My Little Project: Master 1997
Okay, so I got this idea stuck in my head a while back. Called it “master 1997”. Sounds a bit grand, maybe, but it was really just about getting my hands dirty with tech from that specific year. Not just reading about it, but actually doing it, you know? Building something that felt like it belonged right back then.
Why 1997? Dunno, just felt like a specific point. Before the dot-com bubble burst wide open, but when things were getting really interesting with computers. Pentium II was coming in, 3D graphics were starting to look less like blocky messes thanks to cards like the Voodoo. It felt like a year with a certain… flavour.
So, the plan was simple: build a PC using parts from around ’97. Simple plan, yeah right. Turned out to be a real pain in the backside.
Getting the Bits and Pieces
First thing was hunting down the components. This wasn’t like popping down to the local computer shop. We’re talking nearly 30 years ago! eBay was my friend, sort of. And enemy. Lots of stuff listed as “untested” which basically means “broken, but maybe you’ll get lucky”.
- Needed a motherboard. Found an old Intel ATX board, thankfully one that took both MMX Pentiums and early Pentium IIs in those weird slot things. Cost more than I expected.
- The processor. Went for a Pentium II, around 266MHz. Felt right for the era. Found one with a heatsink that looked like it could double as a weapon.
- RAM. Oh boy. Needed SDRAM, the old stuff. Finding sticks that actually worked and weren’t ridiculously priced took ages. Ended up with a whopping 64MB. Seemed huge then!
- Graphics card. Had to be a 3dfx Voodoo card. That was non-negotiable for the ’97 feel. Found a Voodoo 1. Separate 2D card needed too, of course. Got a Matrox Mystique. Remember those?
- Hard drive. IDE. Found a small one, maybe 4GB? Took forever to find one that didn’t sound like a coffee grinder.
- Sound card. Sound Blaster AWE64. Classic.
- Floppy drive and CD-ROM drive. Beige, naturally.
Getting all this stuff delivered, half of it looking like it barely survived a war, was just the start. Then came putting it together.
The Build: Wrestling with Old Tech
Man, I forgot how fiddly old PCs were. Big chunky IDE ribbons getting in the way of everything. Setting jumpers on the motherboard and drives – haven’t done that in years! The power supply connectors were different, the case felt flimsy. It was a mess of wires.
First boot? Nothing. Of course. Reseated the RAM. Checked the jumpers again. Fiddled with the CPU slot connector. Finally, a beep! Got into the BIOS. Felt like a huge win right there.
Then came installing Windows. Decided on Windows 95 OSR2. Had to find my old CD, make a boot floppy. Remember boot floppies? The install process itself was slow, asking for drivers constantly. Finding drivers for the Voodoo card, the sound card, the network card (oh yeah, added one of those) on the modern internet, then getting them onto the old machine via floppy or burning a CD… that was the real test of patience. That took days. Seriously.
Making it “Mastered”
Okay, “mastered” is maybe too strong. But I got it working. Stable. Windows 95 running, drivers all loaded. Installed some old games – Quake, Tomb Raider II. Seeing that 3dfx logo pop up? Magic.
It runs! It actually plays the games like I remember. It even connects to the internet (very slowly, on basic web pages) using an old browser version. It’s noisy, it’s clunky, the beige box looks ancient. But sitting there, using it, felt like I’d wrestled that specific bit of the past into submission.
Was it practical? Hell no. Just booting it up takes longer than my modern PC doing a full system update. But did I get that 1997 vibe, hands-on? Yeah, I did. Felt good to actually build it, troubleshoot it, and make it work. A real trip down memory lane, wires and all. That’s my “master 1997” project. Done. Now, what year next?
