How to pick the best gaming laptop for MS-DOS games.

[@Aguyontheinternet]

I both laughed and cringed at the two player demonstration. You're awesome!

[@Bro3256Films]

same

[@Cigarsnjeeps]

Vicky Bueno 

[@Cigarsnjeeps]

Vicky Bueno hello

[@Cigarsnjeeps]

Qtsd

[@Ku5i]

A guy on the internet q

[@Podcastage]

This has to be one of the most interesting channels on youtube. Thanks for all the awesome videos!!!

[@miaouew]

Agree. Very relaxing.

[@Liam-McFaddem]

quien fue el saco wea que puso el titulo en castellano ?

[@TonyDeCoste]

Seeing the two player setup and you having fun with a friend genuinely made my day, thank you David

[@MarkMcDaniel]

Wow, I loved how those old laptops had removable modular drives and peripherals.

[@medexamtoolscom]

They weren't made to scam you like now, they were made to work for a long time and have the individual parts be replaceable when they went bad.

[@hornox4life]

Design decision driven by engineers instead of a marketing.

[@PreciousAlpschindler]

You gotta see how you opening up the IBM Thinkpad 755 series

[@xisumavoid]

5:03 Tyrian! Love that game :-)

[@natesmith9007]

Didn't expect to see u here

[@CASTCorp]

I know you!

[@Windwalker95]

I really did not expect to see you here as well!

[@gbarrancos1]

+xisumavoid Played it extensively. I do love Raptor - Call of the Shadows from Apogee which plays on the same league

[@The1Rausch]

+xisumavoid knew it. born between 79 and 83... love your streams , keep it up x.

[@TheTraumaFactor]

I always get excited when I see a new post from +The 8-Bit Guy. We love you 8-Bit Guy!

[@Plague470]

Even though i will probably never buy one of these, i had to stick around for the whole video, because it is so well made and interesting.

[@thegardenofeatin5965]

+Plague470 That's like me and parrot videos. KZbin lets me enjoy adorable birds with bright colors, neat tricks and cute antics without the huge amount of effort it takes to raise one.

[@kuroibuta]

+Plague470 Yeah me too. I just subbed recently. He is very good at making videos. I don't really care for the topic but I end up watching the whole thing.

[@kdekov]

12:44 that laugh cured my depression

[@FireguyNtx]

Loved Duke Nukem in serial mode with my buds brings back memories.

[@sicorange3]

@@FireguyNtx Man I always wanted to... that was my first pc game when in my introduction to a computer, and win95 lol

[@Wreckedftfoxy]

Lol

[@a2pabmb2]

That wasn't depression, comrade. It's called a bad day.

[@wutzerface77]

i'm not even really that interested in playing old DOS games, but this was actually just a really good video. keep em coming dammit!

[@aawwmm]

Same here, just interested in old tech but most old games are not for me

[@warrax111]

that era was special, no grandmother, and parents could play it, and it was basicaly first generation, that could have computer at home, and play at least something. It was cool to watch even pixelated games, it was like miracle, because you knew, that all people that lived 10 years ago, never in their lives could play any computer games. And also, only nerds did it, as it was superexpensive. It had special magic. So it's only interesting for people, that lived through 80's and early 90's, because they remember that atmosphere, that ms-dos games had. For all rest, dos box is enough.

[@apparentlyretrograde]

I distinctly remember running a DOS clock limiter that throttled the CPU cycles on old hardware. I had to make use of these to enjoy all the stuff I had on my 8086, once I upgraded to my 486DX40 (quite a leap at the time).

[@spanellaful]

Exaclty, I remember that too.... You needed a clock limiter to play old games!

[@phictograma]

12:23 That was awesome! I used to play DOOM a long time ago. Your channel is nostalgic! :)

[@Leinhauser01]

Me: *Learned computers in MS-DOS era* 8-Bit Guy: MS-DOS are the ancestors of modern computers... Me: Damn I feel old.... :(

[@NaturalSelection1452]

Kids now: What is computer, a very big smartphone?

[@kingdededelicious]

@@NaturalSelection1452 sadly, they're becoming that (on the low end at least)

[@astratheboop]

@@NaturalSelection1452 stfu, nobody acts like that

[@ElDipsy69]

Aunque hables inglés no te dejaré salir

[@Pdrum2]

I remember one of my first computers I had with DOS, you pop in the CD and type in the command to Install.

[@obsoletegeek]

Love love LOVE old portables! It's an addiction!

[@Austin_2600]

Exactly

[@armankordi]

+The Obsolete Geek got myself a PS/2 P70 with a gas plasma.

[@lemonslice2233]

My idea of an old gaming portable right now is the backlit Game Boy Advance. I spent too much time already gaming on old laptops (one 486 and one Pentium MMX)

[@Austin_2600]

+LemonSlice I like to play Game & Watch systems.

