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John P. Myers
10-28-13, 08:44 PM
If you've been playing with computers for a long time like i have (by a "long time" i mean 30+ years) you're going to love this. You can run Windows 1.01 in your browser :D You can run the basic installed programs and everything. Even click Ctrl+Alt+Del to reboot into DOS and play with all the commands and programs that came with it.

AND! If you remember how to code in BASIC or BASICA, you can write and execute your own programs! I tried it. Was very awesome. Don't forget to change to SCREEN 1 to use the 4 color graphics! There are even a few programs on B: you can run in BASICA. Maybe you remember that game Donkey where you were a racecar and had to dodge donkeys in the road? Good times...

Here's the link: http://jsmachines.net/demos/pc/cga-win101/xt-cga-win101.xml


The PCjs simulation above is configured for a clock speed of 4.77Mhz, with 256kB of RAM and a CGA display, using the original IBM PC Model 5160 ROM BIOS and CGA font ROM.

This PC XT configuration also includes a 10MB hard disk with Windows 1.01 pre-installed.

cineon_lut
10-28-13, 08:53 PM
This is going to be a time vampire. I LOVE it!

Vic

shiva
10-28-13, 10:08 PM
I think I still have a box setting in the back room with win 1.01 on it, and I'm sure I still have a 8086 which I think was pre windows. They have been setting there for years, they worked when I put them back there don't have a clue if they would today. :) I still have my 2nd laptop which has 2 floppy drives and no HD. I let my first portable computer go, it had a built in printer with 4 colored pins in it. :)

Duke of Buckingham
10-29-13, 08:24 AM
I think I still have a box setting in the back room with win 1.01 on it, and I'm sure I still have a 8086 which I think was pre windows. They have been setting there for years, they worked when I put them back there don't have a clue if they would today. :) I still have my 2nd laptop which has 2 floppy drives and no HD. I let my first portable computer go, it had a built in printer with 4 colored pins in it. :)

I thought the pre windows was DOS. :confused:

c303a
10-29-13, 09:41 AM
I gave my son a Sony MBC 555 that has 2 5.25 inch floppys and ran DOS 1.25. It also had all the "Star" programs. Calcstar, Wordstar etc. Don't know if he still has it but since he is like his mother and never gets rid of anything I'd be willing to bet he does.

shiva
10-29-13, 10:55 AM
yea pre windows is DOS, and I think I have a box of 5.25 floppies around here too. want some?

Bryan
10-29-13, 11:17 AM
I thought the pre windows was DOS. :confused:

There were machines long before the IBM PC (approx. mid 80s) and that is where "mainstream" DOS came from. Machines like Imsai 8080 or Altair (1975) ... the OS was CP/M.

Duke of Buckingham
10-29-13, 05:01 PM
There were machines long before the IBM PC (approx. mid 80s) and that is where "mainstream" DOS came from. Machines like Imsai 8080 or Altair (1975) ... the OS was CP/M.

Thanks Bryan but I don't think I have that skill anymore, only curiosity my friend. :)

Slicker
10-29-13, 05:23 PM
yea pre windows is DOS, and I think I have a box of 5.25 floppies around here too. want some?

Technically, Windows was still DOS until around the year 2000 (after Windows 95/98/ME). The DOS part was just hidden well.

cineon_lut
10-29-13, 08:27 PM
Technically, Windows was still DOS until around the year 2000 (after Windows 95/98/ME). The DOS part was just hidden well.

Yeah, base memory, upper memory... Who would EVER need more than 640kb of memory? Remember trying to run Tie Fighter or games like that, having to make a special boot floppy to preserve enough base memory, while 8MB was sitting there unused. :D

John P. Myers
10-29-13, 08:51 PM
I once wrote a program in DOS that could access 16MB of RAM (because that's all the computer had). From the 80386 and onward, you could access up to 4GB RAM in DOS. Yes, 4GB. So M$ decided to use this memory and make a GUI and call it Windows. But it was still DOS for many, many years. So any program/game you used that was stuck at 640kB was either made by crappy coders or they were trying to stay compatible with the 8086.

Fire$torm
10-30-13, 08:42 PM
Cool stuff, thx JPM.

Question: Have any of you guys ever tried DOSbox (Link (http://www.dosbox.com/)) It's a full blown IBM PC/PC-AT/386 emulator. I've used it in the passed to play some old games (Like X-Wing) I have archived.

Slicker
10-30-13, 11:05 PM
I once wrote a program in DOS that could access 16MB of RAM (because that's all the computer had). From the 80386 and onward, you could access up to 4GB RAM in DOS. Yes, 4GB. So M$ decided to use this memory and make a GUI and call it Windows. But it was still DOS for many, many years. So any program/game you used that was stuck at 640kB was either made by crappy coders or they were trying to stay compatible with the 8086.

Accessing is one thing, but accessing didn't really mean running. Depending upon the app (DOS vs Win), it may need to use expanded or extended memory in order to access anything above 640K. QEMM and other memory managers were used to map the upper memory so that it could be swapped in and out so the OS could access it as DOS could really only access the first MB (640K for the OS and the remainder for BIOS, Graphics, etc.). Windows made it easier to use all the extra memory but it used a 64K "index" to all the "chunks" of upper memory that each different app used. So, if running several apps and each needed lots of little chunks of memory, the "index" area would run out of space and you still couldn't use all the memory in the PC. So, you can't necessarily blame the app developers when the design used by Windows was lacking. Then again, you could say it was crappy coders that came up with that design for Windows, so either way, you are correct.