The Oldskool PC
Commander Keen 4 patched for composite color CGA, captured from real hardware
updated
Mentioned in the video:
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The scan I elected to get was a coronary calcium scan: my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diagnostics/16824-calcium-score-screening-heart-scan
Apologies for the wobbly swaying video; it was a spur-of-the-moment decision to shoot video and I guess I didn't have my arm stable enough. If you get motion sickness, only listen to the audio.
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Chapter stops:
00:00 - Intro
00:09 - Despite this channel, I love modern hardware
02:00 - Bad movies and Rapsittie Street Kids
02:53 - Would rewriting the PCjr BIOS improve its compatibility?
04:43 - Why I love real hardware -- and why I also use emulators
06:19 - Movies don't represent computers properly
07:02 - If I could obtain one more system, it would be The Mindset
08:37 - What should I do if my system hangs randomly?
10:00 - TRON 2.0 pioneering 60p video on youtube
11:06 - Formatting floppy disks in the background
12:07 - What do you need to make a mulittasking CPU?
13:13 - Why Area 5150 didn't use composite video
13:36 - Pop, or soda?
15:22 - All your Plus Hardcards are dead
16:15 - Kickstarters and The Tesla Effect
17:20 - Peeking at ROMs with DEBUG
17:49 - Daniel Pesina is a stand-up guy
18:55 - My favorite demoscene handle
19:11 - CGA Snow Explained
20:13 - I make videos for history, not nostalgia
20:40 - My first personal computing memories
22:01 - My favorite homebrew hardware name
22:19 - Demoscene jokes in the 1990s
22:55 - Being poor, Ad-Lib, and why I'd like to be recognized someday for archiving
23:44 - Parenting with DOS computers
24:05 - The Original King's Quest is a Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Game
25:30 - Why CGA snow doesn't bother me
25:56 - Another reason early Sierra games sucked
27:03 - My workflow for developing 8088 code
28:28 - After 20 years of upgrades, it's nice to not have to wait
29:26 - Disappointing drawbacks of being a subject-matter expert
30:05 - I LOVE to dump on Cybergenic Ranger
31:27 - Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle
32:07 - The Pros and Cons of putting a VGA card in your XT-class PC
34:10 - How you enjoy this hobby is your own business
36:12 - Grade-school computing memories
37:23 - How to play HACK in 15 minutes or less
51:36 - The largest "grids" in 80's PC games
52:42 - One appeal of vintage systems over modern systems
53:24 - Outtro
Links discussed in the video:
The World of TRON 2.0: youtu.be/KcM6IuvP5oA
Cybergenic Ranger at Games Done Quick: youtu.be/XWjq_uWfITs
Another playthrough of Cybergenic Ranger: youtu.be/EyUfJC3vSYI
More information on Hack, the precursor to NetHack: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hack_(video_game)
Blog post where I finally finished Hack: trixter.oldskool.org/2006/05/24/patience
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Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
00:51 Series Overview
01:25 The state of the home computer market by 1982
03:35 IBM's proposed target market
04:21 PCjr Sales Training VHS
05:28 Anticipation of success
06:20 PCjr announced November 1st 1983
07:55 Hand-on at COMDEX 1983
10:54 Why the shipping delay?
12:57 Books, Magazines, and "Guaranteed" Success
14:34 What's next?
Acknowledgments:
Massive thanks to these fine folks, who granted me the use of their research, photos, or video for use in this retrospective series:
@danbcast
@mbbrutman
Doctor Octal
@Epictronics1
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The original stream was out of sync and damaged, but this edit fixes all those problems. Apologies to those who suffered during the livestream!
00:00 - Intro
00:11 - I am my own worst enemy
00:56 - Changing Vintage Computer Festival Midwest
03:02 - Why we don't livestream Vintage Computer Festival Midwest
03:56 - Area 5150 Source Code
04:51 - Those bastards removed FTP for no good reason
05:10 - Installing DOS on a USB thumbdrive
06:12 - Are floppy disks hard to obtain?
