Hardware System Requirements - Increasing and Increasing

[dueda]

Sold mine as soon the Pentium came out. Having emulators like DosBox, no need for them.

[RobertX]

Could have sold it to me.

80486 computers are gold to me.

[dueda]

Lol sorry Robert, only notice it now.

I had some 486's - The SX-25 I guess, DX-40 and DX4-100. All were good for DOS, but not really good for some games due poor GPUs and HDDs at the time.
So, as they say, application software requirements make the user compelled to upgrade.

Also had P24D, Cirix 586, PII, PIII Katmai, P4HT (not the 3.2 extreme, the 3.0 had VT/64-bit but disabled), guess a P5, and from there I moved into notebooks;
had a Celeron with GMA950, a C2 Duo, a Mac Quad 2.5, a i3 first gen and a i5 Sandybridge now. Currently I'm into mobiles, and it's a list as long as this.

It was not the case to want/require better hardware, like Windows from 95 to 10-64; DOS couldn't change that much. But apps do, and I like the games.

Why so insterested in one particular niche? I once wanted a 8MHz 286 mini-PC for very old games, like an old console, but not that "loyalty" matters.
Btw shipping and export taxes would probably be a no-deal.

[Mr.Masami]

Btw shipping and export taxes would probably be a no-deal.

Yeah, the best way to get them cheap is to find some local marketplace for used hardware.
I've seen 486's in a basket thrown like some candies for a buck each about 16 years ago.

Also had a good deal at that time, Sinclair ZX Spectrum 48k for 3$, just plugin to your TV and you can program in Basic
PRINT "Deal of my life..."

Couple days later found 486 Laptop with color display for about 30$, the only drawback was damaged disk controller but the 3½‑inch floppy was working fine.
Just loaded DOS from one disk and switched to another with TASM to have some fun with it. Good old days.

Shame they closed the free market later, now I only have ebay or used hardware shops that are all scams with their overpriced junk.

[dueda]

Shame they closed the free market later, now I only have ebay or used hardware shops that are all scams with their overpriced junk.

The problem with industrialization and globalization: Price drops beyond what small local markets can sustain.
If you can find a Quantum Leap, it is a much better Sinclair. Apple II GS, Amiga, Atari ST are other good oldies.

[Mr.Masami]

I see in the QL they got rid of rubber buttons, good.. it was pain in the ass (not literally)

[dueda]

That's another problem with technical evolution; people happily get any cheap "engineering improvement" product and after some time we can only get stuff made to last a couple years. Older stuff were good for ten or twenty years, my old man's were good for fifty or more. No more.

[AncientRome]

I turned one of my old PC's into a torrenting only system (Torrent Box?) and used Symmetry 2 to make things easy for mice & keyboard.

[dueda]

I wish I kept some of my old boxes... Could've done the same.

https://lifehacker.com/254648/how-to-con...-and-mouse

Would Windows Remote Desktop, or any other remote control app, be the same? Just one gotta trust Microsoft for that.
Or buying a cheap terminal switch; a small USB box to connect two PCs to a single keyboard/mouse/video.

https://www.amazon.com/UGREEN-Selector-C...01MXXQKGM/

A cheap 2-drive dock base goes for $20-50, but the drives aren't cheap, $100-150 for a 4TB Seagate, and I'd like two. 8TB units go for $250-350.

I've two mobiles in mint state and barely use one, maybe I could sell or trade... a Samsung Galaxy A7 32GB and a Xiaomi Note 4 64GB I just bought.
Or even use one to run my torrents, given a remote control software like TeamViewer?
But will need to connect the external HDD thru a powered dock. 12V 4A for two HDDs should do?

[theSEMAR]

from EFNet #thepiratebay.org

<Q91> Win11 at least works on a gen 6 Intel processor, even though they dont say so
<Q91> works = can be installed without modifying the installer

well, maybe it's a monopoly and manufacturer's policy that new software is only for new devices...