PicoMite VGA - A Very Simple BASIC Home Computer

My favorite era of computing was the 1980’s, a decade that saw countless different machines produced, new technologies created, and what seemed like a non-stop torrent of advancements being made. It was an exciting time to be alive and the decade that I first got into home computing. While many of the computers of the era were incompatible with each other, one thing most of them had in common was they used some form of the BASIC programming language, often a customized version for the specific machine it was running on.

Beginners' All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code (BASIC) is a high-level programming language that was relatively easy to learn and use and quickly became synonymous with the 1980’s. A high-level language, to put it simply, means it sits on top of other layers of code between itself and the hardware, and commands entered in high-level are passed through those other layers so it can be translated into something the hardware understands. 

High-level languages, like BASIC, are much easier to understand on a human level than machine code, but since they have to pass through those other layers and be translated into code the machine can use, they're slower to execute becasue that process uses up valuable CPU cycles. On modern hardware, that's not really an issue thanks to the incredible power of modern processors, but on 80's hardware, there was a very noticeable difference in performance between something coded in BASIC verses something coded in a language like Assembly, a low-level programming language that is intended to communicate directly with a computer's hardware and thus executes much faster.

Microsoft BASIC was the foundation for most of the BASIC versions that came with the home computers of the era. It was also Microsoft’s founding product and was first released in 1975 for the Altair 8800 as “Altair BASIC”. When you powered up most home computers of the late 70’s and early 80’s, they loaded right into a BASIC or some other form of prompt, and from there you could enter commands, or in most cases, just start programming.

Of course, today things are vastly different, but I still have a soft spot for the BASIC programming language since it was the first language I ever learned. Fast forward to 2024 and outside of the retro community, it’s pretty much a dead language, however versions of it are still being made and available for people to use in their retro projects, and one such version is MMBASIC.

MMBASIC is open source, generally backwards compatible with Microsoft BASIC, and was originally created for the Maximite, a retro 80’s style self-contained computer designed by Geoff Graham. By the time I learned about the Maximite computer, it already had a couple different versions, and all of them were virtually impossible to find. Unfortunately for me, I really wanted one to play around with, and my hopes of a restock were further dashed when the world went crazy for a couple years.

Then, something cool happened, Geoff Graham ported MMBASIC to run on the Raspberry PiPico! This meant it was now possible to create an MMBASIC powered retro computer using a Raspberry Pi Pico as the core, enter the cool little “PicoMite VGA”. A boot-to-BASIC self-contained computer with 16 color VGA graphics and sound capability reminiscent of the early 1980’s. The best parts are, it’s very simple to setup and build and you can modify it however you want to fit whatever vision you have. So, that’s exactly what I decided to do, twice!

Geoff's PicoMite VGA Project: https://geoffg.net/picomitevga.html

I want to build my own version of the PicoMite as well as one based on someone else’s PCB design, both I could use to play around in MMBASIC and create a couple cool retro computers in the process. Something that can sit on my shelf next to the Z80-MBC2 based homebrew computer I had made earlier. I had already all the parts I needed for these builds on hand, all I really needed were cases to put it all in once I had it all built. 

The first PicoMite I decided to build, and the focus of this post, was the Land Boards PCB version because it looked like it would be the quickest and easiest to get done. Unfortunately, that build got hung up for a few days thanks to a faulty SD card slot that had initially tested good and causing me a lot of headaches. Thankfully, when it was finally replaced during the troubleshooting process and turned out to be source of my problems, I was able to get my first PicoMite VGA complete!. Below are all the links necessary to build this version of the PicoMite!

LandBoard PCB: https://www.tindie.com/products/land_boards/raspberry-pi-pico-card-with-vga-sound-kbd-v3/

Build Instructions: https://land-boards.com/blwiki/index.php?title=PiPicoMite03

My Customized End Plates: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6566451

The “DIY” build I plan on doing next, something I will cover in a new post later on, was inspired by a video from the YouTube channel “Explaining Computers”, where they did something similar and created their own version of the PicoMite on a single solderable breadboard. I'll be taking a similar approach, but using whatever I need to fit my design. You can check out their build linked below.

Explaining Computers PicoMite DIY VGA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZaWYgIYgd8

Once I had the LandBoards PCB on-hand, it was just a matter of soldering all together, with that minor hiccup caused by a faulty SD slot I had to replace. After I had the PicoMite up and running, all I had to do was 3D print some end covers for the aluminum enclosure that I modified to fit my taste, give the case a little flare, and put it all together. The end result if what you see below, a tiny little cool looking MMBASIC computer that takes up little to no space and works like belongs in the 1980's.

