Windows 95!

tyreal90

So the good news.... I got windows 95 to work. So far it is running pretty snappy and I am almost getting it to run a version of starcraft that I have.

The bad news... the video drivers for windows are not working properly. Did you guys have any luck with any specific driver for the retropie version of dosbox? I can't seem to get it to properly run in 256 color mode which is my last barrier to playing the old greats.

My secret... I used my windows machine to make the disk file I followed the URL instructions below:

http://dosbox95.darktraveler.com/index.html

Then I copied the win95 disk over to the pi and changed the dosbox config file to boot from disk C (the win95 disk I made)

lilbud

tyreal90

http://dosbox95.darktraveler.com/index.html

This website shows you how to create a windows95 disk with dosbox daum. The disk that it creates is 2gb in size and if booted from in dosbox, will run a windows 95 environment. Every version of dosbox is different, so the hard part is matching the windows95 drivers with the machine that the dosbox program is trying to emulate. I will keep playing around with it but I thought maybe someone is ahead of me.

mediamogul

@tyreal90

Very impressive! Please keep us updated as you move forward.

A Former User

I'm impressed as well. Is there a way to run XP on the PI?

mattrixk

@tyreal90 So wait... you're running StarCraft on Windows 95 on DosBox on RetroPi on a Raspberry Pi? Darn that's impressive, but I can't imagine it runs too smoothly.

It actually reminds me of this image:
alt text

FlyingTomahawk

@mattrixk

LMFAO... awesome picture.
People usually thrive for better, newer technology. Only in this forum here I see the exact opposite. People going backwards, trying to run old software on their original, old hardware.
I can understand the feeling of nostalgia and the memories connected to it but hell I wouldn't wanna play Monkey Island on an Amiga again (11 Floppy discs! ). I never liked that part of disc swapping and I could not afford 11 external floppy drives like my best friend at that time. So I am very happy that ScummVM took care of all this issues on a Windows 7 based system.

Well, I guess as long you skip Windows Millennium and Windows Vista you're good.

edmaul69

@tyreal90 have you tried installing the s3 video drivers? They are supported by dosbox. I have them installed on it for quite a few dos games that require it. I also had to install them for windows 3.11

tyreal90

quick edit: thank you edmaul69... that worked perfectly!

ok guys... so I've installed the s3 drivers from the site below

http://www.sierrahelp.com/Utilities/Emulators/DOSBox/3x_InstallGraphicsDrivers.html

and it seems to work for a basic VGA card and it aligns with the graphics that our dosbox emulates

the good news: windows 3.1 games and dos games work well from the environment

the bad news: direct x just doesn't like this card so the cool stuff (star craft, diablo)
appear not to be working

so far I've gotten a couple of games to work, a few games have not worked.

Magic the gathering:shandalar works.
Castle of the winds (classic 3.1) works just fine
Syndicate wars: - works
Incredible toon machine - works!
Star craft: chokes on the video driver (says it won't resize screen) (works on dosbox daum build on PC)
Total annihilation: wants direct x to be updated (works on dosbox daum build on PC)
doom95 - says screen can't be configured (again looking at the S3 limitations) (works on dosbox daum build on PC)
dungeonkeeper: won't boot properly
EV Nova - says it needs quicktime but I'm hopeful after install I can get this to work. (update - doesn't work)
MechCommander - doesn't work on pi but works on PC dosbox daum build

I think our next step is to ask that the dosbox daum build (which can simulate voodoo graphics and PCI express bus) be recompiled in ARM as an experimental package. We will need these things to unlock the additional games of the late 90's. I believe that the raspberry pi is capable of this based on my experience over the last few days with 95.

edmaul69

Deleted

edmaul69

@tyreal90 i assume you installed the trio 64 drivers? Also i would try the s3 savage drivers, s3 virge drivers or trio 3d drivers. Not sure if those ones work or not.

tyreal90

Hey Edmaul69,

I had to install base drivers for the S3 (link in above post) because the Trio drivers that I had weren't being recognized by Win95 and when I loaded into the operating system it would force into 16 color, 640X480 which ruined the directx games. Do you have a link for the s3 virge or s3 savage drivers? The daum version of dosbox can hardrun a graphics bios but I found that the command is not recognized by the raspberry pi version. When this is done I'm going to post a play by play so that future win95ers don't have to struggle as much. Thank you for the help good sir!

tyreal90

@itsnitro

You cannot emulate XP on the pi because it is no longer a system based on msdos. The last operating system that can successfully be installed with dosbox is win98. Still, many games that you played on xp actually have win95 compatibility.

tyreal90

@mattrixk
Oh if I had it running I'd be calling into work sick by now hahaha I just have it at the cusp of running but the operating system boots and is mostly stable.

edmaul69

here is a link for the s3 graphics drivers. would love to hear which ones you get working. from everything i read on several threads the trio64 drivers were supposed to work. i havent installed windows 95 yet to test.

http://www.s3graphics.com/en/drivers/legacy_software_archive.aspxtyreal90

edmaul69

nevermind. links started working

hooperre

I've been working on this a bit myself, not physically yet, just kind of compiling what I think I'll need for it. If I can point you in the direction of some guys/gals who may be able to help...

http://www.vogons.org/viewforum.php?f=33 -- Guessing you've found the DosBox forums already as that guide looks vaguely familiar.

If you PM the user dada, he is currently compiling a new Win95 DosBox guide as I have contacted him a couple times. I think he may be able to provide assistance.

The user Jorpho I would guess invented DosBox. Only reason I say so is that he/she responds to everything that is posted.

I think I read something that said Win95 isn't officially supported by DosBox though, so not sure how much help they would offer.

Cheers. I'll be keeping up and offering any help I can!

edmaul69

@tyreal90 i already have the trio 64v drivers running in windows 3.11 . i am testing other drivers now

edmaul69

@tyreal90 I also forgot. to install drivers you might have to exit windows to dos and in the windows directory type setup

edmaul69

trio 3d drivers work on windows 3.11. i dont have windows 95 to test savage3d. Virge/trio 3d was the first 3d accelerator so it might work for some of your games. trio 3d is the newest version of virge