My Slice of Old Stuff

[toddfx]

Since the controller ports will take up one of the 5.25" slots...

Who can guess what the next piece of the puzzle is?

 

[Elios]

CD rom hidden in a 5.25" floppy drive?

 

[Condition]

The real question is, Can it play Crysis?

 

[particalman]

sweet system, Love the old school feel.

 

[cHr0nIc]

They are 12MB. 4MB of each card is used for the framebuffer. 16MB for the rest. 16+8=24MB.

OK now I'm confused. Why isn't the full 12MB used as a framebuffer on a voodoo 2? I've never heard of a card that splits the memory for different tasks, typically whatever memory is on the card is used as a framebuffer.

Yeah, like RogueTrip said, they are indeed 12MBs. However I too was very confused/upset when I first installed them and noticed the numbers looked than expected at first glance. And to make matters worse, the "FastVoodoo" third-party drivers recommended at 3DFXzone are actually bugged and are known to display even SMALLER numbers. After much testing and debating, I decided to re-install and go with the latest official manufacturer's drivers. Heck, if FastVoodoo can't even display the system info correctly then...WTF.

But yeah, the numbers you see above are correct for SLI 12MBs.

Now that sounds more plausible, not to mention totally sucks. Does it have any bearings on performance? Or is it just an issue with whats reported by the System Info?

On and props on the NES controller adapters, that is just cool.

 

[wiseoracle]

The real question is, Can it play Crysis?

Oh shush you!

If you're going to play that game, you would ask will it run Quake 3?

 

[pc299]

I did a similar build a few years ago, but one? generation newer:

3Com 3C905B-TX-NM Network Card
3dfx Voodoo 5 5500 Video Card
ECS D6VAA Dual Socket 370 Motherboard
Gateway Server Case
2x Intel Tualatin 1.4GHZ
LG 16x DVD-ROM
1536MB Micron PC133
Panasonic Floppy Drive
2x Seagate Barracuda 80GB ATA100 7200RPM RAID0
Sparkle Power 300W Power Supply
Upgradeware 370GU Conversion Kit




Certainly not to the detail that you're doing (no custom sleeving, new case, etc) but it works great for oldschool games. I also have a pair of 12MB Voodoo II's in my closet, but I'm not sure if I can find the VGA dongle (I do have the SLI cable still though)

 

[Guarana [BAWLS]]

You seperated the 80 conductor, there goes your data rates.

Are you really making that argument?

THAT WAS PROVEN FALSE A DECADE AGO. (And then some.)

No, really, it was. (ATA100/133 doesn't have the bandwidth necessary to introduce any problems.)

 

[ninjaturtle]

Since the controller ports will take up one of the 5.25" slots...

Who can guess what the next piece of the puzzle is?

Just make sure you cover up that Apple logo.

 

[NicaDeli]

nice.

 

[gps_guru]

Obsidian Voodoo2 SLI going for $50
I don't think it would fit in that case though...

 

[mannyman]

Obsidian Voodoo2 SLI going for $50
I don't think it would fit in that case though...

Too bad i have AGP in the old dell i want to resurrect. It would fit perfect. its the same length as my old raid card.

 

[normalicy]

I used to have the 19" version of that monitor. Had BCM connectors at the back & the adapter to VGA was about $40 at the time. It was annoying that it only worked at 1280x1024 (since almost everything back then liked to run at 640x480 or 800x600 including installing Windows), but it looked great though.

 

[toddfx]

Just make sure you cover up that Apple logo.

We'll see I too am usually pretty biased on the Apple/Windows topic, but I do consider Apple's old timey evolution equally appealing as anything else. This build is very much a mash-up of all things old, and I guess when I think of external disk drives I immediately think of these Apple ones much more so than anything IBM based. Actually I think of Amiga 3.5" external drives too, but that would of course be too small for this purpose.

Obsidian Voodoo2 SLI going for $50
I don't think it would fit in that case though...

Holy crap look how many of them that guy has. What the hell, i'm buying one. Got some other machines I could throw it into just for fun. I've always loved how...huge...those things are Thanks for the link!

