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  • V20

    From poindexter FORTRAN@21:4/122 to All on Thu Jun 12 07:50:59 2025
    This board makes me wistful for the days that popping a NEC V20 chip
    into an XT and hearing the memory test click speed up reminded you of
    how much farther into the SPACE AGE you were.



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  • From k9zw@21:1/158 to poindexter FORTRAN on Thu Jun 12 16:51:35 2025
    On 12 Jun 2025, poindexter FORTRAN said the following...

    This board makes me wistful for the days that popping a NEC V20 chip
    into an XT and hearing the memory test click speed up reminded you of
    how much farther into the SPACE AGE you were.

    How about that RAM-disc using the memory above the OS limits?

    Or buying a tube of memory chips?

    Yeah....

    ... Shortcut: longest distance between two points

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  • From Utopian Galt@21:4/108 to Poindexter Fortran on Thu Jun 12 17:58:27 2025
    BY: poindexter FORTRAN (21:4/122)

    |11pF|09> |10This board makes me wistful for the days that popping a NEC V20 chip|07
    |11pF|09> |10into an XT and hearing the memory test click speed up reminded you of|07
    |11pF|09> |10how much farther into the SPACE AGE you were.|07
    Or the joy of going from a 1mb graphics card to a 8mb graphics card.


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  • From kirkspragg@21:2/150 to poindexter FORTRAN on Tue Jun 24 21:32:22 2025
    This board makes me wistful for the days that popping a NEC V20 chip
    into an XT and hearing the memory test click speed up reminded you of
    how much farther into the SPACE AGE you were.

    And we still haven't put a man or woman on the moon since Apollo 17!

    The PC/XT era was a bit before my time (I was a toddler when it was released) but it seems the ability to "just" switch the CPU and get speed increase was pretty cool.

    How much did it improve performance? Was there anything in particular that went much faster with a V20?

    ... Where is Wally in VGA Planets?

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  • From k9zw@21:1/158 to kirkspragg on Wed Jun 25 14:06:17 2025
    On 24 Jun 2025, kirkspragg said the following...

    How much did it improve performance? Was there anything in particular
    that went much faster with a V20?

    Enough that others envied you for having an upgraded machine.

    I had the V20/30 upgrade (40 years is a long time to remember unimportant details like exact chip names) in a Columbia 1600 VP in England and even the IT techs at the University were impressed.

    A few years later the V-chips were nothing burgers, as the main common PC chips had passed them up.

    Putting things into context, the use of benchmarking applications wasn't all that common outside of IT techs, and I tended to measure how many sips of coffee one could take while waiting when I ran my linear regression programs. Less sips between enter and results was a faster experience.....

    ... Running Windows is better than washing them!

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  • From poindexter FORTRAN@21:4/122 to kirkspragg on Wed Jun 25 08:11:38 2025
    kirkspragg wrote to poindexter FORTRAN <=-

    How much did it improve performance? Was there anything in particular
    that went much faster with a V20?

    I forget the specifics, but in benchmarks, an 8 mhz V20 "appeared" to be
    an 11 mhz 8088. The beauty was that it was 100% pin and instruction-set compatible - pull the 8088 out, drop in the V20, and you're good to go.



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  • From poindexter FORTRAN@21:4/122 to k9zw on Wed Jun 25 08:11:39 2025
    k9zw wrote to kirkspragg <=-

    Putting things into context, the use of benchmarking applications
    wasn't all that common outside of IT techs, and I tended to measure how many sips of coffee one could take while waiting when I ran my linear regression programs. Less sips between enter and results was a faster experience.....

    It seemed like everyone had a pirated copy of AutoCAD back then, and
    seeing how long it took to render the rocket engine nozzle or the space
    shuttle wireframe was common.

    I thought I was pretty cool with my V20. My next door neighbor in the
    dorms had a Compaq 286 with a 287 and I was shocked at how fast it was
    by comparison.



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  • From Mortar M.@21:2/101 to Utopian Galt on Sun Jul 6 00:38:05 2025
    Re: Re: V20
    By: Utopian Galt to Poindexter Fortran on Thu Jun 12 2025 17:58:27

    Or the joy of going from a 1mb graphics card to a 8mb graphics card.

