Re: Hardware Follies: Defeated by the Disk

Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

On Mon, 26 May 2025 16:34:57 +0200, H1M3M <wipnoah@gmail.com> wrote:

Argh, isn't that one a bitch? The Project98 has a /single/ USB port,
 but it's USB 1.1, so 12Mbps is the absolute max... and when copying
 hundred-megabyte files, that's pretty damn slow. Still, it's faster
 than the alternative: burning to CD-RW or using zip disks. ;-) Unsurprisingly, the motherboard also lacks built-in networking, and I've already allocated every expansion slot to other cards.
 

Looking at at the motherboards manual, supposedly there's some USB
capability, but only exists as a non standard pin header. My retro PC is
a Pentium 200 MMX from 1997, so not the greatest choice for a retro machine.
I did attempt to install a PCI USB card since I'm running out of PS/2
mouse and keyboards, but...
- It does not deliver enough power for an optical USB mouse. I ended
buying the most barebones Genius ball mouse. 2 buttons, no wheel, but
with a manufacture well past 2000, so it may have been made for people
struggling with too many buttons and gizmos. brand new.
-Although I did manage to get it to read a pendrive, it would become
extremely unstable with anything else.
- I had to remove the network card to install the USB one. That will
give you an idea of how cramped things are inside. Two of the case's
back bays are taken by the Serial, PS/2 and parallel ports, A 3dfx card
next to the (Non vesa compliant) S3 trash, and a big ass ISA Sound
Blaster AWE card. There's just too much inside.
I guess the best option would be grabbing a Pentium II or III, but the
prices have gone up too much. I'm still not happy witht he current
available options. Dosbox and dosbox-X rarely get the pixel aspect
ratio right, I have never gotten 86Box to play nice with the mouse speed
and sound, and I am not sure VMware workstation works great for gaming.