07:39 - Building a new rig these days can protect you from yourself
08:48 - Nobody presents analog video properly online
09:27 - Restoration vs. Remastering
10:23 - The first personal computers I ever touched
11:09 - The IBM PC gets no love
12:43 - Can you learn assembler from a book?
15:21 - SNARK! BARKER!!
15:39 - I appreciate my patrons and subscribers very much
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This "tight 18" is made possible by Premiere Pro adding editing-via-text-transcription yesterday. It brought the prospect of editing this down from "hell no" to "I think I can do this".
00:00 - Baby's First Livestream
00:30 - Proto-demos: Computer art before demos
01:23 - Amateur photography of game boxes
01:45 - Jim runs a sock-puppet account for probing Content ID
03:22 - Rare games: The IBM version of Alley Cat
04:12 - nobody is hacking into your system
05:23 - Which version of Defender of the Crown is the best?
05:41 - Earliest computer system memory
06:23 - The price of rescuing software
07:03 - The DOS Emporer Of The World
07:26 - The Old-School Demoscene Credo
08:07 - In which we pity some poor game programming
08:32 - How to determine if a game was made for color composite output
09:17 - Why can't hollywood represent real computers accurately?
10:06 - Can you identify hard drives and floppy drives by the sound they make?
11:31 - All things CGA snow
13:37 - Praising the best 3-D racing programming of the early 1990s
16:16 - Memories of playing Dactyl Nightmare and other early VIRTUAL REALITY
17:29 - In which teenage Jim discovered animation programming techniques
18:04 - A theory on why nostalgia exists
18:47 - This was fun
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Chapter markers:
00:00 - Intro
01:04 - What we'll cover
01:38 - An attempt to stay on-brand
01:57 - Scope
02:58 - The Secret: Frames vs. Fields
03:50 - Hardware
06:04 - Configuring OBS and performing your first capture
21:36 - Troubleshooting
25:11 - Outtro
Devices shown in this video:
I-O Data GV-USB2: amzn.to/3ZN4GMP
Startech SVID2USB232: amzn.to/3D7fJXr
Need a cheap RCA mono-to-stereo adapter? amzn.to/3WM2G4y
The GV-USB2 and Dazzle device drivers I used in Windows 10: drive.google.com/drive/folders/11e3T4NEDOcNYvrZDqJd4d8NenRKNeuKf?usp=sharing
No sound with Dazzle? This has helped some Dazzle owners: youtu.be/i3q-kKTM5Wg?si=BpEF4RyOv3IzVGgP
ALTERNATIVE DEVICES:
DO NOT get an Elgato capture device! More info from @vwestlife: youtu.be/9NuquTDhjGY
Some cheap devices that force deinterlacing can sometimes provide all deinterlaced fields if you set them to capture at high rates. To use these devices, you must **modify this tutorial** by setting them to capture at 50 (PAL, Europe) or 60 (NTSC, North America) fps. When adding the device in OBS, make these changes:
- Resolution/FPS Type: Custom
- Resolution: 720x480 (or 720x576 for PAL)
- FPS: Highest FPS
Also, do *NOT* perform the Deinterlacing--Yadif 2x step in the tutorial, since the signal is already deinterlaced. By doing the above, you can use some cheaper devices whose drivers force deinterlacing. I have personally tested the following devices successfully:
Top-Longer USB Video Grabber (Model TL AVC05) - *NOTE*, this device only captures mono audio: amzn.to/3ok5cnA
FREQUENTLY-ASKED QUESTIONS:
Q: Can you recommend a capture device for Mac?
A: I haven't tested with a Mac, sorry.
Q: I just want a quick hardware solution and I don't care about quality.
A: youtube.com/watch?v=ZC5Zr3NC2PY
Q: I have my video already captured to interlaced 480/486/576-line files, how can I process them without re-capturing them?
A: Download FFMPEG for your operating system and run it with the following command-line:
ffmpeg -i (sourcefile) -c:v libx264 -preset medium -crf 20 -vf "idet, bwdif, scale=1440:1080:flags=spline" (outputfile.mp4)
Q: I am ready for the next step in making my videos look great! Is there anything additional I can do?
