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Richard Bruns
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NC, USA
Nov 1999
time: 06:23
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I am seriously considering this. Before I left home for my year of studying abroad, I replaced my parents´ vintage 1995 Hewlitt Packard with the newer computer I was using at school. I will order a better computer when I get back to the states, and the old computer is currently resting unused at home. It still runs perfectly well, and my parents would still be happily using it if I hadn´t given them the newer one.
Since XP got rid of compatibility mode, I am worried that some of my old favorites will not run on my newer computer. Even if I can emulate DOS, there are several problems:
Integrated soundcards. Old games insist on using seperate soundcards, and if the PC has the sound integrated into the motherboard I have to play games like Master of Magic with no sound.
High processor speeds. This ruined X-COM on my newer computer. All the graphics ran too fast and looked wrong.
So I was thinking of taking the older computer to school and using it as a gaming platform, while my new computer does the normal computer stuff. Does anyone else do something like this? It seems kind of backwards, I know.
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Lars-E
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I have a Commodore 64 in the attic. I even bought a floppydisc and a taperecorder for it - years after C64 was old news.
I found out it's possible to play those old C64-games on the PC with an emulator. So I finished Maniac Mansion which I never did on C64.
What I'd like now is to use those old C64 joysticks on my PC. An interface has to be developed for that purpose. Sadly the engineers at my church who do stuff like this had no time.
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MariOne
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Erewhon in Neverland
May 1999
time: 06:23
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Well, I still should have a C64 with external tape unit, in a drawer somewhere (bought for Xmas '84).
The XT (8088, 640Kb RAM, HD upgraded from 10Mb to 20, yes Mb not Gb, 12" amber phosphors monitor, bought around end '85), was brought at her seaside home by my mother, I dunno what she thought to do with it and don't want to know.
The 386dx40 (with "I think" 16Mb RAM & 400MbHD) still lies in a corner of my room, under some cardboards and some old junk... Bought I think in '92
My current computer could soon be tagged vintage, if not ancient...
PII 333 192Mb Ram 10GbHD ATIXpert@Home SBAWE64...
Bought in early '98...
So, I don't keep the 386 for playing, because the PII333 with Win98SE is already old enough.
BUT.
As I had problems to properly configure the EMS memory under Win98 (either in DOS-session window or in DOS-mode) to run old games, even on htat PC I resolved to....
...make a true DOS 6.22 partition, ONLY to play MoM and Machiavelli the Prince on it (and an old "strategy - spaceadvanture" mixed game that I never completed, Alien Legacy).
Even under DOS (windows, sessions or true partitions), there is a tool made to slow your PC enough to make them playable.
It's called "moslo" iirc, you should find it searching on the web, without it it would be impossible for me to play Elite even on the PII333....
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Richard Bruns
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NC, USA
Nov 1999
time: 06:23
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So it seems that I´m not alone. Old computers are still in service.
quote:
Originally posted by MariOne
Even under DOS (windows, sessions or true partitions), there is a tool made to slow your PC enough to make them playable.
It's called "moslo" iirc, you should find it searching on the web, without it it would be impossible for me to play Elite even on the PII333.... |
I would strongly advise against the moslo program. That thing completely crashed my PC when I tried it, forcing me to reinstall the OS. I was using it to try to get the old Ultima games to work.
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Rex Little
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I still have a PC with a 5X86 processor (pre-Pentium) that runs only DOS--no Windows, not even 3.1. I use it for Colonization.
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Father Beast
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My head stuck permanently in my civ
Feb 2000
time: 22:23
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I've been thinking about going around to the thrift stores and scouting for old computers. You have to do some digging, because some of them have them and some don't, but between a handful of old PC's I should be able to get something working...
I've had mixed results with moslo. it has never crashed the system, but often doesn't work, or work right. like in Ultima II, trying to land the spaceship is almost impossible. at full speed the terrain is going too fast to control, and with moslo on, the terrain still spins by too fast, but the screen updates are slowed down, making it even worse.
i even have at least one game which refuse to slow down at all under any slowdown program.
for slowing down, the more radical, and effective solution, is to enter the bios and turn off the internal and external cache. that works for every slowdown problem I've tried.
Just, for goodness sakes, DON'T LET IT LOAD WINDOWS WITH THE CACHES DISABLED. I did that once and had to wait 10 minutes for it to load so I could shut it down.
then my daughter tried loading the sims, and I was stuck for a half hour....
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Richard Bruns
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NC, USA
Nov 1999
time: 06:23
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quote:
Originally posted by Father Beast
I've been thinking about going around to the thrift stores and scouting for old computers. You have to do some digging, because some of them have them and some don't, but between a handful of old PC's I should be able to get something working...
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In my experience, thrift store computer equipment is good for low comedy and little else. One time I saw something that looked like a computer case. On closer inspection, however, I discovered that it was an ancient external CD-ROM drive designed to be attached via serial cable. The thing was literally as big as my computer. It even had the buttons on the front like fast forward and play that normal CD players have. I was almost tempted to pay the ten dollars and take it home just for the humor value.
More recently, I paid $20 for an old computer that seemed like it would be a good upgrade for my family´s old computer. It came not from a thrift store but from my mom´s office. My mom is a nurse, and the office wiped all the software off the computers before they sold them, to prevent anyone´s confidential medical information from getting out. First I tried to simply move the hard drive from our old computer into the new one, but that didn´t work. Then I tried various other things to make it work, to no avail. It turned out that the CD drive was shot, and the drive from the other computer didn´t work in it either. All the OS software I have now is on CD-rom, so my only hope now is to find an ancient copy of DOS, or perhaps a Linux distribution on floppy disks. If I can´t do that the only use for it is its small hard drive to add as a slave.
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LDiCesare
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La Ferté sous Jouarre France
Jan 2001
time: 05:23
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I kept a 486 to play civ, Moo and MoM until its alim/battery failed too. I managed to play MoM on Win98 somehow on my next computer, but I no longer use it either because it is a laptop whose screen is slowly falling apart. I still have MoM on it (and the early versions of Clash of course!).
In fact, I now buy laptops because I can keep them long after they become obsolete without wasting space. There's the fact that I never spend more than 4 days in the same place, too.
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child of Thor
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I've got an Amiga1200 that is working fine and i use nearly everyday - it has some great games.
Also in a friends attic,an old 8bit Atari that also still impresses me,when i get it out, with the quality of some of the games made for it.
Old school games are great(....but when they are bad, they are very very bad!), and everyone should own an 'antique' computer ,on ebay you can get a real bargin to play those classics on.
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18-11-2002 15:00
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