Retro-computing Thread

NeoSneth

Ned's Ninja Academy Dropout
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Im having a hell of a time finding a working floppy for my A1200. I've imported 2"working" units, and both were duds. I tore them apart and cleaned rails and the heads. Still no luck.

I have an old external drive that works, but i'd much rather have something internal.
 

ShootTheCore

Genam's Azami Sharpener
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What fun would there be in that?

I hate floppies - slow, noisy, unreliable, even moldy in some cases. A Gotek is so much less hassle, and going with an IDE Compact Flash with WHDLOAD is even better still.

Retro computing is cool, but I'm all about reducing the hassle factor.
 
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NeoSneth

Ned's Ninja Academy Dropout
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I hate floppies - slow, noisy, unreliable, even moldy in some cases. A Gotek is so much less hassle, and going with an IDE Compact Flash with WHDLOAD is even better still.

Retro computing is cool, but I'm all about reducing the hassle factor.

i use WHDload quite a bit, but I still seem to run into compatibility issues. It's fine for the basic A500 library, but some of the later released games get wonky. Maybe it's my accelerator card. i dont know...
 

ShootTheCore

Genam's Azami Sharpener
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I had WHDLoad issues on a few larger games with my first A1200 accelerator - an ACA 1221EC with 16 megs of memory. Later, I upgraded to an ACA 1233N with 128 megs of memory and everything ran smooth as silk. The extra memory really makes a difference with games that originally used a lot of floppies because WHDLoad tries to load the entire game into RAM.
 

Lagduf

2>X
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I’m still wanting an Amiga but I may have to hold off on the video toaster dreams. I’d like to explore some Amiga music stuff, lo-fi sampling, etc.

I know there are tons of sampling software and trackers.

Anyone know of any Amiga synthesizers worth looking at? Any midi control interfaces worth getting?

Ive been glacially working on my YouTube channel (I’m a fagit, I know) and working on just recording some stuff. Right now the plan is to do some rescanning (filming the crt) so this was my first test.

Ive really been enjoying sequencing the c64 from my IPhone via stuff like Fugue Machine.


Anyway for now my next Retro computer plans are to finally get Dual SIDs in each of my 64s. SIDFX seems like a good solution.
 

Lagduf

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My 1541 Ultimate II+ cartridge is finally shipping. It seems like the best of the options to emulate the disk drive as well as old program images, etc.


I’m looking forward to using it’s built Ethernet and modem emulation to access some BBS.
 

Burning Fight!!

NIS America fan & Rent Free tenant
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I can't bring myself to want any of those old computers. It just feels like something you had to be there to enjoy, as in half the fun was actually trying to use those underpowered POS as computers, doing basic stuff in basic, typing out your homework, making a database in CP/M dBaseII or some shit like that. Games are horribly underwhelming on those machines compared to other contemporary devices.

Good for you guys for liking them still though. EDIT: I have a particular interest in MSX1/2 but that comes primarily for historic reasons (MSX was THE home computer standard in Brazil at some point) and for my electronics side of the brain (I really want to do a homemade MSX machine someday, you know, breadboard a z80 and the msx-video chip together). Not much meat in them games except for the rare exception or two.
 
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Lagduf

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Patiently awaiting for a bunch of C64 stuff from overseas along with some disks I ordered on eBay for some music software (Kawasaki Synthesizer!)

In the meantime I've been farting around in basic. I've been going through the system guide. I can see how amazing this must have been to have had this back in the hey-day as a young kid.

Me? I'm just a dummy with functionally no experience in programming. So that's been kinda cool to try to create a program like people did back in the day. My math skills are not great, so this type of thinking is sort of new to me. We'll see what I can make. Mostly been doing some dumb stuff, will probably try to make a program to calculate whether or not you hit an opponent in some pen and paper roleplaying games, stuff like that.

I've been reading this book and it's a great look at this classic ONE LINE OF CODE* and still, I think, an interesting look at the role of computers in art. I got the book used on Amazon but there is a .pdf on the site. It's worth a read. No need to know any programming skills.

I've been doing all my BASIC stuff in VICE. Because I can just type about 10x faster on a modern keyboard than I can on a C64 keyboard, especially with some of the (now) non-standard placement of stuff like parenthesis, plus, minus, equal, etc. Once I get my floppy emulator I'll be able to easily transfer programs from my Mac to my C64. Looking forward to it.