I used to have the 19" version of that monitor. Had BCM connectors at the back & the adapter to VGA was about $40 at the time. It was annoying that it only worked at 1280x1024 (since almost everything back then liked to run at 640x480 or 800x600 including installing Windows), but it looked great though.

Nice! I am indeed impressed how crisp the image is, when it works correctly. I'm having some major pincushion issues on most resolutions, and also some other visual distortions here and there. Finding the exact refresh rate frequency is the key; i've spent hours fiddling with the Matrox G200's display settings but still have not got an image I am 100% happy with.

1024x768 at 72hz on the desktop is about 90% there for me (a little vibration in certain areas of the screen). 1280x960 would be great but it has severe pin-cushioning which I have been unable to fix. Maybe I need a degaussing wand? The monitor does not have a degauss button. Did yours?

The other issue I am having is that I cannot seem to force the Voodoo utility to retain my custom refresh rates for 3D games. There is a way to do it in the registry (i.e. set 640x768 @ 72hz) but it seems to revert every time I go to launch a game. Most games fall out of sync due to incorrect resolution refresh rates. Also having issues with some DOS games which I am unsure what resolution they are running...they fall out of sync too.

So I may end up going with something else, but we'll see how long it takes me to pull my hair out!

 

[toddfx]

I did a similar build a few years ago, but one? generation newer:

3Com 3C905B-TX-NM Network Card
3dfx Voodoo 5 5500 Video Card
ECS D6VAA Dual Socket 370 Motherboard
Gateway Server Case
2x Intel Tualatin 1.4GHZ
LG 16x DVD-ROM
1536MB Micron PC133
Panasonic Floppy Drive
2x Seagate Barracuda 80GB ATA100 7200RPM RAID0
Sparkle Power 300W Power Supply
Upgradeware 370GU Conversion Kit

Dual CPU is awesome! THAT sounds like a fun build. Nice work, thanks for sharing.

 

[mannyman]

I've always loved how...huge...those things are Thanks for the link!

Thats what she said

I also want to see that build log.

 

[pc299]

Dual CPU is awesome! THAT sounds like a fun build. Nice work, thanks for sharing.

I figured, if I'm going to build something oldschool, why not go dual everything
Dual CPUs, dual Voodoo, dual hard drives. I'd love to have gone with a Voodoo 6000 but I wasn't going to pay $2-300+ for one for a system that'll sit there and collect dust 99% of the time.

 

[normalicy]

Honestly, that monitor was a pain in the neck. You're lucky that you can change resolution. However, mine looked great the resolution it worked at. However, this was 15 years ago. I suspect yours is dying a slow death, but I'm no technician. If you're brave, there are usually some gain pots inside the monitor that will allow more adjustment. I've been able to eek a few more years out of a monitor that way. Just be careful not to touch anything because that's high voltage stuff in there.

 

[Jorona]

Honestly, that monitor was a pain in the neck. You're lucky that you can change resolution. However, mine looked great the resolution it worked at. However, this was 15 years ago. I suspect yours is dying a slow death, but I'm no technician. If you're brave, there are usually some gain pots inside the monitor that will allow more adjustment. I've been able to eek a few more years out of a monitor that way. Just be careful not to touch anything because that's high voltage stuff in there.

Yeah, CRTs can definately kill you.

 

[Angry]

Do you have a list of the classic games you plan on loading on this Old school rig?

I ask because reviving an old Socket A thunderbird system at the moment.

 

[Angry]

You sir, inspired me to throw together an old rig from my hoard of parts.
My system:
Athlon 1.1gz @ 1.3ghz
Aopen AK73 Pro (a) (replaced some bad caps on this one)
3x256mb ram
Geforce 5900 Ultra (wish I still had working voodoo cards!, will be watching for a Voodoo3 ,Voodoo5 and a Geforce2 GTS)
Creative Ensoniq (need an actual sound blaster...)
3com Nic.
2x80gb IDE + 40gb IDE + DVD-RW IDE

Your build also inspired me to break out Window 98Se. Which is exactly what Im surfing the forums with at the moment....

Funny thing to note, Since I hadnt dragged my 21" CRT out of the basement yet, the orginal Starsige, looks pretty sweet on a 1080p 24" LED montor.

And Redneck Rampage is still a basterd to get setup. It hates this sound card.

