Win98 is pretty stable for me on my gaming machines (except when I mess up a driver 🤣) because I also keep it minimal and clean (like I do all my machines). I'd still never want to use it as a workstation though for so many reasons, security being a big one. I'm too paranoid to even let any machine running an OS older than XP on the network in my house, which is probably silly of me. And honestly Windows 7 has always run amazingly on my own systems. Even on my little Atom netbook, I really don't experience any slowdown that isn't due to the relatively slow hard drive or the crappy Wifi connection at my school.

As for the original topic, I don't really know. There was a time I thought I'd never use anything older than a Pentium 3, and here I am with a Pentium, 386, and hopefully soon a 486. I don't think PC-wise I'll need anything below my 386, but I'd still like to have some, and I'd use them to at least some extent if I had them. Honestly I think I have more fun tinkering with hardware and getting it running as smoothly and efficiently as I can than I do playing games (I still love games though!). Not that I just hoarde hardware; I play on all of it at least occasionally, and anything that's not being used I try to rebuild into something at least potentially useful (for example, I took a few extra prebuilts I had, threw a few 3Dfx cards I'd acquired in them, and now have a few decent spare Glide rigs that would be useful for a small UT lan with my friends).

I guess it comes down to why you collect and whether it's fulfilling. I enjoy collecting hardware and playing with it. Some people care more about the games and are fine running DOSBox or a VM. Some people collect but don't get any enjoyment from it, and I'd encourage them to find a way to get more fulfillment out of their hobby, or to change their hobby to something that makes them happy.

TheLazy1 wrote:

I thought it went something like this: […]
Show full quote

I thought it went something like this:

1) Get a bee in your bonnet
2) Gather parts
3) Build system
4) Brag about system
5) Maybe play games on it
6) Goto 1

Are you a wizard? 😳

I've gone back as far as a 386/40 and I dont see the need to go earlier. By the end of the 386 era, everything was standardized, for the most part. Makes life easy. That being said, if I ever go a hold of a nice 8088 or a 286 I'd end up pimping it out too. 😜

I use my computers for relatively light tasks and so long as I have a decent enough video card, I could easily get away with using a Pentium III for most of my day to day tasks.

I'll collect any vintage hardwre I can get ahold of and have room for; I love playing around with old computers but my favorite era is late 486 and early Pentium. I love seeing Windows 3.1 on hardware that's totally overkill for it but never the less, that was still the mainstream OS when that hardware was made.

I'm lucky, already being broke means I won't bankrupt myself building tons of retro systems. 😁
I plan on restoring my IBM 5162, keeping a single 486 machine, and for everything else I'll cover with slot-1.

I do not regret spending $50 combined on my sound card and DB60XG, it was totally worth it.
😜

retro games 100 wrote:

TheLazy1 wrote:

I thought it went something like this: […]
Show full quote

I thought it went something like this:

1) Get a bee in your bonnet
2) Gather parts
3) Build system
4) Brag about system
5) Maybe play games on it
6) Goto 1

Excellent post.

Oh Oh, RG100 is back.... 😲 😲 😲

I still lurk a lot here, because I think this website is excellent. It's my favourite site. Very unfortunately however, I can't do any more hardware testing threads for a while.

There is still quite a huge scene with C64, both software and hardware. Games, Tools, Hardware like EasyFlash, 1541U and many many many other things are still being developed and actively supported. Just do some googling and you'll find a ton of stuff for, on or about c64.

awergh wrote:

Not to mention windows 7 x64 is still pretty backwards compatible as long as you don't want 16bit windows or dos stuff. 5 minute logon times sound like dns is missing or something like that, nothing that is the fault of the OS.

I read a post on the Lucasarts forums complaining that none of the older Lucasarts games would install under Win7. Not completely ancient games either. People were unable to get games like Jedi Knight II or Jedi Academy to install. The explanation offered was that MS changed part of the installer sub-system such that the old installers no longer work. As I recall, one user had to make custom installers for those games.

As for old systems...

I still have An Atari 2600, 5200, 7800, Intellivision, C64 and a couple Amigas. They're not hooked up right now because I don't have the room, but I still like each of them for different reasons.

I got into the IBM world late. My first system was a P233 with Windows 98. I really have no desire to screw around with DOS machines and try to figure out what combination of drivers will get a particular game to work.

