Conclusion

My goal in writing The Oldskool PC Guide to Getting Old Software Running on Newer PCs was my attempt to simply show you that it's possible to run your old games on your new PC, protecting your software investment and--more importantly--your memories and nostalgia, which are worth much more than a disk with bits on it. I'd like to think I've succeeded; what started out as a couple of pages with some notes has literally exploded into a 25-page document covering absolutely every single thing that can go wrong.

I also hope that my little historical trivia bits sprinkled throughout this Guide have entertained you. You now know how to run old games, but also know how to stand in the way of technological progress without getting trampled to death. :-)

I'd like to thank my longtime friend Brian Hirt, for providing some of the late-night sessions where we both played old games and committed obscure hardware information to memory; I also want to thank Victor Vitayaudom, who will probably never read this, but unwittingly opened the door to copy-protection and cracking. I would also like to thank my friend Lasse, for pointing out some things that I missed before this Guide was finished, Jeff, for pointing out the drive thing, and finally my oldest friend Court Funke, whose father's 1983 XT showed me the doorway.

And finally: If I've forgotten something, please mail me and let me know about it. All contributions are gladly accepted. Hell, even if you think I'm a complete idiot, mail me anyway. I can always use a good laugh.

1. Introduction
2. Cripple Your PC
3. Tweaking
4. Floppy Drive Problems
5. Sound
6. Video
7. Emulation
8. Oldskool-Friendly Boxes
9. Conclusion
10. Resources
11. Appendix A: Windows 9x Options