*New* Helpful Link's : http://pastebin.com/UdmipND6
Welcome to the 70s to early 90s Computer Gaming General. We talk about games and the hardware they were made for , either micro, mini or mainframe computers, desktop, tower or all in keyboard package, from the USA, Europe, Japan, or anywhere, if the platform came out before 1995.
Don't hesitate to share tips, your past (or present) experiences, your new machines, your already existing collection, emulation & hardware advises, as well as shots, ads & flyers, videos, interviews, musics, photos, that kind of stuff.
Allowed : Computers made from the 70s to Windows 3.x (Windows 95 and up stuff not allowed) and their games (of course), peripherals for these computers from any time period (MIDI expanders included)
Tolerated : Unknown, unsupported or not really popular post-95 stuff (BeOS, old Linux, stuff like this)
Not Allowed : Late 90s games and computers, Pentium PCs or more, PPC Macs and more, Windows 95 and later
IRC Channel : #/g/retro @ irc.rizon.net
Random Music:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtKd-TlYGuA
Random Gameplay:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDw_mpjKlpg
>>2753556
That's some sexy ass text.
>scanlines
Disgusting
>>2753556
>Link's
blunder of the century
Old thread for those traversing the archives
>>2594805
>>2749030
>>2750664
Now the rest of the pages of this Dutch sony catalog showing MSX-related hardware.
>>2754156
Last one.
Was messing around on a C64 emulator out of boredom as I never owned one or played any pre win95 games and found this gem.
I really liked what it was trying to do. Was pretty neat how there were two modes, one for dealing with friendly people and one for dealing with attackers. Only thing I disliked about it was how short it was.
Anyone familiar with the game know any similar titles?
are there any cool multiplayer RPGs for one PC out there?
I only remember bloodwych and Might&magic1-styled game.
The 1 keyboard multiplayer is really a part of mychildhood
>>2754196
You can't start a thread about any pre-95 computer that isn't IBM, Apple or Commodore. It will get shitposted to death or not get a single post, just like first/second generation consoles. You're welcome to try and make your own threads, there's usually a Japanese computer general and Amiga general, but people just congregated here in an effort to have actual discussion, because people who like the old 8-bit computers usually are fans of and knowledgeable about them all.
Sexy Amstrad CPC.
>>2754395
There's also Hired Guns, but frankly the Amiga version is much better, so don't bother playing in on PC. Or else you'll miss out on all the nice atmospheric sound effects that really draw you into the game.
There's pic-related though. I haven't tried it but sounds like it's worth a shot. You can download it here:
http://www.dosgames.com/g_rpg.php
Is that Colossal Cave Adventure or Zork?
>>2756097
>Zyll
Now that's a game I'd put on my PC-XT laptop clone.
>>2754395
>family "upgrades" to a new soft touch/quiet keyboard
>keyboard ignores half our keypresses when two people are using it at once
>can't play multiplayer on one keyboard anymore
>>2756704
Looks like the former.
Hi, wasn't sure whether to post this here or in the japanese computer thread. I picked all this up yesterday for 150 aus bucks. My dad already had lots of the msx music stuff and I just wanted an msx and the floppy adapter. Anyway turns out one of the CX5Ms lights up but has no picture. Anything I should check first? Also can I use the FDD adapter to connect up a modern 3.5' drive or will they not be compatible? Don't have one on me atm to test.
>>2758336
Most of the time, MSX floppy controllers are close to the Shugart 34 pin interface. Unfortunately, IBM PC drives use a non-standard pinout too (that became defacto standard because clones flood and shit), so you need to re-ajust the various pins to make them work.
Here's a website that might help you :
http://pinouts.ru/Storage/InternalDisk_pinout.shtml
Here are the yamaha floppy drives service manuals so you can see exactly what kind of interface they use, and maybe think about how you could make an adapter for them:
http://msx.hansotten.com/uploads/msxdocs/yamahafd51sm.pdf
http://msx.hansotten.com/uploads/msxdocs/smyamahafd03.pdf
The FD05 seems to use a modified shuggart port with 4 additional pins to supply power. Check the 18th page of the first PDF for more informations on the interface.
There's also this website for anyone interested in MSX hardware and willingto have access to service manuals and stuff:
http://msx.hansotten.com/index.php?page=msxmanuals
>>2758612
>Unfortunately, IBM PC drives use a non-standard pinout too (that became defacto standard because clones flood and shit), so you need to re-ajust the various pins to make them work
No they don't. It's the Shugart standard except that IBM used the cable twist thing so users wouldn't have to move jumper blocks to set the driver number. You could use a completely flat ribbon cable with no twist on a PC and it would work, the difference being that you'll then have to set the jumpers on the drive.
>>2758618
Check the pinout.of the 2 interfaces, they have some common pins, but a bunch of them are different. IBM drives use a non-standard variation of shugart.
>>2758621
Disproven. People have done things like install common 3.5" 1.44MB drives in non-PC machines like this North Star Horizon with no problem.
>>2758629
And they were forced to use custom cables to reassign the pins of the interface to the right ones on the drive.
PC floppy drives don't work out of the box with shuggart 34 interfaces, you need to reassign a bunch of connections. Just look at the pinout:
http://pinouts.ru/Storage/InternalDisk_pinout.shtml
The control signals of the shugart interface usually end up on the wrong pins of the floppy drive if you don't use a modified cable, which make IBM controllers and floppies non-standard. Yes, you can connect them like they did on that NS Horizon, but you need some custom cable. There are tons of musicians who tried to change their synthesizer's shugart compatible floppy drives with PC ones who failed to make them work because of the different pinout.
>Disproven.
Not at all m8. These differences are well documented, posting the front panel of a computer known to use a shugart floppy controller with 3"1/2 PC drives wont prove me wrong.
>>2758612
Thanks a lot. I will look into it the next weekend I have free :) anything I can try with the dud cx5m that won't display anything?
>>2758642
>>2758618
This reminds me of when I changed the floppy drive on my Atari ST.
There were a bunch of methods I found on the internet but the easiest way to use a PC floppy drive (bordering on hack) was to just bridge two pins on the floppy end of the shugart connector, which is what I did. Now the disk appears as both the A and B disk. I mean this works ok, but probably there's a better solution. Somebody who could explain what I've done?
P.S. I've seen something about an Atari specific floppy detect or something that you supposedly don't get with PC floppy drives, what is this? D.S.
>>2758685
You might want to check the VDP and it's quartz crystal.
>>2758696
Try to find the internal floppy interface pinout, and make yourself a cable that will make the PC drive and the ST drive's pinout correspond. Be sure not to hook both the "Drive 0" and "Drive 1" select pin at the same time, else it'sll see the same drive as both A: and B:.
>>2758968
You can look up on this website :
http://humphreykimathi.(spotted blog).fr/2011/08/testing-integrated-circuit-ic.html
And of course, for the Quartz crystal :
http://www.electronicrepairguide.com/how-to-test-crystal.html
You must have a multimeter and/or an oscilloscope to check all of this though. If you must replace them, be sure to put a socket instead of soldering the chip (if it doesn't have one already).
Also, here's the service manual of your MSX model, just in case : http://msx.hansotten.com/uploads/msxdocs/yamahacx5myis503sm.pdf
>>2754221
Usagi Yojimbo??
Dave Haynie from the US Amiga team being interviewed by TheShadowsNose
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoTaJ4tWQ2Y
>>2759325
Thanks anon, I'll watch it tomorrow.
But now, I'm posting a few arcade game music reinterprated on a PC-8801mkIISR:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0j-xknM1Qok
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McRmEvv2WRc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vFkPccSH4k
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNrCwYjkZAk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Te2eD0mpxG4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Tz8Gv_SDa8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYxL95hLcVg
If there's any reason to keep a machine with Windows 3.11 around, it's Whiplash. If you install 95B or 98, you can even use USB racing wheels and gamepads.
