Just curious, if you boot into Windows 98, then shutdown and select restart into MS-DOS mode does the sound work in those picky games?
It doesn't. The AC97 needs to be picked up as a Soundblaster, or better yet Soundblaster 16, for "all" DOS games to deal with it properly. I haven't been able to make it work. And if one finds a way to make that work, you going to run head on in to games that wants a lot of the 640k base memory accessible. After Windows 98 has been loaded, it might be an issue... I'll just deal with those games through DOSbox, and act like i'm satisfied with being able to play the games that will run through Windows. That was the purpose of the build anyway. I've spent hours piloting my favorite Mechs in Merchwarrios2:Mercenaries since the build was completed. It's still not quite what it "should" be, i had a bit of user created content back in the day, but it's close enough, as i cant find that stuff anymore...
How fast is that DOM? Ever run a benchmark on it? I've confirmed either my CF card, or adapter is rubbish.
I'm not getting quite the announced specs:
Sustained Read 112MB/S
Sustained Write 60MB/S
but with XP i got just shy of 100/60 MB/s I'm not sure if it's system, or the DOM that sets the limit. Either way, that works a lot better then my CF adapter with an 133x speed Trancend. (which gives me just shy of 20MB/s reads, so it to performs as expected.) The CF lives in my Amiga, but i sort of had to test it, since i had the parts laying around...
I've tried several 98SE and XP installs and at the end of the day a clunky loud 10 - 20 GB HDD leaves it in the dust, consistency wise anyway lol.
For a PC speeds probably should be faster from a old slow rotary drive then a CF. Just as long as one avoids the really old stuff. Pretty much any u-DMA drive should be faster.
But IMO, at this point... I'm kinda thinking that for most vintage applications that a good new old stock IDE HDD may be the solution. Obviously the speed, compatibility and reliability are just what you'd expect or better... and no surprises.
Honestly, the system i built doesn't leave any options. It's a DOM, or nothing. Well, i guess a CF could have been installed using tape or glue, but a mechanical drive simply isn't possible to mount anywhere. I have a 2.5" IBM 100GB drive, that i used for testing and playing around with while i was waiting for the DOM, but i just couldn't fit it in. Remember, this isn't as much a "PC" as it's a tiny portable brick. It's about 7x7x2 inches, or 18.5x18.7x5.3 cm, and while that sounds like "enough" there is heat-sinks, latches, coils and capacitors everywhere where you'd like to put a drive. I didn't want to go in to cutting and shaping metal to fit the drive, If one was willing to do that, then it might have been possible. But at that point the fast drive might become a heat issue instead. So i just surrendered, and bought the DOM.
B!
