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

Posted on 2021-01-16, 05:12

by

by Shreddoc

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I imagine some people here know more about MIDI then I do. I'm planning on getting a MIDI device eventually, for connecting a MIDI keyboard up to my old computer, but does it matter which one I get, or will any of them work for that? Question The First: Define "old computer", please. A 486/586 PC …

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Re: What game are you playing now?

Posted on 2021-01-16, 05:09

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by Shreddoc

in Milliways

in Milliways

TFTD Plus fixes a lot : https://openxcom.mod.io/tftd-plus Some of the changes and additions sound a bit disagreeable to me.. I would have made balance changes to the opponents rather than alter weapons or mechanics to be honest. In other news, I finished Pillars of Eternity . It ended on a high …

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Re: Intel smashes Ryzen

Posted on 2021-01-16, 04:59

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by Shreddoc

in Milliways

in Milliways

Jokes aside, Intel is suffering from the same problem which AMD did after rise of Core 2 - they can't keep up with modern manufacturing. AMD also had to throw into market "forever young" 90nm solutions like Athlon 64 X2 6400+ (with ludicrous 125w TDP) and later had issues with Phenom due to very …

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Re: Are there still any worthwhile uses for an Apple G3??

Posted on 2021-01-16, 04:41

by

by Shreddoc

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Exacty which iMac is it? There's enough out there on everything from putting new hardware in there to using it as a fish bowl... There's a model number on the back somewhere, something like " M4984" (that would be the original Bondi Blue) All the info I have is these two images : 2.jpg 1.jpg My …

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Re: GM games that sound better on MT-32

Posted on 2021-01-15, 20:47

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by Shreddoc

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

To put yourself in the composer's shoes and say, " well I believe *I* know better than the original composer, and believe if I changed this instrument or that, and took that one out entirely, and so on and so forth.... then I end up with something even better-sounding ", then that is perfectly …

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Re: Are there still any worthwhile uses for an Apple G3??

Posted on 2021-01-14, 21:57

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by Shreddoc

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Jo22 wrote on 2021-01-14, 21:27: The original iMac G3 used VGA internally, I think. If so, there surely must be some hacking material online. 😀 Nothing definitive, unfortunately. (that I'm aware of...)

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Re: Are there still any worthwhile uses for an Apple G3??

Posted on 2021-01-14, 21:20

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by Shreddoc

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Thanks guys. It's a measure of what a PC Guy I am, that I didn't even think to specify it's an iMac. So I have zero Apple nostalgia or connection to the past, and would gain nothing personally from playing Mac versions of old games. Nothing against it, but it's just not my history in the slightest. …

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

Posted on 2021-01-14, 03:15

by

by Shreddoc

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

RetroLizard wrote on 2021-01-13, 14:45: I imagine some people here know more about MIDI then I do. I'm planning on getting a MIDI device eventually, for connecting a MIDI keyboard up to my old computer, but does it matter which one I get, or will any of them work for that? Question The First: …

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Re: Bought these (retro) hardware today

Posted on 2021-01-14, 02:59

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by Shreddoc

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Am I the only one with the bugbear about RAM on carpet? 😀 Probably unfounded. I grew up in that paranoid era regarding RAM and static damage. But I don't actually know if static charge can or does "sit waiting in the carpet", waiting to be destructively transferred into the RAM laid down upon it. …

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Re: Are there still any worthwhile uses for an Apple G3??

Posted on 2021-01-13, 21:53

by

by Shreddoc

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I thought as much. It's a shame to see any computer CRT, or any retro computer full-stop, be truly redundant and without feasible purpose. But it looks like that is probably the situation with G3's. Too slow to run anything worthwhile. No proprietary/native software of note. Takes up a CRT's-worth …

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Are there still any worthwhile uses for an Apple G3??

Posted on 2021-01-13, 07:22

by

by Shreddoc

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Saw one going virtually-free locally but, despite it being only the second computer CRT of any kind in my area over the past year (on the open market), I'm really struggling to see or imagine any worthwhile use for it. It'd apparently be a struggle even to interface the CRT with external hardware. …

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Re: Intel smashes Ryzen

Posted on 2021-01-13, 04:43

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by Shreddoc

in Milliways

in Milliways

Nup, it's just a pissed-off guy extrapolating his one little issue out to encompass an entire industry. I get the anger, but anger is a poor judge of truth and context. And I won't allow it that masquerade. AMD has done we enthusiasts huge service over the years, and brought massive benefits to the …

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Re: Intel smashes Ryzen

Posted on 2021-01-13, 04:17

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by Shreddoc

in Milliways

in Milliways

One day Intel will open up it's enormous maw and swallow them up, and they'll disappear without a trace, and we'll be better off for it. I don't think that an x86 CPU monopoly will be better for any of us... Nup, it's just a pissed-off guy extrapolating his one little issue out to encompass an …

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Re: Intel smashes Ryzen

Posted on 2021-01-13, 04:08

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by Shreddoc

in Milliways

in Milliways

Your petty little issue regarding a redundant two-generations-old processor is meaningless to me, and to everyone on the planet outside your little sphere of targeted irritation. Every large tech company has it's own little cadre of disgruntled haters on the internet who have run into "stupid …

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Re: Intel smashes Ryzen

Posted on 2021-01-13, 03:34

by

by Shreddoc

in Milliways

in Milliways

If I applied your reasoning to everything I've seen major technical issues with over the decades, I would now Forever Hate Intel, Microsoft, Linux, Sun, IBM, AMD, Seagate, Western Digital, Samsung, and basically every single brand and company that exists. Please explain how this is acceptable: …

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

Posted on 2021-01-13, 03:32

by

by Shreddoc

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

For the first time in many years, I saw and played on a local arcade cabinet in a local shop. 1-2 years ago I made my own cabinet with high-end Japanese controls. Only now, do I finally have the real-world context to realise how good I've got it at home.

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Re: Intel smashes Ryzen

Posted on 2021-01-13, 01:55

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by Shreddoc

in Milliways

in Milliways

I've had many and varied awesome systems for decades, based upon processors from both manufacturers. The merit of a given PC comes back to the skill and choices of the system builder. Not some silly "brand loyalty" thing. I feel I should qualify what I said with something substantive in terms of …

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Re: Intel smashes Ryzen

Posted on 2021-01-12, 22:04

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by Shreddoc

in Milliways

in Milliways

What's with the childish "smashes" thing? - this is merely regurgitated marketing materials, showing approximately F-All. Why is it that when confronted with the choice of an AMD or Intel system, where the AMD system vastly outweighs the Intel system in the price/performance ratio, I still opt to …

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Re: GM games that sound better on MT-32

Posted on 2021-01-12, 03:48

by

by Shreddoc

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

In music generally : songs still sound good if you assign parts to Different Instruments. Especially if you personally love those Different Instruments. That's because the music theory, the 'rules and conventions' under which almost all western music is written, is the thing which makes a …

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Re: MT-32 wavetable daughterboard exist

Posted on 2021-01-11, 06:09

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by Shreddoc

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

Copywriting and patenting sucks on occasions, where the end result is to drive invention and knowledge out of the world for no purpose except to cling onto long-commercially-redundant IP.

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