X86 Discussion

[nathanm1991]

Originally Posted by lesta_smsc

Ah... ok. I may have an old Sony Vaio up for sale soon. It's 20 years old I think. So I'm hoping perfect for retro gaming. Once it's out of storage I'll post exact specs lol.

Yeah that sounds Good to me let me know

[lesta_smsc]

Originally Posted by nathanm1991

Yeah that sounds Good to me let me know

Finally got it out! It's a:

Sony VAIO PCG-FX201

Specs available online if you search that model.

Has all the vintage connections e.g. serial, parallel etc but also has TV out!

[nathanm1991]

This is the Asus K8V SE Build

Amd Athlon 2800+ Cpu
512MB Pc3200U DDR Ram
ATI All in Wonder 9800 Series AGP Graphics Card 256MB
C Media 8768 Soundcard (SoundBlaster Compatible)
Sata HDD
IDE DVD Drive (R/W)
Floppy Drive
CIT Power Supply Unit

Open To Offers

[lesta_smsc]

So... I've been doing some research and it seems that my particular soundcard in the Sony VAIO has real DOS mode drivers! This is quite rare on laptops and I have another Toshiba Satellite which was older but it only had Windows drivers! Can't wait to get this booted up to see how it all sounds!

[nathanm1991]

Originally Posted by lesta_smsc

So... I've been doing some research and it seems that my particular soundcard in the Sony VAIO has real DOS mode drivers! This is quite rare on laptops and I have another Toshiba Satellite which was older but it only had Windows drivers! Can't wait to get this booted up to see how it all sounds!

That will be a Real Solid laptop :-)

[nathanm1991]

Quake Didn't Happen tonight Guys Next Weekend all Weekend 8PM-11PM

[nathanm1991]

Am starting to get a Nice Collection of Stuff again now Thanks Viceroy :-)

[Viceroy]

Has it arrived?

[Glen M]

I've been busy recently reorganising the man cave but managed to find a few hours to setup my Pentium 2 rig.

Its a 350mhz P2, 128mb ram, voodoo3 3000 (taken from my P3 build and I've a new card on order for that) and sound blaster live. Had some issues getting the sound blaster drivers working as a file was missing everytime I installed them, all good now though.

Interestingly the motherboard I used came with the pentium 2 350mhz chip and its nearly identical to the one that was installed in the gateway case originally which has a P2 233mhz . I first tired the 350 in the gateway board and it posted but as a 233. There are no bios options to change processor clock or multiplier and there are no motherboard jumpers either. There is however a jumper to put the bios into a configuration mode and when done the machine tries to access the floppy drive so perhaps there is a floppy disc out there somewhere to get you into the advanced features of the bios. Would be cool to find it as the gateway board at post has the gateway logo whereas the board I'm using has a packard bell logo. I can't help but wonder if I could add my own logo.

Few pictures.

The case is a bit yellow. Toying with the idea of wrapping it rather than retrobrighting



Vertical hard drive caddy is a blast from the past.


Pentium 2 350mhz


Sound blaster live


The voodoo who do what you don't dare do

I've been advised to add a fan to this as it runs hot and I don't want to kill it.

Just need to add a network card to this and its complete, well apart from sorting the naff looking case.

[Locutus]

I managed to source a A-bit BP6 board...... now i just need a Voodoo5500.... (so does the rest of the oldschool PC nerd world)

[nathanm1991]

Originally Posted by Viceroy

Has it arrived?

All has Arrived Buddy :-) Thank you

[nathanm1991]

Originally Posted by Glen M

I've been busy recently reorganising the man cave but managed to find a few hours to setup my Pentium 2 rig.

Its a 350mhz P2, 128mb ram, voodoo3 3000 (taken from my P3 build and I've a new card on order for that) and sound blaster live. Had some issues getting the sound blaster drivers working as a file was missing everytime I installed them, all good now though.

Interestingly the motherboard I used came with the pentium 2 350mhz chip and its nearly identical to the one that was installed in the gateway case originally which has a P2 233mhz . I first tired the 350 in the gateway board and it posted but as a 233. There are no bios options to change processor clock or multiplier and there are no motherboard jumpers either. There is however a jumper to put the bios into a configuration mode and when done the machine tries to access the floppy drive so perhaps there is a floppy disc out there somewhere to get you into the advanced features of the bios. Would be cool to find it as the gateway board at post has the gateway logo whereas the board I'm using has a packard bell logo. I can't help but wonder if I could add my own logo.

Few pictures.

The case is a bit yellow. Toying with the idea of wrapping it rather than retrobrighting



Vertical hard drive caddy is a blast from the past.


Pentium 2 350mhz


Sound blaster live


The voodoo who do what you don't dare do

I've been advised to add a fan to this as it runs hot and I don't want to kill it.

Just need to add a network card to this and its complete, well apart from sorting the naff looking case.

Is it the CT4780? I had that Exact issue with The missing File how did you go about getting around that in the end? I can't quite Remember the path I took

The Pc looks Cool no Case is Naff to me they all look good :-)

[rare_j]

I don't miss those Pentium 2 cpu-on-a-cartridge set ups! The Pentium or P3 just seems like a nicer build. But the P2 is more compatible with quite a few dos games if I recall. Good choice for a lot of classic stuff.

[Viceroy]

Originally Posted by nathanm1991

All has Arrived Buddy :-) Thank you

Excellent ;-)

[lesta_smsc]

So before I go and install and OS on the Sony laptop. What would people recommend: Windows 98, 98SE or ME? IF the DOS drivers work, it should be okay for either or these OS installs but the caveat is software hack on ME to allow real DOS mode access.

[Glen M]

Originally Posted by nathanm1991

Is it the CT4780? I had that Exact issue with The missing File how did you go about getting around that in the end? I can't quite Remember the path I took

The Pc looks Cool no Case is Naff to me they all look good :-)

I had to go download the file myself and drop it into the windows/system folder. All good now.

[Glen M]

Originally Posted by lesta_smsc

So before I go and install and OS on the Sony laptop. What would people recommend: Windows 98, 98SE or ME? IF the DOS drivers work, it should be okay for either or these OS installs but the caveat is software hack on ME to allow real DOS mode access.

Personally I'd go with 98SE. ME always seemed a buggy mess to me. Likewise a lot of bug issues from 98 are fixed in SE. For me it's the best OS for mid 90s to early 00s gaming.

Out of interest what spec is the laptop?

[lesta_smsc]

Originally Posted by Glen M

Personally I'd go with 98SE. ME always seemed a buggy mess to me. Likewise a lot of bug issues from 98 are fixed in SE. For me it's the best OS for mid 90s to early 00s gaming.



Out of interest what spec is the laptop?

Thanks. I have both and laptop came with ME initially.

It's a Sony VAIO PCG-FX201... specs as per online if you search that model.

[Glen M]

Originally Posted by lesta_smsc

Thanks. I have both and laptop came with ME initially.

It's a Sony VAIO PCG-FX201... specs as per online if you search that model.

Ahhh an AMD/ATI laptop. The 700mhz duron should be able to power through most stuff from the era but the ATI rage will struggle with later 3D games. I can't find what sound chip it has but it must be windows sound system compatible and ME drivers will work on 98. You might struggle with true dos sound drivers though but running games under 98 I'd image will work fine. My dell laptop of similar vintage has no dos support for its sound but 90% of games run fine under windows so it's not a problem for me. I need to select general midi most of the time for music so games don't sound just like you'd remember on a sound blaster but at least they work.

Good luck getting it setup.

[lesta_smsc]

It seems there may be a way using VIAUDIO DOS driver. I'll find out soon lol...