    Oh, I remember that well. I remember playing Quake on some no-brand VGA card, getting lousy frame rates and poor color. Then I bought an 8 Mb, Voodoo 2 card and ho-ly crap, what a difference! Smooth movement, proper colors and textures, I couldn't wait to try it out on other FPS games and 3D modeling.
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  • From Mortar M.@21:2/101 to kirkspragg on Sun Jul 6 14:20:08 2025
    Re: Re: V20
    By: kirkspragg to poindexter FORTRAN on Tue Jun 24 2025 21:32:22

    And we still haven't put a man or woman on the moon since Apollo 17!

    Wait for it. I forget the outfit, but one of the commercial space companies (SpaceX, maybe?) is working on that. It's possible it might happen by 2030.
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  • From phigan@21:3/193 to Mortar M. on Sun Jul 6 19:56:12 2025
    companies (SpaceX, maybe?) is
    working on that. It's possible it
    might happen by 2030.

    Maybe they will send a trans person to the moon. Get two birds stoned at once.



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  • From Exodus@21:1/144 to Phigan on Sun Jul 6 19:57:18 2025
    Maybe they will send a trans person to the moon. Get two birds stoned at on

    You mean on of those metal ill people? They wouldn't pass the heatlh and mental exam.

    But on another note, I hear they are using OS/2 WARP v3 CONNECT for their OS on the space shuttle! :) <G>

    ... There is no substitute for a genuine lack of preparation.

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  • From Gamgee@21:2/138 to Mortar M. on Sun Jul 6 19:58:42 2025
    Mortar M. wrote to kirkspragg <=-

    And we still haven't put a man or woman on the moon since Apollo 17!

    Wait for it. I forget the outfit, but one of the commercial space companies (SpaceX, maybe?) is working on that. It's possible it might happen by 2030.

    Scheduled for 2027: https://www.nasa.gov/missions/artemis/artemis-iii/




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  • From Utopian Galt@21:4/108 to Exodus on Sun Jul 6 20:26:50 2025
    BY: Exodus (21:1/144)

    |11E|09> |10p> Maybe they will send a trans person to the moon. Get two birds stoned|07
    |11E|09> |10p> at on|07
    |11E|09> |07
    |11E|09> |10You mean on of those metal ill people? They wouldn't pass the heatlh|07
    |11E|09> |10and mental exam.|07
    lets be classy, there are turds of all communities. But we are a mixed audience here.


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  • From Bob Worm to Mortar M. on Tue Jul 8 20:40:08 2025
    Re: Graphic Card Upgrades
    By: Mortar M. to Utopian Galt on Sun Jul 06 2025 00:38:05

    Hi, Mortar.

    Oh, I remember that well. I remember playing Quake on some no-brand VGA card, getting lousy frame rates and poor color. Then I bought an 8 Mb, Voodoo 2 card and ho-ly crap, what a difference!

    This is exactly how I (mis-)spent my late teenage years! Well, that and paying by the minute to hang around on IRC talking with the Quake people.

    Well, mostly Quake II, actually, and I sucked at it. But I never let that dampen my enthusiasm.

    BobW
  • From Nightfox@21:1/137 to Bob Worm on Tue Jul 8 16:14:35 2025
    Re: Graphic Card Upgrades
    By: Bob Worm to Mortar M. on Tue Jul 08 2025 08:40 pm

    Oh, I remember that well. I remember playing Quake on some no-brand VGA
    card, getting lousy frame rates and poor color. Then I bought an 8 Mb,
    Voodoo 2 card and ho-ly crap, what a difference!

    This is exactly how I (mis-)spent my late teenage years! Well, that and paying by the minute to hang around on IRC talking with the Quake people.

    Well, mostly Quake II, actually, and I sucked at it. But I never let that dampen my enthusiasm.

    You consider that mis-spent? ;)

    Nightfox
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  • From Mortar M.@21:2/101 to Bob Worm on Wed Jul 9 00:04:26 2025
    Re: Graphic Card Upgrades
    By: Bob Worm to Mortar M. on Tue Jul 08 2025 20:40:08

    Well, mostly Quake II, actually, and I sucked at it. But I never let that dampen my enthusiasm.

    Heh, I grok. I'm not the best FPS player around. Actually, I was more interested in just exploring the levels and admiring the level designs. I couldn't wait to try my hand at it. I used a program called, QED (Quake EDitor) and had fun designing my own little levels. My best was a level based on my workplace.
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