*New* Helpful Links : 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 if you want, but it's discouraged) 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)
Allowed only with reluctance : Late 90s games and computers, Pentium PCs or more, PPC Macs and up, Windows 95 and later
Not allowed : Anything released after January 1, 2000. Fuck off.
IRC Channel : #/g/retro @ irc.rizon.net
Random music:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFgXGw_kXpc
Random gameplay:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5R1iUKXg4Pc
Whoops, I forgot the subject header.
1970s to early 90s Computer General Thread
I'm kinda interested in MSX emulation, but don't know where to start... for games. Is this a "must have" list of games that are English. My understanding is pretty much all of the MSX games and Japan region.
>>3072301
that pc, had 2 cpus in it, so it could emulate arcade games, that is cool to me
>>3072638
It's not a PC, it didn't have 2 CPU either, and games were ported on it not emulated.
>>3072301
>Allowed only with reluctance : Late 90s games and computers, Pentium PCs or more, PPC Macs and up, Windows 95 and later
What? Those weren't allowed, why did you modify that rule?
>>3072875
Don't the global rules say anything up to 2000-ish is allowed?
>>3072957
Too diluted. Also Win9x era gaming is its own thing that is large enough to warrant its own thread.
>>3072867
but it *is* a pc. it's a Personal Computer. you're right in every other regard.
>>3072957
These threads were meant to be for stuff up to 1995 only. We kinda tolerated pre-1995 pentium hardware (before it got widespread), but the rest was no go.
Late 90s stuff is usually already discussed everywhere on this board, that's why we only focus on older stuff. Also, the board's rules might allow late 90s stuff, but in this thread, it's definitely offtopic. Would you talk about Tekken in a thread where they tralk about arcade racing games?
>>3072978
PC usually means IBM PCs and clones architecture. Other microcomputers can be considered as personal computers, but they're not PCs. Calling them as such might lead to misunderstanding, as they're not PC Compatible.
so i've got an amiga hooked up to a cheapo LCD screen by a SCART cable that goes into the composite output
it works, but the screen's full of horrible colour bands (most apparently, purple and green), it's not unusuable in the regular sense (i.e. i can edit settings etc) but it's very ugly and distracting (too much so for actual use.)
any idea what's up? i've tried playing with the screen modes, both PAL and NTSC, and interlaced/non interlaced but it always remains.
ideally i'd rather use this LCD over hauling out my abysmal old CRT TV.
Is there a way to DIY 512k RAM expansion for Amiga 500?
I got one without anything - no PSU, no mice, no anything :(
I'm heading to Japan for a few weeks soon, and I'm interested in getting an x68000 or some other Japanese home computer. Obviously I'm going to be limited by luggage space, so tips/suggestions on what to get?
http://www.blackdiamond.co.za/PC98/Tetris.7z
Anyone know which button rotates the pieces?
>>3072301
This isn't a 100% related to computer games of the era, but there's something about the demoscene that makes me feel nostalgic despite being too young to have witnessed that era.
Some PC-8801 music disks:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1mZIX7m8oQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0j-xknM1Qok
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vFkPccSH4k
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McRmEvv2WRc
I like the way they used Yuko's voice in the music disk used for the last 3 videos.
>>3077724
How can you have nostalgia for times you didn't knew? I'd understand being interested in the stuff that happened back then, but feeling nostalgic?
>>3081018
Is there any news on that guy translating brain of the dead?
>>3073000
Incorrect.
"PC" is not restricted to x86 or 64-bit architectures. It is a general term.
Your colloquial use is not the exact definition.
OP has pictured a PC.
>>3083093
The OP's pic is a sharp x68000, not a "PC".
PC never meant "every kind of microcomputer" ever since the arrival of the IBM PC. Saying a machine is a personal computer is totally correct, but the term PC doesn't even mean "Personal Computers in general" anymore, it means IBM x86-based microcomputers and clones. It might not be the exact definition you'll find in a dictionnary, but it's the same here when people talk about faggots, they rarely talk about bundles of firewood which is the exact definition of this word.
>>3083192
>>3083093
FFS you're both right.
All microcomputers sold as consumer machines are personal computers.
PC can mean than generic term, or specifically the IBM 5150, or any IBM PC-compatible clone machine, or any x86-based computer.
Apple ads over the last 15 years have pushed their marketing definition of PC to mean the last one, with the added caveat of "except for ours because we totally Think Different™" after they switched to the IBM-compatible architecture, but we don't live in Apple marketing's infinite white space fantasy land, so words can have multiple meanings.
>>3083230
Since when did Macs stopped having proprietary hardware components anyway?
>>3083256
I dont think there was any custom chip in the Macintosh to begin with, or anything that Apple held patents on other than the binaries stored in ROM.
>>3083192
It's a computer intended for personal use. It's a PC.
>>3083313
>It's a computer intended for personal use. It's a PC.
No, it's a personal computer then. PC means an IBM x86 microcomputer or it's clones. PC and personal computer don't mean the same thing since the spread of the IBM PC and it's clones.
>>3083328
>No, it's a personal computer then.
That's an awful lot to type out every time. If only there were some simple way to abbreviate it.
>>3083334
Yeah, just calling it microcomputer, or maybe it's name, x68k. But not PC, because that's the name of another architecture that it's not compatible with at all.
A common term that lacks the x86-compatible meaning is "home computer," as seen in >>3073959
>>3083328
>PC and personal computer don't mean the same thing since the spread of the IBM PC and it's clones.
This pedantry is tiring. More people need to pay attention to context. when calling a non-IBM compatible a PC, 99% of the time it's clear that they don't think it's actually an IBM-compatible, but that it's a personal computing machine.
Not to mention you may as well give IBM full ownership of the term "Personal computer" instead just the abbreviation since their advertising (pic related) often abandoned the abbreviation. If you want maximum clarity you'd be better saying "PC compatible/IBM compatible" for an IBM-PC clone and "Wintel" (and maybe coin "Lintel") for the modern usage of PC (to distinguish it from a Mac, even though they're all basically the same thing save for OS.)