Anyone know anything about getting old Reel-to-Reel mainframe type computers? Kinds like pic related?
My friend and I were having a discussion about how cool they'd look as decoration.
>>2760760
Tape drives like that are hard to find these days to begin with, especially if you want one that's not fit only for scrap, and you may have to outbid a museum to get your hands on one. They also weigh several hundred pounds and take up about as much space as a refrigerator. You'd probably be better off looking for something like an old IBM front panel such as
>http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-IBM-370-3155-Front-panel-/221922353704?hash=item33ab9a6228:g:MxAAAOSwo0JWGYxw
which is actually pretty reasonably priced, considering that it appears to be in quite good condition. You could then also wire up the blinkenlights to blinken, which would be a hell of a lot easier (and more impressive) than dealing with old motors whose power requirements are such that carelessness could easily be fatal.
>>2760783
>(and more impressive) than dealing with old motors whose power requirements are such that carelessness could easily be fatal.
idk fam, successfully hooking up something that could electrocute you sounds pretty impressive.
Either way, this is all hypothetical as of now. Wonder how hard restoration would be on a worse condition one.
>>2760760
>My friend and I were having a discussion about how cool they'd look as decoration.
>as decoration
Really sound like a huge hipster.
>>2761378
I mean, it'd be nice to have them functioning, but I doubt that would be really feasible.
But I mean, they really do look neat.
>>2761378
I thought this as well. I'd rather 1 person that wasn't me had a fully functioning mainframe/mini than 12 people including me have useless pieces of decor
>>2760760
I've used actual audio reel-to-reels to load data into computers with cassette ins. Unfortunately the reel-to-reel I was using broke (of age, not from doing that specifically) and I'm not about to use my good reel-to-reel player.
>>2761381
Well even if you want to use it, good luck with that, with almost zero knowledge about those.
Also it's not really something to be nostalgic about. Even people who used it back then, are not missing that days at all, more like they are lucky that this time is over in many ways.
>>2759325
nice, thanks! really interesting and fun to see that the amiga guys who worked on it are still "there".
>>2760760
There are a bunch of computers that just used audio reel-to-reel tape recorders (they used that DIN5 port with microphone out, headphone in, and the remote control signals motor on, motor off). They were mostly S-100-based systems, but some computers like the Amstrad CPC and the original IBM PC used these too.
>>2761562
>original IBM PC
You mean the 5150?
I've got one of those, no floppies though, so idk if it works.
I should really maybe build more of a PC collection before going for an old mainframe anyways.
>>2761593
Yes, the very first model. PC-DOS don't handle the tape port, but if I recall correctly, the BASIC interpreter in ROM do.
>>2761394
I'm at work right now, but it's a Technics RS-1700 that I use for music tapes. The one that broke I think was a pioneer but I threw it out a year ago so my memory is a bit hazy. It was a thrift store find.
>>2761608
>It was a thrift store find.
Shit, the only old electronics I ever find at thrift stores are VHS and DVD players, or old Dell PCs running Windows XP.
>>2761630
Best electronic thing I ever found at a thrift store was an old Wyse terminal. It was probably early 80's maybe even late 70's and I found it in 2012, just goes to show how durable and useful those things were and still are. I know a lot of places that still have dumb terminals like that and use them regularly.
Only bad thing was that it was white phosphor, would've preferred amber or green.
Wasn't even any burn in except for a slight image of a cursor at the top left, but that's almost impossible not to have.
>>2761593
>IBM 5150
are you, perhaps, a time traveler?
or have you been contacted by one?
>>2761703
wut? That's what this is called, right? I have one sitting in my room, got it from my great grandfather's place after he died a few years ago.
>>2761703
You got the numbers wrong fam: the John Titor machine is the IBM 5100.
>>2761703
If he was a time traveler because he owned an IBM 5150, there would be a hella bunch of time travellers in Robocop too. Could it be that he's Robocop too?
>>2760760
I go to a retro computer club in Redmond, WA. A few Microsoft employees go to it and there is at least one fully dedicated to restoring Symbolics computers and others do old machines as well. Anything mechanical from that era is a giant maintenance hurdle. You have to keep in mind these machines were supposed to have regular technicians and crap around. He mentioned tape drive type machines, don't even remember any of the steps but it is a laundry list, and you have to check it all before turning it on or else you risk destroying something.
Here's an IBM 5100, no the guy didn't know who John Titor was.
>>2762976
So help me out here guys.
I'm wanting to get into retro computers but have no idea where to start. What do you recommend I look into buying?
>>2763595
Atari computers or Commodore 64 line would be a place to start.
>>2764232
And I complain about playing on a 9 inch PVM.
Alright, I'll check out my options, hopefully they'll be reasonably priced in the UK.
>>2764237
UK has different retro computers all together. Someone from the UK brought an ACRON computer. That had some neat games. I think the UK has better game selection as well. Don't know about the costs though.
>>2764458
>I think the UK has better game selection as well.
Not really. They might had more arcadey and action games, but many of them weren't that good. US and other European devs still produced many great titles.
>>2763595
>>2764237
As you said you were living in the UK, you might try to get ahold of a ZX Spectrum, last time I lurked on Ebay UK, those could go as low as 15£.
>>2764462
Heard many great things about the Spectrum, even emulated it a few times. I'll have a look at that then, cheers.
>>2764728
It isn't the most powerful home computer of the time, it's far from it, but it seems like a nice little machine to own.
Anyway, i hope you'll find one not too expensive and have fun with it.
>>2755030
hahaha, omg
holly shit that first vid is impressive, did the X68000 have a japanese demo scene at all like the Amiga and ST did in europe?
I want to play an old pc game with a hypnotic drug feel, think vaporwave if you're familiar with the term. I have wet dreams about early 3d surrealist graphics.
>>2765356
not really demos, but it had a really healthy indie/doujin scene
from that scene came cho ren sha 68k, one of the best shmups ever made in my opinion
What genres of games do you guys play? Don't really visit these threads because it's not an era I'm particularly interested in but I'm just curious
>>2765356
The only kind of demoscene-related releases on this machine seems to be artdisks and musicdiscs, with a few actual technical demos (like this retranscription of the macross opening in textmode (I think it is a textmode) with the ultra-compressed opening song played on with the OKI ADPCM chip). Like >>2765364 said, it seems it was mostly indie games, not actual demos.
>>2766123
It all depends on the platform. On PC I mostly play Doom, Prince of Persia and Silpheed. On Amiga, I'm a huge sucker for Hybris. I don't care if people call it euroshmup shit or anything, it's a great tribute to Nitchibutsu's Terra Cresta and UFO Robot Dangar.
>>2764462
>Not really. They might had more arcadey and action games, but many of them weren't that good
UK games were too low budget and amateurish. Aside from 1-2 bigger enterprises like Ocean, most of their games were just made by some neckbeard in his den. They didn't have anybody comparable with Microprose and Sierra.
On the other hand, the cottage nature of Britain's game industry meant that devs had more freedom and could produce some very, very weird, experimental, and schizo games. Most American PC games in the 80s era were just the same stale formula of simulators, war games, and CRPGs because they didn't want to take risks.
>>2753556
My favorite game of that early era of home computers.
>>2767129
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxcFNOpnIIs
probably one of my favorite videos related to this
>>2762976
>no the guy didn't know who John Titor was
Gave me a chuckle.
>>2766123
Usually text adventures and roguelikes (real ones), occasionally a first person dungeon crawler or an early aRPG, sometimes strategy if I'm playing with someone I know or the AI is decent but not cheaty, MUDs if I can find one that's active.
A few nice looking demos :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSS08co8zvA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hjwb7YDQCkA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2QQA7nYRcM (even though 90s and later amiga demos are more impressive, I've alway prefered the 80s demo aesthetic, with all these shiny palette cycling and all)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hy2IvtAFgcQ
Also a few videos of manufacturer's demonstration programs :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eO5u8270oKI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z27a9tXlnz4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1cOI_8RnW8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWbWtgUKmU8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y887Zg4Xpvg
Is there any interest in scans of boxes/manuals for old pc shit? I just got about fifteen complete Apple games at a garage sale, including some early On-Line and Penguinsoft stuff.
