Are the three mini towers marked as a 300GL-6278 or are they another model? Will you need the machines to run pure DOS as well as Win9x?

gdjacobs wrote:

One program you should definitely have (for DOS, anyway) is NSSI:
http://www.navsoft.cz/products.htm

Oh wow definitely, this looks awesome thankyou

gdjacobs wrote:

Are the three mini towers marked as a 300GL-6278 or are they another model? Will you need the machines to run pure DOS as well as Win9x?

good eye.. yes they say M/T 6574-83u on the front,
and honestly i have no idea, what games require pure dos mode?

Trank wrote:

My sound blaster live! works great in dark forces or even any DOS game for a matter of fact. They are incredibly cheap and easy to buy that is my go to sound card if you need some cheap and good for its price. But if you have an older Creative card that is PCI go for it. Just put them in and see what you love the most.

good to hear i will try the sb live 5.1 in the comps with only pci, i just figured the isa slot ones might be better, might aswell try em all 🤣

I also found one of these https://www.cnet.com/products/hp-vectra-ve-c- … e-series/specs/ has p2 agp slot 2isa and some pcis i think it will work well.

jnjg25 wrote:

gdjacobs wrote:

Are the three mini towers marked as a 300GL-6278 or are they another model? Will you need the machines to run pure DOS as well as Win9x?

good eye.. yes they say M/T 6574-83u on the front,

Here's the tech manual:
http://ps-2.kev009.com/pccbbs/commercial_desk … op/d4ca3tim.pdf
Here's a motherboard shot:
https://http2.mlstatic.com/ibm-61h2511-de-ibm … 37_052015-F.jpg

Short version, you can run all slot 1 CPUs, and all S370 Coppermine P3s/Celerons using slocket adapters. The ESS chipset (Allegro/1930) appears to be decent, although lack of real OPL3 might be an issue depending on your preferences. To the best of my knowledge, this chipset does not require EMM386 which solves issues with some DOS titles that like to manage their own memory. This is an advantage in comparison to ESS AudioPCI and SB Live cards which do require EMM386.

jnjg25 wrote:

and honestly i have no idea, what games require pure dos mode?

I tend to find Origin games to work much better in DOS rather than from within Windows, but I haven't done a huge amount of testing. I have native DOS available, so I use it.

jnjg25 wrote:

I also found one of these https://www.cnet.com/products/hp-vectra-ve-c- … e-series/specs/ has p2 agp slot 2isa and some pcis i think it will work well.

The one you've posted the picture of almost certainly has onboard video and no AGP slot. Again, to know what you're working with, you have to identify the specific model in question.

gdjacobs wrote:

jnjg25 wrote:

I also found one of these https://www.cnet.com/products/hp-vectra-ve-c- … e-series/specs/ has p2 agp slot 2isa and some pcis i think it will work well.

The one you've posted the picture of almost certainly has onboard video and no AGP slot. Again, to know what you're working with, you have to identify the specific model in question.

maybe somebody put another motherboard in the computer, because i can visualy see these slots

Short version, you can run all slot 1 CPUs, and all S370 Coppermine P3s/Celerons using slocket adapters. The ESS chipset (Allegro/1930) appears to be decent, although lack of real OPL3 might be an issue depending on your preferences. To the best of my knowledge, this chipset does not require EMM386 which solves issues with some DOS titles that like to manage their own memory. This is an advantage in comparison to ESS AudioPCI and SB Live cards which do require EMM386.

thanks for the input, are these adapters already in the computers or would i have buy them?

jnjg25 wrote:

Short version, you can run all slot 1 CPUs, and all S370 Coppermine P3s/Celerons using slocket adapters. The ESS chipset (Allegro/1930) appears to be decent, although lack of real OPL3 might be an issue depending on your preferences. To the best of my knowledge, this chipset does not require EMM386 which solves issues with some DOS titles that like to manage their own memory. This is an advantage in comparison to ESS AudioPCI and SB Live cards which do require EMM386.

thanks for the input, are these adapters already in the computers or would i have buy them?

Spotted the sound chipset in the board shot.

jnjg25 wrote:

The one you've posted the picture of almost certainly has onboard video and no AGP slot. Again, to know what you're working with, you have to identify the specific model in question.

maybe somebody put another motherboard in the computer, because i can visualy see these slots

The slots you are looking at are probably not AGP slots. Very few motherboards were ever made with more than one AGP slot; they are usually a distinct dark-brown color.

jnjg25 wrote:

I also found one of these https://www.cnet.com/products/hp-vectra-ve-c- … e-series/specs/ has p2 agp slot 2isa and some pcis i think it will work well.

