Remember the day...

[scrubman]

They opened up a server near me that played multiplayer Doom II over a dial up BBS type connection. They were one of the 1st to do that so there were a lot of people on it at any time. I was on my DX2 50MHz with my USR 14.4k modem. It was great, playing guys from Japan and Europe (well, trying but they usually lagged the game out). Usually the smallest level and everyone died quickly and repeatedly. Definitely felt the potential for great things.

DOOM!haha now your speaking my language! Same here with the BBS and 4 player Doom2. Such a monumental game and time for online multiplayer first person shooter! The start of LAN parties! I made 5 different maps for that game with imported pictures of models and midi rock-n-roll!

 

[IcePickFreak]

Falcon 3.0 was awesome. I enjoyed getting court martialed for ejecting while still on the runway. :biggrin:

That game also taught a LOT of folks how to organize their low memory. Programs like 386Max (OK), QEMM (Excellent) and MS' Memmaker (ok in a pinch) would try thousands of combinations of getting TSRs loaded into UMB so as much of <640KB was available. It became a contest on its own to see how much free memory was available after booting into MS DOS 6.22. I think my best was 633K. That was with a Sound Blaster Pro and Turtle Beach Maui (MIDI card).

haha yeah I remember that whole juggling act. Your Sound Blaster Pro comment also reminded me of the pain in the ass it was to manually have to set IRQ via jumpers for everything.

 

[Rubycon]

haha yeah I remember that whole juggling act. Your Sound Blaster Pro comment also reminded me of the pain in the ass it was to manually have to set IRQ via jumpers for everything.

Later I got the SB16 Pro SCSI that had a 50 pin SCSI interface and the DSP add on chip for speech synthesis. $250 for that card, $600 for the Plextor Four Plex Caddy SCSI 4X CD Rom w/1MB buffer. Quite the performer in 1994.

That's when Plextor actually made their own stuff.

 

[alaricljs]

I went with the Pro Audio Spectrum 16. I managed to get Linux working on a SCSI drive off that card.

Looking back I'm trying to figure out WTF SCSI was doing on a sound card.

 

[Gryz]

That was in the days when all of the Netherlands was connected to the Internet via a single 128Kbps leased line to Virginia.

LOL are you serious? That's crazy.

Nope, I'm serious.
In the eighties, it was forbidden to use the Internet for commercial use. That changed in 1989. The old Arpanet backbone was replaced with a new NSFNet backbone. The first commercial ISPs were founded (like UUnet). And the Netherlands (and other european countries) finally connected to the Internet. (Before that, people only used UUCP for mail and news).

I started my 2nd job in April 1990 at a University (cs.vu.nl, home of Andy Tanenbaum). We were connected via 2Mbps to cwi.nl. And cwi.nl had a 128 Kbps leased line to UUnet in the USA. All of the Netherlands were connected via that link. But you must realize, in those days there were only 15-20 sites in the whole country connected to the Internet. Half of them were universities. A few companies (like Philips and OCE copiers). And some weird site, like a random hospital. I remember, because you could do "host -l nl." and you would see the whole list of toplevel .nl domains. The Internet backbone in the US itself consisted of T1 lines (1.5 Mbps only).

In 1991 or 1992 cwi.nl (and thus the whole of the Netherlands) connected to CERN in Switzerland, which was part of the NSFNet backbone, via a T3 link (45Mbps). But I think half of Europe was connected via that one single T3.

Bandwidth use to be expensive. Only when the Internet was booming, in the mid/late nineties, phone companies were encouraged to actually put more cables in the ground (and across the ocean). If it had been up to the phone companies, we'd all still have 64 Kbps X.25 links where we pay per call and per byte.

But yes, in 1990 all of the Netherlands were connected via 128 Kbps. I remember X11R4 was released (graphical unix software). The source-code was something like 60 MB. That was considered so much, that people set up european mirrors before the software was officially released. Because 60 MB was considered so large, it was unheard of to ftp that across the ocean. It was a big event, and the largest case of online software distribution ever. 60MB.

 

[mutz]

I remember firing up the original leisure suit larry on my dad's shiny new 386 IBM on a 5 & 1/4 floppy. Fun stuff.

police quest, space quest, king quest, conquest of camelot and so on,
there was the XT then the AT running 20Mhz with the 40Mhz turbo button, 256KB memory running on the screen at the beginning and the 1.2 drive loading DOS making all these effort noises , and 40MB HDD, they used to cost about the same as I7 or SB would cost today,
pretty amazing,
first it came with the CGA then went on to the EGA then the VGA which used to be fantastic,
though these are new computers vs the ones others are talking about through this thread lol.

 

[evolucion8]

Computer speed doesn't really amaze me. I know that no matter what I buy now, 5 years from now it'll be a dinosaur.

