Re: 32-bit Windows OS 4gb Memory Limit

Posted on 2016-07-05, 21:11

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Provided you have a CPU and chipset that supports PAE, it is possible for a 32-bit operating system to address up to 64 GB of RAM. However, in order to remove the hard limit on a 32-bit Windows OS (like Vista, 7, etc.) you need to "patch" the kernel (there are utilities online that allows you to …

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Re: 32-bit Windows OS 4gb Memory Limit

Posted on 2016-07-05, 21:05

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

As per the Wikiperdia article that Scali referred to, the 4 GB limit on Microsoft's 32-bit operating systems is actually a hard limit imposed by Microsoft. As a matter of fact, up to Windows XP SP1, there was no limit and one could actually install Windows XP (32-bit) on a PC with more than 4 GB of …

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Re: AWE64 not working in Rise of the Triad

Posted on 2016-07-04, 13:39

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ Software

in Marvin \ Software

Just from the top of my head: ROTT is a protected mode game and under real mode DOS (not a command prompt) requires native AWE support. Did you, in the sound setup, select AWE32 as your music device? Since this is a protected mode game, you're only required to initialise the EMU8000 synthesis chip …

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Differences and compatibility between the different Opti 495 chipsets

Posted on 2016-07-03, 15:47

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Maybe I should start out by saying why I'm posting this and then asking the relevant questions. The first PC that I bought for myself had a "hybrid" 3/486 motherboard that could accept both 386 & 5v 486 CPU's (there has been numerous posts about these type of motherboards and that, for example, some …

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Re: Found a Gigabyte GA-7VAXP

Posted on 2016-06-28, 20:55

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I built a custom system for myself back in 2002, using an Athlon XP 1800+, Radeon 8500 and a Gigabyte GA-7VAX motherboard. Back then, I tried out both Windows XP & WIndows 2000, but eventually installed Windows XP and it ran on it without any problems (I think I started out with 512 MB of RAM). I …

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Re: Incredible how even fairly modern processors don't cut it

Posted on 2016-06-23, 11:05

by

by jesolo

in Milliways

in Milliways

An interesting topic on which I would also like to share my experiences with (and basically add onto what Phil has stated). I think we all know that different users have different needs in terms of what they wish to use a computer for. Most users use a desktop computer to browse the internet (which …

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Re: Where can I get a Gravis Ultrasound ?

Posted on 2016-06-22, 10:48

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Gravis-Ultrasound-PnP/262491106771?_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851&_trkparms Don't expect the auction to end cheap and likely to balloon into the hundreds before it is over. If I'm not mistaken, this seller has been selling GUS sound cards on eBay for the past couple of …

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Re: Where can I get a Gravis Ultrasound ?

Posted on 2016-06-21, 10:44

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Elia1995 wrote: What do you mean a GUS clone ? Getting GUS soundfonts on the Sound Blaster ? Refer this topic: Newly made Gravis Ultrasound compatible cards ... what's the degree of interest? By clone we mean a replica of the original sound card.

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Re: Possibly buying some of these ISA sound cards

Posted on 2016-06-21, 08:50

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

The AZT-1605 & AZT-2320 were manufactured by Aztech Labs (most famous for their Sound Galaxy range of sound cards). They offer very good Sound Blaster compatibility, has a real OPL3, with a game port & (from the 2nd generation of sound cards) UART mode MPU-401 MIDI interface (no MIDI hanging note …

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Re: PCEm. Another PC emulator.

Posted on 2016-06-20, 20:47

by

by jesolo

in PC Emulation

in PC Emulation

There is a packaging error in v11: mda.rom should be in the roms directory.Copy or move that file and that computer will work. About XTs, they should not support more han 640Kb unless equipped with EMS. In real life that means installing a memory expansion. So, unless a XT clone had onboard support …

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Re: Opinions about Aztech Multimedia Pro 16 ABO

Posted on 2016-06-19, 14:47

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

It depends on what your needs are. If you're looking for an ISA based Sound Blaster Pro II compatible sound card (under DOS), with true OPL3 synthesis and a Wave Blaster connector (without the MIDI hanging note bug), then this is a good buy. It does offer full 16-bit recording and playback …

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Re: PCEm. Another PC emulator.

Posted on 2016-06-18, 12:59

by

by jesolo

in PC Emulation

in PC Emulation

With v11, I just get a garbled display with the the Olivetti M24 CPU emulation (no problems with v10.1). It would also appear that XT machines are now limited to a maximum of 640kb RAM.

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Re: Connecting a Roland MT-32 and SC-55 to a PC with One Sound Card

Posted on 2016-06-18, 12:53

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Here's a little guide a copied from an internet site at one point.

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Re: Help me Obi-Wan, your're my only hope!

Posted on 2016-06-17, 17:24

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I happen to have a similar problem. Recently obtained an old MSI MS7101 (865GVM3-V) Pentium 4 motherboard from some friends of my parents, who told me that the PC just stopped working one day. It has a Pentium 4 Cedar Mill 3.2 GHz CPU (spec no SL9KF (D0)) with 1 GB of RAM and onboard VGA graphics. …

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Re: SC-55 vs SC-88

Posted on 2016-06-17, 16:37

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I own both the SC-55 MK1 (with the version 2.00 ROM, if I recall correctly) which is the one with also the GM logo. I've owned an AWE64 since December 1996, but was never impressed by some of its MIDI samples (particularly the trumpets). Since most games of the early 90's were written on an SC-55, I …

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Re: Recommend a motherboard and/or CPU to fit in the middle of my PC models

Posted on 2016-06-12, 09:54

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

The Pentium III should cover all "later" DOS games (from Doom, Duke Nukem 3D to Quake), if you're willing to set up a boot menu configuration to also be able to boot directly into DOS 7.1. I agree with a 486 system, but (CPU wise) you could look at a 486DX 33 MHz or a 486DX2 66 MHz. The former slows …

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Re: Hocus Pocus, the AWE32 PnP doesn't go.

Posted on 2016-06-11, 09:01

by

by jesolo

in DOS

in DOS

Do you have any idea what makes the PC freeze with General MIDI and AweUtil /EM:GM or GS ? How is AweUtil with that parameter supposed to work ? It's possible your motherboard doesn't have support for non maskable interrupts (NMI's). Try enabling memory parity error checking in your BIOS (if that …

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Re: Hocus Pocus, the AWE32 PnP doesn't go.

Posted on 2016-06-11, 08:58

by

by jesolo

in DOS

in DOS

Elia1995 wrote: What's an example of real mode DOS game that has MIDI support so I can try it ? Any game that doesn't load DOS/4GW (your DOS extender that puts it in protected mode) and that has a General MIDI option in its setup menu. Try Leisure Suit Larry 6 (floppy version) or Quest for Glory 1 …

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Re: MS-DOS AWE32 Games list

Posted on 2016-06-11, 08:20

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I think it's more of a question which games do not natively support the AWE32 after it was released to the market in 1994. Most games, released after 1994 and that had (General) MIDI support, natively supported the AWE32. By that time, most "high end" DOS games were protected mode games. I can't …

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Re: The 486DX 33 MHZ Retro Gamer - Or The Adventure Games MIDI Master

Posted on 2016-06-07, 20:06

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

Still about the monitor: Can you manually adjust V-H position? Does it have an automatic screen adjustment? Slightly off topic, but relevant to building a retro PC, I'm actually also looking into getting an LCD 4:3 (square) monitor for my older PC's that still runs via VLB or ISA graphics cards. …

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