I'm curious how many of you keep an oldskool box [or two or three..] around to play the games of yore. I'm constantly fiddling with this sort of stuff and at this point find myself with something of a little stable. last Fall I posted my retro projects, but things have expanded a bit...

Legacy 1 Win95/IBM-DOS 6.3 dual boot

Intel AN430/P233mmx/Diamond 3D-2000/Voodoo 1/SB16 with XR385 daughter card

Games: Pure Dos, Win MS dosbox, W95 limited, VESA/SVGA, Voodoo 1 limited, CPU limited [can also down-clock/disable cache]

Legacy 2: Win98se Win95

ASUS P3B-F/P3-566 Coppermine/QDI 8mb Rendition Verite/2x Voodoo 2 SLI/Diamond Monster Sound MX300 Turtle Beach Montego 1

Games: Rendition and Voodoo 2 limited, more demanding MS dosbox

Legacy 3: Win98se

Abit VA6/P3-1400 Tualatin/Voodoo 5500/Turtle Beach Montego 1  

Games: 3dfx Voodoo heavyweight

Still fussing with optimal sound cards and cpu, and waiting on an eBay case for Legacy 1.

So, anyone with an older machine post your experiences..

EDIT: clarification - I'm discussing retro computer builds here, not actual game boxes...

EDIT 8/4/12: updated to reflect current specs. Retained W95 in the Rendition/Voodoo2 box to address touchy compatibility issues with a few of the primary games installed on it. Legacy 3 carries the bulk of the load as it is, L1 & L2 fill in the OS/graphics compatibility gaps.. Went back to a dual Win/DOS boot on Legacy-1 since it was easy to set up as I have a complete DOS/games install pre-configured for a separate 2gb DOS hard drive.

I'm afraid that I'm not properly organized like you.

Len, I think Tincup is referring to old computer boxes as in those running various legacy systems.

I have desktops & laptops running W95, W98SE and, of course, Win XP. I have spent some time putting many of my favorite runnable 1st person 'Myst-like' games on a Fujitsu p1610 mini-laptop running WinXP so wherever I go, I'll have them to play.

Actually, until a year or two ago, my main web-surfing computer was under Win98SE/IE6, but it finally got to the point where I was only able to access a minority of websites- they had all moved on leaving this luddite in the dust...

Originally Posted By SirDave (30 JUL 2012 6:30pm)

Len, I think Tincup is referring to old computer boxes as in those running various legacy systems.

That is correct... old computers or computers assembled from old parts in order to run old games without the need for compatibility patches, cludges, work-arounds, virtual machines, voodoo, unholy incantations etc... 

Best of luck on your projects tincup. These days I do my best to keep my old Dell XP machine as clean and up to date as possible. For the most part it handles most older games, at least those with 16 bit installer packages. For the boxes before that I suppose now that I regret dumping them rather than trying to repair them. Thinking back to those times many years ago and for monetary reasons it just didn't make much sense.

I'm not sure what you mean by boxes, but I have 3 desktop towers - Win95, Win98, and my Windows 7. All are connected to my 22" CRT and keyboard.

Originally Posted By tincup2 (30 JUL 2012 2:49pm)

I'm curious how many of you keep an oldskool box [or two or three..] around to play the games of yore. I'm constantly fiddling with this sort of stuff and at this point find myself with something of a little stable. last Fall I posted my retro projects, but things have expanded a bit...

I gather from a few latest posts that I have not understood the original thread-post from 'tincup2'.

That is quite likely to be true.
I have never come across the word "oldskool" before (and even my USA spellchecker refuses to recognize it).

I assumed that he meant that he has sorted out his many original games on diskettes, CD's &DVDS.  He has then subdivided them into the various operating systems they were made to originally work on – and then stored the different piles of games in different boxes (of whatever type) ???

For players who like replaying games this seemed to me an excellent methodical suggestion.
If you have kept old computers with the various operating systems, you only have to fish out a game from the appropriate box and ply it directly on the appropriate corresponding computer.

As I pointed out I am not so organized and all my stuff is only vaguely separated ! 

I then thought that maybe he meant, just sorting out the large number of games *IN THEIR ORIGINAL CARDBOARD (or whatever) BOXES.

According to the abovementioned posts he meant neither of those things and I apologies for being so dumb !!

However, in case anybody else is as ignorant as I am – perhaps 'tincup2 would clarify matters ?!?!

THANKS  IN  ADVANCE !!

Originally Posted By colpet (31 JUL 2012 6:22am)

I'm not sure what you mean by boxes

...you have it right; box = rig = computer, and you have a comprehensive array as well.

I will note that my own focus is late dos/early windows so I haven't felt the need to enter into 386/486 territory yet. I don't think I'll ever go there as the nostalgia factor doesn't kick in for me until the earliest Pentium. Besides, DosBox makes running really old stuff so much easier that it ever was in the forst place, and is super well supported XP -> W7.

@ Len: Oldskool is just "hipster speak" for older games and hardware. How far back you go with it is a personal decision. At very least anything not natively supported by Win7 is "oldskool". 

Most of my old games play very well on their contemporary computer, but I do have a few headaches with DirectX versions if the game doesn't have it's own install. My Win98 used to connect to the internet, but I had issues with it a while ago and can't get the connection back (had Netscape 6).

I have a computer in my closet with Win 98 on it (300mhz, 128mb ram, 32mb GeForce 2 card), but for the most part, this old thing that I'm running right now (which almost qualifies as a retro-gaming machine

Hmm

Tincup2, Colpet, myself and *MANY* others here have games stretching back through the various incarnations of Windows & Direct X and back into the DOS-age (and maybe further back in time). !!

Maybe I'm extra-dense, but I STILL don't understand **EXACTLY WHAT** it is suggested that we could actually **DO** !!!