A: Look into avisynth or VapourSynth, which let you run better deinterlacing scripts like QTGMC, which is a huge improvement over yadif. I personally bring interlaced captured video into Premiere Pro and perform noise reduction using NeatVideo, correct bad levels, and clean up the audio using Izotope RX. Then I export to a new intermediate file using a lossless codec for the QTGMC portion and final encode to .MP4.
Q: My tapes are DV -- should I use this tutorial?
A: No, you should transfer DV tapes via firewire (IEEE 1394) instead, then use the FFMPEG command-line above to convert them. In Windows, I've used WinDV for this.
Q: My audio is out of sync, or the sync drifts.
A: Try these videos for some OBS audio sync tips:
youtube.com/watch?v=-XGT0XEFqRM
youtube.com/watch?v=wUYFNR1AfaY
youtube.com/watch?v=Hnh63pZrXWw
Q: I cleaned my VCR with a cleaning tape, but things didn't get much better.
A: Try a more thorough clean: youtube.com/watch?v=2-6XZZq8Nxs
DO NOT TRUST ANY VIDEO that tells you to clean your vcr heads with a q-tip or cotton swab -- you will damage your VCR! That's why cleaning videos recommend using either paper or a pre-moistened alcohol pad.
NOTES AND CAVEATS:
- If the above drivers don't work for you exactly, then search the web for alternate or updated drivers. They worked for me, but they might not work for you.
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Download SOFTHDDI: github.com/MobyGamer/softhddi/releases
Github repo with assembler source code and full documentation: github.com/MobyGamer/softhddi
Want to buy a hardware HDDClicker? Visit Serdashop: serdashop.com/HDDClicker
Mattias' original HDD Sound Simulator page: https://www.retrokits.de/index.php/hdd-clicker-v0-2/
Happy #DOScember in #DOScember2022
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I find this reversal somewhat humorous. That is all.
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0:00 Intro
3:41 People
5:52 Gaming
8:13 Things
9:53 Birthday Cake
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Want to support me, and help me make more videos like this? Consider becoming a patron: patreon.com/TheOldskoolPC
Contact info:
Twitter: @MobyGamer
Email: http://www.oldskool.org/personal
Want to support me, and help me make more videos like this? Consider becoming a patron: patreon.com/TheOldskoolPC
Contact info:
Twitter: @MobyGamer
Email: http://www.oldskool.org/personal
Chapters:
00:00 Boot sectors are neat!
02:11 Anatomy of a boot sector
04:32 How to program a boot sector
06:32 Writing a boot sector to disk
07:29 An introduction to Lisp and sectorLISP
09:16 Testing sectorLISP on vintage hardware
12:01 Trivia and thanks
CORRECTIONS:
At 8:00 I mistakenly say "Forth" instead of Fortran! I had "forth" on the brain all throughout making the video because I covered "sectorforth". Apologies. Fortran is considered the oldest usable/practical HLL.
References:
A detailed write-up on SectorLISP: https://justine.lol/sectorlisp2/
SectorLISP github/source: github.com/jart/sectorlisp
Thanks to The Starman’s Realm for permission to use text and diagrams from their website: thestarman.pcministry.com/asm/mbr/STDMBR.htm
Git repo with the boot sector source code and batch files used in this video: github.com/MobyGamer/x86-simple-boot-sector
SectorForth: github.com/cesarblum/sectorforth
"BootProg" EXE/COM Loader v 1.5 by Alexey Frunze: github.com/alexfru/BootProg
DONKEY bootsector: int10h.org/blog/2016/08/happy-35th-birthday-ibm-pc
Toledo Chess: nanochess.org/chess6.html, github.com/nanochess/Toledo-Atomchess
Some of the best 256-byte intros: pouet.net/lists.php?which=152
John McCarthy’s original LISP paper: https://dspace.mit.edu/bitstream/handle/1721.1/6096/AIM-008.pdf
A brief overview of LISP: https://courses.cs.vt.edu/~cs1104/TowerOfBabel/LISP/Lisp.outline.html
#DOScember2021
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Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
01:49 Overview
02:29 Who is this guy?
