X86 Discussion

[lesta_smsc]

The 3DFX voodoo cards were great for gaming. Although I think now glide wrappers can achieve the same with other cards.

[nathanm1991]

Would you say the FX5200 Geforce would be a good Choice? I know the Machine does seem overkill but I may set it to Dual boot to Xp as well as 98 I was thinking for the Slightly newer titles I enjoy also (Don't want to be Patching too much) for Compatibility. Crysis Maybe LOL!

[nathanm1991]

So I ordered a 128MB Geforce FX5200 msi Graphics Card. What I Actually got was quite a bit better :-) I got the FX5500 256MB AGP MSI and oh my god what a improvement on the windows gaming side. as for sound in Dos games I have got the Soundblaster live ct4780 and I use the SBLive Dos SB16 Emu Driver and thus far I haven't had a dos game with missing sound :-) I would now say this is a Extremely Usable Dos/98 Machine. With Game Speedups in Dos, setmul works very well it Disables Cache to Allow the Slowdown needed.

Would anybody else have a Similar 98se Setup to this? and if so would they be able to tell me a 3dMark 2001se Bench Score to Compare mine to?

Motherboard:P4X266 (P4XFA) Socket 478
Processor: Northwood Pentium 4 2.8GHz
Ram: 1Gb PC-3200 DDR (Kingston)
Graphics Card: (Msi) Nvidia Geforce FX5500 256MB AGP 8X
SoundCard: Creative SoundBlaster Live CT4780

Also if I was to add XP to this Machine, How would the whole Experience be in your Opinions or is it Better Suited to 98 Only. My Plan was to have it Dual boot but maybe Pointless if it won't Run great.

I have LGA775 Stuff for XP anyway but I don't want too many Machines Setup at once haha

[lesta_smsc]

Time for you to experience Roland MT-32...

[nathanm1991]

Originally Posted by lesta_smsc

Time for you to experience Roland MT-32...

Hehe I Know :-) am Just awaiting Connectors at the Minute so Excited!! My Grandad had it all back in the Day I Loved it so should be Nostalgic!

[lesta_smsc]

How have you decided to get this working? Your computer is probably fast enough to emulate MUNT but in real dos you would need external means I believe.

[nathanm1991]

Originally Posted by lesta_smsc

How have you decided to get this working? Your computer is probably fast enough to emulate MUNT but in real dos you would need external means I believe.

im going to use a dell latitude d500? would this be ok?

[lesta_smsc]

I think so. I'm not sure how powerful a computer is needed but it is simply acting as MIDI interface but you will need ROM for MT-32. A Google search will lead you to it on another forum lol.

[nathanm1991]

I think there is already info on a site I use :-)

[nathanm1991]

Originally Posted by lesta_smsc

I think so. I'm not sure how powerful a computer is needed but it is simply acting as MIDI interface but you will need ROM for MT-32. A Google search will lead you to it on another forum lol.

The Cables have Arrived am going to Start the Project now :-)

[Anubis]

Good luck.

D500 should be sufficient to emulate MT-32

[nathanm1991]

Originally Posted by Anubis

Good luck.

D500 should be sufficient to emulate MT-32

Just to Confirm it is Sufficient enough :-)

[Nishicorn]

That's a bit too modern computer to be a true 'DOS machine'. I mean, you can't install Sound Blaster to it for authentic OPL sound for games and music composing. A lot of DOS games won't work on it, many will run way too fast or just go crazy.

Getting some quirky VGA modes that some games and demos use, will be not accessible.

Whatever you get to work on it, especially if you can somehow get authentic OPL sound, can be fun to use, though.

I have a similar PC that I use for OPL stuff and old games, I installed DOS 6.22 to it, and many things work just fine. But there are definitely many games and demos that just won't work, or work too fast, etc.

To me, an actual "DOS PC" would be something like an authentic 486 on a proper, old motherboard that originally supports 486s, with an actual Sound Blaster with real OPL2 or OPL3 chip on it, and actual VGA graphics card that supports every weirdo graphics mode that VGA is supposed to display.

Even with my DOS PC, I can't even play all VGM files, because of lack of memory (although the machine of course has lots). I could toy around with XMS and EMS stuff, and maybe I might work, but I am too lazy to constantly fiddle with those things back and forth.

Which is something that one has to do with old DOS PCs, unless you build some nice menu system (which I wanted to do, but I guess gave up).

I am still planning to get a proper 486-based DOS machine, I even have a real ISA SoundBlaster, but that will have to wait until far in the future.

