DOS Games Discussion

Larry Laffer · Admin Joined: 19 Feb 2006 Posts: 3923 Location: Romania

Heh, I just bought 1x1GB last week, $50(DDR)... I call it a ripoff!

Neutrodyne · Posted: Fri May 30, 2008 12:13 am Post subject:

I have 4 copies of this ALS576 (1996 bios) mobo that I bought 10 of @ $5 each from the old Junkyard Dog Hard Drive house in '98. You'll remember him from the days of a Computer Shopper thicker than a New York phone book. Pentium MMX233 (undocumented clock jumper config) 64K RAM These are just about the last VX chipset boards. Slower but more compatable and reliable than some of the quicker, more finnicky chipsets. One runs WinME, for one reason: This is the last WIndows that recognises an AOL dialup connection as a real, shareable connection. SO that one connects and shares the connection through the wired and wireless networks. This has been my perfect firewall, I have never used antivirus that didn't either destroy my setup or slow things to a crawl. So I've never run it on any machine in the house and I've never had a virus (knock on wood).
The other one in service is my DOS box, same setup with a 3DFX Banshee video card. It's very good with accepting all VESA modes. And it's much faster than the best of the old 1 Meg cards. Soundblaster 16's, BTW. It runs that, um , no longer available DOS 7.1 I stumbled across a few years back. This replaced my AMD 486 DX120 that ran at 160 (untill the fan failed when I was out of the room....) and would boot at 200 but was a bit unstable.
The only weakness of this board is the clock/battery chip. I haven't had to take a dremel to one (to find the battery connections) yet but someday I know I will have to.
Due to a tragic error, my TWO, FULL 100 CD spindles of DOS games were in the wrong box during a rearrangement (When I became wheelchair bound). They were burned with the garbage. So I try and re-collect them.
I would presume to suggest to everyone running a DOS box, without spare mobo's in particular, to take the time to convert a NEW power supply to the AT standard connectors. 10-12 years is an eternity to the usually low grade, low temp rated capacitors in the power supply. Unless you can replace these (soldering inside the box), play it safe and convert a new PS. Electrolytic capacitors have been the #1 cause of failure and destruction in consumer electronics since the 1920's radios hit the market. They are better now, or I should say there are better caps available now but the typical 200-220 Watt AT power supply used the cheapest parts , not the best. Sure some will go 50 years but just one short and you mobo might be in flames. Just a suggestion from my experiences.
Sorry to rattle on so. I'm glad I found this site, I think I will enjoy it a lot.Thanks to the people responsible, your efforts are appreciated.

dosraider · Posted: Fri May 30, 2008 5:26 am Post subject:

Welcome @DGForum Neutrodyne.
Happy

Kilo Bravo · Posted: Fri Oct 31, 2008 8:34 am Post subject:

Sorry if I didn't care to read the each post one by one, but who's got a 486 DX100 here?

I always wanted to get my hands on one since I tinkered with a IBM PC/XT some twenty years ago...

mike4jc · Newbie Joined: 22 Nov 2008 Posts: 1

Yes, I remember the 486DX-100 days. I still have a couple of old PC's laying around. I have a Pentium 60MHz which I use for old DOS games. I find that old DOS games run much better in real DOS than in a DOS emulator or DOSBox. I have two other older PC's I will be getting rid of soon. Just got to clean out the closet to get to them. One is a 486DX-50MHz and the other is a 486DX-2-50MHz.

leeqq · Newbie Joined: 04 Dec 2008 Posts: 1 Location: New Zealand

I have a Pentium 75Mhz with 16 Mb Ram and 540 Mb hard disk running windows 3.1,
I have a 133Mhz AMD with 32 Mb Ram a 4 Gig hard disk and a 1.2 Hard disk with 4 usb ports running win 98,
I have a Macintosh Performa 5260 with a 120Mhz Processor 24 Mb Ram and 1.6 Gig hard disk running Mac Os 8.1,
I have a PowerMac 8500 with a G3 300Mhz Processor 64 Mb Ram and 2 1.2 Gig hard disks running Mac Os 9.1,

I Inherited the above computers from the school I go to about 1-2 years ago

I have a 2001 computer with a 866Mhz Pentium 3 256 Mb Ram and a 20 Gig hard disk running windows Me,

My cousin gave me the above computer this year

I have a Dell Optiplex 280gx with 3.0 Ghz Pentium 4 1 Gig Ram 40 Gig hard disk running windows Xp,

I got the above computer for helping the computer guy out at school

I have a Commodore Amiga 500+ with about 10-20 working disks, about 100 don't work anymore

This computer died at the start of the millenium and is now operational again Laughing

as the internal battery has died