Re: What would be better for Windows 98-era gaming?

Posted on 2020-03-16, 18:56

by

by xjas

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

They're pretty comparable clock-for-clock, later Athlons edge out the slot 1 P3s a bit, but either is a fine platform. Slot A is pretty hard to find and getting pricey though. If you want "fast and cheap", just go socket 462 with an Athlon XP and a PCI sound card, which can be had for peanuts. Edit: …

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Re: What game are you playing now?

Posted on 2020-03-16, 18:06

by

by xjas

in Milliways

in Milliways

Finished up Black Mesa. Xen is still mostly bad, however the first hour or so when you're exploring the abandoned research sites is still quite fun. 20200310183824_1.jpg 20200312094051_1.jpg ^^ That looks pretty nice! I'm going to have to check it out one of these days. Love the retro workstation; …

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Re: Low volume out of Cobra AW744L II card

Posted on 2020-03-14, 22:30

by

by xjas

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

I have figured out what the problem is with the AW744-L2 card and the HP T5720 thin client. It is PCI bus noise. Fully populating the capacitor places on the PCI riser card completely fixes the issue. I am guessing this will also fix issues with "compatibility" with other cards as well. It should …

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Re: "Burger Blaster" (1988) - extra colors under CGA composite

Posted on 2020-03-14, 09:40

by

by xjas

in Marvin \ Software

in Marvin \ Software

^^ cool! Thanks for posting those. For some reason it seems like mixing composite colors with the RGB palettes was really rare. Most games only used one or the other 'mode', but neat to see it can be done.

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"Burger Blaster" (1988) - extra colors under CGA composite

Posted on 2020-03-14, 03:55

by

by xjas

in Marvin \ Software

in Marvin \ Software

I was watching an old episode of Shovelware Diggers, and the 1988 game Burger Blaster came up. It looks like this game uses composite artifacting for extra colors on top of the standard CGA color palette? Look at all those vertically-banded letters, burger patties, etc. 475782-burger-blaster-dos- …

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Re: Bought these (retro) hardware today

Posted on 2020-03-13, 23:06

by

by xjas

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

xjas> what venue was the seller using? eBay, craigslist, used.com? I cannot imagine making a listing without having a public price. There certainly is a temporary fad going on about the perceived value of this junk. With any luck, the value will plummet like the stock market just did. If not, I …

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Re: Bought these (retro) hardware today

Posted on 2020-03-13, 20:15

by

by xjas

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Update: seller of the XFX 7950 AGP (+ etc.) came back with "No Lol What kind of a low ball is that" ...And then he got butthurt when I suggested he put a price in the ad if he doesn't want random offers. I guess he wants more for his AMR modems & DVD-ROM drive. Ad has been up for weeks incidentally. …

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Re: Bought these (retro) hardware today

Posted on 2020-03-13, 19:08

by

by xjas

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

How much is the lot? If the 7950GT works and you don't need it, you can always check out the insane prices on eBay that these go for and make some bank. Depends on your total out of pocket. Perhaps if you have an all electric card. How much is it? Isn't the 7950 the last native AGP Nvidia card? …

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Re: Bought these (retro) hardware today

Posted on 2020-03-13, 08:15

by

by xjas

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

The top card screams "I might be a Voodoo3 2000" to me. [...] That was my first thought, but after a good look around I don't see any V3s that match it exactly. Also, neither of my V3s (2k & 3k) have a 1.5V AGP key - AFAIK none of them did. I actually have some junky FX5200s that look more like …

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Re: VGA Capture Thread

Posted on 2020-03-13, 05:18

by

by xjas

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

^^ Sure, I can do those! I've been meaning to move my DC out to my gaming/capture area anyway. I'll try to get you some good shots in the next few days. I also have a Matrox m3D in my K6-2 right next to the capture rig if that helps.

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Re: Bought these (retro) hardware today

Posted on 2020-03-13, 03:50

by

by xjas

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

stuf.jpg This lot is for sale on my local marketplace. The XFX 7950GT AGP is pretty cool, but I honestly have no use for it. Any idea what the other two video cards are? I think the two sound cards are both generic Creative ones. Not spectacular, but always useful. I was hoping the top one was a …

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Re: Bought these (retro) hardware today

Posted on 2020-03-12, 21:51

by

by xjas

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I'll make a dedicated thread for this thing eventually, but I got a package in all the way from Latvia(!) yesterday. Inside it was a: 20200311_180600_cropped.jpg With a: 20200311_164407.jpg and a: 20200311_165751.jpg It's a Fujitsu Futro S300 thin client, and is a pretty cool little box, IMHO. I've …

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Re: 2D graphics benchmark

Posted on 2020-03-12, 21:24

by

by xjas

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

^^ Which program are you posting results from? There are a few mentioned here. Man, I completely forgot I wrote "PALBENCH" in post #8. I actually wouldn't recommend it for any kind of comparison, I've learned some things about the QuickBasic compiler since then that make me think it'd be more wildly …

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Re: Full Throttle 2020

Posted on 2020-03-12, 20:48

by

by xjas

in Milliways

in Milliways

Pretty good, although they made Ben look a bit too Duke Nukem (forever) for me. I always pictured him as a big dude, but not super buff intentionally. This reminds me, I need to go finish/replay the remastered version I got ages ago... Full Throttle is probably one of my all-time favorite adventure …

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Re: Tech Support. Wish me luck, guys.

Posted on 2020-03-10, 20:44

by

by xjas

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I know it's less satisfying than DIYing it, but you might be able to grab one of these cheap 2-port powered VGA splitters and steal its PCB: https://cpc.farnell.com/productimages/standard/en_GB/AV25243-40.jpg It already has the amplifier circuit you want to build, and you can relocate the ports …

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Re: Tech Support. Wish me luck, guys.

Posted on 2020-03-10, 19:13

by

by xjas

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Really glad I started this thread. As expected, Iogear gave up and said they didn't have any info on the official adapter. I've had a batting average of virtually zero emailing companies for technical info like that, even on stuff they supposedly still "support." Unless you're one of their Valued …

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Re: Bought these games today

Posted on 2020-03-10, 06:36

by

by xjas

in Milliways

in Milliways

Blasting, demolition & explosion simulators. They'll make anything. LOL That could probably describe a lot of games if you take "simulator" loosely enough. At least a lot of the fun ones. Oni in the holofoil big box. https://imgur.com/oeXt99J.png Nice find! I played a bunch of the demo of that …

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Re: Bought these games today

Posted on 2020-03-10, 06:32

by

by xjas

in Milliways

in Milliways

I didn't buy this "today" - actually, I bought it over 20 years ago, but only just dug it out of my storage room last month and shipped it out to myself. Seeing as fully boxed copies of this game seem to be exceedingly rare, especially in this nice condition and with all the docs & stuff included, I …

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Re: Tech Support. Wish me luck, guys.

Posted on 2020-03-09, 23:37

by

by xjas

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

No worries... I needed this info for myself anyway, since I didn't realize there wasn't a standard pinout for these things. Here's the adapter I use with mine: 20200309_162646.jpg I don't know if this is exactly the same as the one ATEN/IOGear would sell you, but it works for me. CuteMouse …

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Re: Tech Support. Wish me luck, guys.

Posted on 2020-03-09, 21:43

by

by xjas

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I can check the pinout of the adapter I'm using if it helps

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