Any good way to rip sprites from C64 games?
I found a sprite ripper from the early 2000s, but I guess the emulator it was made for was updated and it just shows a bunch of garbage now.
At the very least, I would like an emulator with an "increment frame" option so I can just rip them manually.
Wanting to remake a game in javascript to help me learn programming.
>>2768940
I'd like to see them.
I have a few questions.
1. I have a CoCo and a CoCo 3, but nothing to run on them except a game called "space commander" IIRC that I can't figure out for the life of me, even though I still have the manual. and Pyramid on cassette. I've tried hooking it up to my PC and playing mp3's of cassettes into it, but its never worked. Is it possible to even do this? do I need to have the volume at a certain level? whats the issue?
2. I have a floppy drive for my tandy's, and a large amount of disks with stuff on them, but no cable to connect it. ebay searches in the past have only given me way overpriced shit, on the rare occasion that I got any results at all. Is it proprietary or can I just pick up something that's new manufacture and use that (or nigrig up to work with it)?
2. Are there any computers that can be built from standard electronics parts that I could solder together myself either in [cheap] kit form, or just by looking at schematics and buying the parts myself? Bonus points if I can hook up a floppy drive or load from tapes.
I've been looking at trying to assemble an Altair 8800 from scratch, or possibly an apple 1. I dont know if the cost of parts would be more than the cost of kits, but I doubt I'd be able to rack up to the $500+ price of a kit if I did go from scratch.
I have been wanting to play this old game i remember called "depths of dejenol"
It says it will run on 32-bit XP, So i was thinking of getting some kind of old Laptop or a current laptop to play old DOS games on it, good or bad idea?
>>2769101
1. Nope. MP3s are shit for data.
2. Just buy the parts and make a cable.
3. There are tons of computers you can build from scratch. Learn to make a cable before you try.
>>2769101
>I've tried hooking it up to my PC and playing mp3's of cassettes into it, but its never worked. Is it possible to even do this?
It is, but not with mp3s because some of the data will be missing as mp3 is lossy compression. You need to use a lossless audio format.
>>2769545
>3. There are tons of computers you can build from scratch. Learn to make a cable before you try.
I'm not new to electronics, I built by own A/V switchbox for my PVM, and I've RGB/YPbPr or S-vid modded most of my systems. I was just wondering if there were any particular computers someone here would suggest starting with. As to the cable, I dont like to nigrig when I dont have to.
>>2770628
Not sure how building a cable is nigrigging unless you lack the tools, parts or skills. There are plenty of computers still running today that have 5 1/4 cables I built decades ago.
A CPU with an clock, and the right RAM+ROM will give you a computer without requiring any additional logic. Adding I/O for a screen, keyboard, and maybe something else is understandable as necessary to make it usable. A tape or floppy is just hipsterism. If you've ever designed and built any system it was probably more complex than an 8800. There's absolutely no point in spending that kind of money for something you could put together for the cost of a McMeal. Unless you want the authentic reproduction box in which case more hipsterism
>>2769101
>>2770628
Check for an S-100 computer motherboard schematics, then for the CPU, RAM, and various I/O boards (a front panel for example). That is the easiest way to build a computer from scratch.
Also, no, making your own cables isn't nigrigging when done right.
>>2770715
>wanting tape or floppy disk drives on your computer is considered hipsterism now.
Stop it right now. There's nothing wrong with wanting to have a 70s-like kit computer using those.
He didn't ask how to do floppy disk "art" bullshit did he?
>>2771106
Cunts who listen to singles on a turn table in a coffee shop aren't watching the label art spin round and round. They're using old tech for the sake of using old tech for hipster cred. Same here.
Look at the countless designs and kits that are available and you'll see that hardly anyone is using tapes or floppies as there are easier/better/faster ways to move/store data. Those that do do it for a reason, such as allowing you to use original peripherals/media with a repro design.
>>2771149
Except there are multiple kind of people using vinyl records and shit -- the guys doing it for the status who might never listen to it are the only hipsters among them, the guys who actually enjoy using these and/or maintain that kind of equipment, and those who are curious about techs he never used them before. If he really was some kind of hipster poser he'd be just buying that altair-compatible clone that's just an empty case with an emulator inside because "it's too much trouble to use a real one" or bullshit reasons.
If we follow your logic, every one must use emulators if they don't want to be labeled as hipster faggots because it's easier/faster/better to load shit on them, while most of the time it's the other way around, most of them just use emulating shit that looks like some 30yo devices. Hell, the "hipster" definition change every now and then, it doesn't even make sense anymore.
Finally, insulting people because they don't use the easiest/fastest/best solution on a thread talking about 30 years old computers is stupid.
As for kit computers that can use those, S-100 kit computers are capable of hosting a floppy/tape controllers as far as I know, they're pretty good for beginners imo as there's a large choice of boards that can be reproduced, some being simpler than others (sometimes it's just glue logic), and finally you can just reconfigure it as you wish by adding new boards and such.
Anybody else more into the idea of playing the games, reading about them, and looking at photos than actually downloading and playing them?
The history is fascinating, but getting the games set up is a pain (I'm demanding in my emulation, and doing it with real hardware is a big time investment) and often they're just a bit too primitive to enjoy on the same level as the games that came out a bit later or on consoles.
>>2770715
For someone posting in an old computer thread, you dont really seem to understand this very well.
Look, I'm not looking for something easy to play video games on. If I was, I'd just put an emulator on my Pi and call it a day.
Its funny that you mention an Altair 8800, because I've been considering trying to build one of those specifically.
I want something that will be a real time investment, so that once I'm done I can look at it and say "I built that". In fact, If it wasn't for the fact that it would take several years to finish, I'd even be willing to wire-wrap one of those mainframe things from the 40's or 50's. Plus building something that complex by hand will let me know how it works far better than snapping some radio shack arduino shit together or playing with a pre-built clone ever will.
>A tape or floppy is just hipsterism.
No, a tape or floppy is perfectly normal in this situation. I already have a shit ton of extra drives sitting around, and I know that I can hook them up and not have to worry about incompatible components or software or whatever bullshit modern devices use.
>>2763595
Amiga 500 or Atari ST
Older ones only if you're sure you can handle the 8-bitness
>>2771652
I'd rather recommend an Amiga 1200 over a 500 -- you can still make it compatible, and it'll be easier to transfer files without additional expenses.
>>2760734
>486 DX2-66 MHz or higher,
>Min 8MB memory,
>MS-DOS 5.0 or higher
Okay, now it has been added to the "game to try on my 486 PC" list.
>>2771568
Surprise. Understanding one persons fetishes isn't a requirement to post ITT.
A tape/floppy is very abnormal in this situation. People who use old systems devote a lot of time and effort to building floppy/tape replacements. Don't take my word for it, just look for yourself. If you're so desperate to use all those 3 1/2 PC floppy drives you've got laying around you might consider building a PC.
Wire wrap doesn't take a long time, again if you have the tools/parts/skills. In fact, unless you want your "I built that" masterpiece to be a short lived breadboard monstrosity it's a much faster way to go than designing, etching and drilling a PCB. I think you'll find even a kit will be a real time investment for you. If you want to save some money by downloading the plan and buying the parts best of luck. It'll turn into a even realer time investment when you have to learn how to make your own PCB. Might want to think twice about that if you can't even make a cable for your TRS-80
>>2774104
>Wire wrap doesn't take a long time... it's a much faster way to go than designing, etching and drilling a PCB
This is factually incorrect.
>If you want to save some money by downloading the plan and buying the parts best of luck.
I have most of the parts already, and those I dont, can be easily bought at a hobby electronics shop, or online.
