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▪ Miscellaneous

In the Railsimroutes.net Miscellaneous section, you can find various other information or downloads, which don't fit neatly into other projects sections, or which don't even necessarily involve train simulation or railways. This section might be expanded over time.

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▪ Development PC Specs - Introduction

I know some of you like to know what hardware I develop my routes on, perhaps because you're not sure what components should be used in a computer system suited to openBVE or BVE Trainsim, or partly out of curiosity, or partly so you can get an idea about what kind of system might be needed to see a similar level of performance to that which I experience. Apart from my first ever PC, I've assembled all my computer systems myself, as usually a much better computer that's suited to my needs can be built this way. Occasionally I'm asked what software I use for add-on development as well, or what techniques I use. On this page you can find out what hardware I'm developing my routes on, along with what I've developed on in the past, as well as see what kinds of add-ons I've been able to produce thanks to each new generation of hardware.

I use a variety of software for openBVE add-on development, programming, and website design, and in most cases, I prefer to use open source software. For openBVE add-on development, the primary tools are openBVE's Route and Object Viewer utilities, together with Notepad++ for edting text files. Textures are edited using both Paint Shop Pro and GIMP, and I now edit audio files using Audacity. My YouTube videos are edited using Ulead Media Studio Pro and VirtualDub, and encoded using the Xvid codec prior to being uploaded. Where programming is concerned, I use the C# IDE SharpDevelop, with FxCop, StyleCop and .NET Reflector installed. Sometimes I dabble with other programming languages, in which case I use CodeBlocks or Dev-C++. This website is designed using several tools; mostly Notepad++, but also Microsoft Visual Web Developer 2010 Express. Testing is done with various browsers, with the site available on localhost via Apache Webserver, PHP and MySQL, these being installed and configured using WampServer. Lastly, I use VirtualBox quite frequently for any testing I need to do with other operating systems, or if I want to use a sandboxed environment for any reason.

One the best things I've ever done as far as hardware is concerned, was to get a high resolution WUXGA 1920x1200 pixel widescreen TFT monitor. The extra space makes a huge difference in terms of productivity and comfort. For those of you who enjoy seeing what other people's desktops look like, here's mine:

▪ Primary Development PC -- Where the Magic Happens (2009 - present)

My current main development system is built to be fast enough to cope with anything I'm likely to be doing for quite some time, although I only use it for tasks which require high performance hardware (for everything else, I use my secondary development PC which has lower power consumption; details are below). Faster hardware consumes more power, so power saving technologies are enabled as well, and the CPU isn't being overclocked so it'll have a longer life. Interestingly, this quad core CPU based system with 24" widescreen TFT monitor, consumes less power under light load, than my earlier AthlonXP 2400+ based system with a 17" CRT did when it was idle, despite the new system being so much more powerful. The following openBVE add-ons are being developed on it:

