New Duo Owner: Drop Your Knowledge On Me!

[SignOfZeta]

Well, there WAS a thread here a long time ago that I dug up on CD-R's. I followed the guy's advice and I picked up a Pioneer DVR-212D off of eBay(it's been since out of production) and installed it on my Windows 7 64-Bit machine. I used the SpinRite Silver CD-R's and burned them at 4x and lo and behold, THEY WORK! I mean DAMN well. The 4-in-1 Super CD that everyone seems to complain about loaded for me in about ten seconds with not much grinding on the laser. Every game I tried loads like an actual CD! It's the Pioneer burning at 4x combined with the Silver CD-R's dye. It's not that cheap shit you usually find at any RadioShack or Best Buy. These are the CD's used by independent artists when they make their demos or small print albums(if you're a rap fan, you'll be familiar with it as the CD's used for DJ Mix Tapes). My cousin is a musician and she gave me a spindle to try out. But for anyone looking to backup their CD's or play games they cannot get, try this combo!

It's not that expensive either. The Pioneer Drive can be found for $20-30, a SATA cable for $2, Mounting Screws for $1, and the SpinRite Silver CD-R's can be found in a 100 pack for $35. You WILL need an empty 100-pack spindle as the CD's just come shrinkwrapped with no spindle and protectors on the top and bottom. I use DVD's all the time for wrestling stuff, format transfers(I have Laserdisc, Beta, VHS, and CED), and films, so I had plenty of empty spindles.

Hope this helps!

"With not much grinding on the laser"!? WTF?

I use just whatever crap I have laying around in my Macbook's built in burner and they almost always work perfectly. If I ever had any kind of grnding whatsoever I'd not being doing this.

I think people who have problems with CD-Rs really just have problems with their PCE hardware.

[DragonmasterDan]

Are their any game pads that are particularly good for playing old games? Or does using just a keyboard work fine? I've never experimented with emulation before but I definitely want to give it a try sometime.

I use a Gravis GamePad Pro

[nat]

It's not that expensive either. The Pioneer Drive can be found for $20-30, a SATA cable for $2, Mounting Screws for $1, and the SpinRite Silver CD-R's can be found in a 100 pack for $35.

Or, you could use that money to buy a bunch of actual games!

[Arkhan Asylum]

Are their any game pads that are particularly good for playing old games? Or does using just a keyboard work fine? I've never experimented with emulation before but I definitely want to give it a try sometime.

I use a Gravis GamePad Pro

I use a PS2 controller w/ a 7$ adapter!

[_Paul]

Are their any game pads that are particularly good for playing old games? Or does using just a keyboard work fine? I've never experimented with emulation before but I definitely want to give it a try sometime.

I use a Gravis GamePad Pro

I use a PS2 controller w/ a 7$ adapter!

I use a PS1 Dual Shock. DPad mostly, but the analogue stick is great for Gomola Speed

Keyboard sucks.

[nat]

I bought a $5 USB controller from GameStop or somewhere like that that is a blatant PS1 controller (pre-Dual Shock) rip-off and it is spectacular.

[SignOfZeta]

I use either one of the Saturn USB pads or an adaptor I have that makes a USB pad out of a SNES pad.

[BigT]

Saturn pads with an adapter work well.  For many years, I have been partial to Thrustmaster Firestorm Dual Power controllers (the old ones with a good D-pad)... you can still find some for cheap on Amazon ~$10, albeit without force feedback or analog sticks.

Logitech makes some decent gamepads as well and, in a pinch, the wired xbox 360 controller is very easy to hook up and works reasonably well.

[roflmao]

Back when I had Windows XP, or possibly Vista, I hacked a usb plug into one of my original Xbox controllers and used that from time to time, but recently I tried getting it up and running on 64-bit Windows 7 and couldn't find drivers for it.  I think they were homebrewed drivers to begin with and I guess there hasn't been much demand for it lately.

I have one of these Genius MaxFire Pandora Pro USB gamepads, which works ok when I'm using it on my netbook on an airplane, but I don't care for it for long-term use.  http://www.amazon.com/Genius-Pandora-Pro-mini-retractable/dp/B000OE07AA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1320615829&sr=8-1

It's just too small.