Furthermore, after the release of the IBM PC others still used the abbreviation to refer to themselves, see for example this C128 ad:
http://www.commodore.ca/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/commodore-128PC-bad-news-for-apple-and-ibm-unknown_source.jpg
>>3083342
>that's the name of another architecture
x86/x64 is the name of the architecture. Even "IBM PC Compatible" for the architecture is outdated at this point.
Curiously in looking around, I've also seen the iMac G3 referred to as "The first legacy free PC" even though it was, of course, not PC-compatible and used a PPC processor.
Actually, building on that:
>IBM PowerPC processor
>Not IBM PC compatible
kek.
what are some good linux games?
also my graphics card is pretty old (GeForce 6200 LE) so theres some emulators that i cant run due to lacking support of newer OpenGL versions. Is ther eany way of getting around this problem ?
>>3083393
My dad once knew some cheap skinflint who bought an XT clone with only one 360k floppy. Oh god did he regret that.
Can someone tell me what I need to do to play PC-Engine Super CD-ROM games?
I want to see if I can struggle through the games I didn't know exist from the 90's anime I grew up watching like Sakura Wars and Power Dolls, even if I don't speak moon.
What do I need to do? I already have the ROMs.
>>3085458
Wrong thread buddy, this one's about computers, not consoles and CD-ROMs add-ons.
>Sakura Wars on PC-Engine Super CD-ROM
The first one came out on Saturn though.
>>3085482
I searched the catalogue and didn't see anything like that. Did I miss it?
You don't have to help me Anon, but I'd appreciate it.
>>3085483
If you plan to play Super CD-ROM2 games on your PC, get an emulator that can load CD images and the Super System Card ROM.
Anyway, no more PC-Engine talk, unless it's about the Sharp X1-Twin.
Hello i have an issue, i'm trying to find the name of this connector (pic related).
I just bought a PC-9821NOTE, i'm in france so i can't plug it to the wall since it's 220v and the adapter requires 100v input. What do i do??
I might also have fucked up really bad, i bought an adapter for american plugs, so i plugged the pc on the wall with the adapter, it booted, loaded the memory and then shutdown...have i fucked it?
>>3087183
samefag here, the ac adapter shipped with my PC-9821 was the PC-9821N-U01
>>3087273
i'm almost sure that i need a transformer instead of an adapter. One other solution would be to identify the pic related connector and buy an european version of a transformer with this type of connector (if this exists)
>>3087290
I'm pretty sure you won't be able to find an European version of this transformer, and that's the kind of plug you're not going to find easily anywere (like my PC-XT clone laptop transformer plug)
And you're right, you don't need an adapter (I've been using the wrong terms in my previous post) but a Step-down transformer.
>>3087273
Most stuff can tolerate those 20 extra volts.
There's an Atari 400 sitting at the local thrift store. I don't know anything about it and they were asking $20.
>>3087474
Then you can check various information about it on many websites, just search for "Atari 400 specifications" and "Atari 400 games" on your favorite search engine and you'll find everything you need to know.
As for the price, $20 isn't that bad imo, but it's up to you to decide if you wanna spend that money on the low-end model of a late 70s home computer range made by Atari. Also, you'd better know if this system have games you'd like to play if you don't want to waste your money.
I bought a commodore 64c off third world ebay, should be here on monday.
What steps should I follow to verify everything is workling correctly? Or rather, what shouldn't I forget to check?
>>3087615
Doesn't the Atari 400 have a cartridge port and a bunch of games that uses it?
>>3087621
I just got done saying cartridge games. Also BASIC is on a cartridge so you'll need that as well. A400s can't use disk drives because there's not enough memory to load the DOS into.
>>3087597
anyone?
>>3087615
>gopher it
Wonder if any Atari fan gopher sites are still around.
>>3087690
Oh shit, I've read 16k tapes but have somehow missed the fact you've said cartridge too.
>>3087597
>>3087726
Did you get yourself a datassette (or compatible tape drive) and/or a 1541 disk drive with it? If no The just plug it to you favorite composite monitor, power it on and type some BASIC commands, or try to get your hand on an old BASIC type-in game and see if it works correctly.
You can probably find the Atari BASIC cartridge on Ebay, also maybe the tape recorder for it. They have Flash floppy emulators as well for Atari 8-bits although they're kind of expensive and IDK if they work on a 400 (depends on how the DOS is emulated).
I gotta warn you, the keyboard on the 400 is horrible to type on.
>>3088670
I meant it has 16k of memory.
>>3088670
It comes with a working datassette and a 1541 that might not work.
I already recorded a game into a cassette for testing it when it arrives, and I think I have a few floppy disks around
>>3089186
>It comes with a working datassette and a 1541 that might not work.
Well then have fun with your newly aquired computer! As for repairing the 1541, check on the bombjack Commodore book archive, or simply the 1541 service manual, you might find something that could help you put it into shape again.
For the floppy disks, be sure to have double density 5"1/4 floppies, unlike double density 3"1/2 drives 5"1/4 ones can't read high density floppies.
>>3089186
http://www.1541ultimate.net/content/index.php
Better, more modern solution.
Technically not early 90s computing but I have no idea where else I'd ask it...
I've got MS-DOS 6.22 on a HP Pavillion 6736. I believe this is the motherboard: http://www.motherboard.cz/mb/jetway/920BF.htm, which would mean it's using a "CMI8738 PCI 3D Sound Chip". Now some googling reveals this Win95 driver that might work: http://www.soundcard-drivers.com/drivers/247/247315.htm.
With that out of the way, I'm gonna go out on limb and assume this won't work and that I'm just spinning my wheels. Is there a generic driver that would do this job or something?
