OS2 World Community Forum

OS/2, eCS & ArcaOS - Technical => Games => Topic started by: Martin Iturbide on February 01, 2019, 08:14:42 pm

Title: ArcaOS - Retro Gaming Machine
Post by: Martin Iturbide on February 01, 2019, 08:14:42 pm
Hi

Since there was some interest at Warpstock and on the forum taking about the potential of ArcaOS (and OS/2) as a "Retro Gaming Machine" that can run DOS and Win 3.1 games, I want to do some tests and configure my Thinkpad L420 (https://www.os2world.com/wiki/index.php/Lenovo_ThinkPad_L420) for that.

I'm not much into DOS and Win16 these days, so my first question will be ask for tips and suggestion to enable the audio on DOS and Win-OS/2 for my machine. UniAud seems to be running as audio driver, but tips to configure it for DOS and Win16 are welcome.

Regards
Title: Re: ArcaOS - Retro Gaming Machine
Post by: Dave Yeo on February 01, 2019, 09:07:43 pm
Lack of sound drivers for DOS and WinOS2 is the problem. Currently, as far as I know, there is no sound support for DOS, and little for WinOS2 on modern hardware.
I believe Arca Noae is planning Sound Blaster level support for DOS and WinOS2, using UniAud or the next sound driver. Hopefully they find time to implement it.
It was nice back in ISA days, with lots of sound card support.
Title: Re: ArcaOS - Retro Gaming Machine
Post by: Doug Bissett on February 01, 2019, 09:48:04 pm
DOS WinOS2 won't even run on my newer machines (especially laptops, like my Lenovo T510, or L530), so the first thing to do, is see if it will run. Try both full screen, and windowed. Sometimes full screen will work, when windowed won't.

If it won't run, you can try DOSBOX (it is at HOBBES), which has worked pretty well, when I tried it (including sound). Of course, DOSBOX is available for other operating systems too. It has the advantage that it can run the latest Win 3.11, which OS/2 never could. You do need to install Win 3.11 in the supplied DOS environment. If you search the web, there is (perhaps 'was'), at least one, ready built win 3.11 package available for it.
Title: Re: ArcaOS - Retro Gaming Machine
Post by: Eugene Gorbunoff on February 01, 2019, 10:51:33 pm
I agree that
OS/2 as Retro Gaming Machine 
could become perfect Area of OS/2 Usage. I see demand on old DOS games among simple Windows users. And they can spend some USD to such computer.

Yes, main barriers: SoundBlaster support in DOS VM, and problems of DOS VM on newer machines
Title: Re: ArcaOS - Retro Gaming Machine
Post by: Pete on February 02, 2019, 02:31:28 am
Hi All

To have audio in DOD/Win16 sessions is possible when using uniaud. It requires the installation of another driver called DTA - Data Transport Agent.

The last version I used was 4.0a01. I think it was hosted on Rodericks site at 1 point but no idea where to find it now.

There is some info about it here https://ecsoft2.org/data-transport-agent-dta

I probably have a copy somewhere among my backups if required.


Regards

Pete
Title: Re: ArcaOS - Retro Gaming Machine
Post by: Martin Iturbide on February 02, 2019, 01:51:15 pm
Hi.

I found DTA (2002/11/30) and I just installed on the Thinkpad L420 with UniAud.

It partially sounds. I went to "Win-OS2 Main - Control Panel - Sound" and try the four sounds there. At first some of the four wavs sounds and some other don't (showed an error that "Cannot play the selected sound....) , close "Sound" and reopen it and all sounds worked. But the Win-OS2 session is now unstable when you try to close it, it hanged. So I checked the DTA readme and read it.....

It suggested to change the settings of the session to:
- EMS_MEMORY_LIMIT = 0
- EMS_FRAME_LOCATION = NONE
I changed that on the Win-OS2 Session (Windows) and it is working, with sound, in a very solid way for the moment. It plays all sounds and does not hangs on exit.

I will keep testing.

Regards
Title: Re: ArcaOS - Retro Gaming Machine
Post by: Martin Iturbide on February 02, 2019, 02:14:59 pm
Hi

I'm also experiencing some DOS windows session issue.  Look at the attached image  and see if it looks familiar.
Any help is welcome.

Regards
Title: Re: ArcaOS - Retro Gaming Machine
Post by: Davorin on February 02, 2019, 02:33:37 pm
Hi Martin,
where you find this DTA. I can't found  any version of this driver.
best regards

Title: Re: ArcaOS - Retro Gaming Machine
Post by: Neil Waldhauer on February 02, 2019, 03:38:44 pm
Hi

I'm also experiencing some DOS windows session issue.  Look at the attached image  and see if it looks familiar.
Any help is welcome.

Regards

This item from the eComStation quick guide might help:

Code: [Select]
Q: When I try to start a DOS or Win16 window, I get a popup message saying that the
video mode is not supported. What do I do?
A: You can try two things:
1. Edit your CONFIG.SYS file and locate the line which loads VSVGA.SYS. Add
the following switch to the end of the line:
/int10textgrfxsafe
You may also need to edit AUTOEXEC.BAT and add the following lines to the
end of the file:
mode co80
cls
2. If solution 1 does not work, try changing the name of the VSVGA.SYS driver in
CONFIG.SYS to “VVGA.SYS” instead.

Also, many of us have seen this kind of problem fixed by ACPI 3.23.10.

Finally, if neither work, try older hardware.
Title: Re: ArcaOS - Retro Gaming Machine
Post by: Doug Bissett on February 02, 2019, 06:00:26 pm
Quote
2. If solution 1 does not work, try changing the name of the VSVGA.SYS driver in
CONFIG.SYS to “VVGA.SYS” instead.

While I have used this (years ago), with no apparent problems, be aware that VVGA.SYS is not SMP safe, so you may see odd problems because of that.
Title: Re: ArcaOS - Retro Gaming Machine
Post by: Martin Iturbide on February 02, 2019, 06:32:31 pm
Thanks for the replies.

Sadly "/int10textgrfxsafe" on VSVGA.SYS does not solve the issue.
I even changed autoexec.bat as it says the Arca Noae page: https://www.arcanoae.com/wiki/arcaos/known-issues-commonly-reported/#doswin (https://www.arcanoae.com/wiki/arcaos/known-issues-commonly-reported/#doswin)

but wait...

Quote
Another option, when full screen sessions work but windowed ones do not, is to open a full screen session first, and then press Alt-Home to switch it to a windowed session (this only works for DOS sessions, not OS/2 full screen and windowed sessions).

