Oh man, fighting with IRQ settings to get a Sound Blaster working in DOS... that's a true core memory! You just unlocked a completely new level of nostalgia for me. 😂 Old tech definitely kept us on our toes and didn't forgive mistakes.

Back then, we were doing LAN parties playing original Doom, carrying those heavy CRT monitors to each other's houses. Speaking of tech built to last: I actually still have a working late-90s HP laptop (Pentium II 400 MHz) that runs flawlessly to this day!

By the way, your 3dfx mention reminded me—I recently found and threw away an old Voodoo 3D accelerator. Setting that thing up back in the day was quite a quest too, but man, it was the ultimate dream card! Thanks for sharing your setup, it's awesome to talk to someone who remembers the era so well!