>>3090589
https://www.vogonsdrivers.com/index.php?catid=55
>>3090628
Tragically, it's not detecting the onboard card
might have to wait until I luck out and find a discrete card at the flea market or something
>>3078614
It is, for me, a feeling of loss for the memories I didn't have the opportunity to experience. I am nostalgic for the history I didn't have the chance to make.
>>3090693
Did you make sure that the on-board sound wasn't disabled in the BIOS or some other stupid possibility like that?
>>3090589
>DOS 6.22
>Pavilion 6736
>650 Mhz Celeron made in 2000
What.
>>3091323
Why not? I used to have a 933MHz Pentium III PC as my main DOS machine (though it was installed along Windows 2000) before I could fix my 486 one. As long as he has the drivers for the stuff his machine have then it should be alright for DOS uses.
>>3091334
Mmmmno it's not. By the time you get to that point (Pentium IIIs), they started phasing out most of the infrastructure needed for pre-Windows 9x stuff. One of the more important things being that hardware ISA slots disappeared and instead they just piggyback on the PCI bus hence no DMA or anything like that. Also BIOSes began dropping support for multiple floppy drives and things like that.
I happen to have a 133Mhz Pentium from 96 and this is one of the last machines to still have full compatibility with the DOS era (hardware ISA slots, floppy ribbon cable with 5.25" drive connectors on it, etc).
This 3100 is a Windows 95-era Pavilion although it seems even back then, they were all slimline models with the integrated floppy faceplate and no extra drive bays.
>>3091347
I could play to Doom, Prince of Persia, Silpheed, Wolfenstein 3D, Gods, King's Quest I and other games without trouble. I used a creative PCI soundcard that had DOS drivers. It's true that it wasn't a great DOS setup, but it was still useable.
>>3091323
I'm more curious how he found a P3 with DOS 6.22 installed on it since that thing would have shipped with Windows ME/2000.
>>3091425
DOS 6.22 installation floppies are a thing.
>>3091441
I'm pretty sure no PC in 2000 had been shipped with DOS 6.x installation disks in some time. Besides, I don't think DOS 6.x would even work on that thing because they would have had 20-30GB hard disks and the FAT16 file system caps out at 4GB.
It probably had a CD with an OEM HP Windows ME edition.
>>3091454
DOS 6.22 will see bigger HDDs as 8GB ones and will create one primary 2GB partition. With FDISK you can create 3 more partitions (logical ones this time). As for the floppies, you don't have to have these shipped with your machine, you can recreate them from images and/or get them on the net or something.
I was more wondering why he wouldn't just use Windows 98 on that thing since it would still support all of his DOS shit.
>>3091464
I wondered that too. DOS 6.22 is 486 stuff. P3s should have 98/ME/2000.
>>3091347
>floppy ribbon cable with 5.25" drive connectors
That's pretty much every PC with a floppy controller on the motherboard. I was able to get a 5.25" drive working in my 950MHz Duron machine in 2004.
>>3091347
>I happen to have a 133Mhz Pentium from 96 and this is one of the last machines to still have full compatibility with the DOS era (hardware ISA slots, floppy ribbon cable with 5.25" drive connectors on it, etc).
My Abit BH-6 system says hi.
1GHz PIII
786MB SDRAM
Hardware ISA
Proper 2-channel FDC
>>3093423
Not really. I have quite a few late-90s machines and none of them have a 5"1/4 floppy drive connector. The only machine I own that have one is my 486 PC clone. Some manufacturers might have still included these though.
>>3091347
>floppy ribbon cable with 5.25" drive connectors on it
The cable isn't unique to the system. You can plug a Shugart + MFM FDD cable into any floppy controller and it'll read from the MFM connector just fine.
The real turning point with floppy controllers was when manufacturers stopped running the second motor enable/drive select lines from the SuperIO chip, making a second floppy drive unusable in order to save two traces on the board.
You can often re-enable dual-floppy functionality with jumper wires, provided the BIOS still contains support or can be hacked to.
>>3072301
>Allowed only with reluctance : Late 90s games and computers, Pentium PCs or more, PPC Macs and up, Windows 95 and later
FINALLY.
>>3093459
No way it'll stay though, it seems the OP unilatterally decided that shit.
>>3093462
Still, these threads piss me off whenever I see them because of the no Win95 rule. Hate to say it, but I'm 22 and Win95 RTM was my first OS. I only got into older stuff later on.
>>3093468
You can discuss about Win95 everywhere else. There's alway multiple threads about late 90s PC stuff. This one is for earlier stuff.
>>3093472
Where? There's threads about specific games, but never hardware or OSes.
>>3093458
The funny thing is that the I/O chip on your modern i5 gaming rig probably still contains a floppy controller. It's just not hooked up to anything at all anymore.
Nowadays the I/O chips are mainly used for the RTC, sensors and fan control... and maybe PS/2 keyboard and comm ports if you have them. Nobody bothers to remove the unused functionality from the ICs because they've been in production forever and are already proven and dirt cheap.
I mean Christ, even my Z97 board has an ITE 8620E on it. That includes floppy, parallel and serial support that my board doesn't even have.
>>3093479
Then create your own thread about Win9x era hardware.
>>3091464
Also being able to play Windows 9x games contemporary to the late 90s era.
So I have an Acorn Electron arriving. Would it be a good idea to buy a Floppy Drive for it or to stick with tapes?
>>3093601
Electron is a home computer so most software explicitly designed for it would be on tape. The disk drives were more for compatibility with its big brother so get them if you want. They use standard 3.5" floppies and not the oddball 3" ones on the Spectrum and Amstrad.
>>3093456
I'm not sure what counts as late 90s, but my 1996 Dell Optiplex does have the 5.25" connector.
>>3093682
Mid-90s (1993-96). Late 90s is 97-99 possibly 2000 if you're an autist and like to say a decade doesn't start on zero years.