 

[toddfx]

Woot! Lots of progress.

I got the A9M0107 in the mail and immediately cracked it open.

At this point I was still waiting on the front-load CD-ROM (Sony CDU571) to arrive, but I did a test fit with this standard, more modern drive. Seems like a perfect match!

I've never looked at one of these old drives up close and personal, so I decided to poke around the guts a little.

Cool circuit board, Apple...

But the best surprise was still to come...

Upon removing the circuit board, I see this:

Crayons! I bought this drive used on eBay from a tech recycling service, so some time ago somebody's kid must of crammed some crayons in here. I laughed extremely hard, as I can totally relate haha. I have memories of getting in trouble for cramming toys in VCRs and mucking up other devices...

Some interesting looking pieces on this side as well...

Here is the part I was really after though:

I hope to use the eject lever as the eject button somehow. Good to see it is spring loaded. and has a bit of a bracket to work with.

Finally the Sony front-loading drive is here. Unfortunately, it is quite a bit longer than my test unit was:

No problem though, fits nicely once this notch was cut out of the case:

Will definitely need to get both the eject button and LED working. I soldered the original Apple red LED into the board, and soldered on a new eject button.

After trimming the original Eject lever's bracket down to the bare minimum, I used JB Weld to attach the button to the bracket in just the right spot so it can be triggered by pushing the eject lever in. The zip tie is also JB Welded on, keeping the spring loaded lever snug (it kept falling free without it).

Then creatd some mounting points with some hardware leftover from my G5 mod and a bit of JB Weld

As for the wiring, I attemped to use a IDE to USB converter but Windows 98 would not recognize the device at all, so I ended up just rounding/sleeving an IDE cable and created a matching 4-pin extension cable. I haven't figured out how exactly I'm going to route them out of the case, but it should suffice. Bummer the IDE to USB didn't work out though...

And lastly, here is a video if it in action:

https://vimeo.com/42732518

 

[toddfx]

And now, to finish this controller panel.

Got the N64 ports in the mail from RetroUSB. They are shaped like miniature N64 consoles! They're so cute I almost don't even want to take them apart....

...too bad:

Added them to my panel:

And there she is!

Bought a cheap USB hub to plug them all into. At the last second I realized I had not even tested more than 1 of these RetroUSB adapters plugged in at once and got really worried. After swiftly plugging in the USB adapter and a few seconds of Windows detection, they all show up named the same thing: "retro" but all work indeed.

I may or may not be shedding the hub's case just to free up a little room. Will see what kind of wire management I can do without having to do that. I did trim all 6 of the USB cords to be only a few inches long, so that helped a lot.


NES and Atari ones work perfectly. I'm having some issues calibrating the N64 controllers though. I have an adapter by another brand that works just fine, but the joystick will not calibrate correctly with these RetroUSB ones. Will need to tinker with it some more, I sure hope it is just a matter of some kind of silly workaround that I have overlooked.


I think I need to give the front of the case a little more love. Anybody have any ideas of what I could do to age it a little bit maybe? For example, I want to lose that Silverstone logo and chrome sticker strip along the bottom. Also, the power & HDD LEDs are currently blue but intend to replace them with 1 green and 1 red.

 

[Jorona]

Thats great. Again completely and utterly too old for the gen of this system, but still really cool.

Edit: This was in regards to the Apple Drive, not the N64 ports. I'm kind of suprised the N64 ports work at all. I wouldn't have expected the USB drivers in 98 to have picked them up properly.

 

[toddfx]

Thats great. Again completely and utterly too old for the gen of this system, but still really cool.

Edit: This was in regards to the Apple Drive, not the N64 ports. I'm kind of suprised the N64 ports work at all. I wouldn't have expected the USB drivers in 98 to have picked them up properly.

haha thanks. Indeed the Apple case is old, however I forgot to mention the Sony CDU571 I put inside is actually from the correct time period. 1998 or so, judging by my brief research. I just love the Apple encasement because it is classic and legendary! Plus, comparing the width of 5.25" floppies to the width of a CD is just too perfect to be coincidence...

