For me it depends.
Some months or years when I have been unemployed with lots of spare time but little money I play lots and lots of games.
But when I work and therefore have more money but less spare time the hardware takes the overhand.

I do not enjoy fractional gaming.
If I like a game I want play it until I finish it then perhaps replay it.
Not play 1 hour a week for a year 😀

butterfly wrote:

Big part of the retrogaming fun is setting things up, it's plain that when your spare time starts getting scarcer and scarcer...

About that `setting things up` thing.. For me its just a pain in the arsch.. Not because of the knowledge i have in older computers, because iam already 30 and older computers iam just really grow up with.
But more when you bought something *parts*. You have need some luck when parts really work straight from the seller, mostly there is something wrong with it or just needed an update, or need to desolder and solder parts.. There always something that needs to repaired, and that takes a lot of time before you actually have the right working parts to start build a computer with..
So i really dont like this that prefending to start build my retro system.. It was more nicer if everything would work as you bought it.. Its like a big time wasting puzzle.

Robin4 I know what you mean 😀

I got a 486 motherboard from the US. Fully working it said. But it had a dead RTC chip. I was able to fix it, but it was still a pain.

At least with the software side I'm planning on creating two video tutorials, one for MS-DOS 6.22 and one for MS-DOS 7.1 and posting a bunch of files (benchmarks, utilities, drivers) together with a boot menu AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS ready to go.

I already got some tutorials, but they are a bit too tedious for my liking.

My machines usually aren't used for too much gaming. I primarily use them as "tweeners" on a professional basis to do data recovery and conversion for folks. When someone comes to you with an old machine with odd hardware and needs the data off of it and readable in modern software... it helps to have a period machine to interface with older storage devices and to run the software to convert the stuff.

Mau1wurf1977 wrote:

Robin4 I know what you mean :) […]
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Robin4 I know what you mean 😀

I got a 486 motherboard from the US. Fully working it said. But it had a dead RTC chip. I was able to fix it, but it was still a pain.

At least with the software side I'm planning on creating two video tutorials, one for MS-DOS 6.22 and one for MS-DOS 7.1 and posting a bunch of files (benchmarks, utilities, drivers) together with a boot menu AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS ready to go.

I already got some tutorials, but they are a bit too tedious for my liking.

I really like to keep an eye on those tutorials, maybe i learn something from it..

Robin4 wrote:

I really like to keep an eye on those tutorials, maybe i learn something from it..

MS-DOS 6.22 Installation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=the1xMtK_q4

In the description is a link to a zip file which has the boot menu, drivers, benchmarks and tools 😀

It's a ready-to-go kit so to speak.

For me it is all about gaming. I spend 75% of my time gaming. I have been playing Civilization / Lotus - The Ultimate Challenge / Pirates! Gold / Railroad Tycone Deluxe / King's Quest 1 / Police Quest 2 / Hero's Quest (QFG) / Defender of the Crown / Duke Nukem / SimCity Classic & 2000 since I got back into retro gaming last October. 😀

I have no talent for coding software or composing music. I am pretty good at MS-DOS, Windows and hardware though. Although I am not very patient so I do not like fixing things other than replacing parts. That is also why I buy OEM desktops preferably. Those are usually very well documented and spare parts (are relatively) plentiful and cheap. Those machines are typically also super stable (although not the fastest admittedly). 😊

The other 25% is spent trawling for sound cards (I have OCD with regards to Roland sound cards) and moving around desktops (adding SIMMs, swapping out sound cards). I also have a Novell NetWare LAN project I am playing around with. 😎

The nice thing about this setup is that I can swap cables around fast so I can chose which game to play on the appropriate format. The bad thing is I have to move around desktops when I want to swap / add / remove cards.

So, you play Hanoi Towers with your desktops? What is it with the word 'Tempo' in the middle?

Robin4 wrote:

About that `setting things up` thing.. For me its just a pain in the arsch.. Not because of the knowledge i have in older comput […]
Show full quote

butterfly wrote:

Big part of the retrogaming fun is setting things up, it's plain that when your spare time starts getting scarcer and scarcer...

About that `setting things up` thing.. For me its just a pain in the arsch.. Not because of the knowledge i have in older computers, because iam already 30 and older computers iam just really grow up with.
But more when you bought something *parts*. You have need some luck when parts really work straight from the seller, mostly there is something wrong with it or just needed an update, or need to desolder and solder parts.. There always something that needs to repaired, and that takes a lot of time before you actually have the right working parts to start build a computer with..
So i really dont like this that prefending to start build my retro system.. It was more nicer if everything would work as you bought it.. Its like a big time wasting puzzle.

Got to agree with you on this. Pre PnP hardware was a royal pain to set up and not something I ever look forward to doing again when I build an older system. Memory management is also not something that I look forward to.

PeterLI wrote:

For me it is all about gaming.

Hehe are you sure?

I would classify you more a trader / collector 😀 Always buying and selling something.

But that's just by noting your activities on various forums.

its more complicated than that, yes like most people around here I like to build upgrade, and mess around with old hardware , but most of the time the machines are used for games

I suppose one gives you the excuse to do the other.

I want to build rigs for retro gaming, but instead I just build them and play the games on GOG or Steam. But maybe that's because I rarely play games which require real sound equipment.

bristlehog wrote:

So, you play Hanoi Towers with your desktops? What is it with the word 'Tempo' in the middle?

That machine is an Everex 486/33C: a 80386 MOBO with a 80486 CPU complex plugged into the 80386 & 80387 sockets. ISA only. On board IDE & FDD controllers + VGA fried. Works great otherwise. Only ISA slot left (the other 2 have an ISA I/O and VGA in it). http://stason.org/TULARC/pc/motherboards/E/EV … ml#.UrCeXPRDtP1

Mau1wurf1977 wrote:

Hehe are you sure? I would classify you more a trader / collector 😀 Always buying and selling something. But that's just by noting your activities on various forums.

I try to buy & sell because I will play with something: then tire of it or I want to free up $ for new purchases. I admit it appears a little bit chaotic. It also has to do with the Mrs. who is not a fan of my hobby unfortunately.

There's a lot of truth to the OPs post. For me its always "I'll play that old game on that PC I built for it", instead I'm building another system. Truth is, I love both my old games & building systems. Just building is like working on cars, once you have the itch you will scratch for eternity.

Well, rig building mostly. Contemplating the design, getting the parts together, careful assembly [and re-assembly and re-assembly...], OS/software setup and configuration. Much of the time "gaming" is restricted to just installing the games earmarked for a build, then applying the million patches, updates, fan mods, tweaks/tricks etc. needed to get "a retro" going. Then, after it's all up and running smoothly I'll "take it out for a quick spin" every so often. Most real gaming I do is current stuff on my main computer; racing/flying sims, and a handful of FPS get the most play on the old rigs.

I like the car analogy. If lived in the country or the 'burbs and had more space I would definitely have a project car... I'd also love to build a little plane and skim the treetops one day.