[@lemonslice2233]

Austin 2600 Nothing against those. :)

[@ndfan1993]

I would love to see an update on this - I feel prices on this vintage stuff have gone out of sight lately. That same Compaq he won for $25 is now $100+

[@JamesKnox]

judging by the comments the prices already went way up just as soon as he posted the video

[@Tranzisto]

That's just the thing with all this retro stuff - everybody looks up the same people on KZbin, and unless you're already "in the know" from reading forums or Reddit or something to get to the stuff early, as soon as a video like this is posted the prices go way up. Simillar thing happened to the gameboy collecting - you can see people from ~5 years ago uploading videos of restoring "$5 junk gameboy" with ebay screeshots and all that - well, good luck finding a broken rusty piece of crap of a gameboy for less than 40 bucks nowadays. I am not complaining, though, since restoring a couple of those brought me a lot of enjoyment, just that since I was late to the party as well (being oneof those who learned about gameboy repairs on the KZbin) I noticed the same thing that these vintage electronics are nowhere near as cheap as they were 5-10 years ago due to all the info available on them in a convenient form of a short and concise vdeo.

[@marccaselle8108]

In 2024 a lot of the old laptops he mentions are now at least 200 dollars for something that has all the hookups and a a working hard drive.

[@nafion112]

10:56 YES, very yes!!! I have like 12 oldschool systems, but by far my favorite for DOS retro gaming is my Toshiba 400cdt. If you're wanting to get into DOS retro but you don't yet have your first system, hold out for this one and pay the extra for it if needed, it's worth it.

[@marccaselle8108]

I would like a nice laptop for DOS gaming because I have loads of dos games. I like DOS because there is no windows in the way.

[@faisalal-ghamdi9868]

14:54 i remember this game ( the frog crossing the street ) when i was in first or second grade at my school in Saudi Arabia. It was very rear seeing a pc back days and crazy thing to use one

[@notnice-9623]

That'll be Frogger. Played it on the Xbox 360 Live Arcade.

[@wohao_gaster7434]

rare* also the game is called frogger

[@1un0_1n0]

AWWW MAN NOT THE VOLCANO

[@AshtonSmith0405]

haha

[@_zerofour]

*laughing histerically*

[@thearbinator2487]

OH I GOT THE ROCKET! YOU'RE GOING DOWN!

[@Bruh-rj5vw]

You have to add * A W M A N N O T T H E V O L C A N O * without spaces

[@synexiasaturnds727yearsago7]

*A W W W M A N N O T T H E V O L C A N O*

[@Fizzle738]

I use this video for fun and studying English. Thank you 8 bit guy!

[@smal7812]

That LAN party with a friend killed it :-D. Thanks so much for your great videos. Making quarantine easier...

[@Kiyoshi_9606]

You're the best - this is EXACTLY what I was looking for; moving from classic PowerBooks to PCs of this era

[@coolGreloaded]

I'm not gonna build a vintage gaming PC, and yet I watched the whole video with utmost attention :/

[@DanieleGiorgino]

3 minutes in and already this is so informative

[@dantist06]

These Laptops are really hard to find nowadays. It took my almost two years to get both the Compaq LTE 5000 and Toshiba Satellite Pro 400CDT in perfect condition. But it's so worth it for classic DOS adventures and other games!

[@CommanderMouse72]

I got lucky and got given 3 satellite pro 430cdts, and a couple of the external floppy drives, only 1 worked but it worked perfectly and I still have it , scrapped the others for spare parts , the battery even works still

[@KaedeAnimation]

I think I will have to loan money to get this laptop

[@pentiummmx2294]

i did grab a few Thinkpad 760s (760C, 760EL, 760XL) in varying conditions, i was hoping to make one working one with all 3

[@discovermajid]

theres something about these videos - I end up watching them full because I don't know the pacing is perfect or your voice is perfect for this subject. in any case, awesome job. keep em coming

[@boscoalbert8303]

Can someone tell me what is the name of game at 3:40 ?

[@The8BitGuy]

+Bosco Albert 3:40 falls right in between "Day of the Tentacle" and "Redneck Rampage."

[@CentralArkansasHomesteadandOff]

+Rik Dusk (Nocturnaldusk) I built a machine just for DOS. Specs: Pentium II @337mhz 64mb RAM 2gb hdd 8mb video card Creative au32 soundcard

[@CentralArkansasHomesteadandOff]

+Sebas Eu what version of DOS? I havent had any issues with 6.22

[@CentralArkansasHomesteadandOff]

+Sebas Eu underclock it

[@CentralArkansasHomesteadandOff]

+Sebas Eu I have never attempted it. I have only read about it. But it us possible, but i don't know how to.

[@bikkiikun]

FYI: DOSBox does have the capability to use Nullmodems and even IPX.

[@akgh2010]

I can't thank you enough for this wonderful video. You took me back literally 25 years or more and I thank you for that. I can only try to imagine the kind of efforts and preparation it took you to shoot a 16 minutes video. High respect.👍👌🏻👏🏻👏🏻

[@ABeardedDad]

This video is sensational. You are a master of your craft sir. some serious research and effort went into putting this together.

[@liamsamples2965]

"Aw man, not the volcano!" Lol

[@ivyflow3r]

**volcano starts shooting**

[@NotAaronJaime]

Aw man not the hsydgdudhdh i mean.. 8-Bit-Guy

[@raven4k998]

"Aw man, not the volcano!" Lol

[@santi100a]

12:58

[@poble]

@@NotAaronJaime ???

