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DOM + retro "build", win9x. Thoughts on reliability, anyone?

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-=Mr_B=-

Member
Joined
Aug 18, 2002
Location
Sweden
DOM, or, Disk On Module, as it's a short for, is as far as i know a SSD, if even just a crude, and quite simplistic one.
I'm looking to turn my old HP T5530 Thin Client in to a 9x retro gaming build, and since i cant actually fit a HD in the darn thing, i think i've decided to replace the DOM with a larger one.
Now, since this is a MLC based SSD... Well, lets just say the OS isn't very SSD aware. Perhaps it's a good thing that the device claims "Dynamic and static wear-leveling", which should help keeping it alive, yes?

In reality this build might end up being a XP one, since there are drivers for the hardware on that OS, where as i might be worse of on 9x, but i'm going to act hopeful, and ignorant. Either way, the limitations remains the same. The OS isn't very SSD aware, and i'm pretty much just hoping for peoples opinions on DOM usage, reliability in general, and if there are helpful hints and ideas i should be aware of before buying one of these.

Thank you for your time and effort.
B!
 
what are you trying to do with it? play older games?
The T5530 has been my dedicated emulator platform for ages, running of xp, and grabbing stuff over my LAN. I thought it would be fun to make it do "more" and i needed a retro gaming platform for nostalgia anyway. Yes, older games. Stuff that simply wont work reliably in other environments mostly, but anything i can get it to run, and can fit on the DOM, pretty much.
B!
 
Are 9x drivers available?

I've recently built two 9x systems, one based on a P2 466 /w a VooDoo 2, and one with a PIII 1000 & VooDoo 5 5500. Also got it on a Compaq Evo with a P4 1.8 with all drivers.

Those all run great. KernelEX is excellent for running a more modern browser, VLC, and other things that normally require 2000 / XP.

As for the SSD thing, I tried using a 32 GB CF card /w an IDE adapter. The good: around 32+ MB/sec, the bad would be random hangs (which I'm not positive is the fault of using the CF card).
 
As for the SSD thing, I tried using a 32 GB CF card /w an IDE adapter. The good: around 32+ MB/sec, the bad would be random hangs (which I'm not positive is the fault of using the CF card).
It's the adapter. ;)
They're hit or miss at best.
 
Are 9x drivers available?
Some, most, the important stuff... Uh, well, to be honest. The stuff i've checked out seams to pan out. In reality i need to actually install the system and see what i lack. Driver support for 9x was, at best, spotty, back when, so i suspect this may well turn out the same way.

KernelEX is excellent for running a more modern browser, VLC, and other things that normally require 2000 / XP.
Thats something entierly new for me. I'm going to have to look in to "KernelEX" and see what that is. from a first glance, it looks like it may very well be added, to stick a few things in the system that might otherways lack support. Thanks.

As for the SSD thing, I tried using a 32 GB CF card /w an IDE adapter.
I got something similar in the Amiga. (a1200) Just an 8GB card, but along the same lines. But CF cards never were intended for environments that did the maintenance and always relied on it's own internal chip to shift stuff around, if it needed to be shifted around. So it doesn't compare great to the DOM scenario. The DOM "should" be able to retain data longer, be more resilient (takes more write cycles to kill it) and faster. Not sure the last bit is going to come in to play at all...

The good: around 32+ MB/sec, the bad would be random hangs (which I'm not positive is the fault of using the CF card).
It's the adapter. ;)
They're hit or miss at best.
I think i have to agree with Scott. I have 3 adapters. One is rock solid in the Amiga, and stays there. One is spotty at best. It works for connecting the CF and setting it up in WinUAE so i can reconfigure for the Amiga, but it's not long term reliable, every couple of hours it just drops the CF, for what ever reason. So far i haven't ever had any corrupt data, which is a good thing, i guess. Third one is simply just dead. I think it's a short, i'm going to try and fix it, but i haven't got around to it.
B!
 
I guess I didn't click the link for that DOM before my 1st post. Looks impressive. The 32 MB/sec was with my CF + adapter on a USB to PATA cable. In my 9x box, a bx440 based celeron 466 /w 256 mb sdram. 66 MHz fsb (for some reason) I only got around 8.5+ MB/sec with either the HDD or the CF card. But the HDD is more stable. Adaptors are cheap enough, guess I oughta order another / better one.
 
i've been down the road with Win9x gaming. built a box for it too as well as a DOS pc. i used them strictly for gaming though and i think with the exception of one or two games. everything i played, will play nice with win 7 weather it be with vmware win 9x or dos box. i found a lot of the games i really used to like, like the wing commander series you can get cheap off of WWW.GOG.COM the beauty about that site is you buy the game download it, run a installer in win7 environment and it places a icon on your desktop for so and so game you double click and it pre configures dos box and runs the game with out a hitch. for me at least it has left my dos pc sitting on a shelf in the garage and my WIN9X pc is a foot rest now lol
 
Sadly, some games, like the Fallout series misbehaves quite badly with random encounters based on your framerate, meaning that on a modern system your getting quite a different experience. Of the top of my head this is true for all of Fallout 1-2 & Tactics. There is also a bunch of glitches in Dungeon Keeper 1-2 unless they fixed that since last time i tried. I'm quite sure there are more weird behavior from games. Also, while GoG is rather cheap for an old game, a lot of those games i want to play is games i used to play "back when" and i already own those. Not from GoG tho. And i just so happen to have an old HP T5530 laying around, making this, almost free. Yes, i know i'm splitting hairs, 100 bucks for a DOM, even with the rest of the hardware free, still means i could have bought quite a few games from GoG. But as i said, this, at least to me, is a more satisfying way to solve it.

