Author Topic: Old computers (Read 2290 times)

IG-88 · « **on:** July 22, 2004, 10:24:52 am »

I have several old computers (8-9) that are in the 166 - 233 mhz cpu range and have anywhere from 48 -128 mb of ram that need to be put to use. I had thought of making bartops out of them and running older games. They need HD's but other than that work fine. Any advice on software to use on them? Are they even worth the effort? What do you all think?

zaphod · « **Reply #1 on:** July 22, 2004, 10:30:10 am »

They are definitely worth salvaging. My software recommendation is Vantage and ArcadeOS run over DOS. I have a P75 in my BarCade and it runs all the Vantage games perfectly. I believe there is only 32MB onboard. You can get by with a very small HD, too. 350meg would be plenty large enough.

IG-88 · « **Reply #2 on:** July 22, 2004, 10:34:06 am »

Vantage? Never heard of it. Got a link?

Anything but DOS!

Really tho I should take some time (alot) and learn a little more of DOS.

IG-88 · « **Reply #3 on:** July 22, 2004, 10:47:20 am »

Never mind on the link, I found it. Looks interesting....

Bgnome · « **Reply #4 on:** July 22, 2004, 10:55:18 am »

mame on those machines is really limited to either DOS or possibly Linux. i think linux would have the steeper learning curve and be harder to set up..

SirPeale · « **Reply #5 on:** July 22, 2004, 11:03:04 am »

Yeah, I'd say use VAntAGE, but then again I'm kinda biased.

IG-88 · « **Reply #6 on:** July 22, 2004, 11:19:25 am »

Quote from: Peale on July 22, 2004, 11:03:04 am

Yeah, I'd say use VAntAGE, but then again I'm kinda biased.

Hey Peale,

Would you be willing to help the comp. illiterate set this bad boy up? I'm not to comfortable with command line anything..... although I will read the vantage word text today.

SirPeale · « **Reply #7 on:** July 22, 2004, 11:25:42 am »

It's not unlike setting up Mame. ROMs go in the ROM folder, samples go in SOUNDS, and you run a game

C:\VANTAGE> vantage gamename

IG-88 · « **Reply #8 on:** July 22, 2004, 11:38:35 am »

So can I use the same ROMS and samples that I use for MAME as long as they are supported in Vantage?

MrBond · « **Reply #9 on:** July 22, 2004, 11:48:17 am »

What is the crapiest system that you can run Vantage on?

IG-88 · « **Reply #10 on:** July 22, 2004, 11:50:23 am »

I also have an old 80486dx that I thought wasn't even worth mentioning. Maybe I'll give it a try also.....

zaphod · « **Reply #11 on:** July 22, 2004, 01:48:51 pm »

Quote from: MrBond on July 22, 2004, 11:48:17 am

What is the crapiest system that you can run Vantage on?

I seem to remember on the Vantage site it listing frame rates for 486 machines that were over 30fps. I would imagine most anything you still have (within reason, of course

) would run it. Very nice emulator!

IG-88 · « **Reply #12 on:** July 22, 2004, 02:29:29 pm »

Quote from: zaphod on July 22, 2004, 01:48:51 pm

I seem to remember on the Vantage site it listing frame rates for 486 machines that were over 30fps. I would imagine most anything you still have (within reason, of course ) would run it. Very nice emulator!

Ya, it seems like a cool set-up. I wonder what kind of O/S you run on these old systems? I know XP won't even boot. How much memory does 98se take. I got a copy of win95. hmm...

Chris · « **Reply #13 on:** July 22, 2004, 02:33:22 pm »

Quote from: IG-88 on July 22, 2004, 02:29:29 pm

Quote from: zaphod on July 22, 2004, 01:48:51 pm

I seem to remember on the Vantage site it listing frame rates for 486 machines that were over 30fps. I would imagine most anything you still have (within reason, of course ) would run it. Very nice emulator!

Ya, it seems like a cool set-up. I wonder what kind of O/S you run on these old systems? I know XP won't even boot. How much memory does 98se take. I got a copy of win95. hmm...

DOS, man... DOS. Why would you even think of putting Windows on one of those for a single emulator?

IG-88 · « **Reply #14 on:** July 22, 2004, 02:45:57 pm »

Quote from: Chris on July 22, 2004, 02:33:22 pm

DOS, man... DOS. Why would you even think of putting Windows on one of those for a single emulator?

Probably cause I don't know a freakin' thing about DOS. But maybe it's time I learned. I guess I kinda like the ease of point and click. Maybe I'm more part of the generation 'gimme' than I thought.

zaphod · « **Reply #15 on:** July 22, 2004, 02:49:49 pm »

DOS 6 is what I have on it. Another option is FreeDos and I know there are other, equally fine, alternatives. But Windows is not an alternative! My cab boots to the ArcadeOS game screen in less than 15 seconds. When I exit ArcadeOS, I just click the power button and the cab is safely shut down.

If you aren't a DOS expert, do I like I did and find a buddy who works for beer.

