The Retro PC Thread

[Ziggy]

Do you remember what thread it was in? I wouldn't mind re-reading that post, but I can't remember for the life of me what thread it was in.

[noiseredux]

was it this post?

viewtopic.php?p=1019028#p1019028

if not do an advanced search for

Code: Select all

vmware

and user

Code: Select all

isiolia

and you should find it, as he certainly discussed vmware in that post.

[Ziggy]

Yeah, that was the post I was thinking of. Although, in my memory I was combining it with another post where someone talked about 3D acceleration in virtual machines and how/why it doesn't work in some virtual software.

[noiseredux]

viewtopic.php?p=1006101#p1006101

?

[Ziggy]

Possibly, if not it had the same answer to the question at hand.

[emwearz]

So not long ago I built myself a Windows 98 machine, built purely on scraps from about 3 computers during a hard rubbish collection night.

I ended up with a Pentium 4 @ 3Ghz w/256mb DDR Ram using a 128mbMB dedicated SiS onboard graphics chipset onboard. It does the job I wanted which was to avoid DOSBOX and just use a native W98 machine, I was originally thinking of falling further back, but free is free and the P4's are the oldest CPU's that play nice with Windows 98 and don't cost a small fortune. (Though in this case it was free).

[Ziggy]

P4's are the oldest CPU's that play nice with Windows 98 and don't cost a small fortune. (Though in this case it was free).

Pentium II and III are perfect for Win 9x, they're plentiful, and they don't have the nostalgia price tag that's currently attached to 486 hardware.

Still, you're right, free is free. If it works, I say fuck it. And those specs would even be great for a dual boot Win98 and XP if you ever wanted to.

[gravitone]

actually the CDROM drive doesn't work. And neither do any of my spares apparently.

It is a... no brand? I don't know. Very generic beige case. According to all the shit I deleted off of it, it used to be a networked PC in a dentist's office I guess.

So yeah, I'll end up needing to install a working optical drive and a 5.25" floppy to get started. A Gravis gamepad is possible for nostalgic charm.

Great to see a pic of your desk setup noiseredux.
That monitor/tv looks exactly like the one I'm currently using a secondary screen.
Is it a Samsung LW20M21C by any chance?
I swap it around between my retro rigs and main rig from time to time. It's perfect for anything that runs at 640x480 since its the panels native resolution. A lot of late era dos games and windows 95 titles look 10x beter then on a modern high-res display.

It's also my favourite monitor for emulation at the moment. Mednafen with 50% scanlines and integer scaling makes this absolutely perfect for most saturn games. Try some radiant silvergun on it and you will never go back. The latest psx version with CRT build in CRT shader also makes 2d games like castlevania chronicles really shine.

[samsonlonghair]

Can we talk about case designs in this thread please? There were a lot of soft beige boxes in the 90s but there were a few standouts like the Packard-Bell corner PC, IBM Aptiva Stealth, the NeXTstation, and the 20th Anniversary Macintosh.

[emwearz]

P4's are the oldest CPU's that play nice with Windows 98 and don't cost a small fortune. (Though in this case it was free).

Pentium II and III are perfect for Win 9x, they're plentiful, and they don't have the nostalgia price tag that's currently attached to 486 hardware.

Still, you're right, free is free. If it works, I say fuck it. And those specs would even be great for a dual boot Win98 and XP if you ever wanted to.

Realised I meant to say newest cpu, not oldest.