Intel486dx33 wrote on 2021-05-25, 13:57:Yes, I always throw out “period correctness” and choose “best performance” for retro game play.
So I would definitely choose a g […]
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cyclone3d wrote on 2021-05-25, 08:18:
Intel486dx33 wrote on 2021-05-25, 07:10:
Then to be 1990’s you probably want an old Linksys G-band router and switch.
EWWWW... I know a lot of people who loved those things.. both the B and G speed ones. I had a few over the years and they always ended up flaking out, even with Tomato on them. I ended up throwing most/all of them out.
Yes, I always throw out “period correctness” and choose “best performance” for retro game play.
So I would definitely choose a gigabit router and switch for a LAN party.
Just so the players will not experience any bottlenecks in network traffic.
Try to find a smart switch capable of monitoring network traffic.
Like an HP switch used with HP Openview and a Cisco router.
I think game play network performance should be considered a priority.
You can also install HP Openview on a PC with Windows-NT 4.0 workstation.
This way you can have realtime network performance readings and reports.
Many of the games I plan to play, we used to play either via 28.8k modems between houses, or via serial cable with a null modem adapter. I could probably get away with avoiding 100base-t without worrying about bottlenecks, for what I'm going to be doing with this particular portion of the Retro Project. I think any 1990's 100base-t switch or hub will work, as long as I can use it in DOS, WFW 3.11, and Windows 9x. The retro LAN will have a 486, two P3's, and 2 or 3 P1's. After that, the next retro machine is an AthlonXP 3200+ with Windows XP, and that can utilize the modern LAN set up (which has two gigabit switches.) I will probably connect the retro switch to a port on one of the gigabit switches, and I will probably maintain good, solid speeds during gaming sessions. I may build a dual P3 with Windows NT or Windows 2000 as a server for the retro LAN.
I remember using an ISA 10base-T NIC on my previous 486 that died, and figuring out how to access a networked drive on my Phenom PC, through WFW 3.11. That was neat. I also remember surfing the internet with Arachne is MS-DOS, and I want to try that again. That was also really cool.