>It'll turn into a even realer time investment when you have to learn how to make your own PCB.
You say that as if making a PCB is a long complicated process. All you have to do is mask off the traces, and then dump the board in a tub with some acid. Or hell, technically that's not even a requirement. I could just pick up some perfboard and start immediately.
>Might want to think twice about that if you can't even make a cable for your TRS-80
I've already said I know how, I just don't want to.
The more you say, the more I realize you have no idea of what you're talking about. But whatever, I've already figured out what I'm going to do, and your shitty attempts at stopping me aren't going to work.
>>2774229
You've never done wire wrap or etched/drilled a PCB and don't know how long either takes. If you even knew how to make a decent cable you'd do it. Are you trying to fool yourself or something?
I'm not trying to stop you I'm just pointing out you're being unrealistic. You're not going to wire wrap a fucking mainframe but decide not to because it would take to much time as a project you want to spend a lot of time on. You're not even going to design a simple 8 bit computer. Buy a kit, stick it in a box, and tell people you invented a computer. kek
>>2774328
>You've never done wire wrap or etched/drilled a PCB and don't know how long either takes.
I've done both of those.
>If you even knew how to make a decent cable you'd do it.
The fact that I do know how to, but won't, proves you wrong.
>I'm not trying to stop you I'm just pointing out you're being unrealistic.
its unrealistic to solder together something from a published design that hundreds if not thousands of others have successfully soldered together?
>You're not going to wire wrap a fucking mainframe ... because it would take to much time as a project you want to spend a lot of time on.
I want to spend a few weeks, maybe a few months, not a few years.
>You're not even going to design a simple 8 bit computer.
you're right, I'm not. I'm going to build something proven to work that already had lots of people publishing software and errata for 30+ years ago. That was my plan from the very beginning. I want an old 70's or early 80's kit computer, something like a TV typewriter, a mark-8, or an 8800. Something where I can collect parts as needed from a list, use pre-made designs to etch and drill a pcb (or use perfboard if I'm feeling lazy), and then read an instruction manual on how to assemble everything. Just like thousands of long-haired hippie engineers in bell bottoms did in decades past. I'm not going to head out and buy a reproduction, I'm not going to program some FPGA's, and I'm not snapping together arduinos while reading an instructables article. I'm going to do things the old way, because this is a 70's to early 90's computer gaming general thread, not a raspberry pi/arduino general on /g/.
>>2757269
>pc xt laptop clone
does such a thing exist? the notion of classic pc in a laptop has long been an alluring one.
>>2774406
>I'm not going to do anything except fantasize about things I never did and will never do
>>2774104
Not him but
>Some people who use old systems devote a lot of time and effort to building floppy/tape replacements.
Fixed that for you. If you've been here for more than 3 months, you should have noticed that many people still care for, use and maintain floppy drives or even tape drives, it's part of the hobby. Hell, just read the first half of the thread, there was this Australian anon who wanted to know if he could hook up a modern 3"1/2 drive to his Yamaha floppy controller. There's no problem if you're into floppy drive emulators or other kind of storage you could hook to old computers, but don't criticize people for wanting to use floppy drives on a thread about 30 years old computers, that's stupid.
>>2774530
Ok I see, you're here for shitposting. I guess you'd better go there >>>/g/
>>2774424
Yes, these late 80s laptops usually have PC-XT-like specifications (CMOS version of a 8088 or 8086 CPU, 512 àr 640 kB of RAM, CGA-compatible chipset...).
>>2774754
I didn't criticize anyone for wanting to use floppies. I said it's just hipsterism to want to build a system from scratch that uses them. Are you are a hipsteracist? Are you prejudiced against folk of the hipster persuasion? You say it like it's a bad thing. I just said it like the fact it is.
The posts about the Yamaha are a totally different thing. Replacing a broken drive that's no longer produced with a modern one so you can continue to use your existing media with your existing system is a technically and logically sound solution. Not sure if you didn't understand what that was about or are just trying to use twist it to support your sick twisted hatred of hipsters.
>>2774832
>You say it like it's a bad thing. I just said it like the fact it is.
I don't really think it is, though (but what the fuck does that term even mean on the itnernet anymore?) I personally prefer to use floppies or tape when possible because I go for museum-quality when it comes to my systems, meaning all original parts and functionality as the manufacturer intended. Not really trying to look cool or deep or anything, I just enjoy it.
>>2774936
All original parts is all original parts. That's just someone who appreciates a machine as it was originally made and wants to keep it that way. I have plenty of virgin stuff and nearly everything I've modded can be restored to the original condition without so much as a soldering iron.
A new device that runs off old media? That's a different story. Even most of the kids on /vr/ understand it's nothing but hipsterism. Note the countless retron shitfests.
There are lots of people who restore classic cars from the 1950's through 80's. They sometimes have to build their own parts, because they're no longer made. It's a hobby with a big time and money cost.
So now it's the same with computers from 1970's and 80's. Things changed a lot more quickly in computer world, and some things are hard to find. Maybe you have to build you own parts sometimes.
I don't have a lot of money though, or much space. So for me, going all-out isn't practical. But at the same time, I don't get much satisfaction from emulation, especially since I'm also into the programming aspects and coding for an emulator feels pretty lame. So probably I will buy old 8-bit machine and floppy emulator, or emulate tape drive via WAV file played on my laptop (with audio cable going to the 8-bit machine). For me it's the machine itself that's important, whereas the media is a means to the end (just a way to get software onto the machine).
There isn't just one way to do this retro computer stuff. However far you want to go, however much money and time you have to spend, that's the only limiting factor. You can even learn electronics and build your own system, designed from scratch, if you have enough time and enthusiasm.
But fear of failure can hold you back. As can calling people "hipster" because they tried and you didn't. Instead of negative fear-based action, just learn and try.
>>2774104
>Wire wrap doesn't take a long time, again if you have the tools/parts/skills. In fact, unless you want your "I built that" masterpiece to be a short lived breadboard monstrosity it's a much faster way to go than designing, etching and drilling a PCB.
What an incredibly ignorant statement. You need to design your circuit layout either way, and it takes minutes to design something like a I/O controller PCB in Eagle. Then you can literally print the circuit out on adhesive paper to mask a board for dunking in etching solution. Drilling certainly takes less time than setting up wrapping posts as well. And that's not touching on signal integrity or oxidation longevity issues.
>>2775131
>incredibly ignorant
Pretty much sums up your post. Wire wrap is faster and more reliable. If you'd ever done it you'd know
>oxidation longevity issues
top kek kid
>>2775558
If wire wrap is faster and more reliable, then why isn't it used more often than bread or perfboard for prototypes and hobbyist projects?
>>2775006
>A new device that runs off old media?
Didn't he mentionned that he was considering trying to build an Altair 8800?
Also, building a floppy or tape drive controller from scratch is somewhat interesting instead of just hooking a microcontroller so that his kit computer can use newer shit.
>>2775665
Because a breadboard is faster and a perfboard doesn't require a tool most hobbyists don't have.
>>2775780
A Drill?
A Microwave?
A Printer?
What is this mysterious tool that no one owns?
>>2776238
It's called a wire wrap tool son. I guess I should have mentioned that most people don't know it ever existed let alone owned one.
Here are a few video showing the MIDI PAC -- an MSX Music-compatible cartridge that allow MSX tunes to be played through a General MIDI compatible expander:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3GOj-tEfDc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFOoZO8d0M0
>>2775006
>Note the countless retron shitfests.
Except that the biggest reason why the retron is hated here is because it's an android emulation box that comes with outdated emulators that can't run many games properly, can't use flashcarts, apply some shitty bilinear filters by default on top of badly scalling the picture, and is sold for like 150~160 bucks. I've never seen the "it uses real cartridges" used as a downside for this shit, only "it can't use flashcarts and carts with a special chip".
