Hardlimit Museum

amd125

@cobito There are several processors with which I have wet dreams hahaha

As a possessor of a K6-II 400 MHz that K6-II 500 MHz I like a lot. Also the Pentium MMX at 200 MHz.

By the way, a while ago I started looking for the equivalent in AMD the K6 200 MHz that surpassed the Intel micro in some aspects, and it was not very easy to locate.

Very good the 486 DX 4 100 MHz that poor thing came out almost at the same time as the Pentium and was relatively ignored.

A time when my love for tinkering began and as I was a student without a job, I couldn't afford those components, but a time of which I keep magnificent memories.

cobito

@amd125 Well, I didn't know that they had made k6-2 at 500MHz until I scrapped the PC that came from that years ago. About the 486 DX 4, you can see one from the house in action here. Now that I see it, I forgot to put it in the museum.

I also started tinkering with a 486 (SX2) but back then I was afraid of breaking something and didn't give it much attention

amd125

@cobito I did remember the K6s at those speeds. It sounds to me like there was a K6 II+ at 550 and even one at 570 but I don't remember seeing the latter for sale.

Then the K6 III came out but these are still selling for a pretty penny these days for what they are.

I will upgrade my K6 to a faster one some day, just for fun. To be honest, back then I was using a 133 MHz Pentium that I inherited from my brother's girlfriend and I was happy. Before that I had a 486 sx 25 MHz but it was tough seeing how after 2-3 years my friends were using Pentium 1s and I was still on the 486.

It was a time I remember fondly, when I started getting into this hobby, because before that I had a tape-based Amstrad but I went years without using a PC until I got the 486.

cobito

I have added the abandonware section. You can see how little there is at the end of the cover. For now, it is not possible to download anything; only to view the information of the files. If anyone wants something, they can ask me.

During this weekend, almost all the programs and games that have been tested will be added.

And related to the museum but extendable to any field, tomorrow a new and juicy functionality will be announced on Hardlimit. Stay tuned to your screens

_Neptunno_

@cobito a question, can we send you some photos of some CPU for the museum? I say this in case, when I have time I can send you the one of some old CPU like K7 or Pentium III.

Best regards!!

cobito

@_Neptunno_ Si, claro. Todo lo que tengáis y queráis compartir me lo podéis enviar a correo

_Neptunno_

@cobito Let's see if I have some time to look for those photos and send them to you

cobito

I said I wouldn't add more things until a new analysis, but boredom got the better of me. You can now see my almost complete collection of RAM memories. There's nothing exotic because it's the only thing I have here, but the cool stuff will arrive soon. Until then, you can see the memories in their corresponding museum room.

cobito

The museum's library is now open. At the moment there are 5 publications that total more than 900 computer magazines from 1975 to 2013. The engine is a bit slow, so the visualizations take a while to load (I'll try to optimize that a bit). The viewer still has work ahead. For now, reading is limited to the first 5 pages, although I am getting closer to the formula to share all the resources without too many problems.

Yorus

@cobito said in Museo Hardlimit:

The museum's library is now open. At the moment there are 5 publications that total more than 900 computer magazines from 1975 to 2013. The engine is a bit slow, so the visualizations take a while to load (I'll try to optimize that a bit). The viewer still has work ahead. For now, reading is limited to the first 5 pages, although I'm getting closer to the formula to share all the resources without too many problems.

How great those MicroHobby were, what memories... a mix of leisure and technical magazine... for me it was perfect.

cobito

More magazines have been added to the repertoire, totaling 12 publications composed of more than 1600 copies altogether.

On the other hand, after a week of doing OCRs, the search has been enabled. The search takes a few seconds to show results but it seems to work more or less. For the moment, it does not point to the text on the page where it was found; it only shows the page where it appears and the number of times it was found.