03:20 Definitions and Scope
04:23 DISCLAIMER
04:48 The shrink-wrapping process
08:48 Identification Methodology
09:30 Characteristics of "factory-original" shrink-wrap
13:45 Characteristics of NON-original shrink-wrap
18:49 Test Your Knowledge!
24:13 Q&A
24:25 Aren't you teaching scammers how to make better fakes?
25:14 What can I do to protect myself from fraud?
25:48 Should I remove original shrink-wrap from a collectable item?
26:54 Are there any situations that justify re-sealing a collectable item?
27:54 I had my item graded and slabbed by a grading company, so isn't that proof of authenticity?
29:19 What should I do if a seller scams me?
30:11 Are collectors really paying these insane high prices, or is something else going on?
30:55 Why *did* they shrink-wrap big box computer games, anyway?
31:57 Wrapping it up
32:32 Special thanks
Links and more information:
- The Big Box PC Collector's Group on Facebook: facebook.com/groups/BBPCGC
- LGR's excellent video on the history and terminology of "Big Box" computer game packaging: youtu.be/S9EOrJ9eWiU
- Karl Jobst's video on Heritage, WATA, speculation, and possible market manipulation: youtu.be/rvLFEh7V18A
- Artrageous' video on how art forgeries are investigated: youtube.com/watch?v=KA5Kr1qhSyg
- Retroboxed, makers of fine acrylic Big Box game protectors, can be found at: retroboxed.com
Special thanks to:
- Tom Carroll at Industrial Packaging, for helping with research. Contact Industrial Packaging for any industrial packaging needs: industrialpackaging.com
- Stuart Feldhamer for providing pictures. Check out Stu's Game Reviews at youtube.com/c/StusGameReviews (and view youtu.be/Ffi7MTNxQgM for a video relevant to this topic)
- Pascal, for providing pictures. Contact him at your own peril :-) at the Big Box PC Collector's Group on Facebook.
- Kevin Ng, Joel McCoy, and Enrico Ricciardi for proofreading and general quality control
- @harrymccracken, who tracked down the Tacoma Egghead picture (image credit: Russ Carmack, Morning News Tribune)
- @CompStoreVisual, for tracking down more Egghead photos
- PAC Machinery for the sealing machinery videos: pacmachinery.com
- US Packaging and Wrapping, for the centerfold film demonstration: uspackagingandwrapping.com
- VDO1980 on Tumblr for the Babbage's photos
- Brenda Romero for clarifying how Sir-Tech stuffed and sealed. Her extensive curriculum vitae can be found at http://brenda.games/, and she can be found crafting quality electronic entertainment over at romerogames.com
- My numismatic father, Robert D. Leonard, for passing honor amongst collectors down to me. If you're curious about currency, buy his book: amazon.com/dp/0794846394/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_4V730EVC4V2E3AFBXCGS
- And finally, my loving wife Melissa, who saved the egghead SKU stickers from ending up in the trash when I accidentally brought them home.
Production Notes and miscellaneous info:
- After the video was completely finished, it occurred to me that the X-CAR sample shown in the video may have simply been a sloppy re-assembly job at Bethesda, when adding the additional car and track mentioned on the wrap's promo sticker. I think that's the most likely explanation, since the wrap's patina is almost certainly genuine, but the inner box has definitely been tampered with.
- The file uploaded to YouTube was 10-bit h.265, but YouTube's compression mangled the quality somewhat. Any banding you see watching on YouTube is not present in the file I uploaded.
- All music licensed from Epidemic Sound
==========
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Contact info:
Twitter: @MobyGamer
Email: http://www.oldskool.org/personal
==========
Play the Shrink-wrap Video Drinking Game!
