Category Archives: IBM PC

IBM PC

Mason’s First Computer

Although I knew there would come a day when Mason would want his own computer, I didn’t realize was that he would be six-years-old when that day came. This has been in the works for a while, but things really kicked into gear Christmas Morning. One of Mason’s more expensive presents this year was a Leap Frog brand (I think) learning laptop that plays cartridge-based educational games. It’s not *really* a laptop — it just looks like one. The screen is black and white and only about three inches in size. Mason took one look at it and cast it aside. Later, after the Christmas buzz had died down, Mason came to Susan and said, “you know how you told me to still like the person, even if they get you a bad gift? Well, I still like you even though you got me that laptop.” The disappointment spawned from the fact that, for a moment, the kid actually thought we had given him a real laptop. Keep dreaming, bucko!

Backtracking a bit … sometime last year, dad bought a new computer and said we could have his old one for Mason. The machine’s not that old — in fact, It’s a pretty nice computer, with more horsepower under the hood than my server. I set the machine aside but never got around to the reloading project. After Mason’s disappointment Christmas morning, I decided this might be a good time to go ahead and get Dad’s old computer up and running. Reloading computers always seems like a bigger deal in your head than it usually turns out to be. With the web these days, tracking down drivers even for machines a few years old is typically a non-issue. In less than an hour I had XP loaded and configured.

On the way home from work yesterday, Mason and I stopped by Staples and picked up a couple of wireless NICs. Have I ever mentioned how much I hate Staples? Unfortunately in Yukon, only two chains carry computer parts — Staples, who rarely has what I’m looking for in stock, and Wal-Mart, where I somehow manage to set off the security alarm every time I exit the building. Deciding between these two stores really is “the lesser of two evils.” I am at the point where I will start driving to Oklahoma City just to avoid these two particular stores. I should have done that yesterday, but I didn’t. I went to Staples, where they had two registers open and both were stopped in their tracks because of merchandise that didn’t have price tags on them. The two network cards I bought were marked $39.99, but rang up as $59.99 — that was another ordeal. ARGH. That’s a good pledge to make for 2008 — stop shopping at Staples!

Installing the USB network cards took less effort than buying them. I haven’t used a USB NIC before — I was afraid that the small form factor would mean bad reception, but so far they seem to work pretty well. It’s amazing how worthless a computer seems these days without the Internet. I couldn’t update Windows, couldn’t find drivers, couldn’t do anything before I got the machine online. And really, that’s all Mason wants to do. Nickelodeon and Disney have a few websites set up with games and cartoons, and that’s all Mason wants to do on the computer so far.

So anyway, things are up and running. Mason spent some time last night on iCarly.com (gag) watching videos, until Morgan clocked him in the head, commandeered the chair and headed off to Sesame Street’s website. How early they learn.

IBM PC, Main

Response to Five PC Gaming Myths

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ExtremeTech.com ran an article today titled Five PC Gaming Myths. This article was so poorly thought out, I felt strongly compelled to write a response. With that, below are the five myths along with select quotes from the article, along with my own comments and responses.

Myth #1: PC gaming is way too expensive

In an attempt to debunk this first myth, the author points out that gaming machines can be bought for “under $1,500.” I don’t know about you, but right off the bat, $1,500 sounds pretty expensive to me. The author justifies the price by stating that “computers do more than just play games,” but he fails to mention that in this day and age, so do gaming consoles. The original Xbox, which can be bought for “under $100”, makes a pretty good media center and emulation box. My favorite quote from this section was, “Of course, $1,500 isn’t chump change. It’s far more expensive than a $300 console system,” which sounds to me like he’s supporting the myth he’s supposed to be debunking. The final section of his argument is that new PC games cost $50, while PS3 and Xbox 360 games cost $60. Of course the author ignores Wii games (which list for $50). To further make his point, the author points out that older PC games are “often available for $20 or $30.” That’s true. Then again, Wal-Mart has select PS2 games bundles with 3 games for $10.

Another fact the author neglected to mention was that his $1,500 machine will no doubt need to be upgraded. My PS2, Xbox and Gamecube (and Atari 2600, NES and Super Nintendo, if you want to go old school) have never needed upgrading. They’re still running on the game processors, video cards, and RAM they shipped with. I doubt a $1,500 gaming PC purchased the same day the PS2 launched (in 2001) will run new games without needing upgrades.