Anyway, we're not here to talk about that retron shit nor to criticize this other anon's choice of kit computer he wanna build. We don't give a shit if you think that it's hipsterism or not to use a floppy drive on a kit computer built in 2015. If he's trying to use it for other reasons than status or attention whoring it's not hipsterism.
>>2777089
>I've never seen
You've led a very sheltered life.
I guess only the anon who wants to use a floppy knows the reason he wants to use a floppy. If you don't give a shit what I think that is why do you even respond?
>>2777754
>You've led a very sheltered life.
Or maybe I don't usually hang around threads that are meant for shitposting only? Nevertheless, if someone who don't hang on these threads know all the arguments I quoted on my previous post, then that means those are the most popular arguments and yours is only shared by a few individuals.
>If you don't give a shit what I think that is why do you even respond?
Because when you start comparing the reason why wanting floppy drives on a kit computers is hipsterism to a reason why you think /vr/ think that retron shit is hipsterism that no one ever heard about, it just looks like your arguments are wrong as well as blatant misinformation.
Anyway, to put the thread back on tracks, here's a video of the world premiere of the Amiga:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2ffdnPLutY [Embed]
I just don't know why they though it would be a good idea to show the IBM PC emulator even though it turns the Amiga into the slowest PC compatible to ever exist. Maybe Commodore just wanted to show some PC-compatibility but didn't complete the PC-compatibility caddie in time, but still, it's no good to show a computer that do PC stuff slower than actual PCs because of the use of an emulator.
>>2778107
So you don't read the threads but know what everyone is really thinking? I'm sure there's a psychological term for someone like that. Seriously, just spend a few minutes to check out the archives and educate yourself before you spout any more silliness on the subject.
Questioning a hobbyists reasoning for wanting to do something weird and obscure for the sake of it really just goes to show that you don't understand why people have hobbies. What's the point of any of this? Why don't we all just play on our xboxes and call it a day? The interest for the vast majority of people in these threads (spoken as someone who was in the first one) is in the computers themselves not the games
>>2778212
>So you don't read the threads
>I don't usually
Nice reading comprehention you have there m8. And no sorry, if those retron threads are still the same as they were 2 years ago I don't wanna waste my time for that.
>>2760734
I played that game. Blew my mind.
>>2778527
Yeah, this game look really neat, though I guess it can be pretty jerky on a 486DX2 with the bare minimum configuration.
>>2778506
>reading comprehention
If you don't usually read the threads you don't know much about what's in them do you, m8? If you have to resort to comebacks a 12 year old would use you know you're on shaky ground.
>>2779196
>If you have to resort to comebacks a 12 year old would use you know you're on shaky ground.
Whatever makes you feel better dude. Doesn't change the fact that the shit you're claiming to be the main argument used by /vr/ against the retron is far from actually being the main one, nor does it change the fact that even though I usually don't hang around these threads, I've already checked around these thread to see what's going on in them a few times.
>If you don't usually read the threads you don't know much about what's in them do you, m8?
...unless the people biting for the bait are alway repeating the same arguments over and over. Everytime I've been lurking on a retron thread (like 4~5 times or something), the arguments I quoted were the ones that were posted. Every single time.
Anyway, been nice and all biting at yours, but I guess it's time to post more on-topic stuff:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBpdvYkGtzs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9r5CRxXul0
It's pretty interesting to see how you can make a beeper sound that great by abusing the physical limitations of it's membrane.
Even though the PC-8801mkIISR version of this game musics are really enjoyable, the Sharp X1 does sound pretty great with some tunes being better than the former version:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIeW-pbt_58
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NyZKYbCGLiQ (one of the tunes on PC-8801mkIISR for comparison)
>>2759325
This retrospective crap is basically all the Amiga scene ever talks about anymore. Almost nobody is making games or demos, except some crap in "game-maker" style programs, and they even want to sell that as a product for other Amiga users to buy. What a fucking joke.
The only thnig I remember about computer gaming in the 90's was no mouse support, being left-handed with keyboards always set up for right-handed people, and being frustrated because of it.
>>2780553
>Almost nobody is making ... demos
Except that's pretty much wrong, the Amiga demoscene is still one of the most active scene, just look at pouet.net, there's like 9 prods for OCS/ECS Amigas that were made last month, 6 in september, 18 in august, and so on. I can agree with you when it comes to games, the rare new productions are mostly AMOS shit, but you can't really blame the Amiga demoscene for being inactive when really it isn't.
>>2780558
Mouse support on computers have been around since the mid 80s. You must have been really unlucky not to have one in the early/mid 90s.
>>2753556
That song in the OP is really cool, has the full album been uploaded anywhere? He says "Digital copies of this LP are available for purchase, contact me for more info." Which is scummy because I really don't think he had anything to do with making it and it's unlikely he ever officially bought rights to an independent pressing, but never the less I sent to him a few weeks ago intending to immediately put it on Archive.org but nothing, I think his channels completely dead. Such a shame
I've only got to see and fuck around with one Amiga in my entire life.
I got it for $20 off some lady I worked with a long time ago. It came with a couple games.
Lemmings, some sort of dungeon crawler/rpg thing, and a large box of graph paper with a bunch of map shit drawn all over it.
Turns out the graph paper was actually from that rpg, where someone had mapped out a shit ton of levels and shit, and beneath all that was this little paper disk with all these little runes over it, like a decoder or something?
I guess there were runes/locks or some shit in the game and you had to use the little wheel to decode it?
Also I thought it was fucking bizzare that the computer was 'in' the keyboard part, and it had a/v jacks that I could plug up into the tv to play it
Good shit. I forget what happened to it, but I wish I still had it around.
>>2781521
That game was probably one of the AD&D "Gold Box" series by SSI. They were (in)famous for using code wheels to lookup answer to copyright protection quiz.
>>2781521
>some sort of dungeon crawler/rpg thing, and a large box of graph paper with a bunch of map shit drawn all over it.
>Turns out the graph paper was actually from that rpg, where someone had mapped out a shit ton of levels and shit
Man that's some pretty cool addition, even though for some people the exploration is part of the fun.
Rise of the Triad sure sound great when you have a Roland SC-88pro hooked to your PC:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FA0pPKzSeBQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAOp0-rlRk0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtaCAZ5ndNs
Any SGIfags here?
I dug my Indy out of the garage hoping to actually do something with it, but all the fucking drives I've tried are hosed and I'm seriously pissed off.
My only option left is this 1 GB Quantum drive I salvaged out of a destitute AlphaServer in my shed, would this even be enough space for a really usable installation?
I'm looking for a copy of Mindplay's Bake & Taste so I can play it in an Apple II emulator... If someone has could hook that up I'd be very grateful as I haven't seen it since grade school.
A while back an anon posted these old training videos that basically detailed the assembly of PC, XT, and AT boxes, I've been looking through the archives but I'm not finding much.
I started actually building PCs really late, like mid 2000's so I'm trying to just get an understanding of how the older standards worked. I've read the 3rd Edition of URPCs almost cover to cover but I'd still like to see it gone over again. Wish I would've saved those videos I know I saw them here.
Also on a side note, will flashing a cheap GOTEK floppy emulator with HxC firmware give it SD/DD compatibility? I read that it only supports IBM HD floppies, but I see people with their expensive HxC's on every computer under the sun.
As an aside to that aside, is there anyway to emulate a USB storage device? Like have a cable coming from a hub to the floppy emulator and then it could read the emulated storage device and get the floppies straight from there. I've seen some of the higher end FD emulators have ethernet ports, I'm not sure what that's about, I assume something along the lines of what I'm thinking about doing with USB
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Sanyo-VM-4209-Rare-Vintage-Monitor-Perfect-for-Apple-1-and-Apple-II-Computers-/181923984996?hash=item2a5b83b664:g:wV8AAOSw5ZBWPB5I
It's not even the same exact one from the promotional shit
This is literally worth fuck all
I'm pretty sure it's white/blue phosphor and not even green let alone amber, so it's double trash
I really hope no one buys this. But then again, the only person who would is some stupid Apple fanatic who only wants it because it'll look cool in a display case in the office of their hip new sillicon valley start-up so maybe they deserve it.
