LGR - Building a Pointy Pentium Pyramid PC
Added 2020-10-02 20:08:46 +0000 UTChttps://youtu.be/RemzAqFoXrc
Ahh yet another video that evolved far beyond its original scope and turned into something completely unintentional. I hoped to have this finished a week ago but here we are, haha.
This all began as a silly impulse purchase that I figured would make for a fun, quick little Blerbs video. Just saying like "hey, I got this pyramid PC case, here's what it looks like" kind of thing. So I recorded the unboxing, was more impressed by the case than I thought I would be, and decided to at least put some spare parts inside...
But then my ambitions got the better of me and before I knew it, I'd decided to do a full build centered around one of those business/industrial motherboards that combine new and legacy hardware together, with my goal being to see if Win9x or XP would still work with this odd combination of old and new tech. Sort of a follow-up to my Ryzen MS-DOS video from a few years back...
Well, after a couple days failing to get that going, I said "screw it" and moved onto Ubuntu. Which resulted in the legacy hardware side of things not cooperating how I'd hoped, leading me to remove most of the old hardware and rely on the new hardware, defeating half the purpose of the building. Which got me thinking "welp, may as well try out some Windows to Linux compatibility options," and that turned into several days of screwing around with Wine and Lutris and Proton and before I knew it, it was Tuesday...
Combine all this with a last-minute trip out of town over the weekend, and a few afternoons over in storage digging up other PCI cards that didn't make it into the final video, and yeah. This is where things ended up! Hours upon hours of footage that didn't really connect at all. Perhaps I should've said "THIS IS ENOUGH" at some point along the way but instead I edited it all together into a half hour ramble. As a result, this video is kind of all over the place, heh. I'm not sure if the end result is anything to write home about, but hopefully the journey along the way is entertaining enough.
If nothing else, I have a ridiculous pyramid now.
Comments
Also, you have a Disney Sound Source as well, right? You reviewed one in an Oddware episode, years ago. Well, Duke Nukem 3D supports the Disney Sound Source. Why not plug it into the Pyramid PC and play Duke Nukem 3D on it, natively, in FreeDOS? You can also find out how well it supports in high-res VESA modes on that rig.
Volkert
2020-10-09 22:35:43 +0000 UTCHey, I have a cool idea for a follow-up video. Remember that OPL2LPT device that you reviewed a few years ago? Well, your Pyramid PC has a parallel port, right? So you could try putting the Radeon 7000 back in one of the PCI slots, installing FreeDOS on it (natively, not in a VM), plugging in the OPL2LPT and seeing how well DOS games run on that thing in native DOS. 😄 Well, at least the games you can get working on it using ADLIPT or ADPATCH. The reason why you might be better off putting the Radeon 7000 back in for this is because it might have beter VESA VBE 3.0 compatibility, which you'd need for DOS games that support SVGA. Worth trying at least, right? 🙂
Volkert
2020-10-09 20:02:00 +0000 UTCI love that “modern retro motherboard” if you can call it that. What would be the best places to find those? A modern system with floppy drives would be so nice to have.
Johan Petur Klüver Dam
2020-10-09 03:30:55 +0000 UTCThis reminds me of just about everything that came out of the mid 2000’s. If you swap out the RGB for CCFL and UFO for a cooler master aero (that turquoise blower fan thing I had) then it would fit right in down my local computer retailer. Love it! Shame about the slots but its understandable. I believe even the support for old architecture is done via virtualisation via micro code now so each system must vary a lot..? I pray silence to those with more knowledge but it stands to make sense that it’s a bit weird to configure.
Andrew Kirkby
2020-10-07 21:22:08 +0000 UTCI may be very late to the party but it sure is some beautiful chaos!
