Xp or 95?

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Xp or 95?
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DOS Games Discussion Forum Index -> Hardware

What should I do?

Stay with 95

33%

[ 2 ]

Move to Xp

16%

[ 1 ]

The hell with Windows! Get a Mac!

33%

[ 2 ]

I don't care. Leave me alone.

16%

[ 1 ]

Total Votes : 6

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Message

Wally
i r teh pwnage

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Joined: 01 May 2003
Posts: 4031
Location: Australia, earth, Milky way

Posted: Wed Aug 17, 2005 8:46 pm Post subject:

Windows 95 stable.. Bwahahahahaha

Sovi3t
Member
Member

Joined: 25 Jun 2005
Posts: 13

Posted: Wed Aug 17, 2005 11:48 pm Post subject:

Windows 95 is more stable than the first releases of XP and ME. It ran slow, but it was just fine for the programs of its time.

Dogbreath
Admin
Admin

Joined: 14 Sep 2002
Posts: 4328
Location: In the back of a jacked-up Ford.

Posted: Fri Aug 19, 2005 1:53 am Post subject:

Sovi3t wrote:

Couldn't you just buy a WinXP lappy but keep using the old computer for DOS games? Windows 95 itself is very stable, you probably just need to format and reinstall windows 95 (too much junk on hard drive?).

Really depends on how much work you want to put into maintaining an old computer. Myself, since 2000 I've been taking care of a very nice Win 98SE system, which I've been gradually upgrading over the years. I'm currently in the process of adding a 120 GB HDD and dual booting with XP... running 98SE and all my DOS and early Windows games off of the 40 Gig HDD/98SE, while I use the XP and the large HDD for internet, photo editing, video editing (I'm a movie director, but I still have to use a friend's computer currently, which is a bit embarressing), and large, new, and XP only games. (Like, say... Doom III? =D)

Ultimately, I'm going to get to the point where my motherboard and processor will no longer support my old software. This has already started to happen. For instance, my new motherboard (added after my old one got friend in 2004) no longer has a PC speaker hookup, which I miss a lot when playing old games. When I'm no longer able to run both on the same machine, I'll probably split them and dedicate a second PC soley to retro gaming. (Though I hope very much that, by that point, I'll be very, very rich)

And hey, welcome to the board! Always great to see new members. Happy

emmzee
Site Admin

Joined: 14 Sep 2002
Posts: 2110
Location: Mississauga, Ontario, Canada

Posted: Fri Aug 19, 2005 10:18 pm Post subject:

Dogbreath wrote:

Ultimately, I'm going to get to the point where my motherboard and processor will no longer support my old software. This has already started to happen. For instance, my new motherboard (added after my old one got friend in 2004) no longer has a PC speaker hookup, which I miss a lot when playing old games. When I'm no longer able to run both on the same machine, I'll probably split them and dedicate a second PC soley to retro gaming. (Though I hope very much that, by that point, I'll be very, very rich)

I wonder if in a few years we'll see name-brand retro PCs start being sold ... ie, you buy a PC with pure DOS installed and tweaked for playing old games ... ? There would probably be a market for such a thing but the problem of course would be getting parts ... also, I suppose FreeDOS or something would have to be used instead of MS-DOS due to all the licensing issues ... Sad

Sovi3t
Member
Member

Joined: 25 Jun 2005
Posts: 13

Posted: Fri Aug 19, 2005 10:59 pm Post subject:

emmzee wrote:

It would be kickin rad if they could do something like this, although I really doubt they would. Sad

However, I predict that within the next 5 years they will be able to get close to 100% compatibility for DOS emulators such as DOSBox.

JKSM
Way too much free time

Joined: 27 Apr 2003
Posts: 491

Posted: Sat Aug 20, 2005 12:13 am Post subject:

GameMaster.EXE wrote:

Another of the many ways you are wrong. If future PC's do come out I'm hoping that they have a floppy disk drive. Most of my dos games are on floppy disks and they come in handy when you're tight on hard drive space.

Future PC have already started to do away with the floppy disk. Take for example, Dell have already started distributing new computers with CD-burners and no floppy disk drive. With such PC, you'll have to specially get an extra floppy disk drive (either internal or external).

Personally, I still prefer using a floppy disk because you don't have carry a casing for it unlike a CD for fear of scratching it. However, nowadays, it more convenient just getting a thumbdrive. It's so small that you can put it in your pocket, can stored lots of information just by plugging into a USD port.

