First of all, I want to thank all of you for fast and comprehensive replies at the same time.
I need to think about all options mentioned here. Maybe I need to change some establishments, because there is so many good solutions for my project that changed my mind and invites me to try different approaches. Some small cases shown here are not only functional, but just gorgeous.
dionb wrote: That said, a CDRom drive will bump up the size a lot, particularly when combined with a real FDD.
Good statement. If there is an option, maybe it's better to do setup without physical drives and connect them as external devices? Maybe via USB port? Compaq Deskpro EN SFF is a decent option, but still it looks a little too big for my vision of mini PC. Best it should have more like PSX or PS2 console dimensions, of course then without CD and FDD drives. With these, dims should be smaller imo than 300x300x100.
BinaryDemon wrote:I’d look close at some of the following clients: hp t5710 (800 MHz version) , Wyse WT941GXL, or Wyse WT9450XE. Those are all via chipsets where the onboard audio has dos support.
Wyse WT941GXL looks like a good option with physical drives.
Revolter wrote: this is how an industrial mini-PC dionb has mentioned can look like (this particular one even inspired me to try retro-SFF in the first place).
I also use a compact retro rig (see link in the forum signature), but it's for pre-installed games/CD-images only, so no drives.
I'm impressed by this industrial mini-PC build! Looks so clean and nice - one of last photos there is even version with physical FDD. But I should be good with the standard one + external FDD/CD, if this is the case. Your build is also charming (and that peripherials - Fujitsu keyboard / MS mouse tho!)
Whelmy wrote:https://i.imgur.com/CnqyjDo.jpg
A couple versions of those Unisys machines exist that are quite small. […]
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A couple versions of those Unisys machines exist that are quite small.
That Unisys looks really cool and quite small. If this slot works, this should be nice option for me.
wiretap wrote:VIA C3 and VIA C7 mini-ITX mainboards work fine with DOS/98 and meet all your requirements. I'm using an EPIA board which works great with native drivers (I even have a 2x PCI riser for Voodoo II SLI). There's also the Commell LV-603 which is a socket 370 w/ Windows 98 drivers. A lot of industrial ITX boards have DOS through 98 drivers available. Half-ISA SBC computers are also a good choice. I have a 486 SBC and a Pentium MMX SBC computer. Both are smaller than an ITX size PC. Yet another option is to use something like a Toshiba Libretto (with docking station). I just picked one up and it works with DOS and Windows 98, even has OPL3 sound. Yet another option is older Shuttle XPC's.. they support Windows 98 native. Then of course you can get into more modern PC's and thin clients which have drivers available.
I couldn't find any mITX boards that should work with Win98 before (cause of drivers). These options are really solid.
wiretap wrote: But, the only real problem with some of the native hardware stuff is getting DOS sound working under certain games, or trying to get a slow enough clock speed. The Pentium MMX is one of the better choices so you can use SETMUL to change clock speeds on the fly.
Yeah, I heard about this problem. Maybe later on I return to this topic.
MKT_Gundam wrote:
Case is too big for my needs, but thank you for sharing. Thank you all.
Now I need to know that I can plug external FDD's/CD's to this hardware with Windows 98, or maybe even with DOS...