 

With this version complete, it was time to start on my own full DIY build. This time around, I decided to make it look like it fell right out of the 1980's and somewhat similar to Geoff Graham's Maximite. Functionally, it's identical to the version above, but made to fit my vision and using all readily available solderable PCBs to give it that awesome homebrew PC look. But, I'll cover all of that in the next post!

Until next time, thanks for reading!

A Reasonable DOS 6.22 / Windows 3.x Retro Build

I recently did a build centered around one of the very first consumer mini-ITX boards ever made, the versatile VIA EPIA-800. For that system I wanted to keep it as small as possible, no expansion cards, just all on-board hardware. To fit within those limitations, I decided to go with Windows 95 as the primary OS. With its integrated Trident CyberBlade i7 AGP 8MB video, VIA audio, and C3 800MHz processor, it’s a very capable system for running games of that era, 1997 and earlier, quite well at 640x480, 800x600, and even 1024x768 in some cases.

Originally, I was just going to stick with this build for all my DOS gaming needs as well. The VIA audio chip does good Sound Blaster Pro emulation, and it generally works well for later DOS titles. The thing is, I still found myself wanting a pure DOS build for a couple different reasons. First, I wanted a build that gave me more era-appropriate sound and video compatibility, improving support for older DOS titles as well. While I can play most DOS games on my EPIA-800 Win95 build without any problems, that hardware really isn’t “era appropriate”, and it does have its problems and limitations in terms of compatibility.

Secondly, I wanted a full-sized ATX system with ISA, PCI, and a floppy controller so I could use it as a “test bench” for testing and troubleshooting other hardware. It’s always a good idea to have a known working system to test components on so you don’t waste time going down unnecessary rabbit holes when you’re trying to get something working.

So, that leads us to this build, DOS6.22 / Windows 3.11 machine using era appropriate hardware and giving me a much wider range of sound, video, and control options, I simply do not have on the EPIA-800.

 

Let’s start with the heart of the build, the motherboard, an Asus TX97-XE. This ATX Socket 7 board, released in 1997, gives me all the connectivity and options I need to build a nice DOS system. Supporting both EDO (x4) and SDR (x2) RAM up to 256MB, support for Pentium MMX, AMD K6, and Cyrix MII processors, 4 ISA and 4 PCI expansion slots, as well as your standard 2 IDE channels and single floppy controller. In other words, everything you need for a very capable DOS build. While the board does have USB 1.1 support, we won’t be using it. 

 

The only problem I had with my specific board was the dual-PS/2 connectors were loose, causing both the keyboard and mouse to lose connection unless the plugs were kept as a certain angle. At first, I thought it was just a loose solder joint, so I checked and re-flowed all the connections, but the problem persisted. With no other visible signs of damage or defects, like a broken trace, I ordered some replacements and just put a new one on the board and that did the trick. 

NOTE: The TX97-XE has a known power delivery issue on some boards when trying to run processors beyond 300MHz, requiring more voltage. The fastest officially supported CPU for this board was AMD K6-2 333MHz. As long as you don't go beyond that, you "should" be fine. If you do, then you should monitor the temps on the boards power delivery, and perhaps consider upgrading it if you know how. Or, look into something like external CPU power delivery. Even with the K6-2 333, it wouldn't hurt to keep an eye on it until you're sure your board is fine.

With the motherboard chosen and working, we needed to figure out what processor and RAM we want on there. RAM was the simplest, I went with 32MB of PC100 SDRAM, way more than enough for any DOS or Win 3.x games. In fact, using more than 32MB of RAM in DOS 6.22 can cause problems with some software, so I wanted to keep it or 32MB or less.

 

For the processor, I went with an IBM 6x86L-PR166+ running at 133MHz, made by Cyrix. More than enough power for my needs, and well within the power delivery limits of my unmodified TX97-XE board.

 

My dream setup would be a dual-card machine, a nice 2D card along with a Voodoo for my 3D (Glide) needs. Sadly, the price of Voodoo cards is absolutely outrageous these days, so I decided to just go with a card that had good overall DOS compatibility, drivers for Win3.x, and “good enough” 3D performance with the full understanding I won’t be playing games like Quake on it, but titles like Duke 3D and Doom would still play fine.