Drink when:
- Jim talks about "touching" or "manipulating" shrink-wrap
- A giant finger or thumb is onscreen
- Spotting something that isn't a game
- Guessing correctly during the "Test Your Knowledge" examples
- Spotting a game you have in your own collection
Chug when:
- Jim pokes at something with a blue pointer
Finish your drink when:
- You realize that game collectibles have no intrinsic value, as they have no earnings and no melt value
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Contact info:
Twitter: @MobyGamer
Email: http://www.oldskool.org/personal
In this video, we answer these questions and more, getting to the bottom of an issue that's bugged me ever since I noticed it in the early 1990s.
Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
01:34 Finding Musicians
04:55 Hypothesis - The credited name was fictional
05:25 Hypothesis - The credited music is actually in the game and I've just missed it
05:49 Hypothesis - The credited music wasn't good enough
07:10 Hypothesis - Fred's code couldn't play the original music
08:25 Hypothesis - The credited music was so good it would have made the others look bad
08:53 Hypothesis - The credited music's style wasn't what they were looking for
09:42 The Answer
10:16 The full combat tune
Links:
Arstechnica 2018 interview with Toys for Bob: arstechnica.com/gaming/2020/07/an-extended-interview-with-star-control-creators-fred-ford-paul-reiche-iii
Archive of files demonstrated in this video: archives.oldskool.org/pub/TheOldskoolPC/SC2MarukuBarunuFiles.zip
Shoutouts:
Thanks to Space Game Junkie for providing some sample SC2 footage: http://spacegamejunkie.com
Also thanks to Dan, Riku, and Aaron for helping me with research in 2018 and 2021.
BIG thanks to Paul and Fred for providing the background info that finally answered these questions.
And a MASSIVE thanks to Marc J. Brown for making the music in the first place. I still play techmaru and smaltech every time I test out a modplayer.
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Contact info:
Twitter: @MobyGamer
Email: http://www.oldskool.org/personal
00:00 Intro
00:41 Thank you to my subscribers
01:02 Thank you to my Patrons
02:36 Hardware plans for 2021
03:36 Content in 2021 will support a channel split in 2022
06:35 Why monetization for me isn't about the money
08:16 Topics to expect in 2021
08:27 Detecting non-original shrinkwrap
10:45 Converting and capturing pixel-exact CGA
11:30 The rarest production PC sound card
12:40 Hard disk compression accelerator cards
13:36 Star Control II missing music
14:35 The real packages of the most pirated software
15:34 Games that pushed the limits of the IBM PC
16:39 Media archival channel 2022 plans
17:53 Reiterating this channel's main focus
18:11 Challenges, past and future
21:56 Let me know what you think
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Contact info:
Twitter: @MobyGamer
Email: http://www.oldskool.org/personal
Chapters:
00:00 Intro
00:51 Benefits
01:43 The IBM PC Memory Map
02:48 The orthodox procedure
04:09 What are Upper Memory Blocks?
04:53 Orthodox procedure continued
06:46 An Unorthodox procedure
09:34 Q&A
11:31 DOScember
Hardware and software mentioned in this video:
Lo-tech 1MB RAM card: texelec.com/product/lo-tech-1mb-ram
PCjr jrIDE sidecar: texelec.com/product/jr-ide-for-the-pcjr-by-retrotronics
All the software mentioned in this video is available via anonymous FTP: http://ftp.oldskool.org/pub/youtube/dos640k
==========
This video was a part of #DOScember ! Here's the #doscember official playlist:
bit.ly/DOScember2020
Also check out these other #doscember participating Channels:
Adrian's Digital Basement: youtube.com/AdriansDigitalBasement
ctrl-alt-rees: youtube.com/CtrlAltRees
DaveJustDave: youtube.com/MrDaveJustDave
Jan Beta: youtube.com/JanBeta
Josh Malone: youtube.com/JoshMalone_48kRAM
LGR: youtube.com/LazyGameReviews
MindFlareRetro: youtube.com/MindFlareRetro
Mr Lurch's Things: youtube.com/MrLurchsThings
Noel's Retro Lab: youtube.com/NoelsRetroLab
RetroSpector78: youtube.com/RetroSpector78
RMC: youtube.com/RMCRetro
RoseTintedSpectrum: youtube.com/RoseTintedSpectrum
Tech Tangents: youtube.com/AkBKukU
The 8-Bit Guy: youtube.com/adric22
TheRetroChannel: youtube.com/TheRetroChannel
==========
Thanks to winworldpc for supplying some software, and to Mike Brutman for boot sector patch ideas.