This trick is working.
Regards
Title: Re: ArcaOS - Retro Gaming Machine
Post by: Martin Iturbide on February 03, 2019, 03:49:49 pm
Hi

Is there a way to get DOS sound by using UniAud on ArcaOS?
For what I read on DTA, DOS sound blaster emulation is not enabled.

Regards
Title: Re: ArcaOS - Retro Gaming Machine
Post by: Joop on February 04, 2019, 01:09:08 am
First of all, never run DOS or WIN3.1 full screen, it is possible, but your mouse won't work or in case of WIN3.1 only half screen. So always run in a windowed session. When you do that you have full control with your mouse.

When you go to DOS then you go to DOS, so you have to deal with what you see right know. You have to make an autoexec.bat and this file is in the root of you boot drive with OS/2 or ARCAOS.
It could contain this, but back in the DOS days they have written many books about the subject;
@ECHO OFF
ECHO.
PROMPT $e[1;1H$e[31;46m Datum ──$g $d $e[30;40m $e[31;46m$e[1;26H Directory ──$g $p $e[25;1HOpdracht? ──$g$e[36;40m$e[0m
SET WIN3DIR=H:\OS2\MDOS\WINOS2
SET PATH=D:\ADVPCB;H:\OS2;H:\OS2\MDOS;H:\;H:\OS2\MDOS\WINOS2;H:\TCPIP\DOS\BIN;D:\OFFICE\GMKW
SET GMKW5=D:\OFFICE\GMKW
LOADHIGH APPEND H:\OS2;H:\OS2\SYSTEM
SET TMP=H:\
SET TEMP=H:\OS2\MDOS\WINOS2\TEMP
SET ETC=H:\TCPIP\DOS\ETC

Behind the prompt you see lots of ansi commands. The question is in Dutch and is just the Dutch version of "Command". The other two are "Date" and "Directory". You need some set commands for pointing to the right directory. I forgot what's all about, that's the curse of OS/2. Do it once and never go back and it will run and run and run... My boot drive is H:. In drive D: I have DOS programs and is formatted as FAT. You can make a complete key driven menu with ansi if you want. Its faster than your mouse, but you need to write some batch files.
I don't run WIN3.1 as a standalone window. I have pictogram's all over in the drop down menu's between the OS/2 programs. Its working seamless, so once installing and tuning and never see it again. It is no problem to run more WIN3.1 programs concurrent in this way.

There is one problem with DOS programs and sometimes WIN3.1 programs. That is if those programs want the whole machine. This is not allowed in OS/2 as OS/2 is the captain of your ship so to say. Those programs can be run with DOSBOX, but in DOSBOX you will also have incompatabilities and you need to make a config.sys and an autoexec.bat. Said that, once done, it runs and runs and runs. My Psion 3a emulator runs in DOSBOX with the same speed as an Psion 3MX. Nice to know is that you can copy and past in DOS programs with OS/2, even if those programs doesn't know what this is.

Hope it helps.
Title: Re: ArcaOS - Retro Gaming Machine
Post by: Dave Yeo on February 04, 2019, 01:40:01 am
First of all, never run DOS or WIN3.1 full screen, it is possible, but your mouse won't work or in case of WIN3.1 only half screen. So always run in a windowed session. When you do that you have full control with your mouse.

My mouse works fine in a WinOS2 full screen and last I checked, same with DOS, which has to be started full screen here.
Most of those other settings seem to be for your personal setup.
Title: Re: ArcaOS - Retro Gaming Machine
Post by: Martin Iturbide on February 04, 2019, 04:31:28 pm
Hi

So, do I lose hope right now to make DOS sound with Uniaud? Is there any Sound Blaster emulation I can get into OS/2-DOS today by using UniAud on the OS/2 machine?

Regards
Title: Re: ArcaOS - Retro Gaming Machine
Post by: Pete on February 04, 2019, 04:51:14 pm
Hi Martin

I think you are now at the point where I was a few years ago.

No, DTA does not produce sound in DOS - unless using the included player, dosapp.exe, to play a wav file.

My solution was to simply drop DOS/Win16 - ie do not install - in favour of Dosbox. As I only run the occasional dos game and no win16 apps at all this works fine for me.


Regards

Pete
Title: Re: ArcaOS - Retro Gaming Machine
Post by: Martin Iturbide on February 04, 2019, 05:20:17 pm
Thanks for the reply Pete

I will stop to squeeze out DOS-OS/2 and put focus on DOSBox to run DOS games.
And I will also test Win-OS/2 further with some Win16 games, since DTA seems to be working there.

Regards
Title: Re: ArcaOS - Retro Gaming Machine
Post by: Dave Yeo on February 04, 2019, 10:17:48 pm
There really wasn't many Win 3.1 games as it was crap for gaming and so easy to switch to DOS.
Title: Re: ArcaOS - Retro Gaming Machine
Post by: xynixme on February 05, 2019, 12:44:15 am
put focus on DOSBox to run DOS
IOW: download DOSBox for Windows to play your legacy games, get used to its inferior video performance, and don't try another OS. We've got both, with support for cheap 80386 hardware. Albeit our DOS tends to be mute, which doesn't support the unique selling point.
Title: Re: ArcaOS - Retro Gaming Machine
Post by: Martin Iturbide on February 06, 2019, 05:03:47 pm
Hi.

Now I will change a little bit the subject, but focus on the ArcaOS gaming machine. Now I'm trying some OS/2 games that uses SDL, Qt, etc and I found some issues.

1) There are some games that depends on SNAP (SDDHELP$), is there any trick to make them run on a non SNAP installed machine? or it would be better to recompile that games.
Example: Barrage (http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/h-viewer.php?dir=/pub/os2/games/action&file=barrage.wpi).

2) I think there are some conflicts with the SDL libraries and some games. I need to test that futher. Any suggestions about SDL at the moment?

Are these ones the last runtime ported?
- SDL-1.2.15-20160303.zip
- SDL2-2.0.4-20160225.zip

Regards

Title: Re: ArcaOS - Retro Gaming Machine
Post by: Pete on February 06, 2019, 08:15:54 pm
Hi Martin

I would guess that if any app relies on SNAP (SDDHELP$) it would need reworking and compiling to run on a non-SNAP installed system.

I have very few sdl based games and they seem to come packaged with whichever version of sdl dlls they require - must admit to not having played any for a while so no idea at the moment if there could be problems with the sdl 1.2.15-5 30/06/2016 currently installed. This build of sdl is available via ANPM - I think it was installed during ArcaOS installation.

I  think you are going to have to do a little experimentation to decide which sdl you need installed.


