70s-90s retro computer gaming general

/balt/

Many 3.5" floppies of old games have been corrupted by magnetic entropy and are no longer able to install their game.

Are these discs fucked forever or can you rewrite them with floppy images of the game?

>>3165008
I'm pretty sure any retro PC game worth anything has been archived and uploaded online by now.

>>3165016
He's unironically asking if you an take a damaged, trashed disk and rewrite it.

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Not sure if this is the thread to ask in, but it seems best to me:

I've been trying to rediscover some games from my childhood that I used to play on the library computers at my elementary school, but I can't remember what they're called, and google is apparently intentionally obstructive (or I'm just bad at it)

I just (re)discovered Tunnels of Armageddon, which I played the shit out, but there's a couple others I can't find.

The first is a vector drawn game where you wander around a castle and try to find all the "pentacles" and fend off "ghosts" by throwing rocks at them.
Your health was indicated by a barbell and you picked up cheese wedges to regain it.
Also, there was a drawn frame that looked like a castle, and if you clicked the windows in the frame, you would crouch, walk or run.
Really loved it.

And the second was an adventure game a la Shadowgate. I really don't remember too much about this one, but here goes:
You wander around a mansion during the first part, and you can go down in the basement, but you would randomly run into this huge werewolf/dog thing.
Then you find a secret room with a fake woman in it and you later swap her for a real woman who is about to be thrown into a volcano.

Not much to go on, I know, but my nostalgia demands it.

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>>3165167 here.
Continued researching on my own and I discovered Total Eclipse.

It looked like the first game I couldn't find, played the same way. This led me to discover the Freescape engine, which Total Eclipse and a lot of other early 3D games were built on.

And right there, on the wikipedia page for the Freescape engine was...

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>>3165250
CASTLE MASTER!

Hot damn.

I wasted so much homework time. It was one of my favorite games ever.

My favorite is Doom

>>3164860
>manic miner
I think I only got to the third stage. Once.

https://desustorage.org/vr/thread/3072301/#3164510

Continued from here.

Some Tandy 1000 models such as the SX and TX had turbo mode and could be switched between 4.77Mhz and 8Mhz via the MODE command in DOS or else by pressing a key combo at bootup. The 1400s had a setup program that could be used to get it to boot in either fast or slow mode.

The original DOS the 1400LT shipped with was Tandy DOS 3.30.

It's important to only use the proper OS for your particular Tandy because all of them had differences. The 1000/1000A originally shipped with DOS 2.11, they can be used with Tandy DOS up to 3.30. 1000SX/TX had DOS 3.20, they can be used with 3.30 however will mistake 3.5" drives for 5.25" (DRVPARM fixes this) and you may corrupt your hard disk with DOS 3.30 if one is present (if you don't have a hard disk, this is not an issue). Supposedly Radio Shack did not recommend using anything but DOS 3.20 on the SX.

>>3165086
There is no physical damage to the disk. It just needs for its magnetization to be refreshed. I don't see why it wouldn't work.

This technique is good if you have a complete boxed retro PC game to sell and you want to be sure the buyer is able to install.

3.5" media in general is less reliable than 5.25" media and disks made after 1995 are complete pieces of shit that you can hold up to a light and see through (thinner magnetic coating).

>>3165320
>I don't see why it wouldn't work.

You're presuming the disks are merely losing their magnetic encoding, but there's more than one consequence to entropy.

The media itself degrades over time, as well as with use since the heads in a floppy drive make physical contact with the media. The magnetic layer breaks down. Not only does it not want to take a new recording anymore, but the action of the r/w heads swiping across the surface can grind it away rather quickly once it has become old and crumbly.

There's just no saving a floppy once it's too far gone. You need to write a new one. New 3.5" and 5.25" floppies are actually still made, although they're very niche items.

For the same reason when attempting to preserve data on an old floppy, you want to do it in a single read with proper equipment, like a with a Kryoflux and a properly maintained drive.

>>3165430
>New 3.5" and 5.25" floppies are actually still made, although they're very niche items

Yeah, you can get just about anything from China. It's usually shit that will not work or damage something, but you can get it.

Besides, most major retro platforms have Flash floppy emulators for them now.

>>3165430
Ok. What kind of maintenance should be done on floppy drives and how often?

What lasts longer for storage before failing: IDE era hard drives or CD-R discs?

>>3165437

Athana still manufactures in the US.

There are hundreds of thousands of industrial machines out there that are still reliant on floppies, and obsolescence of floppies in the _consumer_ market isn't a good enough reason to replace these machines when they represent a large investment and still work perfectly fine.

Given that these machines are often critical for production it's unlikely their owners would buy unreliable disks from sketchy suppliers.

>>3165480
>Ok. What kind of maintenance should be done on floppy drives and how often?
Your drive heads will with enough use get ground down by the magnetic media rubbing them just as the heads in a tape deck or VCR would. Get a Flash floppy emulator and use that in your retro systems instead; this is the 21st century.
>What lasts longer for storage before failing: IDE era hard drives or CD-R discs?
Hard disks usually end up succumbing to overheating. CD-Rs in general are not as reliable as a factory-pressed CD because of the nature of how they're written.

>inb4 Taiyo Yuden meme CDs

Yeah maybe in 2002. All CD-Rs you can buy now are cheap shit that dies in two uses just like post-1995 floppy disks.

>>3165490
They flipping still use 8 inch disks for our nuclear missiles!

>>3165439

They're not always an option. Some systems use wonky formats or do wonky things over the controller that the emulator can't emulate.

>>3165480

Cleaning and lubrication mainly, and not very often unless the environment isn't very clean. You may also need to perform head alignment, replace worn gears or caps. Some drives are more finicky than others.

IDE HDD, by far. The dye in most CD-Rs degrades quite rapidly even under ideal conditions compared to how long a HDD will retain its magnetic information in storage.

>>3165501

AFAIK Athana is the military supplier for the US. You can find their disks in army surplus shops sometimes.

>>3165514
A lot of that though involves copy protection that has been cracked and is no longer an issue, besides the main offenders for this are Apple and Commodore drives but then I suppose anyone designing an emulator for those would take that into consideration.

>>3165514
>You may also need to perform head alignment

If you know anything about 80s-90s PCs, you'd probably hear that writing a 5.25" 360k disk in a 1.2MB drive may render it unreadable in a real 360k drive.

From reading old Usenet posts I found out that this isn't an ironclad law and it can vary depending on the brand of drive used and the alignment of the heads. Apparently the 1.2MB drives included on the original IBM AT were quite bad with writing disks that a 360k drive can't read. Also Teac 1.2MB drives are guaranteed to write 360k disks safely since they had double-width heads.

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>>3165514
>>3165501
That's nice you can still get new 8" media because the beast needs to be fed.

>>3165536
TBF I don't think any of the retro computers that collectors commonly have use 8 inch media.

>>3165536
IDK what you'd do if the CRT bit it though.

>>3165580
The CRT in all of the TRS-80s is a standard RCA B&W 12" TV tube. This is one of the most common CRT types in existence so there should be no problem replacing it if need be.

>>3165496
Mind you that 3.5" desktop PC drives went downhill in quality in the late 90s along with the media. Some of them removed the jumper pins needed for drive number selection and I remember reading about one Hitachi (?) 1.44MB drive that was only rated for about 30 uses.

>>3165536
Some collectors prefer to replace the original 8" drive with a 3.5" one although writing system disks is still a problem because the Model II expects the boot track to be single density.

>>3165536
>>3165567
I mean, who da fug collects computers where the most exciting software on there is an inventory program written in COBOL.

>>3165496
>Hard disks usually end up succumbing to overheating

Today's hard disks are way more reliable than 80s-90s ones btw. Some MFM drives had an average life expectancy of about 2 years.

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>>3165516
This is supposed to be able to accommodate all the standard PC floppy formats and also custom ones, but then again PC floppies do not and cannot do all the wacky stuff you saw on Apple II and Commodore disks.

I am thinking to buy a vintage home computer this time instead of another console.

Tell me what home computers whether Euro, Jap, or Murkan did NOT have any fan in the power supply?

I want it to be silent like my retro consoles.

>>3165764
No 8-bit computers had a case fan as they don't get hot enough to need it.

I don't really see a major need for a USB floppy emulator on a PC though if I did have an Apple II, I'd probably get one in part to make it easier to get files onto the thing.

>>3165764

Do you have guenine interest in that kind of stuff or do you think it'll be just like your consoles and you'll just get games here and there to play them and that's it?

>>3165767

The PC-8801, and maybe some Sharp MZ models had one for it's PSU.

>>3164860

>Allowed only with reluctance : Late 90s games and computers, Pentium PCs or more, PPC Macs and up, Windows 95 and later
>Not allowed : Anything released after January 1, 2000. Fuck off.

I should have reminded the OP in the previous thread to replace that shit with what was written in the other previous threads. I still have no idea why the previous OP though it was a good idea.

>>3165536
"The Model II, which went on sale in October 1979, marked Tandy's attempt to expand into the business market. Unlike the primitive Model I, the Model II was an advanced computer for the time featuring a detachable serial keyboard, vectored interrupts, and DMA. The computer sported one internal 8" floppy drive, which was single-sided, soft-sectored, and double density, storing 500k per disk. Up to three external floppy drives could be attached or a 5MB hard disk. RAM configurations comprised either 32k or 64k. Two expansion slots were included inside the Model II for various options such as additional RS-232 ports or a video board that allowed bitmap graphics. To give the Model II a professional, as opposed to a home computer, feel, BASIC was not included in ROM and had to be loaded from disk. Indeed the entire system OS, including the BIOS, was loaded from disk and the only ROM included with the machine was a small boot loader."

