Is a 486 (100mhz) with 32mb of RAM enough for VectorMame?

[shawnzilla]

I'm trying to find a simple little system for a Vector cab.  Is this enough to run all of the VectorMame games without a problem?

486 x100mhz
32MB of RAM

[Fozzy The Bear]

Good Grief!! Ancient Archialogical Artifacts!!

Nope! Sorry..... Especially with the current version of MAME... You don't stand a chance of running much at all with that relic.

You really need a minimum (a very bare minimum) of a 500Mhz P2 or P3. A 486 really won't hack it. Especially at that speed.

Best Regards,
Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

[JoyMonkey]

You're talking about Zektor's Vector Mame build, right?

I'd say that machine might just manage it, since Vector Mame is a tiny DOS build that only includes drivers/cpu's for vector games it won't need much horse-power at all. There's no way of saying for sure though, until you give it a go.


Edit: I just took a look at the 0.96 dvmame.exe, I extracted it with upx and it inflates to 3.2mb, so I think you've got enough memory to handle that. As for processor power required, I have no idea.

[Fozzy The Bear]

ZVG Actually list their minimum requirements as higher than even I suggested.

Hardware Requirements

PC Requirements:

800MHz or faster processor.
ECP Compatible Parallel Port.
DOS MAME Compatible Sound Card.

I think He needs to be looking for something a bit faster.

Best Regards,
Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

[JoyMonkey]

I'd imagine they stated 800mhz since that was the test system they used. I don't see why it would require that much speed. An ECP parallel port might be a problem though; I don't think 486 systems had ECP mode back then.

[Matthew Fisher]

In two words, very doubtful.  I am running vmame on a 700mHz Thunderbird with (I think) 512 mb ram and it slows down a bit in SW and ESB when things get busy on the screen.  I have heard of others having problems with even faster processors.  The long and short of it is that my 700mHz box is still not quite enough.  

On the other hand, my box has no problem running all the vector games on a raster monitor (except for Top Gunner, but that's a different issue), but driving the ZVG through the parallel port seems to take up a lot of cycles.  My worst slowdown is when the death star explodes in SW (LOTS of vectors) and yet mame says I'm still getting pretty much 30 fps.  So, mame is not slowing down but the combination of mame and the ZVG is bogging things down a bit, as far as I can tell.  

I am going to move up to a 1.6mHz AMD box I have sitting around when I finally get the awful taste of installing a PCI soundcard in the first one out of my mouth...  

[JoyMonkey]

In two words, very doubtful.  I am running vmame on a 700mHz Thunderbird with (I think) 512 mb ram and it slows down a bit in SW and ESB when things get busy on the screen...

This could be because you've got too much memory for a DOS system. Most versions of DOS don't know what to do with more than 64mb of physical memory and will actually have an adverse effect on performance if you've got more. Newer versions of DOS can utilize up to 128mb, but anything over that and you're giving your systems bus a headache.

[Matthew Fisher]

Hmmm...  I was aware of this ram problem but I could swear I found a DPMI version that allows use of the extra ram.

*Brief google pause* 

Here it is:

http://clio.rice.edu/djgpp/csdpmi6t.zip

Version 5 tops out at 512mb, but I guess the ram limit for this is 2gb, although I am nowhere near that...

[JoyMonkey]

Well I stand corrected! Nice find.

[missioncontrol]

Doesn't hurt to give it a try.... if it doesn't you spent a few hours trying....

Good Grief!! Ancient Archialogical Artifacts!!

Nope! Sorry..... Especially with the current version of MAME... You don't stand a chance of running much at all with that relic.

hey Fozzy The Bear some people here see mame as a way to give a new life to an old PC.

[Fozzy The Bear]

hey Fozzy The Bear some people here see mame as a way to give a new life to an old PC.

I agree with you completely.... But a 486 isn't going to run what he wants to run and as I said he doesn't stand a chance of running much at all on a 100Mhz 486. Certainly not the ZVG stuff driving a vector cabinet.

Yes he could run an earlier version of mame and run some of the early 80's Raster games... If he was into space invaders, pacman and defender type stuff then it'd handle that reasonably.  But he wants to run vector games which are processor intensive at the best of times.

P.S. Chill out!! try not to be so over sensitive.  Have a nice cup of tea and a chocolate biscuit.

Best Regards,
Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

[Matthew Fisher]

Well I stand corrected! Nice find.

I reread my last post and boy, do I sound like a know-it-all jerk!  That was not my intention at all.  I apologize for any offense, JoyMonkey.  I just lucked onto this little tidbit in my (ongoing) effort to squeeze more performance out of my computer.  

