65536 kB is 64 MB.

For Quake, just get a Pentium. Quake is optimized for the Pentium's FPU, other CPUs run it much slower. Even a P100 will be better. If your board runs the K5 it should run a Pentium-200, too, perhaps an MMX Pentium if you are lucky. Should be cheap enough. You could even trying to sell the K5, they are somewhat rare, especially faster ones like the 166.

The Stealth64v+ is not a soundcard, the 3.5mm output is only there to route the audio from the optional mpeg-1 decoder board that attached to one of the headers to an actuall soundcard.

Just my 2 cents, but why not do away with the modem? Its not like you are taking this machine on line.
The less cards in this cranky old box the better for your IRQ and interrupt management.
So I guess you are not playing GLquake.

idspispopd wrote:

. You could even trying to sell the K5, they are somewhat rare, especially faster ones like the 166.

Wait, seriously?...And I'll definitely look into a faster processor, thanks.

gravitone wrote:

The Stealth64v+ is not a soundcard, the 3.5mm output is only there to route the audio from the optional mpeg-1 decoder board that attached to one of the headers to an actuall soundcard.

...Okay?

mwenek wrote:

Just my 2 cents, but why not do away with the modem? Its not like you are taking this machine on line.
The less cards in this cranky old box the better for your IRQ and interrupt management.
So I guess you are not playing GLquake.

The idea is to use the modem card with a Proctor Model 49300 (telephone demonstrator with dubious support for modems) and network it with a local computer (which will have the other modem card).

For local networking, it would probably be easier and more convenient to use an ISA ethernet card. If you can find an old Intel or 3Com ISA card they should be dirt cheap nowadays. I've never set one up in DOS but most of the ISA models should be old enough to support it. Just make sure any card you look at isn't a token ring card, those won't be useful and they used to be common back then.

Most PCI modems are so-called "WinModems" or "SoftModems" (there's probably other terms for them as well). This means that they rely heavily on a Windows driver to do much of their job for them. They aren't fully functional hardware modems. I don't know if that's the situation with your modems, but if so, I don't think it will be possible to make them work in DOS. The reason they work this way is because it made them cheaper. By the time these later modems came out, CPUs were powerful enough to offload some of the modem's work, and the PCI interface is fast enough to make this feasible.

ISA modems, and external serial port modems, will be fully functional hardware modems and thus are easier to get working, especially in DOS. I found the serial port modems the easiest to deal with. ISA should be nearly as easy, but you have to deal with making sure it's assigned serial port doesn't conflict with anything. An external just hooks up to the ports you already have.
Modems are virtually worthless nowadays so if you get lucky enough to find an appropriate one, it should be very cheap or free. But first you have to find one. If you really need a modem, then all I can suggest is poke into some thrift stores when it's convenient, or watch ebay/craigslist/etc. You could also just ask around - lots of people have old modems they don't want anymore. But if it's a PCI modem then don't bother, it's unlikely to work any better than what you've already tried.

If you can identify your motherboard more specifically, or just photograph it, we might be able to tell if it supports Pentium MMX chips. People here are pretty good at identifying hardware from photos.

Your motherboard might have a capacity limitation for hard drives. It might be limited to a max of 8.4GB, or 32GB. If you are having this problem then you'll see it not detecting the drive correctly while the BIOS is starting. If there are any BIOS updates available for your board, it might fix this.

The capacity issue you will have with DOS and most versions of Windows 95 is that they both use the FAT16 filesystem, which is limited to no more than 2GB per partition. So each drive letter will be 2GB at most. To fix this you need FAT32, which was added to Win95 OSR2 (which was not a free upgrade, and I think it was the last version of Win95 sold).
For DOS, I think there's a workaround if you use the version of DOS that's built in with a FAT32 compatible version of Win95/98, but I don't know anything about that myself, I've just read about people doing it.

Maxaxle wrote:

idspispopd wrote:

. You could even trying to sell the K5, they are somewhat rare, especially faster ones like the 166.

Wait, seriously?...And I'll definitely look into a faster processor, thanks.

Well, not really valuable, but today probably worth more than any Pentium (MMX or not) so if postage is not too high it might not cost you anything to get a faster CPU.
Some links of what to expect:
133 MHz Challenge - 5th/6th gen CPU per clock performance ( I suppose the P54C would be faster in the same mainboard as the other CPUs)
http://thandor.net/benchmark/33

The video card should be adequate speedwise.

shamino wrote:

The capacity issue you will have with DOS and most versions of Windows 95 is that they both use the FAT16 filesystem, which is limited to no more than 2GB per partition. So each drive letter will be 2GB at most.