"The Model II was not as big a success in the professional business market as Tandy had hoped, although it was said to be one of the main inspirations behind the IBM PC. It was succeeded by the Model 6 in 1982."

>>3165821
>The Model II was not as big a success in the professional business market as Tandy had hoped

Well that's what you get for not making it CP/M-compatible and using 8" floppies instead of the already more common 5"1/4 ones.

>>3165774
>Apple II
>get files onto the thing

>>3165829
Vat. Model IIs are 100% fully CP/M compatible. You're thinking of the Model I/III.

>>3165850

Well you're right, it's the model III that wasn't running a standard CP/M. Still, the 8" floppy drive seems like it's a mistake though.

>>3165496
>Hard disks usually end up succumbing to overheating.

MFM and 5"1/4 IDE ones maybe, SCSI and 3"1/2 IDE ones? Not unless they're running several days without shuting down in a non-ventilated case.

>>3165857
The standard CP/M distro for Model IIs was known as Pickles & Traut CP/M (after the guys who ported it) and seems to have been quite popular at the time. Model Is and IIIs notably could only run customized CP/M software because they put the VRAM where the Transient Program Area normally begins (Model 4s are compatible with standard CP/M).

As to the 8" floppies, it was fairly standard for the professional market that they were targeting, also they were kind enough to use soft sector MFM instead of hard sector disks or some crap like that which makes it easier to write Model II disks on a PC and also replace the original disk drive with a 3.5" floppy if desired.

>>3165903
I actually did use a 386 with a 70MB 5.25" IDE drive. It vibrated like (insert obscene comparison) and did get pretty toasty. I used to call the thing "The Bathtub" because of its shape.

>>3165906
>and also replace the original disk drive with a 3.5" floppy if desired

Wait, you can do that?

>>3165925
Ha ha, of course. The Model II has essentially the same floppy controller as a PC, so you can stick any ordinary 1.44MB drive on there with an edge connector -> pin header adapter. You also will have to remember to set the drive number select jumpers on the back of the drive because Model IIs don't have the IBM cable twist and do things the old-fashioned way (some shitty Chinese 3.5" drives from the late 90s onward don't have the drive select jumpers).

If done, it will function essentially like the original 8" drive, meaning you can only use one side of the disk at 500k.

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Here's a Model III that's had this treatment.

>>3165934
Same goes for the TRS-80 CoCo, I think. At least the floppy drive I have for it is literally two TEAC 5.25 inch drives in a metal case.

>>3165934
>If done, it will function essentially like the original 8" drive, meaning you can only use one side of the disk at 500k.

This is purely a limitation of the OS software on the Model II. It can be rewritten, if you're so inclined, to support accessing both sides of the floppy for 1MB of storage.

>>3165950
Model IIIs had single sided Tandons; these are the same drive type found in IBM PCs (except the ones produced for IBM had the IBM logo on the faceplate). The Model 4 had double sided drives. These even used the same format as PCs (180k/360k) with only the file system being different (there were programs available to read TRS-DOS disks on a PC).

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Osbourne 1. These appear to be the same floppy drives as the IBM PC, but they're not. These are made by Siemens and were custom-built for the Osbourne. Specifically, they don't have a separate power connector, but one cable carrying both the data and power lines (similar to the setup on IBM PS/2s). Therefore if you wanted to replace these with a 3.5" or whatever drive, you'd need a splitter cable to separate the power lines.

The Osbourne 1 had quite puny storage abilities; it shipped with only single-sided disk drives and a single density controller. The OS supported formatting disks at just 90k, although a double density upgrade was offered later. Even worse is trying to write its disks on a PC because PC support for single density was hit-or-miss. Some floppy controllers support it, others don't.

Some video game soundtracks using various FM chips (OPNA, OPM, OPLL):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQiNsHCftjU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7Ec6UbzNqg (gotta love that intro tune. When I listen to it, I alway think about that MSX convention video, where someone was blasting it through his loudspeakers thanks to his imported Panasonic machine)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zV31dIJYVIU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSBP2QsZTzw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DN3xoHhYEFE

>>3166139
They're Siemens FD-100s which were actually made by an American drive manufacturer that Siemens bought out. Siemens made decent drives in of themselves, but most likely they got a deal with Osborne for price reasons. Osborne actually just bought the bare drive mechanisms and slapped their own proprietary controller board on them; these drives were unreliable due to some quite half-assed soldering on the boards.

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The classic Shugart SA-400. Early Apple II disk drives used Shugarts, after about a year they switched to cheaper Newtronics units.

>>3164860

What's a good price range for a functional C64 with monitor and floppy drive included?

>>3168057
>monitor
Not needed. You can plug the shit into any TV.
>and floppy drive
http://www.1541ultimate.net/

Get one of these instead.

>>3168073

Then the price range for a breadbin C64?

>>3168121
Go look on Ebay and decide what you think is a fair price.

>>3168035
I believe the SA-400 was the first 5.25" drive to market. Apple used a customized unit with the stock controller board replaced by their own boards (which had just four ICs on it) and the Apple logo stamped on the faceplate. Shugart also introduced the pull-down drive door that became standard on most 5.25" drives until Newtronics came out with the twist lever mechanism in around 1984.

The original SA-400 was a 35 track drive and with a few adjustments could work with either hard or soft sector controllers. At this time most floppy controllers were FM single density (>100k per disk), but Steve Wozniak designed an interface that allowed 140k per disk and minimal circuitry. In retrospect, Apple's design seemed kind of silly since the price of double density controllers dropped not long after the Disk ][ was introduced.

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8" drives normally used a stepper motor powered directly off the AC current; the motor spins constantly as long as power is applied to it unlike 5.25" and 3.5" drives which only spin the motor when the disk is being accessed. The reason for this apparently was the higher torque needed to spin the large 8" disks inside their jacket. Early 8" drives would have the heads in contact with the drive as long as the door was closed; due to the continuously spinning motor, the magnetic media would literally get ground right off the disk surface so eventually this problem was solved by adding a solenoid to retract the heads when disk access was not taking place.

Full height 5.25" drives normally had the heads in contact with the media as long as the door was closed although most manufacturers could include a solenoid if the customer requested. The Tandon TM-100s used in IBM PCs never had solenoids in them although the drive could support one.

8" drives usually always had a sliding door and release button (seen here) but many later ones made in the mid-80s onward had Newtronics-style twist levers.

>>3168057

Don't pay more than 15 bucks for the monitor, that's what it's worth (even though it's a pretty good composite and Y/C monitor). As for the floppy drive, you can find one between 15 and 35 bucks from the US.

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Can we actually discuss what we're really all here for instead of this boring-ass shit about floppy disks?

>>3168542

If you wanna discuss about games then post something that will start a game-related discussion. If you wanna discuss about hardware stuff then post something that will start a hardware-related discussion. But if you just want to complain about anons discussing stuff that don't interest you then you might as well just fuck off.

Anyway, I kinda like Alpha's record tune:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3iPt3RRBGI

>>3165934
Supposedly the IBM cable twist came about because the power supply in the IBM PC was only 63w so trying to power two full-height disk drives at once would have been too much for it. The cable twist ensured that only one drive motor could be operating at a time.

>>3167907
Also the combined power/data cable which led to overheating issues. I've heard a lot of stories about IBM PS/2 floppies biting the dust apparently because they also used this setup. There used to be a spammer on /vr/ when the board first started who'd make the same post literally dozens of times about his PS/2 Model 30 that he said the floppy drive didn't work so he used a null modem cable to put files on it.

>>3165430
Ok what about cassette tapes for systems like the C64?

Have they degraded to unusability as well?

Do the cassette drives of these computers need maintenance to get them to read and write to tapes in 2016?

>>3169870

I own a Thomson TO7/70, which is a 1984 6809-based computer, as well as it's tape drive, and it still works really well and load programs from tapes I record with another tape recorder.
It all depends on how much the disk/cassette tape drive have been used -- if it was a normal use, it'll be okay even today, but if it was some really intensive uses, like some sort of file storage for a really popular BBS that ran for 15 years straight, then yeah it'll fall appart from too much use.

is there anything more hellish than the wait between buying hardware online and having it arrive?

>>3169996

Yes, seeing that it have taken too much damage during the shipping and won't work anymore when you finally get your hands on it.

>>3169892
The heads in a disk/tape drive can over time be ground off like sandpaper from rubbing the iron oxide coating on the media however this is unlikely to be a problem unless the drive was used for a BBS service.

Apparently some of the Chinese 3.5" drives included in 90s-2000s desktop PCs were so flimsy that they were rated for only 30 uses.

Welp, the clothes dryer that my parents got for a wedding gift finally died last year after 30 years of heavy use, so I can hope your 1541 drive is at least that tough.

>>3169870

Cassette decks are very similar to floppy drives in terms of how they wear and what kind of maintenance you would perform on them. Drive belts, gears, etc...

Cassettes also degrade a lot like floppies do. Though the large surface area of the tape and the fact that it's linear instead of random access means the wear from the heads is spread out more. Longevity depends heavily on construction, obviously.

>>3170349
Disk drives work somewhat different from tapes in that disk access occurs in short bursts while a tape is in contact with the head almost continuously. Therefore a tape head has much more stress put on it.