Regards

Pete


Title: Re: ArcaOS - Retro Gaming Machine
Post by: Martin Iturbide on February 06, 2019, 11:13:07 pm
Hi

I'm still confused with the Netlabs RPM repository since it has "SDL" and "sdl" packages. Common sense makes me choose "SDL" (uppercase) since it has version 1.2.15-5.  SDL package contains "SDL12.DLL" and "SDL120.DLL".

There is "SDL_ttf" package that contains "SDLttf.dll" and "SDL_t200.DLL". But I can not find a package that contains SDL2, SDL2MIX, SDL2IMG, SDL2TTF, SDLMIXER, SDLIMAGE, SDLNET, SDLSOUND and also FSLIB.DLL (which I guess it is part of SDL).

Can someone confirm or deny if the files I'm listing are on the netlabs RPM?

Regards
Title: Re: ArcaOS - Retro Gaming Machine
Post by: Dave Yeo on February 07, 2019, 12:27:38 am
They're not, and yes, the uppercase SDL is the latest. Personally, I don't have it installed as there are so many conflicts, it is best just to use the ones that came with the individual programs.
I believe you can add SDDHELP.SYS to your system with no bad affects, not sure if it will do anything without SNAP installed.
Ideally everything should be rebuilt against the latest SDL and/or SDL2 packages.
Title: Re: ArcaOS - Retro Gaming Machine
Post by: ivan on February 07, 2019, 12:49:06 am
Martin, I think you need to look on hobbes for the full SDL package.  If you search for sdl you will also find several games that use sdl there as well. 

I have all the dll you mention but I got them from hobbes about 2 years ago.
Title: Re: ArcaOS - Retro Gaming Machine
Post by: Martin Iturbide on February 07, 2019, 02:07:29 pm
Hi

Thanks for the advice. I want to use the latest version of the SDL libraries (and any other libraries). I'm creating a list of on which games I'm experiencing limitations and issues to discuss.

For the moment the most common issues on "Native" OS/2 games are: 
1) The first limitation are the games that depends on the SDDHELP$ driver.
- Work Around: Install SNAP.
- Elegant solution: Try to recompile the game to remove the SDDHELP$ dependency.
2) Some SDL games still depends on older SDL12.DLL and does not work with the latest version of the SDL on hobbes. (SDL-1.2.15-20160303.zip).
- Work Around: Use the older SDL12 and FSLIB on those games. 
- Elegant Solution: Try to recompile those games with the latest SDL libraries.

About the SDL libraries I still need to compare the version on the netlabs RPM DLL's with to the latest "SDL-1.2.15-20160303.zip" to see if I'm experiencing some DLL version confusion.
I'm going to try to remove the rpm version of SDL as Dave suggest.

Regards
Title: Re: ArcaOS - Retro Gaming Machine
Post by: Dave Yeo on February 07, 2019, 09:37:38 pm
Another thing to consider, which is probably the cause of some incompatibilities is which compiler things were built with.
SDL is usually built with OpenWatcom and needs certain flags to use the same calling convention as GCC. I believe older versions used the wrong calling convention for GCC compatibility. Likewise some games are compiled with OpenWatcom and calling convention can come into it.
There is a GCC compiled version of SDL floating around, originally from bauxite.jp if I'm remembering correctly.
Title: Re: ArcaOS - Retro Gaming Machine
Post by: Martin Iturbide on February 09, 2019, 02:23:32 pm
Hi

I'm concert about the FSLib, which according to what I'm reading is a "library to be able to use fullscreen-switchable windows on OS/2. The library uses the Scitech SNAP GA API, so it needs Scitech SNAP installed to be able to use it."

If we take out SNAP out of the equation, is there a FSLib alternative for full screen SDL games?

Regards
Title: Re: ArcaOS - Retro Gaming Machine
Post by: Martin Iturbide on February 09, 2019, 05:06:38 pm
Hi

Just checking out the SDL subject deeply.

There are several SDL games that depends on an older SDL12.DLL to run. Like for example: Amoebax (http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/h-viewer.php?dir=/pub/os2/games&file=amoebax-0.2.1-os2.zip)

Old version:                  SDL12.DLL    11-05-08  8:21a       188,402
SDL-1.2.15-20160303.zip:   SDL12.DLL     3-03-16  3:03p       278,457

Internally the old SDL12.DLL has a dependency of the FSLIB.DLL, while the one included on "SDL-1.2.15-20160303.zip" does not has that dependency.

1) Is there a way to run  Amoebax (http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/h-viewer.php?dir=/pub/os2/games&file=amoebax-0.2.1-os2.zip) with the newer SDL12.DLL ? (without recompiling it) ?

2) I would say that it is better for new SDL ported games to use the newer SDL and forget about FSLIB, but maybe I'm not looking at the complete picture. Are we missing some functionality if we ditch the use of FSLIB ?

Regards
Title: Re: ArcaOS - Retro Gaming Machine
Post by: Dave Yeo on February 09, 2019, 05:52:12 pm
Hi Martin. In theory forwarder DLLs could be written to bridge between the old and newer SDL libraries but it would be simpler to just recompile as the source should be available. Due to differences in calling conventions and who knows what else, forwarder DLL might no be simple and all these games are open source.
Without fslib, we only get a pseudo full screen like if you press F11 in the browser, the xcentre still displays. Still not bad. Try something like lbreakout2 where under the graphics you can choose full screen. I find it easier to play in a window.
Tried using SDHELP with Panorama
Code: [Select]
F:\games\Lopan>lopan.exe
[SNAP_Initialize] : Initializing...
[SNAP_ThreadFunc] : Starting...
[SNAP_ThreadFunc] : Calling DosSetPriority!
[SNAP_ThreadFunc] : Calling WinInitialize!
[SNAP_ThreadFunc] : Calling WinCreateMsgQueue!
[SNAP_ThreadFunc] : Calling GA_loadDriver!
[SNAP_ThreadFunc] : Could not load graphics driver!
[SNAP_Initialize] : SNAP-Thread could not initialize itself!
[FSLib_Initialize] : Could not initialize SNAP!
[os2fslib_CreateDevice] : Could not initialize FSLib!
Couldn't initialize SDL: No available video device

I don't know if Panorama could be expanded to use true full screen, I'd guess so but I doubt the developers have the time/interest in doing it.
Title: Re: ArcaOS - Retro Gaming Machine
Post by: xynixme on February 09, 2019, 08:10:04 pm
There are several SDL games that depends on an older SDL12.DLL to run.
Regarding old versions I recently considered a SDL DLL directory tree (due to disk full-errors) for each version of e.g. FSLIB.DLL, but then you'd still have to manage LIBPATHs, it's an own "standard", and the gain would be about 10 MiB.

i don't know why compiling of apps/games (and/or the DLLs) is excluded as an option. If the apps/games and DLLs are frozen, then I may give that directory tree for old SDL DLLs a try. But only to gain about 10 MiB.

