can i do anything with this pc

[polaris]

its an old pentium with windows 95 on it , ive got an idea what software it can run.
im not clued up on building pc's and parts so i googled and think ive identified the following,
the keyboard is connected via 5 pin din and the mouse through a ps2 converter to 9 pin serial on the pc.
can i interface with the pc for mame purposes, am i limited to a hack for controls.
would be nice to use it up in a project.
cheers

[Ginsu Victim]

I hear ya. I was just given a 350 Mhz with 64 MB ram. I'd love to use it for something, but it's just so slow I can't think of what.

[polaris]

i was under the impression i could run an old mame version on there even if its just a few games or am i wrong there. its the hardware i understand even less

[Turnarcades]

Though most emulators will perform on low-end PC's, there comes a point where the spec makes it pointless. I've made good use of PC's down to PII spec (and I know many run a MAME 0.36 PC in small bartops etc.) but my lowest accepted useful spec is P3 or equivalent. Mainly cos they run XP easier so have less problems with software support, USB capability etc.

People know I use PC's a lot and kindly give me old parts all the time, but I usually just strip old PC's for cd drives, ram or spare ports.

[pmc]

You can try it. But you gotta want to tinker and learn a bunch of stuff to even bother.

I used to run classics on a PI MMX box. I replaced the PI with an AMD K6-2 and overclocked it. For most of the classics it was fine. Use Win98-SE or DOS and get a keyboard encoder that has a PS/2 interface on it. Get a simple adapter cable (like this) to go old-style 5-pin to PS/2. Run an old version of MAME (I used 0.36 or something close to that) and a matching romset. Or consider something made for an old machine like Vantage. You may be able to find optimized compiles for your particular CPU. It's all about speed and framerate so you'll want to optimize your configs and shut down everything in the OS that you don't need. Measure to be sure you are getting the right speed. Get the whole software thing working acceptably before you bother with a keyboard encoder.

I eventually replaced the PC with a fast one so I could run newer games and software. But the PI got me started for near zero dollars and I still use the same keyboard controller and controls that I used with that old PC.

I still have a 486 laptop that I always wanted to stuff into a bartop and run Vantage. But I'll probably never do it.

-pmc

[Jack Burton]

hell yeah, you can do a lot of things with it.

first off, you're probably not going to run Windows on a machine like that if you are doing emulation.  Pure Dos is the way to go. 

After that there are plenty of old emulators that should run just fine.  You should be able to get 100% speed out of some classic arcade games in MAME, in NeoRageX, Snes9x, and maybe one of the older NES emulators like RockNes or something.  Sure, the emulation might not be 100% accurate, but it's still a lot fun.

Also, if you must run an OS, try a stripped down version of Linux, it should be able to run much faster and perhaps allow you to compile one of the newer versions of MAME for greater accuracy.  It might even be a little faster than dos in some situations.

Plenty of life in those old machines if you just have a little patience and know how.

[evilfuzzle]

definately not worth the trouble though. i speak from experience, i tried to set up a network of 120 of these pentium one computers i was given to by my work for and i was a f'ing pain in the butt. i only tried to do it to see if i could. i wish i hadn't because i had the worst headache afterwards

[Jack Burton]

Well, I would say that setting up a network of 100 computers and installing MAME are kind in different areas of time and difficulty. 

These older computers aren't really much different to use than any modern computer to me. 

[evilfuzzle]

Well, I would say that setting up a network of 100 computers and installing MAME are kind in different areas of time and difficulty. 

These older computers aren't really much different to use than any modern computer to me. 

i meant that old computers are sucky for anything than word processing and they are really had to use and get working, they just aren't compatible with anything.

[polaris]

cheers for the input guys. im sure it wont be easy but i feel that i cant have much worse a pc than was used in the early projects of the hobby. if i can run five old mame games itll be worth not throwing a working pc out, ive got an old crt to go with it, so it screams, (heavy) bartop at me.
any ideas as to if i can avoid the keyboard hack, im kinda jumping very much in to the deep end here.
jack, i'll go with your suggestion of trying to compile the pc first, with dos or linux, this should be interesting.

[bigdog1977]

Would make a fantastic paper weight! 

[KeithD]

I run MAME .90 on a PII-700 with 384MB of RAM, Win98SE, and MaLa for a Front end. It runs all the old school classics quite nice and some of the newer stuff OK. This was an upgrade from the old AMD K6-2 500 at 192MB with 98 SE and arcadeos. The old one ran MAME .36b16 or some such. The only reason I upgraded was because the machine was free, and the ancient SCSI/Soundblaster ISA card that ran the CD drive died.

Try it out, and just keep stepping the mame version down until you find one that does what you want.; It's the first half of the fun of all of this.

KeithD

[pmc]

i meant that old computers are sucky for anything than word processing and they are really had to use and get working, they just aren't compatible with anything.

I completely disagree. These aren't WANG-branded 286 boxes. The PI class ATX machines are simple, very standards based, and cheap and easy to tinker with. You can cheaply load them up with storage and memory and you have several operating systems to choose from. The only real problem is getting enough speed out of the CPU for the kind of real-time gaming that we'd like to do with them. But you can easily replace the CPU with the fastest available and then overclock it to the max.

Those old machines have life left in them. But it is true that you have to be willing to tinker and learn. And to some, that's certainly not worth the time. But you can easily upgrade to a P2, P3, or P4 as soon as one appears on the curb somewhere.

any ideas as to if i can avoid the keyboard hack, im kinda jumping very much in to the deep end here.

Yes. Use a keyboard encoder with a PS/2 interface. I think the IPAC still comes that way. You can still use it with a modern PC if and when you upgrade.

-pmc

[Benevolance]

I'm using a couple 486 servers at home. Along with a nice 2" x 6" board, they make a very nice shelf.

[AwesomeAlbert]

sounds like a good candidate for spystyle's dos boot cd

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=58809.0

[polaris]

sounds like a good candidate for spystyle's dos boot cd

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=58809.0

thanks for that ill give it a blast.


its the keyboard interface im not sure about now

[AwesomeAlbert]

at to ps2 adapter..then use any ps2 keyboard encoder

i am/was in the same boat as you. i got a super old computer at a garage sale. i put some extra ram , spystyle's dos disk (someone here gave me a dos compatible sound card). got an AT to PS2 adapter. i put about 40 old school 4 way/2 way one button vertical games in it. going to put it in a dk cab. set up the computer to boot into dk, then push player 1/2 into game launcher.  the cab has been in storage for over a year !! i just need to buy a keyboard encoder or hack an old keyboard and make the cab look nice and pretty.

not a bad deal for a 5 dollar computer

[SirPeale]

VAntAGE.

[polaris]

VAntAGE.

i've had a look at this peale, looks perfect.
do i install this through windows then run it through command line, its a zip file so im assuming i cant do it straight through dos?

[IG-88]

Another vote for Spytyles Boot CD. The thing is pretty amazing.