I love this guy's videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a548hm4p8LE
This one is already a month old, but I haven't seen it before.
>>3093645
So I could play BBC Micro games using the floppy drive? By the way, is there a version of Elite compatible with or produced for the Electron?
>>3093965
Electron is basically a cut-down Micro with only 32k of memory, so anything small enough to fit there ought to run.
>>3093965
I'm not sure if you can run the Micro Elite. It may need >32k to run, IDK.
>>3094034
They have their own proprietary tape recorder and you'll need to find one.
>>3094038
So it has to be an Acorn one? Hm... What are good websites for buying that kinda stuff?
>>3094034
>>3094040
No the datassette only send digital data to the computer, while the electron exchange analog data with any tape recorder that have a microphone in, a headphone out and a remote control input when the right cable is used.
>>3094038
There must be a cable that allow the electron to be used with any tape recorder that have the inputs and outputs mentioned earlier:
http://www.retrocomputers.eu/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/acorn-pinouts.pdf
>>3094049
So buy the cable and a cheap cassette player?
Would something like this: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Auto-Reverse-Silver-Handheld-Portable-Cassette-Tape-Mini-Player-with-Earphone-/171350224083?hash=item27e544ecd3:g:xO4AAOSwJcZWfjDC
Do?
>>3094049
>No the datassette only send digital data to the computer
Just like the Atari 8-bit cassette recorder which is also digital. They used these because better reliability than standard analog cassette recording.
>>3094052
Yes, any portable cassette recorder with standard audio cassettes (NOT hi-fi tape decks or metal cassettes).
>>3094058
What cable would be needed?
>>3094061
So it'd need a 7 pin connector thingy?
>>3094072
Yes an adapter to connect the standard audio in/out/motor jacks.
>>3094092
Are they available on Amazon?
>>3094052
Not this one though -- it needs a microphone input, a headphone output AND a remote control input. The one you posted only have a headphone out, not even a microphone in. If it has a 5-pin DIN port then it should be alright (not the thomson computer ones though, those don"t have the same pinout).
>>3094058
An Hi-Fi tape deck could still be used as long as it has the inputs and outputs mentionned. All of them support normal tapes, and they can be a nice addition to his Hi-Fi setup (though using metal tapes for Acorn electron programs would be a waste imo). Hell, with the right cable he could even use pic related. But yeah, if he plans to only use it with his computer, a cheap one will be enough.
>>3094072
That's a called a DIN port. Many tape recorders have 5-pin DIN ports, while the one on the Electron is 7-pin. Check if you can find a DIN 7 to various Jacks or a DIN 7 to DIN 5 cable. If you don't, you might as well just search for the Acorn tape recorder, or see if you can make your own using various pinouts informations. But before searching for the recorder, search for the cable.
>>3094097
Could I use this: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/5-Pin-DIN-Plug-to-7-Pin-DIN-Plug-Screened-Cable-2m-Long-/141941222515
Connected to this:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/380345520899?limghlpsr=true&hlpv=2&ops=true&viphx=1&hlpht=true&lpid=122&chn=ps&googleloc=1007448&poi=&campaignid=207297426&device=c&adgroupid=13585920426&rlsatarget=aud-133395220866%3Apla-131843269506&adtype=pla&crdt=0&ff3=1&ff11=ICEP3.0.0-L&ff12=67&ff13=80&ff14=122&ul_noapp=true
?
Or would that not work?
>>3094105
You don't know how the things are wired, so no, it has little chance to work. Also, you lose the motor control signals and either microphone in or headphone out.
>>3094176
But could you use the 7 to 5 pin din converter cable, if the cassette player accepts 5 pin but not 7
>>3094184
Like I said, you don't know how it's wired, so it might not work.
>>3094189
I'll have to find one that accepts 7 pin din then, or an Acorn one.
>>3094193
I think only the Acorn ones will accept 7 pin DIN, but you can still find an Acorn 7 pin DIN cable to something other tape recorders might accept (but be sure to find one that has it's wiring documented before buying) or make your own cable based on pinouts information. But yeah, finding an Acorn tape recorder might be the easiest way.
>>3094204
Is ebay the only place to buy that sort of stuff in Britain?
>>3094252
Do you guys have a local website for people to sell and buy used goods? Like Craiglist in the US.
all computers popular in europe were so chock full of crap shovelware, that badly designed games like turrican seemed like the best shit ever in comparison
so im asking
is there any good game for the amiga and/or C64 that's original AND well designed?
i know about the obvious stuff like ultima already
>>3094274
We have Gumtree but its pretty shit for finding that stuff. People mostly post shitty PS2 games, though one time I seen a £50 Vectrex on there.
>>3094292
>trying this hard to cause a Yuro vs Murrica debate around computer games.
>>3094345
the murrican stuff was pretty mediocre as well
it's just that old computers were far more popular in europe
>>3094459
Europe isn't only one country though, and the only country that really made shovelware was the UK with companies like Ocean and US Gold (though they still had developpers that made some nice games like Elite).
European countries and America all produced some good games on the most popular platforms they had, while at the same time making some really bad stuff.
Also, even though Turrican isn't the best shit around, it's still a pretty good game imo.
Anyway, I kind of enjoy Hybris on Amiga. There's also Captive that is a good dungeon crawler for the same platform.
>>3094459
American stuff usually emphasized quality over quantity.
>>3094946
American companies like Activision still poured some lame shit on the C=64 and Amiga though. Also it really was only 3~4 british companies that were pouring most shovelwares on C=64/Spectrum/Amiga -- US Gold, Ocean, Imagine and maybe a few other companies I lost the name.
A 1989 Amiga copyparty caught on tape:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQ3aYiZkCOQ
Alpha Flight, Vision Factory and Powerslave are 3 big names of the early Amiga days.