Well I managed to partition the 40GB drive into three separate partitions, but formatting always failed, and accessing them always failed.

idspispopd wrote:

The video card should be adequate speedwise.

Define "adequate".

Maxaxle wrote:

idspispopd wrote:

The video card should be adequate speedwise.

Define "adequate".

While there might be faster video cards I doubt that would make a difference with your CPU and mainboard.
How fast does Quake run? See the linked thread about how to benchmark.

idspispopd wrote:

Maxaxle wrote:

idspispopd wrote:

The video card should be adequate speedwise.

Define "adequate".

While there might be faster video cards I doubt that would make a difference with your CPU and mainboard.
How fast does Quake run? See the linked thread about how to benchmark.

Correct. The Stealth 64 PCI (which exists in two versions, with S3 86C964 and the newer 86C968) performs good and also offers good compatibility. Both the new and older version of the Stealth 64 are good. I did benchmarks using a Pentium 100 with the Stealth 64: thandor.net - Stealth 64 PCI. Doom runs a few FPS faster on a faster graphics card, but using Quake the differences are very small because the CPU can't keep up.
For the Stealth 64 you don't need drivers using DOS. Using Windows '95 you'll need them and you can probably find them on the web.

Regarding CPU; as already concluded in this thread: the K5 PR166 is not very fast if it comes down to FPU (Floating Point Unit) calculations. Using Quake it'll perform like a Pentium 90, but using Doom it'll be between a Pentium 150 and 166. Doom will run like a charm, but Quake will fall behind. Windows '95 will run fine too.

Try deleting all partitions and create a new 2.1GB (or be safe, just type in 2000MB) partition on that 40GB drive. Don't forget to mark the partition as active. Using DOS 6.22 you should be able to format it and make it bootable. My Pentium 100 machine with a motherboard from 1995 runs happily, fast and very quiet with a 40GB Seagate Barracuda. I'm sure Windows '95 will run too.

Why not remove the modem and use a serial null-modem cable in order to play non-IPX network games?

For networking using DOS or Windows 3.11 and 9x I have good experience with cards that use the Realtek 8029 (10Mbit) or 8139 (100Mbit) chips. The Realtek 8029 cards even run happily on 8088 systems! The 3Com Etherlink 3Com 3C905 will work fine too.

Find out what kind of sound card you have. It'll probably have a 'main' chip with numbers which you can Google. Often cards also have model numbers on the PCB. For older systems I always use Sound Blaster (and Sound Blaster Pro or 16) cards. Often they run great without drivers (just set the BLASTER-environment settings) and in newer systems you can also load the drivers.

Thandor wrote:

Why not remove the modem and use a serial null-modem cable in order to play non-IPX network games?

I've only heard that term thrown around a few times; what exactly is a "serial null-modem cable"?

Thandor wrote:

For networking using DOS or Windows 3.11 and 9x I have good experience with cards that use the Realtek 8029 (10Mbit) or 8139 (100Mbit) chips. The Realtek 8029 cards even run happily on 8088 systems! The 3Com Etherlink 3Com 3C905 will work fine too.

Wait, what? I thought ethernet cards weren't really a "thing" until the days of Windows 95, at least. Regardless, I don't have many ethernet cards laying around (just a Broadcom/Altima AC9100 that I can't find drivers for).

Thandor wrote:

Find out what kind of sound card you have. It'll probably have a 'main' chip with numbers which you can Google. Often cards also have model numbers on the PCB. For older systems I always use Sound Blaster (and Sound Blaster Pro or 16) cards. Often they run great without drivers (just set the BLASTER-environment settings) and in newer systems you can also load the drivers.

I already know what kind of sound card I have, it's a Yamaha YMF724F-V, which the drivers refuse to recognize.

I remember making serial null modem cables as a kid 😀

It's a cable that goes from the serial of one PC to the serial of another.

You can then use software such as laplink to copy files or play games against each other. Quite a few games had null modem capability built in 😀

Me? I prefer sneakers net 😊

Maxaxle wrote:

I've only heard that term thrown around a few times; what exactly is a "serial null-modem cable"?

Check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Null_modem . It's a cross-cable for your COM-ports which allows you to connect two PC's together.