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http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2016-04-26/gainax-silent-mobius-pc-game-from-1990-to-be-reissued/.101495
>The game will come in a plastic package made to resemble the 1990 packaging. It will have a reversible jacket with either the PC-9801/X68000 version cover or the FM-TOWNS version cover. It will include a come with a manual, guidebook, and newspaper reproduction.
Neat.

>>3168305
wat's the difference between single and double density

>>3170512
There used to be various flavors of floppies like single density, double density, quad density, single sided, double sided, etc.

In practice it was mostly an excuse to charge you more money. There's really only two types of floppy media, double and high density. Single and quad density media is the same thing as DD media for all intents and purposes except maybe the factory certified it for so-and-so use. Technically speaking, DD floppies use iron-oxide coating just like a cassette tape. HD disks use a cobalt coating which requires higher magnetic coercivity, so these disks cannot be used in a DD drive.

After 1985, the amount of floppy variants was pared down and by 1988, you didn't see anything in stores anymore except double sided, double or high density media.

Single density (aka FM, Frequency Modulation) is a primitive form of floppy encoding that requires timing bits on the disk tracks. Because of the extra space taken by these bits, you're limited to under 100k of storage. Double and high density floppies use MFM (Modified Frequency Modulation) which doesn't need timing bits due to a more advanced controller. Early hard disks used MFM as well and 20MB is about the maximum possible capacity that this encoding scheme supports.

When Steve Wozniak designed the Disk II controller over the winter of 1977-78, this was at a time when MFM floppy controllers were very expensive. FM was cheaper, but it didn't hold much data. Woz therefore developed a completely different scheme known as Group Code Recording which allowed an even simpler controller (four ICs on the disk drive and six on the controller board) which allowed MFM level of storage capacity and didn't require hard sector disks.

The early Disk IIs as noted earlier ITT were modified Shugart SA-400s which were the first 5.25" drive to market. These drives only supported 35 tracks (though actually the drive mechanism could step to Track 36 and some copy protections utilized this). In fact the early 5.25" media actually had a smaller disk access window in the jacket that didn't expose enough of the disk surface that it was possible to access 40 tracks.

Later Apple IIs such as the IIc had 40 track Alps drives, but Apple never updated the OSes or firmware to take advantage of it possibly out of fear of breaking backwards compatibility (they already had enough compatibility issues when they went from 13 to 16 sector formats and DOS 3.3 to ProDOS).

>>3170401

That's some pretty sweet package. Also, i've never read nor played Silent Moebius, but the style of the artwork in the article you've linked kinda remind me of the Zeorymer OVA.

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Are there any emulators/games for the Apollo Guidance Computer? Where can I buy one used?

>>3173425
There might be a port of Lunar Lander. :^)

>>3168553
Groovy as fuck. Nodding my head so much right now.

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>>3174239

Yeah, that theme's pretty good. There's also a few DAIVA music arranges that sound nice:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hicJR7mnBNU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o95IuV29bYw

Overtake's intro is really good:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTHALf4EI_4

I didn't knew until recently that the ZOOM presentation was a parody of the 1989 F1 championship's races opening on Fugi TV:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiaOBeGubGs
(at 2:16)

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Are there any MT-32 owner here?

>>3177071
Looks great but what the bloody hell is it?

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>>3177071
Me, but I'm not really the best guy to be using one right now. Had mine since 2006 and from then it started failing on partials as time went on (possibly related to overheats), and I don't even know where to start fixing it. Then the official AC adaptor broke, or works every nth time, which is really bad since it also powers up another keyboard of mine. It's hell.

I also bought another MT-32 in 2011 straight from Japan for 120$, only to find out pictures were misleading (the guy isn't even Japanese) and I only received a bare unit which did actually work (it also had a sticker related to another hardware entirely so I guess it was one of a kind) and it only had a tad better partial situation, but not even close to 20 I believe (it's called 32 for a reason), so I resold it to a friend of mine who was kind of interested at half the price (I was so mad I just wanted to have some money back), since I could not be assed to get a second AC adapter and set of midi cables to make the one I already had work together with this new one (which I don't even know how it would sound, reverb-wise, when mixing two analog sources). Luckily I had this picture I made around that time readily available so you know I'm not bullshitting.

I was also tempted to get a CM compatible, but for my intents and purposes, the display and buttons are necessary. Also who knows how much buck they cost now.

>>3177120
samefag

Looking at the filename, looks like it was late 2010. Also

>and set of midi cables

Didn't really need those since I already had the two official ones which are more than enough for bulking two MT-32s.

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>>3177071
I have an SC-88ST Pro.
It's supposedly somewhat MT-32 compatible.

>>3177083

It's a MIDI expander from the mid~late 80s (1987 and onward). It's the most used MIDI expander of the time, and was still in use when the SC-55 came out (I kind of understand why, there are some patches, like the drums, that are better than the SC-55 ones).
Here's an example of how it sounds:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1uqzY5iUlQ (When paired with the x68000 internal synthesizer)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXHEs9qPlTg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sicsAugI-k
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sJQUTLPSH8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLM3iiIbZm0

>>3177120
>>3177128

I see. That's quite a story. It's quite a shame for the MT-32s, I hope you'll find one it good condition for cheap one of these days.

>120$ for an MT-32

Holy shit that's quite expensive, mine was 50 bucks with box and cables.

>>3177461

Damn that's a nice unit you have there! I've been thinking about getting an SC-88 unit one of these days (a pro or 8805 model would be the best) so I can finally have a GS-compatible expander that sounds good.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAOp0-rlRk0

Will a windows 95 laptop automatically recognize a PC-card > Compact flash adaptor as storage?

>>3178063
DO NOT USE CF -> IDE ADAPTERS WITH WINDOWS 9x. BEWARE, SINNERS. YOU WILL CORRUPT THE CARD AND RENDER IT UNUSABLE.

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>>3178067
Isn't that just for hard-disks? Or does it apply here too?
I'm talking about pic-related.

>>3172183
THE GRADIUS SAGA CONTINUES WITH THE ULTIMATE COSMIC ADVENTURE!

>>3178074
As far as I know, it's just hard disks. I don't know the reason for it, but Windows 9x completely freaks out with CF -> IDE adapters even though they'll work with DOS/Windows 3.x just fine. Only exception are a few ancient CF cards with something called Fixed Disk Mode (no modern card has that).

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>>3178084

...Can you complete this mission?

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THE MACINTOSH LIVES!

Now I just have to get a system disk -_-

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>>3179202
photo of the insides

>>3179189
you got good taste anon

silpheed's intro is beautiful, especially on a MT-32

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8" disks have the index hole positioned behind and slightly off-center from the hub. This was introduced by IBM on the 3740 data entry system to discourage the use of "flippy" disks.

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>>3164860
My first PC was an IBM Aptiva K40. A google search wasn't very succesful, so I guess it probably was a budget version for the 3rd world market.

The monitor was a bit different. Anyway, it came with a lot of software. Games I remember were Cyberia and Silent Steel. But my fondest memories come from a software called Magic Theatre. It was pretty fun

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bogp6rDmj4

It let me make all sort of stupid movies on it. Really fun

>>3179408

It's a model of Aptiva 2144 for the Latin American market. Early Pentium system.

>>3179210

I love both the OPN and MT-32 version of the soundtrack equally, but yeah, that intro is magic!
But anyway, here's the video this webm was made from : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwkvHeRObmo

Also, another thing I like with the PC-8801 version of the game are the voices:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6m1U9DBJ48
Gotta love Game Arts' OPN speech synthesis routine. I know that there's a special version for the IBM PS/1 with sampled voice, but the fact that they used the FM channels to do so on this version alway amaze me.

>>3180381
the speech synthesis i think was actually a mode on the FM chip

i do know it exists for the genesis too, and it's undocumented there

>>3180390

Yeah, I know about the CSM mode but I don't know if it was already available with the YM2203. I know that later OPN chips din't have it (the OPN3 for example) but that the Soundboard 2 for PC-8801 (OPNA-based) had it.
Anyway, even if it's a special mode, it's still a great thing to add speech synthesis to your game

>>3165821
5Mb HD, hehe.
64k wasn't bad for 1979.
BASIC not professional, blasphemy!
I had the portable model 100, not a bad little machine but tandy computers in general were mediocre

>>3180468

>lame little weeb game

Just go to fucking reddit if you don't want "lame little weeb game" in a computer game thread where discussion about old computer games from all around the world are welcome. He might be slightly off topic (talking about the reboot reusing the original PC-9801, x68000 or FM Towns packaging, not the original titles) but you complaining about it being japanese and this anon hijacking the thread is just stupid, even more when his post remained largely unresponded to.

>>3170349
Not quite true; actually what happens is that oxide flaking off of the media accumulates on the heads over time and gradually corrodes them.

>>3180486
i bet he's the kind of person who thinks giana sisters is better than super mario bros

>>3180550
"The wear rate of modern tape heads is on the order of 100 nm per million meters of tape in start/stop mode; head wear is about half that in the streaming mode of operation. The maximum allowable rate of head wear in modern tape drives is around 3-5μm for inductive-type thin film heads. As such, the failure rate of a head is very long (3000-5000 hours equivalent to three years of life with an under 1% failure rate). The wear rate of floppy disk drive heads is lower than that of tape drives because the disk is not pressing into the magnetic media. Rigid disk heads have a much smaller wear rate than magnetic tape heads as they do not perform frequent starts/stops, the magnetic media is typically polished and lubricated and is expected to last roughly seven years with a <1% failure rate. Because of the very small rate of head wear in rigid head drives, it is difficult to measure head wear."

