Buick Dimensions 1989 and 1990 Software for IBM and Compatible PCs

[Samthebam4044]

Thank my boab that pcs don't make monophonic beeping tunes like that anymore. Can't get that beeping song from the radio out of my head now it's damn irritating. I'm surprised people didn't get hearing problems with those ear-pearcing PC Sounds back then.

[ASS3464]

That dashbord graphic at 13:16 looks exactly like the digital display on my dads 1990 Buick Riviera. It was totaled by some asshole not watching what he was doing.

[TheUniversalDave1]

"OMG, A CAR!"-Uxwbill's sense of humor at work.

[uxwbill]

@JamesPipkin1984 Bonanza dawt com

[thepirategamerboy12]

How will u plan to put this up for download?

[uxwbill]

@thepirategamerboy12 I have access to a few different web servers that I may use, when I get around to doing it.

[naterade21]

someday id like to have a century wagon or a roadmaster wagon

[vwestlife]

Was this video made in the old cold forgotten Roach Palace?

[uxwbill]

@vwestlife Yes it was.

[partyfriek]

now we know more about the cold forgotton buick

[blazerlover25]

really cool program!!

but does anyone else notice the sounds are like that of an atari video game? I am dating myself here but I remember the ataris and that sound of the radio was exactly like the atari's sounds I remember.

thanks for the memories if only I still had our atari..lol

[uxwbill]

@blazerlover25 It is fun, though the Macintosh version has better graphics and sound.

At the time this program was released, most PCs had only a simple beeper with which to produce sounds. Apple, Tandy and other computer companies all offered systems with much better sound capabilities than the IBM PC and most compatibles. That said, the basic PC speaker can sometimes be used to reproduce recorded sounds through clever use of the hardware that drives it.

[mgospeed31]

Dude, this is so cool!!!

[trevorwarren452]

hi can i get a copy of this

[uxwbill]

@trevorwarren452 Yes. I will be adding links at some point. You should probably run it on an older computer with Windows 95 or 98 at the newest. I do not know if it will run in the virtual DOS subsystem in Windows NT, 2000, XP and Vista/7. DOSBOX may work, I have not tried that.

[trevorwarren452]

@uxwbill i no got a old ibm pc it is on windows 3.1

[trevorwarren452]

@uxwbill it is a 386 ps/2 it got dos 5.0 and windows 3.1 the comp i well be runing it on

[uxwbill]

@trevorwarren452 That's fine. You wouldn't even need a system that powerful to run the software. It would run perfectly well on any system with at least a CGA video card in place.

[trevorwarren452]

@uxwbill ok cool win can you give it to me and do you have a skype iff you do you can add me trevor4521

[uxwbill]

@trevorwarren452 There will be a link posted in the description, when I get around to it. I don't know when that is, though I hope it won't be too long.

[trevorwarren452]

@uxwbill ok you got a skype 

[uxwbill]

@trevorwarren452 If you have something you'd like to ask about, please send a private message using the Youtube system. I do not have Skype, do not particularly want it, and generally dislike talking on the phone or anything like a phone.

[trevorwarren452]

@uxwbill ok cool

[thecooldude9999]

still have all those ps/2s you picked up?

[uxwbill]

@thecooldude9999 Just about...only a few that were in pretty bad shape got parted out to help my other machines. Anything that didn't work or could not be fixed at all was recycled. A few machines need to be restored, which is a future video idea.

[giammyzanna]

The estatewagon looks great :D

[yorgle11]

This is cool, I never knew about these. I wonder if these disks were given away to targeted computer owners, or if people actually paid money for an advertisement.

There's an old 90s freeware app I bet you'd enjoy called "Car Test", you can find it by searching "car test dos". The old DOS version is free and linked at the very bottom of the owner's site. It simulates drag racing real cars based on their specs, and you can add your own if you have the data. It's fun for playing "what if".

[uxwbill]

@yorgle11 I'm sure they were given away free of charge at Buick dealerships.