The card I settled on was the S3Virge/DX PCI 4MB, a readily available and affordable card released in 1996. The Virge cards were S3’s first attempt at 3D acceleration, and while they seem to get some hate for being slow in terms of their 3D performance, they are good overall cards with excellent DOS compatibility and 2D performance.

 

My Virge/DX isn’t going to run a game like Quake all that well if we try and play it at 640x480, but other games like Doom and Duke 3D will run just fine on it. It also has native drivers for Windows 3.x and can handle Windows at 800x600 without any problems, though trying to push it beyond that will result in “out of memory” errors and cause Windows to not display correctly. To be completely clear, I’m not going to be doing much 3D accelerated gaming on this machine, I wanted compatibility over performance. So, until I can get my hands on a cheap PCI Voodoo card, I will leave most of the 3D accelerated games to the EPIA-800 build.

Still, the Virge/DX is good 2D card, can do some 3D acceleration, and plays nice with a wide range of older and newer DOS games. It also gives me a chance to play with S3D, S3’s own attempt at 3D acceleration, in the few DOS games that actually support it, something I never tried doing before.

In short, if you’re looking for a video card with support for a wide range of DOS games and software, then the S3 Virge will suit your needs quite well. If you’re lucky enough to pair it with a Voodoo, all the better. In my case, as of the writing of this article, I have tested almost 90 different DOS titles, and a vast majority all play flawlessly on the Virge/DX. If you want to know more about the Virge/DX and its overall performance, check out the link below.

https://retro.swarm.cz/s3-virge-325-vx-dx-gx-gx2-series-of-early-3d-accelerators-deep-dive/

 

For this build, I decided to go with two different ISA sound cards. The first is a very well-known Sound Blaster AWE 64, the CT4520, while the other is a lesser known OPTi 82C930 card with an on-board QS700 wavetable. This combo not only gives me a wider range of sound compatibility in games but allows me to explore how different games sound when using different cards. 

 

I grew up using Sound Blaster in just about everything, so I’m very familiar with how they sound, and the AWE, or “Advanced Wave Effects”, series was always a favorite of mine. This specific AWE64 is the “Value” version, and I did that simply because I ‘m perfectly happy with how they sound, and I didn’t need any of the features of the “Gold” version. Not to mention they are still available at a reasonable price, unlike the AWE64 Gold I used to have.

The AWE64 is a perfectly capable card with very wide range of sound compatibility in DOS and Windows 3.x, as well as a decent software suite for Win 3.x. When games lack support for the AWE64, that’s where the OPTi comes into play. It can do both Sound Blaster Pro and Ad Lib sound making it a good choice for such games and many older DOS titles. My specific card also has that QS700 wavetable built into the board. While the QS700 wasn’t exactly the best on the market, it’s more than capable for my needs.

For more on the OPTi cards, check out this good thread over on Vogons where one of their users did a great breakdown, with samples, of how the OPTi 32C930 sounds. His card is slightly different, lacking the built-in QS700, but it will give you a really good idea of the OPTi’s performance.

When it comes to setting up DOS to use two sound cards, I have my system setup to load the AWE64 drivers by default and use a couple batch (.bat) files to swap between the OPTi and AWE. It works well enough for my needs.

 

Thankfully, we have modern alternatives to using decades old mechanical IDE and floppy drives that greatly increase performance and reliability, while making these older systems much easier to use with modern hardware. For my hard drive, I use the same IDE to SD card adapter as I did in my EPIA-800 Windows 95 machine. These adapters are readily available at most major online retailers like Amazon, eBay, and Ali Express, and are very inexpensive. 

For the SD card, I’m just using a standard 2GB SanDisk. If you don’t have a 2GB card, no problem, any SD card will work as long as it’s formatted correctly, keeping in mind DOS 6.22 has a maximum supported partition size of 2GB. I will talk more about how I setup DOS 6.22 on my system a bit further down this post.  

 

The other benefit of using something these IDE to SD adapters, or IDE to Compact Flash, is you can swap cards quickly and easily. Meaning you can have different cards configured differently, or with different operating systems, and simple swap them out as needed. It also makes transferring files to and from your DOS system much easier since you can just plug your DOS SD card into any modern PC and copy whatever you need right to the card. Unlike my Windows 95 build where I have it setup to see my NAS drive for data transfers, having the ability to just swap the cards themselves is much faster and more convenient.

