S
sillyputty
I found an old Compaq computer someone had discarded by our apartment
dumpsters and thought I'd see if it still worked. Cracking it open I
discovered it was caked with dirt. So I got out my vacuum, set it on
reverse, put on a dust mask and created a veritable dust cloud on my
porch.
I brought it in and it started right up, but hung before Win98 loaded.
Fortunately, the previous owner had copied the 98 install disk onto
the HD, so it was a simple procedure to reinstall the OS. It had a
10GB HD and AMD 400mhz CPU! I found an old ATI Rage LT Pro vid card,
downloaded and installed the legacy drivers, but the max resolution it
could support was 800x600 on a 17" monitor. How did I ever get along
with such low resolution?
Looking through my floppies I found Doom2, installed and fired it up.
The graphics that were once cutting edge were blocky and jagged. What
could I expect with a video game that weighs in at a bit over 5MB? I
watched the demo a few times, tried playing it, but didn't get past
the first level. Especially with a dual-core machine sitting a few
feet away loaded with recent games.
I played around with it some more, tried installing some more DOS
games and programs, but lost interest. I went to bed thinking I might
be more enthusiastic the next morning. But after getting up and taking
another look at it, I shut it down and carted it off to my storage
closet. I may try installing a DOS emulator on my XP machine and
loading some DOS games, but haven't gotten around to it (no round tuit
jokes, please). However, several days later my sinuses are still
irritated by the dust still stuck in the nooks and crannies of the
machine and exhausted into my apartment.
dumpsters and thought I'd see if it still worked. Cracking it open I
discovered it was caked with dirt. So I got out my vacuum, set it on
reverse, put on a dust mask and created a veritable dust cloud on my
porch.
I brought it in and it started right up, but hung before Win98 loaded.
Fortunately, the previous owner had copied the 98 install disk onto
the HD, so it was a simple procedure to reinstall the OS. It had a
10GB HD and AMD 400mhz CPU! I found an old ATI Rage LT Pro vid card,
downloaded and installed the legacy drivers, but the max resolution it
could support was 800x600 on a 17" monitor. How did I ever get along
with such low resolution?
Looking through my floppies I found Doom2, installed and fired it up.
The graphics that were once cutting edge were blocky and jagged. What
could I expect with a video game that weighs in at a bit over 5MB? I
watched the demo a few times, tried playing it, but didn't get past
the first level. Especially with a dual-core machine sitting a few
feet away loaded with recent games.
I played around with it some more, tried installing some more DOS
games and programs, but lost interest. I went to bed thinking I might
be more enthusiastic the next morning. But after getting up and taking
another look at it, I shut it down and carted it off to my storage
closet. I may try installing a DOS emulator on my XP machine and
loading some DOS games, but haven't gotten around to it (no round tuit
jokes, please). However, several days later my sinuses are still
irritated by the dust still stuck in the nooks and crannies of the
machine and exhausted into my apartment.