I've got 16 FSLIB.DLL candidates, and 36 SDL*.DLL candidates. Excluding the NetLabs-ones. I cannot recall any significant SDL-related issue with older, frozen apps/games which would require a SDL update, but YMMV.

If you wouldn't have excluded recompiling, then you could have contacted the author(s). A recent DLL-related improvement is the browser Links/2, which no longer uses own DLL files like a JPEG.DLL and a Z.DLL, but without its author having to rewrite related (ported) code to join the NetLabs SDL programme.

Of course the SDL directory tree would be as simple as x:\SDL12.DLL\188402 bytes\SDL12.DLL and matching BEGINLIBPATH and LIBPATHSTRICT settings for the game Amoebax and for the emulator ZSNES. Both are using that SDL12.DLL file, and an identical FSLIB.DLL file. I don't know if you can use both apps/games at the same time then.
Title: Re: ArcaOS - Retro Gaming Machine
Post by: Dave Yeo on February 11, 2019, 07:49:17 pm
It was pointed out to me that fslib will work most of the time if SDDHELP.SYS is loaded and it has access to x:\os\2\drivers\snap\graphics.bpd (x: being the boot drive). Testing, my example above still fails but other games successfully use full screen.
Title: Re: ArcaOS - Retro Gaming Machine
Post by: Martin Iturbide on February 14, 2019, 10:04:38 pm
Hi

I have this cases:
- Amoebax (http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/h-viewer.php?dir=/pub/os2/games&file=amoebax-0.2.1-os2.zip)
- Amphetamine (http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/h-search.php?sh=1&button=Search&key=Amphetamine)

If I use the newer "SDL-1.2.15-20160303.zip (http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/h-viewer.php?dir=/pub/os2/dev&file=SDL-1.2.15-20160303.zip)" those games will not run. I need to use and older SDL12.DLL and FSLIB.DLL.
Can someone else test those and tell me if it a problem with my configuration/machine, or those games really do not work with the latest "SDL-1.2.15-20160303.zip" port.

Regards
Title: Re: ArcaOS - Retro Gaming Machine
Post by: Dave Yeo on February 14, 2019, 10:46:35 pm
Amphetamine seems to run fine with sdl12.dll │  278457│03/03/16│ 3:03p here.
Amoebax does seem to need its own SDL and FSLIB files and is a prime candidate to be rebuilt. Wish porters would stick to the license and include source, patches or at least a note how it was built if no source changes.
I seem to remember subtle problems (bugs) occasionally when using different versions of SDL as well.
Title: Re: ArcaOS - Retro Gaming Machine
Post by: xynixme on February 15, 2019, 02:57:20 am
Can someone else test those and tell me if it a problem with my configuration/machine, or those games really do not work with the latest "SDL-1.2.15-20160303.zip" port.
Contact the author? It's not unlikely that he's willing to use latest SDL DLLs or to allow for upgrades.
Title: Re: ArcaOS - Retro Gaming Machine
Post by: Martin Iturbide on February 16, 2019, 03:24:57 pm
Thanks Dave.

I'm double checking what is happening with "Amphetamine". In my VM it does not wants to run with the latest SDL, but on the Thinkpad L420 it do runs. I need to check what can be producing that conflict on the VM. I even removed any SDL and sdl provided by the netlabs rpm to don't have confusion.

Amoebax requires the old SDL and FSLIB in my both enviroments.
Title: Re: ArcaOS - Retro Gaming Machine
Post by: Pete on February 17, 2019, 07:07:13 am
Hi Martin

Are you also considering old DOS games that have been ported to OS/2? - There cannot be many older than the game called Digger originally created by Windmill Software in 1983  ;-)

Digger for OS/2 is here http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/download/pub/os2/games/action/digger-20140703.zip

The Digger website is here http://www.digger.org/ where you can also download some extras including some addon game levels which work fine with the OS/2 port and a DOS based level editor see http://www.digger.org/download.html


Have fun ;-)

Pete
Title: Re: ArcaOS - Retro Gaming Machine
Post by: Mathias on February 17, 2019, 10:00:40 pm
Martin, I also remember Lewis speaking about updated sound drivers, that helps with compatibility in DOS and WinOS/2 mode.
When seeing this thread, I get the feeling that it`s getting all too technical. Imagine some ¨user¨ who just sets up his ArcaOS machine in the hope to play his good old DOS/Win3.11/OS2 games... but aslong it is THAT complicated to get each game to work (each game might need its very own solution to get sound working..) - You might get it to work with the help of the OS/2 community (which is AWESOME btw!!), but for a mere user this would be a hopeless process. :o

I know time is pushing (Retro gaming event in May is pushing closer), but we might not yet be able to present ArcaOS as a retro gaming platform, as long as the updated drivers/sound framework aren`t available yet.

Question is though, what to do... when exactly will this updated sound driver/framework be available? - We do not know yet.
All *I* know is that, Lewis said he also recognised retro gamers as a potential market for ArcaOS, and UniAud replacement/upgrade is planned for the future.

We could...
- either build up a database for each... DOS, Win3.11, OS/2 native games that run NOW with (almost) no efforts (ruling out games, that are too complicated getting them to run properly (and with sound))
- or we could wait for that new sound driver/sound framework that is said to solve exactly these problems and build up the game database by then. (That database might need an update anyway when this sound upgrade comes)
Title: Re: ArcaOS - Retro Gaming Machine
Post by: Dave Yeo on February 17, 2019, 11:25:39 pm
The problem Arca Noae has is resources. I'm guessing but they seem to only have perhaps half a dozen developers at most employed or co-owners with a lot on their plate.
USB-C, WiFi, graphics support, perhaps extending SNAP, sound driver that works on modern hardware, UEFI boot support, better support for large HDs to name a few. Then there is work on the installer including extending it, fixing things that need fixing and so on.
I'd guess it'll be a while before they create a DOS virtual SoundBlaster driver or such. If we're lucky, someone else might write one. In principle is seems basic but then you get into subtleties such as sharing the sound device.
Title: Re: ArcaOS - Retro Gaming Machine
Post by: Martin Iturbide on February 18, 2019, 03:41:19 pm
Hi

Question is though, what to do... when exactly will this updated sound driver/framework be available? - We do not know yet.
All *I* know is that, Lewis said he also recognised retro gamers as a potential market for ArcaOS, and UniAud replacement/upgrade is planned for the future.