For my floppy drive needs, I decided to go with two different options, one is the popular GoTek Floppy Drive Emulator. Again, these are readily available, inexpensive, and can be found at the same online retailers as the IDE to SD or IDE to CF adapters. If you want to know more, you can check out GoTek’s website.

 

The GoTek is easy to use and setup and gives me the ability to create and use floppy disk images with the system. It allows you to format most any USB flash drive with up to 100 different disk images at a time that you can then use on your retro hardware. The system sees it as a standard floppy drive and supports 720K, 1.2MB, and 1.44MB disk images and works under DOS and Windows without any problems. There is a massive floppy software library out there and having the GoTek makes it quick and easy to use these images with your classic hardware. 

 

To setup my GoTek for use in this build, it’s just one jumper set at "S0", then hooked up to my board the same as any other floppy drive. If you have a floppy drive cable that’s not keyed, just remember that the colored wire on the cable always goes on the side of the plug with pin 1. If you’re unsure where pin 1 is, and it’s not indicated on the motherboard itself, then refer to the owner’s manual. On the Gotek, the colored wire should be facing the power plug, as is standard for most floppy drives.

 

In addition to the GoTek, I decided to pick up a real 3.5-inch floppy drive as well, mainly for archival purposes. I recently purchased a Sony MPF88E-UA 2X USB floppy drive for use on my modern Windows 10 system to use for a vast majority of my disk archiving needs. I still wanted an alternative to use as a backup in the rare cases the Sony can’t read a disk. Having a second “real” floppy drive, connected to era appropriate hardware, gives me one more option when trying to read old floppy disks. In my case, I went with a new old stock Alps DF354H. At the time of writhing this article, they were being sold on both eBay and Amazon for $40. Reasonable enough for a known working drive that actually comes with a basic return policy should it arrive and not work properly.

 

I had two options for setting up DOS 6.22 on this system, the first was to just use the GoTek and the standard DOS install disks. Something I’ve done a couple times and it’s always worked like a charm. However, for this build, I installed DOS in a virtual machine on my modern computer and then copied that disk image over to the SD card. From there, I did all the DOS configuration on the actual hardware.

I personally like to use Oracle VM VirtualBox. It’s free, easy to use, and great for setting up these old machines. Once you’re done with your VM, you can use a piece of software called AnyBurn to convert the VirtualBox disk image into an ISO format that can be used with just about any disk image burning software, I like to use the Win32 Disk Imager.  All this software 100% free and works great.

Like I said above, I find it quicker and easier to create a bootable disk image in a virtual machine and copy everything I need to it first, burning that image to whatever I’m going to be using on the real hardware, and then doing the actual setup and configuration on the real hardware. However, you can obviously do it however you wish, this is just my method.

 

These days, anyone can enjoy most of the DOS games of days gone past using wonderful modern software like DOSBox and ScummVM, but modern emulation has it’s drawbacks. While it’s much easier to use than original hardware, it’s not always 100% accurate in its emulation. Full virtual machines are great for many things as well but are limited when it comes to using them for playing some games.

The biggest drawbacks for me are the inability to use and test original hardware, you obviously need other era appropriate hardware to do this. The other is purely nostalgic, I enjoy using the actual hardware, I find it fun and relaxing. One might go so far to say it’s my “happy place”. Some people, like my lovely wife for example, enjoys making “all natural” things, like soaps, candles, and oils. I enjoy working with old computers and electronics. We all have our hobbies that make us happy, and this one is mine.

Thanks for taking the time to read the ramblings of one old guys love of retro technology, especially in a world where people much prefer quick and concise videos over long-winded articles and blog posts. I wish the very best to you and yours. Until next time, keep your head up and keep it retro!

 

May 2024 Update:

About 3 months after I got this machine up and running, I obtained an Antec VSK4000E-U3, an inexpensive black case with support for 3 5.25 bays and a dedicated 3.5 bay, perfect for this build. The original case only had support for 2 5.25 bays. So, I moved all the hardware over to the Antec and installed an ALPS floppy drive, leaving room for a CD-ROM drive should I so desire.

Lastly, I edited an IO shield for it and 3D printed it, along with some expansion slot covers, both linked below. The end result is what you see! I think it looks great in it's new home!

Until next time, happy retro!