Any of you guys with PAL C64s check out the new game BAD MOON RISING.


I love Nazis on the moon. I sort of want to buy it, but I only have an NTSC system :( I could run the digital version on VICE...but meh. Maybe I should get that C64 maxi and use that as a dedicated emulator?

*Calling all Kernows!!!
 

Lagduf

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That’s a great looking game!

Bad Moon Rising got an NTSC release but digital, not physical.
 

greedostick

Obsessed Neo-Fan
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I have a Commodore Amiga a1200 with WHD load.

I also built a Windows 98SE gaming PC a few years ago based around a Voodoo3 3000 and a SoundBlaster 16 on an Intel motherboard, with 440bbx chipset. Also has a Gotek floppy drive emulator.

Big Box PC game collecting is mostly sane these days and a great system to collect for. If you don't care about big box games shit is dirt cheap. Lots of quality games that are a steal.
 

Lagduf

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Mega65 is finally up for order. I'm intrigued by this, but of course, a project of this magnitude really needs community support. I suppose if anything you've got a nice modern C64 with an excellent keyboard...? I'm really curious to hear what the softSID chips sound like. Probably good enough.



Still interested to see where this product goes.
 

Lagduf

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Oh yeah, they really did. I kinda want it…the cost must have been extravagant to get the injection molding tooling and then they actually went with a good keyboard with custom key caps.
 

skate323k137

Professional College Dropout
10 Year Member
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Jan 7, 2013
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I've probably done more with retro PCs than arcades the last couple years. Time for a collective random post of stuff.

This summer I completed a full size working Apple 1 replica. This took about 8 hours of soldering over the span of a few months, as I took long breaks to read and comprehend the next steps ahead after completing each part.


Some other fun mentions, Apple IIe Platinum:


Did some PCB design to update an old card from Mike Willegal, which lets you run Apple 1 software, integer BASIC, or custom ROM on apple II systems


Finished my SE/30 / Apple Computer Shrine, where I type old school letters to people that actually get mailed to them


Scored an Atari 65XE (PAL system)


And last but definitely not least, I built my RC2014 Pro based "Z-80 super potato." This entire thing was built from scratch, and probably took close to a year off and on. It has a sound card, dat wifi... it's ridiculous but it was super fun. I did a full writeup on VCF about it.

LeHbH0R.jpg



https://forum.vcfed.org/index.php?t...io-ym2149-floppy-controller-and-more.1243132/
 
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Burning Fight!!

NIS America fan & Rent Free tenant
10 Year Member
Joined
Jan 12, 2014
Posts
4,364
I can't bring myself to want any of those old computers. It just feels like something you had to be there to enjoy, as in half the fun was actually trying to use those underpowered POS as computers, doing basic stuff in basic, typing out your homework, making a database in CP/M dBaseII or some shit like that. Games are horribly underwhelming on those machines compared to other contemporary devices.

Good for you guys for liking them still though. EDIT: I have a particular interest in MSX1/2 but that comes primarily for historic reasons (MSX was THE home computer standard in Brazil at some point) and for my electronics side of the brain (I really want to do a homemade MSX machine someday, you know, breadboard a z80 and the msx-video chip together). Not much meat in them games except for the rare exception or two.
wow what a fucking retard, ban him pls.
 

sirlynxalot

Vanessa's Drinking Buddy
Fagit of the Year
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Apr 10, 2019
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1,175
I have a bit of a collection of 90s dos games. Registered versions of popular shareware games like one must fall 2097 and Halloween Harry, as well as various big box retail games, lots of flying and driving games like Red Baron, Aces of the Pacific, Stunts, Need for Speed etc. Nothing super obscure and most of it is just stuff I've held onto since it was current.
 

greedostick

Obsessed Neo-Fan
15 Year Member
Joined
Aug 11, 2003
Posts
4,475
I'm still have the Windows 98SE bug. Been on my Voodoo3 machine for years now discovering new games. Pretty much all I play these days from a retro standpoint.

I have an XP build I'm working on right now. It's basically complete, but I think my video card is bad. Have a replacement coming in the mail, and a stack of old XP games waiting to be played.

Those builds are amazing. I don't have the time to dedicate like that.
 
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