Are the old Elder Scrolls games worth experiencing? I'm talkin' Arena, Daggerfall, Battlespire and Redguard.

What's the learning curve for someone who doesn't play a ton of retro pc games? All my retro experience is console based.

>>3180563
What this means is that under average home or office use, a floppy drive should last roughly 30 years while tape drives on average crap out in <5 years. Head wear has been the scourge of magnetic tape since it was first invented in the 1930s.

>>3180579
The average, eg, Commodore 1541 or Disk II hasn't been used 30 years in a row anyway since people on average only keep a computer 5 years before upgrading. Many drives have probably sat unused for years and years in the back of a flea market or in a closet.

Regardless, you can get Flash emulators for ye olde 8-bit computers anyway.

>>3180573

Only Arena and Daggerfall are within the scope of this thread, but anyway, I've never really played to any of these games, appart from Daggerfall (which I never really played that much either, but I did install it for like a month on one of my DOS computers).

>What's the learning curve for someone who doesn't play a ton of retro pc games? All my retro experience is console based.

It's pretty easy to pick on if you aren't scared of manipulating a few commands here and there (BASIC for most 8bit systems, DOS or other OC' commands for other systems). Some systems like the MSX and VIC-20 do have cartridges, while others like the Amiga automatically boot on game floppies, so for these you don't really need to learn that much at first. Some emulators (like WinUAE) can be a pain to configure though.

http://www.awp1.com/trace-diskette.html

You can still buy new 3.5" disk duplicators for commercial software? Vat.

Supposedly the US military still uses 8" disks to store ICBM launch codes.

I don't get why they don't just replace them with 3.5" disks or a floppy emulator.

>>3180776
>I don't get why they don't just replace them with 3.5" disks

Just not as reliable as 5"1/4 and 8" floppies when they were still good, and became even worse by the mid 90s.

>or a floppy emulator

Why would they want to replace perfectly fine hardware for the task with something that isn't even that more reliable than what they already have?

>>3180806
>magnetic media is more reliable than solid state

We need to up the minimum posting age on 4chan to 21, we really do.

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>>3180584
>>3180579

>>3180809
>reading thousands of cruddy disks
>cleaning the drive with alcohol a bunch of times
Sounds like a pretty extreme usage case desu. I have an IBM XT with the Tandon TM-100s they all had and I've used them so lightly that the drives will outlive me.

Besides, this thread was made six years ago; we've come a long way since 2010 in terms of developing Flash floppy emulators for Commodore machines.

>>3180808

Dude just get yourself some reading comprehension before posting.

Where did I say that magnetic media was more reliable than solid state? Nowhere in my post. What did I write? That 1) 8" floppies are more reliable than 3"1/2 floppies, and even more since the latters became garbage by the late 90s, and 2) that there's no reason to switch from an already reliable enough technology to one that is sure more reliable, but not that much more compared to 8" floppies.

And by the way, before calling someone underage, just try to remmember that there was a time when flash memory was less reliable than 3"1/2 floppies, and that there's a thing called ferrite core memory that, while being slow, is reliable enough to be still readable after falling in the ocean with the other debris of a space shuttle after it exploded.

>>3180809
>>3180816
From a purely economic standpoint, I'd think you could just manufacture replacement drive heads and new media for what it costs to produce 1541 Ultimates and all those other Flash floppy emulators. In fact, maybe even less.

>>3180809
Wow, dude. It's really worth putting all that wear on your 30 year old disk drives to archive every last disk full of shitty BASIC games or some dude's term paper from 1986 or a bunch of homemade Lode Runner levels.

What were most Amiga games released for:
A500 or A1200?

Amiga games have great graphics and sound but its impressiveness varies depending if it was released in 87 or 92.

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Any good list of 8086 games?

>>3182209

The vast majority of the games were made for tha Amiga 500, the Amiga 1200 arrived quite late (1992) before the end of the Amiga era. It did have exclusive games, but with a 3~4 years lifespan you don't have as many games as with an almost 10 years one.

>>3182263

Every good game that can run on an un-expended PC-XT. To name a few : Prince of Persia, Wizardry 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, Ultima 1, 2, 3, 4, Sierra adventure games like King's Quest and Leisure Suit Larry, stuff like that.

>>3182858
>Prince of Persia
Go play that on the Amiga instead.
>Wizardry 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
>IBM versions of W1-5
Oh shit nigger, what are you doing.
>Ultima 1, 2, 3, 4
Ok, but...
>Ultima 1-3
>good for anything but a historical curiosity
>Sierra adventure games like King's Quest and Leisure Suit Larry
Sure.

>>3183170

I'm not saying the PC version of these games are the best, only that they're games that can run on a 8086-based PC.

>>3182263
There aren't. Anything from that time is better on the Atari 800XL, C64, and Amiga. PCs weren't good at games at all before 1991.

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>>3182263
Sopwith.
Sopwith is great.

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Meet the Morrow Micro Decision. This was introduced in 1982 as a neat single-board CP/M computer to answer the high cost of S-100 machines. It was basically a stripped machine with 1-2 floppy drives, a terminal for I/O, and a serial port for a printer or modem. The marketing philosophy here was similar to the Osborne 1, which was an otherwise unremarkable Z80 machine bundled with lots of software.

>>3183463
http://classiccmp.org/dunfield/morrow/review83.pdf

>>3183486
"The MD should fulfill most light business and home computer needs."

>home computer needs
Like I'm gonna play Dig Dug on a terminal with no sound.

Reminds me of a scanned computer magazine from 82 that I read where the reviewer goes over several different machines, including the TRS-80 CoCo, VIC-20, and several CP/M boxes (no mention of the IBM PC anywhere).

He unleashes all the vitriol on the CoCo and VIC-20 he can muster and only CP/M boxes with detachable keyboards were acceptable to him.

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Hello anons, what happened to the old japanese computer thread???
Can someone please send me a pastebin of the OP i really need the links for pc-98

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This C64 was DOA, tore it apart and did the usual clean/inspect routine.
There was a reset mod that wasn't connected to anything (yet still had bare wires just floating around able to short any and everything) and, for some reason, a short wire jumper bridging +5v to GND at the power connector...

I removed it and it booted right up, albeit with a lot of keyboard issues. Determining that it was dust/dirt/grime/hair/cum on the rubber pads and contacts I began to take off every key.
I ONLY BROKE TWO KEY PLUNGER THINGIES. Had I slowed down and thought about the pegs being off-center on the wider keys I probably wouldn't have busted these two.

New plungers on the way and I'm awaiting an SD2IEC since I knew I'd never find a working floppy drive around me and ebay prices are getting silly.

>>3183607
>New plungers on the way and I'm awaiting an SD2IEC since I knew I'd never find a working floppy drive around me

I'd recommend this also.

>>3173425
There are simulators. IIRC, NASA released the specs and some source code in 2009.

Here is an online AGC simulator: http://svtsim.com/moonjs/agc.html

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In general most 8/16-bit home computers you're better to get a Flash floppy emulator for unless maybe it's a TRS-80 since you can install a 1.44MB 3.5" drive in them with a little bit of work.

>>3183620
The floppies used in the Model 3/4 are Tandon TM-100s (the single-sided variant also used in the first IBM PCs) but they took out the drive number select pins and jumpered the whole drive number jumper block.

You can use any drive from a PC if you have a straight cable (not a cable twist one from a PC) and jumper the floppies correctly.

>>3183569

I like that poster with the qt on it. Also, nice PC-9801VX. As for the japanese computer thread, you might as well search for it in the archive.

>>3183620

Or you can just keep a normal floppy drive(s) and add a second(third) one that is actually an emulator for file transfer purposes.
Also, the Amstrad CPC models will also accept 3"1/2 drives through their external floppy drive port. If you want to use both faces of the floppy you'll need to modify the ribbon cable by adding a face selection switch though.

I loved playing Chip's Challenge and Jane of the Jungle before school everyday, but at home we just had a Macintosh. On that, I played Gridz, Bonkheads, Battle-Girl, and Monkey Shines. I'll never meet another soul who has played those...

>>3183620
If you're using standard TRS-DOS you'll be limited to the standard 40 track single sided 180k format however most third party DOSes support double sided, 80 track formats.

The 3.5" drives you use may require a bit of selection as some cooperate better with the Model 3/4 than others and also it can't be one of those shitty Chinese drives made in the 2000s or something without a drive letter jumper block.

Also if done, you can just use 1.44MB disks as 720k disks by taping the hole.

This is a trick you've often heard on retro computer forums, but keep in mind that it only works if you're using a 1.44MB drive as double density. A real DD 3.5" drive will require real DD disks.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Radioshack-TRS-80-MODEL-III-MICROCOMPUTER-GREAT-SHAPE-/272225951151?hash=item3f61ee5daf:g:2DIAAOSwYmZXIOAE

Cassette version of the M3. Very unusual, also gag at the price.

>>3183824
If they asked a sane price, I'd buy it, upgrade the RAM to 64k, and install 3.5" drives.

My cousin had a M3 back then and he said the Radio Shack Computer Center charged $600 to upgrade the RAM, but you could go into the Radio Shack itself and buy the same chips for a quarter of the cost.

>>3183198

Never heard of this game. What are you supposed to do exactly when playing it?

>>3183879
Fly a WWI biplane around and shoot stuff or something.

>>3183879
there are targets like factories dotted around the map

you blow them up with your guns and bombs

i think there's also the option to play with computer controlled enemy aircraft which ups the difficulty because he's trying to shoot you.

it's better than it sounds.

