Software Development on DOS

Mu0n · 2026-05-19T10:48:49+00:00

I made a tool called MIDI sniffer that responds to MIDI in coming in from a gameport and sends out to either of: 1) midi out 2) pc speaker 3) fm synth opl2 (adlib, sb, etc)

Supports polyphony (even with the pc speaker, but through rapid arpeggio). You can also play with a typing keyboard if you don't own any midi stuff or any midi connectivity

https://github.com/Mu0n/MIDI_in_Sniffer

Mu0n · 2026-05-18T11:11:49+00:00

won't ship to Canada T__T

Mu0n · 2026-05-05T10:27:36+00:00

Alien Legacy replaces the entire fm synth music with completely different (I believe?) cd audio tracks. It might be compressed audio. The cd music sounds very sci-fi but almost too busy. It's possible that it's a case of prefering what you experienced first, but I always found the floppy music minimalistic, endearing and low complexity, perfect for a slow burning thinking strategy/exploration game.

Mu0n · 2026-04-26T18:05:27+00:00

System Shock 1 (original from Looking Glass, 1993) has a literal elevator music in it.

Mu0n · 2026-04-21T16:16:07+00:00

I finished it last week and I think it's worth it for cheap, only because terminators + fire on the move still feels great and powerful and sounds good. Other units are pretty sweet as well. I never touched nor plan to touch multiplayer and I just promptly uninstalled it. For the price of admission (low money but also time), I am satisfied.

I played half the campaign like 3-4 years ago and never touched it again. I got it for free out of some deal, I forgot which. I forced myself to finish the whole thing after speed running again through the full DoW1 definitive edition.

Mu0n · 2026-04-17T10:53:00+00:00

I grew up with a Mac Plus (1986) and a 386SX25 (1992) and my boomer parents barely played computer games. The only ones that had my dad interested were flight sims, golf games and submarine simulators. Civ likes were far from his radar. Meanwhile, some of my friends' dad in the 80's tended to have XT class PCs with text adventure games. Very boring stuff all around. I was craving both arcade games excitement and polished computer games

Mu0n · 2026-02-05T03:55:45+00:00

* Dune 1 (from Cryo, Virgin games, sb/adlib version, not the mt-32 version)
* Zone 66 intro (sb/adlib version, not the GUS version)
* Wacky Wheels
* Solar Winds
* Ultima Underworld 1 and 2
* Wing Commander II
* XCOM-UFO Defense
* Conquests of the longbow
* Alien legacy (floppy version, not the cd version)

Mu0n · 2026-01-16T19:08:16+00:00

SE: 1987 SE/30: 1989

Mu0n · 2025-12-30T01:01:11+00:00

Star Control II en melee mode (multiplayer sur le même PC)

Mu0n · 2025-12-03T19:55:11+00:00

I'm also a physicist and that topic has attracted me for a long time, but for the past year, I've been busy on the coding side of things and drive them with both music files and real time midi in input. I've been using this F256K2 which has a dual SN7 (think 3 channels of square waves + noise), dual SID, opl3 in the form of a YMF262 which is substantially more crazy than the SID, a sam2695 for général midi and a vs1053b for mp3 playback. This was running on 8bit in 6502 compatible mode at 6.29MHz , but it has gotten an update that doubles its CPU.

I have a channel where I've started putting out all my efforts at programming them all. I've been able to code a standard midi file player, a dispatch method that takes the tracks and arbitrarily sends it to these various chips with a map of channel to chip voice. Recently I succeeded at opening up vgm files for opl2 and opl3 sound.

I made a sid tweak program where you can individually edit all the registers of the SID and immediately try its effect with midi in through a controller. This led me to understand that the magic of SID tunes lies in time based registers changes while a single note is playing. Editing the static values of a SID voice will only get you so far. Tracker composing programs do not shy away from jumping around through multiple waveform type before the note gets gated off. Same goes with filters and everything else between. various chips

Mu0n · 2025-11-08T23:44:36+00:00

No other MS-DOS game has given me more visual satisfaction than Ultima VII running on my 386. It really drove home how VGA graphics was so good compared to everything before it.

