VOGONS


Anyone else questioning the point of retrorigs?

Topic actions

First post, by tametick

User metadata
Rank Newbie
Rank
Newbie

So while browsing ebay for some parts for a win98 build, i realized that aside from building the computer and getting all the software to work (installing windows, patches, drivers, etc) I'm actually unlikely to ever use it for anything...

I mean theoretically I do this stuff to play old games but if i'm honest all the ones I'm likely to play work in dosbox, modern windows (sometimes via gog-fixed releases), or have source ports (like the id games). Sure, there are a bunch of titles that actually need retro hardware (I think dune 2 was problematic on dosbox because of sound issues?) but aside from once every few years for kicks and giggles i'm not actually playing these games.

But maybe this is the wrong point of view? Maybe just building and caring for old computers is a means to its own end, kinda like building ships in a bottle or restoring old cars?

Food for thought, for me at least 😀

Reply 1 of 78, by Skyscraper

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t

Not me!

DOSbox is nice for other less fortunate people but I prefer real hardware, that goes for consoles aswell.

New PC: i9 12900K @5GHz all cores @1.2v. MSI PRO Z690-A. 32GB DDR4 3600 CL14. 3070Ti.
Old PC: Dual Xeon X5690@4.6GHz, EVGA SR-2, 48GB DDR3R@2000MHz, Intel X25-M. GTX 980ti.
Older PC: K6-3+ 400@600MHz, PC-Chips M577, 256MB SDRAM, AWE64, Voodoo Banshee.

Reply 2 of 78, by seob

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member

Of course you don't need retro pc's for most games. But i think part of the enjoyment of this hobby comes in tracing and finding parts for a build and the actual build itself.
Maybe the some fixing to get this working again, lije replacing caps.
Most of the fun i get from retro computing, is going out for the hunt. Finding good deals and hardware i couldn't afford back then.
But i guess it's the same with other hobbies.

Reply 3 of 78, by firage

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

For me it's about the hardware. Original feeling keyboards, mice and gameport controllers, MIDI and GUS music, 3dfx Glide and PowerVR graphics, etc. There's good emulation for a lot of basic stuff, but you can't emulate everything.

Last edited by firage on 2015-11-11, 10:58. Edited 1 time in total.

My big-red-switch 486

Reply 4 of 78, by PhilsComputerLab

User metadata
Rank l33t++
Rank
l33t++

A few of my reasons:

  • 70 Hz smooth DOS scrolling
  • Aureal A3D (surround over headphone technology)
  • Splinter Cell (Only displays 100% correct on retro PC)
  • Splinter Cell Chaos Theory (Only displays 100% correct on retro PC)
  • Far Cry (Land Masses only show under Windows XP)
  • Correct Game Blaster sound
  • Roland
  • 3dfx
  • Playing with hardware that was once ultra high end, costing several thousands of dollars
  • It just works!
  • Annoyed at having to fix / tweak pretty much every GOG release there is
  • I actually enjoy working with old hardware more than playing the games 😀

But you're right, there are many reasons to play them in DOSBox or on a modern PC

YouTube, Facebook, Website

Reply 5 of 78, by carlostex

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t

For DOS era where most of my nostalgia comes from i use retro rigs exclusively. For Windows games i can't be bothered and everything i wanted to play i was able to make it work in modern windows. Using patches and Glide wrappers worked well.

But for DOS i want real DOS running on a real machine.

Reply 6 of 78, by tametick

User metadata
Rank Newbie
Rank
Newbie

Hah! Alright you've convinces me to buy all that stuff on ebay I was fantasizing about 😉

Reply 7 of 78, by Firtasik

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

I don't have a DOS rig because of DOSBox and dgVoodoo2 is on the way to kill my legacy Windows machine. 😉

11 1 111 11 1 1 1 1 1 11 1 1 111 1 111 1 1 1 1 111

Reply 8 of 78, by kixs

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t

I like to play with hardware... in this case, an old one 😁

Requests here!

Reply 9 of 78, by mwdmeyer

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

I love finding old hardware and getting it working. No more old hardware is ever getting made, so fixing it up and making it work feels worthwhile.

Installing Dosbox is easy and anyone can do it, it doesn't restore something that will become a limited resource in future.

Vogons Wiki - http://vogonswiki.com

Reply 10 of 78, by tayyare

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

To say the truth, I play most of my games in my contemporary rig, and they are mostly GOG and Steam versions. There are a very few set of games that I really want to play and needs old hardware. Probably, the items below are valid for me, too:

•Playing with hardware that was once ultra high end, costing several thousands of dollars (so was never able to put my hands on them originally)
•I actually enjoy working with old hardware more than playing the games

I have four active rigs (Core2quad Windows 7, Athlon 64 X2 Windows XP, Tualatin 1.4 Windows 9x and Pentium MMX DOS/Windows 3.1) and only two of them have any game installed on them. And there are still 5 more inactive ones (working condition but shelved) which I'm not using at all.

