Retro

For the retro part of my home network, I have Windows 2000 Server running Active Directory, DNS, and DHCP servers on the retro VLAN. I was running this on Proxmox, but wanted to move this over to my Debian server running libvirt.

Rather than try to migrate the actual virtual machine, I installed a new instance of Windows 2000 Server under libvirt and added it as a Domain Controller.

libvirt has support for legacy operating systems, but its default configurations are not optimal and will cause difficulties.

For the past 20 years or so, my Super Nintendo has been sitting in storage in my parents basement in the US. This is a standard original US version of the Super Nintendo. I finally brought it back to Denmark a few months ago.

When importing a console from one region to another, there are two big considerations: power and video.

For the 5th generation of consoles, our mum surprised us for Christmas. I still remember the feeling of shock and amazement as we unwrapped something we couldn’t have even asked for: a Sony PlayStation. What an amazing console! We had such a blast playing that. Crash Bandicoot, Spyro, Warhawk, Metal Gear Solid, and dozens more.

Having a PlayStation meant that there was one downside, if you can even call it that: I didn’t experience Nintendo 64 in its heyday. In the early 2000s I did get one from a friend for some reason – I think I traded him for a modded Xbox? But I never really played it.

With my Dell Dimension XPS T450 ready hardware-wise, I needed to get some operating systems installed. My ideal setup is triple-booting Windows 98, NT Workstation 4, and 2000 Professional. This isn’t as straight forward as you’d imagine and it took me more than one total reformat to get it working. This is a tale of many, many failures finally leading to some success.

Recently I’ve been having a lot of 90s nostalgia, especially related to technology. I fully blame YouTube channels like LGR, 8-Bit Guy, Phil’s Computer Lab, Adrian Black, and a dozen others I’ve spent countless hours watching. Plus it’s part of getting older; you romanticise the past.

I started thinking about what hardware from the past I felt the most affinity towards. It took me no time at all: I wanted a Dell Dimension XPS from the 90s. This is my history with Dell.