Whether you want to get Win XP or Win 95 for your laptop depends on your purpose of using the laptop. Don't you find it more difficult to play games on a laptop compared to a desktop? The keypad buttons are smaller / softer. You may say I'll get use to the it. However, no matter how you get use to it, it's still not as smooth to use as a desktop keyboard. Then the laptop uses a touchpad. You can however buy an external mouse to attach to get around this.

Actually Win 98 is better than Win 95 but that's another story.

From what I know dual boot (with Win 95 & Win XP) seems to be the best solution. However, your hardware resources must be able to handle it. What I find out from changing to newer PC over the years is that the most important thing is the hardware matters more than software. Hardware like processing speed, RAM, graphics card, sound card, modem speed etc. I am typing this post using a Win XP PC. Shit-Eating Grin

If you got Win XP and want to run dos programs, then you must be prepared to do some tweeking when you use dosbox (dos emulator), vitual dos or change to compatibility mode etc. It does affect the sound / graphics of some games so you have to change some settings unlike running a dos program from Win 95. Most dos games say about 80% will run fine after doing the necessary adjusting. Often people like to blame Win XP for the cause of not being able to run their dos game. However, this is not always the case. In some cases, it is because of the hardware that they have. There was a few dos games that work perfectly fine on Win XP by directly launching them as if it was running on Win 95 dos. One example is Prince of Persia. I confirmed with a friend who ran it using Win XP and he did not encounter any problems. We did not use any dos emulators or change any settings. Those people that had problems running the game had a different hardware and need to use dosbox to solve their problem running the game. Dosbox doesn't solve all problems. Hardware also comes into play like when someone using Win XP who had the same graphics card as I had graphics and other problems with Lemmings Chronicles when running under dosbox. The only way, the game would work was to play it without sound. Many others, who using Win XP but had a different graphics & sound card, ran the game fine under dosbox.

Win XP not only affects dos games, it also affects some old Windows games because the system files (eg. kernel file etc) are different. Take for example, Aladdin for Windows 95. It will run under Win XP. The option is to play the dos version using dosbox or a console version but that is another matter. Aladdin for Windows 95 has better sound and graphics than the dos version of Aladdin. The official Disney website has confirm that it will not run under Win XP. For other old games of theirs, they will tell users how to troubleshoot by running under compatibility mode etc.

Win XP has better user interface and better for running newer programs.

By the way, old PC have better internal speaker sounds. The internal speaker sound gets worse and worse with newer PC. Probably because manufacturers think that users only need a good sound card for external speaker sound. Sometimes, using dosbox can get you the internal speaker bleeps that you use to miss, sometimes it does not.

Right now, I am using Win XP for both serious work and for games. However, where Win XP does not satisfy the running of games, I turn to my old Win 95 PC. The only thing is that the Win 95 PC being an older PC although it's a Pentium, has less hard disk space and RAM.

Kazer0
Mercenary Dishwasher

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Joined: 17 Sep 2002
Posts: 2720
Location: In an igloo with my pet penguin, eh?

Posted: Sun Aug 21, 2005 4:34 pm Post subject:

JKSM wrote:

From what I know dual boot (with Win 95 & Win XP) seems to be the best solution. However, your hardware resources must be able to handle it. What I find out from changing to newer PC over the years is that the most important thing is the hardware matters more than software. Hardware like processing speed, RAM, graphics card, sound card, modem speed etc.

Actually, when you dual boot you only need the resources for 1 at a time. The only thing that is lost is: a) The disk space from the OS not being used at the time, and b) A little speed from Windows XP being run on FAT file system rather than NTFS (Unless you partition as well). So there really isnt a huge loss in dual booting unless you use many large OS that take up too much space. JKSM is right in saying a dual boot between 95 and XP is the best solution for you. XP will offer the latest updates and stability, while 95 will let you retro game.

To set this up, simply:

a) Install Windows 95 on your blank hard drive
b) Restart with Windows XP disk in
c) Run Windows XP install, and during the wizard, it will say that there is another OS installed, and give the option to dual boot your PC.

Actually, ive been wanting to format my computer for some time, but didn't want to loose the data. You just reminded me that I could dualboot another copy of Windows 2000 or XP, and install my games on that copy*.

* Because my reasons for formatting are that there are too much cluttering services and background programs running. By dual booting and ONLY installing games, I can run a clean OS for games, a messy OS for everyday use.

As for the Mac vs PC debate: This is becoming funny. In mere moments, I will split the posts, and we will have a nice new topic to do this in.

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