>>3183917
>>3183893

I see, so it's kind of like a Wings of Fury with an additional multiplayer mode? Sounds pretty fun to me. Thanks for the info.

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>showing business software running on the cassette model
>the "16k" badge is peeling off

Sloppy af.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/TRS-80-Model-I-Complete-System-with-32K-Expansion-Interface-Tested-Working-/301946495478?hash=item464d69e1f6:g:PhEAAOSw~oFXJ5Jv

>putting that smarmy nostalgia blurb in the description
Very un-professional, dude.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-TRS-80-Model-III-Radio-Shack-Micro-Computer-PC-/141888795666?hash=item21093b3412:g:NAEAAOSwzhVWqPNm

>$150 for a scrap heap like this
Come on.

>>3184769
It's cassette-only, but that's not too much of a problem since most software for the Model I was on tape anyway and the disk drives for it were pretty shitty.

>>3184851
How so?

>>3184859
>only store 85k per disk
>used Shugart SA-400 drives which were pretty shitty reliability-wise
>the Model I also lacked a data separator so it often had issues retrieving stuff from the smaller inner tracks on a disk

>>3183569
Here you go: http://pastebin.com/g99LycCJ

As for /jpc/, I grew too despondent about /vr/ as a whole and haven't made a thread in a while. Making tons of GIFs/WebMs and trying to get discussions going with music and playing a few games didn't work.

>>3185018
You know that only hipsters/extreme weebs are into JPCs, besides the language barrier makes it difficult to appreciate most of them.

>>3185025
Well, yeah. But it would probably help if JPC games consisted of more than the following:

>Ultima
>Wizardry
>weeb adventure game
>dating sim

Easy. You can't start nationalist flame wars the way you can with America vs Europe.

>hurr durr Spectrum plastic toy
>hurr durr fart wave shmups
>hurr durr Murrifats and their non-games
>hurr durr Crapple
>hurr durr Amiga
>hurr durr durr durr

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>>3185034
They're quite varied. I've also played quite a few of them despite the language barrier, which I'm working past bit by bit anyway. Star Cruiser's my favorite example of a J-PC game that smashes multiple genres/styles together and inspired other developers on the PC-98/X68k/FM Towns to get creative. Games like Tokyo Twilight Busters are harder to find than the eroge that gets posted often because of their scanned and dithered graphics, but they're more common than you think.

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I miss the original Gravis Gamepad. I know it was kind of a shitty knockoff SNES controller, but it was the first real gamepad I ever got for PC. I loved the look and colors and I find myself feeling nostalgic for it. Has there ever been a USB version, or a way to mod it for USB? The closest thing I've ever found is the iBuffalo SNES pad, which is an excellent retro PC USB controller in every regard, but it's not quite the same as the Gravis. In my head that was *the* PC gamepad, the same way the NES, SNES, and Genesis all had their own distinct gamepads.

>>3185025
>You know that only hipsters/extreme weebs are into JPCs
Spoken like someone who don't know what's available on these kind of machine.
also
>hurr durr weeb stuff
You might as well go to reddit if you don't like stuff that is on-topic in this thread based on on the fact it's japanese.

>>3185034
Yeah, it's not like it already consist of more than what you posted. If you don't know what kind of games you might as well ask what's available instead of shitposting like you are.

>>3185386
I own a controller that look a bit like this one. The main difference is that it has button/trigger select switch so that 2 of the buttons can be used like the L and R triggers on the SNES pad.

>>3185047
>>3185010
Nice photos. That's a nice trinitron that he used in the first one. Didn't knew sony still made beige ones in the 90s (that weren't SVGA monitors).

Considering this is a computer gaming general, I figured I would look for help here. I'm looking for some old games I played as a kid. I was four years old at the time so I only remember a few details.

The first game I remember is a top-down strategy game (possibly turn-based). There was an island in the middle of the screen and you'd sail around with a few ships of different types and attack other ships. At the time, I thought that game was one of the greatest due to the fact the ships would show damage after a few shots.

The second game is a first person RPG which has you starting in a very dark (sewer?) tunnel. I remember I was playing an old bearded guy.

Last but not least, there's another top-down game. This time, it's a game where two teams fight in a field. There are three classes; you start out as a knight, after death respawn as an archer, again continue as an archer and at the last respawn end up as some weird class that can only plant trees.

I was four when playing these so I never ventured far into the game. I already rediscovered Diablo (I remembered the soundtrack, the village, the church and the sarcophaguses) and a game called Hunter Hunted (I remembered the basic layout and the soundtrack).

>Buy a Toshiba libretto
>Expecting 16mb of RAM and Win 95 base unit
>Power it up
>32mb in self test and Windows 98
Well that's nice.

>>3185386
I agree. The Gravis gamepad was THE gamepad for PC in the DOS era.


Later, two variations were made, called the GamePad Pro, and GamePad Pro USB, which resemble the original PlayStation Controller. The GamePad Pro employed advanced signaling techniques (referred to as "GrIP") to allow for both the use of ten buttons and the simultaneous use of up to four controllers connected by the controller's built-in piggyback plug. A switch on the pack of the non-USB pad could be used to allow the pad to function as a standard four-button pad; otherwise, games couldn't detect the gamepad unless they were coded with the device in mind (DOS) or a specific driver was installed (Windows). The latter uses the USB port and the USB Human Interface Device class standards, and is not intended for DOS use. Gravis launched other series of gamepads for the Mac, the Amiga, and Atari ST as well.
CD-i with wired controller on top

I only used it for a short time at a friend's house.
How does the Dpad compare with the Genesis Dpad or other retro console Dpads?
Do the sunken action buttons require you thumb to be more precisely placed to hit buttons?

>The Philips CD-i interactive multimedia CD player features a wired controller that is basically the original Gravis PC GamePad in a monochrome, grey color scheme. The Gravis logo is replaced with the Philips logo. There are only two button functions, and the switch at the bottom controls the cursor speed in menus.

>>3185010
>>3185047
Top is a 1050 drive and bottom is an 810 drive. The 810 was the first disk drive Atari sold and is single density, so only stores 88k per disk. The 1050 (introduced with the 800XL) is double density and stores 128k

The drives use MFM encoding but don't use the index hole so you can make flippy disks without having to punch a second index hole (as you'd have to do on the TRS-80 or other systems with standard MFM). Like Commodore drives, they're "smart" and contain all of the controller circuitry in the drive itself, but still require a DOS disk (unlike Commodore drives).

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-IBM-Personal-Computer-Model-5155-Dual-Floppy-Drives-Used-/301946745885?hash=item464d6db41d:g:aakAAOSwYmZXJ8l5

>I tried several older DOS versions and none of them would boot

Who's willing to bet that he tried to boot a high density DOS 5.x disk in there?

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North Star Advantage, which replaced the nearly six-year old North Star Horizon in 1983. The computer's hi-res graphics capabilities were somewhat unique for CP/M machines. Like the Mac and Amiga, it lacks a true text mode and is always running in bitmap mode.

Downsides? It was still a Z80 machine in the fast rising world of 16-bit computers and even worse, continued using hard sector floppies (North Star stridently defended their continued use of them). In the end, North Star folded in 1985, one of the many victims of the great mid-decade collapse of the video game and personal computer market in North America.

On the positive side, the floppy controller in the Advantage can be reprogrammed to accept soft sector disks unlike the TTL circuit controller in the Horizon.

http://www.vcfed.org/forum/archive/index.php/t-39777.html

This guy talks about modifying soft sector floppies for his North Stars.

There is a RED broomstick.
Do you take it?

>>3186241

Take broomstick.
Throw broomstick at myself.

>>3186237

Doesn't it just mean punching more holes on the floppy?

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>>3186267
SILLY
SILLY
SILLY

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>>3186267
Yes.

This is a very early 8" disk from 1973 with eight hard sectors. Note that the sector holes are on the outer edge of the disk as opposed to the later standard which was to have them on the hub.

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The Horizon, introduced in late 1977, was the first personal computer with standard disk drives and acquired a reputation as a "campus" computer due to its popularity with universities. It could use either CP/M or North Star DOS, also supplied with the company's homemade North Star BASIC, which has some differences from Microsoft BASIC in terms of number handling and command syntax (eg. multiple statements on a line are separated with a slash instead of a colon). This may have been done to avoid a lawsuit.

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Later Horizons (post-1980) switched to an all-metal case instead of 70s woodgrain.

>>3186267
>Doesn't it just mean punching more holes on the floppy?
Actually in the linked thread, he mentions using a homemade hole punch instead of pay the exorbitant fee Athena charges you for hard sector disks. This requires some care to get it right since the holes have to be in exactly the right position to work.

>>3186335

>This requires some care to get it right since the holes have to be in exactly the right position to work.

Yeah, it goes without saying. I guess that building a tool to make hard sector disks out of soft sector disks can be useful if you need to make a bunch of them.

>>3186346
Of course only extreme hipster collectorfags collect stuff like North Star Advantages while most of us just prefer the normalfag stuff like Commodore 64s.

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What are some good DOS games that aren't text heavy (other than doom)?

>>3186356

Except that hipsters just "collect" C=64s and replace every drive with emulator flash stuff/gut it to place an ITX motherboard/turn it into a SID "synthesizer" to make somewhat better blips and bloops/just leave it take the dust on a shelf as it's used for decoration.
Only people who are really into old office computers would get a North Star Advantage or the like.

>>3186446
>Except that hipsters just "collect" C=64s and replace every drive with emulator flash stuff

If you had to actually use a 1541, you'd want to replace it with Flash emulators too.

