Re: Programming the VGA chip in C/C++ for 16 bit DOS - help writing my own routines

Posted on 2019-09-04, 10:43

by

by pan069

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

From your initial post I was under the impression that you wanted to write your own VGA graphics routines but from the latest few posts I get the impression that you don't mind using a library? Is that correct? You seem to have settled on xlib for the moment. Which one did you use/download? The one …

---

Re: CGA Graphics library

Posted on 2019-08-31, 22:20

by

by pan069

in Milliways

in Milliways

I'm struggling to see where the rest of the time goes. I count 31 bytes of instructions, which should be 124 cycles for the prefetch hardware. That's 62 per pixel. Nope. I don't understand the bus cycle business. I have only been following this thread superficially so I might repeat or suggest …

---

Re: How do ISA riser cards work, on classic/vintage PCs with available ISA slots?

Posted on 2019-08-31, 08:08

by

by pan069

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Interesting. I have two low profile cases on the way and I'm on the lookout for 3 slot ISA risers. I have found some on eBay but they somehow are CRAZY expensive. If you have "tons" of them, would you be open/willing to part with 2 of your 3 slot risers? Happy to pay something and I'll obvious will …

---

Re: How do ISA riser cards work, on classic/vintage PCs with available ISA slots?

Posted on 2019-08-31, 07:19

by

by pan069

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

How likely is it that unbranded ISA risers are "universal"? I mean, e.g, given a 3 slot ISA riser, would it fit a case designed for a 3 slot riser? I can imagine that a riser manufactured by e.g. Dell would be more likely to only fit a specific Dell manufactured case.

---

Jumper settings/manual for Super I/O Ver 2.0

Posted on 2019-08-31, 01:46

by

by pan069

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I've got this "Super I/O Ver 2.0" multi I/O card and I'd like to make sure that the game port is disabled. Unfortunately, as with many old pieces of hardware, I can't find the manual... :( Going through these: https://arvutimuuseum.ee/th99/c/c16ide_i.htm I found this one to be the closest, but not …

---

Re: CGA Graphics library

Posted on 2019-08-29, 22:04

by

by pan069

in Milliways

in Milliways

wbhart wrote: For those still playing along at home Still following your journey... 😀

---

Re: ISA riser boards

Posted on 2019-08-28, 11:01

by

by pan069

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Thanks!

---

ISA riser boards

Posted on 2019-08-28, 03:51

by

by pan069

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Somebody gave me an old low-profile AT case and I was wondering about ISA riser boards. I'd like to build a 286 or 386 into this case. What should I know about ISA riser boards (other than that they seem to be really expensive for some reason)?

---

Re: another LCD died, RIP Dell 1901FP

Posted on 2019-08-26, 09:33

by

by pan069

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

It sucks when it happens. I had a Dell die on me as well not to long ago. Different problem than yours though... Dell P170S monitor with display issues

---

Re: Bought these (retro) hardware today

Posted on 2019-08-25, 21:08

by

by pan069

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

wiretap wrote: Gravis Ultrasound? Unless there is another sound card with the same layout I'm unaware of. Very likely. This is mine for reference. If true, a good find 😀 My Gravis Ultrasound and 16 bit daughter board

---

Re: AWE 64 Gold Installation error

Posted on 2019-08-24, 03:54

by

by pan069

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

If possible, can you do a DOS 6.22 install? Maybe also try another motherboard? I think the first thing you want to determine is if the card is bad or not.

---

Re: Legit Harris 25MHz?

Posted on 2019-08-23, 13:53

by

by pan069

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Awesome. thanks for the info!

---

Re: Legit Harris 25MHz?

Posted on 2019-08-23, 13:39

by

by pan069

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

HT12A definitely won't do 25MHz but it gets to 20MHz no problem but few extra MHz and it starts to crap out. on the board i have there's two oscillators, both go to chipset but one of them controls ISA speed and that one cannot be too high (in my case 37.5MHz was max for that oscillator, over 32MHz …

---

Re: Programming the VGA chip in C/C++ for 16 bit DOS - help writing my own routines

Posted on 2019-08-22, 09:26

by

by pan069

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I'd say, work through these tutorials first and try to make a basic game with that knowledge, say a simple Tetris clone: http://www.brackeen.com/vga/ Then dive into Part II of Michael Abrash's Graphics Programming Black Book: https://www.phatcode.net/res/224/files/html/ch23/23-01.html Just keep in …

---

Re: CGA Graphics library

Posted on 2019-08-20, 21:05

by

by pan069

in Milliways

in Milliways

I went by cycle counts in the 8086 book, but I doubt they are always correct. It was only a 1 or 2 cycle saving based on their figures, but it was probably a waste of effort. Just skimming over this thread; going by cycle counts from manuals to gauge performance is usually not a good idea. Those …

---

Re: Suggestion to supercharge a 286 Olivetti

Posted on 2019-08-20, 11:12

by

by pan069

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

AlessandroB wrote: Frend gift me this computer: Olivetti M290-20 I had this model in the early 90's. A fine little machine. A few years ago I asked parents if I could pick it up (assuming it was in attic). Unfortunately I learned that my parents tossed in a dumper not long after I had moved out of …

---

Re: Retro PC Case

Posted on 2019-08-12, 02:08

by

by pan069

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

Why is the PSU area so large? I assume the PSU sits at the top, what's the space underneath it for? Fan?

---

Re: NuXT - micro-ATX IBM XT (LGR review)

Posted on 2019-08-09, 07:51

by

by pan069

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

hasnopants wrote: a 5.25 floppy emulator. I wonder how you imagine this to work... I mean, since a gotek just lets you write different sized disk images...

---

Re: Games that benefited from having a NEC V20?

Posted on 2019-08-04, 00:25

by

by pan069

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Are you sure for Wolf 3D ? I thought it needed a 286. It doesn't use 286 specific instructions. An 8088 is a 16 bit cpu on an 8 bit bus. Similar to how a 386sx is a 32 bit cpu on a 16 bit bus. For games, the bus is usually the bottleneck but a higher cpu speed also give you a slightly higher bus …

---

Re: Voltage fluctuations on ASUS P5A-B

Posted on 2019-07-29, 08:53

by

by pan069

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I had to tear down the set up so I'm not able to test if the power connector gets hot and it might be a while before I can set it back up. However, I tore it down directly after turning it off and I don't recollect anything out of the ordinary in terms of heat. I don't recall the power connector …

---