Asus TX97-XE Motherboard IO Shield: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6570641

 

Vented Expansion Slot Cover Plate: https://www.thingiverse.com/make:1169763

 

Retro Gaming on the Original Mini-ITX EPIA-800

This is the follow-up to my EPIA-800 build log. 

Read First: https://theclassicgeek.blogspot.com/2023/03/mini-itx-windows-95dos-build-with-epia.html

NOTE: Videos in this post may need to be manually set to 720P.

As I mentioned in the original post, I decided to run Windows 95C OSR 2.5 on this build for a few reasons, even with its limitations over Windows 98. First off, this board isn’t going to be powerful enough on its own to play games made for Windows 98 and later all that well, so I knew I would be primarily sticking to games made in 1998 or earlier. Second, Windows 98 didn’t offer anything I wanted that I couldn’t get on Windows 95, with one exception that I will discuss below. Lastly, I simply wanted this machine to run Windows 95 to fit my own personal vision for the system.

From this point on, I assume that if you’re doing a build like this, you already know how to install Windows 95 and set it up how you like it. I didn’t have many issues setting up and configuring Win95 on this system, but it’s a process I’m very familiar with. If you’re having issues, there are a ton of resources that can be found with a few simple Google searches that should get you up and running. I also linked to all the necessary hardware drivers and information you should need for the EPIA-800 in the original post.

Some of Windows 95’s limitations in comparison to Windows 98 can be pretty easily overcome, as was the case with the few limitations that mattered to me for this build. The first being USB support, thankfully Windows 95 OSR 2.5 adds basic USB support that I can use for file transfers. Another Windows 95 limitation is the 32GB disk size limit. Again, that’s easy to work around since you can simply partition out larger drives into 32GB segments if you want more storage space, and that’s what I did with this build.

The biggest hurdle I ran into with using Windows 95 on this board is the fact the EPIA-800 lacks a standard 15-pin game port, so using a controller from that era can’t be easily done out of the box. Getting USB controllers running on Windows 95 is sketchy at best, if at all. I had no luck getting anything I had on hand to work, even though HID capable USB support exists in Windows 95 OSR 2.5, controllers would require special drivers that I am not sure even exist since USB controllers really didn’t become a thing until Windows 98 was released. If I was running Windows 98, using USB controllers wouldn’t be a problem.

So, I was left with four choices, add a sound card with a game port, something I wasn’t going to do since it would kill the very idea of the build. The next was to use an alternative type of controller, something that does not use the 15-pin game port. Another is to use some sort of external game port adapter that works with Windows 95. The last option was, don’t use a controller for anything at all, and I really didn’t want to give up using a controller.

One last self-imposed limitation is physical size, since I want to keep this build as small as physically possibly, that means no CD-ROM or floppy drive. Not having a floppy drive isn’t a big deal since most software you would want that came on floppy is available to download somewhere online anyway. The bigger issue for gaming is how to use CD based games without a CD-ROM drive.

So, how are we going to solve these problems? Let’s start with the easy ones, those that can be solved with software.

To address the lack of a CD-ROM drive, the simple solution is to use disk images, and thankfully a tried-and-true piece of old software solves that problem very nicely, Daemon Tools. With DT you can mount common disk images to a virtual drive and install and play them as needed. The only downside is storing all the disk images, but 128GB of total storage is a ton of space on an old system like this, in addition to external USB stroage.

Daemon Tools version 3.46 is what I personally use for handling CD-ROM images. It runs great in Windows 95C and has most of the emulation options and image support you’re going to need for a majority of CD-ROMs of the era.

You can download Daemon Tools from here: http://www.oldversion.com/windows/daemon-tools-3-46

If you need to convert images to a format compatible with Daemon Tools 3.46, AnyBurn is a great free tool that can convert many different common image types using a modern PC.

You can download AnyBurn from here: https://www.anyburn.com/

One last piece of must have software on Windows 95 is WinZip, unlike modern versions of Windows, it does not natively have the ability to read ZIP files. Unpacking RAR files will need to be done on a modern machine before transferring them to the Windows 95 system or repacking them in a ZIP for use on the older machine later.

You can download WinZip from here: https://winworldpc.com/product/winzip/70

Of all the options I spoke about above, there are really only two that are viable for my build, and I decided to try both and see what I could get to work, what I would like the most, and to try and make it easier for anyone else who may want to do a build like this in the future, however slim that chance may be.