What does amaze me is the aesthetic and ergonomic progress made in the computer world. In the mid 90's, who would have dreamed of a back-lit keyboard, display so slim that you could mount it on a wall like a picture, or computer case with beautiful brushed aluminum and fans that move a great deal of air while being nearly inaudible? Hell, I remember just back in 2004 when I was building a computer, it came with FIVE 80mm fans that sounded like a jet engine. D:

Don't even get me started on beige...

I love back-lit keyboards, my Gateway laptop has one with orange colored LED's and is soo eye candy. :awe:

DOOM!haha now your speaking my language! Same here with the BBS and 4 player Doom2. Such a monumental game and time for online multiplayer first person shooter! The start of LAN parties! I made 5 different maps for that game with imported pictures of models and midi rock-n-roll!

I couldn't run that game with my old Pentium MMX 166MHz, it would stutter so much with my powerful S3 Trio 64 card. My first multi player experience was that I saw one of my friends with a Pentium 3 PC playing Soldier of Fortune on a LAN Party back on 2000, good times, good times.

 

[coffeejunkee]

now we have 4gb sticks of ram for $35...

Do you remember the memory test procedure on startup those days? How long would it take to count up to 4GB, like half an hour? No, 4MB wasn't so bad back then.

 

[RavenSEAL]

I remember the days of 433MHz Celeron being the baddest thing in town, 64MB of RAM FTW!

 

[Rubycon]

I remember the days of 433MHz Celeron being the baddest thing in town, 64MB of RAM FTW!

Actually in 1998 the 300A was THE king. $190 for an OEM CPU - price usually included an OK heatsink/fan clipped on. The only time mine ran at 300 was to get to the BIOS to change the FSB to 100MHz. That was 450MHz with no change in voltage. I even had one that was stable at 504MHz. The fastest PII was 450MHz at the time and cost $700. Sure it had 512KB L2 but it was off die and much slower than the 128KB on die the 300A had.

Later as speeds got higher so did the overclocks. The next step for me was 366->550MHz. I had 256MB RAM back then with my 300A. Very good box for the time indeed.

 

[alaricljs]

I had that dual celeron board with a pair of 300A, think that was the abit BP6 if I could remember anything.

 

[GundamF91]

...That game also taught a LOT of folks how to organize their low memory. Programs like 386Max (OK), QEMM (Excellent) and MS' Memmaker (ok in a pinch) would try thousands of combinations of getting TSRs loaded into UMB so as much of <640KB was available. It became a contest on its own to see how much free memory was available after booting into MS DOS 6.22. I think my best was 633K. That was with a Sound Blaster Pro and Turtle Beach Maui (MIDI card).

OMG! How I hated the QEMM and trying to get the TSRs loaded!! But those were the days I guess. Now a days people have it so easy!!!

 

[Rubycon]

I had that dual celeron board with a pair of 300A, think that was the abit BP6 if I could remember anything.

Water cooling was so easy back then too!

:biggrin:

OMG! How I hated the QEMM and trying to get the TSRs loaded!! But those were the days I guess. Now a days people have it so easy!!!

Two words: Quarterdeck Quickboot!

LOVED how fast it warm booted (skipping the system and SCSI BIOS!). It was worth using it just for that!

 

[yottabit]

I was only a little kid (and a rather poor one) in the 486 days but thinking back on it the most notable moments for me were:

When I first saw broadband after using 28.8 and 56k dial up for many many years. I was over a friends house and he had AOL DSL, and I think I watched him play some 3rd person games multiplayer online.

While I was still using a 500 Mhz Celeron with a 32 MB Diamond Stealth graphics card and my best friend was using a 400 Mhz K6-II, we watched his brother play Black & White on his brand new 1.4 Ghz Pentium 4. It wasn't long after that we built our first Gigahertz systems

I think the most shocking one for me hardware wise was when I first saw power mac's demoing real time video editing and previewing effects and filters in real time. That totally blew my mind, because up until then video editing had always been such a turn-based process for me. Cut it up how you want it, apply some effects, and then wait around to render a preview.

