VOGONS


First post, by Rhuwyn

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My grandpa brought by my Great Uncles Gateway Solo 2500 Laptop running Windows 98. Has all the original driver disks so far as I can tell. Just missing the Windows CD and License for some reason.

P2 266
64MB of RAM
NeoMagic Magicgraph 128XD
NeoMagic Magicwave 3dX Sound
6GB hard drive
CD-ROM Drive
LS-120 Super Drive
PCMCIA 33.6 Modem

Anyone have much experience with the NeoMagic video and sound? From a Video perspective I imagine it's probably fine for any DOS game but 3D Accelerated games will probably suck. Is there any way to attach a gameport to this thing that will work in DOS?

Battery is dead and battery door is missing but it locks in place in spite of that.

Any other thoughts on interesting things to do with this system?

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Reply 1 of 16, by Aideka

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I have no idea about the sound, but the video may be a bit quirky even on dos, some resolutions in both Dos and Windows just don't work right. I remember having issues with stuff that used Direct Draw on windows for example.

8zszli-6.png

Reply 2 of 16, by Rhuwyn

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I just found out that the docking stataion (which I don't have) for it includes a midi/joystick port. If I can get some decent DOS gaming performance on this I may have to pick one up.

Reply 3 of 16, by Rhuwyn

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Aideka wrote:

I have no idea about the sound, but the video may be a bit quirky even on dos, some resolutions in both Dos and Windows just don't work right. I remember having issues with stuff that used Direct Draw on windows for example.

Do you know was this the video adapter or the LCD screen on the laptop you were using? Early LCDs in particular would have issues looking good in anything but their native resolution.

Reply 4 of 16, by lolo799

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You can use a simple PCMCIA game port cards such as:
MobileGamer or Basics Gameport by New Media
Game Traveler/Plus or Midi Traveler by Exp
PCJOY or PCJOY2 by I/O Data

There's a cheap PCJOY2 on auctions.yahoo.co.jp and two expensive Game/Midi Traveler on amazon.com available at the moment...

PCMCIA Sound, Storage & Graphics

Reply 5 of 16, by Aideka

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It was the video adapter, some programs like the Nesticle NES emulator that I tried refused to show any kind of picture on certain resolutions and others looked, well, messed beyond belief. The dos version of Nesticle worked on some resolutions the Windows one didn't tho. I could try some games on my laptop if you need me to test something? The video adapter on my laptop is Neomagic MagicGraph 128ZV tho, so maybe yours works better.

8zszli-6.png

Reply 6 of 16, by Rhuwyn

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Aideka wrote:

It was the video adapter, some programs like the Nesticle NES emulator that I tried refused to show any kind of picture on certain resolutions and others looked, well, messed beyond belief. The dos version of Nesticle worked on some resolutions the Windows one didn't tho. I could try some games on my laptop if you need me to test something? The video adapter on my laptop is Neomagic MagicGraph 128ZV tho, so maybe yours works better.

Thanks for the offer. I don't have anything specific to test per say. It's running Windows 98 now and I was just thinking for gaming purposes it probably shouldn't run any more the Windows 95. I kinda want to put a bigger hard drive in it also. I tend to load entire collections of games on systems I want to use for gaming. Kind of a bad habit really. I kinda want old midi based games to be as good as they can be given it's a laptop.

lolo799 wrote:
You can use a simple PCMCIA game port cards such as: MobileGamer or Basics Gameport by New Media Game Traveler/Plus or Midi Trav […]
Show full quote

You can use a simple PCMCIA game port cards such as:
MobileGamer or Basics Gameport by New Media
Game Traveler/Plus or Midi Traveler by Exp
PCJOY or PCJOY2 by I/O Data

There's a cheap PCJOY2 on auctions.yahoo.co.jp and two expensive Game/Midi Traveler on amazon.com available at the moment...

I've read that these things exist but have never seen one.

Reply 8 of 16, by ElBrunzy

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I think your grandpa or your great uncle stolen that p2-266 laptop! Return it to police and turn down your familly!

Jokes apart, I dont think there is much retro fun to be had with laptop. I would prefer dosbox rather than a laptop to use retro stuff.

Reply 9 of 16, by lolo799

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Rhuwyn wrote:
lolo799 wrote:
You can use a simple PCMCIA game port cards such as: MobileGamer or Basics Gameport by New Media Game Traveler/Plus or Midi Trav […]
Show full quote

You can use a simple PCMCIA game port cards such as:
MobileGamer or Basics Gameport by New Media
Game Traveler/Plus or Midi Traveler by Exp
PCJOY or PCJOY2 by I/O Data

There's a cheap PCJOY2 on auctions.yahoo.co.jp and two expensive Game/Midi Traveler on amazon.com available at the moment...

I've read that these things exist but have never seen one.

Link was http://page4.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/d196190042
It's probably going to be relisted later...

PCMCIA Sound, Storage & Graphics

Reply 11 of 16, by stamasd

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The NeoMagic video chipsets suck. I have one (NeoMagic MagicGraph 256AV) in a Thinkpad 570, it is absolutely horrible under Windows. It's OK in pure DOS though for VGA games. Just don't expect any acceleration for 3D games.