Rob’s Summary: PC gaming is more expensive than console gaming.

Myth #2: PC gaming means nothing but broken releases, updates, and patches

Once again, the author makes several statements which seem not to dispell but rather support the myth. The author states that because PC game makers must test their games against loads of configurations, “some PC games release with bugs and need to be patched. Okay, virtually every game gets a patch.” Maybe it’s just me, but if “virtually every game gets a patch,” doesn’t that sound like broken releases? The author’s major point here is that console games are now requiring patches as well.

The second half of the author’s argument is that “Windows does a good job of auto-patching itself,” a comment that just sent IT employees across the globe chuckling. And again, the author points out that all three modern consoles require system firmware upgrades.

What the author does not mention is how many times I have purchased PC games only to get them home and discover that they would not work with my computer. Sometimes it’s the video card, sometimes it’s the processor, sometimes it’s a driver, sometimes nobody knows why and I’m just out of luck. I’ve never purchased a PS3 game that didn’t work on my PS3 when I got it home.

Rob’s Summary: I think even my hardcore PC-gaming friends would agree that PC games receive more patches than console games. While I agree that it’s probably not as bad as some people envision, it’s certainly more prevelant on PCs than it is on consoles.

Myth #3: PC games don’t sell, and are falling far behind console game sales

The author’s argument here is that people wrongfully compare the total number of PC games sold to the total number of console games sold, where instead we should divide the total number of console games sold by the total number of consoles to get more accurate comparisons. I’ll buy that. His other points are that the online sales of PC games aren’t included in those numbers. My problem with this whole myth was, who cares? I don’t care if Halo 3 only sells twelve copies this year as long as I get one, copies, and I couldn’t care less if PC games outsell console games 100 to 1. Sales numbers don’t affect my personal gaming experience one bit.

Rob’s Summary: Somebody, somewhere is still losing sleep over which platform sells the most games.

Myth #4: Online gaming on the PC is a mess, and no match for the likes of Xbox Live

The author’s argument here has three major points. First, he states that PC-based online gaming programs Steam and Xfire do more than Xbox Live. As a caveat I have not used these services, but based on their websites, I can do some simple comparisons.

The author complains that for online gaming to work, the 360 and PS3 need to download upgrades. He conveniently forgets to mention that Steam performs mandatory auto-updating every time you run it, one of the biggest complains about the product. The author complains that Steam is free, while Xbox Live is not. Again, he avoids the fact that online gaming on the PS3 is free.

His final argument is that Xbox Live costs $50/year, while “on the PC, with the obvious exception of MMOs like World of Warcraft or Lord of the Rings Online, is almost always free.” The obvious avoided logic here is that if you play *2* PC games online, then PC gaming is more expensive.

Once again in a poor attempt to persuade readers, the author has left out some obvious facts. The fact is, online console gaming is four hundred and ninty-two billion times easier to set up than most online PC games. Boot up your console, it’s online. Load up your game, and you’re ready for online play. Anyone who’s ever tried installing an online game on their PC, configure Vista, open ports on a wireless router, only to hit a blue screen or simply give up after hours of effort knows what a pain in the ass it can sometimes be to get these things to work.

Rob’s Summary: Online gaming on a PC is more complicated than online gaming on a console, and is no match for Xbox Live.

Myth #5: Copy protection on PC games is a major headache

The author begins this one with, “Okay, I’ll kind of give you this one.” He later states that some annoying PC copy protection schemes can be circumvented with “no CD cracks.” He ends his argument with, “So yeah, PC copy protections can be a bigger annoyance than the console ‘just pop in the disc and don’t worry about it’ model.” His only real complaint against console gaming is that things downloaded to your console cannot be easily moved to someone else’s console. My response to that would be, well, duh.

Rob’s Summary: Copy protection on PC games can be a major headache.

Hidden in the middle of the author’s conclusion is the hidden gem, “great games are where you find them.” That may be the one part of his article that I completely agree with. Truly good games are platform independent. You can find good games everywhere. Too bad the same can’t be said for web journalism.

