The Right HardStuff

johpower · Post by **johpower** » Mon Jan 13, 2003 8:40 pm

Like to see some consideration of what's the optimal DOS machine. I bet most of us have a 2nd or 3rd machine just to run DOS w/o headaches from Windoze. Maybe even a few are using Linux2DOS emulation for stability (haven't tried this myself yet but heard good things). For me this 2nd machine is a 486 DX4-133 w/64mb RAM. I have parts for a Pent 200 non-MMX that would help alot due to it's 5x better math-co core, among other things. I doubt it will be as compatable with some of my games, however. I'm about to put a Turkle Beach Tropez Plus (12mb samples!) sound card in the 486 (since it refuses to co-hab in the Celeron 500 running Win98se). Any comments?

Unknown_K · Post by **Unknown_K** » Mon Jan 13, 2003 11:00 pm

I have 2 dos machines at the moment (and a few spare parts)

DOS #1.

386SX/33 4mb, 500MB HD, Orchid Farenheight 1280 VRAM 1MB ISA, Sound Blaster PRO 2.0 10x CDROM

DOS #2.

P200MMX, 24MB Ram, 512k Cache, Riva 128 4mb PCI, Sound Blaster 16 PnP + DBX50 Yamaha Waveblaster addon, Gravis Ultrasound PnP w/8mb for samples, 32x cdrom

Extra parts:
Soundblaster Pro 2.0
Gravis Ultrasound Classic .5MB (going in 386 when I can get them both to work)
Ensoniq Soundscape
Ensonic Soundscape VIVO PnP (might go in p200 if I can find it an IRQ)

DOS Box #1 will play any of the real old dos games , or at least the ones I have tried

DOS Box #2 plays the last generation of DOS games at high resolution since it has VESA 3.0 bios on the video card (Might get a voodoo 1 card)

The key I think for a dos gaming box is to have the best sound/video card for each generation of hardware to get the most out of the games.
Many games were written that sound excellent on the Gravis Ultrasound in standard or MT-32 emulation that sound crappy on a soundblaster. Some cards that emulate the SB Pro play games in mono when they will play in stereo on a real SB Pro 2. I would like to get a Roland Soundcard but they cost way too much and are rare to find even on EBAY.

Good luck running older dos games on newer systems without alot of work in slowing the system down so you dont get timing errors.

I now have 4 PC's in my room to cover gaming from early dos to present (a p400 128MB with a TNT1 and Dual Voodoo 2's (SLI) for early dx and glide games) (a XP1500+ 512mb ddr, ATI 9000, SQ2500 etc for latest games) all running on a 19" Sony 420GS and Boston speakers from 1 Belkin SOHO KVM switch.

BTW Ebay is your friends for older parts for DOS machines, same thing goes for the Forsale newsgroups.

IF I forgot to mention some hardware that would enhance my system let me know.

Kazer0 · Post by **Kazer0** » Tue Jan 14, 2003 10:36 pm

Oh, here I go again..... kazer0 likes computers.......

I currently have 6, yes thats right, 6 computers. However, I took them all apart (except for a mac, the one im on now). I will give you an overall kinda thing going on (meaning, all my parts. i continually put them together in different orders.)

Cases:

Olivetti m300 and m400 (flat at)
Dell(2) Unknowns(at tower and flat)
Mac Color Classic II (mac)
and an unknown (tower AT)

Proc:

PII MMX 266 mhz
PI
386
286
Unknown (It came on a non working motherboard. i never tried it. Im guessing 486)
Mac (whatever that is)

RAM:

192 mb SD-RAM
16mb SD-RAM
4mb RAM
8mb Ram
Unknown
Unknown (Mac)

Modems:

1920
28.8
36.6
56k
DSL

HD:

16 gb
11 gb
40 mb
100 mb
250 mb
Unknown (Motherboard partitioned)
70 mb (Mac)
(*Yes, I knoe its 7, the 16gb is a spare.*)

Disc:

1.44 mb 3.5" floppy (6)
CD-ROM (1)
5 1/4" 1.2 mb Floppy (1)

Video:

ATI 3D Rage Pro II + DVD (2 mb)
Rage XL (Cant get it to work with windows! its a 2002 card!)
Oak Technologies VGA (1 mb)
Mac Integrated
Some old crappy olivetti Cards....

Moniters:

SVGA Samsung SyncMaster 500b
Black and White Olivetti (2)

Sound:

Soundblaster 16 + AWE (2)
Mac Integrated Sound

Joystick:

Liang Pro Pc Pad, 16 buttons

Extra:

Sterio Hooked up to my PC
HAD a microphone, but my sis has it now.
Mac integrated microphone.
DSL Networking (Wireless)

And i think tahts it......

Unknown_K · Post by **Unknown_K** » Tue Jan 14, 2003 10:41 pm

I never said I have just 4 computers.. my list is large and includes macs (68k and ppc) c64,128,amiga,etc....

too many parts to list

johpower · Post by **johpower** » Tue Jan 14, 2003 11:02 pm

Glad to see the Hardware forum is doing it's job so soon..... getting out the "what works for what" word!

