You should do what I do. Floppies are unreliable media. burn them to optical media. The first thing that I do when I get a copy of an older game on floppy is to copy the contents to the hard drive and when I have enough I will burn to disc. Not perfect archival media, but far better than floppies.

What I've found is that the floppies themselves simply quit working VERY often.

One of the wonders of living in the paradise of Hawaii, especially this island, on the east side where we have our cabin is can rain 3 times as much up to 150 inches a year. I hear this about other things, such as my sewing machine, just use it, I didn't, my mistake. Rosaboobie who lives in Africa has the same problems with her computers/laptops because of the high humidity.

I use WinImage to make floppy images of my floppies, put these in my Old Games folder, extract the contents of the floppy images into each specific game directory (game folder), and burn the whole Old Games folder onto a DVD+RW, mount Old Games folder as the C drive of DOSbox, and install the games this way.

But still, I'd like to keep a floppy drive around just in case I happen to order a game that comes on floppies - but I think my family might try to talk me out of having EcollegePC add a floppy drive to the computer, so how do I convince them of the merits of having a floppy drive added to this new PC?

Why not just purchase a USB floppy drive and port it to any PC in the house?

USB Floppy Drives

That's a very good idea. We have one that we use on both laptops and our desktop. It's so rare to have to use it- but very now and then it does come in handy and I like the fact I can use it on all my machines.

They'd stop you from buying the PC over a $10 floppy drive? Come on....

I'd rather have EcollegePC add the floppy drive to the PC because at our house, Mom has a PC but I don't play games on hers, and although I'm going to have a total of 3 computers, my laptop is a Macbook Pro which I don't play games on, but just *will* do graphic design (photoshop, bryce) on, and I'll have 2 computers - this new PC from EcollegePC, and an Inspiron netbook with an Atom processor and a 16 GB hard drive with which to play all my games on. What's the merits of having an external floppy drive (I feel like I'm bouncing back and forth between adding floppy drive to the PC vs buying external floppy drive here) if I can have EcollegePC add a floppy drive to the new PC, use WinImage to create floppy images to put into a DOSbox game folder and mount this DOSbox game folder as the a: drive in DOSbox and install a game in this manner into my netbook's DOSbox?

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Just realized something: I can get a floppy drive cheaper (for $10) if I have EcollegePC add one to this new PC I'm ordering next month, whereas if I don't go this route and I buy an external floppy drive it'll cost me more ($40 -$80 - extra money better spent on games instead of wasting it thus).

So my decision is this - I'm forgoing buying an external floppy drive and am going to have EcollegePC add one to my new PC come January.

The only real benefit is that it can be ported to every PC in the house (including the Mac's). I suspect the additional $10.00 isn’t going to break the bank (so to speak). Even if you purchased and installed an add-on unit, you’d still spend more than that when you included shipping.

Right - it's not. I'll still have plenty of money left over after spending this extra $10.


Are you talking about a floppy drive that is mounted inside the PC tower?

Yes, an internal drive - it'll run you about $15.00 including shipping.

Or $10 if ecollege installs it for her.

**Update**

Yesterday: Told Mom that I'd rather our PC-savvy neighbor, David (David's taking a computer course at local community college) order this PC, showed David the final specs in my latest post in this thread here at GB, David agreed, but Mom told me I'd have to wait until "several more months", furthermore, David told Mom & I that he's going to check everything out in Jan/Feb. and he's going to find me the best PC and it'll have Windows XP in it.

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12/26/09 update -

Asked Mom about if David is currently looking for a new PC for me and Mom told me that the new PC's come out in Feb. Any Idea of which week/date in Feb?

There are no new PCs coming out in February. All the really good deals on PCs are going on right now in the before and after Christmas sales. Remember if you get a new PC (not one built by ecollege), you will not be able to get XP. Dell may still sell a few of them, but I'm not sure.

I suspect what Cruise02's Mom really means is that she hopes to have the money for Cruise02's new PC in February.

I suspect you're correct, Jenny, and that she just misunderstood her mom.