The first option was to try and track down the only serial-based controller I knew of and see if it was obtainable at a reasonable price. The Gravis “Stinger” is a special controller that was originally designed for use with Windows 95/98 laptops since they lacked built-in game ports. The Stinger has a few different operating modes that I will discuss below. Thankfully, at the time I was working on this build, I was able to find two of them for sale on-line, new in the box! One was on Poshmark of all places, for just $26! So, I ordered it, only to be contacted by the seller about a week later saying it was broken when it fell from a top shelf and they had to refund me. Thankfully, the second Stinger that I found for sale was still available, all be it on yet another site I’ve never used before, Mercai, and this time the sale went through and I got the gamepad without any problems!

 

I will admit, I was never a fan of the Stinger’s design, I was far more accustomed to the SNES style Gravis and InterAct controllers of the time, and they were far more comfortable in my hands. However, we’re still going to give it a go and see how well it works with this setup. I may be pleasantly surprised since I’ve never actually used one.

The second option is to use an adapter, specifically a device called the “Rockfire RM-203”, a game port to USB adapter, otherwise known as the “USB Nest”. Supposedly, this handy little thing was originally made to be used with Windows 95, and still works to this day on modern operating systems allowing you to use classic game port controllers on modern systems. Thankfully, it seems they may still be getting made in China, or perhaps they are just new-old stock, but they are available on sites like eBay, Amazon, and AliExpress. So, I picked one up on Amazon for under $25.

 

The Rockfire seems like it would be the best option for me since it works with most game port controllers. Listings says they've been made since back in the mid 90’s, and my aging memory seems to recall people using these with Windows back then, but there is conflicting information online about its ability to work with Windows 95 today, so that’s what I wanted to find out.

The last thing I needed was a proper classic game port controller to use with the USB Nest, and that pretty much came down to my two favorites of the era. The SNES style 4 button Gravis PC Gamepad and the InterAct PC Propad 4. In the end I went with the InterAct Propad 4 simple because I remember it being a bit more comfortable in my hands than the Gravis PC Gamepad since it was an overall larger controller. I was able to pick up a near mint one on eBay for just $15. Once I had everything in hand, it was time to test it all out and see what worked and what I preferred.

 

I’m going to start with the USB Nest simply because it was the most infuriating. First off, the RM-203 is recognized by Windows 95 4.0095C, but only as an unknown device, and no drivers exist for it, so I had no way of getting Windows 95 to recognize it as an HID device or game controller. In fact, it simply locked up Windows more often than it was recognized, sending me down a rabbit hole trying to see if I could get it working.

The infuriating part is there are 2 manuals available for this thing floating around online, one says it works in Windows 95, the other makes no mention of Windows 95, just Windows 98 and higher. There is also a lot of conflicting information on its Windows 95 compatibility floating around on the sites I’ve found that talk about it. So, I’m wondering if there were two versions made, or the manual that says if works with Win 95 was just wrong, was later revised, leading to the confusion.

Many sources say the RM-203 was originally made in or around 1993, I find it odd that it would not have support for Windows 95, but this is a USB adapter, and USB wasn’t produced until 1996. The only source of the 1993 date is printed on the included manuals, no date is listed anywhere on the box or on the PCB inside. The internals are all SMD components, so that’s not a lot of help since most of the devices out there today could simply be reproductions and SMD dominated much of the consumer electronics market by the mid to late 90’s. The RM-203 is still widely available but all of the newer listings for them state they’re meant for use on Windows 98 or later only and are intended to allow people to use older gameport joysticks and gamepads on modern hardware that has no gameport, and that makes much more sense.

It's all very confusing and leads me to suspect some of the information on these devices claiming they were made in 1993 and work with Windows 95 is simply incorrect. Especially when they work with Windows 98 and later perfectly. I tested the USB Nest on Windows 98SE, Windows XP, and Windows 10 and it worked flawlessly every time.

Still, I wasn’t ready to give up without a fight and decided to ask around online on various retro forums and see what I could find out what I may not have known based on what I could find via Google. The responses I got confirmed my suspicions, that the USB Nest Rockfire RM-203 was made much later than 1993 and does not appear to work with Windows 95 since it would require a driver that also does not seem to exist.