- Birmingham Cross-City South v2.0
- Watford Junction to Rugby

Primary Development PC Specifications CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q9650 [Yorkfield Core, 45nm, 3.00GHz, 1333MHz FSB, 12MB Cache, E0 Stepping] -- 3DMark06 (Default Settings) - CPU Score: 4981 -- Windows 7 Experience Index (Processor) - 7.3 SiSoftware Sandra Lite 2010 Aggregate Arithmetic Performance: 52 GOPS Dhrystone ALU: 63.57 GIPS Whetstone iSSE3: 40.36 GFLOPS Cooling: Akasa AK-965 heat-pipe cooler with 92mm fan Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R rev. 1.1, BIOS ver. F12 [Northbridge: Intel P45 Express (Eaglelake (P+)), Southbridge: Intel ICH10R; Socket 775, ATX form factor] RAM: 4GB PC2-6400 DDR2 SDRAM [CL5-5-5-15, Dual channel] SiSoftware Sandra Lite 2010 Int Buff'd iSSE2 Memory Bandwidth: [7.14 GB/s] Float Buff'd iSSE2 Memory Bandwidth: [7.16 GB/s] Memory (Random Access) Latency: [81 ns] Memory (Linear Access) Latency: [11 ns] Windows 7 Experience Index (RAM): [7.3] Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260, 896MB, PCI-E 2.0(x16) [GT200b GPU, 55nm, 216 Cores, Core: 590MHz, Mem: 999MHz Shader: 1296MHz] [ForceWare 258.96 drivers; card is permanently forced to remain in Low Power 2D mode via registry entry unless extra performance is needed occasionally] 3DMark06 Basic v1.0.2 (Default Settings) SM2.0 Score: [6468] HDR/SM3.0 Score: [6925] FurMark v1.6.5 (AAx8, AFx16, 1280x1024, Time: 60000ms) o3Marks: [1721] FPS (min/max/avg.): [25 / 38 / 29] openBVE framerates (Windows 7 64-bit, 600m viewing distance, Anisotropic filtering (Sharp), fullscreen 1920x1200, AA: 16xQ, AF: 16x): Cross-City South v1.31 High Detail, Redditch, with class 323 3D cab: [390 fps] Cross-City South v1.31 High Detail, Barnt Green, with class 323 3D cab: [290 fps] Windows 7 Experience Index (Graphics): [7.2] Information: openBVE works extremely well with this graphics card and these drivers, however BVE 4 seems incompatible with NVIDIA's Windows 7 drivers, therefore I no longer use BVE 4. Audio: On-board Realtek ALC889A High Definition Audio Codec Edifier M1550 5.1 Surround Multimedia Speakers Internal Storage: Corsair Extreme Series X32 (CMFSSD-32D1) 32GB 2.5" SSD [SATA-II 3Gb/s, 64MB Cache, AHCI, Firmware v2.0 with TRIM] ATTO Disk Benchmark (default settings) Max Read Transfer Rate: 208547 [KB/s] Max Write Transfer Rate: 94223 [KB/s] Min Read Transfer Rate: 11392 [KB/s] Min Write Transfer Rate: 4654 [KB/s] SiSoft Sandra Lite 2010 Read Performance: [150 - 222 MB/s] Random access time: [43 µs] Windows 7 Experience Index (Hard Disk): [7.2] Western Digital VelociRaptor WD1500HLFS-01G6U1 150GB 2.5" [SATA-II 3Gb/s, 10000rpm, 16MB Cache, AHCI, Firmware v04.04V02] ATTO Disk Benchmark (default settings) Max Read Transfer Rate: [126028 KB/s] Max Write Transfer Rate: [128159 KB/s] Min Read Transfer Rate: [11307 KB/s] Min Write Transfer Rate: [10772 KB/s] SiSoft Sandra Lite 2010 Read Performance: [74 - 121.72 MB/s] Random access time: [6.87 ms] Windows 7 Experience Index (Hard Disk): [5.9] Samsung HD103SJ Spinpoint F3 1TB 3.5" [SATA-II 3Gb/s, 7200rpm, 32MB Cache, AHCI, NCQ, Firmware 1AJ10001] ATTO Disk Benchmark (default settings) Max Read Transfer Rate: [140651 KB/s] Max Write Transfer Rate: [146140 KB/s] Min Read Transfer Rate: [19662 KB/s] Min Write Transfer Rate: [17152 KB/s] SiSoft Sandra Lite 2010 Read Performance: [82.3 - 153 MB/s] Random access time: [13 ms] Windows 7 Experience Index (Hard Disk): [5.9] Western Digital WD1002FAEX Caviar Black 1TB 3.5" [SATA-III 6Gb/s (limited to 3Gb/s), 7200rpm, 64MB Cache, AHCI, NCQ, Firmware v05.01D05] ATTO Disk Benchmark (default settings) Max Read Transfer Rate: [138845 KB/s] Max Write Transfer Rate: [129678 KB/s] Min Read Transfer Rate: [5535 KB/s] Min Write Transfer Rate: [5296 KB/s] SiSoft Sandra Lite 2010 Read Performance: [60.61 - 140.65 MB/s] Random access time: [13 ms] Windows 7 Experience Index (Hard Disk): [5.9] The SSD is used to store the operating system only. In order to minimise the amount of writes to the SSD, and hence maximise the life expectency of the drive's MLC NAND flash cells, the ProgramData and Users directories are stored on the WD VelociRaptor, with NTFS directory junctions pointing to these folders on the SSD, making it appear to applications as though these folders also reside on the SSD. This gives great real-world performance, mainly due to lower access times, and leaves plenty of free space on the SSD, which is important for performance with such a storage device. Also, both the SSD and 2.5 inch WD VelociRaptor drives only consume about the same amount of power as a single conventional 7200rpm 3.5 inch hard drive, while performing much better. External Storage: Via USB 2.0 HDD enclosure: Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 9 160GB 6Y160P0 [8MB cache, Ultra-ATA/133] Optical Storage: Pioneer BDR-205BK x12 BD-R, x2 BD-RE, x8 DVD±DL, x16 DVD±R, x6 DVD±RW Writer (SATA) Display: Samsung Syncmaster 2443BW 24" 5ms TFT/TN LCD @ 1920x1200 [Samsung panel] Acer AT2326ML Widescreen 23" 5ms 1080p DVB-T HD LED TV/Monitor @ 1920x1080 Input: Enermax Aurora Lite keyboard Logitech MX400 Performance Laser Mouse Logitech G27 Racing Wheel / Gear stick / Pedals Saitek P2600 Gamepad TV Card: Hauppauge WinTV-HVR 900H Hybrid TV Stick Case: akasa Zen Silent-Cool [Black] Power Supply: Corsair VX550W ATX12V v2.2 [80 Plus, +3.3V: 30A, +5V: 20A, +12V: 41A] Information: After having three cheap PSUs fail in recent years, I thought it was about time I fitted something decent in my main system. This PSU is capable of delivering more power than is needed, so fewer amps are actually used, and the PSU will last longer as it's not being over-stressed. Internet and LAN: Onboard Realtek 8111C Gigabit Ethernet Controller (10/100/1000 Mbps) Netgear WNDR3700-100UKS RangeMax Dual Band Wireless-N Gigabit Router Cat 5e cabling for LAN, approx. 400-800 Mbps real-world throughput Virgin Media Ambit 256 (E080C013.00) Cable Modem QoS: 10 Mbps downstream, 1 Mbps upstream, DOCSIS 1.1 Via Samsung Galaxy Mini GT-S5570 - USB Tethering (UMTS/3G/HSDPA) Downstream: 3.87 Mbps, Upstream: 0.24 Mbps (HSDPA) Via Belkin F8T017NG Bluetooth v2.1 + EDR USB Adapter / Nokia 2730 Classic Bluetooth Modem (UMTS/GSM) Downstream: 0.25 Mbps, Upstream: 0.12 Mbps (UMTS/3G) Downstream: 0.10 Mbps, Upstream: 0.05 Mbps (GSM/Edge) Operating System(s): Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit (Service Pack 1) Windows Experience Index: [7.2] Processor: [7.3] Memory: [7.3] Graphics: [7.2] Gaming graphics: [7.2] Primary hard disk: [7.2] Ubuntu 10.04 Windows XP Home Service Pack 3