In addition, the performance issues that caused the pages to load slowly have been resolved. The loading speed is now much more reasonable.

cobito

The Hardlimit Museum 2.0 for Windows 3.1 is here! (Available on 3.5" double-density diskettes for only 19.995 pesetas)

General new features

A new aesthetic in line with the rest of Hardlimit pages
The VIP area has been removed
New software and hardware with more images and videos
A new menu with new categories for both software and hardware.
A navigation bar at the top of the page.
Numerous internal changes have been made to facilitate maintenance.

New features in the software section

You can now use practically all programs, games, and operating systems from the browser without having to download or install anything.
Downloads are enabled for everything considered abandonware. For more information, visit the leame.txt
In each tab, the program mentions in the magazines we have are shown next to an image of the page and a link to it to view full screen.
New categories that total up as follows:

Operating systems
Games
Tools
Window managers
Office
Multimedia
Internet

New features in the hardware section

The three computers we have at the moment have new photos and videos.
There are now new categories. In total, we have:

Computers
Processors
RAM memories
Graphics cards
Controllers
Chipsets

New features in the library

A new magazine viewer: two-page view and the possibility to enlarge them by clicking on them.
A new search engine in magazines that is much faster.

New content

Sheet of the Satellite 230CX
Sheet of Windows 3.x with emulations and downloads of numerous versions, from the first betas to Windows 3.11 FWG
The sheet of the Prince of Persia has been completed with many versions that can be played from the browser.
New games: Need for Speed 2, Quake 2, Broken Sword 2, Age of Empires and GTA 1.
The category Tools has been created with programs that will help you tune up and manage your latest generation PC.

Limitations

There is a limit of 10 daily downloads. Emulations count as one download.
Certain games and programs are not available for download even if they are considered abandonware.
At the moment, downloading magazines is not possible.

What is coming next?
The vast majority of new features will come in terms of content: new software, new hardware, more magazines and completing most sheets with more downloads and emulations.

If you see any errors, don't hesitate to comment. Updates will be sent to subscribers on diskette by postal mail.

Yorus

Great job!, and I love the magazine viewer. I have a few saved in case you are interested.

cobito

@Yorus ¡Gracias!

Cualquier aportación es bienvenida. Elige la forma de pasármelas (gdrive, dropbox o como sea). No se si instalar Owncloud o algo así para este tipo de aportaciones.

PD: He solucionado un fallo que hacía que el buscador no arrojara resultados para la mayoría de las peticiones.

Yorus

@cobito said in Museo Hardlimit:

@Yorus Thanks!

Any contribution is welcome. Choose the way to send them to me (gdrive, dropbox or whatever). I'm not sure if I should install Owncloud or something like that for this type of contributions.

PD: I have fixed a bug that caused the search engine to not return results for most requests.

I got most of the magazines from a Torrent, but then I had to make a selection because I don't have much disk space and there were about 900Gb. I can look for that Torrent or see if I can also share what I have on a USB drive connected to the NAS.

cobito

We have three new magazines in the library!

3D World

This is a publication that was alive from 1997 to 1999 and dealt with topics related to the creation of "synthetic images" and animations. As can be read in a fragment of its first editorial:

Behind 3D WORLD there are several dozen people in love with 3D and computer design. Many of them, working in production companies, advertising agencies, multimedia development companies, games, and others, simply trying to make a living in this little world, going from company to company, with the ZIP of animations in one hand and the curriculum in the other. The common denominator of all of them is that they want to end up (and of course they will) living from 3D and computer design, as surely, many of our readers will also do. Because fortunately, this is an expanding sector.

48K

A magazine aimed at Spectrum users that saw the light in 1985 and was published for a year. In its first editorial they said this:

Hello friends, first of all, congratulations, you have in your hands, THE MAGAZINE, not a magazine, but THE MAGAZINE.
Well, seriously, the most logical thing is to tell you our approaches, we intend to make a “new” magazine, but with a lot of experience, since if we are not pioneers in this of magazines for Spectrum, we are in the Spectrum itself, because we know it thoroughly, and you will see it issue by issue, time will prove it to you. This magazine, yours from now on, you won't know why you will buy it, perhaps because of the game, which every month will be a real STAR-MACHINE-CODE, perhaps because of the magazine, whose content, as you will see will be of unsurpassed quality, perhaps because of everything together, perhaps because it only costs 375 pts., perhaps... who knows?
We hope that the magazine will like you as much as we like making it, that's why we thought that you would like to keep it and for that, every 12 issues, we will issue some covers, for that, to help you organize a little bit all that paper that it has: Well friends, I don't keep you entertained any longer, I leave you in the hands of our collaborators; expert hands that we are sure will make you spend unbeatable moments. Until next time.

Amiga World

Well, that's it, a publication for the users of this alternative to the PC. It was out from 84 to 90, although some issues are missing from this one and the truth is that the dates are not entirely accurate. In the next iteration, we will try to complete the collection as well as we will look for more precise dates. In its first editorial they presented themselves as follows:

Many readers will be waiting for the announcement of the continuity of Amiga World. But for now, this zero issue is a harbinger, a sowing for the future the seed that we all hope to see become a flower. The content says it all, from the most varied listings for the avid programmers, to the deep test benches, passing through the articles on graphics or game reviews, this issue has all the ingredients to entertain and teach.

More coming soon!

cobito

This week the image quality of PC Magazine has been improved, although it still leaves something to be desired (the quality of the originals is quite poor).

A problem with magazines without a cover (like PC Actual) has also been solved, where some issues come with a cover and others without. Now the two-page view is displayed correctly in any case.

In addition, the OCR of the first era of Micromanía has been improved, so the search results will be better for terms related to that magazine.

On the other hand, the first editorial of each magazine (in almost all publications) is now displayed, where a declaration of intentions and a presentation of the editorial team are usually made. The truth is that when reading them, one gets an idea of the "historical" context in which the publications were born. At least to me, some seem quite interesting.

To finish with the changes and improvements, the search is now divided into several pages when there are more than 20 results and a couple of minor bugs have been fixed.

As for the content, we have no less than 7 new magazines:

Amstrad Accion

It was published from 87 to 89 and was a magazine aimed at CPC users. In its first editorial we read this:

Dear readers: we would be delighted if this first issue of “AMSTRAD ACCION” were of your total interest. We would like to offer you, and that will be our purpose, a magazine brimming with current events, good programs and above all practical from beginning to end. With the help of all of you we hope to achieve this desired goal, we are aware that no magazine can survive without the support of its readers, without their collaboration. We can all contribute something to “AMSTRAD ACCION”.

Atari Explorer

I don't know if I only have the first 5 issues or if it lasted little. What we have was published in 85. In its first editorial they said this:

It may seem initially absurd to start an activity that consists of placing a new computer magazine in the apparently saturated Spanish kiosks. However, this publication, which arises after an exhaustive market analysis, does not have among its purposes to compete with any. It is also complementary with its more prestigious colleagues and self-sufficient in that it fills a great gap: no one until now has dealt exclusively with Atari users.

Club Commodore

A magazine for VIC and CBM users that apparently was alive from 82 to 84. In a fragment of its first editorial it read this:

CLUB COMMODORE is our small contribution to the promotion of this communication. Among several thousand users, ideas, programs, subroutines, etc., are born that can benefit all others. We would like our motivation, YOU, VIC or CBM user, to make it yours by becoming our editorial partner. You surely have ideas that other users have not come up with. Don't deprive us of them.

Club HNOSTAR

Directed at MSX users, it started being more of a fanzine than a magazine. In its more than a decade of existence with a rather inconsistent periodicity, it ended up becoming a full-fledged magazine. Of this one we are missing the first 6 issues, so we don't have the welcome editorial.

Game Over

It was alive for a year and a half, from 98 to 99. It is sister to 3D World whose first editorial says this:

From the newly created editorial of GAME OVER we want to welcome all those who, like you, have passed by the kiosk and have been attracted by our brand new number one. We are sure that you will not regret having bought it since, as our cover announces, it is a magazine made by and for the video game professionals. This guarantees that its content has been prepared by authentic encyclopedias of the video game who enjoy analyzing and commenting the latest releases and the most succulent novelties of the current panorama.

Game Developer

In reality it is a supplement of Game Over, but being a much more technical publication, I have decided to separate it as if it were a different magazine. Its welcome message says this:

I welcome all passionate about video games. GAME DEVELOPER has been developed by the most qualified professionals of the national panorama to illuminate your minds eager for knowledge and guide you through the intricate paths of video game development. For those more versed in the subject, I guarantee that one never knows enough about anything and that one can always know more about everything. So if you want to reach a state of evolution superior to those around you, read GAME DEVELOPER carefully and you will discover what is good.

Input Commodore

To finish this week (which has already been well nourished), this magazine from the mid-80s (85-87) has been included. With its title, it doesn't need much description and in its first editorial they said this:

One more magazine!, will be the reflection that many readers will make. Indeed, that's the case, we go out to the street to expand the offer available in the kiosks. However, we are born with pretensions, summarized in a single objective: to be the center of your preferences. We will try to achieve it issue by issue. We have created various sections that we suppose will be of interest to most of you. Special mention should be made of the one titled Education. In the first issues it describes Logo and its use, but we will deal with other topics related to that theme.

More coming soon!

cobito

This post is being processed/translated. The original version will be shown:

Tener un archivo de las revistas del pasado está bien para saber qué se estaba cociendo en otros tiempos. Pero ¿qué pasa si queremos saber qué programas estaba pululando por la escena? Sí, en una revista podemos leer reviews con sus correspondientes imágenes. Y eso la verdad es que no está nada mal.

Pero en Hardlimit no nos conformamos con las cosas que no están nada mal. Y por eso, a partir de ahora no solo podréis leer las revistas sino que podréis descargar los disquetes y CDROMs que venían con aquellas revistas. Estos medios nos trasladan a unas épocas en las que Internet estaba en pañales y la única forma de probar los últimos programas era precisamente a través de estas publicaciones. ¿Quién no recuerda aquellos discos llenos de shareware, demos jugables y contribuciones de los lectores?

Pero... ¡un momento! Que aquí tampoco nos conformamos con vulgares descargas. Aquí queremos algo más. Por eso, si te da pereza descargar los discos para usarlos, no tendrás que hacerlo. Desde ahora, podrás usar la mayoría de disquetes y CDs directamente desde el navegador, sin tener que descargar ni instalar nada.

La magia te espera en la nueva sección "CD-ROMs y disquetes" de nuestra biblioteca.

De momento hay una buena colección de discos de la PCManía y Micromanía. Ya llegarán más.

Sobre los discos de la PCManía, dejando de lado el software, la verdad es que hay algunos CDs temáticos que no están mal y resulta curioso ver que en muchos de ellos hay videos cuando en aquella época era raro tener algo más potente que un 486. No todo es informática sino que también tenemos acontecimientos deportivos, cine, música, ciencia, arquitectura, cultura, naturaleza, contenido promocional... y en general, un pedazo de la España (y el mundo) de los 90s. Básicamente así llegaban estos contenidos a las casas en un formato novedoso para la época en la era pre-Internet.

PCManía empezó dando disquetes cuando salió allá por el 92 y en el 94 empezó a venir con CDROMs de forma esporádica para en el 96, abandonar definitivamente los disquetes. Cuando dieron su primer CD-ROM, hablaron del revolucionario formato de esta forma:

Este mes os habréis encontrado una agradable sorpresa al llegar al quiosco. Como algo especial en este número de Navidad hemos incluido un CD ROM con la revista. Éste contiene más de 5.000 archivos en más de cien subdirectorios diferentes. Desde imágenes para vuestro propio uso, pasando por una recopilación de todo los incluido en los catorce números que llevamos con vosotros, hasta una gran cantidad de nuevas demos. Lógicamente, no tenemos espacio para explicar programa a programa el contenido del CD. Hemos intentado que os resulte fácil de utilizar y que no necesitéis ni siquiera instrucciones para poder ver su contenido.
Introducir el CD en vuestra unidad y pasad a su letra identificativa. Ahora teclead PCMANIA. Aparecerá una animación y acto seguido entraréis en el menú. Con el puntero del ratón podéis 'pinchar' sobre cualquiera de los nombres que aparecen a la izquierda de la imagen. Si lo hacéis sobre las flechas aparecerán más demos. En la ventana de la izquierda podréis leer las instrucciones que corresponden al programa seleccionado. Debajo de este texto, que si es demasiado grande para caber en la ventana podéis 'scrollar' con otras flechas que hay junto a él, podréis ver las palabras EJECUTAR, INSTALAR Y DESINSTALAR. Si 'pincháis' en la primera de ellas la demo se ejecutará directamente desde CD. Si lo hacéis sobre la segunda toda ella se copiará en vuestro disco duro (aseguraros antes de que tenéis espacio libre suficiente). La tercera opción elimina la demo en cuestión de donde había sido instalada.
Un CD ROM es capaz de almacenar hasta 600MB de información. O lo que es lo mismo más de 600.000.000 de caractéres. Y es esa impresionante cantidad de datos la cifra que aproximadamente contiene el disco que ahora tenéis entre vuestras manos.
Algunas demos probablemente no os funcionarán directamente desde el propio CD, recordad que en él no se puede grabar y que además muchas de ellas no han sido creadas para tan revolucionario formato, pero hemos conseguido que lo hagan sin prácticamente ningún problema la inmensa mayoría de ellas. conseguido que lo hagan sin prácticamente ningún problema la inmensa mayoría de ellas.

Al igual que con las revistas, estos discos los he encontrado por ahí y la verdad es que quien sea que ha hecho el trabajo de recopilarlos y hacer un escaneo de la galleta, ha sido impresionante, porque es que están prácticamente todos.

En cuanto a las nuevas revistas, esta semana nos trae estas novedades (son menos revistas pero algunas son mucho más extensas):

Rendermania

En realidad se trata de un suplemento de la PCManía aunque he decidido separarla. Estuvo durante algo más de dos años (97-98) y en su primer editoral decían esto:

Las presentes páginas deben su existencia, sobre todo, al elevado número de cartas recibidas donde los lectores reclamaban la inclusión de tal o cual apartado dentro de Rendermanía. Evidentemente, era imposible contentar a todos dentro del limitado espacio disponible en las 5 páginas de la sección y por ello PCmanía ha tomado la decisión de ampliar Rendermanía, la cual, desde ahora,pasa a ser un suplemento. Como nos gustan las sorpresas no desvelaremos los apartados de que constará lanueva Rendermanía, aunque, eso sí, confiamos que sean del gusto de todos los afectados por el virus infográfico.

Netmania

Era una revista dedicada al mundo de Internet de mediados de los 90; cuando se hablaba de aquello del "ciber espacio". Estuvo fuera sólo durante 1996 y en su presentación leemos esto:

Bienvenidos a Netmanía. Una revista pensada y dirigida a ti, para acompañarte de una forma útil, en tus viajes por el ciber espacio. En este primer número te proponemos conocer a fondo el navegador más conocido y fácil de utilizar. Nos referimos al Netscape. Si no sabías para qué sirve tanto menú y botón o andas despistado con el inglés, en tus manos tienes la oportunidad de no perderte detalle de este popular browser. Todos los cibernautas se ven atrapados en la tela de araña y no consiguen despegar sus ojos de la pantalla porque en ella encuentran reflejados todos sus ocios. Música, cine, debates,.., busques lo que busques siempre encuentras a gente del planeta con tus mismas aficiones y, por lo tanto, una página Web para disfrutar. Descúbrelo en nuestro artículo de portada. Y siguiendo con las Webs, en Netmanía hemos decidido facilitarte búsquedas y analizar las páginas, con el fin de que tú decidas el viaje. También te ofrecemos un ‘tour’ dirigido en la sección Punto a punto, para que te dejes llevar. Y si hay alguna característica que defina a Internet ésta es, sin lugar a dudas, la libertad de expresión. Sin embargo, las medidas para controlar la información tomadas por algunos grupos de presión ha desatado una importante polémica que reflejamos en un interesante artículo sobre la censura en Internet que no debes dejar de leer.

Acorn User

Es básicamente una enciclopedia del Acorn. En sus 270 números que estuvieron saliendo durante más de 20 años (1982-2003), se empezó hablando de los ordenadores basados en el MOS 6502 y se terminó hablando de los Acorn de 32 bits. En su presentación, dejan claras sus intenciones:

More lines of copy have been written about Acorn Computers and the BBC microcomputer system than about almost any other aspect of microcomputing. Misleading information abounds and users or potential users have experienced every level of frustration in trying to obtain information. This magazine will provide an authoritative official source of accurate information. The products of Acorn Computers are among the most sophisticated and technically advanced available in their price range. Equipment to be announced in the near future, for market sectors not covered by the existing range, is even more exciting, as is the specification for further peripherals to the BBC system. Readers will receive the earliest information on new equipment, software and applications packages.

Mi Computer

Se trata una serie de 120 fascículos que para mi gusto, es demasiado formal. Está dirigida a todo tipo de ordenadores personales de mediados de los 80s y se publicó durante dos años, del 84 al 86. Se presentaron así:

Un curso pensado y realizado para que los lectores que sigan con interés sus instrucciones sean capaces muy pronto de realizar sus propios programas en un ordenador personal, y acaben dominando los aspectos teóricos y prácticos de la informatica.

Para terminar, se ha mejorado el OCR de la segunda época de la Micromanía, por lo que a partir de ahora, todas las busquedas relacionadas con estas revistas darán mejores resultados.

¡Próximamente más!

cobito

After the Christmas break, a couple of new magazines have been added, one of which comes with its corresponding discs.

MSX Extra

This is a magazine that revolves around Sony's personal computers. It was out of print from 85 to 88 and doesn't come with a first editorial but with a kind of introduction to the MSX:

The new MSX system launched by the Japanese makes computers from different brands speak the same language and, consequently, be compatible. The MSX appears as the wolf ready to devour all those microcomputers that isolate themselves in their own languages.

The MSX system appears as the most ideal means to normalize the chaos of computer languages that make computers from different brands, and even between different models of the same manufacturer, not "understand" each other. This aspect, proper of a new and surprising situation like that of home computers and their extraordinary popularization, creates in the consumer a series of inconveniences, not only in terms of choosing a particular brand, but also in obtaining a greater performance from the apparatus.

PC Player (along with its CDROMs)

It is a magazine from the second half of the 90s focused on PC games of which some issues and discs are missing. Of its CDROMs, practically all can be executed from the browser and most playable demos can be played. In its first editorial, they said this:

Dear reader, you have in your hands the first issue of PC PLAYER, a magazine that is born oriented exclusively to the world of video games for PC. Our editorial objective is to be the first publication dedicated 100% to the world of entertainment software.

More will be coming soon.

Sylver

Very interesting the latest news @cobito, thank you very much.

I have tried to run some CD-ROMs but all the demos they include need Windows.

I will keep tinkering around, to see if by chance an old game appears that I dedicated thousands of hours to in my childhood and that today there is no way to find anywhere. I think it was called "DESTROYER". Ships in 2D from left to right. To know in which magazine it came...

Greetings!