 

[cyberjedi]

buying 128MB ram for $150 so that i can play Rainbow Six (would crash with 32 megs)...
playing with pixely Dark Forces - and being amazed at a 3D Star Wars game FPS...
programming my ZX Spectrum, which had 40k memory (my phone can emulate it now ....
jumping to 480kb cable from 56kb modem during holidays and sitting there for 24 hours breathless how fast pages load (Anandtech was one of the firsts i tried i think).....
and at last the first multiplayer experience: playing Rogue Spear mods with my bro who was on another continent, and laughing our heads off - priceless!
etc. ))

 

[cyberjedi]

buying my first DVD-ROM player, i knew it had to be RPC1-able, it was a Pioneer.
i went home and i realized i need a software player too! i didnt know that before hand.
so i downloaded windvd over 56k modem, and DVDGenie to trick windows to play an R1 disc... was my first DVD, The Matrix! Hot off the press.
I had a cheapo 10$ 2-speaker setup --- the film started, and the phone of Neo rings at the beginning. It was the first time i heard 48KHz... it was soo real that I PICKED UP MY PHONE ON MY DESK before i realized the ringing came from the DVD!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Davidh373]

I had a cheapo 10$ 2-speaker setup --- the film started, and the phone of Neo rings at the beginning. It was the first time i heard 48KHz... it was soo real that I PICKED UP MY PHONE ON MY DESK before i realized the ringing came from the DVD!!!!!!!!!!!!!

lol, never been to a theater man?

 

[scrubman]

Actually in 1998 the 300A was THE king. $190 for an OEM CPU - price usually included an OK heatsink/fan clipped on. The only time mine ran at 300 was to get to the BIOS to change the FSB to 100MHz. That was 450MHz with no change in voltage. I even had one that was stable at 504MHz. The fastest PII was 450MHz at the time and cost $700. Sure it had 512KB L2 but it was off die and much slower than the 128KB on die the 300A had.

Later as speeds got higher so did the overclocks. The next step for me was 366->550MHz. I had 256MB RAM back then with my 300A. Very good box for the time indeed.

Oh yeah! 300A to 450 was the $hit! I loved being faster than those guys that paid for the 450!

After that it was maybe 700?? not sure but I know it OC'ed easy to 933 and ran solid and both still sit in my basement ready to go. Always thought I would use one of them to run a some kind of server but it seems like they are done now. I think my XP 2500 running at 3200 is about ready take over that role.

 

[mv2devnull]

haha yeah I remember that whole juggling act. Your Sound Blaster Pro comment also reminded me of the pain in the ass it was to manually have to set IRQ via jumpers for everything.

However, you had total control on how the IRQ were. PnP did not start out so smart. As late as last month a misbehaving card and integrated NIC were fighting over an IRQ.

 

[IcePickFreak]

While I was still using a 500 Mhz Celeron with a 32 MB Diamond Stealth graphics card and my best friend was using a 400 Mhz K6-II, we watched his brother play Black & White on his brand new 1.4 Ghz Pentium 4. It wasn't long after that we built our first Gigahertz systems

I remember my beloved 200mhz amd k6 that was OC'd to 400mhz for years lol. Was the longest running setup I used (5-6 years, in the 90s madness no less), and really what cemented my membership in geekdom. I ran 3dfx SLI in it as well, and actually was the only time I ever messed with SLI to date. I have at least one of those cards around here yet, somewhere.

However, you had total control on how the IRQ were. PnP did not start out so smart. As late as last month a misbehaving card and integrated NIC were fighting over an IRQ.

Lol really? I haven't had any IRQ issues in I don't remember how long, back in the 90s sometime. Then again, mobo's didn't have much, if anything, on-board so you ended up with a mish-mash of cards. The problem usually came from some stuff only offering a couple IRQ's, and it seemed like they always overlapped. I remember when I got my SoundBlaster I had to reconfigure everything down the chain to open one up for it, was maybe 14 at the time.

 

[cyberjedi]

i was busy with a new girl when i saw matrix, couldn't pay proper attention to the movie itself!

 

[cyberjedi]

lol, never been to a theater man?

i was busy with a new girl when i saw matrix, couldn't pay proper attention to the movie itself!

 

[Davidh373]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Davidh373
lol, never been to a theater man?
i was busy with a new girl when i saw matrix, couldn't pay proper attention to the movie itself!

lol, smooth. I know what that's like lol!

 

[sonoran]

Falcon 3.0 was awesome. I enjoyed getting court martialed for ejecting while still on the runway. :biggrin:

That game also taught a LOT of folks how to organize their low memory. Programs like 386Max (OK), QEMM (Excellent) and MS' Memmaker (ok in a pinch) would try thousands of combinations of getting TSRs loaded into UMB so as much of <640KB was available. It became a contest on its own to see how much free memory was available after booting into MS DOS 6.22. I think my best was 633K. That was with a Sound Blaster Pro and Turtle Beach Maui (MIDI card).

Been there, done that. I used to use DR-DOS instead of MS-DOS, because you could get more low memory . My first PC was a 386-25, that I used to use to play Falcon 3.0 on the Compuserve challenge ladder. I was around 15th or 20th place. Then I got a 486, and blasted up to 2nd place, because the jet turned slightly faster on a faster machine.

 

[Rubycon]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huyzCJvS6UQ&

:biggrin: