First post, by TheDosGuru
Hi fellow VGers! I've been out of the scene for so long. I've spent the last decade collecting big box games (mostly brand new sealed Sierra titles) and haven't done a whole lot of hardware. I grew up hanging out at Egghead Software after school (and eventually working there).
So this is my first attempt at a PC build - so far my collection is mainly Amigas (1000/3000) and a IIGS. I wanted a machine that could do things that 14 year old me could never afford (but could dream of) as well as have just enough similar tactile feedback for nostalgic reasons.
I have to admit, i am not very pleased with this machine. My gaming era of interest spans the early 80s to the early 90s, and this machine is much too new. PnP? PCI? USB? puhleeeze. I originally wanted a mint 486 based desktop rig (it has to be a desktop!) - maybe a nice AST Bravo or Compaq Deskpro, but sadly they were kind of hard to find.
I found this HP Kayak and it was fairly cheap. HP workstations from the late 90s really had some excellent build quality. This is a P2-333 with integrated audio (more on that in a bit) IDE, and AGP graphics. Getting it up and running with just a stack of unlabeled 3.5's from when I was a kid was fun, and I finally have it up and running with a fresh DOS 6.22 install.
The integrated audio is surprisingly compatible with all sorts of games - HOWEVER, I can't seem to set the volume. There is no volume knob anywhere on the machine (some of these Kayak workstations do - this one does not).
While it's nice that the audio gets routed to an integrated speaker, i can barely hear anything. Do I have to install some form of windows to tweak the mixer? I hope not.
So plans to upgrade this machine: expand memory to 768mb, i think there is a 2nd CPU slot so get another one, perhaps get two really fast P2s in there. I have an AWE32 as well as a Roland Sound Canvas to hook up to it. I have an IDE to SDHC adapter on order, as well as an external USR Courier modem and Voodoo 3 graphics card. (stay tuned)