Want to support me, and help me make more videos like this? Consider becoming a patron: patreon.com/TheOldskoolPC
Some incidental music by coda, used with permission: coda.s3m.us
Contact info:
Twitter: @MobyGamer
Email: http://www.oldskool.org/personal
Notes:
- This video is a slightly expanded version of a virtual talk I gave at Vintage Computer Festival Midwest 2020.
- I have been informed by many people that I am wrong about PCI cards in 486s with PCI slots. My experience (3 cards, all failed) is not typical. I now believe it is the Compaq 466 itself that is the problem.
Want to support me, and help me make more videos like this? Consider becoming a patron: patreon.com/TheOldskoolPC
Incidental music by coda, used with permission: coda.s3m.us
Incidental music by MPM Soundtracks 1982, used with permission: soundcloud.com/mpmsoundtrackmusic
Contact info:
Twitter: @MobyGamer
Email: http://www.oldskool.org/personal
This video is long, so feel free to use the following timestamps to skip questions you don't care about. Also, skip past the timestamps in this description to see video errata.
00:00 Introduction
00:34 Is it possible to create a 13x5 textmode screen in CGA or VGA?
03:28 Can you illustrate branchless code and explain why it is important?
11:19 Why did the 640K barrier exist, and what methods were used to exceed it?
21:37 How many Tandy 1000s do you own, and what are your favorites?
25:43 Do you have any plans to make DOS games in the future?
26:40 What do you think about 386 assembly?
28:06 What's the coolest 8088 clone?
29:55 What do you think about the usage of modern development tools for making DOS programs?
31:22 Was the IBM PC capable of producing polyphonic sound in the background? If so, how come no programs ever did it?
36:34 What's your experience with Microchannel Architecture systems?
39:26 What are the most common or interesting incompatibilities with "mostly compatible" PCs?
45:23 Why are CPU upgrade products so rare and expensive?
47:23 What's your experience with CPU upgrade products?
51:57 If you had to pick only one year to play DOS games and use that year's hardware, which year would you choose and why?
54:47 Was there ever a good reason to run DR-DOS or PC-DOS over MS-DOS?
59:14 What's the future of these Q&A videos? Is Trixter going away?
Errata:
- I didn't notice I confused the segment with offset writing out the smaller BIOS sizes. What I should have written was either F800:0000 or F000:8000 for the 32K size, and FC00:0000 or F000:C000 for the 16KB size.
Links mentioned in the video:
IBM PS/2 info and support websites:
http://ps-2.kev009.com
http://www.mcamafia.de/mcapage0/mcaindex.htm
Mini Prince:
http://www.miniprince.nl/
An example of how tools can help you create branchless code:
http://www.davespace.co.uk/blog/20150131-branchless-sequences.html
VGA Tweak Explorer:
http://files.mpoli.fi//software/programm/general/tweak16b.zip
Timeline of DOS operating systems:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_DOS_operating_systems
Want to support me, and help me make more videos like this? Consider becoming a patron: patreon.com/TheOldskoolPC
Contact info:
Twitter: @MobyGamer
Email: http://www.oldskool.org/personal
I lost the audio due to a faulty memory card, so I had the choice of salvaging the in-camera audio, or re-recording the entire thing; I chose the former. Apologies for the worse audio quality. (Also, I have no idea how I missed that a single hair of mine is standing straight up throughout the ENTIRE VIDEO -- just call me Ed Grimley.)
Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction
01:01 What hardware would you bring back in time with you to enhance your first computer?
02:05 What's your favorite sound card for DOS PCs?
03:04 What's the most practical sound card for DOS?
04:17 If the IBM PC had originally used an 8086 instead of an 8088, how would the demo 8088 MPH have changed?
05:43 Why do the VGA write modes not support transparancy?
