Re: Bought these (retro) hardware today

Posted on 2023-04-11, 13:30

by

by Grzyb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Kahenraz wrote on 2023-04-11, 13:20: I've heard that it's better to format an unknown or older disk twice to ensure strong magnetic tracks. I don't know if this is placebo or a real thing. In general - nonsense! Though there still might be a grain of truth - Re: Super low-level Format for floppy

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Re: VGA cards with little RAM (256KB): Why were they made in first place

Posted on 2023-04-09, 06:00

by

by Grzyb

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

In the action genre, the first games with SVGA modes were Witchaven and Quake (1995..96), with SVGA still being optional. 1994 Transport Tycoon mandatory SVGA. I wonder if I can find something popular released even earlier. There is 1993 super-vga Harrier https://www.mobygames.com/game/18480/super- …

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Re: Still seeing XMS under DOS 7.10 when DOS=NOAUTO is loaded.

Posted on 2023-04-09, 05:39

by

by Grzyb

in Marvin \ Software

in Marvin \ Software

MEM isn't precise. Try the following code: uses dos; var r: registers; begin r.ax := $4300; intr($2f, r); if r.al = $80 then writeln('XMS installed') else writeln('No XMS'); end. XMSCHECK.EXE Also, I'm wondering what's that program that refuses to work because it thinks it detects XMS - must be some …

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Re: Still seeing XMS under DOS 7.10 when DOS=NOAUTO is loaded.

Posted on 2023-04-08, 22:00

by

by Grzyb

in Marvin \ Software

in Marvin \ Software

Try: mem/d/p Normally, you should see "XMSXXXX0 Installed Device=HIMEM". With DOS=NOAUTO, it shouldn't be there. Edit: also, with DOS=NOAUTO, entering "win" should fail - "HIMEM.SYS is missing."

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Re: Still seeing XMS under DOS 7.10 when DOS=NOAUTO is loaded.

Posted on 2023-04-08, 21:00

by

by Grzyb

in Marvin \ Software

in Marvin \ Software

You're using BootGUI=0, right? And what's the program that reports XMS? Are you sure it's really XMS, and not raw Extended memory?

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Re: Platform games Amiga Style on PC??

Posted on 2023-04-08, 15:25

by

by Grzyb

in Marvin \ Software

in Marvin \ Software

exactly i not mean adventure or rts, but games like superfrog for poatform, Lotus turbo challenge, pinball ecc… i remember the pc scrolling was always worst than the amiga one Superfrog - I think there was no PC version, there was plenty of other platform games, and indeed, scrolling often wasn't …

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Re: Willow - Windows 3.0 Real Mode applications on OS/2 1.x and up (and stuff)

Posted on 2023-04-08, 08:26

by

by Grzyb

in Milliways

in Milliways

OS/2 1.x versions were released in 1987..90, so the contemporary Windowses would be primarily 2.x (1987..89) - no protection there, right?

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Re: Willow - Windows 3.0 Real Mode applications on OS/2 1.x and up (and stuff)

Posted on 2023-04-06, 05:33

by

by Grzyb

in Milliways

in Milliways

Nice to see that in OS/2 1.x protection mechanisms are already working - bad Windows app doesn't crash the entire system. No protection in contemporary Windows versions...

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Re: VGA cards with little RAM (256KB): Why were they made in first place

Posted on 2023-04-05, 05:28

by

by Grzyb

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

Afaik, all/most 256KB SVGA models were expandable to 512KB. It were the cheap PCB designs that caused the limitation of the time. There were SVGA chips that only supported 256 KB, eg. Acumos AVGA1 (1991), later on rebranded to CL-GD5401. On the other hand, according to the datesheet, PVGA1A (1988, …

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Re: VGA cards with little RAM (256KB): Why were they made in first place

Posted on 2023-04-04, 09:58

by

by Grzyb

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

Funnily, there's one VBE mode in 256c that can be used by low-end VGAs: 640x400 @70 Hz in 256c - VESA VBE 1.0 mode 100h The requirement for that mode is still twice the memory bandwith of standard VGA, which was not available on 80's VGA clones. This mode is targeted to early 90s Super-VGA cards …

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Re: VGA cards with little RAM (256KB): Why were they made in first place

Posted on 2023-04-04, 06:05

by

by Grzyb

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

Oh yeah, PC gaming was mostly stuck in 320x200x256 well into the SVGA era... Doom, Doom II, Heretic, Hexen (1993..95) - all 320x200x256 only. In the action genre, the first games with SVGA modes were Witchaven and Quake (1995..96), with SVGA still being optional. The primary reason was, of course, …

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Re: VGA cards with little RAM (256KB): Why were they made in first place

Posted on 2023-04-04, 05:03

by

by Grzyb

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

Those who needed 512 or 1024 KB were supposed to purchase an 8514/A.

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Re: Best isa gpu? [solved]

Posted on 2023-04-02, 15:43

by

by Grzyb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

OK, the term VLB is good enough, you can use it if you wish. Nevertheless, S3 isn't consistent in using that term.

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Re: Best isa gpu? [solved]

Posted on 2023-04-02, 15:07

by

by Grzyb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Basically, 386DX and 486 CPUs have 32-bit external bus, referred to as 386DX/486 local bus . That bus can be used by onboard devices, or by cards using slots. There are at least two slot standards for that: - VESA Local Bus - Opti Local Bus As they are just slot standards, it's impossible to …

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Re: Best isa gpu? [solved]

Posted on 2023-04-02, 14:18

by

by Grzyb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I don't understand what this means, Local Bus could mean either of VESA Local Bus or PCI Local Bus , SIV is reporting the GPU not the motherboard chipset. The GPU chipset datasheet specifies VESA Local Bus for the mode the GPU is using so it's sensible for software to report this for the GPU. Yes, …

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Re: Best isa gpu? [solved]

Posted on 2023-04-02, 13:45

by

by Grzyb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Consider replacing "VLB" with just "Local Bus" - it's impossible to tell apart VESA vs. Opti vs. onboard in software.

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Re: Choose one of the three OPTI929A sound cards

Posted on 2023-03-31, 03:00

by

by Grzyb

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

I would go for the real OPL3. You don't need those Mitsumi/Sony/Panasonic CD-ROM interfaces, do you?

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Re: Best isa gpu? [solved]

Posted on 2023-03-30, 13:34

by

by Grzyb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

red-ray wrote on 2023-03-30, 13:23: Exactly which chip is it please? I suspect it's not the one I have. That's CT, while ISA cards use the GX variant.

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Re: Best isa gpu?

Posted on 2023-03-30, 13:29

by

by Grzyb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I guess these are quite rare, are they, is there an NT 4.00 driver and what resolutions does it support? I guess 1280 x 1024 x 16-bit colour. That card is earlier than Windows NT, and AFAIK there's no drivers for any NT version. Software support is limited to AutoCAD and Windows 3.0/3.1, other DOS …

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Re: Best isa gpu?

Posted on 2023-03-30, 12:36

by

by Grzyb

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

red-ray wrote on 2023-03-30, 12:15: Do >= 8MB ISA GPUs exist I've got a Miro Tiger 12, based on TMS34020, with 4 MB VRAM for frame buffer + 8 MB DRAM for software + 0.25 MB DRAM for separate VGA chipset.

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