madhatter667

I have a few versions of MAME. I have MAME32 from 2005 or 2006 that runs a number of older titles that I really like. I've only recently ventured into newer versions for more recent material, but that isn't saying much. One of these days I'll figure out the CHD stuff. There's a couple games using that format I really want to run.

Nah. It's pretty archaic. It doesn't POST now. CMOS battery leaked, ate a trace. Got a Compaq Presario 2240 with an AMD MMX200, 32Mb RAM, 2Mb S3 Trio graphics, jammed my 4Mb Voodoo accelerator card in there, 6Gb HDD. Not the worst rig for DOS gaming. The onboard audio seems compatible with Soundblaster standards... But I'll hang on to the Crystal if I run across something that panics.

OK, so I got my 486. Tore into it. It has a decent Crystal sound card. ISA slots all around. No PCI. Wondering if I can buy a riser board with PCI on it and have it work, even though the riser is an ISA piece. I think so. I've found a few on eBay. My CPU is NOT the stocker. The stock CPU was a Intel 486SX25. This has a later Intel Overdrive in it. A 63MHz with intergrated heatsink and fan. Kinda neat how that is put together. Been a million years since I even looked at this machine. I got it used, so yeah. Lol. 100W PSU, nothing super there. 210Mb hard disk. Lol. OG to the machine. Problem. CMOS battery leaked, and now it doesn't POST. When I last had it out, it would post, boot to DOS, or Win 3.11 whichever I chose to operate under. Worried that despite having some goodies under the hood, that I need to get a new board. Could someone with a bit more raw knowledge weigh in on this? Pics coming.

Yep. Watched a couple of his vids. Pretty good material. That's where I think I saw the IDE to SD converter vs. IDE to CF. SD is more common, so I would rather use that.

I'm pretty much sold on it. Lol. I just need to see how much discretionary is left after tomorrow. Might be picking up a second/hobby/beater car. My haggle game isn't super strong, and the asking price is fair if it is as described anyway. Lol. Compact, econo car... They still matter. Lol.

I'm not a stranger to MAME. Lol. Half the reason I want a Pi is to have a separate arcade archive, and maybe some of the more exotic vintage computers (MSX, X68000), though I heard DOS gaming support is pretty solid as well. Just another layer of fun, but a way to possibly keep it better organized, and compartmentalized. I'm a weirdo. Lol.

I'm thinking of either doing HDMI to VGA, or getting the VGA add on board. Want to get the Qanba Q1 stick, because it should work fine, and doesn't drain the pocket as hard. BT keyboard and Mouse very tempting idea though. USB counterparts are dirt cheap these days however.

I think I saw a video where a guy wired in his own. Willing to believe it's possible, but I don't have a parts list.

This is why I'm working off a pre existing machine. I've seen early ATX cars for not too much. There's also plug converters for ATX power supplies if you didn't need pure AT originality.

I didn't really get into PC games until Dawn Patrol, Red Baron, Wolfenstein, and Doom. Pretty sure our first PC was 486 based. So there's some nostalgia there for me. It's a bit different than what I feel for my consoles. Almost always had to run boot disks, and some games without music. Lol. Landed a Voodoo accelerator card today, along with a Geforce2, and Creative sound card. Cheap. Not sure what card is in my Packard Bell, but it was a buck. I know the graphics on it weren't "hot rodded" for the time though. Gonna try and crack into it this weekend.

Finding a human opponent would be harder sure. I've got a couple buddies who would jump on the chance though. Lol. I've got at least a good 3/4s of the building blocks just hanging out, minus a better period GPU and soundcard, and those are easily grabbed locally. I think I just like to fiddle by nature. Cars, motorbikes, computers, stereo, system mods (minor), getting better displays. I just have fun with messing with stuff. Lol.

To be honest, I haven't had as much luck with DOSBox. I need to read more of the documentation on it. I've got a number of GOG games that auto run it to load and play, and a couple from abandonware does that do the same. There's a handful of important to me titles that I haven't gotten to work, and those are sort of clincher for me. Warcraft 2 runs, but no multiplayer. Now, the chances if a multiplayer game are really low, but it's a fun idea to do old school LAN stuff with a few friends. More experimentation needed. At the same time, if I can feed the desires to fidget for a few bucks, and entertain myself... Meh...why not? Lol.

Yeah, totally saw a vid where a guy built up a machine, and was able to use BIOS settings to throttle speeds. Was pretty cool. Saw another one where a guy built with a Gotek, and a compact flash for HDD. Pretty sweet alternatives. Hadn't thought about those options before as more fail safe than OG hardware. I have a Gotek, but it's reserved for the ST. Can always pick up another one. There is also a RE PC right near home with bargain bin AGP/PCI vid cards, and sound cards (seriously there were like 5 Soundblaster 16s in there). As long as the board in my old Packard Bell is still ok, that should provide a platform, provided that a couple possible CL scores fall through. I'll keep my eyes peeled, but not shy away from starting to get some of the basic pieces while the getting is good. Fired up Red Baron, and Warcraft 2 today, just because. Lol.

Hey all. I don't know if this has been covered much in the classic computing section, or if it even belongs here. It's a bit beyond the Atari 8 bit, C64, Amiga, ST, et al. The early to mid 90s were a pretty sweet time period of PC gaming to me, up to perhaps the late 90s. Junior high to just post high school. Doom, Doom 2, Wolfenstein 3D, Diablo, Starcraft, Shadows of Cairn, Red Baron, Dawn Patrol, Quake, Counter Strike, Half Life, Warcraft 2/3. This is how I, and many of my friends killed time, outside of SNES and Genesis. I know there is GoG, and DosBOX, which helps for a number of things (got about 20GB of GoG content)... but there is always something about using the real hardware isn't there? I'm pretty sure that my parents still have the Acer PC we had back around 1993 sitting in a closet somewhere. I didn't have much love for it, but the games were still good times. I know I have a Packard Bell (eek!) that I picked up dirt, dirt cheap ($10, in a lot of other parts that I needed at the time) some time ago sitting in storage that I could purpose for this sort of thing. I think it is a 100, or a 133MHz Pentium, but I could be wrong... I would have to check specs. I know it runs DOS (I think some flavor of 5), and Win 3.11. Could probably upgrade it to 6, and Win9x. Probably 98se. One of the things that I am curious about... is do the tricks used on the older, more classic type units also work on PCs? Using compact flash or SD in place of HDDs, and using things like a Gotek floppy emulator in place of an actual floppy drive to store, load disk images from etc.? I actually still have a few floppies, and a number of CDs from back then on hand that I could load in. Maybe nostalgia is hitting me hard. Maybe I just like to tinker with crap, and an older computer with components that cost a song these days is a pretty safe way to facilitate my desires to fiddle. I dunno. Lol. Sure had a lot of fun times with some of that stuff, and PCs have come a very long way since then.

So, the title kind of says it. I will not lie, I love me some real hardware. We all know that that isn't practical for everything. I also like gadgets, and computer stuff in general. Now, for the most part, I love me some arcade emulation. I can get a Pi 3 kit for something like $50, and there are add ons that will give it VGA out, and I think there is also component, native HDMI, among conversion options, and mods to do RGB. I am sorely tempted to pick one up. I'm already thinking that I need a USB arcade stick (want a Qanba Q1) to make the arcade feel a little more authentic... because reasons. A semi-dedicated discreet box doesn't seem like the worst thing ever. The more I mull it over, the more I think I have nothing to lose, aside from the cost of entry, which seems quickly mitigated by convenience, and space savings. Am I insane? Lol. The answer is yes... but am I insane for THIS reason?