Hey guys quick question, i've recently just discovered this awesome portable hardware called the "Toshiba Libretto 110CT" and so far i've this video that runs Windows 95/98 perfectly and able to run ANY MS-DOS games & programs (obviously): And so i had this idea and wanted to know, Is it possible that i can use this to run FM Towns games off floopies/downloaded to HDD or will an emulator be needed? P.S Will Nec PC-9801 games work as well or will that need an emulator too?
I think it is just a regular laptop PC. Do you have any evidence that it might natively support other Japanese computer formats?
I don't know to be quite honest as i did originally plan on getting a FM Towns Marty since it was also backwards compatible with most regular FM Towns programs & games. And ever since i saw this portable thing i was curious if i could run them without any problems at all and also both PC-9801 & FM Towns supported Windows 95.
The FM-Towns hardware is x86 based so it can be made compatible with PC to some degree. However many things are done differently and the FM towns have some things that PC do not have, like hardware sprites. That makes FM-Towns software incompatible with PC.
Oh, well that's a shame so I guess FM Towns Marty it is then! How much do those usually go for again? Or better yet isn't they're a emulator made for windows 95 or 98 like UNZ?
If you want to run anything on a Libretto, be prepared to have it be a pain in the ass to work in todays world. If you want wifi at all, you need an older Wifi compatible card. It is only capable of ethernet at 10mbps so that'll slow you down too. I've had several Libretto's over the years for various reasons.
The old FM-Towns computers can do all that the Marty does + more and are cheaper when ordered from Japan, so I went that route. The incovenient is that they are bulkier and you also need a Fm-towns keyboard and mouse to do some of the stuff. But you can probably get away without them for basic gaming. The biggest problem is that it will not natively display on your TV ( You need either some compatible monitor/adapter or signal transcoding). It outputs RGBHV between 15-31 khz. Otherwise they are pretty much plug and play. Just pop in a CD and press power and the game will start. The controllers are very simple interface. You can build you own controller for it easily.
Yeah I could go for just the pc hardware of the FM Towns but, I just like the comfort of just sittin back and playing them off my TV screen plus being able to play floopies on it as well, so it's a Plus in my book. Btw Could it play backup copies on it by anychance? Just curious is all and I also heard there is a Towns OS version that's in English!
The FM-Towns marty can play backups. It has no copy protection whatsoever. It has no available replacement laser lense though. Once the laser dies you have a FM-brick marty. That is until someone managea to pull off a trick to emulate the CD rom drive, interface with a different drive or a batch of the original laser is discovered.
Oh cool! didn't know that, thanks! now i'm definitely considering getting a FM Towns Marty now. Does the laser die quickly when using a burnt cd copy of a program or something your saying?
Do not know, but I do know that these consoles are aging and that typically backups can strain the laser more than originals. Usually there is a "Recipe" to do good backups for a given machine. In exemple, From my Saturn to Playstation I have to use a different CD-R brands and a different burning program for optimal results.
The Libretto can't - but this can! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7N4sLIde3r8 (Necrobump, I know...)
Oh this towns laptop.... hardware from hell.... build to fail... still have nightmares from one i had to refurbish! so many leaked stuff... horrible O__O