07:04 How did you learn to program MS-DOS?
09:20 What is your programming language of choice?
10:26 What is your favorite computer in your collection?
11:42 How did you become a demoscener, and how did you join the scene?
14:38 Which is better, Scream Tracker or Impulse Tracker?
14:54 What led to the creation and eventual closure of Hornet?
19:15 What Super VHS/MiniDV combo deck are you using?
20:38 What's your favorite non-computing hobby?
22:01 Do you remember "Baygles From Heaven" and does anyone still have a copy of it?
24:45 Were any PCs equipped with SRAM instead of DRAM, and how much faster were they?
26:15 What's your opinion on current DOS and PC emulators?
30:40 Can you share unique software from your collection?
35:42 Can you share unique hardware from your collection?
42:23 What exactly does "parking the hard drive heads" do, and why is it necessary?
47:07 Outtro
Links mentioned in the video:
Hologram Man, a bad film from 1995:
youtu.be/FOThmk6j25Q
The only emulators I can recommend are DOSBOX-X (for 386+ systems) and 86Box (for 286 and lower systems):
github.com/joncampbell123/dosbox-x/releases
github.com/86Box/86Box
A full retrospective about the AT&T PC 6300:
youtu.be/mUCh46_MzZU
Interview with Macrocom, the people behind ICON: Quest for the Ring and Seven Spirits of Ra:
mobygames.com/featured_article/feature,10
root42's MS-DOS programming playlist:
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGJnX2KGgaw2L7Uv5NThlL48G9y4rJx1X
LGR's retrospective on the PC Action Replay:
youtu.be/usaioMbE8EQ
Baygles From Heaven will likely never be distributed because the code quality is embarrassing, but here's what it looked and sounded like:
ftp://ftp.oldskool.org/pub/misc/AtomicBaygles.rar
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Incidental music by coda, used with permission: coda.s3m.us
Contact info:
Twitter: @MobyGamer
Email: http://www.oldskool.org/personal
Corrections:
The Periscope board was made by a company called "Data Base Decisions", not "Periscope, Inc.".
UPDATE: In this video you can see me plan out one cord along a beam and 4 cords across beams. I've since realized it can be laid out with the same switch location with three cords along beams and only 2 across beams, which is tidier, but since I made the snap decision to mount them staggered for better coverage, this isn't possible. Rest assured the cables are tacked up and are out of the way regardless.
The specific lights I installed: amazon.com/gp/product/B07S2VD6QB/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1&pldnSite=1
Another side benefit of these lights: They're 5000k which is a great "daylight" color for shooting video.
Want to support me, and help me make more videos like this? Consider becoming a patron: patreon.com/TheOldskoolPC
Incidental music by coda, used with permission: coda.s3m.us
Contact info:
Twitter: @MobyGamer
Email: http://www.oldskool.org/personal
Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction
01:14 Favorite DOS and booter games
05:44 Mindblowing programming moment
06:56 Most challenging and rewarding personal cracks
11:16 Copy protection and software preservation
13:22 Composing for PC speaker
14:15 Best demos for 386/20
18:50 Why does Quake for DOS run too fast
21:03 Favorite 8086 instruction and why
22:45 How to start coding 32-bit assembler
25:32 Top demos for IBM AT
28:15 How to measure CPU clock speed on older PCs
31:17 Can software run on the IBM PC without DRAM refresh?
