Re: C64 fans seem to me more passionate and committed than retro-computing fans

Posted on 2023-10-25, 13:27

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by aries-mu

in Milliways

in Milliways

I didn't read all the pages, so maybe someone offered same explanation like i will now! COMMODORE 64 was the FIRST home computer that offered something good, and it didn't cost too much. We all remember the FIRST!!! First love, first sex, first car, first pet, first computer.... You get the point? …

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Re: C64 fans seem to me more passionate and committed than retro-computing fans

Posted on 2023-10-25, 09:58

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by aries-mu

in Milliways

in Milliways

Btw, speaking of vintage radios and old radio shows.. There's an old website once called "The Interval Signals". It has audio clips of ancient times gone by. http://www.intervalsignals.net/ Have fun. 🙂 PS: Back in time, such sites use Real Audio format. So you may need Real Player or Quick Time. If …

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Re: Is there any reason to install more than 1 MB RAM on a 286 PC?

Posted on 2023-10-20, 21:58

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by aries-mu

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Will Himem make it XMS? Yes, though after confirming with a few runs via HIMEM I recommend setting the /TESTMEM:OFF switch to significantly improve the time it'll take for HIMEM to load. FDXMS286 will also work for FreeDOS, though paradoxically despite being designed for 286 PCs it requires the /PS …

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Re: PC-MOS/386 - never heard of this OS before!!! :O

Posted on 2023-10-11, 18:58

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by aries-mu

in Marvin \ Software

in Marvin \ Software

I played around with it a few years ago when it got open-sourced (https://github.com/roelandjansen/pcmos386v501), I don't remember much about it now apart from it using Borland C++ 3.1 (I think)! https://virtuallyfun.com/2011/02/02/pc-mos386/ has a bit of information about it, and some of the …

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Re: PC-MOS/386 - never heard of this OS before!!! :O

Posted on 2023-10-10, 11:52

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by aries-mu

in Marvin \ Software

in Marvin \ Software

Todays computers are microcomputers, they're using microprocessors. Likewisey, Microsoft likely was a play on Microcomputer Software. A minicomputer is generally bigger, with the size of a desktop or wardrobe. A mainframe originally was the size of a wall, a room or a floor (think of HAL9000 from …

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Re: C64 fans seem to me more passionate and committed than retro-computing fans

Posted on 2023-10-10, 11:37

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by aries-mu

in Milliways

in Milliways

kant explain wrote on 2023-10-10, 02:34: I recommend you call it quits and not read the prior pages 😀 🤣

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Re: C64 fans seem to me more passionate and committed than retro-computing fans

Posted on 2023-10-09, 21:13

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by aries-mu

in Milliways

in Milliways

The past has always fascinated me in one way or another. I don't want to go back though. Things often sucked really hard. When I was about 9 years old I had a stint where I took in every silent movie I could. I started reading about the Norse myths around that time. I've always been kind of a …

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Re: PC-MOS/386 - never heard of this OS before!!! :O

Posted on 2023-10-09, 21:05

by

by aries-mu

in Marvin \ Software

in Marvin \ Software

Remember that the computer on your desk was originally called a 'micro computer' ... then the term 'mini computer' makes a lot more sense for large format systems sitting between the desktop and the mainframe. Oh I see! I didn't know that! Now it makes sense. Then, I wonder how a "mainframe" would …

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PC-MOS/386 - never heard of this OS before!!! :O

Posted on 2023-10-09, 20:45

by

by aries-mu

in Marvin \ Software

in Marvin \ Software

Ha! Look what I've found! https://i.imgur.com/D5BiDqh.jpg If I saw this in the early 90s, as a kid, I'd have gone nuts and craved it! Comments? Any of you tried it? Did it run also DOS games? What about Windows? Could it run on that? By the way, since it mentions "minicomputer" (worth $100,000 at …

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Re: Is there any reason to install more than 1 MB RAM on a 286 PC?