I can not answer that since I don't work in Arca Noae, I just know what I had investigated:
1) Arca Noae website lists that they are working on the Win-OS/2 and DOS sound driver compatibility called DTA.
2) I contacted the author of DTA and told me that he gave all rights to Arca Noae.
3) Lewis told on a chat room that he had someone learning/working DTA.

So, I think this are good news for retro-gaming on ArcaOS, but I don't know the time frame for it.

Regards
Title: Re: ArcaOS - Retro Gaming Machine
Post by: Martin Iturbide on February 18, 2019, 03:51:45 pm
Hi

When seeing this thread, I get the feeling that it`s getting all too technical. Imagine some ¨user¨ who just sets up his ArcaOS machine in the hope to play his good old DOS/Win3.11/OS2 games... but aslong it is THAT complicated to get each game to work (each game might need its very own solution to get sound working..)

Your concern is very good and valid.  I'm just starting with the native games on OS/2 and I'm getting some technical complications about libraries and how to make some games work.  But it is good to discuss this, no matter how technical it can be, so we can create a path to make it easier to other users.

Maybe on the future we can do/get somethings like:
1) Include the latest SDL libraries on the rpm repository
2) Including DTA (once it gets updated) on the ArcaOS
3) Trying to package some games in an easy way to get installed for users (like rpm).
4) Recompiling some ported games directing to newer libraries.

Remember that right now we are on a "ping-pong" stage to find the issues and discuss the best way to solve it. I hope to later document the lessons learned from this forum discussion and try to summarize the knowledge.

So, it is still too technical, but it has to be discussed in this terms so we can work a solution to make it easy.

I'm finishing my tests with some native games, and I will move on to DOS, which I think it will be more interesting. But without DTA for DOS (to support audio with Uniaud) , I think I will start with DOSBox. (Maybe on a different thread).

Regards
Title: Re: ArcaOS - Retro Gaming Machine
Post by: Neil Waldhauer on February 18, 2019, 05:00:46 pm
I'm not a gamer at all, but I was interested in what people are doing outside the OS/2 community. Here is a DOS gaming site that I thought could be pretty helpful to us.

https://www.dosgamesarchive.com/downloads/ (https://www.dosgamesarchive.com/downloads/)

It lists the DOS games freely available on the Internet ranked by popularity.
Title: Re: ArcaOS - Retro Gaming Machine
Post by: Dave Yeo on February 18, 2019, 06:07:01 pm
The other thing we're missing is joystick support, which went away about the same time as DOS sound support. Haven't seen a joystick port in ages as they're all USB now and I believe there are 2 standards, regular support and Xbox type.
A lot of these games, both OS/2 (SDL) and DOS are a lot better with a joystick. Keyboard or mouse just doesn't work the same.
Title: Re: ArcaOS - Retro Gaming Machine
Post by: Mathias on February 18, 2019, 08:49:58 pm
Very true, time and ressources is THE magic thing in softare development. Our company has the same problems: We simply need to find more developers to get stuff done and keep the release plan on par with reality more easily.. ; )

Martin, please don`t get me wrong, very very much appreciated!! : ))
I need to find more time also to test more myself also and bring in some results as well, regarding the gaming topic!
Also testing some jopads and sticks. (Btw.. I suppose the xbox ones might not work out of the box, but the regular USB pads and sticks basing on regular axes could be easier to get them working?!)
Title: Re: ArcaOS - Retro Gaming Machine
Post by: Martin Iturbide on February 18, 2019, 10:46:22 pm
Hi Mathias.

Also testing some jopads and sticks. (Btw.. I suppose the xbox ones might not work out of the box, but the regular USB pads and sticks basing on regular axes could be easier to get them working?!)

As far as I know only some "game port" joysticks used to work on OS/2. I haven't get any report of an USB joystick working under OS/2, but if I'm wrong about it please let me know.

Regards
Title: Re: ArcaOS - Retro Gaming Machine
Post by: Martin Iturbide on February 18, 2019, 11:13:15 pm
Hi

I still don't have time to test DOS games, but we have like 4224 games to test (https://archive.org/details/softwarelibrary_msdos_games?&sort=-downloads)  ;D ;D

Regards
Title: Re: ArcaOS - Retro Gaming Machine
Post by: Dave Yeo on February 19, 2019, 02:51:40 am
Some of those games I remember enjoying, and many needed joystick support to enjoy.
Looking into USB joystick support, I was hoping to find something fairly easy to port, without luck.
The basic HID (Human Interface Devices) is here in appendix D, https://www.usb.org/sites/default/files/documents/hid1_11.pdf (https://www.usb.org/sites/default/files/documents/hid1_11.pdf) and should be able to be implemented with libusb I hope, but someone knowledgeable would need to be interested in doing it, along with extending DTA and SDL or such to support it.
I miss some of those games but just found them too hard to play with a keyboard.
Title: Re: ArcaOS - Retro Gaming Machine
Post by: guzzi on February 19, 2019, 09:26:10 pm
Some of those games I remember enjoying, and many needed joystick support to enjoy.
Looking into USB joystick support, I was hoping to find something fairly easy to port, without luck.
The basic HID (Human Interface Devices) is here in appendix D, https://www.usb.org/sites/default/files/documents/hid1_11.pdf (https://www.usb.org/sites/default/files/documents/hid1_11.pdf) and should be able to be implemented with libusb I hope, but someone knowledgeable would need to be interested in doing it, along with extending DTA and SDL or such to support it.
I miss some of those games but just found them too hard to play with a keyboard.

Could ask Wim Brul.
Title: Re: ArcaOS - Retro Gaming Machine
Post by: Martin Iturbide on February 20, 2019, 06:37:48 pm
Hi

Different question.

Do you have any comments about GAMESRVR.DLL ?
I noticed that some games required it and I want to know:

1) To know which is the last version available for the DLL
2) To know if was merged to other library/dll or if it just stands as a separate runtime in the last Warp.

I just found these version on the native games I'm testing:
Quote
Directory of X:\warp\D\Doom

 3-17-95  2:55p        30,444      0 a---  gamesrvr.dll
        1 file(s)      30,444 bytes used

Directory of X:\warp\F\Flight

12-06-95 12:50p        30,484      0 a---  GAMESRVR.DLL
        1 file(s)      30,484 bytes used

Directory of X:\warp\S\Semtex

 2-27-96 10:19a        30,484      0 a---  gamesrvr.dll


Any more information is welcome to be included on the EDM/2 wiki.

Regards
Title: Re: ArcaOS - Retro Gaming Machine
Post by: Roderick Klein on February 22, 2019, 09:42:19 pm
http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/download/pub/incoming/GAMESRVR-1995-09-12.zip

If you do distribute copies of these DLL's I would at least include a warning in a textfile . You see the last thing you want todo is that people install a version of dive.dll from 1995. Or svga.exe used by video installers. Loading that downleveled DLL's can potentially make applications less stable.