AlexPeaks
2020-10-05 12:13:40 +0000 UTCReally enjoyed watching this build. These boards hadn't really occurred to me as an option. My retro box these days is a P2 board picked specifically because it supports ISA, PCI and AGP - that and a modern PC alongside being able to drop in most hardware without too much fuss... But getting most of that on a single board? I can probably sacrifice the AGP slot without too much worry... As others have mentioned, it might be worth looking at some of the PCI passthrough options into a VM for qemu and the like (IOMMU seems to be a key search-term...) - though it does look pretty daunting at first glance. Still, opens up some really interesting ideas. Trust industry to find new and interesting ways to keep old hardware around.
James Cheese
2020-10-04 10:28:18 +0000 UTCXubuntu likely didn't install the proprietary video driver, or offer to do so. I noticed on several recent systems I've setup I had to go install those my self. A slightly better and more common GPU, even an older one, could be a better option. The only difference between Ubuntu and Xubuntu is the graphical desktop packages (its even possible to switch between them by installing the other switching the default), that leads me to suspect GPU driver/support issues. The Intel Pentium might be under-powered for OS virtualization, with the tiny cache being its biggest downfall. At least the G6400 seems to have VT-d enabled, so hardware passthru to a VM should be possible in theory. I cannot find any info if the mobo supports this. If you do a VM with old hardware, also give it a dedicated physical GPU and HID devices (possibly just hand it its own USB2 controller). If you haven't already, disable IME/Intel ME/ Intel Management Engine in BIOS. You will never need it and always end up with new security exploits. Apparently the BIOS supports a custom boot logo... The new Ryzen gaming PC I built just before the first lockdown is Linux only. Its crazy how far Linux game has come recently. That thing is faster than my dual Xeon workstation and cost a 1/4 as much.
Kadah
2020-10-04 05:22:00 +0000 UTCI haven't yet tried it on Linux, but on Win10 yes! Fantastic stuff 👍
LGR
2020-10-03 19:58:48 +0000 UTCSo in honour of the pyramid you've kludged up some kind of Ancient Alienware computer. In a case large enough to land a spaceship on.
2020-10-03 18:40:56 +0000 UTCThat case is delightfully over the top! :P I see you tried RollerCoaster Tycoon 2. Have you ever tried OpenRCT2? It vastly extends the game with extra features, and has a native Linux port. (Full disclosure: I am one of the devs of OpenRCT2.)
Michael Steenbeek
2020-10-03 17:47:50 +0000 UTCWelcome to the awesomeness that is gaming on Linux! Seriously, developers need to start paying attention!
Malbeth
2020-10-03 16:04:15 +0000 UTCThat's the idea! It's certainly beyond what I'd normally consider, haha. Definitely grown on me though, it's just so eye-catching.
LGR
2020-10-03 15:37:16 +0000 UTCThanks! The high frame rate gameplay is so smooth it does look a little unnatural, haha.
LGR
2020-10-03 15:35:44 +0000 UTCI love how clear the video is. So glad you record in 4K. I swear some of those old games look clearer than some new stuff.
Ðementation
2020-10-03 13:21:52 +0000 UTCLove how over the top this is! :D
Jason Wellband
2020-10-03 03:52:09 +0000 UTCI don't know how to do it myself, but I know you can use the KVM virtualization feature of Linux and pass through raw hardware devices directly to the VM. In your case I think if you were to do that both PCI slots would pass through because you'd have to pass the PCI bridge through as a whole. Doing that you could have the Linux stuff on the onboard video and audio and the VM use the PCI video and sound cards. But anyway, the point is there is some fun weirdness you could mess with if you really wanted to get that far out into the weeds. It's really crazy some of the stuff you can do with Linux.
John Bailey
2020-10-03 03:42:47 +0000 UTCDo you have a 64 bit build of Windows XP on hand? I’m thinking the fact the Pentium Gold is x64 is probably the main hurdle as far as running old Windows versions goes, but I’m sure you know much more about this than me..
pj
2020-10-03 03:34:46 +0000 UTCSeriously though, it's a gigantic thing and I have no idea where it's gonna go!
LGR
2020-10-03 02:04:12 +0000 UTCKnew it wouldn't be long till that video got brought up! I'm actually using the same methods he did, as seen at and around 15:41. Results vary wildly from system to system, unfortunately.