It is strange how the RetroUSB adapters work. The actual adapters themselves are detected as devices, even if no controller is plugged in. But yeah they utilize standard Windows game device drivers which apparently have not changed a whole lot since Win98. Even the dialogues are identical. The heavy lifting of designating # of buttons and axis has been taken care of by the microprocessor inside the adapters.

 

[colinstu]

Build is coming together awesome!

 

[mannyman]

This is super bad ass.

 

[toddfx]

Do you have a list of the classic games you plan on loading on this Old school rig?

I ask because reviving an old Socket A thunderbird system at the moment.

Sorry for the delay in response. Haha I was going to refer you to my screenshot of all the games, but just realized I never posted an up to date version!

Here's what I've got so far, arranged roughly in the order of newest to oldest (manually arranging them is unreliable, so I used "FileDate Changer" to alter the shortcut dates based on the game's release dates)

Other games I plan to install: Contra, Dune, Elastomania, Combat Assault, Motorcross Madness, Counterstrike 1.6, Max Payne, Tomb Raider, Oddworld, Outcast, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, and Deadly Tide. Among others I am sure, and will absolutely take suggestions. Surely I have forgotten many classics! EDIT: Duh, Diablo...

DOS era games launch into DOSBox directly through their shortcuts, rather than having to rely on the emulator's game selection menu. I'd like to set something like this up for other emulators; for example rather than having a single icon for the N64 emulator 1964, I would love to have icons for individual games such as Wave Race, Goldeneye 007, Rush2, Mario Kart, Pilot Wings, etc. (all my faves).

95% of the games you see installed here are working great. I'm having some joystick issues in Tie Fighter & X-Wing making them difficult to play right now, and I am having a hell of a time setting up custom controls in DOSBox for some games. Otherwise, I got the bugs worked out of most others.

Oh and Everquest does not launch just yet. I play on Project1999 emulated servers requiring Everquest Titanium, which does list Windows98 as a compatible OS. It installed just fine, but it complains about an outdated OS when I go to launch it... I think (hope) I just need to install the OS updates for Win98. Right now I am running 100% vanilla '98SE, but have been meaning to install "Unofficial Service Pack 2.1a" which includes all the Microsoft updates for 98SE.

However before I do that, I want to make a bootable image backup of my hard drive, incase any of the updates royally screw something up. I've been tinkering with XClone but so far have not been successful in creating a bootable HDD image. Any other suggestions?

 

[colinstu]

Man I used to play the SHIT out of Midtown Madness 2.

And there were a TON of mods for that game too (new cars, maps, etc).


EDIT: in the spirit of Diablo, should check out Dungeon Siege!

 

[Angry]

Nice, I looked at your first set of desktop shots and thought, man this guy must be getting more games, so I figured you had more to go.

^^That one looks more complete. I see you grabbed Earthseige, I actually started out PC gaming on the orginal Starseige (b4 tribes) and have always wanted to go back and play Earthseige 1 and 2.
Where in the world did you find the orginal Twisted Metal for PC? Ebay nore Amazon have it, and neither anywhere else... I did find Jet Moto.

Cant forget:
Tomb Raider (which has a hi rez texture pack somwehere)
Uplink
Unreal (all of them)
Carmageddon Series
System Shock 1+2
Homeworld
Heavy Gear II
Starwars Episode 1 Racer
Screamer 4x4
Redneck Rampage series
Monster Truck Madness 1+2

Thats my short list for now.

And as for making an Image of your drive, Id try Norton Ghost off the hirens boot CD.
Thats what I used to use back in the day for XP and 98.

 

[colinstu]

Could use some old puzzle games too

The 7th Guest
The 11th hour
Riven
Phantasmagoria
Phantasmagoria II
Lighthouse: The Dark Being

 

[xDezor]

Where in the world did you find the orginal Twisted Metal for PC? Ebay nore Amazon have it, and neither anywhere else... I did find Jet Moto.

The CD is practically impossible to find, but there are dark recesses of the internet that you can find the game. The second one is much easier to find, and coincidentally, a much better game IMHO.

Kudos for getting Twisted Metal and Twisted Metal 2 though! TM2 is my favorite game.

 

[ThE_MaD_ShOt]

Nice old school build there buddy. I just love the old school builds.