Re: Classic games in Text mode. Anyone like it like I do?

Posted on 2016-05-27, 08:59

by

by bjt

in DOS

in DOS

Loved ZZT on my Dad's crappy old CGA laptop. Fascinating interview with Tim Sweeney here charting his journey from ZZT to Unreal Engine and building Epic Games. http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/132426/ … future_tim_.php

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Re: What were some good console to MSDOS multiplats?

Posted on 2016-05-27, 08:56

by

by bjt

in Milliways

in Milliways

Most of the good ports started in the PS1 era, and those are usually Win9x (Resident Evil, FF7, Driver). SNES/Megadrive games on PC are usually terrible conversions and best played through emulation. The exception would be those games that started on PC and were ported to console (Wolf3D, Doom, LHX …

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Re: Asking for assistance with a new project to document classic floppy disk contents

Posted on 2016-05-27, 08:51

by

by bjt

in DOS

in DOS

While listings are better than nothing, I feel this project would be a lot more useful with CRCs for the files and disk image.

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Re: Sergey's FDC bios + XT-IDE bios; only one boot prompt is displayed.

Posted on 2016-05-25, 10:24

by

by bjt

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

No, bit 5 is only documented in the source. I added the above myself.

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Re: Sergey's FDC bios + XT-IDE bios; only one boot prompt is displayed.

Posted on 2016-05-24, 15:46

by

by bjt

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

You probably want to disable the FDC bios' IPL completely, as if you boot from there the XT-IDE BIOS won't be loaded. Unsetting bit 5 of the config flags will disable the IPL. The configuration data is stored in the extension BIOS ROM starting from offset 1F80h. Offset 1FB7, size 1 byte: …

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Re: Amazon sellers are retards... (rant)

Posted on 2016-05-24, 12:28

by

by bjt

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

You can leave feedback on Marketplace transactions from your order status page.

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Re: Commander Keen 4 - Composite CGA Edition

Posted on 2016-05-24, 12:26

by

by bjt

in Release Announcements

in Release Announcements

elianda wrote: Does this composite version works as well with the video out from EGA cards? (like this one http://www.retronn.de/imports/hwgal/hw_genoa_ega.html) No, unless you connect a board to the feature connector to create an NTSC composite signal. Could be a nice project for someone.

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Re: Read/Write speeds for floppy alternatives.

Posted on 2016-05-24, 08:51

by

by bjt

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I found this user guide for the eBay HiFD drive linked above: http://ps-2.kev009.com/pccbbs/options/d3q2jmst.pdf The install instructions indicate that the drive is connected to both the floppy controller and the IDE controller, and can act in place of drive A:. What's not clear is whether HD and DD …

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Re: Matrox M3D / PCX2 opinions

Posted on 2016-05-24, 07:58

by

by bjt

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Compared to a cheaper Voodoo2, it's crap for games. Tomb Raider and Mechwarrior 2 are nice though! I have one in my main retro PC and hardly use it.

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Re: Commander Keen 4 - Composite CGA Edition

Posted on 2016-05-24, 07:56

by

by bjt

in Release Announcements

in Release Announcements

VileRancour wrote: Is your CGA card a 'new-style' one, by the way? Might explain the extra saturation, although I guess that could just be the camera Yep, new style CGA. I have a V20 in my 5160 but it's too slow for this game really.

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Re: Commander Keen 4 - Composite CGA Edition

Posted on 2016-05-23, 20:15

by

by bjt

in Release Announcements

in Release Announcements

That would be cool. I have a Tandy badged CM8833 (SCART only), hopefully it's similar enough to make the same mod.

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Re: Sergey's FDC bios + XT-IDE bios; only one boot prompt is displayed.

Posted on 2016-05-23, 19:48

by

by bjt

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

You can hexedit the FDC bios to disable the configuration prompt, it's one of the configuration flags. Remember to alter the checksum byte appropriately if you do this.

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Re: Commander Keen 4 - Composite CGA Edition

Posted on 2016-05-23, 19:44

by

by bjt

in Release Announcements

in Release Announcements

My LCD monitor/TV doesn't look nearly as nice as Keropi's CRT but this is awesome nonetheless! http://i.imgur.com/ld2ZePzl.jpg http://i.imgur.com/a4V4dWvl.jpg http://i.imgur.com/9eU4PvRl.jpg http://i.imgur.com/eyhudyCl.jpg http://i.imgur.com/m3tJ8M2l.jpg http://i.imgur.com/hjWMdC1l.jpg

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Re: DTK Data-1000 XT-clone restoration

Posted on 2016-05-23, 16:17

by

by bjt

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

Nice job!

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Re: Commander Keen 4 - Composite CGA Edition

Posted on 2016-05-22, 21:17

by

by bjt

in Release Announcements

in Release Announcements

This is awesome, thanks! Will try it on my 5160 ASAP!

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Re: Joyce/Armstrad PCW 8256

Posted on 2016-05-20, 14:38

by

by bjt

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

Cool machine. I remember playing Zork on one of these as a kid.

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Re: Read/Write speeds for floppy alternatives.

Posted on 2016-05-20, 10:38

by

by bjt

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Looks like the first gen LS-120 is even slower at writes then the ordinary floppy you are comparing it to. That is pretty crazy considering it's an IDE device. I wonder why that is. Can you tell me how you ran the test? Using WinImage 7, just read the floppy and write it back with and without …

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Re: Read/Write speeds for floppy alternatives.

Posted on 2016-05-20, 08:12

by

by bjt

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Would like to try an LS-240, but I've only seen laptop versions. There's also this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_HiFD Someone in the US buy this and try it out! http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Genuine-28L1600-28L … 0-/391413511230

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Re: Read/Write speeds for floppy alternatives.

Posted on 2016-05-20, 06:18

by

by bjt

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

wait, there are gen1 and 2 ls-120 drives? how exactly do you tell them apart? I believe all Mitsubishi drives are gen1, all Matsushita/Panasonic are gen2. For IDE you can tell by inspection or device identifier. Not sure who makes the "Imation" brand external USB drives. My Mitsubishi is noticeably …

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Re: Read/Write speeds for floppy alternatives.

Posted on 2016-05-19, 20:32

by

by bjt

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I did a few quick tests, all conducted in Win98 using WinImage 7. The LS-120 drives are definitely better at reading than writing HD and DD disks. In fact, I couldn't get the Mitsubishi drive to write a DD disk at all. The Gen2 LS-120 drive is quite a lot quicker than the Gen1, so that's the one you …

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