IG-88 · « **Reply #16 on:** July 22, 2004, 02:54:44 pm »

Um, my beer drinkin' buddies know even less than I do when it comes to this stuff. They just figured out the touch-tone phone thing.

What kind of beer do you like?

RayB · « **Reply #17 on:** July 22, 2004, 02:57:17 pm »

Listen. DOS is what they used to teach in Computing 101 class. If newbies can be taught it, then a Windows user can be taught it.

All it is is simple commands to do things, like:

COPY
RENAME
MD (make a directory)
CD (change directory)
.. (back up one directory)

etc
it will take you all of 2 hours to get up to speed.

Just don't touch the 'FORMAT' command

IG-88 · « **Reply #18 on:** July 22, 2004, 03:02:06 pm »

Good point. Well I guess it's off to see what I can find out about it....

Chris · « **Reply #19 on:** July 22, 2004, 03:06:52 pm »

The hardest part of DOS is finding sound and video drivers for your hardware. Realize also that you don't have hardware stretch available in DOS, so you'll want a driver that provides a large number of low-res options. This means Scitech Display Doctor.

JoyMonkey · « **Reply #20 on:** July 22, 2004, 03:14:34 pm »

I think I have a zip file somewhere that contains a simple DOS cab setup with ArcadeOS and Vantage. I'll email it to you if it'd be any help, all you'll need to do is format a hard-drive and extract the contents onto the drive (and find roms to put on there of course).
You'll probably still need to setup your soundcard, unless it's the same soundcard I've been using.

IG-88 · « **Reply #21 on:** July 22, 2004, 03:19:59 pm »

Quote from: JoyMonkey on July 22, 2004, 03:14:34 pm

I think I have a zip file somewhere that contains a simple DOS cab setup with ArcadeOS and Vantage. I'll email it to you if it'd be any help, all you'll need to do is format a hard-drive and extract the contents onto the drive (and find roms to put on there of course).
You'll probably still need to setup your soundcard, unless it's the same soundcard I've been using.

That would be extremely helpful. And come to think of it not all my machines have soundcards anyways. What are you using?

I'll PM you my email addy

MrBond · « **Reply #22 on:** July 25, 2004, 01:24:16 pm »

Not exactly what you are talking about, but similar, just for general knowledge. Here is a bootable iso image that you can burn to a cd and place in your cd-rom drive during bootup. It will install Mame and ArcadeOS to your specifications. Obviously it won't work in ALL situations, but I had luck with it when I tried it a long time ago (I have since gone winxp with 3-d arcade as a frontend). It formats your harddrive too if you need that done. (basically all the DOS gruntwork is done for you)
http://members.cox.net/mame1/download.htm

EndTwist · « **Reply #23 on:** July 25, 2004, 07:20:42 pm »

Just as a side note here, I was able to run VAntAGE on an old Pentium, 60mhz, with frameskip=1 or something like that. Not bad for something so crappy.

SirPeale · « **Reply #24 on:** July 25, 2004, 08:53:26 pm »

I can run it on a 486 DX4/100 with no problems. Only a couple games it doesn't like. Gunsmoke comes to mind.

Chris · « **Reply #25 on:** July 25, 2004, 09:21:37 pm »

Hey, Peale... I don't suppose you've tried DOSCab Jukebox on that 486, have you? I'm dying to know how low of a machine it'll run on...

--Chris

SirPeale · « **Reply #26 on:** July 25, 2004, 10:30:47 pm »

Sorry, Chris, I haven't played with your program @ all, I'm afraid. But on your request I will.

IG-88 · « **Reply #27 on:** July 25, 2004, 11:31:47 pm »

Quote from: MrBond on July 25, 2004, 01:24:16 pm

Not exactly what you are talking about, but similar, just for general knowledge. Here is a bootable iso image that you can burn to a cd and place in your cd-rom drive during bootup. It will install Mame and ArcadeOS to your specifications. Obviously it won't work in ALL situations, but I had luck with it when I tried it a long time ago (I have since gone winxp with 3-d arcade as a frontend). It formats your harddrive too if you need that done. (basically all the DOS gruntwork is done for you)
http://members.cox.net/mame1/download.htm

Thank you very much! I will be trying that as soon as all my HD's come in. I'm wondering tho, what the minimum specs would be to run it? Do you 'spose a couple of my Pent 1 & 2's will handle it? Or even my old 486? Or should I stick too my original Vantage & ArcadeOS plan that JoyM is so kindly helping me with on all of them?

EndTwist · « **Reply #28 on:** July 26, 2004, 08:03:38 am »

IMHO, stick with VAntAGE for the 486 and P1, the P2 can handle MAME 0.36 if its ~300mhz. Anything less, stick to VAntAGE.

IG-88 · « **Reply #29 on:** July 26, 2004, 09:24:29 am »

They are all 233mhz and less. I will try Fraggal's Mame Installer CD when and if I get some "newer"

models.

SirPeale · « **Reply #30 on:** July 26, 2004, 10:17:09 am »

nb: EndTwist, have you done any additional work on VAntAGE?


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