I’ve got some DOOM WADs I have been meaning to play so I would probably grab Trench Foot, Total Chaos, and the sequel to Ashes 2063, Ashes: Afterglow with a portable install of GZDoom to play them.

After that I’d probably bring Star Trek TOS and a MOBI copy of Neuromancer by William Gibson combined with a portable install of VLC and Calibre in case the computer didn’t have applications that support the file format.

What about you?

I wanted to phrase this in a way where it isn’t a prolonged or desert island style question where the responsible idea would be to bring Wikipedia ZIMs and educational PDFs. It’s just an awkward amount of time to kill. The mid 2000s office desktop stipulation is just an additional challenge so you can’t just bring in a copy of Baldur’s Gate 3 or Cyberpunk 2077.

  • ludrol@bookwormstory.socialEnglish
    0·
    6 months ago

    12h is barely enough for 1.5 out of 33 of Ascendance of a Bookworm volumes. I would probably rererereread volume 1 and 18

  • Petter1@lemm.eeEnglish
    0·
    6 months ago

    Since size of harddisk is not specified, I’d take all Nintendo consoles roms that work with emulators on that desktop. May some genesis, Atari and some PSP, basically I take myrient erista on my drive 😂

      • Petter1@lemm.eeEnglish
        0·
        6 months ago

        Well, yea, I have most likely spent more time installing stuff on my 3ds than actually playing with it

        But in all honesty I would likely kill most time with Zelda, Mario, and pokemon (any generation of each)

        Thank you very much for the link to that community, it feels just like home 🤩

  • brax@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    0·
    6 months ago

    12 hours? Lol probably just some stuff to code on and screw around in. I’ll probably take a nap in there somewhere to kill time

  • Hedlosa@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
    0·
    6 months ago

    Depending on what OS, drivers, and other pre requests are installed, a lot of modern pixel GPU based games would slap. Terraria, Undertale, Stardew valley, Celeste come to mind. Oh surely the OG Deus Ex and HL2 at least!

    • Corroded@leminal.spaceOPEnglish
      0·
      6 months ago

      You’d rather spend the 12 hours just using whatever is on the computer than bring in some of your ill-gotten gains for some guaranteed entertainment?

  • EchoCranium@lemmy.zipEnglish
    0·
    6 months ago

    I’d probably sit and play Unreal, or maybe Riven if I was feeling more chill. Could easily burn through 12 hours like that. Just need to be able to take a case of Jolt, a few bags of chips, and some Skittles along and I’d be set.

  • spasticeightball@beehaw.orgEnglish
    0·
    6 months ago

    Emulators definitely should still run fine for GBA games I’d think. So there’s a lot to choose from already in that library. If not, then SNES. even a potato from the mid 2000s can run SNES games.

    Other than that, I’m thinking I would load up my entire calibre Epub library so I can read books. I have so many books I want to go through that I have collected over the years. Want to go through the entire Dune series for the first time among other books.

    I’m also quite certain a mid 2000s office PC can run VLC. I have many older series I have yet to watch still because I’ve been so busy. Stuff like The Shield or The Wire that I have downloaded but never got around to watching.

    I don’t think I would get bored without internet for 12 hours at all with all that media at my disposal.

    • Cethin@lemmy.zipEnglish
      0·
      6 months ago

      I’m currently listening to the Children of Dune audio book. That alone is 16h. I think Messiah was around 8h and Dune was around 12h. Basically, 12h is nothing.

    • mctoasterson@reddthat.comEnglish
      0·
      6 months ago

      SNES 9x ran great on systems of this era. I spent days playing all the Megaman titles and save-scumming or scanning memory to make infinite health cheats.

    • Avg@lemm.eeEnglish
      0·
      6 months ago

      Memtest on a floppy and superpi or prime95, atitool on the drive, maybe a few games to benchmark? Can’t forget a soldering iron and defroster repair kit. 12 hours is not going to be enough.

  • mudle@lemmy.mlEnglish
    0·
    6 months ago

    You are going to be trapped in a room for 12 hours with a mid 2000s office desktop with no internet connection and an external hard drive; what are you putting on the hard drive?

    Nothing, because I won’t have an internet connection…