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  • Showing only topics with the tag "retro". Back to normal view
    1. Word processing like it's 1993

      I thought younger people may find it interesting to experience what older, very popular, word processors were like. Here's WordPerfect 6.0, emulated in the browser:...

      I thought younger people may find it interesting to experience what older, very popular, word processors were like.

      Here's WordPerfect 6.0, emulated in the browser: https://archive.org/details/msdos_wordperfect6

      Here's a link to the instruction manual: https://archive.org/details/wordperfectversi00word/mode/2up

      Here's a bit of history: DOSDays - WordPerfect $495 in 1983 is roughly $1500 today.

      Here's the recommended specs (not the minimum specs)

      Personal computer using 386 processor
      520k free conventional memory
      DOS 6.0 or memory management software
      Hard disk with 16M disk space for complete installation
      VGA graphics adapter and monitor

      F1 is the default help key.

      Page 409 of the manual talks about menus. This is version 6 so they give you a drop down menu. To get an idea of how version 5 and earlier would appear by default (without the menubar, just the blue screen), hit alt v, then p. T (To get the menu back hit alt =, then V, then P) People might find it weird but those drop down menus first appeared in 5.1, and were a bit deal: "On 6th November 1989 WordPerfect released what would be their most successful version - WordPerfect 5.1 for DOS, selling for $495 in the U.S. This was the first version to support Macintosh-style text-based pull down menus to supplement the traditional function key shortcuts and mouse support."

      I'd be interested to know how easy people find it to use. At the time I had the keyboard overlay (example for WP5) and the muscle memory, but that's all gone now.

      53 votes
    2. The old games that still hold up incredibly well

      I'm just going to assume that many of us have backlogs of games, whether on Steam or some other console, that we keep putting off in favor of the latest Shiny New Toy (game). In addition, as time...

      I'm just going to assume that many of us have backlogs of games, whether on Steam or some other console, that we keep putting off in favor of the latest Shiny New Toy (game). In addition, as time goes on and we end up getting these newer games and consoles, you can definitely start telling the difference between old and new, whether it's in gameplay or graphics.

      And yet... I have made an interesting discover. I don't know what factor it is, but I've been playing a lot of the ORIGINAL Metroid prime. Yes, the one made for Gamecube, of which I also have an original. The funniest thing for me is that between it and BioShock (okay, and Dishonored- anyone remember THAT game?), they're the only FPS games I find myself enjoying. I have never been able to get into and CoD games, and I've also never been an Xbox user... which rules out Halo.

      But I digress. Considering how many generations back Gamcube is, the thing that has struck me the most is arguably where you'd normally see the biggest difference: the graphics. I'm well aware Metroid Prime was finally ported to the Switch... but even on Gamecube, I would swear I was playing a game with Switch-level graphics- which means that they are excellent despite the old system. Again, I don't know what factor it is- maybe GC was well-made, maybe Nintendo puts out good products, maybe it's because my TV is only about 19" (and I think LCD, but not actually sure)... but the fact that a game that is over 20 years old at this point can actually pass for a modern-day game fascinates me. I actually tried to compare with a few of my old PS2 games... and that graphics difference there was VERY noticeable (to be fair, I tried it with the PS2 original FFXII, and FF has always tried to be at the top-end of graphics... I should experiment with other games, but it may also be a Playstation thing).

      53 votes
    3. Modern controls are needlessly convoluted

      Now the topic may be inflammatory, so let me walk it back and say "in some cases" - let me explain; Just got me this gamepad and I absolutely adore it - for folks not wanting to click on a link,...

      Now the topic may be inflammatory, so let me walk it back and say "in some cases" - let me explain;

      Just got me this gamepad and I absolutely adore it - for folks not wanting to click on a link, think of it as a fancy SNES pad.

      I got it as a fightpad and for that it is marvelous - and while I have no intentions of playing a 3d action game with it, I booted up some 2d indies and platformers to take it for a spin ... and realized that apparently, 6 buttons + dpad just aren't enough anymore.

      Since when do you need to have a light and hard attack as separate buttons? And need an analogue stick on top of the dpad to navigate through inventory? The amount of "simple" games needing to use all the buttons on the modern controller - without a viable alternative - is ridiculous.

      Yes, there are some workarounds but just wanted to vent.

      I'm installing some random titles from my backlog (I have 800+ on my backlog through bundle deals, giveaways, etc.) and it's a crapshoot, not in my favor.

      Thanks for coming to my TedTalk.

      Edit: Yes I realize the modern controller is standardized to the "two sticks + pad + 4 face buttons + 4 shoulder buttons" design; what I'm saying is that while for some game that design is essential, a lot of other games use up all the buttons without a baked-in viable alternative, or worse yet, use buttons for the sake of using buttons!

      25 votes
    4. What are some modern first person shooters with a classic, old-school feel?

      I'm looking for more recent games that are reminiscent of the original Doom, Quake, and shooters of that era. Preferably on PC, but also on the Xbox. I am, of course, aware of the most recent Doom...

      I'm looking for more recent games that are reminiscent of the original Doom, Quake, and shooters of that era. Preferably on PC, but also on the Xbox.

      I am, of course, aware of the most recent Doom games, but I gotta be honest, I'm not a big fan. They don't feel old-school to me.

      1990s shooters have a simplicity that I crave.

      I have no intention to play online, so a good campaign is a requirement.

      Thanks!

      23 votes
    5. What is the oldest TV show you actually enjoy?

      This question came up earlier today, and I am curious to see the variety of responses here on Tildes. What is the oldest TV show that you actually enjoy watching? Not just enjoy it "for its time",...

      This question came up earlier today, and I am curious to see the variety of responses here on Tildes. What is the oldest TV show that you actually enjoy watching? Not just enjoy it "for its time", or respect for its influence, etc, but really enjoy in the same way that you do modern content? I am curious where the cutoff is for most people.

      For me it is probably The Twilight Zone, which 1959 and which I just absolutely ate up. But after that there is probably a few decade gap to maybe the 1970s with Rockford Files or maybe 1980s with a couple of shows, including TNG.

      65 votes
    6. What are the best portable retro consoles under 120 US dollars?

      The idea is to get a console to play raging in complexity from the NES, SNES, up to Nintendo DS and PSP. Anything above that is not a priority or a necessity. But it would be nice to have a screen...

      The idea is to get a console to play raging in complexity from the NES, SNES, up to Nintendo DS and PSP. Anything above that is not a priority or a necessity. But it would be nice to have a screen large enough to handle DS games in some form. Can I find anything decent in that price range?

      Thanks :)

      24 votes
    7. Remember ffffound? Are there any sites like that still around?

      Back in the day https://ffffound.com/ was one of my biggest inspirations for imagery and creative ephemera. I miss it sometimes and have a vast archive of downloaded inspiration. I discovered a...

      Back in the day https://ffffound.com/ was one of my biggest inspirations for imagery and creative ephemera.

      I miss it sometimes and have a vast archive of downloaded inspiration. I discovered a lot of material under the radar of pop culture.

      Kind of like picking up a circa 2009 vice magazine from a shop. I was seeing and feeling things that felt textural and well curated.

      Is there something around that I haven’t seen?

      21 votes
    8. Let's talk retro tech

      Reject modernity, return to analog Let's talk retro tech, or anything of the sort! What projects or hobbies are you currently working on? Are you leaning towards a crisp hi-fi sound for your...

      Reject modernity, return to analog

      Let's talk retro tech, or anything of the sort! What projects or hobbies are you currently working on? Are you leaning towards a crisp hi-fi sound for your turn-table (yo), or just browsing eBay for old broken tech you know you don't need? Is this submission just a cry for help, because I've found myself browsing old Bose Wave systems from days gone by?

      I have a box full of old Gameboy motherboards I need to do something with (the current plan is to gift my close friends their own modded Gameboy, because seriously why can't I hold all these Gameboy motherboards). Then there's my AIWA Walkman that needs a new belt, but I've never cracked one of those open before, so we'll see. Then there's this Gameboy Camera mod that is keeping me up at night.

      What about you fine folks? I thought about posting this to ~tech, but I thought ~hobbies was just as relevant, since this isn't exactly leading edge stuff (though it may be in the retro tech space!)

      53 votes
    9. What are some of the best games for low-spec PC?

      My Lenovo laptop and Dell desktop have subpar specs on them, so playing a AAA game from the last decade is out of the question. They struggle to run Team Fortress 2, BioShock, and Minecraft at 30...

      My Lenovo laptop and Dell desktop have subpar specs on them, so playing a AAA game from the last decade is out of the question. They struggle to run Team Fortress 2, BioShock, and Minecraft at 30 FPS, but 1990's boomer shooters and some indie titles play fairly smoothly. Here are some of the games that they can run:

      • Doom (1993 to Final)
      • Quake (1-3)
      • Deus Ex (2000)
      • Max Payne 2
      • Half-Life 2 and its episodes
      • Portal series
      • Batman: Arkham City
      • Celeste
      • Hue
      • The Stanley Parable
      • Borderlands 2

      Any suggested games would be greatly appreciated.

      43 votes
    10. Reutilizing old computers for modern use

      I really like tinkering with older PC's, trying to make them work for modern usecases which is mostly using web browser. Anyone else do this here? Or interested in it? I have old 10" netbook from...

      I really like tinkering with older PC's, trying to make them work for modern usecases which is mostly using web browser.

      Anyone else do this here? Or interested in it?

      I have old 10" netbook from 2007 or so, it has 1gb RAM and Intel Atom 32bit that barely can handle things. However, I switched it's old SATA hard drive to an SSD, and it is a bit faster at booting now! I also ordered 2gb RAM stick, so maybe that will help it a bit too. It's also running OpenSUSE Tumbleweed 32 bit, but i dont recommend this for linux newcomers since it's a bit different distro.

      If you have an old laptop or PC lying around, try breathing life into it by installing a Linux distro like Debian 12. Change a spinning hard drive to an SSD. For even older retro hardware there are even SD card adapters and such, that can work in place of old hard drives.

      My goal is to make this tiny netbook good for light web browsing and maybe even scripting on things and having a Matrix chat window open. It's perfect tablet size, but very underpowered, even during it's release, so it's a challenge. But that's what makes this kinda fun! Also it helps tone down e-waste if one can use an old device for modern things.

      44 votes
    11. What are your favorite "hidden gem" RPGs?

      Was recently feeling nostalgic over some RPGs I used to play back in the PS1 era and was wondering if anyone had some "hidden gems" they've been wanting to get off their chest? A couple of mine...

      Was recently feeling nostalgic over some RPGs I used to play back in the PS1 era and was wondering if anyone had some "hidden gems" they've been wanting to get off their chest? A couple of mine are:

      Suikoden II

      ===========
      Game of Thrones meets JRPG. Super fun story with just the right amount of twists and turns. Lots of loveable characters, both standard turn-based and tactics style combat, and fun little mini-games throughout (feudal Iron Chef fans rejoice)! The only real downsides to this game are the now outrageous price for an original copy, and the "need" to have a completed save file from Suikoden 1 to get 100% completion (and a different ending). On the brightside that means you get to play Suikoden 1, which is an excellent game in it's own right!

      Azure Dreams

      ===========
      A fun little RPG that is equal parts rogue-lite, Pokemon, dating sim, and city builder. You traverse a large tower collecting monsters that assist you in battle. With the spoils of your expeditions you can grow out the town that sits at the base of the tower, and maybe woo some love interests along the way. Character progression resets each tower expedition, but your monsters retain their levels (and it's possible to retain some gear as well). Overall was a fun game that I sunk a bit too much time into back in the day.
      44 votes
    12. Any retrocomputing fans in the house?

      First and foremost: I'm not certain whether this belongs in ~hobbies or ~comp. As I consider this a hobby, this seemed like the more appropriate spot, but I'm more than happy to move/repost in...

      First and foremost: I'm not certain whether this belongs in ~hobbies or ~comp. As I consider this a hobby, this seemed like the more appropriate spot, but I'm more than happy to move/repost in ~comp.

      So for the past few years, I've really been hit by the computer nostalgia bug. It originally started as me just wanting to dive back into MUDs, and the whole retrocomputing fascination probably came from me wanting to recreate the "good ole' days" where I would pull up the Windows 98 terminal app and connect to my favorite MUD.