The TXT file in the ZIP mentions that by running the .EXE file in the ZIP file that:

 Copy GAMESRVR.DLL and DIVE.DLL to d:\OS2\DLL, where d is the boot
 drive.

Since \OS2\DLL comes first any DIVE.DLL installed on system \MMOS2\DLL would came later as \OS2\DLL comes first in the libpath. So you would always load the old version of dive.dll.

Just my thoughts on this package.

Roderick
Title: Re: ArcaOS - Retro Gaming Machine
Post by: Martin Iturbide on February 22, 2019, 09:52:58 pm
Hi.

I think that possible "GAMESRVR.DLL" was merged to something else on some Warp (4?). I just delete that DLL from Semtex and the game keep working without issues. I will need to keep testing it.

Roderick, I uploaded that file on Hobbes just in case someone is looking for it in the future while trying to run some old games. If someone founds different versions or more documentation, please let me know.

Regards
Title: Re: ArcaOS - Retro Gaming Machine
Post by: Lars on February 23, 2019, 12:36:11 pm
GAMESRVR was only necessary for Warp 3 where the DIVE support was not existent and was added with this package.
For >= Warp 4 this is completely unnecessary. In fact, it is counterproductive as the install package for GAMESRVR installs a hook to load GAMESRVR.DLL via the PM_ED_HOOKS keyword in OS2.INI. You DO NOT want that to happen. In the best case Warp 4 just ignores that keyword (in which case GAMESRVR is not loaded anyway). In the bad case, you screw up your whole system.

Lars
Title: Re: ArcaOS - Retro Gaming Machine
Post by: Martin Iturbide on February 23, 2019, 03:01:12 pm
GAMESRVR was only necessary for Warp 3 where the DIVE support was not existent and was added with this package.
For >= Warp 4 this is completely unnecessary. In fact, it is counterproductive as the install package for GAMESRVR installs a hook to load GAMESRVR.DLL via the PM_ED_HOOKS keyword in OS2.INI. You DO NOT want that to happen. In the best case Warp 4 just ignores that keyword (in which case GAMESRVR is not loaded anyway). In the bad case, you screw up your whole system.

Lars

Thanks for the feedback Lars . I will also add this on the EDM/2 wiki.

Regards
Title: Re: ArcaOS - Retro Gaming Machine
Post by: Mathias on May 13, 2019, 11:14:42 pm
Report for the 13th Retro gaming night @ Leipzig, Germany on 11th of May 2019!!
First of all some pictures :D --> http://www.schreibfabrik.de/img/spielenacht2019/ (http://www.schreibfabrik.de/img/spielenacht2019/)

I have been there with an ArcaOS machine that I had prepared only for this con, loaded with DOS, Win3.x and OS/2 games. :D

Machine was advertised as:
DE:
ARCA OS "Blue Lion"
Retro-Gaming-Plattform
für DOS, Win3.x und OS/2
mit der Hardware von heute!


EN:
ARCA OS "Blue Lion"
Retro-Gaming-Platform
for DOS, Win3.x and OS/2
using the hardware of today!


The following games were installed:
===========================
DOS-Games:

A320
AGENT (Secret Agent Man)
ALADIN
ALIEN
Asterix
ATOMINO
BILLARD (Magic Pool Billard)
bmenace (Bio Menace)
BMH (Bundesliga Manager Hattrick)
Bombrman
BOULDER (Boulder Dash)
CARMAG (Carmageddon)
CComic (Captain Comic)
CIV (Civilisation)
COLON (Colonisation)
CRYSTAL (Crystal Caves)
DESCENT
DOOM1
DUCK (Duck Tales)
DUKE3D (Duke Nukem 3D)
Dune2
dynablas (Dyna Blaster)
ELECTRO (Electro Body)
EXTREME (Extreme Pinball demo)
EXTREMEV (Extreme Pinball full version)
F15
F22LIGHT
Flashb (Flashback)
GAMEBOY (Gameboy emu)
GLUECKSR (Wheel of fortune)
HiOctane (Hi-Octane (Bullfrog))
HL14-18 (History Line 1914 - 1918)
iTrader
JILL (Jill of Jungle)
Keen1
Keen2
Keen3
Keen4
Keen5
Keen6
Lionking
LOLLYPOP
machine1 (The Incredible Machine)
machine2 (The even more Incredible Machine)
MAHJONG
MARIO
MENACE
MIG29
MMissing (Mario is missing)
MSFS5 (Microsoft Flight Simulator 5)
NASCAR (Nascar Racing 1 with ultra high resolution and details)
OUTRIDGE (Outer Ridge)
PACMAN
PAGAN (Paganitzu)
PRINCE (Prince of Persia)
QUAKE
ROBOT (The game of Robot 1 - 6)
S1 (Settlers 1)
S2 (Settlers 2)
S2_Gld_E (Settlers 2 Gold English)
Schach (various Chess games)
SEGA (SEGA emulator)
SIDE (Side Tetris)
SIM2000 (Sim City 2000)
SIMCITY (Sim City 1?)
SolarWnd (Solar Winds)  -- WOW niice one!
SpeedH (Speed Haste)
StarBl_D (Star Blade German)
StarBl_E (Star Blade English)
STARTREK (numerous Star Trek games)
TD3 (Test Drive 3)
TFX
TIE (Tie fighter)
TORNADO
VEGI
Warbots (self programmed robots fighting game :D)
Wrestle (WWF Wrestlemania)
XARGON
XWING


===========================
native OS/2 games:

ABE-1_0
ASTEROIDS-2_30
BINGO2-1_4
BLACKJACK-0_50
Blubbels
ColorCode__Mastermind-0_7_0
Connect-Four
Connect-Four_PM-1_24
Dave_Gnukem
December_Poker-1_0a
Formido-1_0
Hex-a-Hop-8_8
HexMines
JumpNBump-1_50
Kniffel
Krone_der_Macht
Las_Vegas_Craps-2_00
lBreakout2-2_6_5
Lemmings-Demo
Lode_Runner-1_2B2
Makman
Master_of_The_Empire
Mine2
Mine_Sweeper2-1_4a
Overthrow-0_90
Pipeline-2_2b4
Prince_of_Persia-1_16
Project_Starfighter-1_6
RockDodger
SIM2000Demo
Sim_Blob
Sokoban-1_1_5
Sudoku
The_Ancient_Game_of_GO
Tower_Toppler-1_1_6
tWorld (Tiles World)


===========================
Windows 3.11 games:

BACKGAM (BackGammon)
Blitzer
BLOCK-BR
CHECKERS
CHESS
HATHOR
HERMAN
HEX-TET
Hyperoid
JULIETTA
KARTEN
MISERMIN
PIPE
ROULETTE
SYMBOLR
TETRIS
TRIPLETS
WINPOKER
Winskat
YACHT-Z

-------------------------

The crowd was NOT interested in the OS itself, just the games. Well yes, surely no owners of their own retro machines.. just playing games that they were playing when they were young, but apparently they don`t play these games anymore, as most of them told me. o.O

ONE guest actually asked how this is possible on such a modern hardware.. without CD drive, no floppy drives, etc.
So I had the chance to show him without boring him.. ; )
Clearly that guy wa simpressed by the OS! - But well yea.. what did I expect.. :p  -The majority of peole is not interested in HOW the games can be played, but rather the games themselves. - This is too pro for them.

