Personal computing discussed

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ozzuneoj
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A link that will send PC enthusiasts back to 1999...

Sat Mar 25, 2017 12:00 am

http://www.benchtest.com/rain.html

A "software based CPU cooler" jokingly came up in conversation earlier today and then I remembered that I actually used to use one back in the Pentium II days!

Its amazing to think that such a thing was possible or useful back then. Imagine if we actually had to use special programs to get our CPUs to not be overworking themselves at idle today. :lol:
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Bumper
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Re: A link that will send PC enthusiasts back to 1999...

Sat Mar 25, 2017 12:25 am

ozzuneoj wrote:
http://www.benchtest.com/rain.html

A "software based CPU cooler" jokingly came up in conversation earlier today and then I remembered that I actually used to use one back in the Pentium II days!

Its amazing to think that such a thing was possible or useful back then. Imagine if we actually had to use special programs to get our CPUs to not be overworking themselves at idle today. :lol:


rain. rivatuner. setfsb. all great apps back in those days. on a side note I miss winamp and sonique. both cool music players.
 
I.S.T.
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Re: A link that will send PC enthusiasts back to 1999...

Sat Mar 25, 2017 1:05 am

I still use Winamp. It does what I need it to, and that's it.

I miss rivatuner if only for the changelogs. A lot of info was in them. Now that info is not being gathered for easy to read public consumption for newer cards by the rivatuner creator. =\
 
just brew it!
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Re: A link that will send PC enthusiasts back to 1999...

Sat Mar 25, 2017 7:33 am

I.S.T. wrote:
I still use Winamp. It does what I need it to, and that's it.

Hey, I am currently using Audacious, which is a distant descendant of X11AMP (a long-abandoned Winamp clone for Linux). It even still has a Winamp skin, if you really want to get your retro UI fix.
Nostalgia isn't what it used to be.
 
Redocbew
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Re: A link that will send PC enthusiasts back to 1999...

Sat Mar 25, 2017 9:58 am

Does it still really whip the llama's ass?
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chuckula
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Re: A link that will send PC enthusiasts back to 1999...

Sat Mar 25, 2017 12:43 pm

Redocbew wrote:
Does it still really whip the llama's ass?


Unfortunately the EPA had a federal court issue an injunction against that behavior.
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jackbomb
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Re: A link that will send PC enthusiasts back to 1999...

Sat Mar 25, 2017 12:53 pm

This brings back memories. Back then I was dual booting 98 and 2000 on a passively cooled P3. I used to wonder why the big heatsink on the side of the processor cartridge got so much hotter when it was running Win98.
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ludi
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Re: A link that will send PC enthusiasts back to 1999...

Sat Mar 25, 2017 2:47 pm

I remember using Rain, along with PS/2 Rate Adjuster.

And yes, I still use WinAmp. There's an Android version of it, too.
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techguy
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Re: A link that will send PC enthusiasts back to 1999...

Sat Mar 25, 2017 3:01 pm

I remember running Riva tuner on an actual Riva card. 128 ZX 8MB AGP, to be precise. Overclocked it by 10MHz to run Quake II that much faster :D
 
just brew it!
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Re: A link that will send PC enthusiasts back to 1999...

Sat Mar 25, 2017 5:51 pm

chuckula wrote:
Redocbew wrote:
Does it still really whip the llama's ass?

Unfortunately the EPA had a federal court issue an injunction against that behavior.

Wouldn't that be the Fish and Wildlife Service instead of the EPA?
Nostalgia isn't what it used to be.
 
ozzuneoj
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Re: A link that will send PC enthusiasts back to 1999...

Sat Mar 25, 2017 6:06 pm

Here are a few more random things to invoke nostalgia... WickedGL and miniGL drivers, Nvidia "Detonator", 3DFiles.com, Cacheman, Getright, and anisotropic filtering optimization comparisons in video card reviews.
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just brew it!
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Re: A link that will send PC enthusiasts back to 1999...

Sat Mar 25, 2017 6:12 pm

Computer Shopper! Fleamarket-style computer parts sales events at the local community college gym!
Nostalgia isn't what it used to be.
 
fhohj
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Re: A link that will send PC enthusiasts back to 1999...

Sat Mar 25, 2017 6:14 pm

 
The Egg
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Re: A link that will send PC enthusiasts back to 1999...

Sat Mar 25, 2017 7:13 pm

just brew it! wrote:
Fleamarket-style computer parts sales events at the local community college gym!

That's where I cut my teeth in the mid-90's.
 
xgsound
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Re: A link that will send PC enthusiasts back to 1999...

