This 1000x - Aureal and their A3D tech was amazing.
I remember ages ago when it was new, my brother and I were shoveling snow for people to get pocket money to upgrade our PC. We settled on a Turtle Beach Montego II and I adored the thing.
Of course, it was short lived since the update in Windows driver model, and the bankruptcy of Aureal, ended things.
I actually got into retro computing a few years ago and got another Montego II off Ebay cheap and I have to say, the magic is still there.
Frankly, playing something like the original Unreal is my favorite example of a vintage experience that I can't replicate any other way - 3DFX Glide has an aesthetic and responsiveness that's hard to match, analog ps/2 keyboard and mouse with no latency, VGA CRT monitor, Aureal A3D audio with some headphones.
It's a singular experience that is impossible to replicate today. And I love it.
The closest I know of is Blue95. I have only run the live environment but it worked pretty well and was impressive.
"Blue95 is a modern and lightweight desktop experience that is reminiscent of a bygone era of computing. Based on Fedora Atomic Xfce with the Chicago95 theme."
You're not remotely alone here and it's sad how rare this sentiment is.
I completely agree with you.
I feel like I'm taking crazy pills because if you apply this situation to pretty much any other consumer product it gets ridiculous fast. What if a car doesn't allow you to turn off an approved road? What if it limited your speed to posted limits? What if you could only use fuel from one brand of station? If parts used DRM so the dealership had to do your brakes and any repairs?
All of these things would cause a massive backlash.
But computers are so hard people can't be trusted with them. It's just nuts.
I think they're right about the interface itself, and agree with you wholeheartedly about the technical problems of the time. NT was a massive leap forward and it amazes me how long it existed before Microsoft could merge the consumer and business spaces in XP.
That said, something to be said for truly feeling in control of your own computer and not worrying at all about what it's doing behind your back (or what might change without you knowing in the next update!)
I really miss the UI/UX of the 90s and I sincerely think that while nostalgia plays a part, they have real merit. We don't really think about what we've lost in the quest for "attractive" and "simple" UIs
In those screenshots, what's clickable is obvious. What things can be interacted with is hinted at. Every element has a generous amount of space to be selected/clicked.
I really do believe that modern UIs generally increase cognitive load and are less enjoyable to use. Things are less discoverable than they used to be.
It amazes me how much early interfaces got right, and saddens me how much we've forgotten.
Modern UIs are also almost impossible for elderly people to use, precisely because the common sense notions of ‘button’ and ‘scrollbar’ and such are frowned upon and have been all but banished. Ironically, iOS is full of obscure hidden controls and options despite the Macintosh being one of the greatest examples of intuitive UI design ever — which might actually be even harder to appreciate in hindsight given that it set the standard in so many ways.
PCem is far, far better for Win95 emulation - it can handle a P2 233 and a Voodoo3 fairly accurately - and tons and tons of hardware on top of that.
It’s amazing. I keep a 95 / 98 and some other vintage machines around as a hobby, but being able to play Unreal in an emulator with 3D acceleration blows my mind
I remember ages ago when it was new, my brother and I were shoveling snow for people to get pocket money to upgrade our PC. We settled on a Turtle Beach Montego II and I adored the thing.
Of course, it was short lived since the update in Windows driver model, and the bankruptcy of Aureal, ended things.
I actually got into retro computing a few years ago and got another Montego II off Ebay cheap and I have to say, the magic is still there.
Frankly, playing something like the original Unreal is my favorite example of a vintage experience that I can't replicate any other way - 3DFX Glide has an aesthetic and responsiveness that's hard to match, analog ps/2 keyboard and mouse with no latency, VGA CRT monitor, Aureal A3D audio with some headphones.
It's a singular experience that is impossible to replicate today. And I love it.