Going to start documenting this build in it's own thread soon. But here is a sneak peak.

Another session of System Shock 2 this evening. I think it's brilliant that they automatically name your saves the hours and minutes into the game you are. So I can say with confidence that I'm 12 hrs and 58 minutes in, currently on the Recreation Level. Great game, but it raises my blood pressure! 🤣.

Standard Def Steve wrote:

I played Screamer on a DX4-100. Oh man, it did not like that at all. Looked like it was pushing around 5 or 6 fps.
It runs silky smooth in DOSBox. Makes you appreciate modern hardware that much more. 😀

"Fantastic! It must be real hard being this good!" 🤣

Are you playing the game in SVGA? Maybe that's why it's running slow? Also the game requires 12 megs of ram.

I just have the demo, so can only play in VGA mode, but it plays well. I'm running a 486 DX4 100, which has a CL-GD5428, the l2 cache, and 16 megs of ram. If it's 100% in DosBox on my current PC, it feels in the 90+% range on my 486.

MCGA wrote:

Standard Def Steve wrote:

I played Screamer on a DX4-100. Oh man, it did not like that at all. Looked like it was pushing around 5 or 6 fps.
It runs silky smooth in DOSBox. Makes you appreciate modern hardware that much more. 😀

"Fantastic! It must be real hard being this good!" 🤣

Are you playing the game in SVGA? Maybe that's why it's running slow? Also the game requires 12 megs of ram.

I just have the demo, so can only play in VGA mode, but it plays well. I'm running a 486 DX4 100, which has a CL-GD5428, the l2 cache, and 16 megs of ram. If it's 100% in DosBox on my current PC, it feels in the 90+% range on my 486.

Yeah, I'm running it in SVGA on the 486 and in DOSBox. DOSBox can run it at like 60 fps...it's soo nice.

On the 486, VGA is much faster but it's ugly as hell.

Standard Def Steve wrote:

Yeah, I'm running it in SVGA on the 486 and in DOSBox. DOSBox can run it at like 60 fps...it's soo nice.

On the 486, VGA is much faster but it's ugly as hell.

I figured it was SVGA. I love its ugliness! Pixelated games like this are why I covet my 486, so for me it looks great, especially on my CRT. 😀 I'll have to get the full game and give it a try on my p166 to see how it does, since I know that back in the nineties I needed a Pentium to handle SVGA games.

My first RTC battery mod 😀

Did you melt in with nichrome wire?

Finally managed to find a case for my Super Socket 7 Build. Its an Enlight 7237. Always loved this case and managed to save it from being scrapped. They front is yellowed so will try and retrobright it to bring it back to white but otherwise case is in fantastic condition.

Specs are

AMD K6-2 550mhz
Asus P5A 1.06 SS7 Motherboard
128mb Crucial Ram
AGP 3DFX Voodoo 3 3000
Sonata 3D Yamaha OPL4 ISA Soundcard
Samsung 40gig Hard Drive
Teac Floppy drive and 24x CD-RW
Win98SE

Just deciding on which PCI Sound card to fit. I have Turtle Beach Montego II A3D 2.0 card, SB Live and SB Audigy.

Tried the Margi DVD-To-Go card on the Tecra 500CDT and got a MMSYSTEM262 error in win 95RTM, I don't know if the card is defective or if it's just an issue with the drivers on that particular computer.
Also got the BeBox out to save the contents of an old BeOS freeware/shareware disc 😀

Bancho wrote:

Finally managed to find a case for my Super Socket 7 Build. Its an Enlight 7237. Always loved this case and managed to save it f […]
Show full quote

Finally managed to find a case for my Super Socket 7 Build. Its an Enlight 7237. Always loved this case and managed to save it from being scrapped. They front is yellowed so will try and retrobright it to bring it back to white but otherwise case is in fantastic condition.

Specs are

AMD K6-2 550mhz
Asus P5A 1.06 SS7 Motherboard
128mb Crucial Ram
AGP 3DFX Voodoo 3 3000
Sonata 3D Yamaha OPL4 ISA Soundcard
Samsung 40gig Hard Drive
Teac Floppy drive and 24x CD-RW
Win98SE

Just deciding on which PCI Sound card to fit. I have Turtle Beach Montego II A3D 2.0 card, SB Live and SB Audigy.

What a sweet system. 😜

About a year ago, I was lucky enough to score a Sierra Screamin' 3D with the Rendition Verite 1000. I wanted it only to play Descent II in hardware-accelerated mode from DOS.

Today I installed vQuake for the first time. I had played only GLQuake before. Although GLQuake is superior in many ways, I love the idea of an official, hardware-accelerated version of Quake run straight from DOS.

brostenen wrote:

What a sweet system. 😜

Haha thanks dude. Far from finished yet! Need to find something to fill that missing CD rom bay. Will be a good system when its all complete.

Today I whipped out my first external modem, a Boca 14.4k, and hooked it up to Beige Beauty. It still worked fine, but I had no where to dial into...yet.

So wrote a dial-in/remote access server program in C++ that ties into my Asterisk box. I use a Sangoma T1 card and a Dialogic Diva server card along with other equipment to digitally tie into the PSTN. Yes, I have a PRI at home.

The neat thing about my program is that it can answer PPP, shell, or tie into any other piece of software. I compiled and installed WWIV for some retro BBS goodness. Too bad it is laden with bugs. I'd like to buy a copy of the old version and run it on a VM. Maybe try PCBoard too.

I probably should create a dedicated post for this, but modems seem to get a lot of hate here.

Pics:

Modem

Hangman

Links browsing

Zmodem download

WWIV BBS on a REAL MODEM

Bancho - Very nice system. What that the case from Overclockers.co.uk members market?

Completed conversion and testing of a new PSU. The guts of a 400w ATX power supply stuffed into the carcass of an AT form factor PSU, then the standard AT cabling was soldered in.

Next step is to verify the 6gb BIOS limit on the hard drive is in fact a BIOS issue that I can overcome once NT is loaded.

foey wrote:

Bancho - Very nice system. What that the case from Overclockers.co.uk members market?

Thanks dude. Yeah it was that case, couldn't of let it go to the scrap yard 🤣 Thought it was perfect for my SS7 system.

Completely unrelated to IBM PC stuff, I began pulling apart both Questron games for the Commodore 64 in order to begin conversion to an EasyFlash cartridge image. I did the same with Legacy of the Ancients and Legend of Blacksilver in 2014. Questron should be less complex. Like the other Quest Inc games, it's a fusion of BASIC and 6502 assembly.

The first time around, I had to write special software to piece together the cartridge. I'm going to be reusing it 😀

Got the Tyan Tsunami build all up and running. It has a 2GB 7200RPM Seagate 68 pin SCSI HD with Windows 95 and a 40GB SATA (SATA to IDE adapter used) HD with Windows 98SE. Runs like a charm.

PhilsComputerLab wrote:

My first RTC battery mod :) […]
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My first RTC battery mod 😀

I also did the same the day before, but with a saw and a file.
I didn't took pictures this time, but I have some from a more uncommon RTC/NVRAM chip from ST (mainly found in Sun SPARC stations):

Upgraded the mouse on my 486 to a Logitech MouseMan 3-button.

Way better than the BSR BX400 it replaced!

The trick being, the BSR is the only serial mouse I have, but the MouseMan is the only PS/2 mouse I have that is compatible with a serial adapter.

The biggest issue with the BSR is the high effort button presses. The muscle at the base of my index finger was cramping up after just a few minutes of use.

note: both pics are sourced from Google Images. Too lazy to take photos, email them to myself, then crop and post here. 😊