Also while I'm at it, here are a few MSX convention videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-mEvJ_gevw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8E0lUghfVpI
(the whole channel for those of you who like these kind of videos : https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3z-Z9ILOPnixorLWxGL7_A )
>>3097448
dat pulstar
>>3094459
>it's just that old computers were far more popular in europe
>all the millions of Apple IIs, VIC-20s, TRS-80s, IBM PCs, C64s, and Macs here don't count
>>3072301
>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2v7k-wAm2E#t=330.6955
Do you use MicroSD cards to replace your HDDs? Sounds like a good idea for 3D games and CD-ROM games.
Best emulator for PC-98?
>>3099245
neko project
How do you feel about this top 10?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ax_STMdWMf8
Is there any actual way to get a clear picture from a C64C?
Channel 3 mode is completely unintelligible, Channel 4 is SLIGHTLY better, in that I can read it a bit.
I tried opening it up and re-seating the VIC-II, shit doesn't work.
If you want the model, I seem to have a C64C with a SID 6851R3.
>>3101207
Also is there even any quick and easy way to test the SID chip, while I'm at it?
Last time I tried inputting some BASIC shit it didn't work.
>>3101207
>>3101210
Actually, here's a nice picture I captured. The black background makes it pop out especially well.
>>3101319
Oh great, the one thing I DON'T have, along with a CRT that accepts s-video.
Are you sure there's no other solution?
>>3101320
The C64c don't have an AV out like other C64 models?
>>3101325
Nope. Stuck either RF or the one for what I think is Commodore CRTs.
>>3101327
So it does have an AV port after all. The C=64 output both Composite and S-Video (well, that was before S-Video was actually a thing so let's just call it Y/C) through this port. Well, while you're at it you might as well just try to get that composite cable, or even better get a Commodore 1702 monitor and it's Y/C cable.
>>3101365
I really don't feel like pouring money into it.
Don't even have a floppy drive or cassette player for it.
Maybe I should just sell it, or something.
Doesn't s-video = no sound, though?
>>3101368
The Y/C cable have an audio output RCA jack along with the Luma and Chroma ones.
As for the composite cable, well you can still get it for cheap or even make your own -- DIN plugs are usually easy to find.
But if you don't feel like spending on you C=64, I think it'll be easier for you just to emulate then (though last time I checked C64 stuff wasn't really expensive).
>>3101393
Well I don't really know about that, I went on eBay and pretty much all 1541 drives cost around 100$ PLUS shipping.
Guess I'll have to sell it, thanks anyway.
>>3101397
>pretty much all 1541 drives cost around 100$ PLUS shipping.
Holy shit! That stuf was everywhere in the US! Have you tried to check other websites? Like Craiglist or anything like that? Ebay is scammer-HQ.
>>3101425
I'm Canadian, and I live in the middle of nowhere.
There's nothing on craigslist and other similar sites.
Electronfag here. Electron arrived and works. According to the manual posted on acorn electron world I only need a 5 din compatible tape recorder.
Any good type-in programs?
>>3101629
You can try to find old magazine archives, they used to publish that kind of stuff.
>>3098784
No, I already have a bunch of IDE HDDs that I can use with my old computers (if they have an IDE controller).
Does anyone else buy old systems in some kind of desperate attempt to buy back the past?
As though buying a Zx Spectrum will suddenly make me a young British kid in the mid-1980s.
It's not the only reason I do it, but I realized that it was part of it.
>>3104158
No, I buy them out of an interest in where modern computers come from, plus there is just something iconic about computers like the Acorn Electron.
>>3104713
>its 2016
>BBC Micros are still too expensive
The fuck, since when did WHDLoad become free?
I'm so happy about that. Finally, less swapping and loading.
>>3098784
I prefer to use CF cards just because of native IDE support.
My DOS setup runs 7.1 modified for standalone use and Widows 3.x support off an 8GB CF card via internal CF to IDE adapter. Then there's a second external 3.5" drive bay CF to IDE adapter so I can swap the second card like a cartridge.
You have to be very careful which IDE adapters you use, though. The billions of $2 Chinese ones out there do NOT properly support IDE master/slave signaling even if they have jumper settings for it. Writing to one drive or card will corrupt the data on the other device on the same IDE channel.
Also CF as boot drive is not recommended for Win9x/ME. That OS absolutely hates CF cards and can actually destroy the firmware/corrupt the card beyond recovery. A working CF setup for Win9x is very particular, requiring a CF card that can be set to fixed disk mode (which includes exactly zero modern consumer CF cards) and a fully spec-compliant IDE adapter.
>>3101327
>>3101365
There are Commodore Composite breakout cables and Y/C to S-Video adapters you can buy.
If you're thinking of wiring your own adapter, note that the C64 Y/C signal isn't 100% SVHS compatible. The S-Video adapters you can buy online incorporate a couple of passive components to adjust for that.
>>3107793
>>3104158
No because nostalgiafaggotry is cancer.
HP-150, which came out in 1983 and was HP's first foray into personal computers. These used an 80186 CPU, single sided 360k 3.5" floppies, and a unique touch screen monitor. They lasted just two years after which HP switched to IBM compatibles (or semi-IBM compatibles).
>>3108112
Interesting trivia: You used to be able to buy 3.5" media which was explicitly rated for single sided use, meaning they left the bottom side of the floppy unpolished. While such disks would work in a double sided drive, it'd eventually grind up your drive heads.
The early Macs also had SS 3.5" drives as well as the Atari ST, but these were never part of the PC world.
>>3108117
Most of the early 3"1/2 floppy drives were single sided -- Philips MSX disc drives like the one presented in >>3107802 , the ones integrated in their first low-end MSX 2 model (VG-8235) or the Sony SMC 70 line (which was the first computer ever to use 3"1/2 floppies) all used single sided drives. I think it's kind of a waste when you look at it, because unlike other floppy format (even 3" ones), you can't swap the face of the of such disk, which means losing one face forever.