[@PihkalTheTihkal]

There's an easy fix for the games that run to fast. I've once written a payload back in the days, it was in pure assembly and basically hooked itself to timer interrupt 1Ch. Once it activated it introduced a loop in the timer interrupt causing the pc to slow down. The amount of slowdown could be controlled by the amount of looping in the ISR. It's pretty easy to write such a routine in assembly and if you also hook in to INT16h (keyboard) you could control the delay with the keyboard whilst being in the game. It wouldn't interfere with the game as it was a TSR program that ran in the background.

[@PihkalTheTihkal]

StrixNoctis Although you're right I've never encountered such a game. It's also bad practice to not jump to the original ISR code and could cause all kinds of issues depending on the hooked interrupt. But you probably know that already. ☺️

[@goeuldi]

A program written to slow down the machine...impossible to understand this today xD

[@rmisionero]

you can easily edit the code by running the MS-DOS editor to loop the game.

[@stevebez2767]

Eventually a net of mandelbrots still biologically cant catch em but every o pixel is counted...used an c...!!

[@Pistacho123Lol]

Didn't laptops bring a TURBO button?

[@nitrax8629]

Pentium II and III laptops can actually be very good for later DOS gaming, just that not all work equally as well. A great machine I used to have was the Toshiba Satellite 4070CDT: it had a good ESS Maestro that was SB Pro compatible, and a 366MHz Celeron CPU. Sadly that died, and my M700 366MHz PII-PE had some weird DMA issues despite using the same sound chip! Upgraded it to a 650MHz PIII motherboard, and the sound worked again, and the GPU had a *much* better scaler (an ATi Rage Moblity)!

[@mohhingman]

Thanks for producing this video 8bitguy. I liked how you explained the principles of getting the right type of TFT screen with 640x480 resolution, and get a sound blaster card in the laptop. Applying your principles, I picked the Panasonic CF-41 Toughbook. Mine is a pentium 90 with a 640x480 TFT screen and ESS audiodrive soundblaster.

[@darryllawler2777]

Love your videos. Keep up this kind of content.

[@abloogywoogywoo]

Me: I love old retro games! :D 8-Bit Guy: You'll need this and this and this. This might not work and this might not work. This and this and this. Me: :c ...Maybe I'll just watch you play instead.

[@suprlite]

Or, as he said: you can just use your modern computer and a ms-dos emulator 😜

[@leap123_]

@@suprlite like dosbox

[@Raven10241]

@@leap123_ or better yet just install ms dos and your good to go

[@Razerin]

i watched this after the fact me: well sh*t

[@supakusuta]

@@Raven10241 MS-DOS won't work properly on modern hardware, that's why DOSBox exists, I heard there was a modern version of DOS tho.

[@pentiummmx2294]

Desktops Good: Easier to work on Bad: Too big and bulky and too heavy Laptops Good: Portable and small and easy to carry Bad: Harder to work on, find drivers for, or find parts for.

[@cesaru3619]

Solution: get a new house or a bigger room for desktop computers...

[@lalalala5089]

Or get a portable house to put your bulky desktop on

[@itepk0522]

This is why I hate and love both of them

[@Crixer234]

Laptops are good for overseas people with freight forwarders, shipping costs aren't way too high, 486/early Pentium desktop PCs are extremely expensive for shipping.

[@notthatntg]

Also, desktops were LOUD (especially the older models).

[@DhinCardoso]

What an outstanding piece of info we have here - surfed through a dozen of videos and no one even came close.

[@TechnologySpotlight]

You really deserve more subscribers.

[@HarmonicaMustang]

I use DOSBox for playing my old games. What I find interesting is that on some games, I still can't get past the same level I couldn't get past 15 years ago. I guess I'm a terrible gamer.

[@ToonEugen]

I also use DOSbox to play some weird MS-DOS games. xD

[@b747xx]

+DJ Shuffle Dosbox is the solution, as you can adjust the "CPU" speed

[@DxDeksor]

You can also do this with a real computer

[@AmigaMark]

The older dos games what run too quickly, you can use a tool such as SLOWDOS or MOSLO and they will steal CPU cycles, making the game play at a decent speed. - also SLOWDOS and MOSLO work both on proper hardware and DOSbox Emulation as well

[@wittgen80]

thx

[@DanTDMJace]

@@joebeefhash3455Well, they are hobbyists.

[@Kennephone]

@@joebeefhash3455 For some people the hardware is just as enjoyable as the games.

[@justinlloyd-jones1658]

Love these videos. Right from the opening music jingle. Like when your favourite tv show would start as a kid. Keep them coming :-)

[@Nordlys]

How do you keep your keyboards so clean of dust? I struggle in between the keys, even with canned air.

[@The8BitGuy]

+Nordlys I usually disassemble the old computers when I get them, remove all the keys and clean all 5 sides, then re-assemble.

[@AnTran147]

How difficult is it to disassemble these laptops? I have a Compaq LTE Elite 4/40CX (I think it's the same one you have in the video with the trackball) coming in and I want to clean it. It's also yellowed quite a bit so I was thinking of cleaning the casing and whitening it.

[@The8BitGuy]

I've never taken it apart. I did pop the keys off and retrobrite them because they were yellow. The rest of the case seemed fine so I left it alone, other than a good scrubbing with alcohol.

[@AnTran147]

The 8-Bit Guy Oh ok then. Guess I'll just try to figure it out myself.

