Re: What game are you playing now?

Posted on 2018-11-20, 10:52

by

by henryVK

in Milliways

in Milliways

My pleasure! It feels seriously gratifying to actually go and finish some of these games. When I got back into retro gaming in 2016/17 I only managed to get through three games (Cryo's Dune, Dark Sun: Shattered Lands and Betrayal at Krondor) in about two years. With AitD I completed the fourth game …

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Re: What game are you playing now?

Posted on 2018-11-20, 09:08

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by henryVK

in Milliways

in Milliways

Just finished the floppy version of Alone in the Dark so it's another one of those games that I never managed to finish back in the day that's off my list. I chose the floppy version because I couldn't get the CD audio working from the bin/cue files and because this podcast I listened to said they …

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Re: What retro activity did you get up to today?

Posted on 2018-11-20, 07:54

by

by henryVK

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Also, my usual next step is to rip out the hard drive and replace it with CF-based solution, usually with DOS. That said, for DOS I would need a couple things: NeoMagic 2160 and Yamaha OPL3-SA3 DOS drivers - where from? Toshiba utility to scale 640x480 and lower resolutions to screen native 800x600 …

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Re: Bought these (retro) hardware today

Posted on 2018-11-14, 09:41

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by henryVK

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Seems like I'll be getting another 90's laptop. This one's a Compaq Armada 7750MT . Some guy is selling a big lot of Compaqs, but we'll see what shape they're in; might be a rough bunch. I've owned an LTE 5280 and an Armada 1130T, both of which had nice build quality, so I'm looking forward to …

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Re: What game are you playing now?

Posted on 2018-11-13, 11:06

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by henryVK

in Milliways

in Milliways

I just finished two horror-themed adventure games: "Prisoner of Ice" and "Veil of Darkness" The best thing one can say about both is that they are fairly short, so that their shortcomings do not carry as much weight as they would have in a longer game. However, they also both make you wish they had …

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Re: Retro Rig Photo Thread

Posted on 2018-11-09, 14:05

by

by henryVK

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

Very nice system. How is the TFT-screen? There was one on German ebay recently. The manufacturer was a German defence contractor and the machines appear to have been used as data terminals by the Bundeswehr. There's some pictures in the auction of the backplate with inspection stickers and stuff: …

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Re: What game are you playing now?

Posted on 2018-11-09, 11:41

by

by henryVK

in Milliways

in Milliways

While my circle of friends did play C-S almost exclusively, starting from Beta 1.2 (cs_wpndepot!!), I never played any FPSes online, except for Western Quake which was later released as Smokin' Guns. I loved that game so freakin' much and just thinking about it makes me want to play it right now.

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Re: What retro activity did you get up to today?

Posted on 2018-11-08, 15:29

by

by henryVK

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Cleaned up the PCD-4ND I got off ebay. It works, for the most part, but it has the same annoying defect as my other one. There is really loud static on the headphone jack. WHY??? Some of the keys feel pretty gunky too, so I might have to do some clean-up underneath. This device was sold by some kind …

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Re: Bought these (retro) hardware today

Posted on 2018-11-05, 11:30

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by henryVK

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Heck yes. Got another Siemens PCD-4ND laptop off ebay for 23 euros. Looks like it might be in good condition, battery is missing, no word on the disk drive which will likely need a new belt. I'm mainly getting this one in case my other one dies, and, hey, it was a steal. Seller's photo: https://i. …

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Re: Laptop speaker replacement/headphone jack/volume control

Posted on 2018-10-29, 09:37

by

by henryVK

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

Well, good news. I replaced the old speaker with a similar one, for now. The old one was 0.4W, the new one is 0.5W. I'm still wondering if a better speaker would work, or if the increased draw would fry the board. What I did to improve matters is to encase the little speaker in a styrofoam "housing" …

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Re: What was your first (as in personally owned) PC compatible computer?

Posted on 2018-10-24, 08:57

by

by henryVK

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

As amazed as my family was at the first computer we owned, noone would have thought to take a photograph of it. I'm always suprised by people taking pictures of their appliances, not because I think it's tacky, but because in my family photography was almost exclusively reserved for vacations or get …

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Re: What retro activity did you get up to today?

Posted on 2018-10-24, 08:47

by

by henryVK

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I was telling my wife that I found this little soldering iron in the local ads that I was going to pick up. So I go, "guess what I'm getting?". She replies "It's another old laptop, isn't it!" So I told her it was a soldering iron I was potentially gonna use ON some of my old laptops. She then …

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Re: Toshiba T4900CT

Posted on 2018-10-21, 09:32

by

by henryVK

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

Well, good job and congratulations on getting this laptop to work! Are you happy with the screen? How is the speaker/sound on this one? Did you run any games yet?

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Re: A PC for Morrowind

Posted on 2018-10-16, 10:05

by

by henryVK

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I was kind of a generation behind when Morrowind came out. It was all but unplayable on my 900 MHz Athlon and GeForce 2 MX. My next PC was something like a P4 2400 MHz with a Radeon 9XXX SE, and that one ran the original Morrowind flawlessly.

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Re: Laptop speaker replacement/headphone jack/volume control

Posted on 2018-10-16, 09:26

by

by henryVK

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

Okay, so I was unable to remove the Sound Module for now. It wouldn't budge and probably requires further disassembly. It's pretty clear, however, that the jacks are soldered right to the board, so no unshielded cables, and the solder looks insuspicious. I'm guessing that the problem could be either …

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Re: What's your home/everyday PC?

Posted on 2018-10-15, 06:11

by

by henryVK

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

It's some refurbished Dell business desktop. An i5 with ~3.0 GHz and a GeForce GT 720, which is quite underpowered. I don't use this machine for anything but internet and maybe some late 2000's gaming.

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Laptop speaker replacement/headphone jack/volume control

Posted on 2018-10-13, 09:52

by

by henryVK

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

Okay, dear Vogons, several things are going on with my Siemens PCD-4ND that I would love to hear some opinions on. The laptop has an ISA ESS1688 and a tiny 0.4W speaker and no external volume knob or wheel. The last two facts have bothered me somewhat ever since I got it, so I've been thinking about …

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Re: Toshiba T4900CT

Posted on 2018-10-12, 11:33

by

by henryVK

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

Hope the CF-adapter works for you. I have two later Toshibas (Tecra/Satellite) and they didn't like any CF-adapters, not even nice, name-brand ones. The floppy cable is guaranteed to be a non-standard, proprietary pinout. These machines are still fairly common, I'm sure one will come around that you …

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Re: Toshiba T4900CT

Posted on 2018-09-13, 11:30

by

by henryVK

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

There's two of those on Ebay. The model number is right there in the picture. Otherwise get one of those adjustable power adapters and make sure it comes with the right "tip".

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Re: Are my system Right for retrocimputing?

Posted on 2018-09-12, 10:03

by

by henryVK

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Depends on the price. In laptops, at least, there are hardly any "ideal" machines for any given time period.

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