▪ Secondary Development PC (2010)

A low cost, cool and quiet backup PC, which I instead use for any work which doesn't require the power of the above main Core 2 Quad based system. This microATX PC has lower power consumption, but currently relies solely on the motherboard's integrated Intel GMA X4500 graphics accelerator for 3D graphics; this gives relatively low 3D gaming performance, and lower image quality when compared to a decent discrete graphics card (due to there being no antialiasing and limited anisotropic filtering).

This PC is more than good enough for everyday tasks and less demanding 3D applications, such as Google Earth, or viewing objects using openBVE's Object Viewer for example, however with a decent PCIe graphics card installed, this is a very capable system for 3D games or detailed routes in openBVE too, and the new dual-core Intel Celeron CPU installed in this system is actually rather good. The following openBVE work is being carried out on it:

- Class 323 cross-platform .NET plugin
- Web development
- Birmingham Cross-City South v2.0 (only tasks which don't require a lot of 3D performance)
- Watford Junction to Rugby (only tasks which don't require a lot of 3D performance)

Secondary Development PC Specifications CPU: Intel Celeron Dual Core E3300 [Wolfdale-3M Core, 45nm, 2.50GHz, 800MHz FSB, 1MB Cache, R0 Stepping] -- 3DMark06 (Default Settings) - CPU Score: 2080 -- Windows 7 Experience Index (Processor) - 6.0 SiSoftware Sandra Lite 2010 Aggregate Arithmetic Performance: 21.63 GOPS Dhrystone ALU: 26.36 GIPS Whetstone iSSE3: 17 GFLOPS Cooling: Stock Intel cooler supplied with Core 2 Quad Q9650 CPU (this includes copper, unlike the stock cooler supplied with the Celeron E3300 CPU, so this might be better if the Celeron is overclocked in future - the E3300 runs cool anyway, though). Motherboard: Asus P5QPL-AM rev. 1.04G, BIOS ver. 0414 [Northbridge: Intel G41 Express (Eaglelake (G)), Southbridge: Intel ICH7; Socket 775, microATX form factor] RAM: 2GB PC2-6400 DDR2 SDRAM [CL5-5-5-15, Dual channel] SiSoftware Sandra Lite 2010 Int Buff'd iSSE2 Memory Bandwidth: [4.24 GB/s] Float Buff'd iSSE2 Memory Bandwidth: [4.28 GB/s] Memory (Random Access) Latency: [107 ns] Memory (Linear Access) Latency: [16 ns] Windows 7 Experience Index (RAM): [5.5] Graphics: Integrated Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (Intel GMA X4500) [BIOS Version: 1800.0] [Driver version: 8.15.10.2202] 3DMark06 Basic v1.0.2 (Default Settings) SM2.0 Score: [316] HDR/SM3.0 Score: [388] FurMark v1.6.5 (AA: None, AFx2, 1280x1024, Time: 60000ms) o3Marks: [193] FPS (min/max/avg.): [3 / 5 / 3] openBVE framerates (Windows XP Home Edition, 600m viewing distance, Anisotropic filtering (Sharp), fullscreen 1920x1200, Intel GMA Global Settings/3D Preference: Quality [AA: n/a, AF: 2x]): Cross-City South v1.31 High Detail, Redditch, with class 323 3D cab: [28 fps] Cross-City South v1.31 High Detail, Barnt Green, with class 323 3D cab: [19 fps] Windows 7 Experience Index (Graphics): [4.3] Information: Many integrated or on-board graphics solutions don't usually perform anywhere near as well as a good graphics card installed in either the PCIe or AGP slot, and the Intel GMA X4500 is suitable only for more simple openBVE routes, or those designed for BVE Trainsim. The image quality is also not as good as what you could see with an ATI or NVIDIA graphics card for example, as there's no antialiasing and only limited anisotropic filtering capability. Something like my upcoming Watford Junction to Rugby route is too demanding for the Intel GMA X4500, and the route requires something rather better (the Intel Celeron E3300 dual-core CPU is more than good enough however, when paired with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260 graphics card, for example). Audio: On-board Realtek ALC887 High Definition Audio 6-channel CODEC Logitech X-230 2.1 Speakers Internal Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue WD2500AAKS-00VSA0 250GB 3.5" [SATA-II 3Gb/s, 7200rpm, 16MB Cache, AHCI, Firmware v01.01B01] ATTO Disk Benchmark (default settings) Max Read Transfer Rate: [103046 KB/s] Max Write Transfer Rate: [103443 KB/s] Min Read Transfer Rate: [4631 KB/s] Min Write Transfer Rate: [6400 KB/s] SiSoft Sandra Lite 2010 Read Performance: [49.73 - 101.71 MB/s] Random access time: [16.49 ms] Windows 7 Experience Index (Hard Disk): [5.9] Optical Storage: Samsung SH-S223L/BEBE 22x DVD±R, 8x DVD±DL, DVD+RW x8/-RW x6, x12 RAM w. Lightscribe (SATA, Firmware v. SB02) Display: Samsung Syncmaster 2443BW 24" 5ms TFT/TN LCD @ 1920x1200 [Samsung panel] Input: Microsoft Wired Keyboard 600 Logitech MX400 Performance Laser Mouse Case: CiT 1006, Black micro-ATX Tower Case Power Supply: Generic 450 Watt PSU, ATX12V v2.2 [+3.3V: 20A, +5V: 30A, +12V1: 10A, +12V2: 13A] Internet and LAN: Atheros L1E Gigabit LAN PCIe (10/100/1000 Mbps) Operating System(s): Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit Windows Experience Index: [4.3] Processor: [6.0] Memory: [5.5] Graphics: [4.3] Gaming graphics: [5.0] Primary hard disk: [5.9] Ubuntu 10.04

▪ Previous Development PC Specifications (2009 - Present)

Currently a spare PC, this machine will be used occasionally for testing the performance of routes on slower hardware. This system was built on a tight budget at the start of 2009, re-using some old hardware. It was used during the development of the following openBVE add-ons:

- Birmingham Cross-City South v1.4
- Watford Junction to Rugby

Previous Development PC Specifications CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ @ 2.21GHz [Brisbane Rev. G2] -- 3DMark06 (Default Settings) - CPU Score: 1688 SiSoftware Sandra Lite 2010 Aggregate Arithmetic Performance: 13.37 GOPS Dhrystone ALU: 13.52 GIPS Whetstone iSSE3: 13.22 GFLOPS Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-M56S-S3 [nForce 560 MCP, Socket AM2, ATX form factor] RAM: 2GB PC2-6400 CL5-5-5-15 DDR2 SDRAM [Dual channel] SiSoftware Sandra Lite 2009 Int Buff'd iSSE2 Memory Bandwidth: [7.31 GB/s] Float Buff'd iSSE2 Memory Bandwidth: [7.29 GB/s] Memory (Random Access) Latency: [104 ns] Memory (Linear Access) Latency: [25 ns] Graphics: ATi Radeon HD 2600 Pro 256MB DDR2 PCIe [Catalyst 9.2 drivers] 3DMark06 Basic v1.0.2 (Default Settings) SM2.0 Score: [1063] HDR/SM3.0 Score: [1348] FurMark v1.6.5 (AAx8, AFx16, 1280x1024, Time: 60000ms) o3Marks: [144] FPS (min/max/avg.): [2 / 5 / 2] openBVE framerates (Windows XP 32-bit, 600m viewing distance, Bilinear, fullscreen 1280x1024, AA: 8x, AF: 16x): Cross-City South v1.31 High Detail, Redditch: [56 fps] Cross-City South v1.31 High Detail, Barnt Green: [40 fps] Information: This card (together with the Athlon 64 X2 4200+ CPU above), is a little too slow to handle full anti-aliasing with animated objects in openBVE -- framerates are acceptable, but there is some stuttering. This card also exhibits some transparent texture edge colouration issues in BVE 4. Audio: On-board Realtek ALC888 Audio Codec Internal Storage: Western Digital Caviar Green WD10EACS-00D6B1 1TB [SATA-II 3Gb/s, 5400rpm, 16MB Cache, AHCI, Firmware v01.01A01] ATTO Disk Benchmark (default settings) Max Read Transfer Rate: [99420 KB/s] Max Write Transfer Rate: [99975 KB/s] Min Read Transfer Rate: [6463 KB/s] Min Write Transfer Rate: [9297 KB/s] SiSoft Sandra Lite 2010 Read Performance: [49.21 - 94.42 MB/s] Random access time: [10 ms] Windows 7 Experience Index (Hard Disk): [5.9] Optical Storage: LG GH22LS30 22x DVD±R Lightscribe (SATA) Display: Samsung Syncmaster 710T 17" 12ms TFT/TN LCD @ 1280x1024 Input: Logitech G15 Gaming Keyboard Microsoft Wheel Mouse Optical TV Card: Hauppauge WinTV HVR1300 MCE Digital/Analogue PCI card Internet and LAN: Onboard Realtek 8211BL Gigabit Ethernet Phy (10/100/1000 Mbps) Edimax nLite EW-7711UTn Wireless USB Adapter (802.11b/g and 802.11n 150 Mbps) Case: Generic ATX Case Power Supply: Generic 600W ATX PSU Operating System(s): Windows XP Home Service Pack 3 Ubuntu 10.04

▪ Previous PC Specifications (2003 - Present)

Currently used only occasionally for testing the performance of routes on slower hardware, and for Linux testing, my previous system was stable and served me well for six years as my main PC; it was used for the development of the following BVE 2 and 4 add-ons:

- Birmingham Cross-City South v1.2 - v1.31
- Watford Junction to Rugby

Previous Development PC Specifications CPU: AMD Athlon XP 2400+ [Thoroughbred-B @ 2.0GHz] SiSoftware Sandra Lite 2010 Aggregate Arithmetic Performance: 4.4 GOPS Dhrystone ALU: 5.65 GIPS Whetstone iSSE3: 3.17 GFLOPS Motherboard: ASUS A7V8X Gold Rev. 1.04 [VIA KT400 Northbridge, VIA VT8235 Southbridge, Socket A, ATX form factor] RAM: 1.00GB PC2100 DDR-SDRAM [2.5-3-3-7 timings] (Originally 256MB) Graphics: Creative nVIDIA GeForce3 Ti200 64MB [AGP 8x] (Up until 2004) Sapphire ATi Radeon 9600XT 128MB DDR [AGP 8x] (2004-2008) XFX nVIDIA GeForce 6600GT 128MB DDR3 [AGP 8x] (2008-Now) Audio: On-board Realtek ALC650 audio Internal Storage: Maxtor 5T020H2 Diamond Max Plus Ultra ATA/100 20.4GB Optical Storage: Samsung SH-S223L/RSMS 22x DVD±R, 8x DVD±DL, DVD+RW x8/-RW x6, x12 RAM w. Lightscribe (SATA, Firmware v. SB02) Creative CD-RW Drive Display: Iiyama Vision Master 1402 17" CRT Input: Microsoft Comfort Curve 2000 Keyboard CH Virtual Pilot Pro Internet and LAN: Onboard Broadcom 4401 Fast Ethernet Controller (10/100 Mbps) Creative Modem Blaster v.92 PCI Case: Generic ATX Case Power Supply: Generic 550W ATX PSU Operating System(s): Windows 98 Second Edition Windows XP Home Edition Ubuntu 10.04