Yep, you turned out to be correct about this, Jenny and Drac. So while waiting for Feb. to come, I kept remembering that happy New Year's Eve 2005/06 that I had after coming home from one of my Christmas outings and using my old HP Compaq Presario X6000 laptop to play NiBiRu - and boy was I happy! And that netbook I have cannot play games like NiBiRu nor games like Heaven/Nikopol because it lacks a 3D card, and btw its hard drive is way too small - so I'm thinking I'd like to either forgo this new desktop PC we've been discussing so far and think about getting a 13"-14" laptop (or wait for 6 months and then get this desktop PC) with an Intel processor, NVida graphics card that's above the GeForce 9500, a roomy hard drive, wireless internet (for games requiring net activation), and 32-bit Windows XP, and weigh about 5 LBs or less. I only want to spend about $600 on this laptop because I'll probably have to replace it every 4 - 5 years as new games are released that I'd like to play, and this laptop becomes outdated, plus I think around spending $600/laptop warrants replacing it every half decade, while spending $1000+/laptop precludes replacing it every 4 - 5 years.

EDIT but now that I think about it, I have over 100 games (well maybe 101-2, give or take a few) and over 500 DVD movies to play on VLC for Windows XP so I might as well start holding off on buying new games after this new laptop becomes outdated in 5 years, catch up on playing all these games I currently have, plus the recent releases, and once these are all played and completed, then shell out another $600 or so for another laptop.

I think you should wait until you have the money and get the Desktop. The desktop can be updated, the laptop can't. To expect a $600 laptop to last 5 years is overly optimistic unless you are satisfied with only playing some old games (not all).

Exactly what do you mean by this, Jenny? Can't I play all my old games on it in VPC/VMware Player/DOSbox? How long should I expect a $600 laptop to last before it becomes outdated - wouldn't this warrant spending another $600 for a new one when this one becomes obsolute?

cruise02, you won't get much of a laptop for $600 to start with. In that price range, the video will most likely be an integrated GMA (graphics media accelerator) and may not play games very well at all - old or new. You won't get XP either. I thought the reason for getting a new computer in your first post was because your old Dell wouldn't play most of the new games. If all you want to do is play old games, the Dell will do that.

I agree with Jenny that the desktop which can be upgraded as you need is a much better choice.

Well, each time I remember that happy New Year's Eve of 2005/06 playing NiBiRu, it makes me want to give up that netbook that I currently have in favor of a 13"-14" laptop that weighs not more than around 5 lbs. so I could put it, a game or 2, couple of w/t/strategy books into my backpack and take it with me to the mall to play games - could we have a good discussion about this, please, vs. keeping the netbook and using this at the mall and getting that desktop PC because the more I think of gaming on that new desktop PC I understand that I'd be confined to my office upstairs in our house when my heart's desire is to get a good laptop with a good 3D card and use it to game at the mall because I like a change of scenery (for the past 10 years I used to dream of gaming at the mall with a laptop) which makes me feel more motivated to play my games to completion rather than sit around the house, fall into a lazy rut and lose my motivation to play these games I have which is much more likely to happen (and this has happened already) if I'm stuck with gaming on a desktop in the same place (my office) day after day after day (repeat), and this, I believe, is why I get bored and I lose my motivation to game at home.

P.S. If my memory serves me well, I think I remember that my parents let me bring my old laptop with me when we went to my sister's house where I sat contented, gaming during the Christmas holidays that year and that I might have also taken this laptop and a game to a friend's house to game a bit there later Christmas week, and all of this served as a change of scenery (as well as gaming in the kitchen on New Year's Eve) which heightened my motivation to game quite a bit.

The reason I'm explaining all this in the first place is because during the first week of January when Mom told me to wait until Feb. is I did some really hard thinking about the next several months after getting that new desktop PC - since I'll probably be going to the mall quite often I'll likely be gaming at the mall all day and basically I'd be neglecting the new desktop PC I brought in Feb., because when I come home I'd want to go on my mac and edit pictures in Photoshop until bedtime, and I likely won't be using the new desktop PC that much; thus I can hear Mom telling me 3 - 5 months down the road, "I let you buy that new desktop PC. But are you using it? No! You're taking your netbook to the mall almost every day, and when you come home, you go on your mac to edit pictures! I'm sorry I let you buy that desktop PC!"

