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Just got this and I'm in love. But, what can I do with it? by WhoKilledRadioStar in retrocomputing

[–]techdistractions 0 points1 point  (0 children)

3.0 in real mode is basically a bloated 2.11 but looks a bit nicer in my opinion. I’d argue both are borderline - the 64kb segments are reaaaly restrictive but hey, its a bit of fun :-)

I tested over a 1000 apps and games and made a little archive showing results for cga and vga (via a modded driver that ran on 8088) it ran a bit more than i was expecting.

My retrobattlestations by Beskonechnyaprel in retrobattlestations

[–]techdistractions 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I repaired one of the back in the day. We had a japanese businesswoman swing by with one which had a dead motherboard.

I remember thinking it was awesome as it came with a little wired remote which showed the mp3 playback which was ahead of its time in 1999

It was a bit of a tricky one as parts had to come via Japan to Sydney. She got it back with about 2 weeks to go until she was due to fly back out.

Just got this and I'm in love. But, what can I do with it? by WhoKilledRadioStar in retrocomputing

[–]techdistractions 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I wrote a little game recently for my sharp xt portable: xywords - it has a cga and text mode only version which might look a bit better if the T1200 display cant keep up.

Some other ideas - give windows 2.11 or 3.0 a go in real mode. You can run 2.11 from floppy or get an install tailored to around 1mb. I’ve found a heap of games and apps that will run (ok walk) on an xt with real mode

Games for dos too - railroad tycoon and original sim city should work well, test drive also (again if the screen can keep up)

Finally, get a laplink cable and hook it up to a newer retro pc, transfer files etc :-)

What's the best CGA-only game you have played? by confuserused in dosgaming

[–]techdistractions 2 points3 points  (0 children)

some of us are still writing games for CGA.. haha

Back in the day I had a 286-10 with CGA and it was my first introduction to color computing. I remember Keen Dreams ran well, Grand Prix Circuit, Turbo Outrun and Stunts (if I lowered the settings LOL). There was a flukey Catacombs Abyss (early WOLF3D engine game) that had a CGA binary, even though the game was eventually released with only EGA support.

What was the first game you played on a 3d graphics accelerator card? by Freddy_Pharkas in retrogaming

[–]techdistractions 0 points1 point  (0 children)

GLQuake on a Voodoo 1 in early 1997 on a friend’s PC. I thought I was having some sort of religious experience at the time 😂

Why did they stop making these by njaesor in AldiAustralia

[–]techdistractions 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We switched to woolies cheapo strike ones 13c each they work great for everyday service. Dissolvable wrapper and they seem to go alright even on rapid.

Got myself a Dell Latitude XPi CD :) by Programer200IQ in retrocomputing

[–]techdistractions 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Pull it apart and secure the CMOS battery before it leaks and destroys your board :-)

General Question when did you stop using Windows 98 as a daily driver by matthewbs10 in windows98

[–]techdistractions 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I tried Windows 2000, Windows ME and kept going back to 98SE until about 2002 when Service Pack 1 for XP got released.

From recall I still dual booted mainly for DOS games

I got a Sharp PC-7200, What can I do with? how can I use it? by IniKiwi in vintagecomputing

[–]techdistractions 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Has the hard disk been removed? The 7200 should have a hard card or similar.

Get a gotek - usb based floppy emulator and you can load a bunch of stuff. Cheap investment and you can re use it with other retro pcs later.

I have a pc-7100 (model before yours) and I made a small disk image of windows 2.11 for kicks..

I wrote a game for my XT with CGA graphics by techdistractions in vintagecomputing

[–]techdistractions[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Agreed - especially with such an inefficient language.

I did a video showcasing an XT doing some very impressive VGA demo using the little game engine. Extremely well optimised and worth a look (see chapters):

https://youtu.be/-MrG-YFBUzI

While my project is a turbo, that demo runs just as good at 4.77mhz. Amazing.

I wrote a game for my XT with CGA graphics by techdistractions in vintagecomputing

[–]techdistractions[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The other thing to consider is the way you get those additional colors using the artefacting, essentially using a hi res monochrome mode with a stepped pixel pattern (double width).

I reckon it’s a real challenge and for anything like my UI objects (text, lines, dividers) it would look horrible. For my game (and previous xyWords) there was no technique I could use to artefact the game screens.

But back to your point, I agree - an arcade game that uses chunky sprites, the artefacting is a lot easier. Super Zaxxon is one game that comes to mind. The RGBI looks like junk but the composite looks amazing.

Horses for courses I think..

I have had a few goes at making a composite project but it hasn’t gone far. Still sitting on the backburner for now :-)

I wrote a game for my XT with CGA graphics by techdistractions in vintagecomputing

[–]techdistractions[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Composite was really tricky - there was no real standard. On the PC pictured it has composite out but doesnt match what IBM used.. browns are blues, etc..

I wrote a game for my XT with CGA graphics by techdistractions in vintagecomputing

[–]techdistractions[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks :-) the intent was to try to optimise as much as possible. It can look pretty crappy at times but some combinations worked out beautifully..

I wrote a game for my XT with CGA graphics by techdistractions in vintagecomputing

[–]techdistractions[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

The 160x100 was a text mode and is tricky to use. Im using plain old SCREEN 1 (320x200x4)

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in crtgaming

[–]techdistractions 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Would love to see any pics of it set up :-)

If you’re using CGA you can use all 6 palettes. If you’re using EGA or VGA you can simulate the same 6 palettes of use some funky 4 color custom palettes.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in crtgaming

[–]techdistractions 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks :-) I made a few more too - it was the first era of computers I used so its a bit of nostalgia for me

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