Thinkpads Forum

Hi there,

Haven't been here in a year or two.

I am looking to build/buy a rig that lets me play all the DOS games that I enjoyed in the early to mid 90's. I am not interested in emulation - it needs to be an actual computer from the days. Even though I hardly ever had a laptop back then, I'd love to go for a TP. Is there one that could meet my needs?

Specs would be: 486DX66 (min) - Pentium 166 (max), 8-32 Mbyte RAM, SVGA graphics, Soundblaster 16/equivalent or better, CD-ROM, MS-Dos 6.2x and Win 3.1x (optional)

Take a look at the ThinkPad 760 series.

My first ThinkPad was a 760EL, which sounds like the kind of thing you are looking for. P120, 800x600 12" screen, max 40MB RAM, Sound Blaster, CDROM.

The issue I can think of is driver related.

If I wanted to go back in time and build a 90's gaming box it'd have to be a mid-tower PC.

The reasoning is I'd be able to use a genuine Sound Blaster, as opposed to whatever "Sound Blaster" compatible chip was put in there. Also I'd be able to use a VLB video card, preferably from NumberNine.

I wouldn't use a laptop because while most of the games would work I know the sound or color would be off in someway.

It's funny this topic came up because I have considered building a retro box just for fun and half the fun (for me) would be sourcing original working vintage parts. I'd want the VLB EIDE controller, the 6x CD-ROM, and so on.