"Mini" Win95/DOS PC Build & PETSCII Robots (Updated)
Posted: Tue Feb 28, 2023 2:28 am
Updated: 3/1/2023
I recently built myself a mini Windows 95 (OSR2.5) system I can use to play old DOS and Windows games from the era. I had 3 basic goals for the build.
1. As small as possible.
2. DOS and Win95 drivers actually available.
3. 800x600 and lower resolution capable.
All of that lead me to the EPIA-800, one of the first of two consumer ITX motherboards to be made.
Specs: https://theretroweb.com/motherboards/s/via-epia
Then I changed out the RAM for these SDRAM "Rambus" look-a-like sticks I found.
I will be posting an article about it on my blog when time permits, for now a lot of the basics are on my Twitter feed if you're interested. Just scroll down and look for "EPIA-800". I'll change this to a link to my blog post once it's done, that will much easier than Twitter, but until then... (EDIT - It's up on my blog now!)
https://theclassicgeek.blogspot.com/202 ... -epia.html
The short of it is, it works GREAT, so much so that I bought a copy of PETSCII Robots for DOS to play on it.
For all "on-board" hardware, it works great on most games at 800x600 and 640x480. Using an SD to IDE adapter with 128GB SD card split into 4 partitions it has more than enough room for hundreds of games.
I had to track down a "com port" controller since it has no gameport, found one for sale online and got it! Awesome little controller!
I recently built myself a mini Windows 95 (OSR2.5) system I can use to play old DOS and Windows games from the era. I had 3 basic goals for the build.
1. As small as possible.
2. DOS and Win95 drivers actually available.
3. 800x600 and lower resolution capable.
All of that lead me to the EPIA-800, one of the first of two consumer ITX motherboards to be made.
Specs: https://theretroweb.com/motherboards/s/via-epia
Then I changed out the RAM for these SDRAM "Rambus" look-a-like sticks I found.
I will be posting an article about it on my blog when time permits, for now a lot of the basics are on my Twitter feed if you're interested. Just scroll down and look for "EPIA-800". I'll change this to a link to my blog post once it's done, that will much easier than Twitter, but until then... (EDIT - It's up on my blog now!)
https://theclassicgeek.blogspot.com/202 ... -epia.html
The short of it is, it works GREAT, so much so that I bought a copy of PETSCII Robots for DOS to play on it.
For all "on-board" hardware, it works great on most games at 800x600 and 640x480. Using an SD to IDE adapter with 128GB SD card split into 4 partitions it has more than enough room for hundreds of games.
I had to track down a "com port" controller since it has no gameport, found one for sale online and got it! Awesome little controller!