Anyway, As for IBM PCs and clones, I guess that single-sided drives weren't used by IBM PCs and clones because when 3"1/2 drives started to appear (by 1986~1987 I think) most of other architectures already switched to double sided drives.
>>3108112
That's a pretty weird looking monitor base we have there. It's kinda interesting to note that they used a touch-screen instead of shipping a lightpen (like Thomson did with it's To7 and To7/70 computers), any idea of why they took such decision?
As for the 80186, it's not everyday that you see a computer actually use one instead of a NEC V20 or V30, which is understandable as they use 8088 and 8086 sockets respectively, have an actual multiplication unit instead of having a micro-coded multiplication instruction, and have a 8080 compatibility mode, on top of being 80186-compatible.
>>3108621
>I think it's kind of a waste when you look at it, because unlike other floppy format (even 3" ones), you can't swap the face of the of such disk, which means losing one face forever.
Though actually, you couldn't use 8"/5.25" flippy disks on a lot of systems either because inserting the disk upside down means that it can't see the index hole. Notable exceptions were Apple and Commodore drives as these used GCR encoding that completely ignored the index hole.
IIRC, you could use flippy disks on Atari 8-bit drives, but not TRS-80s, IBM PCs, or most other systems with standard MFM encoding.
>>3108621
>As for the 80186, it's not everyday that you see a computer actually use one instead of a NEC V20 or V30, which is understandable as they use 8088 and 8086 sockets respectively, have an actual multiplication unit instead of having a micro-coded multiplication instruction, and have a 8080 compatibility mode, on top of being 80186-compatible
The main advantage of the 186 is that it incorporates several functions such as timing and I/O on the main IC which allows for a lower chip count. Conversely, it was not possible to use 186s on IBM compatibles for this reason.
>>3108112
By "semi-IBM compatibles", I meant that the HP Vectra line had several nonstandard features including the keyboard and also hard disks with 256 byte sectors meaning that they required their special OEM DOS to work. Later Vectras removed most of the proprietary weirdness.
>>3109697
Yeah I remember my father making the extra timing holes in 5.25" floppies to work double-sided in our Percom drives on our Atari 800.
Decades later I read that Atari's own drives don't need that, but for some reason we used Percoms even though we also had Atari 810s sitting next to them. I was too young to think about that much but I guess there was some advantage to the Percoms. Faster, maybe?
We also tilt the Percom master drive up and drop it back down to bang it on the shelf to get it to start up a lot of the time.
>>3108621
V20s do have a hardware multiplier though.
Yeh on 8086s you were supposed to do multiplication like this:
SHL AX,1
SHL AX,1
SHL AX,1
Also a lot of the early compilers on the PCs were not very good and they tended to stick lots of MUL and DIV instruction in code. This was not an issue on 286+ machines of course but it horribly degraded performance on 8086 machines.
>>3109931
Well that's what I said -- that the V20 and V30 did have a real multiplication unit instead of a microcoded instruction.
8086 Vectra which is a fairly standard XT clone except for the keyboard (note that it's the same type as the HP-150).
I used an 8086 machine with a Hercules orange monochrome (was it 4 shades?) monitor up through college in the early 90s for word processing and some Pascal programming for a Pascal class.
But it had a 40MB harddrive so wasn't totally slumming it.
Main game I played on it was Galactic Conquest, though it was easier to tell what was going on when played on dormmates machines that had color monitors.
why is it so freakin' hard to find a good cassette player?
>>3110182
It's pretty easy though, it's just a matter of what kind of cassette player you're searching -- Hi-Fi cassette decks and Boomboxes (some models) were pretty good.
So how exactly does the EasyFlash C64 cart work?
I read that the C64 can only take up to 8kb/16kb but EasyFlash is 1 MB.
I'm interested in this because some day I might look into turning this
https://magervalp.github.io/2015/03/30/u4-remastered.html
into a cartridge, but it's 337kb.
>>3112558
Bank switching.
>>3110173
Just tried that game on my DOS machine. The scrolling text et the bottom of the play screen is going blazing fast on a 486DX2-based PC.
>>3110124
Gotta love that power on keyswitch, it reminds me of those minicomputers' front panel.
>>3116445
i bet they sold like 10 units in japan
>>3116504
No. The VIC-20 was quite popular in Japan actually for these day's standards (remmember that the VIC-20 was the first computer to sell over the million). Commodore could have been around for quite some time in Japan if they didn't release the stripped-down Commodore MAX "compu-console" (which is a fucking joke - no internal ROM, not even a BASIC interpreter, only a cartridge port) instead of the Commodore 64
>>3116530
>tfw we could've had good NTSC games
>>3116536
There are good NTSC games though. Mostly RPGs and simulations, but still good games.
>>3116550
well yeah those go without saying
but apart from that 80's computer games were nothing but badly designed shovelware, unless we're talking about japan
>>3116552
Wait a minute, weren't all Japanese PC games just RPGs and dating sims?
>>3116603
That's a stereotype for the PC-9801, which was mostly an office computer that suddenly became a really popular platform for indie games.
>>3116552
>but apart from that 80's computer games were nothing but badly designed shovelware
Nope, there are some quite good action games, as well as other kind of adventure games. Yeah, there were editors pushing countless shovelwares, but there were also good games that came out on computers.
>>3116603
No, MSX, PC-88, PC98, Sharp X1 and X68000 computers had countless action games too.
>>3114415
Try disabling CPU and motherboard cache in the BIOS, it should be closer to normal speed.
>>3098784
I have a few IDE disks I keep for this purpose. I even have a 1.6GB disk from 1996 that still works and has no bad clusters.
>>3090693
Is there a device in Device Manager along the lines of "Soundblaster Compatible", "Legacy Emulation" or "SB16 Emulation"? If not, then it is likely your drivers do not support the old Soundblaster standard required for most MS-DOS games. Try getting VXD drivers if you are currently using WDM ones. I don't think there are any pure DOS 6.22 drivers for that card, though.