I/O, I/O,
It's off to disk I go,
With a bit and a byte
And a read and a write,
I/O, I/O

Reply 12 of 16, by Tiger433

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NeoMagic not suck at 100% I have NeoMagic MagicGraph 256AV+ in my Sony Vaio PCG-F707 laptop with Pentium III 600 and I even can watch there DVD`s, mp4, play some 2D games like Diablo II, Baldurs Gate or even Icewind dale without any problems and from other side lack of 3D acceleration is huge pain there. I don`t know why someone put for PIII 600 such videocard there, in my opinion that videocard is suitable for Pentium 133/166 MMX.

W7 "retro" PC: ASUS P8H77-V, Intel i3 3240, 8 GB DDR3 1333, HD6850, 2 x 500 GB HDD
Retro 98SE PC: MSI MS-6511, AMD Athlon XP 2000+, 512 MB RAM, ATI Rage 128, 80GB HDD
My Youtube channel

Reply 13 of 16, by stamasd

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Tiger433 wrote:

NeoMagic not suck at 100% I have NeoMagic MagicGraph 256AV+ in my Sony Vaio PCG-F707 laptop with Pentium III 600 and I even can watch there DVD`s, mp4, play some 2D games like Diablo II, Baldurs Gate or even Icewind dale without any problems and from other side lack of 3D acceleration is huge pain there. I don`t know why someone put for PIII 600 such videocard there, in my opinion that videocard is suitable for Pentium 133/166 MMX.

Because it was cheap. My Thinkpad 570 pairs it with a PII-366. It struggles pretty badly with 1998-ish DirectX5 games such as Hardwar.

I/O, I/O,
It's off to disk I go,
With a bit and a byte
And a read and a write,
I/O, I/O

Reply 14 of 16, by Tiger433

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stamasd wrote:
Tiger433 wrote:

NeoMagic not suck at 100% I have NeoMagic MagicGraph 256AV+ in my Sony Vaio PCG-F707 laptop with Pentium III 600 and I even can watch there DVD`s, mp4, play some 2D games like Diablo II, Baldurs Gate or even Icewind dale without any problems and from other side lack of 3D acceleration is huge pain there. I don`t know why someone put for PIII 600 such videocard there, in my opinion that videocard is suitable for Pentium 133/166 MMX.

Because it was cheap. My Thinkpad 570 pairs it with a PII-366. It struggles pretty badly with 1998-ish DirectX5 games such as Hardwar.

On my laptop even Half-Life in software in 1024x768 is almost smooth, I can also play UT or Quake II in software and are smooth in 640x480, 2D games run very good and smooth, only Red Alert 2 slowed down very much and was unplayable when I tried it. But now I play only Diablo 2 without expansion in 1.00 version and run very good, and I have 256 MB of ram.

W7 "retro" PC: ASUS P8H77-V, Intel i3 3240, 8 GB DDR3 1333, HD6850, 2 x 500 GB HDD
Retro 98SE PC: MSI MS-6511, AMD Athlon XP 2000+, 512 MB RAM, ATI Rage 128, 80GB HDD
My Youtube channel

Reply 15 of 16, by Ter Roshak

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Rhuwyn wrote:
My grandpa brought by my Great Uncles Gateway Solo 2500 Laptop running Windows 98. Has all the original driver disks so far as I […]
Show full quote

My grandpa brought by my Great Uncles Gateway Solo 2500 Laptop running Windows 98. Has all the original driver disks so far as I can tell. Just missing the Windows CD and License for some reason.

P2 266
64MB of RAM
NeoMagic Magicgraph 128XD
NeoMagic Magicwave 3dX Sound
6GB hard drive
CD-ROM Drive
LS-120 Super Drive
PCMCIA 33.6 Modem

Anyone have much experience with the NeoMagic video and sound? From a Video perspective I imagine it's probably fine for any DOS game but 3D Accelerated games will probably suck. Is there any way to attach a gameport to this thing that will work in DOS?

Battery is dead and battery door is missing but it locks in place in spite of that.

Any other thoughts on interesting things to do with this system?

Do you still have the Gateway and can upload / send me the driver disks?
I've seriously trouble getting the sound drivers to work (searched the web for 3dx generic drivers but i just found drivers from different manufacturers - sony, dell, .... - 256AV(+) vs 3dx ones)
When I install the audio drivers FM works but there is no playback device for digital audio installed.

THX !

Reply 16 of 16, by Windows9566

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why is it such a PITA to find drivers for some old laptops, i have better luck at finding drivers for old desktop PCs.

R5 5600X, 32 GB RAM, RTX 3060 TI, Win11
P3 600, 256 MB RAM, nVidia Riva TNT2 M64, SB Vibra 16S, Win98
PMMX 200, 128 MB RAM, S3 Virge DX, Yamaha YMF719, Win95
486DX2 66, 32 MB RAM, Trident TGUI9440, ESS ES688F, DOS