Posted on 2023-10-09, 20:06

by

by aries-mu

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I may have missed it but the original poster (OP) mentioned UMB as well. There is no restriction around the 286 and UMB. This is purely a software matter. I am running 128 KB of UMB on a PC XT, powered by an 8088! UMBs came into formal existence with MS-DOS 5.0. There may have been other DOS …

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Re: Is there any reason to install more than 1 MB RAM on a 286 PC?

Posted on 2023-10-09, 16:00

by

by aries-mu

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Well when 286 boards first got SIMM or SIPP, the "normal" size was probably the 256kB and the special order "Holy heck are you running a shuttle mission" 1MBs maybe just existed for near the price of the whole system unit. So boards may have got 8 slots with the idea they could be filled eventually …

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Re: Is there any reason to install more than 1 MB RAM on a 286 PC?

Posted on 2023-10-05, 18:10

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by aries-mu

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

You could use HIMEM.SYS to load DOS high. This was because of a quirk in the design of the 286 which let the first 60k of extended memory be available to 16-bit programs. By doing so you freed up some memory for hungry DOS games. This means there is a very good reason to have more than 1MB in your …

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Re: Is there any reason to install more than 1 MB RAM on a 286 PC?

Posted on 2023-10-05, 18:09

by

by aries-mu

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

How does Rise of the Dragon or Heart of China run on EGA? Both have minimal requirements of 8088 with 640KB of ram. We are in a thread named "Is there any reason to install more than 1 MB RAM on a 286 PC?" Are there any non Windows VGA games requiring more than 1MB that will run acceptably on 286? …

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Re: Is there any reason to install more than 1 MB RAM on a 286 PC?

Posted on 2023-10-05, 15:39

by

by aries-mu

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

BitWrangler wrote on 2023-10-05, 15:33: xcopy on later DOS uses EMS or XMS too I think for speedup Oh wow! I didn't know that. Now the question is: But can it do that even on 16 bit CPUs like 286s ?

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Re: Is there any reason to install more than 1 MB RAM on a 286 PC?

Posted on 2023-10-05, 15:29

by

by aries-mu

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Just the 1mb question? Sure: A disk cache A ramdrive To load an alternative shell into xms (e.g. something like 4dos) I can't recall game requirements off the top of my head, but there are bound to be some. Wing Commander is one that comes to mind. How about Wolfenstein 3d? I know it detects extra …

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Re: Is there any reason to install more than 1 MB RAM on a 286 PC?

Posted on 2023-10-04, 19:44

by

by aries-mu

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Zerthimon wrote on 2023-10-04, 19:18: Novell NetWare 2.2 would benefit from 4 meg ram, in case you like running old server softwares. Interesting! Thx

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Re: Alright: The dream magazine. Have at it!

Posted on 2023-10-03, 17:17

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by aries-mu

in Milliways

in Milliways

I suddenly thought of this, What about a section in the magazine about Open source DOS games, like MrFlibble is having two threads. One about Open source DOS games and Rare and lost demo/shareware releases wanted list So the section could be a combination of those two threads as an example of what …

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Re: Is there any reason to install more than 1 MB RAM on a 286 PC?

Posted on 2023-10-03, 16:23

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by aries-mu

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

"Web browsing" on a 286 !!! :O That's twilight zone! Yes 286 support was dropped pretty quickly. I think by requiring 386 enhanced mode in Win 3.1 by 1994. But it worked in 1993. Needs highly specific setup though, very early NCSA Mosaic betas, though I think early "Cello" browsers worked too. And …

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Re: Tandy 1000 TL Build / Restoration

Posted on 2023-10-03, 16:00

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by aries-mu

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

😳 Whoa all this on that machine!

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Re: Is there any reason to install more than 1 MB RAM on a 286 PC?

Posted on 2023-10-03, 15:58

by

by aries-mu

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I am not sure there's much of a case for going past 2MB for any games or edutainment that works in standard mode. On 1MB only, you can basically just "see" windows, run reversi, solitaire, minesweeper for mouse practice, maybe type a recipe on notepad. Not a whole lot, but another MB and standard …

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