Of course, there is the small possibility that it simply does not work with my specific setup, but I doubt it. Windows 95 USB support is primarily centered around removable storage, and in that respect it works great. I can transfer files back and forth using a FAT32 formatted 32GB flash drive all day and it works flawlessly. So, with that, I abandoned the RM-203 for this build and left it connected to my modern PC so I could still use my PC Pro Pad on emulators and virtual machines. I moved on to something I know full well is designed for Windows 95!

 

My last practical option for a gamepad on this system, the COM port driven Gravis Stinger Laptop Gamepad, is what I looked at next. It was designed and built to work with Windows 95 and 98 powered laptops that lacked a gameport, and just like the EPIA-800, most still had a COM port. As I said above, the Stinger a few different operating modes, it can act as a gamepad, joystick, or mouse. Inputs can be read as normal DirectX inputs, or you can map keystrokes to the buttons for use with games that don’t support Direct Input. It also comes with working drivers and software for Windows 95/98 that allow you to configure however you like, as well as store multiple profiles for different games. It’s actually quite impressive for the time.

The other big shocker for me was the gamepad itself, not only was it smaller than I expected, but the D-Pad is very similar in feel to that of the stick on an N64 controller and surprisingly easy to use. The smaller size worried me for a moment, until I actually started using it and was pleasantly surprised to find it quite comfortable and easy to use, even in my big hands.

It was very easy to setup and use and it worked flawlessly in all the games I tested and wanted to use a controller with. I love it when something I wasn’t expecting to like actually turns out to be so much better, and that’s exactly who I feel about the Gravis Stinger. It’s software configurability means it supports a wide range of games, and even DOS games if you run them in a Windows shell. I’m just glad I was able to get my hands on one, and a new one at that, as they seem to be somewhat rare.

 

Once I had the controller situation sorted out, it was time to dive into some real game testing and see what games that I’m interested in will actually be playable on the system. I’m happy to say that all the DOS games I tried ran exactly as they were supposed to on this system. Duke Nukem 3D Atomic Edition, Quake, High Octane, and more, all ran fine, as expected, as well as David Murry's modern Attack of the PETSCII Robots. Not many DOS games are going to stress this system. Here is a short video of Duke Nukem running so you can see it handles DOS games just fine, and the SB Pro emulation in action, as well as a GIF of PETSCII Robots!

 

 

The real test was what would be playable in Windows 95, and I was pleasantly surprised with the results. I will list all of the games that I personally have installed and play on this build, and every one of those games is fully playable, but I wanted to show a few of the most common and a couple of the most demanding games so you can see the upper end of what the EPIA-800 board can play without a dedicated video card, just on the integrated Cyberblade i7 GPU.

Note: For an FPS overlay, I’m using the classic Fraps software.

You can download a copy of Fraps for Windows 95 here: https://web.archive.org/web/20000301110441/http://www.fraps.com/download.htm

Unless otherwise noted, all of the games are being played at 640x480 or 800x600 and their “default” settings, but I'm currently running the desktop resolution at 1024x768 16-bit High Color. Any video is being up-scaled using an Extron RGB-DVI-300 to 720P and captured on a StarTech DVI USB 3.0 capture device for recording.

Performance in 3D games on the integrated CyberBlade i7 will vary from game to game, but most of the games I've tested play well at 640x480, and others do good at 800x600. I won't be messing with 1024x768 all that much since it's going to be more than this board can handle in most 3D games.

Some references to the CyberBlade i7 integrated video chip that I can found online say its 3D performance is somewhere between a Voodoo 1 and 2, but I think that's optimistic at best, as a dedicated Voodoo 1 would probably outpace the CyberBlade is most games in my opinion. Still, it performed well enough for me to enjoy most of the 3D games I wanted to play on this system, and all of the DOS and non-3D titles.

The first Windows game I had to try was Doom 95. Doom 95 maxes out at 640x480, so that's where I set it. The biggest hindrance for me playing Doom 95 is trying to use the mouse since it reads both the X and Y axis for movement, meaning if you move the mouse forward and backwards, it overrides your presses and moved you forward and backwards, and you can see me struggle with that as I try and record the video. Beyond that, the game runs and plays great! It goes without saying, but the DOS version also runs great.

 

Next, I wanted to try a few 3D shooter games that were a bit more demanding, so I tried the original Half Life, Blood II: The Chosen, and Quake II. They are all perfectly playable,  Half Life runs well at 640x480, as does Blood 2. 