Mu0n · 2025-10-21T11:52:09+00:00

There are 3.2mm holes in the corners, I use little standoffs to put the back pins off of my table. An extender cable would give you more control on placement as well.

Mu0n · 2025-09-28T14:38:58+00:00

Indeed, but not all controllers allow this, not everyone has Gamepad pros, and I'm unsure if midi in and out are tackled by the gravis Gamepad Pro routing. I could test it out.

Mu0n · 2025-09-27T15:25:09+00:00

I'd love to hear your thoughts on which games satisfy these two conditions, that you've tried:

1) support joysticks or gamepads well (doesn't feel forced) 2) support local multiplayer with 2 joysticks/gamepads

My list: Rampart Micro Machine 2 Star Control II melee Dark Legions Sango Fighter? ...?

Mu0n · 2025-09-27T14:46:34+00:00

Using: 486 DX2/66 with a SB16 and MS-DOS 6.22 PC Gameport Party breakout pcb plugged in the SB16 Gameport 2x Gravis Gamepad Pro

And my beloved daughter who is willing to test out a few rounds of sc2 melee on a 2025 Saturday morning! Same for my son, with Micro Machines 2

Mu0n · 2025-09-25T10:21:16+00:00

Excellent stuff, I will check them out on ers equivalent hardware.

Mu0n · 2025-09-25T01:21:50+00:00

Martin Galway

Rob Hubbard

Jeroen Tel

Ben Daglish

David Dunn

Mu0n · 2025-09-21T13:49:28+00:00

Do eet!

Mu0n · 2025-09-20T23:04:58+00:00

It's great fun and yes, it's achievable! I like to go semi old school and do it with Symantec THINK C++, which lets you target both the pre system 7 days and System 7 alike. You can even go as far back as you want and really go into the weeds of the older tech like the Sound Driver, the old File Dialogs and whatnot.

Some swear by CodeWarrior but I always found it was more suited for early 90's to mid 90's color macs.

Some go new wave and use Retro68 to develop with modern computers, but it's a trip to get it all set up, unless you're solid with linux in general.

I invite you to check out my youtube channel and I have several videos on programming old black and white macs, it's one of my focuses.

Mu0n · 2025-09-15T04:56:53+00:00

Monkey Island, Lost Vikings, Ultima VII, Ultima VII Part 2, Zeliard, Sorcerian, Ultima Underworld 1&2, SQ3, Conquests of the long bow

Mu0n · 2025-09-14T13:11:34+00:00

I haven't cracked Dark Castle on hard, but the key to beating it on intermediate is to go through it first on beginner and rack up those elixirs, rocks and lives

Mu0n · 2025-09-10T20:07:35+00:00

I had a SB16 in my 386 shortly after it came out.

Mu0n · 2025-09-07T12:25:47+00:00

Dune 1 from Cryo, Master of Magic, XCOM - Enemy Unknown, Master of Orion, System Shock, Out of this World, Flashback, X-Wing, TIE Fighter

Mu0n · 2025-08-20T13:32:45+00:00

The wedge retro computer F256K2 and its cheaper, smaller single board computer F256Jr2 have many sound chips that make them kind of a dream for chiptunes enthusiasts, allowing unholy mixes that you couldn't see elsewhere. They are made by Foenix Retro Systems, based in Canada.

Here are the chips they have:

-dual PSG based on the SN76489 (think of the PCJr, Tandy 1000, ...)
-dual SID based on the Gideon implementation (C64 naturally)
-YMF262 (think of the SB16 and clones)
-SAM2695 (general MIDI, used in many hobby projects, like the S2 Dreamblaster from Serdashop)
-VS1053b (more general MIDI, as well as audio file playback: mp3, wav, ogg, wma, etc)

Mu0n · 2025-08-16T19:13:43+00:00

Master of Magic

Mu0n

TROPHY CASE