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Re: Let's talk about our hated trends

Posted on 2020-12-18, 11:26

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by gerry

in Milliways

in Milliways

an interesting thread, I notice themes that I've thought over too attempts at creating marketing profiles / niches out of everything: e.g. gamer-this gamer-that. It's a cynical exploitation of human desire to feel a sense of belonging and identity disregard for the past, or at best charged twice. …

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