>>3186434

Silpheed, Thexder, Indy 500, Wolfenstein 3D, Hovertank 3D to name a few.

>>3186519
You forgot Fire Hawk.

>>3186519
>Silpheed, Thexder

Those are better on the original JPC versions.

>>3186446
>>3186356
Based on my experience, it's usually extreme neckbeards or sysadmin types who are into CP/M collecting.

I don't think AVGN ever did anything about Heathkit H89s, so...

>>3186518

I don't think so, I'd just deal with it's unreliability or just get another floppy drive model (like a 1571 which are more reliable).

>>3186557
IIRC the 1541-II and 1571 aren't 100% low-level compatible with the original model 1541. I'm not sure exactly what software is affected, but you can probably ask on Lemon 64.

>>3186536

Didn't say the PC version of these games are the best version available. They're not the best version around, but I doubt that every one here has an access to a PC-8801mkIISR. Also, the PC-DOS versions are still pretty good game.

>>3186524

I said to name a few. There are many games that fit his criteras that I didn't mention either. Anyway, too bad the DOS version of this game doesn't have the same soundtrack as the MSX 2 and PC-8801 version, I would have loved to listen to an MT-32 version of the mission 5 theme:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NAyfptUVQU
Man I love that tune!
Too bad the themes from the original game that did make it to the PC version have been slowed down and don't sound quite like the original either.

>>3186314
Excerpt from the North Star BASIC user's manual:

"Version 6 has been assembled for 8-digit precision. For accuracy of 2, 4, 6, 10, 12, or 14 digits, a special order can be made. Version 6 is assembled with origin at 2A00 hex. Special orders may also be made for different origins."

Yeah, that's...real fucking wonderful for compatibility.

>Whoops, I can't run this program on your machine because you have the 4-digit version of BASIC instead of the 10-digit version

>>3186583
>Anyway, too bad the DOS version of this game doesn't have the same soundtrack as the MSX 2 and PC-8801 version
It does, it's just re-arranged.

I like some of the MT-32 arrangements better, like the Mission 1 theme.

>>3186025
>e.
>How does the Dpad compare with the Genesis Dpad or other retro console Dpads?
>Do the sunken action buttons require you thumb to be more precisely placed to hit buttons?
I don't have mine anymore and honestly my memory is a bit fuzzy, since that was back in the early 90s. The D-pad was pretty good if I remember. Not GOAT-tier by any means, but still perfectly functional enough to be good for gaming. I always thought the detachable joystick was a neat gimmick, although I usually left it detached. Before I got a real joystick I remember I liked using the stick attachment for Wing Commander.

I'd really like to pick one up on eBay if it's in good condition and I can find a way to make it work with USB, but I'm not sure how practical getting one to work on modern Windows is.

>>3186606

No, some music are the same, but many of the musics are completly different, for example http://www.midimusicadventures.com/qs/digital/firehawk/07Mission5.mp3 doesn't sound like the original at all.
The MT-32 arrangements are definitely the best way to listen to the PC version's soundtrack though.

File: gravis-gamepad.jpg (46KB, 625x281px) Image search: [Google]

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>>3186025
>>3186609
I should also mention that the reason I don't have my Gravis anymore is because it broke. The one thing about it that I didn't like, and many people had this problem, is that it wasn't made out of the most durable material. Nintendo and Sega built their controllers out of ABS which is why they hold up so well, while the Gravis was made out of something cheaper, including the internals. Cosmetically my Gravis was fine, but one day it stopped working, and then we ended up getting some other gamepad that I didn't like as much. I at least got a few years of use out of it and played tons of Commander keen and Jazz Jackrabbit on it, though.

I really wish someone would make a higher quality USB re-production of it. Hell I'd even settle for a cheap one as long as the quality wasn't worse than the original, and if the toolings used to make it were the same as the original I could always swap the casing out for an authentic one.

Also, while this was a generation later, for the longest time I had wanted an MS Sidewinder gamepad but for whatever reason I never got one.

5.25" hard sector disks came in 10, 12, and 16 sector variants (North Star and Heathkit used 10 sector disks). 8" disks used 16, 20, or 32 sectors and a few things had the sector holes on the outer part of the disk like >>3186281

Also hard or soft sectoring is purely a function of the floppy controller and not the drive, which doesn't care either way. Most of the very early 8" drives were designed for specific sectoring, but all later 8" drives (by the time they standardized on putting the holes on the hub) are in principle able to work with either hard or soft sector disks.

3.5" drives of course can't work on a hard sector controller at all since they don't have any index sensor.

File: 250px-Sir_Raven.jpg (11KB, 250x182px) Image search: [Google]

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>>3179202

You fool! You messed with the natural order!

>>3186346
Still got the problem of how to get files on the dang thing. A PC can't write them hard sectored disks.

>>3186780
You could use a null modem cable. It's slow but it works.

>>3186595
A lot of early microcomputers required you to do some incredible bullshit that people used to PC compatibles would be left scratching their head at.

>>3186314
>>3186231
>>3184497
I'm gonna be honest. I don't know jack shit about Z80 assembly language.

>>3186446
>Only people who are really into old office computers would get a North Star Advantage or the like

Advantage has graphics. Nothing stopping you from writing games on it. :^)

>>3187358
Anything that's not a 6502 is shitty to program for.

>>3187406
x86 is ok except for the memory segments (thankfully not an issue on modern PCs).

>>3187373
Yeh it's roughly comparable to a TRS-80 Model 4 spec-wise except the Model 4 has a beeper in it for sound.

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Scanned an old Mindscape catalog

Figured you guys might like it

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>>3187995
I sure wish I had that jacket...

>>3187935

Uridium never came out for the Apple II. I wonder what else they got wrong.

Fuck people who list computer components under "Laptops" or "Desktops" on ebay.

I'm looking for complete systems you fucking bastards.

>>3188056

Miscategorization leads to good deals, though. Like the IIgs monitor I scored for $20 listed as a television a ways back.

>>3187358

It's pretty easy to learn, and thanks to all the machines that uses that CPU, there are many tutorials and lessons available online/in books/in magazines.

>>3187406

>6502

That a weird way to spell 68000. Anyway, the 6809 and Z80 are also quite nice to program imo.

>>3187373

Well, every platform can have games made for it, even the DEC pdp-1 had games.

>>3188043
Uridium was my first ever game. That's where I got the catalog from.

>>3187907
>>3187913
>>3187920
>>3187926
>>3187931
>>3187935
>>3187941
>>3187946
>>3187951
>>3187956
>>3187963
>>3187967
>>3187970
>>3187973
>>3187975
>>3187979
>>3187983
>>3187990
>>3187994
>>3187995

Thanks for posting anon, that's some pretty interesting stuff there.

>>3188094

Not always though. When you see an Atari ST listed as a game console, you know you're gonna pay more than what it's worth.

>>3188170
>That a weird way to spell 68000. Anyway, the 6809 and Z80 are also quite nice to program imo.
but the opcodes, there's too many of them

wasn't the Z80 made by ex-Motorola engineers, though?

>>3188926
>but the opcodes, there's too many of them
Sure is.

http://clrhome.org/table/

>wasn't the Z80 made by ex-Motorola engineers, though?
Actually Intel engineers. The Z80 uses an enhanced 8080 instruction set and is fully source compatible.

>>3188926
>wasn't the Z80 made by ex-Motorola engineers, though?

No, it was the 6502. The Z80 was made by ex-Intel engineers.

>>3188938
>>3188939
Oh, I thought it was ex-Motorola because the bit of Z80 assembly I saw reminded me of the bit of 68000 assembly I saw before.

It's still unwieldy as fuck to program for.

Someone recording his Sharp Super MZ booting and playing music:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jnQDj4BENc
Kinda like that screen displayed after boot. Also, is it just me or that text scrolling at 0:44 is really smooth? It's the kind of smooth scrolling I've only seen on my VT-420 terminal.

>>3187975
Most educational games are hard to find on ROM sites and back in the day, cracker groups who pirated them were laughed at.

File: PC-9821Ne2 by anon.jpg (518KB, 1296x968px) Image search: [Google]

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>>3183704
>>3185018
thank you for your help but i'm looking for the mega link of the thread because there was a LOT of content in it

Also pic related is my PC-98, i could finally power it on becaus i burnt my last pc-9821 ac adapter on my 220V socket (i'm an idiot), i can't wait to recieve my usb floppy reader to start copying games! Anyone has recommendations of good pc-9821 (beside h-games)? I'm more into strategy/turn-based-like games

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Tandy 1200. These are probably the least interesting of all Tandy computers as it's just a bog-standard XT clone manufactured by Tandon (the disk drive guys). Apparently they sold pretty well due to a lower price than IBM or Compaq metal and also having a standard parallel port without needing to hog one of the expansion slots.

The original model had 5 ISA slots and 1-2 Tandon TM-100 drives, except without the IBM logo stamped on them, or an optional ST-412 10MB hard disk. The later model had 7 slots and switched to half-height drives and a 20MB ST-225 hard disk.

>>3191741

Hey, you're the PC-9821N owner from last thread? Nice to see your machine going. Anyway, you might as well check the Konpeki no Kantai games on the platform. There are also Gundam turn-based strategy games available on the platform if I recall correctly. And while you're at it, you might look at the PC-9801 ports of Koei strategy games.

>>3191776
thanks for the helping hand man i will definitely check these ones

File: xcssa2000-05-15_tandy6000.jpg (109KB, 1024x768px) Image search: [Google]

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Tandy 6000 which broadly targeted the same professional/office market as the Apple Lisa.

