Re: Bought these (retro) hardware today
Posted on 2018-06-19, 13:50
Very nice catch, those sound cards! If shipping from the US wasn't so expensive... eBay always has more / better results for retro hardware like this from US sellers.
Re: ISA Graphics Card Dead, any chance of resurrection?
Posted on 2018-06-19, 11:07
Well, I have two dead ISA VGA cards as well. I have not yet the time to check on them and also have only a few ideas: * measuring all resistors to see if they match their markings * ESR measurements of all capacitors, to see if they degraded * Test the diodes for correct forward voltage drop * Test …
Re: What Is an IQ-POINT in Dos
Posted on 2018-06-19, 09:58
I think this is simply the highscore, not your current score, which depends on the savegame...
Re: What Is an IQ-POINT in Dos
Posted on 2018-06-19, 09:05
Do you by any chance play "Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis"? That game keeps track of the highscore via the IQ-POINT file.
Re: VGA Capture Thread
Posted on 2018-06-18, 22:21
I have tweaked the OBS settings (not so much the OSSC, apart from disabling scan lines) and now the image is much better. I ramped up brightness and contrast, which led to a much better picture. SQ3 is not looking pretty good. 640x480 60 Hz games still have a bit missing at the top, e.g. Eric the …
Re: Good shoot em ups up to 1991?
Posted on 2018-06-18, 19:44
Probably one of the earliest 'smooth' shmups I can think of that fits this bill is Tubular Worlds, but that's 1994 (very much pushing the period here) There's Battlestorm from Titus (1991) - http://www.mobygames.com/game/dos/battlestorm The smoothness is probably why I liked it at the time, because …
Re: Windows huge(20GB) text file editor that doesn't hog memory?
Posted on 2018-06-18, 19:43
You need to check out editors that do not simply load the file, but memory maps them. For example the latest version of Notepad (yes!) does just that: https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20180521-00/?p=98795 But also UltraEdit should also be able to do that: https://www.ultraedit.com/ …
Re: Sound Blaster 2.0 project & IRQ from OPL2
Posted on 2018-06-18, 19:15
matze79 wrote: if you get this done, did you ever mind to work together with dreamblaster to add the DAC Part to his OPL2LPT Device Happy Hacking 😀 A Nice Project! I think it would be the other way around. DMA via the LPT will be a bit difficult, especially on older machines.
Re: Compatiblity of DRAM IC
Posted on 2018-06-18, 14:08
Ok, thanks for all your replies. I thinkt for this build, I will stick with 1MiB of RAM, since more RAM usually only helps with Windows, or a few DOS applications. For my 386 build this will not be needed after all. I will still have a search for 421000 DRAM chips on eBay, just in case... 😉
Re: Bought these (retro) hardware today
Posted on 2018-06-18, 13:59
Since my 286 build is nearing its completion, I have snatched up the next step: A 386 board with an Opti chipset. Probably not the fastest thing, but it came with beeper, battery and 8 MiB of RAM. I will hold off firing it up, until I get my smart ATX2AT converter. I do not want to risk frying …
Re: Bought these (retro) hardware today
Posted on 2018-06-18, 13:19
Since my 286 build is nearing its completion, I have snatched up the next step: A 386 board with an Opti chipset. Probably not the fastest thing, but it came with beeper, battery and 8 MiB of RAM. I will hold off firing it up, until I get my smart ATX2AT converter. I do not want to risk frying …
Re: Games with enhanced EGA palette?
Posted on 2018-06-18, 09:41
Oh, if Magnetic Scrolls did this, probably the Legend adventures like Spellcasting and Time Quest did this as well...
Re: Compatiblity of DRAM IC
Posted on 2018-06-18, 08:24
Hm. EMS cards can be had easily. Lo Tech, Sergey Malinov and others have designed them. But I think that Windows 3.0/3.1 do not support EMS, right? IIRC they need raw protected mode access to the extended memory.
Games with enhanced EGA palette?
Posted on 2018-06-18, 07:45
Most EGA games lile the older Sierra games use the 16 color CGA compatible palette. However EGA could choose from 64 colors. Are there any games using that feature? Edit: It seems back in the 80s PC Magazine published a TSR called SPECTRUM to modify the palette for programs using the regular CGA …
Compatiblity of DRAM IC
Posted on 2018-06-18, 05:23
My Suntac 286 supports 421000-8 DRAM chips to get either 2 or 4 MiB of RAM. Those ICs are extremely hard to come by. Now I am wondering if there is any alternative to expand the system memory. I checked a different 1 MB IC from TI, but the pinout is already different. So I guess the ICs from …
Re: Good shoot em ups up to 1991?
Posted on 2018-06-15, 21:37
xjas wrote: Should also mention Llamatron 2112 if you want a dose of utter mental insanity with your shooting. Quality stuff. 😉 Never heard of Llamatron! But there were some weird games out there back in the day... I remember Lamers (Lemmings clone)...
Re: Good shoot em ups up to 1991?
Posted on 2018-06-15, 21:20
Calvero wrote: Pinball Fantasies can run on a 286. Hm. I will have to try it then!
Re: Good shoot em ups up to 1991?
Posted on 2018-06-15, 21:06
For a 286 you'll want EGA anyway.... even many 386s struggled with VGA shmups (some of my friends couldn't run Raptor on release) Yeah, raptor and Tyrian are another league... it's interesting how few games made use of VGA hardware scrolling to alleviate a bit the CPU load. Pinball Fantasies/Dreams …
Re: PS/2 to Microsoft Serialmouse Adapter Converter
Posted on 2018-06-15, 10:02
The PCBs from Aisler arrived. I already have the components from Mouser. So pending some spare time I can start assembling three little converters! Apart from the stupid CF connector, this will be my first SMD soldering. Filename BD9C82BC-5314-49F7-B2A6-6223D85A034E.jpeg File size 219.72 KiB Views …
Re: Good shoot em ups up to 1991?
Posted on 2018-06-15, 09:35
Oh, I do remember Major Stryker from magazines. Apogee did a lot of EGA graphics when others already switched to VGA. But that's ok. The game is rather professionally looking.
Page 97 of 104