ratfink wrote:I haven't used the systems much. It's like the joy was in building the machines and getting them running - I seem to have almost completely lost interest in playing games.
I am glad I can't say this completely for myself. While I do enjoy to tinker with all that stuff, I spend most of the evening airborn in a spitfire chasing bandits.
Even after 14 years, European Air War was the first flight sim that I would call "really believable" in terms of graphics. This moment had drifted before, from Finest Hour to swotl to Pacific Air War to Sabre Ace...
In retrospect, they all didn't seem good enough. EAW was the first to stay "realistic looking", even after many years. There was none before, that had such a credible look. I still love playing it.
I also found out, that the equally old Gunship! runs nicely on my main rig. (It is more arcadish than Longbow 2, but looks far more real) I have struggled with M1 Tank Platoon 2 too, but it seems I won't get it running on the big rig. I fixed the garbled screens (3Dwindower) and got the glide wrapper to kick in, but the mouse doesn't work but stays on the right side of the screen. Anyone knows a fix for that? PS2 vs USB perhaps? I'll try that.
So, back to topic: Both 1600x1200 heavy weights are gone. So I really rethink the whole project. With a P3, I'd have 2 ISA slots, AWE32 plus some DB carrier if I get the hanging note blues. So far, I could not be bothered much by it, but I would have the option. I'd get a Voodoo1 running in DOS as well.
Only problem left on the P3 would be the USB2.0 card. I have tried both a Nec and a Via USB2.0 Board. The Nec would freeze the PC as long as it is present. I tried hard to get it off other IRQs, but even then it just wouldn't work. The VIA does work with some bios settings and I can even get an external USB2.0 card reader to run in USB2.0 mode, but with the internal Card reader, it freezes too. On the KT133A, the same combination of card and reader works like a charm. Too bad! Any ideas?
Retro PC warning: The things you own end up owning you.