Slow experience Windows 95/98 experience on Toshiba Satellite Pro \ VOGONS

Slow experience Windows 95/98 experience on Toshiba Satellite Pro

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First post, by Machine Monarch

Posted on 2024-12-05, 23:13

Machine Monarch Offline

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Rank: Newbie
Posts: 9
Joined: 2020-02-25, 19:22

Wazup,

Trying out Windows 95 and 98 installs on my Toshiba Satellite Pro 430 CDT and the experience is very slow.

I mean sure, I don't recall the Windows 95/98 era being known for super fast speeds but I'm at a point where I can't even use the OS decently.

For example loading up a bunch of .xm or .mod files in modplay player will eventually have the computer stuttering.
You can composing music in ModPlug Tracker. Sound response is delayed when I hit the keys.
Count out WinAmp and I cant play games like Psygnosis Roller Cage... Browsing files is even slow.

Specs:
* 32 MB RAM
* CF Adapter with either
- Windows 95 on a SanDisk Ultra II CompactFlash @ 15MB/s
- Windows 98 on an Advantech SQFlash Industrial Grade 4 GB CF, SQ-P10S2-4G-CT2 @ 30MB/s

Super appreciative if anyone can point me in the right direction.
I just want to make some nice music on this piece of hardware. I've heard good things about the OPL3 sound chip!

Questions
1. What can I do to bring the speeds up? Better storage device? Perhaps a PATA SSD?
2. Would you recommend using DOS instead? If so, which DOS? There seems to be so many variants...
3. Any other good msuic tracker software you'd recommend? Adlib Tracker II or perhaps something else?

Reply 1 of 4, by VivienM

Posted on 2024-12-05, 23:27

VivienM Offline

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Location: Toronto, ON

This is a Pentium ... 120MHz? That should be plenty for 95, not sure about 98...

What are you trying to play with Winamp? MP3 might be dicey on a Pentium...

MOD playback should be definitely doable, although that might be a DOS thing too. What was the name of that player for DOS...? DMP maybe?

One random thought I had - is your storage using 32-bit disk drivers?

Reply 2 of 4, by Machine Monarch

Posted on 2024-12-05, 23:34

Machine Monarch Offline

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Rank: Newbie
Posts: 9
Joined: 2020-02-25, 19:22

VivienM wrote on 2024-12-05, 23:27:
This is a Pentium ... 120MHz? That should be plenty for 95, not sure about 98... […]
Show full quote

This is a Pentium ... 120MHz? That should be plenty for 95, not sure about 98...

What are you trying to play with Winamp? MP3 might be dicey on a Pentium...

MOD playback should be definitely doable, although that might be a DOS thing too. What was the name of that player for DOS...? DMP maybe?

One random thought I had - is your storage using 32-bit disk drivers?

How do I go about checking that? The device manager says the following about my CF card
"GENERIC IDE DISK TYPE01", Provider Not Available.

Any Drivers you'd recommend?

Reply 3 of 4, by kingcake

Posted on 2024-12-06, 00:19

kingcake Offline

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Joined: 2018-03-20, 02:09

Some flash card + adapter combos are very slow. Slower than spinning rust in terms of throughput. Run some drive benchmarks and post results. I've had CF cards that couldn't do 1 megabyte/second and sound would stutter bad in Win 98.

A P120 will be pretty slow in Win98 regardless. That is a Win95 machine.

Reply 4 of 4, by Machine Monarch

Posted on 2024-12-06, 00:21

Machine Monarch Offline

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Rank: Newbie
Posts: 9
Joined: 2020-02-25, 19:22

I should add that the generic driver for the CF disk in device manager doesn't even have a button for enabling DMA mode. It's just empty where it should be.

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