Re: Need help running dos game under XP Pro

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From: cquirke (MVP Win9x) (cquirkenews_at_nospam.mvps.org)
Date: 05/31/04 

Date: Mon, 31 May 2004 19:10:18 +0200

On Sun, 30 May 2004 09:38:37 -0500, "1" <1@home.com> wrote:
>"cquirke (MVP Win9x)" <cquirkenews@nospam.mvps.org> wrote in message
>> On Sat, 29 May 2004 19:46:23 +0100, "Paul Smith"
>> >"1" <1@home.com> wrote

>> >> Pro- Business computer
>> >> Home- Gamers computer

>> >Pro - Windows XP.
>> >Home - Windows XP Striped down.

>> XP Pro: Newest NT designed for business.

>> XP Home: Newest NT still designed for business, some business
>> functionality removed, but no home-orientated value added.

>> Instead of adapting to the stand-alone user's most familiar security
>> model - "a physical location where safety can be assumed" - XP
>> Home still pushes the identity-based security model, allowing
>> notional "administrators" to fiddle with the PC via the Internet.

>I realize what you have said-
>What I am trying to get across is that in Home- the programs that were
>stripped off make it easier to make a game work(and not for this specific
>reason - it just works that way)-

Not sure how that fits, unless you're thinking of different account
rights or simple file sharing or something - AFAIK, both Home and Pro
offer the same compatibility settings for DOS apps.

YMMV more on whether you use FATxx or NTFS, or whether you had first
set up the PC as FATxx before converting to NTFS vs. installing onto
NTFS in the first place. The last is most likely to set file
permission detail that may be restrictive, whereas avoiding NTFS
altogether also avoids the whole file permission thing.

>XP no longer has DOS

XP is NT 5.1, and NT never had DOS - only the emulation thereof.
Win9x had a more compatible emulation within Windows, plus the option
to run a true DOS mode instead of Windows.

> ...the DOS games that do finally work in XP are so sped up it isn't worth it

I think the best solution for old DOS games is to write an emulator
that would isolate the hardware and manage the speed issues - as if
the DOS PC were an alien platform, like the ZX Spectrum.

Newer DOS games used real-time-clock for timing, but even so, they may
not run or run oddly due to timing issues. The first I saw fall prey
to this was Tyrian, which crashed when CPUs went over 300MHz or so.

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Relevant Pages

  • Re: Need help running dos game under XP Pro
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  • Re: Need help running dos game under XP Pro
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