Portable X86 Device (Size Of Psp) To Play Ms-Dos Games Natively

[dgame]

The 50CT arrived today. This thing is simply marvelous. It is the MMX version with the Pentium 120 MHz under-clocked to 75 MHz. I could potentially clock it up to 166 MHz. It also has a 4GB hard drive. The battery even holds a charge.

It came with an unstable Win95B install featuring several familiar DLL errors and such.
I cleaned it up a bit and used it to process the 98lite setup files. I’m waiting for the CF to IDE adapters to arrive before doing a clean 98 install.

Sadly the SD to CF adapters don’t fit into the PCMCIA CF reader. Hopefully they fit into the CF to IDE adapter for the boot drive. The PCMCIA CF reader is good for reading CF and I use it to transfer files to the current hard drive until I get the networking going.

@Gruso, I didn’t know the MIDI thing existed until reading this thread. I thought you saw it because the seller later posted the ‘only ship to US’ in the ad. I have a Roland MT-32 (for a different project) that will also be used with it.

I am really enjoying this old tech. I remember when the Pentium 75 changed my world. Before that I was running a 486DX100 with vesa local bus and a bunch of ISA slots. DOOM on the Pentium 75 is what motivated me to get into computer networking. My first serious MAME machine was a Pentium 120 MHz. Happy days are heeere again . . . :lol:

 

[gruso]

Nice No I didn't see the MIDI Traveler, it must have appeared since my last search. Sometimes it's an uphill battle finding stuff via ebay AU. Hopefully my serial adapter does the job. My main interest is hooking my up MT-32 as well. I've got Cakewalk Pro 3.01 installed, and I might have a look at WinJammer too.

I'm keen to hear how you go with IDE to CF for your boot drive, I'm considering going there myself. My only concern is that most adapters seem to be quite "short", so they'll be right down there in the slot once plugged in. Anyway, look forward to some updates.

 

[cbox]

Hmmm those PCMCIA cards are pretty cheap, I might get one for a couple more usb ports in my Amity. I currently use the PCMCIA slot for a LAN/modem card, but I can use a wireless dongle.

 

[andwan0]

Just showing how small a Toshiba Libretto is compared to another Toshiba...

and another

 

[dgame]

The Libretto 70CT arrived. It is as nice as the 50CT and potentially faster. This one has 32MB/1.6GB and full Windows 98SE installed so it’s a little sluggish.

It has the larger six cell battery.

It has Wifi already installed so I am posting this from the Libretto 70CT using the K-Meleon browser.

The CF to IDE adapters arrived. The SD to CF adapters will fit the IDE adapters. Though I will use real CF for the boot drive as it is rated faster than my fastest SD (266x vs 150x) card.

To address how deep the CF to IDE will go into the hard drive slot I ordered some 2 inch long 44pin 2.5" IDE extension (M/F) cables. I got the idea from what this person did: http://www.fineartradiography.com/hobbies/comp/index.html

Maybe I can gut a bad laptop hard drive and mount the CF adapter on the frame so it can slide in and out like a regular hard drive. I’m trying one last format on a bad drive I have before it goes under the knife.

 

[gruso]

Ah, that looks like the go.

We should get the thread title changed to the GP32X Libretto Club. ^_^

 

[dgame]

I thought about spinning this of into another thread but hey we're already here.


Update:

Gutting the dead laptop drive didn’t work for me as the enclosure is metal and would require a grinder to cut room for the adapter. It could fit with the right tools. I’m not to disappointed as using the drive case only adds weight.

I have this type of CF to IDE adapter and ended up cutting the pins down like this person:
http://www.josephn.net/solid_state_libretto
http://www.josephn.net/images/cf_libretto_images/cf8.png

I added a long strip of packing tape doubled over on the end so I can pull it out.
This also made it easy to guide in.

The problem is the Libretto won’t recognize the CF IDE drive. It just hangs at startup.
The CF to IDE adapter works fine with my USB to IDE/SATA adapter.

My CF to IDE adapter is rev.B1 with black plastic for the CF slot. The ones used in those two pages above have white plastic and the first one is rev.H0 so it’s likely that I have a different version.

I’m getting a different type of CF to IDE adapter this time. It is the length of a laptop hard drive and supports DMA and Ultra DMA and has master/slave/cable select options. It seems like it would be better suited for this application. Stay tuned . . .

 

[andwan0]

Ah, that looks like the go.

We should get the thread title changed to the GP32X Libretto Club. ^_^

Am really surprised my topic got so much attention/feedback even though it's got nothing to do with GP32.. though it's like a spiritual brother...idea

 

[cbox]

The issue with older laptops like that is the BIOS has size limitations, I bought a hard drive for my Amity and it won't even see it, it's too large. And it was only like a 30 gig drive (to replace a 2.1 gig drive)

 

[dgame]

It works!!! As suspected the cheap CF to IDE adapter was the problem. I received the fancier adapter and was able to install Windows 98SE (98lite) with no problems.

I am actually typing this on the 70CT in Word 2000 to paste into K-Meleon browser, as K-Meleon does not spell check in forms like Firefox.

Wireless networking works nicely. I have LAN cards as well.

Next up is the MIDI / game port. It looks brand new and is complete with the box, manual, and driver disks. Going to daisy chain two Microsoft Sidewinder game pads.

After that I will head into DOS mode and figure out how to mount an ISO file as a CD ROM for some TIE Fighter action. The MIDI adapter can apparently be used for gaming and music at the same time as it came with a cable for that. So I may be able to play TIE Fighter with my CH Flight stick and output the game’s General MIDI soundtrack to a real MIDI synthesizer.

For the record the first game I downloaded and played on the Libretto was the DOS version of Epyx Rogue. In the game I put on some cursed armor and was killed by a kestral on level 1.

When I find my camera I can post some pictures.

 

[gruso]

Awesome. Any details you could provide on the adapter & card you're using would be appreciated.

News from my corner, my serial-MIDI cable turned up:

I found a copy of Cubasis, installed a serial MIDI driver from Roland, and it's happily driving my MT-32 and C64 MSSIAH. Happy days.