Rekrul wrote:

I read a post on the Lucasarts forums complaining that none of the older Lucasarts games would install under Win7. Not completel […]
Show full quote

awergh wrote:

Not to mention windows 7 x64 is still pretty backwards compatible as long as you don't want 16bit windows or dos stuff. 5 minute logon times sound like dns is missing or something like that, nothing that is the fault of the OS.

I read a post on the Lucasarts forums complaining that none of the older Lucasarts games would install under Win7. Not completely ancient games either. People were unable to get games like Jedi Knight II or Jedi Academy to install. The explanation offered was that MS changed part of the installer sub-system such that the old installers no longer work. As I recall, one user had to make custom installers for those games.

As for old systems...

I still have An Atari 2600, 5200, 7800, Intellivision, C64 and a couple Amigas. They're not hooked up right now because I don't have the room, but I still like each of them for different reasons.

I got into the IBM world late. My first system was a P233 with Windows 98. I really have no desire to screw around with DOS machines and try to figure out what combination of drivers will get a particular game to work.

The installer issue only happens when you try to use a 16-bit installer with 64-bit Windows.

I stick to the windows 98 era 1998-2000, anything older just gets to much of a pain and too primitive, anything newer is XP and up and that's modern, I know a lot of folks who use XP still.

I also don't like messing with DOS either. I collect windows 98 stuff because that was my youth and a very fun time in my life.

Same here. Though I started using computers from 1984 or so, I can't remember much about anything pre-Win95. So the earliest I go back to is 3dfx era stuff.

How far do I go back?

Pentium III with 440BX mobo to play hi-res DOS 3D games (Jane's ATF, F-22 Lightning II, System Shock in hi-res, etc). Anything older than that can be played using DOSBOX.

From XT i'm not sure (ew beeper), my most pleasant experiences tend to be in the 486 / Pentium range so 92-97 DOS golden era?

Had a commodore amiga and 64 too.

leileilol wrote:

From XT i'm not sure (ew beeper)

you can stick any sound card in there as long as it works in an 8-bit slot, you know.

would go back to an 8088 in a heartbeat if I could find one nearby. A++ WOULD PLAY AGAIN.

92 - 97 DOS is my favorite era, more than enough good hardware and games to keep me busy.

I dug a Siemens 10mhz 8088 motherboard + mono VGA card + floppy controller out of a box at the tip the other day and was contemplating putting it all together out of curiosity, but I think it's just too old to be of interest.

First family PC was a DX2/66 when i was in my mid teens.
It was a good place to start really as that was the mimimum spec PC for years later and we didnt upgrade for another 5!
Thats where my fondest memories are so thats about as far back as I'll ever go.
Everything I can do on the 486 I can do on a P3 or dosbox so it really is just for the Nostalgic value
Pre that we had a Appe IIe, but have no desire to go back that far!

I'm also not a fan of anything after XP, Ive only newer Os's on business networks but opening say Programs and features takes longer then Add remove progams. The same for the server side, turn off the fancy crap MS I just want to do what I want to do fast!

I have no interest in Apple but do think they are ahead at the moment with their OS.

Thanks for all the comments - this has turned into an interesting discussion

I think an easy answer to my original question is "depends on what you are trying to do"

Sometimes I think the question has more relevance to software than specific hardware. As I indicated earlier, I really, really, really, do not like the direction Microsoft is going. It used to be everything was backwards compatible; that is no longer the case. The only way to run some older programs is now to run an older OS.

My circa 1997 rig is the sweet spot for me, but I enjoy playing with hardware and games from 1995 and up. Any earlier and nostalgia takes me back to the SNES.

I do have a 486 in the garage that probably hasn't been turned on in 5+ years. I thought about getting rid of it along with so much more retro hardware that has gone unused for so long, but I can't bring myself to it.

You know what they say - the minute you throw something out you suddenly find a use for it 😀

^The story of my life.

I don't have much room and no longer own any desktop machines just because they make noise and take up space. My retro system is a circa 1997 Toshiba laptop with a 133mhz Pentium MMX and I actually got it just a month after throwing out some old Toshiba batteries that had sat at my desk for the longest time (all of which were the correct type for that computer). I also remember the number of times I got rid of an old video or sound card or whatever and as soon as I did so, I wound up with a computer that could have been perfect with said card.