[@themikeintosh]

Could you me give a more substantial list of laptops? I'm having trouble narrowing down my eBay search results.

[@vwestlife]

There were some PCMCIA sound cards with AdLib/Sound Blaster compatibility, but they were rare and expensive when new, and thus virtually impossible to find today, especially with the required audio cable dongle.

[@austinmueller6147]

+vwestlife Hey fancy seeing you here! Haha I love your channel! Been subscribed since about 6,000!

[@TheNoahGuy1]

I'm looking around on eBay and most DOS/Win9x laptops seem to be either above $100 or under $100 and broken in some way. Ehhhhhhhh.

[@windowsvista1559]

Craigslist might do the trick. Find a modern Windows XP or 2000 machine on eBay at a good deal and look up the model of that PC and see if it's MOS-DOS compatible or Windows 98 SE compatible There is a big difference between Windows 98 SE and Windows 98 when it comes to drivers. It also wouldn't hurt to look on Google to see if anyone has gotten said machine to work with MS-DOS or Windows 98 SE. (What I mean by machine I mean either laptop or desktops).

[@AshtonSmith0405]

haha

[@ALPHONSE2501]

@@windowsvista1559 Usually laptops with 2k and XP are start on Pentium III. P-III machine does have drivers for 98SE. The last CPU supports 98SE is Pentium M. P-III and P-M are fine for 98SE but too fast/modern for DOS.

[@nate0268]

One answer thrift store

[@kosmotheprotogen]

look for poland 20$ for Laptop With Windows 95

[@Rhamsody]

I truly admire your passion and knowledge. It's a joy to watch, and yes, this is giving me great nostalgia. Thanks for posting!

[@danielfouke1823]

I have to correct a few misconceptions that you have in this video. I am a semi expert on Commodore hardware. 1. NO WEB CONNECTION/WEB BROWSER: There is indeed Three ways to get the Commodore machine on the internet... most of these methods also work with other period hardware, including your old dos machine (just use your rs232 port connected to a rs232/tcip wrapper server, i use a rasberry pi b+ for this) The commodore can use a plug in cart that give the Commodore network connectivity, a plug in cart to add rs232 port to the computer and connect to the above mentioned, a diy user port expansion for rs232 for less that 4 dollars, and an actual wireless network device that plugs into the user port.. In fact, there is a version of Java that also runs on this hardware. Three web browsers exist, and also two web servers also. You can also connect to irc and tweet with no problems! 2. STORAGE SOLUTIONS: Sd card solutions exist as well as modern hard drive solutions *max atm 25 gig storage. The Commodore 1581 3.5" floppy predates others, released 1985. At 700k storage and using fast load routines it can load most games in under a minute. 3. OPERATING SYSTEMS: Cp/m opensource (before being ripped off by Micro$oft and patented (pre 1977) ,GEOS berkley softworks (once again micro$oft sued to keep it tied up in courts while the patent ran out and then filed for the patent themselves, putting the company out of business , wonder where micro$oft got there windows 1.0 framework from huh LOL ), Conqui (a modern graphical os that runs entirely in ram, with email web browser, word processor, database out of the box), CLunix (Commodore based lunux solution) 4. ADD ONS: FPGA plug in cart makes emulating any hardware a breeze such as memory expansion, z80 add on for cp/m, super cpu, even transforming the machine into entire other hardware, such as atari 800 or amiga 1000 using the commodore hardware as a frontend. Connecting to any modern tv via svideo is also supported right out of the box on original hardware, or using the fpga vga port. While were on the subject, if you knew anything about the atari 2600 hardware you held in your hand you would know that by simply opening the box and soldering 3 wires you can connect it up to a modern tv via s video, or if your tv doesn't support svideo, get a amazon/ebay converter for 10 bucks.. Some of your assumptions on storage methods are misguided, others are just outright incorrect. In this era, simply boosting the drive capacity was enough that old disks would not read/write in a new drive. Other manufactures, such as commodore, took to reading there disks then processing the data through a rom lookup decode table to expand drive space by dropping the last bit of the byte stored *and a reason commodore drives were slower than there simular counterparts. Others, like apple, in the same time period, had generally a lower storage space because they did not employ such methods until much later, and read there disks in reverse to commodore, thus they were generally faster. In this time frame it was very common to see a double sided disk with commodore on one side and apple/dos on the other. Same disk. On today's hardware, I can read and write commodore formatted disks in my windows 10 machine with a 5.25" floppy drive (and before you say it, yes i know this is suppose to be impossible also, LOL). I can even use the hard drive on my windows computer and load commodore games directly to the box and play them via network. To the commodore, it thinks it is just another cmd hard drive Also, you can simply connect the Commodore drive to a breakout board using the original i2c bus, using a level shifter with a ftdi chip, and connect via usb if you wanted to, or use the printer port and connect directly to the drive. You just have to know what you are doing. Use a backpack 3.5 " drive connected to your dos machine's printer port and those low capacity disks suddenly become read/writable once again. I do have a winbook (cant have any idea why you didnt suggest this one) for dos games when I feel the need to drag it out of its resting place in the closet. Some purest scene guys would argue that new hardware produced for vintage systems is not vintage hardware. I contend that if it runs on the vintage hardware, it is vintage hardware. The commodore scene has expanded at a very rapid pace over the last few years, and the hardware options have exploded. You just have to know where to look. Hopefully that cleared up a few things. Thanks

[@GaminGHD]

2:29 and 3:41 What is the name of the game? :D

[@oooBASTIooo]

3:31 is Day of the Tentacle. There is also a great remake out there. So no need to get a retro PC for that game particularly .

