ZSNES bootable CD

Gil · Post by **Gil** » Thu Apr 17, 2008 7:20 pm

I have a Toshiba 470CDT lying around, here are the basic specs:

CPU: Pentium MMX 200 MHz
RAM: 32MB
GPU: C&T 65555 PCI / 2MB

http://www.ciao.co.uk/Toshiba_Satellite ... T__6524591

I want to turn it into a portable retro machine or something similar. Is it possible to run ZSNES on this? What will performance be?

Next I want to run it off a bootable CD. Basically, I want the OS to boot, have USB support for my controller, then fire up ZSNES.

I'm guessing Linux is my only option for USB support? I don't want to boot into a GUI, but cut to ZSNES as soon as possible.

I have some other ideas for this computer, but I'm still looking into those. If needed I can do a RAM upgrade, but I'd rather not have to do that for now.

blackmyst · Post by **blackmyst** » Thu Apr 17, 2008 7:43 pm

Gil wrote:What will performance be?

Nothing any real retro enthusiast would want to play with.

Rashidi · Post by **Rashidi** » Thu Apr 17, 2008 7:47 pm

if there ZSnes DOS i would done

Code: Select all

shell=ZSNES.EXE

in the config.sys

edit: don't do this, if you don't know what are you doing

Gil · Post by **Gil** » Thu Apr 17, 2008 7:56 pm

blackmyst wrote:Nothing any real retro enthusiast would want to play with.

What's the bottleneck? What are the preferred requirements for ZSNES?

funkyass · Post by **funkyass** » Thu Apr 17, 2008 8:14 pm

probably a p3 600 or higher for smooth play, at least 128 MB for any useful GUI.

Gil · Post by **Gil** » Thu Apr 17, 2008 8:37 pm

Who said I need GUI? I can run Win98 on this puppy, so it's possible to run some GUI stuff on it, don't worry.

I'm asking about Zsnes and how I can get it to run smoothly on this old laptop.

I now know it's going to perform subpar, so you're saying that the CPU is not enough? RAM is ultimately not a very big issue, as I should be able to upgrade to 160MB RAM

byuu · Post by **byuu** » Thu Apr 17, 2008 9:44 pm

The current ZSNES supposedly won't run well on such an old PC, but I remember running the very oldest versions of ZSNES on a P166 at full speed, with no frame skipping on the non-intensive scenes.

You'll lose:
- any and all filters, even basic bilinear filtering
- 16-bit color, eg transparency / blending effects
- hires and interlace modes (needed for Secret of Mana, SD3, RPM racing, etc)
- lots of compatibility improvements in newer versions
- SuperFX, SA-1 and most newly emulated special chips

And dragging that around on an old, heavy STN laptop ... ugh. Doesn't sound the least bit desirable to me, but if that sounds good to you, then by all means.

Gil · Post by **Gil** » Thu Apr 17, 2008 10:15 pm

Are the following games fair play?

Mario Kart
Mario All-stars
Donkey Kong Country 1-3
Chrono Trigger

(I guess the snowman scene in DKC3 will give some trouble, ZSNES has always had problems correctly displaying the guy)

And do I need to dig for one of these old versions, or will the newest versions run too?

Now I just need to run either FreeDOS or a lightweight linux version to boot it from CD

Thanks for the info. I might invest in getting some extra RAM then. I suppose I can find some old EDO RAM for $5.

Also, the old lappy, being a 12.1" TFT, is a lot more portable than anything new, plus it looks extremely cute. I'll also be looking into attaching two controllers serially, to avoid the whole USB ordeal. It would be ultra cool if I can rewire two SNES controllers.

Deathlike2 · Post by **Deathlike2** » Thu Apr 17, 2008 10:19 pm

Gil wrote:Are the following games fair play?

Mario Kart

Special Chip: DSP1

Mario All-stars
Donkey Kong Country 1-3
Chrono Trigger

The rest should be a sluggish... probably the DKC series will be affected the most (lots of color), followed by CT (Mode 7 effects plus lots of transparancy).

You're going to have to use the DOS port for sure. See if you have any luck with Scitech Display Doctor...

BFeely · Post by **BFeely** » Thu Apr 17, 2008 11:47 pm

When you get to the future on Chrono Trigger, you will wish you had transparency.

Gil_Hamilton · Post by **Gil_Hamilton** » Fri Apr 18, 2008 12:52 am

Gil wrote:I have a Toshiba 470CDT lying around, here are the basic specs:

CPU: Pentium MMX 200 MHz
...
Next I want to run it off a bootable CD. Basically, I want the OS to boot, have USB support for my controller, then fire up ZSNES.

Give up USB. It's gonna take processor cycles that you can't spare.
I used to have to do that with my old K6-2. If I disabled my Gamepad Pro, I could get full frame rates on... 0.8 or so, I think. Emulation in the DOS days, whoo!

The only way that thing'll be servicable for your purposes is a DOS boot disk with an older version of ZSNES.

paulguy · Post by **paulguy** » Fri Apr 18, 2008 7:28 am

I'm sure the EEE is much more portable than that, and cheap as hell, and will get you decent speeds.

ZSNES board

ZSNES bootable CD

ZSNES bootable CD

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