Kazer0 · Post by **Kazer0** » Tue Jan 14, 2003 11:10 pm

Send a PM to Dogbreath or the Moderator of this forum, itll go faster.

Da_Goat · Post by **Da_Goat** » Tue Jan 14, 2003 11:42 pm

Stupid Admins....Mods are where it's at! Yeah, yeah, I moved it

486 player · Post by **486 player** » Wed Jan 15, 2003 6:06 am

486 DX2 66 MHz
32 MB RAM
VESA Local Bus display card
DOS 6.22
Reset and Turbo buttons (No Mo'Slo!!!

)
3 button mouse
21" monitor
Sound Blaster 16/32
Stereos

To most CGA games 8086

Unknown_K · Post by **Unknown_K** » Fri Jan 24, 2003 11:15 pm

486 player wrote:486 DX2 66 MHz
32 MB RAM
VESA Local Bus display card
DOS 6.22
Reset and Turbo buttons (No Mo'Slo!!! )
3 button mouse
21" monitor
Sound Blaster 16/32
Stereos

To most CGA games 8086

What monitor? 21" for dos games means you can see each pixel

I love my 19" 4220GS sony monitor, too bad SONY isnt making ANY crt monitors smaller then 21" anymore since its not worth their time ((better snag one of them cheap 19" monitors now before they are gone).

Oz · Post by Oz » Sat Jan 25, 2003 10:45 am

yep, i'd give anything for my ol' 486 dx2 50 Mhz, it's 14" screen was perfect for anything, it even did 1024*768, imagine that on a 14"...

Unknown_K · Post by **Unknown_K** » Sat Jan 25, 2003 11:43 am

14" monitors were kind of small, and didnt use the whole screen like todays monitors do (plus they were round).

486 player · Post by **486 player** » Sat Jan 25, 2003 2:10 pm

the bigger, the better. (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Unknown_K · Post by **Unknown_K** » Sat Jan 25, 2003 2:28 pm

My first PC had VGA (286) what good games were there on a 8086 with CGA anyway? For anything that far back your better off with the AMIGA or C64 version.

486 player · Post by **486 player** » Thu Jan 30, 2003 6:34 am

If game's published (copyrighted) in 80's, it's CGA and to 8086. But sadly, most o' 'em are abandonware.

johpower · Post by **johpower** » Tue Feb 18, 2003 3:22 pm

486 player wrote:If game's published (copyrighted) in 80's, it's CGA and to 8086. But sadly, most o' 'em are abandonware.

Oh, I wouldn't say that. There are plenty of decent 80's progs running video better than CGA. Now before say, 85, then you are fairly right.

Unknown_K · Post by **Unknown_K** » Tue Feb 18, 2003 4:31 pm

Games in CGA look horrible, its better to get out the C64 and play them on that machine!

Was EGA used alot for games or did it go from CGA to VGA graphics?

johpower · Post by **johpower** » Tue Feb 18, 2003 5:10 pm

If you are replying to my 2/18 statement, I've amended it to more clearly mean that the 80's wasn't all CGA.

EGA was used from '83 to '89 generally. It was mainly in response to calls for better color depth and better than Mac video games for PC's at the time. Most games after '86 supported both VGA and EGA mode (not much diff between EGA and VGA coding). The advent of good cheap VGA monitors killed EGA.

You can even see the transition-ware. A big border would be put around an EGA video box and buttons added there for onscreen controls that the original didn't have.

And don't forget to add: "device(high)=c:\dos\ega.sys" to your config.sys to get the better res.

Tombstone · Post by **Tombstone** » Fri Jan 21, 2005 1:29 am

Where can one purchase an old system like this? I've got a Pentium 133 (see signature), and even a Pentium 90, but they're too advanced for some of my favorite old DOS games (Gunship 2000, Pirates! Gold, etc.)

I have been hunting for a 386/DX40 (or thereabouts) for two years. Yard sales, eBay, you name it, I've checked into it.

I had one of those boat-anchors about 12 years ago. Who knew I'd be wishing I still had it?

Unknown_K · Post by **Unknown_K** » Fri Jan 21, 2005 1:38 am

Are you in the US? I have a 386SX/40 MB that needs a battery, maybe we could trade.

Tombstone · Post by **Tombstone** » Mon Jan 24, 2005 12:22 am

Unknown_K wrote:Are you in the US? I have a 386SX/40 MB that needs a battery, maybe we could trade.

Unfortunately, I'd need the whole nine yards. I have old drives < 500MB for it, some old 4 - 12X CD-ROMs that I'm pretty sure still work, wads and wads of good 30 pin SIMMs, and that SB CT3990 VLB card for audio, but that's it. I don't even have an AT class chassis anymore.

I might still be interested, though...

Q. Does your mainboard have the on-board FDD/HDD controller?

Q. Does your mainboard have a ISA-VLB slot?

Q. Do you have the 386/40 CPU?

DOS Games Discussion

The Right HardStuff

The Right HardStuff

Hardware forum works!