IBM PC, Main

Bloody Knuckles, Bruised Egos

I’m always looking for little projects to do on my days off. One of the things I’ve been meaning to do is get my old 486 computer back up and running once again.

The 486 processor was replaced by the Pentium in the mid 1990’s. When I started at Best Buy in the fall of 1994 all we sold were 486 computers, and when I left in the spring of 1995 all the computers we had were Pentium based. Of course those were first generation Pentiums — we’ve seen P2, P3 and P4 chips since then. The average person off the street probably couldn’t come up with a use for a 486 computer these days. I have a couple in mind.

The first thing I need this computer back alive for is so I can again use my X1541 cable. The X1541 is a cable that allows you to connect an old Commodore 1541 disk drive to a modern computer’s parallel port, thus allowing you to transfer programs between the two. A while back I started transferring all my old C64 disks to the PC for archival purposes, but when the 486 died so did the project. To avoid a bunch of technical crapola, the cable works best in DOS mode and only on certain machines. I’ve purchased a newer style of cable and still couldn’t get it to work on my laptop, and I’ve never got it to work right in XP, DOS mode or otherwise.

The other thing I want to do with computer is play older DOS games on it that won’t work on newer computers. Most games work, and many more can be made to work through DOSBox and other programs, but some things just don’t look, sound, or work right. I doubt I’d be using it daily to play games on, but the option would be nice.

And so this afternoon, operation 486 began. And boy was it a mess. Originally I had the machine set up to boot in either Windows 98 or DOS; that way I could use the X1541 cable in DOS mode, and still transfer the programs over to my other computer over the network in Windows 98. One day, Windows 98 just stopped working. So, that’s where I began.

I was able to boot the machine into safe-mode, but from there I was unable to see the CD-Rom drive or the network. Without the CD-Rom drive I couldn’t reload or repair Windows. Without the network, I couldn’t copy the install files over. The machine doesn’t have any USB ports, not that it would help me much in DOS. Without access to Windows I couldn’t make a boot disk, but with one I knew I could access the CD-Rom drive. From bootdisk.com, I downloaded a Windows 98 bootdisk from my server, and ran into another snag — neither of my working machines have floppy drives! I came downstairs to check my wife’s machine — another strikeout. Finally I remembered that my laptop had a floppy drive that I could attach to it, so I copied the file over to the laptop via the network, attached the floppy drive, tracked down a floppy disk from the garage, made the boot disk and went back upstairs.

Went I went to boot the machine from floppy, nothing happened. I checked the cable and made sure that it was plugged in the correct way — it was. I yanked a floppy drive out of another spare machine, swapped it, and tried it instead. Nothing. Then I tried another cable. Nothing. The only thing left was the controller, which is on the motherboard. It couldn’t be that, could it? Back to the garage. I dug around in a few plastic tubs before finding an old controller card. I slapped it in the machine and connected the cables. Success! The machine churned and whirred and after a few minutes, finally booted off the floppy. First hurdle crossed.

I stuck in some old Windows 98 CDR and changed to the CD Drive in DOS. Nothing. I waited. Nothing. I hit (R) for (R)etry a dozen times. Nothing. I pulled the CDR out and stuck some other CD in. Worked fine. I stuck the CDR back in. Nothing. Was the drive so old it didn’t read CDR’s? That would be bad, as my original Windows 98 CDs are god only knows where. I stick in another CDR. Nothing. Shoot.

Off goes the machine and out comes the CD-Rom drive, a 6x Plextor dating back almost as old as the machine. In the closet I have a stack of CD-Rom drives that have been removed from machines, having replaced them with DVD burners. The top one was a 52x drive, so I changed the jumpers and tossed it in. No sense it screwing anything together at this point — there’s no telling what I’ll be replacing next. After another floppy boot, I stuck in the CD and it recognized it. Woo hoo, two for two baby.

The rest was simple. I started the setup, saw the Microsoft message of “60 minutes remaining,” and took off. I came back once an hour or two later to reboot the box, and I went back agan later and it was done. The box is back up and functional, and all I ended up replacing was the floppy drive, controller card, cables, and CD-Rom drive. Sheesh.

By the time it was done I didn’t feel like messing with it any longer. Maybe tomorrow I’ll hook up the C64 cables and see if I can’t get that to work once again.