[@casperado666]

There's also Dos-Box. So there's really no need to buy any laptops

[@mitsostechtips9047]

i love duke nukem displays!!!

[@iamthelobo]

git off my land!

[@teresamartinson7427]

chicken shoother 3000

[@goncalodumas]

March 2016! This was the masterpiece that sent me through the retrocomputing rabbit hole. Eight eventful years! Thank you!

[@russellmoore8187]

Oh man, so many memories of Monuments of Mars. That took me back!

[@necrot777]

14:40 That's what I was thinking, I've learned a lot with your videos. Greetings

[@tiberiusmagnificuscaeser4929]

You can buy some modern Dell machines that ship with an installation disk for FreeDOS, and open source remake of MS-DOS

[@bertramusb8162]

You can also just download it!

[@Ofotherworlds]

Your commodore episodes predated me by just a little. This, now this is my era. This is pure nostalga for me.

[@CrossXseven]

This video litterally motivated me to search and restore some old laptops for my beloved Dos games an I have watched it just so many times! I'm currently building up some old pentium 1 and 2 laptops for dos/early windows gaming and aside from the Hardware point of view: Is it important which version of Dos is used? Are there some compatibility issues or one version overall more compatible than an other one?

[@penfold7800]

As far as I'm aware, DOS 6.2.2 is the most usable one. ...and it has the added bonus of Windows 95 running flawlessly with it.

[@totalnotarussianspy8845]

I actually recently found the Compaq 486 laptop and remembered this video.

[@GANCHO1997]

Instructions unclear, ended up installing DosBox.

[@Speedzeit]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

[@crispycuero]

Instructions unclear, ended up installing viruses.

[@thesaltwatershow]

Instructions unclear, ended up installing DosBox inside a dos computer.

[@Espadasilenciosa]

And I ended up installing freedos

[@ayanami_rei465]

Comment unclear, the author did not understand

[@TheVikingamerican]

I just happen to have a Pentium 75 Compaq Laptop w/ TFT......... with WIN98 also installed on it. It comes with a CD-Rom & Floppy... & it boots fine. I still have about 100 MS-DOS programs (many from Packard Smell & V-tech Laser as part of their bundling). You are inspiring me to start looking at my extensive old computer collection (Timex Sinclair 1000, Commodore Vic 20, 64, 128, Apple 2 GS, Apple Macintosh Color Classic w/ scsi CD-rom, Portable Macintosh (the 1st one), Commodore Amiga (used to be used at a Cable Company), Toshiba Infinia 75, and a whole slew of parts and other computers as well. Original MS-DOS software including databases, spreadsheets, and word processors. Man, you really have got an excellent channel to go over these gems.

[@justcuriousjumperbot_6724]

You know they're enjoying it when you can see it without even hearing them laugh at each other.

[@RogerRHF]

Nice informative video, thanks for uploading. :)

[@oliverhilton6086]

13:42 someone call druaga1....

[@singleflips]

he might try this, but only if you give him weed in return...

[@smpark12]

Oliver Hilton ikr

[@ScottBeebiWan]

Next week on Druaga1: SSD RAID in a 486

[@oliverhilton6086]

I would pay to see that

[@singleflips]

Oliver Hilton i would happily pay for a subscription to KZbin Red if Ian would start making content for that.

[@stevedevice]

I find your content uniquely calming. Looking forward to more.

[@BFKAnthony817]

Hey bud you are from Fort Worth too!? Awesome to see that! I had no idea you were a fellow Texan. I guess most of us lost our Texan Twang living in such a large city. XD

[@Techlin-xn7ji]

Yup

[@Kamwi_003]

Woo, Fort Worth, Represent.

[@itzspencerr1403]

I'm from Fort Worth aswell! ;3

[@tearlach47]

+BFKAnthony817 I live here too!

[@penishunter2530]

+Sean Wilson (Nosliw) I live in germany

[@Vexonia_Music]

16:07 DOS box does have an option for Serial Multiplayer, but to my knowing it's a complete pain in the ass to set up.

[@paradoxzee6834]

Raymond The Crow Well in the Windows 98 days we used split screen

[@AmysFantasies]

I haven't tried serial multiplayer myself (no other PCs to test with right now) but I have set up DOSBox to use a direct serial connection via a serial-to-USB adapter in order to connect up some old Psion PDAs that absolutely required a serial connection. I was actually somewhat surprised how easy it was to get DOSBox to use the adapter and PsiWin ended up working perfectly fine under an emulated Windows for Workgroups 3.11 install. One thing this video got me thinking of though is that the serial-to-USB adapter I used for that should work just as well with a null modem cable, and in fact I should be able to connect the other end of that cable to an actual 486/Pentium laptop running MS-DOS. From everything I've read, there's no reason the real DOS and emulated DOS should have any problems connecting to each other for multiplayer gaming sessions. I may have to try that out some day.

