Building an MS-DOS PC, tightwad style

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12-14-2012, 07:18 PM
Guntz

Building an MS-DOS PC, tightwad style

This thread will be on-going as I collect parts to eventually finish this machine.

Every PC starts with a CPU, so I'll begin there. Since this PC will be running MS-DOS programs mostly, this CPU seemed like a good choice. Indeed, it's clock speed can be pretty flexible, which is good for MS-DOS. The pictured CPU might not be exactly like mine, I never took a picture of my K6-2. It was pulled from a laptop that was failing...

http://www.cpushack.com/chippics/AMD...6-2-400AHX.jpg

Next I guess is the motherboard. I was looking for something cheap mostly, I didn't need a full ATX board or any fancy features, just a Socket 7 for the K6-2. Despite that, I ended up with a rather interesting piece. While it has no AGP slot (kind of unnecessary for MS-DOS anyway), it has an ISA / PCI slot, two dedicated PCI slots, USB support and even on-board video and sound. Pretty fancy for such an old board.

http://imageshack.us/a/img51/3745/222czi.jpg

The other thing kind of needed for a computer to work is RAM. I didn't have to buy any, I had some SDRAM on hand. I'm not overly picky, so I went with a 64MB stick and another of an unknown size. If it's less than 32MB, then I'll use this other SDRAM stick which I know is 32MB.

http://imageshack.us/a/img132/6571/223p.jpg

Next are the cards I currently have. Although I don't have my main graphics card yet, I do have a sound card, a Sound Blaster 16 CT1740. It's been configured for most compatibility, but have yet to test it with these new settings. The last time I tried out the card, it didn't work, even with drivers installed. I figure the card was just mis-configured.

http://imageshack.us/a/img189/1163/224wne.jpg

The other card I'll be using is a plain wireless network adapter. I've used it on Windows 98SE before, I'd use it to play some games in multiplayer, not much else.

http://imageshack.us/a/img9/4563/226rh.jpg

This other piece of equipment doesn't go in the case, but it'd be connected to it anyway. It's a magical black box that makes anything sound awesome.

http://www.drstudio.demon.co.uk/images/mt32.jpg

Lastly, this is the case I'm using. MS-DOS is too awesome for a beige case, so I went with this black one instead. I'll clean it up eventually.

http://imageshack.us/a/img560/875/221a.jpg

And here's everything fitted in the case. I'm still waiting on a PSU and a graphics card. I also need to pick out a hard drive, haven't decided on one yet. Other than that, this PC is well on it's way to play some games. Not a wide range of MS-DOS games mind you, but plenty enough. Maybe I'll play some early Windows games too, or perhaps Age of Empires in networked play.

http://imageshack.us/a/img839/9916/227nc.jpg

This post is only the beginning, eventually I'll have the whole thing assembled.
12-14-2012, 08:35 PM
donluca

good stuff, just make sure that your components are old enough to have MS-DOS drivers! ;)
12-14-2012, 08:55 PM
Guntz

I won't actually be running MS-DOS, in the usual way. I'll stick Windows 98SE or something on it and just run MS-DOS games from a nice, easy to use GUI. Command lines and bat files aren't fun.
12-14-2012, 09:04 PM
sheath

Hah, I've got an old Celeron 333 motherboard in the garage that I keep thinking I want to turn into a DOS Box. The only thing I don't have is a mid tower case to fit it in, all of my junk cases are low profile proprietary. I had an idea recently to screw it to the inside of my console cabinet and mount the drives and powersupply around it on shelves.
12-14-2012, 09:17 PM
MaxWar

Quote:

Originally Posted by Guntz

MS-DOS is too awesome for a beige case.

I disagree, you "NEED" that retro-beige to get the authentic feel. :p

Quote:

Originally Posted by Guntz

Command lines and bat files aren't fun.

I disagree again :p

Allright, ill be following this thread :D
12-14-2012, 09:28 PM
old man

I've still got my 75MHz pentium powered packard bell. :-)
12-14-2012, 09:33 PM
villahed94

Guntz, you should thank me. If it wasn't for me you wouldn't have got that MT32 :P
12-14-2012, 09:38 PM
Flygon

Quote:

Originally Posted by MaxWar

I disagree, you "NEED" that retro-beige to get the authentic feel. :p

Agreed.
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/2651992/Art/Other/IMG_0752.JPG
Even moreso if it's the type that a CRT goes on-top of. :D

Though, I have cropped the obvious LCD out of that image... and the fact that the case hasn't actually got a working computer in it yet. Still gathering the finances for that. But that's something for a different topic.
12-15-2012, 04:01 PM
donluca

Quote:

Originally Posted by MaxWar

I disagree again :P

+1
I disagree on that too... man up and go command line! :D
12-23-2012, 08:56 PM
Sky Llama

That AMD K6 is identical to the one in my first computer. It was decent for the time, but by the time we got a new PC in 2005 it was really far behind.