>>3117110
>Try disabling CPU and motherboard cache in the BIOS, it should be closer to normal speed.
Can't disable motherboard cache, but already tried to disable the 486 internal one with an utility, still way too fast. But anyway, you can slow it down to a readable level with the down arrow key, I was just noting how fast that scroller was when launching the game.
I tried this game on my XT-clone laptop too, shit was still unreadable, but not because of the speed, but because of the awful response time of the LCD panel.
i think I should try to get a few friends to play to this game with me one day, it seems kinda fun.
Some OPM tunes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7vkTOHL0lY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pyQFnDP_NU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XC_ke87EzPM
(gotta love that Square wave imitation)
Someone sells a fully working ThinkPad 365X, looks like toppest model with 133MHz Pentium. If the display is TFT, is it worth it for DOS stuff and some 1995 games?
i need pics/info to help me do this->
>take modern laptop/pc guts
>put it in some 80s looking Atari shell
>install folding screen
finished product is some cool 80s looking laptop
problems?
>large power supply fitting
>finding a shell that works
>>3119298
First off that kind of shit has nothing to do with these threads, second Atari computer shells are too big to be used as laptops.
>>3117898
C64:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xd4NWVtj7UU
Superior Japanese machine:
http://vgmrips.net/packs/vgm/MSX/Salamander_%28MSX%29/02%20Power%20of%20Anger.mp3
>>3119640
The MSX version sound superior because konami designed additional sound hardware to make it so -- the SCC was introduced with Gradius/Nemesis II, a little before Salamander. I don't know what motivated them to make such hardware when the MSX audio was already out (the first models appeared in 1986, and it can sound better than the later MSX Music expansions like the FM-PAC : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmgE5yE3PnA). Not saying that they shouldn't have made the SCC, the games that uses it have great soundtracks.
Anyway, the C64 version sounds off sometimes.
>>3119669
I know all this.
I'm just saying FM and SCC/PSG are superior to the SID in every way.
Btw, the acorn works with a 5 pin din to stereo jack cable
are beep codes universal or is it specific to the mobo/manufacturer? I have a 486 machine that just spits morse code at me for 2 seconds and then shuts off
>>3120230
>Yes, it depends on the manufacturers, and the time period it was made.
Uh I meant the type of BIOS (Phoenix, Award, American Megatrend) you're using, not the motherboard manufacturer.
>>3122389
I always wanted one of those when I was a kid but never could afford one.
Years later I ended up getting an Atari Portfolio instead.
>>3122389
I have one but it stopped working, it has some bad corrosion, I think the actual thing wrong with it is just that a power wire came loose and just need to resolder it, but it's still an uphill battle because the battery case has a lot of corrosion and it's only a matter of time before it spreads. I'm always paranoid about corrosion on machines where I know there is some. It LOOKS isolated to the battery compartment but I think I can see some on the DC power in plug
>>3124648
Don't hesitate anon -- put some gloves, open it and clean it as much as you can.
>>3123256
How is the portfolio? Are there games that uses it?
>>3126149
I don't have it anymore but it ran some sort of MS-DOS-compatible OS. I ran some text adventures on it. Can't remember what the graphics capabilities were but I don't remember running graphical games on it. (It has a really low vertical resolution so most games probably wouldn't fit.)
How do you guys connect 5.25 inch floppy drives to modern computers that don't have floppy controllers? I'm aware of usb floppy controllers, but all of the ones I found are out of my price range. Is there a more affordable option like a PCI card available?
>>3126653
>How do you guys connect 5.25 inch floppy drives to modern computers that don't have floppy controllers?
Any desktop motherboard still has the floppy/parallel/serial stuff on it, it's just not connected to anything.
>>3126653
I think it's cheaper to buy a PC made between 1997-2003 that support these drives.
>>3075442
>Thumbnail
>Flaccid penis
Since it's gaming thread, I wonder: were there any games that used x87 coprocessors?
I mean before 80486 appeared.
>tfw you finally understand how to draw a sprite in 6502 assembly on a C64
and it only took me a week
>Even my old 20MHz 386 required no heat sink whatsoever.
>Pentium era computer processors started using heatsinks.
>Pentiums over ~133MHz computer processors started using HS plus fan.
>Pentium II was 233 to 450 MHz
When did graphics cards start using heatsinks?
When did graphics cards start using HS plus fans?
When did motherboards start being able to control fan speed based on temps?
When did Intel CPUs start using fancy plastic methods of clamping the CPU to the mobo instead of the simple AMD metal strap method?
>>3130136
SimCity.
>>3130710
>When did graphics cards start using heatsinks?
Around the same time they started doing 3D acceleration.
>When did graphics cards start using HS plus fans?
Geforce256 or thereabouts. Mine had a HS+fan, while the Voodoo3 preceding it only had a HS. I remember not liking that much, realizing the fan was a nonstandard size/connector and would be a bitch to replace once it failed. But the rate of advancement at the time made that irrelevant as cards over twice as powerful came out less than a year later.
>When did motherboards start being able to control fan speed based on temps?
Around Pentium4 era, when CPUs were becoming literal space heaters and could set themselves on fire with little provocation. It sort of became important for safety.
>When did Intel CPUs start using fancy plastic methods of clamping the CPU to the mobo
My old first-gen Pentium had a plastic retaining bracket that clipped the HS to the ZIF socket, but that's probably not what you're thinking of.
Some flight simulators can use an 8087 however it was mostly only needed by math-intensive applications software such as AutoCAD.
By the time you get to the Pentium era, it became common for games to use floating point calculations however it was very rare before that time.
16-bit versions of Windows included a DLL designed to allow applications access to the x87; this was mostly just there for Excel, but other software could take advantage of it.