I really hate having to pay the Apple tax because dumb fucks don't even price check before they waste all their money on something they'll never use, driving up the price
>>2783231
What's the maximum price you'd consider reasonable for an SGI station?
As for will it be usable, I guess that the OS coming on a CD-ROM, it might be using at most 500MB, so yeah, it'll be usable, but having a 4GB drive will allow you to have a more comfortable use though (especially if you want to do video and shit with it)
>>2783357
Yeah, it's a black & white security monitor, they wouldn't play around by using green or amber phosphor for this kind of application. I personally have nothing against b&w monitors (I kinda like the Atari ST and other High-resolution ones) but that price is fucking hilarous. And the funniest thing is that among the related auctions, there's a bigger monitor of the same family for a price 20 times lower.
A few nice OPM tunes from Sharp x68000 games:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nV3HJ1JtTKE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0G9ApmiKCI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DN3xoHhYEFE
>>2783536
I tried it out after I posted it, I was hesitant because I didn't want to gut the AlphaServer but I think it's totally fucked up anyway (diagnostic LEDs are displaying a machine check exception on boot) so I went ahead and attempted to install IRIX 6.2 and got bus errors out the ass. Oh well.
You can get SGI systems reasonably cheap on Ebay, there's a couple Indys listed right now for under $150 + shipping, O2s at around $200. I was thinking of snagging one of the latter down the road, working with super old UNIX gear gives me an extreme headache (and slight to severe feelings of inadequacy)
>>2785354
>got bus errors out the ass
Well, did you check if the bus was well terminated? Sometimes we all forget that kind of stuff.
>You can get SGI systems reasonably cheap on Ebay, there's a couple Indys listed right now for under $150 + shipping, O2s at around $200. I was thinking of snagging one of the latter down the road, working with super old UNIX gear gives me an extreme headache (and slight to severe feelings of inadequacy)
So, 150 bucks for an indy isn't a bad price? Okay, thanks for the informations.
>>2786347
>Well, did you check if the bus was well terminated? Sometimes we all forget that kind of stuff.
Yeah, I'm gonna try replacing the cable later with something else and then swap the old cable back in after I've completed an install. It also could be CD-ROM drive incompatibility, apparently SGIs like Plextors the most and I'm using some IBM drive of unknown manufacture since the system won't even recognize my caddy-load 12x Plextor drive.
>So, 150 bucks for an indy isn't a bad price?
Personally, for a good working, reasonably-specced system that can at least run IRIX 6.2, I'd be fine with paying that if I could spare the money. I would recommend looking for something like a 200 MHz R4400SC or any R5000SC with XL24 graphics.
There's also what looks like an R8K Indigo2 with good plastics up for $160 with free shipping right now if you're in the US.
>>2786536
Understood. Thanks for the complementary informations, I'll be sure to remmember them when I'll be looking for one of these.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oy-kE0dq1cE
>>2769349
help
>>2769349
>It says it will run on 32-bit XP, So i was thinking of getting some kind of old Laptop or a current laptop to play old DOS games on it, good or bad idea?
Bad idea -- both playing old DOS games on XP and using a laptop to play DOS games. You're better off using DOS Box.
>>2788737
Why shitpost?
>>2788978
Why you mad someone corrected your ignorant post?
>>2789041
I'm not even him your post just struck me as off color and unnecessary
>>2788737
>Bad idea -- you posting
>>2789041
>Why you mad someone corrected your ignorant post?
>corrected
Nice Shitposting m8.
Windows XP isn't Windows 95 or 98. To make most DOS games work properly you have to tweak various memory configurations for each of them, install additional emulation softwares and other shit like that. If you wanna install emulation software to make a game somewhat run on XP, just install DOSBox it'll be faster and run better.
Yes, SOME games will run on Windows XP correctly, but the majority of them simply wont.
Anyway, Windows XP is outside of the scope of this thread like >>2787717 precised, I shouldn't have answered to that question to begin with.
>>2789145
Nice rebuttal senpai.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5NwzCb7_ks
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uk5nJfYZkyc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h83e7eBrdaQ I just love how gorgeous these OPM+ADPCM+MT-32 musics sound.
>>2789161
Didn't see the point in rebutting an argument that's off topic and as well as being ignorant and childish.
>>2790235
Nothing childish in what I said buddy. There's a reason why they strarted to develop DOSBox in the XP era. The only childish thing in the last few poss of this thread is the way you react.
Anyway, been nice biting at your bait and all, but now it's time to actually contribute to this thread, unlike you.
Here's a little Deluxe Paint IV video guide :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJSZTJliLwM
It's a pretty interesting watch, even though the first things they explain about the software are pretty obvious if you've already used a paint program.
There also this video for more techniques DPIV :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KybIkyilCQI
>>2790235
Everything you've said is childish. I'd just ignore it if you weren't handing out such bad advice.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=al4E0CUrlFk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_up7p6de5co
I kind of like the vibe this OS gives, it kinda looks like AmigaOS 2.x/3.x mixed with Windows 3.1.
>>2753556
Just saw on the pastebin that the Commodore monitors informations link lacked the ,html at the end, making it lead to a 404 error message even though the page does exist.
Also, there's this link to the MSX Fan scan archive that has been posted a few threads ago, I think it has it's place on the pastebin :
https://www.mediafire.com/?b7d0kdv3k71m6#j6zj55mmoqjvj
I really liked Car&Driver, Test Drive 3
/vr/ please reccomend me some awesome atmoshperic ricing games with long relaxing gameplay and nice scenery
>>2790235
>respond to completely impartial advice with in depth justification with shitposting
>He's the one who's childish
http://4ch.mooo<dot>com/4/xtssd/ i did this~
>>2792824
You can give Crazy Cars 3 (also known as Lamborghini American Challenge in the US) a chance:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fqHJpwbzm8
The first episode was the poor man's Outrun, but the third seems to have some pretty enjoyable backgrounds.
There's also Street Rod II :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGj_tRSPHhU
>>2793276
Ignore him, he's just here to shitpost.
>>2793426
I am not much into flat outrun style of scenery
Here some Car&Driver awesome 3d
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcSIBXA8nc4&t=181
How come Apogee and Epic platformers always felt so jank compared to their japanese counterparts and even some european stuff? Why couldn't they just learn from them?
What are your favorite Korean PC games?
>>2793784
Fox Ranger is a fun game, but the difficulty is all over the place. First stage is piece of cake, then next stage is really hard all of a sudden.
Anyway I was surprised to find a game of this quality on shareware DOS FTP site, around 1995...
>>2793540
Street Rod II's scenery isn't really flat, but it's true that it isn't like Car & Driver though. Have you tried the other Test Drive episodes?
>>2793729
Yeah it's really weird, especially considering Thexder came out in 1988 for DOS and it still played way better than Duke Nukem II for example.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sw6VUiFZypk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VH2Bsa_Unfo
Man, this game's soundtrack sound real nice on a Roland MT-32.
Too bad Sierra's sound team really screwed the Yamaha FB-01/IBM music feature card support, shit sound worse than on adlib while it had the ability to sound really good.
Here are 2 videos demonstrating the IBM music feature card, the first one being the demo program, the other a music playback software:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egLxYtHuiFk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylHCinXALGo
TI-99 4A with 20 carts for 55 bucks, good deal? I'm not abreast with retro computers but I'd be happy to have a gateway. I'm also a fan of late 70s/early 80s games which I'm sure are the brunt of the titles released.
>>2799932
Yes, get it.
>>2799932
Without counting the computer, 20 carts for 55 bucks mean that that's 2.75 bucks the cart, so yeah, it's a really good price, and if you're thinking about getting into old computers, this is a nice start.
