DOS Games Discussion

fabiobol · Experienced Member Joined: 06 May 2005 Posts: 72

i have a AMD 286-16 Mhz, 3 MB RAM, 200 MB HD and video cirrus logic. I have a lot of troubles with this machine: first, the keboard seems to write the characters on the screen very very late on windows 3.1 (but not in dos); second, I don't know what vga is installed. windows recognise it as a VGA, but on the chip it's written cirrus logic (there are 2 video chips!!!), and in windows i can't use 256-colours! In dos, with games like Winter challenge, the video card is soo slow!!! Also, i have a modem installed, I tried to install internet explorer 1,2,3,4,5 for win3.1, but it makes ALWAYS an application error! Then, i have installed 4 1 MB slots of ram, but it seems to see only 3 of them.
And, last, I can't play commander keen 4, doom 1 and 2, big red racing and a lot of other games don't work! Could you help me? Thanks!

dr_st · Posted: Thu Jun 02, 2005 3:29 pm Post subject:

You're not supposed to play DOOM on a 286. I think it has 386 in its min. requirements. Heck, you're not supposed to do anything on a 286!

wild_qwerty · Newbie Joined: 31 May 2005 Posts: 7

286s were a bit before my time but....

Doom - minimum spec of at least a 386 (everyone went uot and bought a 486 though!)
RAM - check them in different combinations in case one of the chips is faulty

Wally*Won_Kenobie · Posted: Thu Jun 02, 2005 6:36 pm Post subject:

DONT install windows..... and download freedos!

I do suggest tossing the 286 and getting a better machine

Unknown_K · Way too much free time Joined: 01 Oct 2002 Posts: 557

Windows 3.0 was the last to run on a 286 correctly I think. IE explorer most likely needs 386 protected mode to work (386 or better)

Frenkel · Posted: Fri Jun 03, 2005 7:21 am Post subject:

Win 3.1 runs on a 286, Win 3.11 doesn't.

Commander Keen 4 should work. Doom 1, 2 and 3 and Big Red Racing all need a 386 or higher.

fabiobol · Experienced Member Joined: 06 May 2005 Posts: 72

You 're all right! I have to buy a "new" old-computer! I live in Italy, so tomorrow there is a fair near Milan, then I will go and I will buy a 486DX2/66 MHz, some video cards, some audio cards (what about the YAMAHA OPL-3 and the ESS-1868 for dos games?) and a lot of motherboard for Pentium and K6 CPUs. But.... is there any way to emulate on a 286 the 386 processor? I read that on many sites, and they all said about an EMULATOR that, of course, emulates the 386 CPU and the co-processor. I tried one of them but unfortunately it didn't work and my 286 is making me very, very angry, because I can't do about nothing!!!!

Dosser · Posted: Fri Jun 03, 2005 11:17 am Post subject:

I wouldn't think do: emulation typically takes a lot of CPU power. You are basically asking your computer to emulate a much more powerful processor.

fabiobol · Experienced Member Joined: 06 May 2005 Posts: 72

Very good. Tomorrow I will buy a 486!

GameMaster.EXE · Posted: Wed Jun 29, 2005 2:50 pm Post subject:

I'm using a 486. 386 was the standard for Windows 3.1. It will be a matter of time before we see 586.

486 player · Gaming Demi-god Joined: 18 Sep 2002 Posts: 1017

586 was the 1st Pentium generation.

dosraider · Posted: Fri Jul 01, 2005 10:15 am Post subject:

dr_st · Posted: Fri Jul 01, 2005 1:58 pm Post subject:

To some extent, Win95 and Win98 are also but GUIs for DOS. They are more autonomous than Win3.11 and take over more stuff, but they still won't run without the DOS core under them.

dosraider · Posted: Fri Jul 01, 2005 4:28 pm Post subject:

Fully agree with that.
It was only a reply to GameMaster.EXE 's statement, he give me the impression he consider Windows 3.1. as a full OS, concived for a 386 cpu.
Or something..........hmmm.
Wink

Frenkel · Posted: Sun Jul 03, 2005 3:31 pm Post subject:

EMU386 emulates real mode 386 on a 286.

I've never ran Win3.x in 256 colors.