Quote:

I also need to pick out a hard drive

You should put a Quantum in it in the biggest size you can find. Then you'll get that authentic DOS PC HD noise.

I've got an old Quantum in mine (I have two drives, one is much newer) and the noise it makes is incredible. :)
12-23-2012, 09:53 PM
stlpaul

DOS + QEMM + DESQview is how I used to roll
12-25-2012, 07:08 PM
NeoVamp

Quote:

Originally Posted by Guntz

I won't actually be running MS-DOS, in the usual way. I'll stick Windows 98SE or something on it and just run MS-DOS games from a nice, easy to use GUI. Command lines and bat files aren't fun.

Then you might as well forget about building a dedicated dos computer and just use Dosbox.

http://imageshack.us/scaled/landing/560/image1tmc.jpg
12-25-2012, 08:23 PM
Moirai

Just put DOS on it, no windows!
12-26-2012, 12:59 AM
Ace

Quote:

Originally Posted by AlecRob

Just put DOS on it, no windows!

Sometimes, this results in certain hardware bitching about a certain Windows file missing. I had to install Windows 3.11 along with MS-DOS v6.22 on my main MS-DOS gaming PC due to one of the sound cards in the computer. I have a SoundBlaster Pro 2.0 CT1600 alongside an Ensoniq Soundscape, and until I installed Windows 3.11, the Soundscape's drivers would not stop bitching about a missing Windows.ini file, so I just installed Windows 3.11 to shut it up.

Also, if Guntz installs Windows and wants to mess with pure DOS, you can set Windows 9x to boot directly to DOS rather than boot Windows. That's what I did for my MS-DOS test PC due to drivers for ESS' PCI sound cards not installing under DOS, only Windows 9x.
06-03-2013, 07:44 PM
Guntz

Boy this thread sure is old. Time to dust it off. Since my initial post here, my original Socket 7 (and apparently brand and model-less) motherboard died. It stopped doing it's POST beeps, or any other signs of life. I got a replacement board, Soyo sy-5ssm brand. I hope it lives longer than the older one. It lacks a front USB header, but it has an extra PCI slot! Very valuable asset with my current hardware configuration. Here it is:

Soyo SY-5SSM motherboard
AMD K6-2/400 CPU
156MB SDRAM (3 sockets)
ATi Rage II+ DVD Graphics
Monster 3D Voodoo Graphics
Sound Blaster 16 CT1740
generic CD-ROM drive
generic 3.5" floppy drive
40GB IDE HDD (Apple brand, haha)
Roland MT-32

This awesome little box can do MS-DOS and early 3D pretty well. It covers pretty much everything I want to run with it. I'm pretty happy. All it needs now is a Wireless LAN card in the last empty PCI slot. Once I do that, this battle station shall be fully operational!!

Slight problem though... I seem to have stereo balance issues with both the MT-32 and CDDA audio. I figured maybe I needed mono audio cables for the MT-32, but the CDDA audio is baffling me. I get sound from only one of the two speakers. Windows sounds play through both speakers, strangely.

Pictures:

http://imageshack.us/a/img843/6347/dsc06355vg.jpg
http://imageshack.us/a/img203/7074/dsc06356s.jpg
http://imageshack.us/a/img27/914/dsc06358q.jpg
http://imageshack.us/a/img189/8281/dsc06357d.jpg

So, opinions? Do any of you like this configuration? Would you have done it differently?
06-06-2013, 05:14 AM
Guntz

Quote:

Originally Posted by NeoVamp

Then you might as well forget about building a dedicated dos computer and just use Dosbox.

http://imageshack.us/scaled/landing/560/image1tmc.jpg

I forgot to reply to this...

I guess I should have titled this thread differently. I'm not building just a MS-DOS PC (by that I mean it can run DOS games on real or close to real hardware), I also wanted to run Windows games. It's a bit hard to run Jedi Knight in MS-DOS 6.22 you know. ;) This PC is actually pretty flexible. It handles most MS-DOS programs pretty well and it can do some decent 3D stuff as well. It's exactly what I wanted out of an intentionally ancient PC. That and convenience. I already have an Apple //e, I can't handle a second complicated PC. An ATX mobo with Windows helps make MS-DOS a lot less daunting.

Now, to find more things to use my MT-32 with, bwahaha. That thing is so awesome. :D