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Category Archives: Oldskool/retro programming
The DOS SDK
A thing I have been working on, on and off, for many years now, is a set of headers and helper routines for programming DOS machines directly on the hardware in assembly and C. As you may recall, my earliest … Continue reading
A great upgrade for the PCjr: the jr-IDE
Adding a hard drive to a PC was a reasonably standard upgrade even in the 80s. And in today’s world of retro-computing, we have the XT-IDE card, which adds proper IDE support to old PCs. Which also allows you to … Continue reading
When is a PC not a PC? The PC-98
I’ve covered PC compatibility in the past, and tried to explain how just having an x86 CPU and running DOS does not necessarily make your machine compatible with an IBM PC. At the time, this was mainly about the IBM … Continue reading
Posted in Oldskool/retro programming, Software development
Tagged 8086, DOS/V, IBM, MS-DOS, NEC, PC, PC DOS, PC-98, uPD7220, x86, XT
6 Comments
A new MPU-401 solution: The Music Quest clone
This is a draft that I have kept around since March 16, 2019, so it is about time I finally finish and publish it. This story started somewhere in 2015, when a user named Keropi posted a thread on the … Continue reading
Posted in Hardware news, Oldskool/retro programming
Tagged dumb mode, Intelligent mode, Keropi, MIDI, MIF-IPC, MPU-401, MPU-401AT, MPU-IPC, Music Quest, Roland, Serdashop, UART, Wave Blaster
1 Comment
A new game for DOS/EGA/AdLib: Super Space Fuel Inc.
It seems there has been a boom in Match-3 games. They seem to be a popular target for casual gaming on mobile devices/in browsers. But what’s better than playing Match-3 on your mobile phone? Playing Match-3 under DOS! I say … Continue reading
Posted in Oldskool/retro programming, Software news
Tagged AdLib, DOS, EGA, Match-3, No-XS, sBeam, Super Space Fuel Inc., Turbo C, VisionVortex
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The myth of the vertical retrace interrupt
This is a draft from March 18th, 2019. We’re slowly cleaning out the backlog. The few remaining drafts are going to take more time to work into an article though, as actual code or configuration is required to work out … Continue reading
Posted in Oldskool/retro programming
Tagged EGA, IBM, interrupt, IRQ, IRQ2, IRQ2/9, IRQ9, PCjr, raster interrupt, Tandy, Tandy 1000, vertical retrace, vertical retrace interrupt, VGA, vsync
2 Comments
More donut madness
This draft, created on May 27, 2015, only had a single link: http://www.lugreat.com/ihe/pdfs/v1article3.pdf And the problem with a link that was stored over 7 years ago? It’s no longer available, and it also wasn’t cached by the Wayback Machine. But, … Continue reading
Posted in Oldskool/retro programming, Software development
Tagged Blinn-Phong, donut, Gouraud, Phong, smooth shading, Software rendering, torus
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Another adventure in downgrading, part 3: XP
Taking the application down even further than last time. Windows XP? You’re probably thinking: “Direct3D 11, Media Foundation, WIC, that’s never going to work in XP! What are you thinking?” And you’d be right. If the codebase was entirely aimed … Continue reading
Posted in Direct3D, Oldskool/retro programming, Software development
Tagged .NET 4.0, C#, C++, CefSharp, DirectShow, downgrade, GetProcAddress, LoadLibrary, Media Foundation, Microsoft.Bcl, Microsoft.Bcl.Async, Microsoft.Bcl.Build, NAudio, NuGet, Vista, Visual Studio, VLC, VlcSharp, Windows Vista, Windows XP, XP
2 Comments
Another adventure in downgrading, part 2: Vista
Okay, picking up where we left off last time: we have an application that now runs on .NET 4.6.2. So far it’s only tested on Windows 7 and Windows 10 platforms, which the .NET 4.8 version was targeting anyway. But … Continue reading
VGA and MCGA, what’s the difference?
When running old DOS games, you often have to manually select which type of graphics adapter you use. Some games allow you to select VGA for 256 colour mode. Others use the term MCGA for 256 colour mode, and some … Continue reading
Posted in Oldskool/retro programming
Tagged BIOS, CGA, DOS, Epson Equity, IBM, MCGA, mode 11h, mode 13h, PS/2, VGA
3 Comments
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