      Now I've got a room in my house dedicated to this old, esoteric hobby that happens to take up a lot of space. Admittedly, I don't know a TON about hardware but I've been having a blast tinkering around on old machines. It's even more fun to see how I can push the limits of the computers given a few modern tweaks here and there.

      Here's what I've currently got sitting up in the Upstairs Museum of Retrocomputing:

      • A Compaq Prolinea 5/75 Pentium - this was given to me by a friend who had it sitting in the basement. To my surprise, everything was still in working order and it fired right up (Windows NT 4.0!) on the first try. Of course, I ripped out the old barrel clock battery and put in something safer. I'd say I tinker with this one the most on the software side, while still trying to keep the hardware as close to original as possible.
      • A Compaq Prolinea 3/25s 386 - I just picked this bad boy up and am working on getting an OS installed. It had some damage from a leaky clock battery but I don't believe anything was irreversible. I'm not too confident in the whopping 4 MB of memory, but I'm planning on installing Windows 3.11 on this one.
      • A Tandy TRS-80 CoCo 2 - It works, but I haven't spent a ton of time with it because I don't have an old TV or monitor with a coax connection. I'd love to figure out how to create my own cartridge with a homebrew version of Zork or Adventure.
      • A Power Mac G5 - It's not ancient, but I think it's still worthy of being in the museum. I haven't had a chance to play around with it yet because I don't have the right video cable. I'll get around to it eventually.
      • A Generic Pentium 4 - I actually found this one at a Goodwill store. This one fired right up and had a copy of Windows 2000 installed, including all of the old work files that the person left intact. This one has been the easiest to mod because it's somewhat closer to modern and uses a common form factor. So I've plugged in a new OS, new ethernet, etc. At some point the technology starts to blur and you start questioning why you aren't just using a modern computer.

      What's next on my list? I'd like to start playing around with computers/OSes that I'm unfamiliar with. I grew up in a DOS/Mac OS 7-10/Windows world, so I'd love to get my hands on a NeXt, BeOS, etc. or even an Apple II.

      But first I need to get the damn 386 running again.

      14 votes
    13. Please share tools/tips/platforms for making a personal website

      I figured that more than complaining about the dearth of random and weird websites, I might ought to contribute something. I almost went to MassArt for new media installations. In those days I was...

      I figured that more than complaining about the dearth of random and weird websites, I might ought to contribute something. I almost went to MassArt for new media installations. In those days I was a web monkey with a solid design bent and very orthogonal thinking. I still have a smidgeon of the thinking, we'll see what I have left of my design skills, but my tech skills are hopeless. Back then my tools were freehand, dreamweaver, bbedit, photoshop, flash, Perl, Solaris, mySQL. My last website was done with rudimentary css.

      I would like to get right to the design and expression phase, I don't have an inclination to dive into coding. I also don't want to worry about security. I'll throw a few bucks down.

      I'm still comfortable in photoshop, but would like a more fun tool. I cannot stand illustrator, and would love to have a vigorous chat with the folks at Adobe who chose to promote it and shelve freehand. Better yet, an even more vigorous chat with the moron at the FTC who approved Adobe's buyout of macromedia. You can bet that will be on the website. Is there any equivalent to freehand? I saw the post about a free, online illustration tool that came through recently, that might be a smidge rudimentary. What about dreamweaver? And how to publish? I don't care to learn about content management, scripting, databases, etc. if I can avoid it.

      Bonus if there are AI tools to help.

      5 votes
    14. Did Real Time Strategy games die? Why?

      There were a few years when RTS was a popular genre with games like Total Annihilation, Age of Empires, Command and Conquer, and Starcraft being very popular examples. But these games have mostly...

      There were a few years when RTS was a popular genre with games like Total Annihilation, Age of Empires, Command and Conquer, and Starcraft being very popular examples.

      But these games have mostly died out, and I was wondering if maybe I'm just not aware of modern RTS variants, or if there are good reasons why these games died off.

      Like, are Tower Defence games a form of RTS?

      Are there any RTS games where teams play against each other, so 2v2 rather than 1v1?

      17 votes