>>3131349
Quake was notable for early use of floating point calculations. It performed much better on Intel CPUs than "equivalent" 3rd party CPUs because the speed rating for those was always based on integer performance.
Any idea on what models of computers are present in the background?
>>3132197
Xerox Stars.
Lotus was one of many software devs who failed to make the transition into the 90s; by mid-decade they were bought out by IBM and lapsed into irrelevance.
Tandy 1400HD. These were among the first true PC laptops produced.
The original 1400LT had dual 720k floppies and a composite video out; like the Tandy 1000SX/TX, they can be toggled between 4.77Mhz and 7.5Mhz, but have only standard CGA graphics and PC speaker sound. They also have keyboard LEDs and a clock battery, two features not part of the standard IBM XT spec.
The 1400FD was mostly the same but added a connector for a third external floppy and deleted the composite out. The 1400HD replaced the second floppy drive with a 20MB hard disk.
Is it wrong to buy a computer just because it looks great?
>>3134639
It would be wrong not to.
>>3134639
It's okay as long as you don'ttear it down so you can fit a motherboard inside, it would be a waste then.
>>3134507
>Wasn't there a story about Lotus using a virus as a punitive anti-copy system or it's just bullshit?
You'd think authoring malware was a capital offense the way the media and government used to react to it back then. A stunt like that would have literally ended Lotus as a company.
>win 95 if you want but it is discouraged
wtf, really? or is OP just being an autistic moron?
>>3135051
Win9x is a big enough topic to warrant its own thread so it doesn't drown out absolutely everything else.
>>3134735
I don't know, it does look cool and all, but looking up info on it it would be pretty useless all but to the most hardcore of collectors, it's the old style of computer that didn't even have a monitor output and you literally had to be a programmer just to use. Interesting note that it's one of the first computers that comes with a hd standard though.
>>3135059
ah, I thought it was more of an autistic "do not soil my precious thread with win 95 garbage as it is when computers became more modern" garbage that you see repeated in other threads a lot.
>>3135032
>You'd think authoring malware was a capital offense the way the media and government used to react to it back then.
>implying that it isn't
though I guess maybe it wasn't back then
Does anyone have any experience with the lo-tech ISA compactflash adapters? Can you use a universal programmer to install the BIOS on them? Also, how do you put a boot image onto the Cf card? Can you just load a DOS image from a modern PC onto it, or do you need to install from floppies?
>Mac on ebay
>£68
>holy shit cheap
>look at descrip.
>ships only to usa
>look at top
>intl. priority shipping
>wtf
>decide to buy it
was that a good idea?
>>3135310
The CF card is just a hard drive as far as the system it's plugged into is concerned. You can partition and format it as a bootable drive and just copy the DOS files over.
IMPORTANT REMINDER:
CF cards and FAT32 DO NOT mix. They'll work with NTFS and FAT16 fine, but trying to use them as FAT32 results in the card being corrupted to the point where the firmware even gets trashed. The only exception are certain ancient CF cards with so-called Fixed Disk Mode which no modern ones have.
>>3075442
holy shit, what the fuck is wrong with that guy's hand? Why was this allowed in an ad?
>>3136220
It's a boxing glove ya doof
http://www.ebay.com/itm/TANDY-1400-HD-25-3505-Personal-Computer-/282002514265?hash=item41a8a8e159:g:0XMAAOSwJMhXDX2e
Here's a 1400HD for sale. I really would rather have the original 1400LT with the composite out though, also this one has the modem option (useless).
>>3136249
I don't post on /int/ and I didn't post the thread you've linked to. Also I don't know what is persistent or annoying in posting ads for an 8bit computer in an old computer thread.
>>3136269
And the hard disk does apparently work? That's unexpected. Most MFM hard disks had a life expectancy of about 2 years; reliability of today's hard disks is a lot better than it was in the 80s-90s.
>>3136326
>Most MFM hard disks had a life expectancy of about 2 years; reliability of today's hard disks is a lot better than it was in the 80s-90s.
Are you sure about that? My 1989 PC-XT laptop clone's HDD still work like wonder, so does my three 500MB and my 1GB HDDs.
>>3136332
Might also depend on the usage and the brand. Seagate drives were always lowest-common denominator and popular mostly because of their price.
Main reason for the poor reliability of MFM drives? They were like a fucking pizza oven and usually ended up cooking themselves. Also they didn't have any ability to power down the drive if it wasn't accessed for a while (all modern hard disks have a sleep mode feature) so the motor running all the time would overheat and burn itself out. Those stepper motors were big fucking sons-of-guns.
>>3136335
Forgot as well. Head parking. All modern drives automatically park the heads when powered down, but MFM/ESDI drives did not. You'd have to issue a manual command via a utility like PARK.COM.
>>3133523
There's also a connector on the back for an external keyboard, they use a standard XT keyboard and not the Tandy 1000 keyboard.
>>3136335
I see. My 500MB drives are all Western Digital, my 1GB one is a Maxtor, and all of them are IDE. As for the 10MB on in the laptop, I don't know what it's manufacturer is, but I think it's an MFM one. The only Seagate ones I've ever put my hands on where SCSI drives.
I don't think this overheating problem was present in IDE drives though -- I've never exprerienced it.
>>3136352
IDE drives don't use a stepper motor and all of them made since about 1993 are 3.5" sized. Some early ones were 5.25" and do get pretty hot.
>>3136335
HP did used to make proprietary hard disks in the 80s-early 90s. They had their own hard disk factory and everything. Very reliable, but slow and eventually by the mid-90s, HP phased out proprietary hardware in their computers.
>>3136326
The drive in the 1400HD is basically a 3.5" sized ST-225. It's not like the proprietary drive in the IBM PS/2 Model 25.
>>3136375
Yeah like I said, the adapter I linked which lets you put a CF card in the thing in place of the original hard disk.
>>3135796
well, the guy has given feedback so... I guess I have a 512k Mac. What is some useful software and good games?