[@stevebez2767]

Haha,yeah dosbox online too adtprodos in vmac sca...

[@gigaslave]

Well you do need a bunch of USB-RS232 Serial adaptors :V

[@Cpt1nsano]

Should try resending the card but use a stamp this time.

[@CaptainKirk01]

I just found your channel. This is very nostalgic as I'm 47, so grew I up on this stuff. I was a lucky kid as I had a Commodore SX-64 "executive" as my first computer, after an Atari 2600. It was heavy but I could haul it anywhere. I was 12 then. Anyway, my point of commenting was that I used to work for a company when they could no longer obtain hard drives for their legacy products other than the 20 and 40 GB drives as you showed. For the life of me, I can't remember what it was the process was called but used a low-level format that turned the drive into an 8GB drive. It was one way and you could not go back. The drive would permanently be an 8GB drive. That is an option for replacing those old hard drives.

[@matthewbaer7871]

Man this really brought me back to my gaming origins lol, thank you for that. It's easy to forget atong doom on keyboard only when I'm slaying these poor console kids with my high end mouse and keyboard, and thousands of hours of practice. And it's really heart warming that the younger generation can see how hard multiplayer gaming was for us, lugging whole pc setups to a friend's house to run a Lan party. Playing quake online on dial up. Thanks man

[@MrGoatflakes]

12:58 about ten years ago my brother said that when we go to the old folks home they'll have LAN night instead of bingo night... Doesn't seem so funny anymore ._.

[@michael1353135]

What is the game at 8:38 ? I remember playing it when I was growing up and like to try it again :)

[@vh81]

SEGA Zaxxon, 1984. Glad I could help! Late though, sorry.

[@ukaszgryka173]

We used to be playing Duke3d all days, over 20yrs ago. No one had a laptop that time, thus one of us had to carry his desktop + monitor. Sessions were amazing, it was a great time... Thanks!

[@DazmoTube]

you're in fort worth!?? wow im from that area too. remember ED's? they closed up shop a few years ago. i cri everytim. do you know of a place similar in the area?

[@The8BitGuy]

+DazmoTube I actually worked at that place as the service manager from 2000 to 2005. I don't know of any similar place in the DF/W area.

[@spawncap9009]

+DazmoTube Only place I know that sold old stuff in that area was Discount Electronics in Arlington TX. Haven't visited that store in about 8 years though so don't know if they changed what they carry. I always referred to it as the Nerd Store.

[@DazmoTube]

+Spawn Cap nah thats the placce i was talking about. electronic discount sales, eds. theyre closed :( had so much shit. . .

[@DazmoTube]

+The 8-Bit Guy So youre the one who rejected my application . . .:\

[@readyrepairs]

+The 8-Bit Guy I did not know you were in the area. I run a computer shop locally . If I have old computers come through, do you want?

[@FunAtStreaming]

Me trying to buy even one of those recommended laptops on ebay: $199 O.O

[@androidtechgeek]

Damn. You found one that cheap?

[@MrG0re]

Just found one for 20 bucks in sweden. Guy sold it "cheap" becaus there was no "power supply" LOL

[@nicholasbrooks7349]

MrG0re it was probably stolen.

[@nowthatsjustducky]

I think I am just going to see what I can do with the Dell Dimension CPx my nephew gave me years ago. At one time, I think I had some sort of Linux on it, then a very painfully slow XP. Now I have a very basic DOS 7.10 off the Windows 98SE install CD on it with a someone broken 98SE build that I can get to with win. I think I will eventually see if I can get the 98 build usable, then get DOS level sound and networking going, and toss in WfW 3.11 as well as a lightweight Linux. Ultimately though, this will be my DOS gaming laptop.

[@clementpoon120]

Already cheaper then modern laptop

[@pentiummmx2294]

how is the Gateway Solo 2500 for a dos gaming laptop, i have one with a P1 MMX 150 MHz, 64 MB Ram, with Windows 95 OSR 2.1 on it.

[@tomf3150]

I'd say pretty good for the task at hand

[@markm0000]

If it can run Windows 95 it's good enough for DOS.

[@pentiummmx2294]

I have been running into roadblocks with it, i only have a 80gb 2.5 IDE drive and the laptop just hangs on the bios when i have it hooked up. I got a CF to ide adapter for it and a Transcend 4gb CF card. gonna get Win95 on it once USPS shows up with them. just curently using my main DOS/Win95 Pentium 133 430VX rig or using DOSBox on my Toshiba laptop until they arrive.

[@SOGGYDOG-be1ub]

This video is in the top 10 most use full 🔝😀.

[@tutubi]

2:59 the music sounds like "Piece of Time", pure speed metal from the italian band "Labyrinth". Just look for it on KZbin. Now, the question is WHY?!

[@GMmaxim]

14:54 - As a programmer who works on hardware too (I mean who don't?) I'm not asking if it was possible to underclock the CPU, but how hard it was those days to do it? I'm not a retro lover so didn't have an interest to examine those older bios but no doubt it wasn't a number one feature to include, and not even talking about memory limitations on those chips. Or if I'm wrong, would lower clock affect any other part of the game or games and the whole system except... lower clock...

