Can one still build a reliable DOS based system?

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you guys can laugh but i have to support some of these old dos pcs.
386s 486s and p1s with 1 pci and 4 isa slots.
all jumper settings for irqs ect
they are still running pos systems in some smaller shops

what i have found is that most new motherboards do not properly support dos commands on their chipsets so network cards and modems will not work in their dos modes.

some of the socket a boards will do it and most of the p3 boards.

but they are getting harder to find.

dn3d was the king way back when then doom 1 and 2 :)
 
OK....dumb question: How does one set up a VM(I presume that's a virtual machine?)? I have never done that, so I wouldn't even know where to begin..... :??:
 
Word, and tie fighter, xwing,and wing commander
 
This is a really nice idea, building a dos system and all.

I've used dos-box, and generally it works okay, but often I find it more frustrating to trouble shoot games in dos-box than to troubleshoot dos games with real dos (XMS and EMS memory issues!). But I knew that stuff really well back in the day.

My best advice is what someone else mentioned, ask around, scavenge parts. With older stuff, almost everything just seems to work when you plug it in - no worrying about sticks of ram not being compatible, etc.

The hardest part I think is going to be to get a working motherboard and chip. I would guess you wouldn't want to go much above the P1 133 range. Once you have that everything else should fall together, ide controller, game card, sound card, etc.

Good luck to you!
 
Well, it's good to see the thread is still here. My ISP had problems, so I couldn't check it over the weekend.....
I have been scavenging thru CL and local newspaper ads ( I know, a "newspaper"???) and have found nothing. Apparently here in the OC, everyone has "recycled" their old systems so they could feel good driving their gas hogging SUVs....
But seriously, I have wondered, would the CF to IDE idea work as a boot drive? If so, should I get the 2Gb Transcend and fdisk as Fat16 to load DOS 6.22? Would it also work if I also loaded Win 3.11? I am sure there is enough room for the OS's, but what about games? Would a 4Gb CF work better and have it partitioned as 2 - 2Gb drives, 1 for the OS's and one for games? Or two seperate CFs @ 2Gb each to avoid "2 drives" on the same channel?
And what DMA mode would I need to use in the BIOS, assuming of course, I can find a good functiong CPU/MB combo?

And EXT, just what would you want for that old "P1 166MHz with DOS and Win95" system? 😀
 
DOSbox is definitely your cheapest route. I just always had problems with the audio, either not getting it properly or not at all. Also with emulators what works for one old game may not work for the next. When you build a DOS box, try and use the original era parts the more modern stuff you try and "dumb down" the more likely you are to have problems. 386's and 486's are too finicky and had soldered on batteries that are probably dead by now. P75-P90 (Socket 5), P100 through AMD 500 using socket seven is your best bet and PII's and PIII's using slot 1 will also work. All the mobo's for these have USB 1.1 but only windows supports USB DOS doesn't. Those slot 1 mobo's were the last to have ISA slots on them and that is key. Most DOS games don't like PCI soundcards. Your socket 462 and 754 solutions will all have that problem. Anything over a P100 will probably need MoSlo to adjust the speed but it works fine. I played all mine on a P233MMX running MoSlo at about 50%. Generally speaking, the easiest parts to find are:
Socket 7 P233 or AMD K6 series. Maybe PII 233 to 450 slot one.
ATI Rage Pro Turbo AGP card (works great for DOS and was the OEM card of choice back then)
SB 16, Vibra 16, or AWE32/64. Set to A220 I5 D1 H5
2-6gig HD formatted in FAT16 with DOS 6.22
EVERYTHING will play with full sound and Max visuals. Hope that helps.
 
The 166 (as I affectionately call it) has too many good memories for me to sell it, plus shipping it across country would be horrendous. Your best bet if DOSBox doesn't work is to try to find the old parts (like you are trying).

Can you get into any of those "recycling" centers? With how much it costs to recycle/get rid of a PC it seems they might be ok with you taking one off their hands to reuse (rather than them stripping anything valuable and then shipping it to developing countries).
 
Never thought of those E-waste places....There's a remote" collection location this weekend, maybe I can hit up the people as they show up to recycle their stuff....
 
Of course, even if you find one at one of those places there is no guarantee it will work. I know the only computer my family ever recycled was our original $4000 😱 (386/486?) desktop (with a $1000 B&W printer 😱 ) that fried. Probably some good components left in it, but it wouldn't boot.
 
Was just cruising ebay and found a couple of decent "Buy Now" items. A slot 1 p3 and a 440BX ATX mobo for like 35.00 total. I remember those were like $200 back in the day. I have an old, but functional 200W PSU (ATX) in my cabinet of "stuff", so, if they are still available tonight, I may pull the trigger. Alot easier than hitting the bricks and hope I find something.
Also, anymore ideas on the CF to IDE idea? I like it because I can put DOS on one CF card and Win3.1 on another and just swap, depending on my mood.
 
Friday, I see your location is CA and you mentioned OC, I'm relatively close to you. I have about 5 DOS systems I've built and I'll be happy to sell you one complete and ready to go for $50 (They cost me $60-$100 to build, no lie!) or I'll sell you any individual parts way cheaper then ebay (normally my cost) but you'll have to come over to the coast to pick up. I'm not sure how you contact me by private e-mail but try and do so if you're interested. If anyone else needs some old DOS parts let me know. Just to let you know I'm not trying to make a profit off any of my items, it's normally what they cost me on the used market. The folks on here who think you can buy the perfect old system for $5 or $10 are dreaming. Those systems are normally broken junk, or not the right type and worthless. If I hear from you I'll send you a list of what I have and you can pick and choose what you want.
 
Last fall I cleaned out a closet with some old mobo's, memory, hard drives, CPUs (386 and 486), cases, floppy drives and pile of old software (including original DOS and Windows 3.11 disks, QEMM, and old dos and Windows games) figuring I would never play with that stuff again...Now I regret it.
 
I once picked up a computer that was set out garbage day. mobo was fried, memory was gone, but they left the HDD w/ last years tax return on it? I wiped the HDD and back on the curb it went a while later, and someone picked it up in less than an hour.
I somethimes wonder how many curbs some computer may see.

the CF to IDE is just an adapter, one end to the MoBo, one to the card. never messed with one, but they look pretty straite forward.
 
Hey EXT, just got your email...sorry for the slow response. Will reply this PM. Glad to know you're in my neck of the woods.
Also, as with my last post, was wondering: Has anyone actually tried the CF to IDE with 2 seperate CFs for 2 different OS's? It would be a novel approach, don't you think?
 
I know I've been away a few days, but I was hoping for some more ideas/thoughts on this one....for all the quick enthusiasm, it died quick...OH WELL, guess I'll just have to wing this one on my own. EXT, did you ever send that list of equipment?
 
Um, are you talking to me? I never sent you an email. And actually, I'm on the other side of the country (Maryland). Sorry.

I'm also not much good for building an old system because I was too young to really be into them back then. The only comps we had back then were sealed from the factory and by and large stayed that way. I did have quite a bit of success with DOSBox, though. I'll probably only be on intermittently for a while though because Exams are starting up soon.
 
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