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Hate on Apple all you like, but it kind of blows you away how much more modern-looking the Lisa was than the T6000 which looks like some outdated hunk of shit from the 70s, all green screen text and 8" floppies.

Apple were slightly unusual in choosing white monochrome monitors over industry-standard green or amber.

>>3191950
Guess they liked the white paper aesthetic.

>>3191950
>>3191952

They wanted to make their own Xerox Alto.

So my Mac's flyback transformer is failing. Is it possible to temporarily fix it? I.E. by adjusting the voltage etc.?

If not how would I disconnect it from the CRT so that I could replace it?

On a side note I am trying to get the floppy drive to work. Thing is a bastard and won't fully accept floppies (they get stuck about quarter or half way through)
>>3191950
IIRC they are not actually white but have a slight blue tint. You can kinda see it in the right light.
>>3191926
>>3191930
God, tandys (tandies?) look pretty crap by comparison.

>>3191958
>So my Mac's flyback transformer is failing.

Discharge your mac's monitor before doing anything. There are enough informations on the net about how to do so. If you know how to solder or disolder stuff you should be okay. Also, be sure to find the good replacement part. Most of the times there are still websites selling flyback transformers here and there (I know that you can easily buy one for an Amstrad color monitor).

You need one with the appropriate voltage level for the Mac's 9" monochrome display. And please for Chrissake be careful handling flyback transformers. They're probably the most dangerous part of a CRT.

>>3191973
I seen one on ebay. Is there any way to keep it running for a few more days?

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>>3191952
It works better for full screen graphics than green or amber. Green monochrome always looks bad with full graphics; these monitors are fundamentally designed for text.

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>>3191958
The problem is that they didn't ever update the case design from the Model II which is why it still looks 70s.

Supposedly when Steve Jobs saw a TRS-80 Model 12 at a computer show in 1982, he said to the Tandy rep "What can it do for me?" and was told "Well, we have a COBOL compiler for it. In the next few months we hope to have more software out."

Given that one of the big criticisms of the M12 was a complete lack of native-mode 68000 software, forcing you to use nothing but 8-bit M2 programs. Later on, Tandy reportedly regretted not encouraging third party software development.

>>3191985

No, the most dangerous part is the CRT itself, that's what can kill you. The flyback will zap you so hard you'll put your hands out without even thinking, and chances are you'll them right onto the tube, thus killing you, but it won't kill you directly.

>>3191987

Not using it might be one way.

>>3191993
I actually like the 70's case desu, the terrible green-screen and lack of mouse and GUI look awful though.

If I had enough money then I'd gut a broken, irreparable one and replace the components with mac components thereby creating the Tandy Macintosh.

The Model II family ended up lasting into the late 80s at which point they were replaced by the 3000/4000/5000 as Tandy's professional computer entries. The 5000 was notable for being one of the only non-IBM machines with MCA slots, but it was not a marketplace success.

Which is too bad really because aside from the MCA bus, it uses mostly bog-standard parts as opposed to the myriad of horrible proprietary bullshit in the PS/2 line.

>>3192007
Ah well. Still, to disconnect the flyback you use basically use a screwdriver and grounded cable, right?

>>3192008
I mean, really. The reason I mention this is because the T6000 and Lisa came out both in 1983 and were targeting the same market, but the former looks so embarrassingly crude and outdated.

On the other hand, the 6000 was more successful than the Lisa sales-wise mostly thanks to Xenix.

>>3192019
They actually had to discontinue TRS-DOS 16 entirely and offer Xenix as the standard M16/6000 OS to spark sales, which made it into a credible workstation/multiuser office machine.

>>3192010
I should add. I personally loathe IBM PS/2s and would never collect them. EVERYTHING in them is proprietary. Floppy drives, hard disks, RAM, video cards, you name it.

>>3192026
Poor Tandy. They never could into OSes. Even on their 8-bit computers, TRS-DOS was always outclassed by third party offerings like LS-DOS and NewDOS. The Model II had Pickles & Trout CP/M over its first-party OS.

>>3192007
Correction. It's actually the large high voltage capacitors. CRTs themselves aren't that dangerous because the current in them has very low amperage. Those capacitors though, they have high amp current that can travel through your body and stop your heart.

>>3192014

Yeah, be sure to isolate yourself too. When doing so, repeat the process as long as there's still sparks. After it stopped, do it two or three more time to be sure, then disconnect the anode button and put it directly on the shielding. For the grounding, don't use the computer's shielding though, use something like a canalisation or your electrical outlet ground.

>>3192032

The PS/2 is how IBM should have made it's PC to begin with if it wanted to have a chance to control it's own architecture for more than 3 years.
>EVERYTHING in them is proprietary.

Proprietary != bad. Sometimes it's pointless (when if comes to stuff like HDDs) but having a graphic chipset relying on custom chips that other manufacturers can't clone can also be an advantage.

>Floppy drives

The IBM PC already had non-standard drives to begin -- they though Shugart drives weren't good enough for them so they made something else that closely ressemble but still need some rewiring to make it compatible. The only computers that used 100% standard shugart drives are S-100 machines, minicomputers and mainframes.

>hard disks

That one might legitimately suck.

>RAM

72 pin SIMM RAM sticks that ended up being used by most AT clones.

>video cards

VGA cards that ended up being cloned by most graphic card manufacturers.

>>3192071
>The IBM PC already had non-standard drives to begin -- they though Shugart drives weren't good enough for them so they made something else that closely ressemble but still need some rewiring to make it compatible.

Vat. The PC used Tandon TM-100s which have the same industry-standard 34-pin interface, the only thing they did different was the cable twist instead of jumpers to set the drive number.

You can even plug an original Shugart SA-400 into a PC and it will work.

>>3192071
Is it safe to do so without a spare cable/crocodile clip? Also which part of the electrical outlet is grounded?

>>3192071
>72 pin SIMM RAM sticks that ended up being used by most AT clones

That wasn't it, the pinout on the things is nonstandard. You can't plug common SIMMs into a PS/2, only the special IBM ones. There was no reason for this as far as performance advantage, it was strictly bullshit done so you had to buy IBM's (expensive) RAM.

>>3192080

Okay, the drives are standard, but the controller and the wiring aren't though.
http://pinouts.ru/Storage/InternalDisk_pinout.shtml
The changes are minor, but big enough for 3"1/2 PC drives not to work correctly on some synthesizers and expanders that uses standard shugart floppy controllers.

>>3192089

During the PS/2 era, most manufacturers were using 30 pin SIMMs though. It's just that other manufacturers adopted a different pinout (maybe on purpose) when they switched to 72 pins SIMMs.

File: IMG_0890.jpg (626KB, 1600x1200px) Image search: [Google]

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The TRS-80 Model III was the first thing to use Tandon TM-100s actually, then IBM contracted with them to supply drives for the PC a year later.

Model IIIs use the single-sided variant of the TM-100, which is the same drive used in the first IBM PCs except that IBM stamped their logo on the faceplate.

>>3192083

You don't have a ground pin on your electrical outlets? How do they look like?
As for the cable, I'd strongly advise you having those. Simply wrapping a bare cable around a water pipe isn't a really good idea.

>>3192130
By ground pin you mean the third pin? UK outlet but due to it being an American computer it is connected to a power converter.

What type of cable is needed?

File: TRS 80 Model III.jpg (38KB, 412x356px) Image search: [Google]

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>>3192113
Here's a M3 which has been modded with 3.5" floppies. There are a few minor pinout differences specifically the density selector and drive ready lines, neither of which are used on the TRS-80. You need a straight ribbon cable (no cable twist) and make sure the drives are jumpered correctly. Also Tandy did some of its own nonstandard stuff with the floppy interface, especially in that many of their machines had a floppy ribbon cable that removed the pins for the drive number select and had all of the select blocks jumpered.

The floppy controller on IBM XTs incidentally is pretty much identical to the TRS-80's and the differences mentioned above started creeping up with the AT which added support for HD floppies and also the disk change line, which was not present on XT controllers.

Also many shitty Chinese 3.5" desktop PC drives got rid of the jumper blocks to select the drive letter; you can't use those.

>>3192113
PS/2s use either 30 or 72-pin SIMMs depending on the model, but in either case they're nonstandard types.

When I say the PS/2 had nonstandard floppies, I mean it had the combo data/power cable like what the Osborne 1 used which means you can't use standard drives in them unless you make a homemade splitter to separate the power lines.

>>3192139

Don't worry about it being connected to a UK outlet or a US one, a grounding is a grounding.

As for the cable, don't use any flexible cable like audio or video ones. Use the kind that are a bit harder to bend (and stay bent when you bend them well), with the copper that isn't braided.

>>3192170

Considering that the PS/2 bus isn't compatible with ISA, it's kinda understandable though.

>>3192174

Well then a custom cable can do the trick.

>>3192182
So basically use some copper wire attached from the screwdriver to the 3rd pin?

>>3192174
On the Osborne, this created a lot of problems with overheating due to the proximity of the heat-generating power lines to the data lines.

I've heard quite a few stories of PS/2 floppies going belly-up as well; in fact there used to be a guy on here who said he had a Model 30 with a dead floppy drive so he just used a null modem cable to put files on it. I assume it was the same overheating issue as the Osborne.

>>3192184

Yeah, that will do the trick. Don't forget to isolate yourself too (with rubber gloves, cotton socks and good shoes) and work where there's no carpet on the ground.