▪ Previous PC Specifications (2001 - 2003)

This computer was a joy when first used, stable, and a significant step up from my previous 400MHz Pentium II system in terms of performance and responsiveness, but sadly it's no longer with us. The following add-ons were developed on this machine:

- Birmingham Cross-City South v1.0
- Watford Junction to Milton Keynes Central v1.1

Former Development PC Specifications CPU: AMD Athlon Thunderbird 1.2Ghz [266Mhz FSB] Motherboard: EPoX EP-8K7A [AMD-761 Northbridge, VIA VT82C686B Southbridge, Socket A, ATX form factor] RAM: 256MB PC2100 DDR-SDRAM [2.5-3-3-7 timings Graphics: 3dfx Voodoo5 5500 AGP 64MB (Up until 2002) Creative nVIDIA GeForce3 Ti200 64MB [AGP 4x] (2002 Audio: On-board VIA VT82C686B integrated sound Internal Storage: Maxtor 5T020H2 Diamond Max Plus Ultra ATA/100 20.4GB Optical Storage: Panasonic CR-585-B 24x IDE/ATAPI CD-ROM Creative RW121032E CD-RW Drive Display: Iiyama Vision Master 1402 17" CRT @ 1152x864 Input: Generic keyboard and mouse CH Virtual Pilot Pro TV Card: Hauppauge WinTV PCI Internet and LAN: Linksys LNE100TX Etherfast 10/100 Mbps PCI NIC (v5.1) Diamond SupraMax 56Kbps USB modem (K56flex/v.90) Case: Generic ATX Case Power Supply: Generic 300W ATX PSU Operating System(s): Windows 95 Windows 98 Second Edition

▪ Previous PC Specifications (1998 - 2001)

The following add-ons were developed on the following system (sadly no longer with us):

- Watford Junction to Milton Keynes Central v1.0

Former Development PC Specifications CPU: Intel Pentium II 400 MHz [Deschutes core, 100Mhz FSB, ATX form factor] Motherboard: Supermicro P6SBA [Intel 440BX Chipset, Slot 1] RAM: 128MB PC100 SDRAM Graphics: ATi Xpert 98 8MB [Rage Pro Turbo, AGP 2x] (Until 2000) 3dfx Voodoo5 5500 AGP 64MB (2000) Audio: Sound Blaster Pro 16 Clone [ISA] Internal Storage: Various: 1.2 - 6.4GB Seagate drives Optical Storage: Panasonic CR-585-B 24x IDE/ATAPI CD-ROM Display: Packard Bell 14" CRT @ 1024x768 Input: Generic keyboard and mouse CH Virtual Pilot Pro TV Card: Hauppauge WinTV CinemaPro [ISA] Case: Generic ATX Case Power Supply: Generic 250W ATX PSU Operating System(s): Windows 95 Windows 98 Second Edition

▪ Previous Computer Specifications (Late 80s - 1998)

Prior to starting out with BVE and the Pentium II system, my previous computer comprised an Intel Pentium 100MHz (P54C) CPU, 16MB RAM, Diamond Stealth 64 DRAM PCI and Orchid Righteous3D (3dfx Voodoo I) graphics cards; the addition of the latter seemed amazing at the time.

Before that, my first PC (and last ever ready-built, brand name system) was a Packard Bell Executive Multimedia PC running Windows for Workgroups 3.11 and MS-DOS 6.22, with an Intel 486 SX2 50Mhz CPU, 4MB RAM, 2x Matsushita-Kotobuki/Panasonic CD-ROM drive, 341MB Seagate hard disk, and on-board Cirrus Logic graphics solution. Both systems still work, although the P100 motherboard's floppy disk controller is dead.

Before the PCs, came the Commodore Amiga A600 running Workbench 2.0 which introduced me to GUIs, computer based graphics design and animation, sound sampling, and tracker music. My first computer was the Sinclair ZX Spectrum +2A, which introduced me to BASIC and simple train/flight sims.