LGR
2020-10-03 00:44:18 +0000 UTCI know this video of running Windows 98 on a modern laptop and going through all the install issues and such https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IO2BSLkQLDA Maybe worth a look?
Xerxes
2020-10-02 23:36:49 +0000 UTCThis really went all over, but somehow it works. What a strange combination of devices.
JennaKay
2020-10-02 23:28:43 +0000 UTC...and it keeps your knives sharp and your fruit from spoiling
Erwin Bierhof
2020-10-02 22:56:32 +0000 UTCIt's definitely on the table! I really want to try it on a 386.
LGR
2020-10-02 22:53:02 +0000 UTCOoh intriguing. I'll have to look into it!
LGR
2020-10-02 22:52:28 +0000 UTCSeeing as XP SP3 is much newer and didn't work, I had my doubts and decided against trying it.
LGR
2020-10-02 22:52:03 +0000 UTCI was expecting you to say "cotton eye joe" in your intro
2020-10-02 22:31:06 +0000 UTCI love it!! I wonder if Windows 2000 would work on it? Just a thought. Currently searching for a pyramid for a mini-itx build! :)
2020-10-02 22:23:53 +0000 UTCHey Clint, since you installed Linux it is probably feasible with some fuckery (I can help you with that if you'd like) to put the SB live and the ATI card in the PC and use them *from a windows 98 vm*. Linux has a feature called 'vfio' (I use it with modern PCIe cards to test game engines on various operating systems) and I see no reason why this couldn't be made to work for a Windows 98 VM. For euh... dumb reasons I've figured out how to run Windows 98 with purely virtual hardware on Linux (see this glorious tweet https://twitter.com/TMM2K/status/1294720322101489664). It sounds like a real fun thing to try to get working, and if I had that hardware it's what I'd be doing :) (Just to be clear: by 'from a VM' I literally mean you'd have an extra mouse, keyboard, and monitor hooked up to that Linux box and it'd just be running Windows 98, but with all of the niceties of being able to load ISOs and whatnot)
HP van Braam
2020-10-02 22:14:11 +0000 UTCNow that is how you build a ridiculous PC.
Rich
2020-10-02 22:07:13 +0000 UTCI ain't much for RGB setups, but admittedly I like that wacky UFO cooler just being docked inside this absurd pyramid hangar.
Yoshizard64
2020-10-02 22:03:54 +0000 UTCI would freaking love to see you do videos on classic Linux honestly, especially with you having the boxed RedHat and Corel Linux (via Wordperfect 2000) distros accessible. Interesting part of the computing ecosystem
Curus Keel
2020-10-02 21:48:08 +0000 UTCAlso, I'm just saying, you can play "$25,000 Pyramid" for DOS on the Pyramid, and that would be meta.
TroyTakesPhotos
2020-10-02 21:35:13 +0000 UTCAs a Manufacturing Test Engineer, I'm one of those weirdos. Because while I've almost weaned us off of needing PCI and serial... I haven't quite managed to do it completely, yet.
John Covil
2020-10-02 20:52:44 +0000 UTCGreat fun to watch. Nice video, Clint. Now to figure out how and where to store it 😅
Jan-Marten de Boer
2020-10-02 20:44:44 +0000 UTCWatch, turns out Clint bought a PC case from aliens...
Hernando Heilbron
2020-10-02 20:36:56 +0000 UTCNice PPPP 😅
Adam Christensen
2020-10-02 20:15:58 +0000 UTC"From somewhere in the Carolinas, this IS the $299 Computer Pyramid! With today's celebrities - LGR - and Nipsey Russell!"
TroyTakesPhotos
2020-10-02 20:15:56 +0000 UTCUh-oh, it looks like Clint joined the Illuminati...
Brian Lawson
2020-10-02 20:15:22 +0000 UTCheck ya man
John Piscopo
2020-10-02 20:12:28 +0000 UTC