[@nitrax8629]

Probably very diffcult, requiring modifying the motherboard. Some cases the BIOS had options to lower the CPU frequency to around half to get better battery life, but that will only go so far.

[@randolfdumbledore8635]

well you can buy a sound card thumb drive type for about 7 or 8 bucks which is usb 2 and backward compatible. also there are programs you can download that will slow computer to play dos games at the speed needed for dos games. so with that you can pick other faster laptops. like your video thanks for sharing.

[@The8BitGuy]

+randolf dumbledore Good luck plugging that USB sound card into a computer that doesn't have any USB ports.

[@N64Joey]

+The 8-Bit Guy how much to have a dos PC built by you?

[@randolfdumbledore8635]

+N64 Joey i no longer build pc's as i am disabled now and no longer able to do so. i did enjoy your video and you made many good points in it. i just offered info that was based on my opinion, and i am not always right and do not claim i know everything. it is just my opinion. keep making the great videos i enjoy watching them.

[@Lukeno52]

+The 8-Bit Guy And, by extension, good luck getting a 5V PCMCIA-compatible USB card...

[@randolfdumbledore8635]

+Brett Bates first off why do you need a pcmcia when the sound card i mentioned is sound blaster comp. and it plug into a usb slot. and the laptop i mentioned earlier had usb ports.

[@harrytaller9403]

I was looking for this video, but could not find it by searching, Thanks The 8-Bit Guy, for making such beautiful retro ....

[@hikaru-live]

What about running games inside a virtual machine? For newer games that is not dependent on CPU clock speed your favorite virtualisation software, VMware, Virtualbox, and even the Hyper-V built into 64-bit Windows 10 will work. For older ones that depend on the CPU clock you can use Bochs. Almost all virtual machine software I know can play two-player game that used to require a serial cable, by tunnelling the serial traffic generated in the virtual machine through something else on the host machine, usually TCP/IP. So you can just put the game virtual machine files onto a file server, boot up two modern computers, grab that virtual machine image, set the serial port to a TCP/IP tunnel and game with your friend that way, probably over Ethernet (or if you have set up port forwarding on your router, over the Internet)

[@Cpt.Zenobia]

i agree virtual machines & emulation are better.

[@marcustoro9869]

but its not the same thing

[@marcustoro9869]

you want the feeling of some retro!

[@dan.quachlinh]

you can build a machine that has the look of those old computers and modern hardware inside them. Then let the machine boot directly into an emulator of those old computers. You have the look and feel of the old, you have the convenience of the modern hardware.

[@hikaru-live]

Quách Linh Đan An even better solution: use virtualization, you can run multiple virtual machines with variou old operating systems on it and connect to it using something like VNC as needed. This will allow you to have access to your old game library with any device that is capable of VNC: old computers, new computers (old or new chassis,) mobile phones, even Raspberry Pi's.

[@ukeyaoitrash2618]

what is the game from 3:21 to 3:25?

[@AdrianCastravete]

Ultima 6 I would have to guess...

[@SirCarcass]

Yep, that's Ultima VI.

[@Grigor421]

Darude sandstorm

[@Kat21]

+Alex Catalin Yolowolf Grigoroiu ...

[@Pilltechre]

Nearly had a fit when I saw those demons over the alter! Have not played that game in about 20 years! Did it come with a cool map? I'm sure I remember it having one. Also Showed my mates 8 year old DOTT the other week. He was not impressed. Little bastard.

[@solidus3168]

Ah yea!!! DOS Games, i used to LOVE going through CD-ROM and floppy DOS games at Walmart cause they always had these big "grab-bag" style setups

[@FlorianPreissler]

I follow your videos for a while now, you are a great guy and your videos are awesome!

[@AnonymousPhucker]

also with duke nukem multiplayer the one who has the server has 0 ping and one who "dials" has 300ms ping - even with null modem cable

[@whattheheck1000]

When this video came out, I just knew that the ideal DOS gaming laptop would be something from the mid-1990s. My guess was spot on. May 3, 2019 3:17 am

[@JZM006]

I can’t find ANY of the laptops you mentioned online for “under $50”

[@und4287]

eBay sellers inflating prices yet again.

[@absolutely0bsolete330]

Avoid Ebay look on local bootsale aps or flea markets

[@geckoo9190]

This brought a lot of memories, from the first time that I took a computer class on msdos, we used floppy 5 1/4 disks, I had my whole ms dos os, lotus and a text editor there, that was on the late 90s by the way, a lot of technology gap back then.

[@nuherbleath461]

I’m confused why he didn’t consider talking about ibm thinkpads

[@CommanderMouse72]

Older thinkpads have the collector market so they're more expensive than the toshibas or compaqs

[@CommanderMouse72]

@@RuneCode I'm lucky I got given a 430cdt a few years back when they were almost worthless

[@KaedeAnimation]

@@CommanderMouse72 wrong, Compaq and Toshiba is just as expensive. Try to find a Compaq LTE for $25

[@zc32-official]

3:38 It makes me feel great,smarter,more aggressive.

[@itepk0522]

Name of the game?

[@LegoWormNoah101]

@@itepk0522 Day of the Tentacle

[@RealGengarTV]

Was there any laptop that had near top of the line 3dfx voodoo (or other Glide fx/openGL) 3d card?

[@V1VISECT6]

Doubtfull.