Did the seller give a list of which softwares he own on these carts?
>>2799932
That's basically 20 carts for 30 because an actual TI99 isn't worth that much, 15-20 for a silver one 20-25 for a white one is about standard fare. That's a pretty good deal especially if they're all real games and not "Learn Algebra" because 20 games is a good portion of the entire library. It's possible that includes almost every title worth playing outside of homebrew ones.
It's the accessories that are impossible to find, the vintage ones sell for hundreds and the modern ones almost as much because there's like 3 people on the face of the earth interested in buying a flash cart for a TI/99. It's a shame too. I spent more than I'm willing to say on my CF reader and PEB and I don't hold any hope I'll be able to find anything other than the acoustic coupler in white (which is what mine is). I would give my left ring finger for one of the monitors.
>>2800675
Wow, never realized that you needed a table that long to put a fully upgraded TI-99/4A without your setup breaking in half.
At least they corrected this mistake by releasing an expansion case with multiple slots.
>>2799997
>>2800054
System, two controllers, and 20 softwares:
Addition and Subtraction 2
Alpiner
A-maze-ing
Beginning Grammar
Blasto
Car Wars
Chisholm Trail
Early Learning Fun
Facemaker
Football
Jawbreaker II
Jungle Hunt
Moon Mine
Munch Man
Number Magic
Othello
Parsec
Shamus
TI Invaders
Yahtzee
Seems like a pretty thorough collection, from my research I've done on the system.
Driving up tomorrow night to pick it up, hope it's worth the 2 hour trip.
>>2801936
As a positive, you could probably put other hardware on top of the train, or if you're not comfortable with that then you could use it as a big diorama stand for action figures or something.
>>2802559
Yeah, that's a really nice game collection. Have fun with all these games anon.
>>2802559
>Addition and Subtraction 2
This Time it's Personal
>>2800675
Back when you had to get up and walk across the room to put in a floppy
I'm looking for a good MIDI card for my 386 machine, anyone have any recommendations? I also need a floppy controller but there's not much that can go wrong with one of them, but if there's one you think is exceptional I'll look into it
>>2805354
Are you willing to use external MIDI devices, or do you want to use a soundcard's internal synth as a MIDI device?
For the former, any card that is known to be MPU-401 compatible will do, and even though many don't support the intelligent mode, there's a TSR called SoftMPU that will solve the issue (it's a 386 PC, so I think there shouldn't be any problem). The Soundblaster 16 seems to be pretty widespread (this is the one I use on my 486 PC) and have an MPU-401 compatible UART, but will need SoftMPU for some games.
For the latter, I'd suggest you to check the Gravis Ultrasound card range or the Soundblaster AWE32/64. Roland and Yamaha made MIDI synth cards and daughterboards, but those are pretty expensive.
Anyway, before purchasing anything, when you find a model that appear to be interesting, I'd suggest you to alway check the specifications, good points and issues of this card.
>>2805354
Roland LAPC-I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNbXTKuObCQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3n4nOiURgzg
>>2805994
Not him but that reminds me, is there a way to emulate the Roland LAPC-1 or similar on Linux and use that as the general MIDI driver? Currently on Slackware and have no MIDI device at all, but DOSBox needs one for MIDI (obviously).
>>2806272
there is MUNT which emulates the Roland MT-32 but I have no idea if it works with GNU+Linux
>>2806292
Ah thank you, I might play around with it in WINE but as it stands I just now got my current MIDI driver to work with DOSBox to emulate SB16, which isn't bad.
This thread always being on page 5 does wonders for quality of posts here, because retard /v/ migrants like this >>2805735 don't even realize we exist, and when they do wander in here their posts are pruned with-in hours.
>>2806709
That thread causes me physical pain
A page about hardware projects for the Commodore 64:
http://www.baltissen.org/newhtm/hardware.htm
why are there billions of famiclones but ive never seen a commodore clone. id figure the most popular computer of all time wouldve been pirated and cloned to high hell
This pacman clone looks amazing. It's supposed to run on IBM compatibles all the way down to an 8088 with 128K of RAM and it makes use of text to be able to render 16 unique colors at once through CGA.
http://deathshadow.com/pakuPaku
>>2808635
Nice. Thanks for posting anon. It looks like it uses the 160*100 video mode.
Anyway, I'll download it right away.
>>2808564
probably too complex for pirates to care about selling.
>>2808887
It's a little different from regular pacman the document that comes with it mentions some of the quirks but I see at least two other ones. I don't really know why but the ghost house prevents the ghosts in it from being frightened by power pellets so even after you take a power pellet you can be attacked by ghosts coming out of there. I don't know if that is intentional or an oversight. Also the last ghost seems to take a very long time to leave the house.
Hey all, >>2804238 here.
I've been checking out the hardware and I've noticed that whenever I try to run a command module, it will get to various points (maybe a title screen or maybe nothing) and the screen will go light blue and nothing will happen. Sometimes even Quit won't get out and I just have to turn off the machine to get back to the start screen.
Is there a probable cause here? Maybe cart connection problems?
Here's a 1983 Canadian computer show with all sorts of classics (Commodore PET, Atari, Apple 2...), and great early 80's atmosphere:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWcuh8QLlBc
>>2808564
lots of custom ICs
>>2809490
Yeah probably that. The famicom only had like two real custom chips the CPU and PPU. The rest of the unit was generic parts that could be sourced from anywhere. The CPU design itself wasn't even that unusual, it was a common 6502 core but there was an audio processor on the die. But even if the audio wasn't replicated perfectly the game could still be playable as long as the PPU was good enough so a lot of famiclones were just half-assed APUs with a pretty decent PPU and people really didn't care.
>>2809359
Oh shit, that's the lady from Royal Canadian Air Farce
>>2809316
Maybe. have you tried cleaning the carts with alcohol and/or replacing the pins on the cartridge port?
>>2802559
>Parsec
>A-maze-ing
>Munch Man
>TI Invaders
Mah nigga, these games were my childhood favorites. Sadly, I don't have my TI99 anymore, due to it breaking. I'll probably buy one later. If you can find Burgertime, then pick that up as well.
Is there anywhere I can find better documentation on DOSBox other than the wiki? Their instructions and explanations seem to consist of "run this windows only preconfigured installer"
>>2810256
DOSBox doesn't get nearly the flack it deserves. I would use DOSEMU if you're just casually interested (that's not a bad thing if you are, just don't be like pic related), but if you have a serious interest in running DOS games in the most effective possible way I would just get a virtual machine running FreeDOS or MS-DOS
Of course, you could also get real metal, which would work better. No emulator/hypervisor can ever compare to top of the line hardware of the time, and if you look around you can get a good start on one for 30-50 dollars, just don't buy from those idiots on eBay that charge 400 dollars for a shitty Chinese 486 machine
>>2810256
And now you've stumbled across (one of) the reason/s the current developers should all be shot and hung from the highest tree...
>>2810313
>DOSBox doesn't get nearly the flack it deserves.
What has it been...Like...6 years since the assholes made a goddamn release? All that time the same shitty answer "B-but muh Dev. branch! Muh compiling-from-source!".
Asswipes.
Missed out on an Amiga in the 1990's because they are too expensive.
Missing out on an Amiga in the 2010's because they are too expensive.
>>2811497
Where do you live to have expensive amigas? After a quick search on local prices I found some for a price as low as 30 bucks.
Any MT-32 owner here?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5NwzCb7_ks
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFF7LgUE8d4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sJQUTLPSH8
Got one a few years ago, and I just love this piece of hardware.
>>2810313
This, it's actually really cheap to buy the parts, you can buy all top of the line parts to make any generation of IBM PC for less than 50 because people selling parts know what they're worth (usually), and so don't think their #vintage P4 shitbox is worth 200 because it's "RaRE R3TR0 L@@K" I really fucking hate eBay, but sites like Amibay are full of actual scamming reseller scum who know good and fucking well what they're doing, which is even worse
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1EqSnld-Lw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jepMLq9wWx4
>>2808564
Well, when you consider that almost each homecomputer at that time was more or less similar you have your clones.. everyone copied from the other one.