But I suspect all the other exhibitors weren`t asked for the details either... just the crowd rolled in over the day, and was plaing the games on the machines, and that was it. Maybe this is NOT the right con for presenting ArcaOS.. but on the other hand, we might need two things to bring the attention to the masses.. :p
1) Soundblaster 16 sound wrapper for DOS & Win 3.x to (f.i. Uniaud and co)
2) Better merchandising, banners, etc... to get the attention ``Hey wait.. what is this?!``

: )  - Still, the machine comes with me next year again.. :D
Title: Re: ArcaOS - Retro Gaming Machine
Post by: ivan on May 13, 2019, 11:21:45 pm
Hi Mathias,

It sounds as if you had fun.  Since this is an OS/2 site maybe you could give us the information about which modern machine you were using and how well it performed.
Title: Re: ArcaOS - Retro Gaming Machine
Post by: Mathias on May 14, 2019, 09:50:49 am
Ivan, sure thing. : )

The machine is what I had free at the moment. It's not toooo modern, but modern for OS/2 aspects. It is an Intel Atom with 2x 1,6GHz with Hyperthreading, so it shows 4 cores.
It's got a 512 GB SATA hdd and 4 GB RAM installed (plenty for the OS), has no external drives, just USB slots.

Installing the current AracOS (DE beta) I had troube, as the ION chip onboard appears to be incompatible with the installer; It didn't recognise the hard drive at all, just the ArcaOS install USB stick, so I could have installed it there, but naw... I wanted the stuff to be on hdd.

So I took a Transcent USB3 PCIe 1x card, that I had flying around. This one also comes with an SATA controller onboard. (If you are interested in the controller type, please let me know. I will have a look.) The martian SATA controller on there was recognised by the ARCAOS installer, and so it worked out. - I was VERY surprised this weird SATA controller was supported, and the much more widely spread Intel ION chip was not. :o

The installer ran trough, and finally the ArcaOS desktop showed up.
It turned out, all hardware was supported and did work instantly. Also the network card. - Instantly I went and updated everything step by step using the Arca Noae Packet Manager. After two reboots this process was done, and I tried to set up SNAP, just to find out, that it does not support my onboard ION graphics chip. - Still, as it turned out later, THIS installation was much more stable than my other Panorama test installations. - It ran all DOS, Windows and OS/2 games fine without crashing once, it had no trouble switching between DOS full screens and OS/2 windows, everything was smooth and nice. - I never had such trouble free usage with Panorama... so ... even though SNAP offered no acceleration (I had to disable full window dragging... dragging the frame itself was fine and quick), the whole user experience was good still.

Besides graphics and SATA controller, I had no trouble at all with that machine. Everything worked as expected.

Of course I've created an image of the finished machine with all games and stuff, using Clonezilla. - Just to allow me to roll back to a working OS in the case of an emergency.
Title: Re: ArcaOS - Retro Gaming Machine
Post by: Martin Iturbide on May 14, 2019, 04:24:44 pm
Hi Mathias.

The pictures looks great, it seems it was a nice event for retro gamers. Is there a picture of your machine there?

It is clear that the audience was not there to know about ArcaOS, just to remember old games and play it, but I think that you had accomplished your goal. This was the first time ever ArcaOS was shown as a gaming (retro gaming) platform and it is important to show the platform in different events.

I also think it was a good opportunity to test what ArcaOS is missing and what can be improved on this area (like SoundBlaster emulation on DOS). 

Thanks for your efforts !!

Regards
Title: Re: ArcaOS - Retro Gaming Machine
Post by: Martin Iturbide on May 14, 2019, 04:55:30 pm
Hi

I also noticed that there are some games that require MIDI support for some background music. I vaguely remember from the past that I can install midi support with TiMidity++ (I guess ) and some instrument (?) patches like GUSPAT or EAWPAT.... or was it timidityMCD the one required to have MMOS2 MIDI support? I also don't remember if it can work with UniAud if it requires specific hardware with its drivers.

I honestly don't remember, this time I will write it down on the wiki. Any tip / help is welcome.

Regards.
Title: Re: ArcaOS - Retro Gaming Machine
Post by: Mathias on May 14, 2019, 07:44:03 pm
Just had a look at the martian SATA controller, that was compatible with the ArcaOS installer. : )

--> Asmedia SATA Controller 106X Version 0.95 AHCI Mode (SMART supported, PCIe Gen2)


Martin, thanks for your feedback! : )) - Yes there is indeed a picture of the machine, but it's quite small, since the picture shows the whole room. I have made a couple of photos just now.
It's not the nicest case, but I like it for some reason.

As for MIDI... mhmm.. unfortunately I have no MIDI knowledge with OS/2. Just Linux and Windows. But of course, as I love testing stuff out, this might only be a temporary situation.. :p - I'll try to free up some time.
And yup.. next year I hope for the Soundblaster 16/AWE32 wrapper/translator to bind DOS sound to UNIAUD. - This will definitely raise the attraction level quite a bit!
Title: Re: ArcaOS - Retro Gaming Machine
Post by: Dave Yeo on May 15, 2019, 01:43:57 am
Hi

I also noticed that there are some games that require MIDI support for some background music. I vaguely remember from the past that I can install midi support with TiMidity++ (I guess ) and some instrument (?) patches like GUSPAT or EAWPAT.... or was it timidityMCD the one required to have MMOS2 MIDI support? I also don't remember if it can work with UniAud if it requires specific hardware with its drivers.

I honestly don't remember, this time I will write it down on the wiki. Any tip / help is welcome.

Regards.

