Re: What would you build if you want the best of both worlds?

Posted on 2016-06-01, 20:11

by

by jheronimus

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Lately I've been wanting to build a Socket 7 box, something with like a Pentium 233MMX, Voodoo 3, SB16 with real OPL3, just something that would strike a good balance of performance and compatibility. I'm not entirely sure what I'd do for GM support, an AWE64 is tempting but I really want the sound …

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Re: What would you build if you want the best of both worlds?

Posted on 2016-06-01, 17:17

by

by jheronimus

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I know there are people on Reddit who consider even 486/Pentium machines "too modern", but I still wonder — why does anyone need a dedicated machine for late 90s-early 00s games? None of you here mention any games that can't run properly on Socket 7 (or on modern hardware, for that matter) and A3D …

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Re: Would the 32gb hard drive limit in Windows 95 affect dual boots?

Posted on 2016-05-31, 13:50

by

by jheronimus

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I had the impression that Win98 is optimized for i686 (including the Pentium Pro), and Windows 95 is not. To my knowledge, both aren't a great fit for PPro, since they have a bunch of legacy 16 bit code. The Win95 originally had some issues with the new architecture, but the bugs were fixed with …

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Re: Would the 32gb hard drive limit in Windows 95 affect dual boots?

Posted on 2016-05-30, 22:15

by

by jheronimus

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I'm not exactly clear on why one would choose Win95C over Win98 in the first place..? Well, here are my reasons: 1) I'm using it for a Pentium Pro machine. Not many Windows games I'm going to play on it anyhow — not that Win95 should have a lot of compatibility issues. So I basically only need …

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Re: Would the 32gb hard drive limit in Windows 95 affect dual boots?

Posted on 2016-05-30, 22:01

by

by jheronimus

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Does anything bad happen with scandisk, or thereafter, if you shutdown the system during an operation, which encourages scandisk to run upon reboot? Is scandisk able to successfully "fix" the HDD's allocation tables, etc? Or does it remain corrupt? The comments have made me concerned and am …

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Re: My screen is always misaligned

Posted on 2016-05-30, 14:43

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by jheronimus

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Most CRTs keep alignment and other settings for each combination of resolution AND refresh rate. For example, setting your monitor to 1024x768@60Hz and aligning it properly, then changing to 1024x768@75Hz... you will be required to align it again. If you switch BACK to 60Hz, it should still " …

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Re: Would the 32gb hard drive limit in Windows 95 affect dual boots?

Posted on 2016-05-30, 12:59

by

by jheronimus

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I've actually installed Win95C on my Pentium Pro machine over this weekend on an 80GB drive. The installer detected my disk as 10GB and did not allow me to create proper partitions — only a single 10GB C partition. However, after the installation was finished and I've booted into the system the …

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My screen is always misaligned

Posted on 2016-05-29, 19:14

by

by jheronimus

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Hi, all I have a Samsung SyncMaster 755DFX 17" CRT screen. I'm using it with my Pentium Pro machine, here are the specs: - Windows 95C; - onboard S3 Virge/DX 2MB GPU; - Voodoo 2 V2 1000. By default the screen area is a bit off. It's a bit narrower and shorter than needed and not centered. I tried …

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Re: No MIDI music from my CT3670

Posted on 2016-05-28, 11:02

by

by jheronimus

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I tried it and whenever it uses General MIDI, the PC freezes… Ah, my Doom doesn't have AWE32 in the music options… only SoundBlaster, Adlib, Midi, Disney, Ultrasound and Tandy. The AWE32 support should come with a patch. I have a DOOM v 1.7 and I can confirm it has AWE32 in the setup. Also, …

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Re: No MIDI music from my CT3670

Posted on 2016-05-27, 22:45

by

by jheronimus

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

That is normal behaviour. The AWE doesn't have General MIDI compatibility. You can enable General MIDI support through the driver, but it works poorly under pure DOS, better from within Windows. Yes, by default it goes out the game port. Just connect an external General MIDI device and you are set. …

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Re: My Pentium Pro machine

Posted on 2016-05-24, 15:47

by

by jheronimus

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

Tetrium wrote: Yours came out of your PPro system? Yeah, it did. Don't know much about PSUs in old systems, so can't really tell you anything about it, sorry)

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What's your favourite magazine for old hardware reviews?

Posted on 2016-05-15, 21:34

by

by jheronimus

in Milliways

in Milliways

Hi, all! I've been reading a lot of CGW lately and I've been thinking — what would be the best gaming/enthusiast (i.e. not business or home user) magazine with PC hardware and peripherals (including speakers, joysticks, etc) reviews for the early 90s? The one that is available today in some form, of …

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Re: My Pentium Pro machine

Posted on 2016-05-12, 16:37

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by jheronimus

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

I'd like to test the deturbo BIOS option and disabling the CPU cache. What would be the most accurate Win9x benchmark that has a table of results for others CPU to compare with?

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Game profiles for Microsoft Sidewinder 3D Pro?

Posted on 2016-05-12, 16:35

by

by jheronimus

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Hi, all I'm using 3D Pro on my Pentium Pro machine under Windows 98SE. I have installed the Microsoft Software for that hoystick and it has a Profile Activator tool that allows you to define control schemes for various games and it can load profiles in .sw3 format. Did Microsoft ever distribute …

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Re: My Pentium Pro machine

Posted on 2016-05-12, 11:06

by

by jheronimus

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

An interesting thing: I have a a much better LAN transfer rate on Pentium Pro than I had with a Pentium MMX. Both machine had 3COM adapters (3C905B and 3C905C respectively). They have the same HDD, same OS (Win 98SE), same FTP client (Total Commander) and same amount of RAM (though, it's EDO vs PC- …

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Re: My Pentium Pro machine

Posted on 2016-05-11, 14:38

by

by jheronimus

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

Well, I've upgraded the HDD to a 80GB drive, installed a CD-RW, a 3COM 3C905B NIC, an AWE64 CT4500 soundcard and a Voodoo 2. Everything works perfect now. The only question is whether there is a better use for an empty 5.25 slot? I don't really need a second CD drive or an HDD (mobile rack), since …

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Re: My Pentium Pro machine

Posted on 2016-05-11, 07:42

by

by jheronimus

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

The second I found says AT&T/NCR. The pictures here are much more clear and they list original specs. I believe chinny22 was referring to the white sticker on the backside of the chassis just above the power supply. Does this have a model listed on it? It says EAP200LP64ACR. Actually, this one …

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Re: My Pentium Pro machine

Posted on 2016-05-10, 22:20

by

by jheronimus

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

Here's the PSU:

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Re: My Pentium Pro machine

Posted on 2016-05-10, 21:14

by

by jheronimus

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

Very nice looking case. Whats the sticker above the power supply? That my give clues who made it? Yes, it great looking! BTW, an ebay search came up with some Intel-branded PPro machines (just not this one). Looks like it could be Intel-branded after all. I'll make sure to look at the PSU and make …

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Re: Bought these (retro) hardware today

Posted on 2016-05-10, 16:43

by

by jheronimus

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

senrew wrote: Wife insisted we go hunting today. Hit up a bunch of thrifts and pawn shops. Kudos to your wife! What does she get out of thrifting?

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