But from legit companies. The only thing they had to do was licensing BASIC(when they used it)..
Amigas are so rare where i live i doubt they exist here.
>>2816182
>The MT-32 has only been used in nip games
I think Sierra might have something to say about that.
Also, this is a thread about old computers no matter where they come from, we already discussed about nip computers before without needing to be redirected to the nip computer general.
>>2816175
>Well, when you consider that almost each homecomputer at that time was more or less similar you have your clones.. everyone copied from the other one.
Most of the time they only shared a CPU with a bunch of other machines, but had totally different chipsets, memory maps, and overall architecture though.
>>2811510
I don't know about him, but only one Amiga in my entire region, and it's not even a "real" one, just a CD32 they want a lot of money for.
http://www.leboncoin.fr/annonces/offres/centre/?f=a&th=1&q=amiga
But I disagree about them being expensive in the 90's. They were better value than PC back then, at least in the early part of that decade (and after that nobody cared about them much).
>>2817039
>nip
It's not /b/ or /pol/ here.
>>2817063
True. It's /r9k/
>>2817052
To be fair, I usually look for Amigas in all regions when I want to know the average price, because most of the time I see them sold alone and can be shipped for 10~15€ (if you choose between Mondial Relay and Colissimo). But it's true that in some regions there's a lack of Amigas available compared to others.
These All-in-monitor computer design are kind of enjoyable imo.
Apart from the classic Machintosh, Apple Lisa and some Compaq PC compatible (and of course pic related), are there any other computers of the time that used this kind of form factor?
>>2810256
Use PCem, it's fantastic
I use to program really simple text games with this
>>2818059
so damn sexy
>>2818059
Packard Bell had some of those:
http://pbclub.pwcsite.com/wiki/index.php?title=All_in_One
I also really liked the Packard Bell Navigator which was preinstalled. Also the bundled software in general were quite nice.
>>2819321
This machine is pretty cute, and Packard Bell Navigator interface looks comfy as fuck:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-h9fUBKlrZ4
>>2819319
Yeah, the Fujitsu FM Towns computer line does have really well designed cases. I love the original one with the vertical CD drive as well as these desktop ones that look like a big VHS/CD/LD/whatever deck.
>>2819316
According to many sources, the Locomotive BASIC was pretty good at letting the user take advantage of the various graphic and sound capabilities of the machine (even though it's still BASIC, it's not gonna be fast at all on a Z80 machine).
I'd say too bad they used 3" floppies instead of 5"1/4 ones as the standard external (and internal for latter models) drive, it could have been really useful for CP/M 2.0/Plus softwares and overall storage. If I recall correctly, it's possible to hook a standard 5"1/4 drive that has a standard Shugart interface though.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlrfp2oMPJM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2w79mLxosqw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVcrCAgc8tQ
>>2819321
This is a guy who's dad used to work for Packard Hell.
>>2809359
In fact if this is from 1983, the PET had already been discontinued a year earlier. Also when she mentions plugging the Apple's paddles "straight into the circuit board", this of course indicates it's an Apple II+, not a IIe which may not have been out yet when the video was made.
>>2821490
Nope, not at all. Packard Bell only sold computers at my country so not even closely possible. Also i loved my IBM and later Fujitsu Computers more at that time. Still i even installed all that extra software on my PC.
>>2821503
The PET might have been discontinued, but it's follow-up, the CBM-II line was still in production though. Too bad they didn't add the 8088 board by default so these machine could run MS-DOS 1.25 from the start.
>>2822471
The CBM-II failed for a lot of reasons, but inevitably IBM compatibles would have smothered it.
>>2822768
In the US maybe, but in Europe (mainly Germany and France) it still had a chance, look at the Amstrad PCW -- a CP/M-based word processing machine that still sold until 1998 (ok, the last really popular models were the ones sold until 1993, but the later ones still sold to some extend).
With the right pricing and marketing, the CBM-II could have taken the place of the Amstrad PCW and could have been even more popular due to it's use of 5"1/4 floppies instead of those 3" floppies the PCW used.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuxGlnbllmI
>>2753578
>ass text
>>2824550
If he get an Amiga 600 he might have issues with some flight/combat sims and games that needs the numeric keypad though.
>>2824460
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LT2rUn7Faq0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEYnZfkr-cQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2g0Fo4PdeE
What's the best/most modern graphics card I could use in a system where PCI is the best slot I have?
>>2759075
the crystal oscillators on the board are 3.579545 Mhz (which seems to be easy to find), 4.433619 Mhz (which is findable), and 10.68750 Mhz (which I can find no mention of at all). What do I do?
>>2826370
The 3.579545 MHz one is definitely for the CPU, while the 4.433619 MHz one seems to be for composite video encoding. I dunno what the 10MHz one might be for though. Where is it located on the board? Is it close to video stuff? Did you test which one worked?
As for where to find one, you can find one here:
http://www.digikey.com.au/product-search/en?vendor=0&keywords=FXO-HC536-10.68
But it's a surface-mounted one that doesn't even seems to have the same specs as the one you'd expect to find in an MSX computer.
Anyway, do you know if the computer actually work? Like, it does emit sounds and stuff?
When I bough my Amiga 500, the seller gave me, among a bunch of softwares, f/a-18 Interceptor floppies, but he didn't give me the passcode wheel that would allow me to play the game.
Is there a way to print it nowadays?
>>2827083
>>>2826370
>The 3.579545 MHz one is definitely for the CPU, while the 4.433619 MHz one seems to be for composite video encoding. I dunno what the 10MHz one might be for though. Where is it located on the board? Is it close to video stuff? Did you test which one worked?
>As for where to find one, you can find one here:
>http://www.digikey.com.au/product-search/en?vendor=0&keywords=FXO-HC536-10.68
>But it's a surface-mounted one that doesn't even seems to have the same specs as the one you'd expect to find in an MSX computer.
>Anyway, do you know if the computer actually work? Like, it does emit sounds and stuff?
It lights up but there is no sound or picture either through composite or rf. The 4.433619 MHz and the 10MHz one are both on the clock card which seems to have all the av stuff on it.
I can't test then as I don't have the right equipment.
>>2828068
Should clarify. I have taken it apart. There's no corrosion/ busted caps or anything visible
looking for a dos game, it's a strategy game where you can choose your character, and you can use magic to build troops and stuff, summon skeletons, and then when you go into battle it goes from top down to a closer top down view when you fight
>>2828068
Is there a way for you to test the RGB output? Most MSX computers have one.
>>2828112
Sounds like masters of magic
>>2828114
just rf and composite unfortunately
>>2828131
Yep that's it, thanks
>>2828068
>there is no sound
That's pretty problematic, an MSX computer normally beep once while booting. Did you try to check the service manual of the computer, to see if there's a servicing flow chart or something?
>>2828672
No 'if this then this' troubleshooting if that's what you mean
>>2759075 this guy posted the service manual. I actually have it in hard copy.
I opened it up again today. I noticed when you turn it on it makes no sound except for the tv making an budump sound when the power switch was flicked on. I noticed inside that the video chip (TMS9918) is socketed and looks really ratty. I'm guessing this has been replaced at some point by the previous owner. Beyond that I have no idea.
>>2829979
According to the service manual, the 10MHz quartz is the VDC's clock, while the 4MHz one is used for composite modulation. Also, it looks like the CPU and the SSG share the same clock.
Anyway, if there's no beeping, that means that it's not the VDC that is at fault, check out every component on the clock board, and both the MMC (YM-5214) and the CPU. If possible, try to check if there's activity on the bus with a voltmeter via one of the cartridge port. (though you should check for the clock board first, it might be the main cause of troubles).
