Rare Tools from the Internet
Over the years, I've come across some interesting and quite rare utilities that are difficult to find on the internet these days. Many of them have either been forgotten or lost to time. Almost all of them have a specific, uncommon purpose.
Hopefully those of you who have read rumors of these utilities and have searched far and wide for them will be glad to find them here!
| Utility | Description |
|---|---|
| Buzzroom OLD VST Effects Pack | Buzzroom's free "old" VST instruments and effects pack (including FilterONE, Lallapallooza Lite, BuzMaxi and others) |
| Buzzroom BuzComp Free v1.2 | Buzzroom's free GeneComp and GranComp compressor VST effects |
| Buzzroom BuzMaxi3 v1.3 | Buzzroom's free BuzMaxi3 transparent brickwall limiter VST effect |
| PXD2WAV | Converts PXD sound banks from eJay's proprietary format |
| Virtools Web Player 3.5 | Enables running Virtools applications in the browser. |
These are all tools I currently use or have used in the past. I have vetted the usefulness of these and have attempted to preserve them as best I can.
BIOSes
I have also accumulated some firmware for older hardware, particularly graphics cards. I advise you to use these with caution. Flash these at your own risk.
| BIOS | Description |
|---|---|
| GeForce 2 MX 3.11.00.08.30 | Dated 2000-08-01. This came on a New Old Stock card I received, sold separately from OEM bulk packaging. Interestingly, the string "Engineering Release - Not For Production Use" lives in this file. Occupies C000-C9FF. |
Drivers
Sometimes, drivers are difficult to find or obtain. Sources for these can seem somewhat shady or exploitative. Here are some I've used in my retro setups.
| Driver | Description |
|---|---|
| ActiveMovie 1.0 | Installer for ActiveMovie 1.0 (AMOVIE.EXE). This was extracted from a Microsoft Word 97 disc. Seems nearly impossible to download independently these days. |
| Intel RSX 3D | Installer for Intel RSX 3D. This came from a "Tex Murphy - Overseer" disc. RSX 3D is required in order to play this game on older systems and not provided with the GOG or Steam releases of the game. |
| PRO98M.EXE | Drivers for Intel PRO/100 and PRO/1000 ethernet devices. This also covers the Intel PRO/1000 GT PCI, which I use in all my retro PCs for fast network connectivity. This is the version without supplemental software - drivers only. |
Miscellaneous
Let's face it, not everything fits nicely into a bucket.
| Item | Description |
|---|---|
| Windows 98 PXE Boot Disk Folder | You're on your own for setting up a DHCP+TFTP server to serve these files, but once you have that configured, unpack this into the boot folder for a starting point. Note: this is not for EFI booting. |