Reply 60 of 201, by Shreddoc
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WDStudios wrote on 2021-06-19, 07:06:A small, low-cost, low-power computer, like the Raspberry Pi, but 100% compatible with Windows 98 and heavily optimized for parallel floating-point operations.
WDStudios wrote on 2021-06-22, 01:51:The target of this project would be Win98 compatibility.
WDStudios wrote on 2021-06-22, 01:51:The goal is out-of-the-box compatibility with the largest possible number of DOs and Win9x games, at a reasonable price.
The goalposts seem to move a bit. Let's simplify: You're proposing a Windows 98 computer. I have 2 or 3 of them already. The "parallel floating-point thing", the DOS gaming (beyond what's already in Win98), that's all pie-in-the-sky stuff which there's little point discussing while there's no detail to be had.
Shreddoc wrote on 2021-06-21, 22:31:And the crux of the issue here is that the Stated Goal, and the Proposed Way Of Achieving It, are not currently aligned. That is, we enthusiasts know that a Windows 98 system based on ~Socket A era hardware can only cover a limited range of what we, a community of experts in the subject, consider to be "retro PC gaming".
WDStudios wrote on 2021-06-19, 07:06:Limited, but not significantly so. I've already acknowledged that there will be the occasional games, like the Win95 ports of C&C and Red Alert, that were just programmed stupidly or based on certain failed predictions of what future hardware and software would support. And there will always be the occasional person who insists that "it's not retro gaming unless it supports Glide and Adlib", but that person does not speak for everyone. I think it would be a mistake to assume that self-proclaimed "experts" at Vogons are representative of the average person who just wonders why their copy of Doom 3 won't run on their Windows 10 computer.
If a person wants to buy something on which to run Doom 3, they have several capable options. A Windows 98 PC being among the least of them. Nonetheless your proposal to bring a new Windows 98 PC to the market is interesting. But it's still unclear how you'd be adding value over-and-above what we already have.