VOGONS


First post, by Oldskoolmaniac

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

I recently Acquired a fully functional Dell Optiplex GS+ Ive been repairing everything on it these past few week's. This thing was in very bad shape the case had really bad uv damage, which i discussed here: Deyellowing Plastic I got that all cleaned up and it is now bright white and i also had to do the same treatment to the CD-ROM drive bezel.

Things that got repaired:
Deyellowed Case
CD-ROM would not read disc so I cleaned the lens with rubbing alcohol and used red bearing grease on the track that the lens moved across
Floppy Drive would not read either so i gave it the same treatment as the CD drive

Specs:
2GB HDD will be upgraded to CF Card
CD-ROM drive
AWE64 Gold ISA Audio card
Onboard netgear ethernet adapter
PCI USB 2.0 Card
2MB S3 Trio64V+ onboard video (I would like to go with something better, maybe a Matrox perhaps? Cause I hear those have excellent DOS compatibility, needs to be PCI)
16MB of RAM EDO hoping to bump that up a bit to atleast 64MB but whatever RAM sticks I throw at it, it will not boot
166MHz Pentium MMX (Whats the difference between ceramic & plastic Chip, cause I own both) Soon to be bumped up to a 200MHz MMX

Out of this hardware configuration, what should I switch out to get the best windows and DOS mode experience? Nothing too rare or expensive to get.

Software:
Windows 95 OSR2.5
Unofficial Service Pack 1.05: http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/129504-unoffi … -final-release/
Media Player 7.1: http://www.mdgx.com/wmp.htm
eXtended USB Supplement for Windows 95 OSR2: http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/172402-xusbsu … indows-95-osr2/
SimCity 2000
Windows Entertainment Packs

What software and tweaks would you guys recommend that is also essential? Is there any programs like ccleaner or NTFS reader for 95?

I will be setting up DOS mode later using Phil's tutorial and post back on here if I run into problems.

If anyone has windows ME could you kindly send me Defrag.exe? Im not sure if its legal to distribute or not, but if it is then please disregard this then.

Also I installed the AWE64 driver software and also applied the update and every time windows loads it pops saying a version of wave 4.somthing needs to be installed, whats that all about?

Thanks in advance.

Motherboard Reviews The Motherboard Thread
Plastic parts looking nasty and yellow try this Deyellowing Plastic

Reply 1 of 8, by Jorpho

User metadata
Rank l33t++
Rank
l33t++
Oldskoolmaniac wrote:

What software and tweaks would you guys recommend that is also essential? Is there any programs like ccleaner or NTFS reader for 95?

At the risk of sounding like a broken record: it depends on what exactly you want to do. If you will be reading NTFS-formatted disks, then an NTFS reader is essential. If you have no such expectations, then an NTFS reader is unnecessary. If you just want to run SimCity 2000, then I expect you have everything you need.

I for one am not particularly clear as to why you are running Windows 95B instead of Windows 98SE, especially if you need USB.

Also, you might as well replace the CD-ROM drive completely; if you needed to clean it, it will probably start giving you more problems sooner rather than later. They're cheap enough.

If anyone has windows ME could you kindly send me Defrag.exe? Im not sure if its legal to distribute or not, but if it is then please disregard this then.

It is not legal, but even if it was, I don't know why you would expect it to work with 95B. (People do seem to use it with 98SE, though.)

Also I installed the AWE64 driver software and also applied the update and every time windows loads it pops saying a version of wave 4.somthing needs to be installed, whats that all about?

It's definitely about something. 😜

Reply 2 of 8, by Oldskoolmaniac

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

I want to play other windows games as well as dos games, so suggestion on games are welcomed.

As for the CDdrive i like the clean beige look

I have ton of software and drivers on my 1TB drive and I would like to read ntfs on 95 instead of using my fat32 flash drive, I know there is one for 98-ME cause I use that all the time on my P3 builds to read my 1TB.

The reason why im using 95 is cause its something different, it presents new challenges and experience, it also has value to me as it was my first operating system i had on my pc in 99. also I have 4 different 98 builds.

Yes defrag from ME works on 95 as well, I use to have archived, but I lost it and I dont want to install ME just grab that one little file.

Motherboard Reviews The Motherboard Thread
Plastic parts looking nasty and yellow try this Deyellowing Plastic

Reply 3 of 8, by Jorpho

User metadata
Rank l33t++
Rank
l33t++
Oldskoolmaniac wrote:

so suggestion on games are welcomed.

Then the next obvious question is, "What kind of games do you like?" There is not much that is quite like SimCity 2000.

If you have "4 different 98 builds" then I guess you can run some of the games you were using on those..?

As for the CDdrive i like the clean beige look

If you can find one with a similar shape but a different color, you might be able to swap the plastic pieces around. In my experience they are fairly easy to remove.

The reason why im using 95 is cause its something different, it presents new challenges and experience

Like not having an NTFS reader..?

There are definitely command-line NTFS tools that will work in DOS.

Yes defrag from ME works on 95 as well, I use to have archived, but I lost it and I dont want to install ME just grab that one little file.

I understood that Windows 98 defrag introduced various special disk optimization features and that any such benefits would be lost in Windows 95. But whatever. Looks like MDGX has it.
http://www.mdgx.com/98-5.htm#WDIW

Reply 4 of 8, by Oldskoolmaniac

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

Sorry guess I should specify the games I normally play:
mostly racing and shooting games
V-really 2
Half life
Unreal & tournament
simcity 2000
WEP (windows entertainment pack)
quake arena
Games that I use in dos box, but wanting to run in 95 dos mode:
Doom
wolfenstian
descent
carmagedden
Im trying to find a video card thats good all around for these games as well.

I was reading that ntfs is possible in 95. but the program from sysinternals does not work even though there site says it supports 95, im just looking for something that works, but if I cant get anything then thats fine and ill just stick with me fat32 flashdrive then.

Thanks for that link to mdgx I must went somewhere else when browsing there site.

Motherboard Reviews The Motherboard Thread
Plastic parts looking nasty and yellow try this Deyellowing Plastic

Reply 5 of 8, by Jorpho

User metadata
Rank l33t++
Rank
l33t++

If those games run fine on your "4 different 98 builds", the same video card hardware will work just as well in this machine, I would think.

Doom and Wolfenstein, at least, are not at all picky.

Oldskoolmaniac wrote:

I was reading that ntfs is possible in 95. but the program from sysinternals does not work even though there site says it supports 95, im just looking for something that works, but if I cant get anything then thats fine and ill just stick with me fat32 flashdrive then.

Did you try http://lsoft.net/ntfs-reader.aspx ?

Reply 6 of 8, by Oldskoolmaniac

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

Would any PCI video card work with DOS mode?

Motherboard Reviews The Motherboard Thread
Plastic parts looking nasty and yellow try this Deyellowing Plastic

Reply 7 of 8, by Jorpho

User metadata
Rank l33t++
Rank
l33t++

I would expect so, yes.

I'm sure if you look hard enough, you can find a PCI video card that won't work in DOS mode or that will cause other problems. (There are plenty of cards that require FIX8X14 for some applications, but that's a trivial fix.)

EDIT: Found http://www.bttr-software.de/freesoft/disk1.htm#ntcp while I was at that site. (I thought it was around there somewhere.)

Reply 8 of 8, by SRQ

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member

I don't believe there is any different in ceramic and plastic other than the plastic being a cheaper/newer packaging standard. Other than specifically dating something, it would be totally 100% invisible because the die is exactly the same regardless.

I think, benchmark them both maybe you'll discover something.