Today I heard about these Pixel x86 retro PCs that are for sale - They use a modern industrial x86-compatible CPU with custom boards in a case, which provide a real hardware x86 solution to run retro programs (such as games):

https://pixelx86.com

They have 2 models, which I've heard perform like a 300mhz Pentium and a 100mhz Pentium, and I've heard you can also buy a flash drive from them which has Windows 98 pre-installed. I'm considering buying one. I think one downside, though, is that they don't have hardware accelerated 3D graphics, so there would be no way to use (for instance) a 3DFX 3D card with them.. That's the kind of thing that makes me wonder if I should buy an actual used 486 or Pentium PC from that era.

Nightfox
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Today I heard about these Pixel x86 retro PCs that are for sale - They
use a modern industrial x86-compatible CPU with custom boards in a case, which provide a real hardware x86 solution to run retro programs (such
as games):

https://pixelx86.com

Dude, these look really cool. Thanks for sharing - I have several vintage PCs from 286s to Pentiums, but this might be cool to build a killer Windows P+ machine... very nice find.

They have 2 models, which I've heard perform like a 300mhz Pentium and a 100mhz Pentium, and I've heard you can also buy a flash drive from them which has Windows 98 pre-installed.

Very cool - sounds like a good platform to build an early-late 90s PC killer... saweet!



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On 06 Jan 2025 at 05:24p, Nightfox pondered and said...

Today I heard about these Pixel x86 retro PCs that are for sale - They
use a modern industrial x86-compatible CPU with custom boards in a case, which provide a real hardware x86 solution to run retro programs (such
as games):

https://pixelx86.com

This is kind of cool, but I really do wonder why there aren't
more just-barely-more-than-embedded platforms that people are
building simple BBSes and stuff for. If you go back to the
original CBBS, it was basically a purpose-built embedded system;
but no one builds anything like that anymore. I wonder why
not?

Seems we've got all sorts of cool, funky stuff we can do now.
I guess I sort of understand the appeal of running games or
whatever, but other than that, x86 is kind of boring. On the
other hand, a Cortex-M with an MPU can do some pretty cool
stuff (of course, it'd be even better with an MMU, or at least
some kind of base/bound segment type thing, but MPU is better
than nothing).

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paulie420 wrote to Nightfox <=-

Very cool - sounds like a good platform to build an early-late 90s PC killer... saweet!

I've heard good things about thin clients as old DOS/Windows3.xx systems
- with the added benefit of being cheap and being able to run more
modern OSes when you want to.



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Today I heard about these Pixel x86 retro PCs that are for sale - They
use a modern industrial x86-compatible CPU with custom boards in a
case, which provide a real hardware x86 solution to run retro programs
(such as games):

I saw a YT video on this yesterday, looks pretty cool.

They have 2 models, which I've heard perform like a 300mhz Pentium and
a 100mhz Pentium, and I've heard you can also buy a flash drive from
them which has Windows 98 pre-installed. I'm considering buying one.
I think one downside, though, is that they don't have hardware
accelerated 3D graphics, so there would be no way to use (for
instance) a 3DFX 3D card with them.. That's the kind of thing that
makes me wonder if I should buy an actual used 486 or Pentium PC from
that era.

The 'tuber said a newer model was in the works, one that supports 3D
graphics acceleration. His point (kinda) was that we are in the phase with
90's computing where things break and corrode, so new machines can
help here, and I get it, but I'd actually rather build one from parts... Although at this point it may not be much cheaper unless i score one from
an estate sale.


|07|02/|10\|03/ |11j0hnny a1pha |03\|10/|02\|07


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Re: Re: Pixel x86 retro PCs
By: tenser to Nightfox on Wed Jan 08 2025 02:14 am

https://pixelx86.com

Seems we've got all sorts of cool, funky stuff we can do now. I guess I sort of understand the appeal of running games or whatever, but other than that, x86 is kind of boring.

I have a feeling gaming may be the primary purpose of these machines. I heard about these from the LGR (Lazy Game Reviews) channel on YouTube - Clint (who puts out those videos) reviewed these and demoed some games on them, and I thought they looked interesting.

Nightfox
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Re: Pixel x86 retro PCs
By: j0hnny a1pha to Nightfox on Tue Jan 07 2025 07:07 am

The 'tuber said a newer model was in the works, one that supports 3D graphics acceleration. His point (kinda) was that we are in the phase with 90's computing where things break and corrode, so new machines can help

Interesting.. I might wait to see one with 3D acceleration before I buy one.

Nightfox
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* Origin: Digital Distortion: digdist.synchro.net (21:1/137)

Very cool - sounds like a good platform to build an early-late 90s PC killer... saweet!

I've heard good things about thin clients as old DOS/Windows3.xx systems
- with the added benefit of being cheap and being able to run more
modern OSes when you want to.

Yea - I poked around the Pixel site today and the prices are pretty hefty IMO. Its cool, but I don't know if $300-500 would get me to press the buy button.



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--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2024/05/29 (Linux/64)
* Origin: 2o fOr beeRS bbS>>20ForBeers.com:1337 (21:2/150)

On 07 Jan 2025 at 10:15a, Nightfox pondered and said...

Seems we've got all sorts of cool, funky stuff we can do now. I guess sort of understand the appeal of running games or whatever, but other that, x86 is kind of boring.

I have a feeling gaming may be the primary purpose of these machines. I heard about these from the LGR (Lazy Game Reviews) channel on YouTube - Clint (who puts out those videos) reviewed these and demoed some games
on them, and I thought they looked interesting.

I can see that. I was never super into games, so it never
held much appeal to me, so I guess I'm not the target audience.

Still, it'd be very cool to see more people doing things with
DIY hacked up machines.

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paulie420 wrote to poindexter FORTRAN <=-

Yea - I poked around the Pixel site today and the prices are pretty
hefty IMO. Its cool, but I don't know if $300-500 would get me to press the buy button.

Yeah, I'm more of a $30-$50 guy, pick up the thin client, dust off my
old 4:3 monitor and PS2 keyboard and mouse out of storage...



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Yea - I poked around the Pixel site today and the prices are pretty hefty IMO. Its cool, but I don't know if $300-500 would get me to pre the buy button.

Yeah, I'm more of a $30-$50 guy, pick up the thin client, dust off my
old 4:3 monitor and PS2 keyboard and mouse out of storage...

And while I do have a fair share of vintage hardware, I don't mind the emulation - it works and is 95% of the way accurate... and even moreso with a little fine tuning/settings making it 'act' like hardware. (Opening in full screen, booting directly into the software, etc...)



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