I have a Ford demonstration that was sent to me by another 'tuber and I want to run it at some point.

[gmcnewlook]

good thing that demo of the keyless entry does not have a panic button, that would get very anoying if it made the PC speaker beep loud and frequant like a car alarm...........

[OlegKostoglatov]

Those two pieces of Buick software brings back memories, when you were going through the stereo demonstrations the MIDI style sound effects made me think of the arcade games of the time, not to mention the early video game consoles like Atari, Intellevision, Collecovision, etc.

[LynolsOffice]

Nicely done! I've actually seen and used the 1989 Mac version of the Dimensions program, and it definitely is higher res.

[themaritimeman]

Those are pretty cool! Definitely some issues with the radio in the 1989 one lol.

Say, when do you think you might get to that Ford program I sent you?

Great video!

[dljones33]

You know, this was all pretty nifty in the late 90's. My first computer was an IBM clone 8088 with a screen out of an old atm with the bank name burned in. I think it ran at a blinding 8 Mhz. I put a NEC V20 chip in it and that helped to about 12 Mhz. This progam reminds me of the old King's Quest games.

[moldymac]

Thanks for sharing Bill, A fellow youtuber sent me the 3.5" mac version of this a couple years back that I do plan to make a video of someday, if I ever find it. I don't recall what year it was, but the mac version isn't much better than the PC version you have, it was about the same quality except B&W. I don't know if its because I used it on a newer (os 9) mac or what, but mine didn't play audio. I really like how the climate control is just like the real Riv, coolest thing GM ever tried.

[uxwbill]

@moldymac You're welcome. I'd like to see the Macintosh version that you have. The one I've got (with a picture of a Reatta on the disk) was B&W only but it had pretty high resolution graphics and waveform audio for the sounds it made.

[moldymac]

@uxwbill I'll have to get a classic mac working then, that program does not like the newer macs at all, certain buttons in it cause it the force quit.

[uxwbill]

@moldymac It will (or "should") run on a PPC 603/604 machine without too much complaint, though you may notice odd colors. Rather than using shades of grey, it seems that the designers used color to get the different shades. Given how strange the colors look, I don't think it was intended to be seen on a color display.

On an iMac G3, it locked the machine up, usually without an error. It would also crash the Classic environment on Mac OS X.

[moldymac]

@uxwbill I was running it on a 20th anniversary mac with a G3 card. I bet the card is part to blame, the machine is faster with it, but some things just aren't as stable as they use to be.

[poopskinTheLiar]

Logic board recapping...hmm, has your SE suffered a case of Simasimac, by chance?

[uxwbill]

@poopskinTheLiar No, it never did that. It was very crashy until it warmed up, and the deflection quit working once or twice.

[NJRoadfan]

I'm surprised the radio didn't boast AM Stereo which some of these cars had. GM also had a problem with repositioning the Buick brand with the Reatta. The cars were ahead of their time (dual zone climate and keyless entry were a new thing) which didn't go well with the older set that usually bought these cars.

[vwestlife]

@NJRoadfan And don't forget the button fetish that GM was developing at the time. After the touch-screen CRTs flopped, GM apparently decided that adding more and more pushbuttons was the answer, to the extent that high-end models in the '90s had dozens and dozens of buttons strewn all across the dashboard, doors, center console, and steering wheel -- see the Keykeeper's Pontiac for a perfect example!

[gmcnewlook]

@vwestlife how times changed..... it seams most high end cars now have a touch screen control everything (something i just cant stand)

[bratina501]

@NJRoadfan The one in the 1989 Reatta had AM stereo capabilities and this was the touch screen version whose controls appeared on a green monochrome CRT display

[vwestlife]

Even with CGA's limited palette, they could've tried to put in some more color, but I guess the mostly-black&white with sparse color highlights was considered the less tacky approach. That simulated radio works about as well as an HD Radio does today! :-P But an "electric glove compartment release"? What is that, a power locking glovebox door?

[uxwbill]

@vwestlife I was surprised by the crudity of both program's graphics. The 1990 program also makes fewer sounds than the 1989 version.