Originally Posted By Len Green (31 JUL 2012 11:35am)

Hmm

Tincup2, Colpet, myself and *MANY* others here have games stretching back through the various incarnations of Windows & Direct X and back into the DOS-age (and maybe further back in time). !!

 

Maybe I'm extra-dense, but I STILL don't understand **EXACTLY WHAT** it is suggested that we could actually **DO** !!!

Len, They are talking about keeping older machines alive and running to be able to play those games of yore. It is harder to find the oldscool parts than it is to find newer ones. Hence his asking people if they have old parts laying around. On a side note I may actually have some I'll go through and see what I have. Len oldskool is American english slang meaning old, but good. I think that old computers are becoming as much of a niche as older cars. It's neat to hang onto that sort of history and make use of it. The good ol days. And yes I realize I am youngster, but I still appreciatte it nonetheless.

My system for running older games is a 12 year old Dell with a Win98/XP dual boot. I wish I still could run it as my main system -- it's the most stable computer I've ever owned. I've had two other systems die on me since retiring it as my main system, while it just keeps chugging faithfully along.

Originally Posted By Elliot (31 JUL 2012 12:19pm)

Originally Posted By Len Green (31 JUL 2012 11:35am)

Hmm

Tincup2, Colpet, myself and *MANY* others here have games stretching back through the various incarnations of Windows & Direct X and back into the DOS-age (and maybe further back in time). !!

 

Maybe I'm extra-dense, but I STILL don't understand **EXACTLY WHAT** it is suggested that we could actually **DO** !!!

 

Len, They are talking about keeping older machines alive and running to be able to play those games of yore. It is harder to find the oldscool parts than it is to find newer ones. Hence his asking people if they have old parts laying around. On a side note I may actually have some I'll go through and see what I have. Len oldskool is American english slang meaning old, but good. I think that old computers are becoming as much of a niche as older cars. It's neat to hang onto that sort of history and make use of it. The good ol days. And yes I realize I am youngster, but I still appreciatte it nonetheless.

Hope that clarified things for you. 

Hehehe   

Shows what an old fuddy duddy ignoramus I am 

Oh well !! --- You live & learn !!!

...many people hold onto their old computers so that they can continue to run their old games on them. Or some people such as myself like to build 'retro' or 'oldskool' computers from saved or scavenged original parts to accomplish the same. I know several on this formu that do and I was curious what kind of response this threat would get. That's all.

Originally Posted By Elliot (31 JUL 2012 12:19pm)

...I think that old computers are becoming as much of a niche as older cars. It's neat to hang onto that sort of history and make use of it... 

If you say so Elliot. Sorry, when I read that I had to stifle a little laugh.

Personally, if it ever came down to a choice I'd probably go with the older cars.

I must admit that I too thought that this threads title was talking about game boxes

Originally Posted By GreyFuss (1 AUG 2012 8:41pm)

I must admit that I too thought that this threads title was talking about game boxes

er um, well...

Originally Posted By CB (1 AUG 2012 6:12pm)

Originally Posted By Elliot (31 JUL 2012 12:19pm)

...I think that old computers are becoming as much of a niche as older cars. It's neat to hang onto that sort of history and make use of it... 

If you say so Elliot. Sorry, when I read that I had to stifle a little laugh.

 

Personally, if it ever came down to a choice I'd probably go with the older cars.

 

 

May be more valuable, but I'd still take the music, games and movies because they are a real piece of history and culture. i.e. They communicate more than a car.

I, too, have an old win 98 that is the best gaming system in the world!  I wish it was compatible with the internet.  But, to play old games on it, it is a must have.  Also, I am old, but not that old, and I have never heard of a computer called a box.  I thought the original poster was talking about the boxes that games came in.  I guess we learn something new all the time.  course, I'm sure when someone says something about a box, I will still never think of a computer, I will think of the box.

Originally Posted By mbday630 (2 AUG 2012 1:28pm)

I, too, have an old win 98 that is the best gaming system in the world!  I wish it was compatible with the internet.  But, to play old games on it, it is a must have.  Also, I am old, but not that old, and I have never heard of a computer called a box.  I thought the original poster was talking about the boxes that games came in.  I guess we learn something new all the time.  course, I'm sure when someone says something about a box, I will still never think of a computer, I will think of the box.

It should be compatible with a nic card... Those can be found via eBay rather cheaply, heck I think I might have a few laying around you can have for free. If you post a picture of your computer insides we can look and see if you have the appropriate slot to be able to insert that card or a card. 

Thank you for the offer, Elliot.  But, I'm using my old XP for the internet and now my trusty Dell '98 is just for my old games.  But,  so, I could make it work for the internet though, eh?   I should think about that though;  when my grandsons are here I can't play the big fish games on my '98 and then there is crying.  but, for now I think they can live with just playing my old disk games, like Pajama Sam etc on the old 98. 

Originally Posted By mbday630 (2 AUG 2012 1:28pm)

course, I'm sure when someone says something about a box, I will still never think of a computer, I will think of the box.

you got it mbday630 - I'm not out to set the world on fire

I must admit I'm a bit relieved that some others were ALSO mixed –up a bit about the terminological meaning of **BOXES** !

It is not uncommon for techno-nerds to assign slang names for items of equipment that are a major part of hobby or special interest. There are those of us who have built our own computers for several years and subscribed to 'specialty' magazines such as MaximumPC where, for instance, various enclosures or for computers are rated and discussed. So, one might decide to build a tower or mini-tower etc. It's easy to see why a term like 'box' became associated with a computer in an enclosure. It's just easier to say when one is referring to them with others who have the same interest.

This assignment of terms is rampant in the audio/video world just as it is in the computer world. Thus, headphones are 'cans', turntables are 'decks' and so on.