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bfutrel

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Posts posted by bfutrel


  1. For me the oldest machine that I have seen in use is a generic PC at work that controls our HVAC system.

     

    Pentium 66mhz

    48MB RAM

    1.2 GB hard drive

    OS/2 Warp V3

     

    It was installed around 1994-1995. While the HVAC would run without it the machine allows temperatures to be adjusted. Of course we have no manuals to the software on the computer. While there is Windows software available it requires upgrading all of the sensors in the building. Until that is done I'll keep it going.

     

    When we moved in that 1.2GB hard disk was extremely noisy. I cloned the drive to a couple of 2GB industrial-grade Compact Flash cards and have one of them connected to a Compact Flash to IDE adapter. So far so good and I have a spare in case the CF card dies.

     

    It crashes every once in a while when using the HVAC software. Otherwise it is pretty solid.

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  2. That is the correct type of drive, but the cable shown is for an IDE hard disk. The floppy drive cable has 34 wires and will have a twist in it just before the end that is connected to the drive. There should also be a connector on the motherboard of your PC that has the same number of pins as the floppy drive does.

     

    More recent computers don't have the connector on the motherboard to connect a floppy drive to.


  3. While I don't have a console, I play indie games on the PC.

     

    Some of my favorites:

     

    The Binding of Issac - Roguelike/Zeldaish game

    Dungeons of Dredmor - another Roguelike game

    Darwinia - reminds me a bit of Powermonger

    Botanicula - point-and-click adventure/puzzle game

     

    While I have these installed via Steam, I bought them through several Humble Bundles. Buying them that way you also get Linux, Mac and Windows versions and they don't have any DRM.


  4. post-22364-0-25118100-1318742431_thumb.jpg

     

    That is a Voodoo2 3D card with what looks like 12MB of video memory. It requires a cable to connect VGA output from the video card to the back of this card. The cable for the monitor then connects to the other VGA connector on the card. The card itself is not capable of 2d graphics and requires a standard video card for that. If you had a second card with the SLI (I think that's what it was called) connector, you could join them together to split the 3D workload.

     

    It's quite nice for older games that don't support Direct3D or OpenGL.

     

    It's been a while, but I thought the Voodoo2 was an OpenGL card, that's why the Quake guys were into them?

     

    I believe it does a subset of OpenGL. Sorry about the mix-up.


  5. post-22364-0-25118100-1318742431_thumb.jpg

     

    That is a Voodoo2 3D card with what looks like 12MB of video memory. It requires a cable to connect VGA output from the video card to the back of this card. The cable for the monitor then connects to the other VGA connector on the card. The card itself is not capable of 2d graphics and requires a standard video card for that. If you had a second card with the SLI (I think that's what it was called) connector, you could join them together to split the 3D workload.

     

    It's quite nice for older games that don't support Direct3D or OpenGL.


  6. Plants vs Zombie isn't doable for me at the moment. I know nothing about the game, and i can't run it on my PC due to me only being able to afford a crappy pc.

     

    I'm not sure how 'crappy' your PC is, but I've run that game on an Atom D410 single-core processor (1.6ghz) and Intel's built-in graphics. Those two items aren't exactly known for speed. :) It's not that resource hungry.


  7. I also got a palm with symbol reader for $4.

    post-7833-128850774925_thumb.jpgpost-7833-128850792894_thumb.jpgpost-7833-128850794566_thumb.jpg

     

    I need a docking port for it now. It does not look like a palm standard one.

    post-7833-128850804615_thumb.jpg

     

    This handheld is a Symbol PPT-2800. It's definitely not a Palm device, but a Windows PocketPC one. My employer has developed software for it in the past so I know a bit about it. It's not bad but has a grayscale display and is a little slower than the color PPT-8800 models.


  8. I try not to be a duct-tape programmer, hopefully writing my code to make sense and liberally adding comments to explain what things do. There have been instances where I have had to go back through my code 3 or 4 years later to correct something and those comments were a lifesaver!

     

    There have also been moments where I look through code written by someone who used to work with me and my first thought was what the heck!


  9. That's a smexy looking little device! Not a fan of the d-pad, though.

     

    The individual buttons aren't too bad. Then again I have big hands. :)

     

    So far I've tried it with Toki, Heavy Barrel, Galaga, Galaxian (Japanese only), Donkey Kong Classics and Tetris - all NES games. They all play OK, but hitting the diagonals in Heavy Barrel is a little difficult sometimes.


  10. While not a thrift store find, I thought it was interesting.

     

    Computer Geeks has a sale going on, and I picked up a 2GB MP3/MP4/gaming device.

     

    post-7758-12803229719_thumb.jpg

     

    It also plays NES, GameBoy and GameBoy Color ROM files. While I have never owned an actual NES, it's not too bad. It just takes a little while to get used to the separate buttons for movement.


  11. My wife works at a community center with a food bank and a clothing warehouse and found a Wico Command Control joystick in a box of donations. Total cost: a can of tuna. I am pleased with how well it works, but the connector is a tight fit in mr Jr. I have never used one of these before; the joystick rotates 180 degrees, is this intended to be used as a paddle or it that just to reorient the fire button location?? Morgan

     

    The rotation does nothing - it just orients the fire button.


  12. Diablo Battle Chest - $9.99

    Complete with all discs, instructions, strategy guide and catalog. Didn't know there were board games or books based on their games....

     

    post-7758-1278437625_thumb.jpg

     

    Radeon 7500 64MB DDR AGP video card - $9.99

    Have not tried the card to see if it works. It looks unused. I know it's not the fastest thing in the world, but for what I play it's fine.

     

    post-7758-127843763378_thumb.jpg


  13. Found the following at one of the local thrift stores:

     

    Playstation 1 bare with video cable, no controllers or power cable: $4.99

     

    My older niece and nephew bought a PS1 from a yard sale. Everything worked except the left controller jack. I bought this one to either replace it or get it working.

     

    Diablo II for PC/Mac: $2.99

     

    I can find the Diablo II battle pack for $30, but I just wanted the game itself.

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