I don't know why you are saying "p2 agp slot". That page clearly states that it is a Celeron 400 MHz and does not say anything about a Pentium II. (In fact, considering it doesn't mention either "Slot 1" or "Socket 370", the CPU might not be removable at all.) While it does say "AGP", it also says "integrated", which means that there is no AGP slot.

jnjg25 wrote:

Short version, you can run all slot 1 CPUs, and all S370 Coppermine P3s/Celerons using slocket adapters.

thanks for the input, are these adapters already in the computers or would i have buy them?

Slocket adapters are somewhat uncommon and kind of expensive. It is very unlikely you already have them in your computers. But if you are only interested in older software, you will probably be just fine with Slot 1 CPUs and will never need a slocket adapter.

Jorpho wrote:

jnjg25 wrote:

thanks for the input, are these adapters already in the computers or would i have buy them?

Slocket adapters are somewhat uncommon and kind of expensive. It is very unlikely you already have them in your computers. But if you are only interested in older software, you will probably be just fine with Slot 1 CPUs and will never need a slocket adapter.

Precisely. They're a handy specialty item, and especially in a dumb form without voltage regulator circuitry they're fairly available, but for your purpose I think a slot CPU should work great.

Dunno, slockets are very common over here, I have accumulated them over 20 different pcs over years, most with voltage and fsb adjustment.

Paadam wrote:

Dunno, slockets are very common over here, I have accumulated them over 20 different pcs over years, most with voltage and fsb adjustment.

I guess I know who to talk to if I ever want to do a 440BX Tualatin build...

I have several slockets with already P3-S on them...

jnjg25 wrote:

I also found one of these https://www.cnet.com/products/hp-vectra-ve-c- … e-series/specs/ has p2 agp slot 2isa and some pcis i think it will work well.

I don't know why you are saying "p2 agp slot". That page clearly states that it is a Celeron 400 MHz and does not say anything about a Pentium II. (In fact, considering it doesn't mention either "Slot 1" or "Socket 370", the CPU might not be removable at all.) While it does say "AGP", it also says "integrated", which means that there is no AGP slot.

Your'e correct i i uploaded the wrong link.. and i just worded that horribly should of said it has
Pentium 2
1xagp
2xisa

here is the correct link http://www.ubbcentral.com/store/item/Vintage- … 1652363926.html

for some reason i cannot get it to boot windows 98se, maybe the disc drive has seen better days, but it and the hd show up on boot. i will have to find a drive, w98/video card and motherboard drivers are easy enough to find and install i should be good on that side, and im starting to understand the parts im working with a bit better, I had NO idea that the P2 cpu was... in basically a cartridge, very cool, i have so many replacement cpus im gonna be good till im 80 🤣.. But! i have never installed sound cards before..with all the pins and jumpers i am quite lost.

i tried to install the sound blaster 16 ct 2230 driver on to the apollo pro133 and half succeed,the game i tried was star wars dark forces, and i can only get the music to play, which is weird because without the sound card the music was the only thing that did not play. i downloaded the soundblaster 16 driver from this website. Also there was a cable on the sound card connected to the cd in pins which i connectoed to the motherboards cd in pins, i was trying to find an installation guide but couldn't i figured i made the right assumption. there is also IDE pins in the card do i have to connect that to the cd drive?
Thanks again for all the help everyone and baring with my confusion and confusing posts!

Does the VIA board have onboard audio? Have you disabled it?

Windows may be emulating a soundblaster using the onboard audio and using that preferentially over the SB16. Also, I recommend restarting in DOS mode when running DOS games.

gdjacobs wrote:

Does the VIA board have onboard audio? Have you disabled it?

Windows may be emulating a soundblaster using the onboard audio and using that preferentially over the SB16. Also, I recommend restarting in DOS mode when running DOS games.

yes it does have onboard audio, do i disable from the bios or do you mean remove the driver? im not sure how to start the comp in dos.

Both options should suffice, but I usually disable it in the BIOS.

jnjg25 wrote:

But! i have never installed sound cards before..with all the pins and jumpers i am quite lost.

That's what manuals are for.

Also there was a cable on the sound card connected to the cd in pins which i connectoed to the motherboards cd in pins

That is used for audio CDs, more specifically referred to as "redbook CD audio". Many older games used CD audio for music. If your speakers are connected to the sound card, then you should use that cable to connect your sound card to your CD-ROM drive.

there is also IDE pins in the card do i have to connect that to the cd drive?

Some old sound cards have IDE interfaces, but usually they only worked with very specific CD-ROM models. (Once again, it's all in the manual.) You should just ignore it and use the IDE interface on your motherboard.