>>3192142
If by chance you attached a double density 3.5" floppy to a TRS-80, it will work absolutely fine. The problems are mostly involving the high density drives which are expecting some of the extra lines added on the IBM AT. Apparently some 1.44MB drives don't cooperate as well with the computer as others, you may need to be picky with the model/brand of drive you install.

http://www.retrotechnology.com/herbs_stuff/Model4_35_Drives.pdf

According to this, some 1.44MB drives need a resistor attached to the density selector line, however not all of them require it.

Also if you use a 1.44MB drive on a machine with a DD controller, it's generally recommended that you use DD media. You can get away with taping the hole on 1.44MB disks, but the drive circuitry does behave slightly different when HD media is used, so best to use real DD disks if possible.

>>3192202
So attach the copper wire to the Screwdriver and to the grounded cable, use the screwdriver to lift the anode cap while sparks fly off. Repeat until no sparks left and remove cap and then later desolder the broken transformer.

Excellent.

>>3192183
The Model 25/30 have ISA and they're the only models with it. MCA cards are pretty hard to find and most of them require a reference disk, though the performance improvement over ISA is quite large.

>>3192225

Don't lift the anode button completely. Put the screw driver under it, but don't lift it. Don't forget to UNPLUG the whole thing before even starting, and turn it ON while unplugged in order to discharge some of the caps inside. Watch some tutorials of people doing it before starting, you'll see how to do it.

>>3192142
As one more wrinkle, you will have to build an adapter to connect the card edge ribbon cable to the pin header connector on the 3.5" drive.

>>3183569
Here, anon. I have a version of this zip that has this in the UPDATES.TXT

>07/28/14
>ADDED
>-と
->-Tokyo Twilight Busters / 東京 Twilight Busters HDIMAGE
>

This link doesn't have that, so I'm assuming it doesn't have Tokyo Twilight Busters for whatever reason. Otherwise, it should be identical to what I have.

https://mega.co.nz/#F!F59WkSqQ!quGKSFIswBgv0rxAAaF8Pg

File: SuperMZ_chevrolet_corvette_drivin.webm (1MB, 705x471px) Image search: [Google]

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ta1ZzWaDjOs

Playing Galaxian on a Sharp MZ-80B

>>3193413
>the game's programmer shows up and leaves a comment
For all of its retardedness, Youtube does have its moments.

>>3193479

Kind of like when Brian Schmidt posted a comment on a Black Knight 2000 medley video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoK0J69C80I

Guy says the B: drive has issues reading disks. It's probably out of alignment.

>>3195037
The head acutator screw could also need lubrication.

http://www.vcfed.org/forum/archive/index.php/t-50386.html

>>3192380
Thanks A LOT

>>3195037

I found a kaypro II for an affordable price one day, too bad I didn't have any money to spend on old computers at the moment, I would have bought it otherwise.

>>3164860
for a minute there i thought that was lemmings

>>3192380
That's... a huge library. Can someone recommend anything from that list? I can't read games that are text-heavy moon, but I could probably read some games that are light on moon

>>3191741
Where do you pick up a PC-98 anyway?

>>3195846

At least not ebay if you don't want to be scamed. Also, if you really want one, you need to have the money to import it and/or get the peripherals and expansions needed

If I've a system with Windows 95, can I drop windows 3.1 into a different folder (say c:/windows3), reboot into DOS mode and then
cd c:/windows3
win
to use 3.1 normally? or is there any problems with 95's DOS mode versus true DOS or such that'd mean I'd need to install 3.1 properly onto the system?

>>3196436

If you type win you'll launch windows 95 again and not 3.1 because C:\WINDOWS will be in the $PATH variable and not the Windows 3.1 directory. If you replace C:\WINDOWS by the windows 3.1 path you'll get a massive amount of errors too because you're not trying to run 3.1 over a DOS installation, but over a Windows 95 installation in DOS mode -- there's no C:\DOS directory, only a C:\WINDOWS one.

File: Dengeki_Nurse_2_PC9801.webm (889KB, 762x474px) Image search: [Google]

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIb08CMC2cI
Dengeki Nurse 2 opening for FM Towns. I like the song they made for this version. Also, the PC-98 version is pretty different :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AB1WOj0KgsA

>>3196436
This is a troll, right? Nobody could be this dumb.

>>3196436
>to use 3.1 normally? or is there any problems with 95's DOS mode versus true DOS or such that'd mean I'd need to install 3.1 properly onto the system?

You would need a completely separate hard disk partition with DOS 5/6 and Windows 3.x for that to work.

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english patch when

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Original model Tandy 1000. This came from the factory with 128k of RAM standard and no onboard DMA controller (you had to purchase the Tandy RAM card which also contained the DMA chip). An unexpanded model should be able to run most PCjr software unless it performs low-level hardware access.

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The 1000/1000A were followed up a year later by the 1000SX and TX. The SX was the lower end of the two and has 256k of RAM standard with one or two 5.25" floppies and a 7.6Mhz 8086 CPU that can also be set to "slow" (4.77Mhz) mode via a DOS command or a keypress on startup.

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The TX was the higher end model with a full 640k of RAM installed and one 3.5" floppy. A second 3.5" drive or a 5.25" drive could be installed as well. It had an 8Mhz 286 and also supports slow 4.77Mhz mode.

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In 1987, Tandy released the 1000EX/HX, two budget models with an all-in-one case design. These had only 4.77Mhz 8088 CPUs and 256k of RAM standard. They have two ISA slots inside, but they use a pin connector and not the normal card edge one. The EX, the lower of the two, had one 5.25" drive installed.

File: HXFrontLarge.jpg (359KB, 1555x1149px) Image search: [Google]

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The HX, the higher-end model, had a 3.5" drive installed and also a ROM DOS that is activated if no bootable floppy is present. Both models had a proprietary connector for an external floppy, specifically a pair of 3.5" and 5.25" drives offered for the EX/HX.

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>implying anyone cares about your baka gaijin PCs

>>3197995
Hush.

>>3197504
Considering how 3.1 works in DOSBox it's not that unreasonable if you have literally no experience with 3.1 on real hardware.

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The rare times Americans saw a JPC, it was usually the bargain bin shit like the Sanyo MBC series, which was a non-IBM compatible 8088 machine in a neat VCR-style case. These came with 1-2 single-sided Teac floppies that stored 180k per disk and had 640x200 graphics with 8 colors. The computer lacks a system ROM other than a small boot loader as the BIOS is loaded off the OS disk. RAM configurations comprised either 128k or 256k.

The MBC-555 runs a customized MS-DOS while the Japanese MBC-55 that it was based on used CP/M-86. As expected, it is not compatible with the IBM PC except at the DOS level; software such as WordStar will work, but not anything that uses the BIOS or bit-bangs the hardware. The graphics capabilities are somewhat better than CGA, but it lacks any sound beyond a beeper that operates at a fixed frequency/duration.

>>3198045
If he thinks DOSBox=real hardware, he's too stupid to be on this board.

>>3198063
Don't have to consider it 100% identical to ask about the possibility of doing it.

If you think of 3.1 in the oversimplified terms as "a thing that runs on DOS" it would follow it could be run just like any other DOS program when in DOS mode. (i.e. like most games.) Even if that's not the case because 3.1 is actually more complex than most things that use DOS.

>>3198089
>Even if that's not the case because 3.1 is actually more complex than most things that use DOS

No kidding. I actually have a book laying around "Secrets of Windows 3.1x" (this is from 1992 so doesn't cover WfW or any multimedia stuff) and it kind of gives you a good look at just what a horrifying mess that PC hardware in that time was. The amount of configuration adjustments you had to make and the amount of incompatibilities with different PCs/peripherals/setups was so ridiculous that you wonder how anyone back then was able to use a PC at all.

Needless to say, Windoze is definitely a fair bit more complicated than some game which is why you can't really run it without the real hardware. DOSBox can't possibly emulate all of the hardware variables that it depends on.

>>3198051
Why didn't we get the PC-8801 or anything good instead of this crud.

>>3198201

It's already been explained -- the Commodore-led computer price war, followed shortly by the computer market crash, which pushed Japanese manufacturers away, as well as some American manufacturers (like TI). And even if you did have these machines available in the US, it's not like people would have bought them anyway as the market already started to go full Commodore or Apple or IBM & clones in the US by 1983~84 (knowing that you did have a few MSX models in the US, one by Spectravideo, the other one being the CX5M music computer by Yamaha, as well as the Fujitsu FM Towns).

>>3198051

Man, just hook a Sony KX-21ps1 monitor to that stuff and the whole setup will be damn good looking.

How is the amiga 600 maintenance wise? Mostly interested in keeping the system in good shape and exploring the software and hardware. Also do you know of any so-called pocket computers with a screen able to show actual graphics? I'm looking for a new one that's a bit more advanced than just text input. I can post pictures of my canon x-07 as tribute if you're interested.

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Question: How easy is it to play the various "Champ Games" titles on DOSBOX? Because I'm really itching to play these again after so long

>>3199094

Well I guess that softwares that rely exclusively on DOS calls can still on this machine (like some PC-98 utilities that can run on a DOS PC for example).

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>>3198291
>>3198201
The MBC-555 was sold mostly based on its low price and x86 CPU which made it at least able to run a little bit of IBM software. This lack of compatibility was widely criticized at the time, so Sanyo quickly backtracked and released the fully PC-compatible MBC-775, also notable for being the first portable computer with a color display. A small but dedicated user base and clubs managed to keep the MBC-555 alive and supported by software until the end of the 80s.