B!
 
I know what you mean. I have not played the original fall out games but do have them. Lol on my gog account. I don't blame you for getting a dedicated old pc to run it. I still keep mine because it gave me a sense of hey I did that no one taught me how to use dos I learned yadda yadda etc. I have found that win me as bad as everyone said it was plays well with newer hardware and still ran all my win9x games. Privateer 2, & 1, redneck rampage, and a bunch of others. So if your deciding to do it, go for it dude it's a hell of a lot of fun
 
About Windows ME... No idea why, but i never had any troubles with it. I do remember a AMD K6-2/3 i sold to a friend when i upgraded away from it. I had run a English Windows 98se on it early on, and in the end i ran ME on it. He apparently was told buy someone "at work" that ME sucked, so he reinstalled it with a Swedish Windows 98 (not Second Edition) and everything went mad. I got the call, swung buy and reinstalled ME after which he yet again was convinced to install Windows 98 on it. It went back and fourth a couple of times until asked why they were so persistent he reinstalled it with Windows 98. Turns out the mates at work "knew" ME to be buggy crap that crashed all along. I simply told him to let me know if it started crashing all the time, and if not, leave the OS alone. "I wont fix it again if you screw it up."

I'll be running Windows 98 and any updates i can find. Mainly since i don't have any install media or keys for Windows ME anymore.
B!
 
I have run ME and 98 in dual boot with a free boot loader I found on the net and had more issues with getting hardware drivers working on 98 than ME not only that but things as simple as thumb drives every time with 98 it needed the Windows disc fur drivers then would bsod half way through installing the wrong driver. ME just had them. Being they are both dead OSes you might be able to find keys on the net for ME on abandonware websites. Or maybe even on Ebay for little to nothing. It's worth a browse
 
I still fail to see ME as being buggy like everyone has said it to be. Like the guys telling your buddy to keep going back to 98
 
I wouldn't know where to start looking, where as i got 3 or more keys for Windows 98, both Swedish and English versions. Unless i find my self head first in to trouble, i'll go that route. Still waiting for the DOM to arrive.
B!
 
ME is great after the fresh install.
It's later on in use does it start to suck.

I still want to know how Windows Media player 9 breaks System Restore in Windows ME. :sly:
That said, I grew up on Win ME thus it and the 9x line up are my favorites.

Windows NepTune is a close 2nd :p


Wonder how that DOM will preform under 98..
I kinda want one :D
 
ME is great after the fresh install.
It's later on in use does it start to suck.
I actually didn't have any issues with it long, or short term.

I still want to know how Windows Media player 9 breaks System Restore in Windows ME.
This might be why i never had any problems with ME. I disabled the system restore the first thing i did, hard pressed for space as i were.

Wonder how that DOM will preform under 98..
Thats what i was wondering as well. Even worse, the system it will be in isn't going to see daily use. It might be turned of for "quite some time" now and then. Time will tell how it works out.
B!
 
Any updates, B?

I was curious to see if you were able to find video & chip set drivers. I have a 500 MHz VIA based thin client, XP has the drivers, but 98SE does not. I couldn't find them online.

EDIT: Just looked it up & saw it uses the Via S3 graphics, that should be fairly easy to find drivers I think.
 
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Any updates, B?

I was curious to see if you were able to find video & chip set drivers. I have a 500 MHz VIA based thin client, XP has the drivers, but 98SE does not. I couldn't find them online.

EDIT: Just looked it up & saw it uses the Via S3 graphics, that should be fairly easy to find drivers I think.
I actually got of fairly easy on drivers. Everything either worked out of the box, or needed a driver that was easy to find of the net. Actually, i'm not sure about the LAN, since i'm using a tiny old WiFi stick i had, it fits in the internal slots, and let me get away with a cable less when i'm bringing it somewhere.

One major drawback with this build.
I haven't been able to get the soundcard working with "true" DOS games. If i can launch from inside Windows 98, then i'm golden, i got drivers for that. But boot to a DOS prompt, and hit the games from there, is a bust.
Also, while the unit has no trouble booting of the USB-CDROM, well, BD-RW, but some games copy protection doesn't like it. Truth be told, it doesn't bother me, i never intended to let the copy-protection force me to bring the optical unit with me anyway. I bought the games, i got the CD's, but i'll be damned if i'm going to drag all of it around, all the time. Heck, Activision even recommended a crack of Megagames back when i had just bought Heavy Gear, and my slimline CD-ROM was having a fit over the copy protection, and hung the game during mission loading, until you ejected, and pushed the sled back in. I'm not going to start feeling bad about it now, almost 20 years later.
B!
 
How's that DOM doing?

I would totally rock a DOM for an retro rig. Either that or a cheap SSD. :D
 
How's that DOM doing?
No way to tell for another year or so i would suspect.
What i mean is, if there is an issue, it's not going to show up for quite some time. I probably should fire the system up every now and then just so the DOM's internal logic gets to do some maintenance, but currently it's seeing use fairly regularly, so long downtime shouldn't be an issue.
(I'm thinking sustained periods of "off" like 6 months plus, might be a reason to start powering it on every now and then, just so it gets to do it's thing.)
B!
 
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