Links mentioned in the video:
Shiru's article on composing for the PC Speaker:
habr.com/ru/post/439192
Demos mentioned in this video:
Amnesia / Renaissance: pouet.net/prod.php?which=2902
Crystal Dream / Triton: pouet.net/prod.php?which=463
Unreal / Future Crew: pouet.net/prod.php?which=1274
Vectdemo / Ultraforce: pouet.net/prod.php?which=3540
(BTW, does that music sound familar? It's most definitely inspired by GTO - Pure youtube.com/watch?v=i2Qhfg74Xis)
Atom / Sorcerers: pouet.net/prod.php?which=4066
Megademo / The Space Pigs: pouet.net/prod.php?which=3972
Tran's PMODE extender:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PMODE
http://www.filegate.net/pdnasm/pmode307.zip
FASM:
flatassembler.net
Game Engine Black Book series:
http://fabiensanglard.net/gebbwolf3d
http://fabiensanglard.net/gebbdoom
More DOS demoscene suggestions:
http://www.oldskool.org/demos/explained/demo_reviews.html
Music by coda, used with permission: coda.s3m.us
Want to support me, and help me make more videos like this? Consider becoming a patron: patreon.com/TheOldskoolPC
Want to support me, and help me make more videos like this? Consider becoming a patron: patreon.com/TheOldskoolPC
For complete information about the badge, including sourcing PCBs, assembly instructions, schematic, parts list, parts sources, firmware, and even a manual on EhBASIC, visit: http://sunrise-ev.com/6502.htm
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All incidental music by coda, used with permission: coda.s3m.us
---
Come visit the Vintage Computer Festival Midwest: http://www.vcfmw.org
Or, subscribe to the VCFMW youtube channel to see talks and show footage: youtube.com/VCF_Midwest
---
Corrections:
The name of the BASIC is called "EhBASIC", not "basica" as I said in the video. Why EhBASIC? Because Canada, eh?
The hot glue wasn't to actually glue it on, but as a spacer to prevent the battery connector wires from shorting to the board. Thick tape would have also worked, as would velcro.
Errata:
The RAM we installed in the video is 2K bytes, although the board supports 2K-32K RAMs. Likewise, the jumpers support 8K-32K EPROMs.
There are two screw holes in the PCB for mounting the battery holder -- but double-stick foam tape or hot glue also work.
Since the batteries are big and heavy, some people have used a little lithium pouch cell. Just don't try to charge it on the board! The charging resistor doesn't know when to quit, and would overcharge a lithium cell.
Time indexes:
0:00 - Intro
2:18 - Introduction to recording methods
4:55 - Intro to testing methods and sound samples
5:34 - Sound sample testing begins (for best results, use headphones)
21:22 - My analysis and thoughts
35:28 - Summary conclusion
All incidental music by coda, used with permission: coda.s3m.us
Want to help me make more videos like this, and have a say in what I cover next? Support me on Patreon: patreon.com/TheOldskoolPC
Show notes and resources:
- Most of the sound programs used in this episode, including a few other interesting PC speaker programs, are available via anonymous FTP here: ftp://ftp.oldskool.org/pub/TheOldskoolPC/PC%20Speaker%20Files.zip
- Want to take your recording to the next level by building your own RealSound cable? Or even a custom PC speaker amplifier? Read more about recording the PC speaker, and building custom circuits, in this article from 2006: http://www.oldskool.org/guides/speakerrecording
- It was pointed out to me after this video was completed that the IBM Convertible has a headphone jack for the PC speaker. This would have been a much more appropriate period system to perform the external jack tests on; I regret I was unable to source one for the use of this video.
- I mis-spoke the name of the Dizzy game! I said "Fantastic Dizzy", but the actual name of the game is "Fantasy World Dizzy". Whoops!
I've been to most MGCs over the years, but I keep going back because it keeps getting bigger and better every year. Highly recommended. I was only there for Saturday, but shot over 3 hours of footage trying to take it all in, so here is an edit of what I shot.
Mike Lee of the Vintage Computer Festival Midwest provided over 60 pieces of hardware for the event. It was great to see people young and old playing games on vintage consoles and computers.
All incidental music by coda, used with permission: coda.s3m.us
This video consists of memories and stories from my side of the development process during that time. An abridged version of this content will be included in the upcoming Planet X3 documentary.
Planet X3 successfully-funded kickstarter: kickstarter.com/projects/1973096722/planet-x3-for-ms-dos
The 8-Bit Guy: youtube.com/channel/UC8uT9cgJorJPWu7ITLGo9Ww
All incidental music by coda, used with permission: coda.s3m.us
Want to support me, and help me make more videos like this? Consider becoming a patron: patreon.com/TheOldskoolPC