Timidity, including its derivatives and fluidynth all play midi files as waves. Work fine with UniAud but not as a midi sound card replacement though I guess a driver could be written. Modern computers have lots of power for that kind of thing (software midi playback)
Title: Re: ArcaOS - Retro Gaming Machine
Post by: ivan on May 15, 2019, 03:16:21 am
Hi Mathias,

That sounds like a rather nice machine, although I'm not well versed in Intel processors - all AMD here.  I am not surprised about the ASMedia SATA card working because those chips are used by the Ryzen chipset and since I have several Ryzen based machines working with only one problem - USB 3.0 - which means that I have to use a VIA USB 2 PCIe1 card for any USB needs.

The fact you made an image after you got it installed is good.  I had to do that to bypass problems with the ArcaOS installer on all the Ryzen boards I have.
Title: Re: ArcaOS - Retro Gaming Machine
Post by: Mathias on May 15, 2019, 08:56:31 am
Hi Ivan,

> That sounds like a rather nice machine

It's a ten year old power saver with a rather slowish CPU. - And the onboard graphics chip was said to be HD ready, but the reality is even 720p had performance issues at times.
Also browsing the internet can be quite a test of patience. - Writing an article in a Minecraft forum with that machine took ages, as the forum website had a javascript running, that was completely killing the CPU. - ArcaOS, same as Linux, same as Windows 7.
So.. I would rather not use that anymore for daily use, but for retro projects, it's perfect. : )


> I am not surprised about the ASMedia SATA card working because those chips are used by the Ryzen chipset

I see! oo: - Interesting. - This card must be atleast 5 years old, maybe even older, and still this chipset family is being used by top-notch AMD boards?

I am too an AMD person, in theory, but some years ago I had to switch *some* machines to Intel, as I needed 64 GB RAM in two machines. But AMD boards could only do 32 GB at max, back then.
Today this is a complete other story, and I might get AMD machines again. The cost2usage ratio (for me) is and always was simply better @ AMD.


> which means that I have to use a VIA USB 2 PCIe1 card for any USB needs.

Hmm.. the day will come, where these cards are getting rare. But as I heard, development is ongoing for USB3 drivers, I have confidence, OS/2 will make the jump on USB3 and also UEFI.


> The fact you made an image after you got it installed is good.

Of course. Returning the machine from the con means, somebody could have changed, installed, infected something, so I need the image to roll back the HDD to where it was before: Clean ArcaOS install with all the games and icons in place.
Also if something goes wrong at the retro con, and I need to reinstall ArcaOS.. I can roll out the image, and the machine is back on display in 20 minutes.
Or afterwards, the machine can be used for other things, allowing me to always get ArcaOS on it again, when needed.
So.. creating images is always a good idea. : ))


> I had to do that to bypass problems with the ArcaOS installer on all the Ryzen boards I have.

Oh!! So the installer does not (yet?) work with Ryzen boards?
So you installed the OS on another machine and imaged it to the Ryzen machine, which worked out in the end? :D - Another cewl feature of OS/2: You can swich the hardware underneath the OS without breaking anything. Just replacing drivers in config.sys...
Try that with Windows... :p
Title: Re: ArcaOS - Retro Gaming Machine
Post by: xynixme on May 15, 2019, 07:25:14 pm
Report for the 13th Retro gaming night @ Leipzig, Germany on 11th of May 2019!!

I have been there with an ArcaOS machine that I had prepared only for this con, loaded with DOS, Win3.x and OS/2 games. :D

The crowd was NOT interested in the OS itself, just the games. Well yes, surely no owners of their own retro machines.. just playing games that they were playing when they were young, but apparently they don`t play these games anymore, as most of them told me. o.O
Sure. A more commercial target would be people finding or remembering any old DOS game, whom want to give that a try again with e.g. virtual hardware. Or $10 hardware. Then DOSBox (for Windows) or a mute OS/2 system isn't the best answer to attract those users.
Title: Re: ArcaOS - Retro Gaming Machine
Post by: ivan on May 16, 2019, 01:14:19 am
Hi Mathias,

A good machine as far as I'm concerned is one that does what it is setup to do without problems.  So your box is a little old but it did the job very successfully apparently.  I have an Acer Aspire T180 from wayback that was my main home OS/2 machine until the end of last year when my home built Ryzen box took over.

I see that Intel are having more problems with their processors again - hyperthreading this time, so I'm happy to have all AMD based machines.
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/05/14/intel_sidechannel_vulnerability/ (https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/05/14/intel_sidechannel_vulnerability/)

Yes, the VIA USB 2 cards are now a 'hunt for on ebay' item and some of the USB 2 cards, while providing USB 2 are actually based on USB 3.0 chipsets.  Hopefully the USB 3.0 for OS/2 and ArcaOS will arrive soon as we were told about it 2 years ago.

Memory for the Ryzen appears to be 64GB although I only have my boxes fitted with 8 GB.
 
Title: Re: ArcaOS - Retro Gaming Machine
Post by: Mathias on May 17, 2019, 04:56:46 pm
André, sure thing; But I doubt regular users would be able to bring the machine to its limits with DOS games. :> - Therefore, I suppose a crazy and much more modern PC case would do the job already, attracting people in between all the old Amigas and retro things.  - No need to spend hundreds of EUR just to run retro applications, where some already run way too fast on the Intel Atom. :D

The aim is to attract people first, and then make them sit down and play around with the stuff installed.

Sound.. yes.. that would then complete the user's retro experience, as soon as they have started a game. - But that's nothing that I could do much about. I have to wait for the devs to come around with a solution.


Ivan, it's crazy what bugs and potential security holes are found by some individuals and laboratories. - All this renders whole computer fleets unsafe all of sudden, and what was state of the art a moment ago, is now unsafe trash from one to the other second. It's true that AMD has not yet been impacted by such kind of bugs, but why didn't these "boffins" come around with that stuff some years ago, when these CPUs had been released? - Not sure, but I think that is somehwat on purpose, so we all have to buy new hardware all the time. - Lucky AMD users for the moment, but I suppose when these scientists would check AMD CPUs, they might find one or another similar bug too.. :o

It's unfortunate, but today everything is unsafe, as long as it has not been proven to be safe.. but then, the next day somebody comes out of nowhere, telling you "all your hardware is unsafe and needs to be replaced".
Same with Volkswagen and co: First they tell you all is excellent, and the other day they take the car out of order, as you produce much much more toxic output as you are allowed to. - Who pays for this? Of course not the industry, but the customer needs to buy new stuff to comply with regulations. (Atleast german customers need to. I have heard VW is sentenced to give buyers their money back in the US, which IS RIGHT, just why not here in DE??) Why does industry never pay for their own faults?
I would say that Intel needs to hand me my money back, as I need to buy new CPUs now.. since the old ones are unsafe in any aspect.. rendering them almost useless.. if I care for data security.

Mathias