[shawnzilla]

Gosh, I didn't mean to start an argument!   

I do already have a PII 200mhz system that I have been using as a testbed coupled with a Vectrex as a monitor. Star Wars does run slow on it, but I that I thought it was more due to the Vectrex...guess I was wrong!

I just bought a WG 6100, so my vector plans are ramping up a bit. My main concern about getting a faster system (in the neighborhood of 1ghz or so) is that I'm never going to be able to get dos to work with a pci soundcard. (it'd be sweet if there were a Windoze version of VectorMame, so that this would cease to be an issue for us vector freaks).

[shawnzilla]

BTW Matt, you are the one who inspired me to build a vector machine. My wife will never forgive you for that....

[missioncontrol]

P.S. Chill out!! try not to be so over sensitive.  Have a nice cup of tea and a chocolate biscuit.

hehe..... me? sensitive? guess you may want to do a little homework there before you label people....

[Stingray]

I do already have a PII 200mhz system that I have been using as a testbed coupled with a Vectrex as a monitor.

Back up! How do you use a Vectrex as a monitor?

-S

[shawnzilla]

It's actually pretty cool (and easy) to do. It is seriously as if the Vectrex creators were thinking two decades ahead to us BYOACErs. They even included a perfect channel in the Vectrex for the monitor cable!

The full instructions for doing this are at www.zektor.com/zvg/ You do need to buy a special cable from Zonn to hook it up ($15).

Took me 20 minutes from start to finish to hook it up, and it is completely reversible if you want to play with your Vectrex games again.

I do already have a PII 200mhz system that I have been using as a testbed coupled with a Vectrex as a monitor.

Back up! How do you use a Vectrex as a monitor?

-S

[Matthew Fisher]

Gosh, I didn't mean to start an argument!   

My main concern about getting a faster system (in the neighborhood of 1ghz or so) is that I'm never going to be able to get dos to work with a pci soundcard. (it'd be sweet if there were a Windoze version of VectorMame, so that this would cease to be an issue for us vector freaks).

Amen, brother!  I finally got sound (SB 4.1 PCI, I believe) but am having a hell of a time with some of my controls.  Being able to use USB would be REALLY nice...  

Wow, good to know that I was an inspiration!  But now I have your wife AND mine mad at me...    Direct quote from wife: "That thing is nothing but a money pit."  

[Stingray]

That ZVG.com link is in German and there are no links on the page that I could find. My friend google found the instructions for me though.

http://www.zektor.com/zvg/downloads.htm

Thanks for the heads-up!

-S

[shawnzilla]

Whoops, I updated the link in my post.

I'd love to see someone make a vector bartop out of one of these.

That ZVG.com link is in German and there are no links on the page that I could find. My friend google found the instructions for me though.

http://www.zektor.com/zvg/downloads.htm

Thanks for the heads-up!

-S

[Fozzy The Bear]

Gosh, I didn't mean to start an argument!   

ROFL  Don't panic... you didn't.... Just a healthy debate. It's only an argument when people in here start throwing joysticks at each other.

Best Regards,
Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

[Matthew Fisher]

Gosh, I didn't mean to start an argument!   

ROFL  Don't panic... you didn't.... Just a healthy debate. It's only an argument when people in here start throwing joysticks at each other.

Best Regards,
Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

Fozzy, I've never read such an inspid, lame, worthless post!  (OK, now you can start throwing joysticks at me.  Just make sure they're Wico eight-way leafs and don't throw too hard...)

[Fozzy The Bear]

Gosh, I didn't mean to start an argument!   

ROFL  Don't panic... you didn't.... Just a healthy debate. It's only an argument when people in here start throwing joysticks at each other.

Best Regards,
Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

Fozzy, I've never read such an inspid, lame, worthless post!  (OK, now you can start throwing joysticks at me.  Just make sure they're Wico eight-way leafs and don't throw too hard...)

Nahhh! Only if you promise to throw a Happ Trackball back at me! LOL 

[shawnzilla]

Gosh, I didn't mean to start an argument!   

ROFL  Don't panic... you didn't.... Just a healthy debate. It's only an argument when people in here start throwing joysticks at each other.

Best Regards,
Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

Fozzy, I've never read such an inspid, lame, worthless post!  (OK, now you can start throwing joysticks at me.  Just make sure they're Wico eight-way leafs and don't throw too hard...)

Nahhh! Only if you promise to throw a Happ Trackball back at me! LOL 

Um...can someone throw a Spincade at me? 

[ArcadeMaze]

Hmmmmmm.......

This is interesting.  I am curious how many people on BYOAC are building or have built VectorMAME machines.


I think I'll start a poll.