In fact, Half Life at 640x480 runs best in GL mode, while running through Anomalous Materials you see the FPS counter hit 60 and the lowest dips I seen were in the mid 20's, but rare. At 800x600 it dances between 20 and 40 FPS. Fraps don't seem to like DX mode, but it felt perfectly playable. Don't bother with software rendering, you're lucky to break 20FPS.

Blood 2 is best played at 640x480, netting you 20-40 FPS on average while running through the train and station. Again, software rendering is a slideshow and best avoided.

Quake 2 runs great at 640x480 and can even do 800x600! Better at 640x480 obviously, and frame rates will dance all over the place, but without Fraps running, I would have been hard pressed to notice. Here is a short clip of Quake 2 running at 640x480 followed by 800x600. 

 

While I really didn't build this machine for early 3D shooters, but more for a wide variety of other games, it's nice to see what it can do out of the box with no dedicated graphics card. You can always play with the available settings to boost frame rates, just like we had to do back in the 90's and even today. By modern standards, "playable" means something completely different than what it did back in the 90's, at least to this old geek it does. If it "feels" good, then it's playable in my opinion.

After that I decided to try one of my favorite racing games of the era, Wipeout XL. I spent many hours playing Wipeout across multiple platforms and it remains one of my classic favorites to this day. Again, it plays good on the EPIA-800 at 640x480, but 800x600 is also perfectly playable. In both resolutions it likes to hover around 25-30 FPS.

 

A couple other games I tested were Mechwarrior 3 and Twisted Metal 2. TM2 runs at a solid and smooth 25-30 FPS in both 640x480 and 800x600. at high details. While MW3 runs good in high details at 800x600, hovering around 25-30 FPS on average.

Lastly, I wanted to try a couple non-3D games that I spent countless hours playing back in the mid and late 90’s. Command and Conquer (Gold for Win95), Red Alert, and Roller Coaster Tycoon. They both run great on the EPIA-800. Roller Coaster Tycoon even runs perfectly at 1024x768, as seen below! 

 

I suspect most 2D, Adventure. RPG, and RTS games of the era will have no problems at 800x600, and even 1024x768 if it's supported. It's Windows 3D/FPS games where you're going to have to make the most sacrifices for better performance. In fact, here are many of the games I have tested and have found to play perfectly fine.

 

 

I have to admit, I wasn’t sure how well this build was going to turn out in terms of performance, but I wanted to give it the best possible chance and I kept my expectations low. I’ve never been a fan of integrated graphics, so I wasn’t sure what to expect from this system. I knew what I wanted it to do, I did my best to set it up to so it would have the best chance, mainly limiting my max resolution to 800x600 for performance and using 16-bit color for maximum game compatibility. I could overclock the board, but to be completely honest I don’t see the need. It’s playing the games I want to play and I doubt the performance boost would be significant enough to warrant stressing the already 20+ year old hardware.

When we talk about FPS today, 60 is often considered the minimum, but back in the early to mid 90’s, it was a very different story. A consistent 20FPS or so is deceptively “smooth” and very playable in most games of the time. Perhaps it’s because I’m more forgiving, having lived through that era and wasn’t raised on the 60, 120, 144, or higher FPS numbers we look for today. Most of the games I’ve played so far looked and felt how I remembered them, and I found myself spending hours just having fun playing them how most people would have enjoyed them back then, even though I have access to many modern versions of these games, or source ports that modernize them and blow the originals out of the water in terms of technology and performance.

When it’s all said and done, I can honestly say I am very pleased with how this build turned out. The performance, the overall aesthetic, and the build itself was just fun to do and share. I see a lot of really cool Winnows 95/98 based retro builds that focus on getting as much performance out of them as possible, and I had a build like that myself up until a few years ago, but I really don’t see a lot of minimalist retro builds, and that’s really what I wanted to do.

The EPIA-800 is a neat board and a small piece of computing history, being one of the first two ITX boards released. It’s got plenty of limitations, and there are definitely much better performing options out there, but having to work within this builds limitations was actually quite fun for me. I ended up with a small retro build that will provide me with many ours of entertainment, it was pretty cheap and easy to do, and it don’t take up much space at all.

On a side note, since I have a second EPIA-800 on hand, and now that I've got it working, I may do a second build in the future and drop a dedicated video card into it, just to see what it can do with more graphics horsepower. Well, if the prices of the good video cards ever come back down to earth that is!

Until the next build! Happy retro gaming and computing! Cheers!