Sat Mar 25, 2017 7:21 pm

The old program I enjoyed the most was Wingroov (a software midi synth) along with a player that showed colored lines for each simultaneous note. Great with guitar pieces and wavering notes.
This was from Win 3.1 to XP.

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Topinio
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Re: A link that will send PC enthusiasts back to 1999...

Sun Mar 26, 2017 4:42 am

The Egg wrote:
just brew it! wrote:
Fleamarket-style computer parts sales events at the local community college gym!

That's where I cut my teeth in the mid-90's.

Ditto, and how I used to love those weekend days in the late '90s myself, piles of S3 ViRGE DX and GX's, Matrox Millennium II's, AMD K6-2's and K6-III's, WinChip's, WinModem's and trying to find Linux-compatible V.90 full modem ISA boards...
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gerbilspy
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Re: A link that will send PC enthusiasts back to 1999...

Sun Mar 26, 2017 6:15 am

just brew it! wrote:
Computer Shopper! Fleamarket-style computer parts sales events at the local community college gym!


Wow, somehow I had forgotten all about the Computer Shopper. I spent an embarrassing number of hours digging through it, dreaming of the day when I might save up enough to actually buy something new! It was even more entertaining than the Sears catalog used to be.
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kvndoom
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Re: A link that will send PC enthusiasts back to 1999...

Sun Mar 26, 2017 12:45 pm

gerbilspy wrote:
just brew it! wrote:
Computer Shopper! Fleamarket-style computer parts sales events at the local community college gym!


Wow, somehow I had forgotten all about the Computer Shopper. I spent an embarrassing number of hours digging through it, dreaming of the day when I might save up enough to actually buy something new! It was even more entertaining than the Sears catalog used to be.

I used to buy CS nearly every month... spend hours finding the absolute lowest price on components before I ordered. I can relate to the Sears Wishbook comparison.
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The Swamp
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Re: A link that will send PC enthusiasts back to 1999...

Sun Mar 26, 2017 1:07 pm

Ah, Computer Shopper. I used to buy that thing back in 1994. It was 3 inches thick, on that thin onion paper. I remember all of the ads for computer companies that are no longer around. Anyone remember Zeos, Swan Technologies, Compuadd, Packard Bell, Leading Edge, Compaq, or AST? That was the golden age of PC clones. Seems there were a million of them and they were everywhere. And they all advertised in the Shopper. The Lab of Doom and Pepsi Cola and stories on dot matric printers. I think I have some issues stored somewhere in the attic. It would be a hoot to see what was considered a power system back in those days.
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just brew it!
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Re: A link that will send PC enthusiasts back to 1999...

Sun Mar 26, 2017 1:19 pm

Packard Bell is still around, selling laptops. No presence in the US though.

HP still had some Compaq-branded stuff for sale until pretty recently.
Nostalgia isn't what it used to be.
 
derFunkenstein
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Re: A link that will send PC enthusiasts back to 1999...

Sun Mar 26, 2017 2:56 pm

just brew it! wrote:
Fleamarket-style computer parts sales events at the local community college gym!

I bought some of my first PC components at one of those things. And more shareware CDs than I care to admit. That was all before I had internet access, though, so I've forgiven myself for not knowing better. :lol:

Two of my early purchases weren't great, either. A 2MB S3 ViRGE and a PS/2 keyboard with a Portugese layout (because I didn't notice the difference)
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The Swamp
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Re: A link that will send PC enthusiasts back to 1999...

Sun Mar 26, 2017 3:29 pm

I think the magazine was about 85% ads. I still remember some of them. Dirt Cheap Drives used to advertise a lot back in the day. Tiger Direct was a pretty big advertiser too. Although it was a monthly publication, it took almost a month to go through the whole thing.
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just brew it!
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Re: A link that will send PC enthusiasts back to 1999...

Sun Mar 26, 2017 4:44 pm

Some of my HDDs came from Dirt Cheap Drives back in the day. TC Computers was another big mail-order outfit back then that I used to buy from. There also used to be an outfit up in Elk Grove Village, IL called Mark One Computers, where I would occasionally order stuff and put it on will call for pickup; IIRC that was where I bought my first Slot A motherboard.
Nostalgia isn't what it used to be.
 
bhtooefr
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Re: A link that will send PC enthusiasts back to 1999...

Sun Mar 26, 2017 6:40 pm

Remember MagnaRAM?

It's funny how stuff like that makes a comeback - every major OS now has it integrated (Linux as of 3.11, OS X 10.9, and Windows NT 10.0.10586).
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