I don't know what the electric glove compartment release is, other than a possible reference to a button that GM mounted behind the glovebox door. When pressed, this would release the trunk. The silver and pink Buicks are both equipped with that option. (It works on the pink one and not the silver.)

[pacificcoast]

I think that stunning picture in the first book is of Bryce Canyon (and not the misidentified Grand Canyon). The feature you're looking at is known as the "Amphitheater."

[tss212]

a little redline for a good time.

[Fuzy2K]

11:45 -- That was certainly an interesting rendition of Also Sprach Zarathustra... :P

[TheEPROM9]

It's interesting seeing the difference between cars in the US and over here in the UK. Your cars seem to be big luxury cars built for long distance travel, where as cars over here with a few exceptions are small and nippy often having to go through very narrow roads. Also we have much smaller engines and V8s and V6s are used in sorts and racing cars, yet are roads allow for higher legal speeds. Also are the fuel prices changing the types of cars available in the US?

[uxwbill]

@TheEPROM9 We have all kinds of cars here, both big and small. The market would seem to indicate that many people here like larger vehicles--SUVs and trucks these days.

It's not so much fuel prices changing things as it is the concept of "CAFE" or "Corporate Average Fuel Economy", which is imposed upon automakers by the government. Bigger, less efficient vehicles have to be offset by more efficient models.

[andruha11234]

@TheEPROM9 It's different here. People don't really care about handling or performance that much, as long as it is comfortable and big! I see 17 year old driving fords 250 to school... or large SUVs carrying one person all the time.

We don't even have that many small cars. Except for Smart ForTwo and recently Fiat 500.. everything is large family cars or SUVs.

[vwestlife]

@TheEPROM9 Fuel was cheap in the late '80s, so Buick discontinued their small car model (the Skyhawk) after 1989, but GM did have several other small, fuel-efficient cars available through their Chevrolet and Geo brands at the time. But today, thanks to fuel prices rising, small cars are becoming more popular in the USA again, and GM's new 2012 Chevrolet Sonic subcompact is already getting very good reviews.

[OlegKostoglatov]

There are a number of reasons for that, long distance driving being one of them, but for years and years and largely still true today, the smaller cars tended to be cheap, and nasty, and rough riding, something that made long distance trips just about intolerable. Also in most areas of the U.S and Canada there is little in the way of public transportation unless you live in a larger urban area, the towns and cities also tend to be much further apart.

[OlegKostoglatov]

Many of the government regulations have really been counterproductive and quite damaging to the auto industry here. They are based on an outdated mode of thought that is fixated on gasoline mileage, emissions, and head on collision survival in the event of a crash. There are very few diesel powered cars on the market thanks to these regulations and very little headway in the advacement of natural gas powered cars, instead they push electric cars which are simply not feasable.

[bratina501]

The 1989 Reatta actually had the touch screen radio as well but a version that had an AM stereo/FM stereo tuner.

[CenTexVideo]

Shortly after those discs were produced, my mom bought a computer with Win 3.11. Huge improvement in the graphics department.

If I had used these programs, I would find hours of amusing fun.

[V8Jagnut]

id love to have one of them Buick RWD wagons. ow my i have to have that FM stereo.lmfao. good vid.

[DJDeCiBeL01]

All I can say for the 99.5 frequency on the "radio" is WOOOOOO! LOL Sorry about that, haha. Nostalgia from an old wrestling fan...

[JinzoDefiler]

heh gotta love old marketing gimmicks. Awesome find William!

[Buchoass]

You speak very well. Good video. Cheers B.Champagne

[macintoshgermany]

The Reatta had a really gnarly CRT-touchscreen computersystem for radio etc.



[talldude123]

I wish they had either a CD-ROM or a brochure for new cars. I miss the old days! I remember having a CD-ROM showing all the Kia's (back in 2003).

[ChiefLeftenant]

@talldude123 All moved to the Web in one way or another.

[calebschmalzvacuums]

cool program