[@sinephase]

+GengarTV as far as I can find, nope :(

[@cptcrogge]

+GengarTV Well, I had one :D How? I was simply using for my Toshiba laptop a docking station which provided real PCI slots :) So basically, I had a 3DFX Dock for Gaming :p

[@Zestypanda]

They had laptops with ATI and nvidia cards that outperformed voodoo cards. If you used the glide patch you could run Glide games in open gl.

[@pikachuchujelly7628]

+GengarTV There are plenty of laptops from 2002-ish that are compatible with Windows 9x and have 3D OpenGL cards. However, there's no such thing as using OpenGL in DOS. Only Windows games can use it.

[@TeaAndFloppyDisks]

Really great information, as always! I usually see the retro gamers with desktop computers, but as someone who has limited space, I appreciate that you went into laptops. I myself use DosBOX for convenience though...

[@Ano_ny]

Well, have you tried Virtual Machines?

[@maximilianmaxi6627]

Also who would buy an extra PC for that?

[@glitchsmasher]

+Anonymouser Also I'm pretty sure you can just install freedos if your PC can't handle VMs, meaning you can dual boot.

[@Ano_ny]

glitchsmasher Yes, but IF your pc can handle VMs, there are many more options than in just freedos.

[@Ano_ny]

Maximilian Maxi For virtual machines? Why would you buy another pc if you have already one?

[@muskit_]

The same response for "why not DOSBox?" could be said for this as well.

[@KizuxTheo]

What's the game at 3:20 ?

[@SQUIZZLER24]

After googling the line that appears in this video, I think it might be Ultima 6.

[@Spartan9095]

That's Ultima 6, the false prophet

[@alexrimeisis1298]

What happened to emulators.

[@jaspermuts]

15:42

[@stradaguillermo]

What happened to watch the entire video before comment?

[@alexrimeisis1298]

Srry bout that. XD

[@AdamTheLinuxDoomed]

Okay, your channel is officially my favorite now.

[@m3mz614]

But can it run crysis?

[@fifaworldcup1994]

Why do you make this stupid question?Of course it can't run it!

[@m3mz614]

+FIFA World Cup 2014 1994 m8......u won't get it.only LTT fans will

[@BurnedPinguin8630]

Druaga1 here right?

[@m3mz614]

HT C who?.....

[@moonjimunji7916]

but can it run quake?

[@santi100a]

12:58 Aw, man, not the volcano!

[@itabiritomg]

in my opnion, the best solution cheap for retro gaming is to use dosbox.

[@yomauser]

The only difference was told at the end of the video; It's just more cool to play it on the original hardwares ;)

[@NidraxGaming]

+Leonel Braga I think Virtual Machine (like VirtualBox) with dedicated installation of MS-DOS is still better and more software compatible option than DOSBOX :)

[@itabiritomg]

i used vmware, vitual box and ms virtual machine a lot but i still think dosbox and freedos perform better. im fact i use vmware every single day but i use it for business purpouses.

[@ftalo4881]

+Leonel Braga no,for old games the beter way is always using old laptop.It goes faster and fully compatible,no problems while launching.

[@igorvuk4454]

+ftalo dude, dosbox rules. i've had pc in 1989. and dosbox is sooo much smoother experience. just set your soundcard, display, memory and everything else the way you like it and play. simple and easy.

[@cuerty654]

This gotta be the best 8 bit guy video. ITs so funny, has a story. he is kinda selling the idea of getting an old laptop, not just reviewing

[@segaboy9894]

Did you used to be iBook guy?

[@abelsullivan2712]

+Sega Boy Yes he was

[@kaydreamsart]

yes

[@technologyproductions-ye3px]

+Anonymous User what's your user name

[@pizzaboxer]

+Tommy Whitaker His user name is anonymous user.

[@FutureSlacker917]

+Sega Boy Yes, he did.

[@thealterlion7163]

In Chile MS DOS computers and C64 simply don’t exist :( BUT WE HAVE THE POWER OF ATARIIIIIIIII computers, well the 800xl is everywhere :)

[@ryanyoder7573]

We also had the 800 from 1978 to 1984 in most stores but then we moved to PCs.

[@wiwewawowu]

WAIT THERE ARE NO DOS LAPTOPS HERE?! I didn't wanna use DOS BOX :c

[@navasdanilo6412]

Encerio po

[@johanherrera6413]

Got one of the Toshiba 400 from a lady neighbor that needed some work done on her modern computer, when she asked how much was it I just said "are you using that old laptop for anything" Had to repair the hard drive with extreme caution, the platter was stuck to the head (probably overheated) it works perfectly 😊

[@greg6500]

The 2 player thing with your friend there brought back fond memories :)

[@Lilithe]

14:00 I always hammered F8 on boot to avoid going into Windows. You blew my fricken mind! Just ran over to my Win98 box and tried to edit that file. I ran into some problems that were nostalgic. Problem 1: file is read-only, can't save Okay... attrib -r msdos.sys Problem 2: > Not resetting hidden file MSDOS.SYS Okay... attrib msdos.sys > A RSH MSDOS.SYS Oh, it's system, hidden, and read-only, and it won't let me remove just one of those. attrib -s -r -h msdos.sys > it works! Okay now edit the file *phew*