Can't Windows XP be installed over Windows 7 so as to overwrite the Windows 7 OS (except the drivers) with Windows XP OS? I read somewhere in the tech forum here at GB (think it was in the Games and Windows 7 thread) recently where someone posted that this company they knew bought all new computers that had Vista/Windows 7 but all the workers were used to using Windows XP so the company loaded all the Vista/Windows 7 drivers into their computers and they installed Windows XP on all their computers over Vista/Windows 7 and overwrote the new OS with XP - would I be able to do this if I get a new laptop with Windows 7 32-bit?

With all this said, can't I just replace the video card in the old Dell Dimension (that's the only piece of hardware that's been failing) to stretch usage out of it for as long as possible, save up for a new laptop with a good 3D card, and give up the netbook (as I've found that I'm not too happy with it as it cannot play games like Heaven/Rhiannon/NiBiRu)?

Or if I elect to buy the new desktop PC, and I still want to buy a new laptop PC later on and give up the netbook, how do I explain all this to my non-PC-savvy mom so she'd understand (and hopefully agree) since if I try to talk to her about computer stuff she has absolutely no idea in the world what I'm talking about?

Thanks for warning me away from spending $600 on a new laptop, Drac - you're like a Big Sister watching over me when it comes to computers - since I'm seriously considering buying a windows laptop PC to take with me to the mall, I now realize that if I spent $600 on a laptop I'd have "purchase regret" later on and by then it'd be too late to correct my mistake, so now I'm thinking, how much should I budget for a 5-lb. laptop with an Intel core, a NVida video card and max out the years that it'll be adequate for running the latest AG releases and yet not pay too much for it?

I haven't played Heaven or Rhiannon - but... Games like Nibiru just won't play on newer OS's (it doesn't matter what hardware you throw at it).

If you're looking for a PC that will play everything - you’re just not going to find it - there are too many variables involved.

Edit -

As to the Dell - maybe and maybe not. It all depends on your upgrade path, and how deep your pockets go. Upgrading a video card can involve upgrading other components too.

It sounds like you want to buy a PC that plays everything and they just don't make such a thing.

What would you do if you encountered the problem described in Snyderm's post ***here***?
It's a very common problem with installing XP on modern laptops that use SATA hard drives.

And your work won't be finished if you do manage to install XP. You'll still have to find XP drivers for the parts inside the laptop -- motherboard drivers, network card drivers, sound drivers, video drivers, USB drivers, etc. In fact, you should download those drivers and burn them to a CDR before attempting to install XP. Remember XP came out many years before current laptops, and the XP disc won't have drivers for such new hardware. Vista and Windows 7 drivers may or may not work with XP. And 64-bit drivers probably won't work on a 32-bit operating system.


Keep in mind that these were professional IT people installing Windows XP. If any problems came up during the install, they'd know how to go about troubleshooting. And those computers would never have to face playing computer games, which can be very particular about drivers. It would be easier to build a new computer from scratch than to get XP working on a gaming laptop that wasn't designed for XP, and for which the manufacturer has not provided XP drivers.


That's probably a problem with the fixed 4:3 aspect ratio used in the games. Your netbook probably can't display the non-widescreen images. Rhiannon doesn't even need a 3D video card -- just basic SVGA 32-bit graphics.


Especially not in a laptop.

In general I'd have to agree. I've had really good luck with my own, but they can be problematic at times.

You'll need to shell out a fair amount of cash to get a good gaming laptop (and it still doesn't guarantee every game will play).

can you recommend some - but I don't want to have to pay like $1500 - $2000 - I just found this one for less than $1000 here at Best Buy

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Asus+-+Laptop+with+Intel%26%23174%3B+Core%26%23153%3B2+Duo+Processor+-+Blue/Black/9556072.p?id=1218124204092&skuId=9556072

it's 16", weighs 7.5 lbs, is a Core 2 Duo, with NVida graphics card, - it's close to what I want but it was Windows 7 64-bit, so I guess in that case I won't bother with trying to install Windows XP over Windows 7, I'll just use Windows XP compatibility mode or/and create a Windows XP VM using VMware Player and try to get the experimental 3D graphics thingy working in VMware Player.

EDIT Why isn't the link I put in to the Asus gaming laptop costing $899 at Best Buy working? I copied/pasted the complete website address.


I understand, but anyway, I'm hoping the one I buy will play all the games in my collection (via older OS'es in VPC/VMware Player/DOSbox even it it won't play everything, as I don't play FPS, the latest RPG's and all these other action-heavy games out there.