GA-6VTXE PIII 1.4+512MB
Geforce4 Ti 4200 64MB
Diamond Monster 3D 12MB SLI
SB AWE64 PNP+32MB
120GB IDE Samsung/80GB IDE Seagate/146GB SCSI Compaq/73GB SCSI IBM
Adaptec AHA29160
3com 3C905B-TX
Gotek+CF Reader
MSDOS 6.22+Win 3.11/95 OSR2.1/98SE/ME/2000

Reply 11 of 78, by RacoonRider

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

I'll be honest, when I start something in Dosbox, I end up playing more. It's the hardware I like.

Reply 12 of 78, by RobW0lf

User metadata
Rank Newbie
Rank
Newbie

Have done a lot, keep going from "Wow this is awesome I love messing with older hardware" to "screw this, I'm just gonna use Dosbox/VM"
Personally, I enjoy building and configuring hardware/software more than actually playing games most of the time, I have no idea why but I just do. Doesn't mean I don't play games/actually use my hardware, I use my Pentium II rig for MS-DOS Games and demos, and Impulse Tracker (Which I sometimes use to create music with).
TLDR - It's fun and interesting.

Reply 13 of 78, by brostenen

User metadata
Rank l33t++
Rank
l33t++

Mmmm.... I just like to tinker and with old hardware, look at old hardware, listen to it and then play some games and watch the stuff work together as if it was pre-1999 again. Cooking it down.... It's all about nostalgia, baby. 😜

Well... Forgot to mention the smell of old hardware. Nothing like the smell of the 90's 🤣

Don't eat stuff off a 15 year old never cleaned cpu cooler.
Those cakes make you sick....

My blog: http://to9xct.blogspot.dk
My YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/brostenen

001100 010010 011110 100001 101101 110011

Reply 14 of 78, by Oldbitcollector

User metadata
Rank Newbie
Rank
Newbie

My sixteen year old daughter made the statement one day when she saw me building my second 1998's retro-box, "Dad, why do you build these if you are never going to play with them?" -- It's true that I spend more time on my primary machine doing business, email, forums, videos, and communication, but I honestly like the idea of having a secondary machine which is NOT Internet connected which I know is private for only me. I started collecting old game CDs a couple years ago and trying to play them with DOSbox and Oracle virtual machine, but they tend to be problematic and sluggish at best. Once I built a retro rig and connected it with an A/B switchbox to my primary monitor, running 3dfx I was in heaven. As for if I use the rig as often as she thinks, hey there are guys who build model air-planes, then after they are built, they put them on display and buy another kit. No one questions that.. 😀 (or maybe they do... 😀

I like the hunt for software... It's fun to find a gem for a buck or two at a second hand shop. Not real crazy about getting crap hardware from Ebay lately, but I guess that just adds to the challenge of getting these old machines up and running.

Reply 15 of 78, by brostenen

User metadata
Rank l33t++
Rank
l33t++

Yup... True. It's really hard to dig up old parts these day's.
Wich makes the hunt for parts, a part of the joy.

Don't eat stuff off a 15 year old never cleaned cpu cooler.
Those cakes make you sick....

My blog: http://to9xct.blogspot.dk
My YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/brostenen

001100 010010 011110 100001 101101 110011

Reply 16 of 78, by tametick

User metadata
Rank Newbie
Rank
Newbie

Just came back from a local 2nd hand computer shop...Guy said he threw away all the pentium 4s & older a little while ago 🙁

Most of the wares were core 2 duos and a single amd athlon 64 x2 (I think this was the oldest computer there - 50 euros for a pretty visually banged-up little system, so not a great find).

I guess it's all ebay for me for the moment!

Reply 17 of 78, by BSA Starfire

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie
tametick wrote:

Just came back from a local 2nd hand computer shop...Guy said he threw away all the pentium 4s & older a little while ago 🙁

Most of the wares were core 2 duos and a single amd athlon 64 x2 (I think this was the oldest computer there - 50 euros for a pretty visually banged-up little system, so not a great find).

I guess it's all ebay for me for the moment!

I would suggest Amibay, had some great bits from there, everyting has worked perfectly, was cheap & the sellers are retro fans like ourselves so packaging is way better than off most ebay sellers.

286 20MHz,1MB RAM,Trident 8900B 1MB, Conner CFA-170A.SB 1350B
386SX 33MHz,ULSI 387,4MB Ram,OAK OTI077 1MB. Seagate ST1144A, MS WSS audio
Amstrad PC 9486i, DX/2 66, 16 MB RAM, Cirrus SVGA,Win 95,SB 16
Cyrix MII 333,128MB,SiS 6326 H0 rev,ESS 1869,Win ME

Reply 18 of 78, by dr_st

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t

Well, I noticed that some things run better in DOSBox, others run better on the actual retro rig. Plus certain old games with low-res graphics look a lot better on an ancient CRT than a modern LCD.

https://cloakedthargoid.wordpress.com/ - Random content on hardware, software, games and toys

Reply 19 of 78, by Logistics

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

As many have mentioned, it's really about the game of finding old, desirable hardware and making it function, even if it means I have to bust out my soldering rig and update the hardware with modern capacitors, new solder, newer more accurate resistors, new jacks, etc. It's a hobby, and I haven't made any money on it, yet but that's probably because I always end up fixing things for friends and acquaintances who I only have pay for the parts.

I do however, make a living restoring old automobiles, and the same principles could be applied to that.