These old DOS PCs are a lot of fun to use - DOSBox is great, but it always feels a bit too much like 'emulation', whereas a DOS PC just puts everything directly onto the screen and my headphones, and the feeling is much more exciting and happier of course (especially since I have an actual OPL3 chip in there that I can use with lots of games, demos and music software and players).

If you can't find any other solution to get a real OPL chip in your PC, maybe something like OPL3LPT or OPL2LPT can be utilized (it goes to Parallel port - I hope your PC has it).

[davide78]

Actually, there are some Yamaha PCI soundcards with a real OPL3 chip. And also some ESS cards have very good DOS compatibility and an FM synthesis chip that is reputed to be one of the best OPL3 clones. So you can build up a pretty flexible machine, where you can a good number of dos and early windows games.

At the end, it depends on which games you want to play. I agree that for a pure DOS experience a 486 would be the proper, historically correct, choice. But personally, I would go for an early Win98 machine in any case. Most of them have ISA slots, so you can install a real sound blaster with a real OPL chip. Windows98 includes a real DOS mode, and allows for an easier transfer of files, either by USB or on the Network.

[nathanm1991]

Originally Posted by Nishicorn

That's a bit too modern computer to be a true 'DOS machine'. I mean, you can't install Sound Blaster to it for authentic OPL sound for games and music composing. A lot of DOS games won't work on it, many will run way too fast or just go crazy.

Getting some quirky VGA modes that some games and demos use, will be not accessible.

Whatever you get to work on it, especially if you can somehow get authentic OPL sound, can be fun to use, though.

I have a similar PC that I use for OPL stuff and old games, I installed DOS 6.22 to it, and many things work just fine. But there are definitely many games and demos that just won't work, or work too fast, etc.

To me, an actual "DOS PC" would be something like an authentic 486 on a proper, old motherboard that originally supports 486s, with an actual Sound Blaster with real OPL2 or OPL3 chip on it, and actual VGA graphics card that supports every weirdo graphics mode that VGA is supposed to display.

Even with my DOS PC, I can't even play all VGM files, because of lack of memory (although the machine of course has lots). I could toy around with XMS and EMS stuff, and maybe I might work, but I am too lazy to constantly fiddle with those things back and forth.

Which is something that one has to do with old DOS PCs, unless you build some nice menu system (which I wanted to do, but I guess gave up).

I am still planning to get a proper 486-based DOS machine, I even have a real ISA SoundBlaster, but that will have to wait until far in the future.

These old DOS PCs are a lot of fun to use - DOSBox is great, but it always feels a bit too much like 'emulation', whereas a DOS PC just puts everything directly onto the screen and my headphones, and the feeling is much more exciting and happier of course (especially since I have an actual OPL3 chip in there that I can use with lots of games, demos and music software and players).

If you can't find any other solution to get a real OPL chip in your PC, maybe something like OPL3LPT or OPL2LPT can be utilized (it goes to Parallel port - I hope your PC has it).

Ok it may not be a true Dos Pc sure but I have not had a problem with Running any game I throw at it so far in Dos Mode. Disabling the Cache pretty Much Covers things in terms of Speed ups. and With Sound Compatibility, the SoundBlaster live does Have Dos Support and has Worked Great. I Too would love a 486 Machine but Try finding one at a Reasonable Price these days, a true Rarity. The fact I can use it for Dos and For Windows Based Games is why I Purchased a Socket 478

I do get What your Saying though, If only I had Lots of Cash

[nathanm1991]

Would anybody happen to Know where I can get a New Stock Power supply with the old type Auxhilary included? so a ATX 1.0 Type Power Supply I think its called

Thanks all

[davide78]

Can't you use a modern ATX PSU? It's not clear to me what are the "old type auxhiliary" connectors you are missing: the 4-pin HD and floppy ?
A modern PSU should have all connectors you need, plus some extra (sata, cpu and gpu power) that you can left unused.

[ptyerman]

Have got a box full of the old AT type PSU's but not many ATX going spare at the moment. I may still have a 240w and a 300w ATX in a box somewhere, I would have to look.
Apart from that, eBay is your best bet although you will be very hard tasked to find one new I think.

[BullyDog]

I'm surprised you don't have Bio Menace in your list.

[ Show youtube player ]

[davide78]

Originally Posted by BullyDog

I'm surprised you don't have Bio Menace in your list.

Ahhh, the good old Apogee platformers with EGA graphics
This one looks very nice, and much better than the usual Commander Keen. It definitely worth a try. Thanks for the hint!

Those games can be tricky to play on more modern hardware: they use a special programming technique to enable smooth scrolling with the limited hardware capabilities that may cause incompatibility issues with later SVGA cards.