Roman78 wrote on 2019-05-15, 06:25:I have always keep an eye on power consumption and desktop space. So i like small powerful computers. Nowadays you can install M […]
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I have always keep an eye on power consumption and desktop space. So i like small powerful computers. Nowadays you can install MacOS 9 on a MacMini G4 - Great. And also Windows on thin clients. But what is a good an fast thin client to keep an eye out for?
I have:
HP T5710 https://www.parkytowers.me.uk/thin/hp/t5710/ 800 Mhz Transmeta Crusoe equals Pentium II-400/450 Mhz and Radeon 7000m
This one is great for Windows 98, found all drivers, but to slow for later games.
HP T5720 https://www.parkytowers.me.uk/thin/hp/t5720/ 1Ghz AMD Geode NX1500.
Fast enough for windows 98 but SIS graphic card sux
HP T5730 https://www.parkytowers.me.uk/thin/hp/t5730/ 1Ghz AMD Sempron 2100+ and AMD Radeon X1250
This one would be great if there where X1250 and chipset drivers for Win98
Than i had one with a Dual-Core Amd CPU. Not usable for Win98, i sold that. And i have a NeoWare Capio which is great for native DOS. But what is the best with a native graphic card for late Windows 98 games? Should be around 1 Ghz CPU power and 16 or 32MB dedicate graphics card.
One other option would be a PCI-graphic card in one of those i have, like in the T5710 or T5720. But i don't have the appropriate riser and case extension.
You are looking for something that doesn’t exist - the whole point of a thin client is to act as a cheap-n-cheery alternative to big desktop PCs (their main computing and rendering is supposed to be off a blade server anyways), and it’s very unlikely for a vintage thin client to show up with a strong GPU that has Win98 support.
Most thin clients available in the secondary market today are made around the time XP embedded went mainstream, and the ones with decent enough 3D support (like the NVidia MCP79 Ion chipset for the Atoms) are meant for XPe or W7 enterprise. The truly DOS compatible, Win98 kosher stuff is limited to:
A) stuff made around 2002/2003 (something like either a Via C3 with a VIA southbridge (VT82C686B/VT8231) that has embedded Soundblaster support as an accidental holdover feature (Wyse WT9450XE), or with an AMD K6 embedded CPU that has the aforementioned VIA southbridge (Netier 1000 or 2000XL) or a SiS with an ESS Solo-1 that has DOS support (Wyse J+ winterm). The Wyse XE, Netier 2000XL and the winterm have PCI slots and can accept a faster PCI GPU, like a 3dfx Voodoo or a Geforce 4MX. The Winterm can also do PCI or ISA natively, which is a very unusual feature (although that represent one of the first full featured, fully upgradeable x86 thin clients made). I ran it with either its embedded Solo-1, or an ISA ESS1869. There are one or 2 Via C3s that has the S3 Twister-T, which is “okay” for DirectX6 levels of 3D accelerations.
B) Stuff made way after but with a southbridge that allows you to use a PCI sound card, which can do oldschool SB support or take a more powerful GPU.
Or it has an embedded GPU that’s powerful enough for most things made before 2003 with beta Win98 drivers.
The former is easier to pull off - the t5720 with the PCI expansion kit (HP part # EK530AA) is commonly available on evilBay for about 60 USD or less, or you can buy the expansion kit yourself. I have a t5720 with the expansion kit built-in and alternate between Win98/DOS with 512MB of RAM+Yamaha YMF724 (the embedded SiS Mirage is fine for DOS or early Win98. Otherwise use a PCI graphics card), or XP with 1GB of RAM and a GeForce 6200/128MB (or a Geforce4MX/64MB). That works quite well even for UT2004SE or Battlefield 2.
The latter is a little more tough. There’s 2 possible paths:
- Any Sempron or Athlon64 based thin client (like the HP t5730) has a Radeon X1300 based embedded GPU inside the Xpress 1250 northbridge, which can in theory take the last Catalyst drivers made for Win98 - it does contain beta support for the X800 class GPUs, which the X1300 is based on (check Phil’s computer lab for downloads). You might have to scan the pci id and modify the INF files in the installer to include the pci id so it will be installed.
- Intel Atoms based on Diamondville (N270 and etc) will have the old GMA950 chipset, which should be “adequate” to match the Radeon 7500 Mo of that vintage. That would be the HP t5740, or, the first Merom/Yonah based Mac Minis. There is supposedly a set of modified Intel drivers that’ll work well with them on Win98.