VOGONS


Reply 20 of 26, by Horun

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I like the old PC serial ball mice, they remind of the days when that is all there was. Now the old MAC one button ball mice are something I do not like 🤣

Hate posting a reply and then have to edit it because it made no sense 😁 First computer was an IBM 3270 workstation with CGA monitor. https://archive.org/details/@horun

Reply 21 of 26, by cyclone3d

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Caluser2000 wrote on 2020-06-17, 00:57:
maxtherabbit wrote on 2020-06-17, 00:30:

I absolutely love the 286 as a platform. It's not really nostalgia, I never had one as a kid - we went straight from Z80 systems to a 486. The 286 doesn't really offer anything unique in the realm of DOS gaming either. It's a bit of a tweener, too fast to play XT games, too slow to play later VGA games. But a fast 15+MHz 286 really can do some impressive work with 16-bit games, and other DOS software. I find the 286 to be the most interesting DOS system - everything is real mode or protected mode but no V86 shit. In protected mode (I'm looking at you Windows 3.11 standard) the thing can really do damage. It was the most overlooked CPU of the era IMO

cyclone3d wrote on 2020-06-16, 21:02:

And, now there are new serial optical mice available for pretty cheap. They still require a gridded mouse pad but they come with one. Just do an eBay search for "optical serial mouse". They are a whopping $13 shipped.

why even bother, the vast overwhelming majority of 286/386/486 systems can be easily modded to support PS/2 mice if they don't already

There's an optical serial mouse on our local auction site that doesn't need a special pad at all. I have some really great quality serial mouse that perform as well as some on the generic optical ones as well. Might start a thread on things mouse related. https://www.trademe.co.nz/computers/vintage/l … 08fdedb0c0e-033

It says Opto-Mechanical. Doesn't that mean a ball-mouse with optical sensors instead of the older style electrical sensors? Still a ball mouse from what I can tell.

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Reply 22 of 26, by Intel486dx33

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1st gen Pentium 133 thru 233
Neptune chipset motherboard or tx chipset.
16mb ram
S3 video card PCI
AWE 64 audio card
3com 3c509 entherlink lll
DoS 6.22 / Win3.11

Reply 24 of 26, by pii_legacy

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Mister Xiado wrote on 2020-06-16, 12:21:

If you want to spend zero dollars, I recommend PCEM, being more accurate than DOSbox, in terms of simulating a whole computer composed of a specific motherboard, processor, and expansion cards. I use it to mess around in Windows 95, as that virtual computer's specs and parts closely mirror the actual Pentium system I use that's running Windows 95.

I think 86box is a lot nicer, but that's just personal preference.

I have a VIA C3 machine which is pretty impressive in terms of being able to slow it down to 286/386/486 speeds. I have a AM5x86 machine, but as much as I hate to say it, I don't care for it as much as my Pentium II machines, and I want to put together either a 286 or 386 PC myself, but nothing much fancier than a 386.

Reply 25 of 26, by AlessandroB

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Jo22 wrote on 2020-06-16, 19:35:
Personally, I like them because they are the "real thing" also - not because of absolute period correctnes, though. If you're w […]
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Personally, I like them because they are the "real thing" also - not because of absolute period correctnes, though.
If you're working with a generic 286/386/486 and ISA bus based AT-class PC, you experience the software in the same way as the developers of the time.
You will likely see (or not see) glitches, see animations at the right speed (due to ISA bottleneck, as seen it Space Quest 3) and so on.
You'll also have the right VGA cards (PVGA, ET4K) and serial ports (16450/16550) and a serial ball mous, of course.
That's something you can't usually get with a modern Pentium IV running at 0,5 MHz (just kidding!).. 😉

this in my opinion is the main and deeper reason to use real computers and not undercklocked fast computers. Try the real and exact emotions.

Reply 26 of 26, by Marentis

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cyclone3d wrote on 2020-06-16, 21:02:

I hate serial ball mice..... I hated them when they were the only thing around and when optical mice came out for consumers I hated ball mice even more.

There were optical serial mice back then but they required a special gridded mouse pad.

And, now there are new serial optical mice available for pretty cheap. They still require a gridded mouse pad but they come with one. Just do an eBay search for "optical serial mouse". They are a whopping $13 shipped.

The things you learn. It seems that such mice are sold in the U.S. only (at least when I try to find them via eBay) but if they're half decent I'll probably order like 5-10 just to bring the shipping per mouse down and re-sell the rest or pass it down on a flea market my wife likes to attend.
Thanks mate, that was a really great tip!