SEMI-RETRO SYSTEM...LOL

[ahenry3068]

Since I got into this X16 project I've kinda of rekindled my interest in Computing in General.

I have Windows 10 Laptop & desktop.. Both Dell's I seldom use the laptop.

I picked up a Sony VIAO mini-tower recently.... It has a DVD-RW & DVD-R. It
was sans HDD when I got it. Pentium 4 800 mhz. I have such a hard time
thinking of that as a Retro system but its over a Decade old. I have to give it to Sony
Its one of the Best looking Mini-Towers I have ever owned.

Anyway. After much futzing with the BIOS I got it to Boot FREEDOS tonight...
It wouldn't boot with a CD-ROM image burned to a DVD-R... Eventually
found an old CD-R disc I had laying about and it booted fine from the same ISO.

I'm going to play with this system... I don't know what will eventually end up on it.
And I have to buy some permanent storage medium for boot.... Not sure yet...
I Haven't quite figured out if it's IDE or SATA yet..... Its right on the cusp and
I have yet to crack the case. It does have a 3.5 floppy installed and its one of
the boot options in BIOS.

I plan on playing with FreeDOS for a while and then maybe HAIKU...
Its very apt to have a Linux installation as it's final OS but I plan to play
a bit first.

[ahenry3068]

If I put Linux on it. It might just be Slackware.

It was my first distribution. I wasn't quite on the Ground floor on
Linux... It had been out a couple years.

But my first installation was downloading around a dozen disc images from Compuserve.

Then once it was installed, at the time Linux was pretty monolithic. No installable device
drivers. I had a SoundBlaster Pro & to access it under Linux I had to do a Kernal build...
Had to answer about 100 configuration options. Then on a 486 SX 25 a kernal build took
around 2-3 hrs... But it worked and I had sound in X-Windows.

[GTR3QQ]

I thought Pentium 4 kick off at 1.4GHz? So where's this 800mhz coming from?
On these old sets, running slackware?
I dunno. I Won't call SW 'light weight'
I have a NEC laptop with PM755 CPU running Lubuntu 18 LTS, and it works really well.
Only 100mb of RAM is used when boot up.

But really, this gen is essentially made for WinXp, Linux dstro only become usable for the masses around the time Xp is discontinued.
Not only drivers, software lib is a big problem.

This gen of computing is not really enjoyable for me, I too used WinXp back then, and it's really …
There were BSOD, virus, blowware.
Gaming is better on console(actually this still hold true today) e.g. PS2
And you always needed more computing power.
But I guess back then I'd settle for any computer.
I completed GTA:VC and some more games on my Tulalatun, learn most things about modern computing.
I still have this setup, and from time to time I still daily drive it.

But still, I think this era is pretty well emulate that real hardware is not necessarily per say. You opinion is as good as mine.

[ahenry3068]

I don't know where the 800 mhz came from... A lot of times when I post here I'm tired and
should be in bed. I must have been thinking about the very last project PC I made. It was
a mini-itx board and I remember it being 800 mhz. I built it as a dedicated Music Player
for my Stereo system. I don't remember for sure (almost 20 years) but I think it was
actually an AMD Cpu.

The Sony I'm talking about is actually a late model. 3.4 Ghz.. I have a soft spot for DOS.
To this day, when I do file management stuff in Windows I'm usually using the Command prompt
rather than Drag & Drop.

The last 10 years I really dropped off on "PLAYING" with computers. I always viewed Programming
that way.. I get an Endorphin rush when I solve a problem ....

When I got into this X16 project a lot of my interest was Rekindled. And I live alone and it was cheap
so I set about finding a system I could run DOS on primarily. The SONY Viao fit the bill when I found it
on Ebay even though it was kind of Major Overkill.. I'm having a lot of fun exploring what I can do with
FREEDOS. And I want to play with Haiku and other alternative O.S.s on it. It's kind of liberating to
have a system that if things go very very South I'm just going to BOOT from CD and reformat the HDD>

What got me there in the first place was my plan to do a FLI player for the X16. Found most of the programs
to edit and maintain this format were 16 bit DOS.. Thus the DOS system. I'm already relearning
AutoDesk Animator. Settled on the P4 so I could do other things with the system too. Maybe eventually
Linux... But the idea of an FTP and PRINT Server running on FreeDOS also appeals to me.



FREEDOS Running on this Real Hardware is actually blazingly fast. Much faster than DOSBOX on my multi-core i7 system.
Its not surprising. My current "MAIN" System is actually .2 less Ghz clock. (Though Multi-core)

[ahenry3068]

Also Kudo's to Sony...... This system is the Best looking aesthetically that I've ever owned.
(I still like my 6 year old DELL Optima).. The Sony Viao Mini-tower is quite a nice looking
system.

[ahenry3068]

BTW. Between 97-2000 I had a 386 40mhz system in my Garage. Sitting there with no Monitor.
attached to a 14,400 US Robotics Modem on my 2nd Phone line.. Waiting for the 3 other computers
on my Network to access an I.P. address. If such happened, it dialed my ISP and established a PPP
connection. This was all transparent to my Network (besides the Time Delay).

The 386 was running a version of Slackware.. (pretty early version)

It started with the 14,400 modem. I'm pretty sure I updated it to a 28,800 about a year later.
I don't think I had a 56k modem until I moved to FL in 2000.... I think I finally had broadband less
than 2 years after I got the 56k modem.

[GTR3QQ]

You can't really compare GHz on different gen of CPU for IPC is different.
Especially P4 with it's whopping 34 stages(?) pipe lines.
I think it should be binary translate losses, and the fact DOSbox is not really efficient vs VMware stuff.

I got into CX16 for I want to port a game, but at the moment there just so lack of resources and user base.
So I kinda polishing my chiptune skill sets rn.

when I say "litght weigh", I mean modern releases. Running old releases comes with Compermises like lack of features, and lack of support hard to find outdated informations.
On a P4, these compermises in my view is unnecessary.

But I only want to have job done, if having fun is your main target, then by all means.

Speking of HDDs, you can get a SATA SSD drive and a SATA to IDE adaptor, it'll really boost the performance up at maximum 100mb/s of sequential read.
IDE drives tops out at 50mb/s I think? I do had a segate 7200.7 that will do 70mb/s before it dies like a Seagate...
And SATA SSD can use Txbech to ATA erase it, takes only 2 second and you drive is fresh for the factory.
You can image the whole drive within seconds on modern PC so very easy to snap shot it.

Most importantly, it quiet, tho I don't think anyone grow up from that era will mind a little chke-chunk chke-chunk.

[ahenry3068]

Actually today I've installed 3 O.S.'s on it. I struggled for 2 days to get SBEMU to work in FreeDOS with several different games.

Downloaded and installed Windows XP from Archive.org. It ended up being French !!!!!! I got it installed but that lasted less than 2 hrs.

FINALLY. This VIAO is a PCV-630GX. It's well past Sony's install life cycle support. AND they don't even do old archives.
Fortunately on archive.org there is a RESTORE Disk set for the VIAO PCV-620G which actually worked well.

And now since the VIAO has a capture card. I can use it also as my COMMANDER X16 display. I have
the feeling that without the Sony Restore discs it would have been a great challenge to get the capture card working.


I'm going to make this a dual boot system anyway... Not sure about the 2nd OS at this time. I've been playing with HAIKU a little.
and I already have a WIN 10/LINUX MINT System

[ahenry3068]

Besides the SEMI-RET system is actually fast enough to take real time video recordings from the X16 output.
I didn't have that before besides pointing my phone at the monitor...