Wait, what? I thought ethernet cards weren't really a "thing" until the days of Windows 95, at least. Regardless, I don't have many ethernet cards laying around (just a Broadcom/Altima AC9100 that I can't find drivers for).

AC9100 sounds new. My first home network experience was with these cards. I used both ISA and PCI versions.

I already know what kind of sound card I have, it's a Yamaha YMF724F-V, which the drivers refuse to recognize.

Looks like something new! (year 1999, 2000? This thread my interest you.

If you want no trouble, just buy a Sound Blaster 16. They always work with DOS.

Mau1wurf1977 wrote:

It's a cable that goes from the serial of one PC to the serial of another.

You can then use software such as laplink to copy files or play games against each other. Quite a few games had null modem capability built in 😀

Well that explains it nicely. And with my USB-to-serial adapter (and the drivers for it), I should be able to use this method with any NEW computer...

Thandor wrote:

I already know what kind of sound card I have, it's a Yamaha YMF724F-V, which the drivers refuse to recognize.

Looks like something new! (year 1999, 2000? This thread my interest you.

I tried that topic, but the final results were a set of made-for-Win98-under-DOS-mode drivers that refused to pick up on the card, even when it was picked up by the BIOS.

Thandor wrote:

If you want no trouble, just buy a Sound Blaster 16. They always work with DOS.

Oh, right.

EDIT: I forgot to mention that I can't seem to find a Pentium 1...anyone know of a good source?

Maxaxle wrote:

EDIT: I forgot to mention that I can't seem to find a Pentium 1...anyone know of a good source?

Easily available on ebay, but that depends on your country. Where are you located? Availability is different everywhere.

Good, and cheap(!), source:
http://www.cpu-world.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=2

http://www.cpu-world.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=19686&start=0
ctrl+F for 'mmx' (and should also be some 'regular' ones close by them)

http://www.cpu-world.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=23840

PS: although you'd be wise to first ask the seller if the one(s) you want actually have all their pins and are not too bent etc...
(these are mostly for collection, and hence functionality isn't neccessarily a primary consern there, heh)

idspispopd wrote:

Maxaxle wrote:

EDIT: I forgot to mention that I can't seem to find a Pentium 1...anyone know of a good source?

Easily available on ebay, but that depends on your country. Where are you located? Availability is different everywhere.

I'm in the U.S., on the west coast.

bestemor wrote:

Good, and cheap(!), source: http://www.cpu-world.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=2 […]
Show full quote

Good, and cheap(!), source:
http://www.cpu-world.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=2

http://www.cpu-world.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=19686&start=0
ctrl+F for 'mmx' (and should also be some 'regular' ones close by them)

http://www.cpu-world.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=23840

PS: although you'd be wise to first ask the seller if the one(s) you want actually have all their pins and are not too bent etc...
(these are mostly for collection, and hence functionality isn't neccessarily a primary consern there, heh)

Thanks! I'll check it out when I have a minute.

Maxaxle wrote:

I'm in the U.S., on the west coast. […]
Show full quote

idspispopd wrote:

Maxaxle wrote:

EDIT: I forgot to mention that I can't seem to find a Pentium 1...anyone know of a good source?

Easily available on ebay, but that depends on your country. Where are you located? Availability is different everywhere.

I'm in the U.S., on the west coast.

In that case you would definitely find something on ebay, although that might not be the cheapest source.
Searching for P54C/P55C - cheapest BIN is a P200MMX for 6$ shipped.
Trying for plain Pentium

idspispopd wrote:

In that case you would definitely find something on ebay, although that might not be the cheapest source.
Searching for P54C/P55C - cheapest BIN is a P200MMX for 6$ shipped.
Trying for plain Pentium

On one hand, thanks a lot! OTOH, the cheapest listings don't tell me what's Socket 7 and what's Socket 5, so that could be a problem. Is there a way to tell one from the other from the pictures?

If the motherboard is socket 7, then you can use socket 5 or socket 7 CPUs.

The main difference is that Socket 7 supports split voltage (which came in with the Pentium MMX).

Socket 5 CPUs - Pentium (P75 or higher), AMD K5, Cyrix 6X86 (NOT L)
Socket 7 CPUs - Pentium MMX, AMD K6, Cyrix 6X86L & 6X86MX

The "Super 7" class of Cyrix M-II, AMDK6-2 use socket 7, but at a higher FSB than Intel's 66MHz - with an Intel chipset, it is unlikely to be Super 7 capable