MS. PAC-MAN for IBM-PC. From 1983. Okay, I am really bad at this game... but at least the emulation is working!

Can’t get Windows 95 to run in #QEMU 9.2.3 on #macOS. It worked fine when I last tried it in 2023 or 2024, though.

I’m getting a “Windows protection error” on first boot during the installation. Even my existing image that used to work now fails with the same error.

Is it time to switch to #86Box?

Emacs 19 running on OPENSTEP 4.2. Emulated on 86box.

Note that OPENSTEP 4.2's installation CD comes with emacs 18 which can only be used in the terminal. The one with gui support can be found in https://www.theoldcomputer.com/roms/index.php?folder=NeXT/Cube-Station/OPENSTEP/Apps/EMACS

Red Hat Linux 5 with Emacs 20.2.1 and Python 1.4. Emulated on 86box.

This one required a bit of research, but I finally managed to get it working:

Jurassic Park for DOS is famous for its on-disk copy protection, so I uploaded a good variety of disk image formats: KryoFlux, TeleDisk, MFM, 86F. All tested and confirmed working on #86Box v4.2.1.

https://archive.org/details/jurassic_park_dos/

Have fun with the dinos!

That's s so cool! I had always wanted to add "Krusty's Fun House" for MS-DOS to my retro collection. I've had the floppy disk for years (thanks flyers_80!), but I could never find the correct manual to answer all those pesky copy protection questions.

Tonight I found out, there's a beautiful PDF version of the correct manual within the current eXoDOS collection. All of a sudden, the problem is solved and I can finally play the game! Yay!

If you want it, here's the original disk image, uploaded by flyers_80 in 2017: https://archive.org/details/KrustysFunHouseAcclaim199335Kryoflux.7z

Using #86Box and MS-DOS 3.31, I was finally able to take a quick look at #Windows 1.0. It's archaic & feels older than the dawn of time, but it's still Windows. It's pretty usable, too. I kinda like it .

Everyone seems to hate MS-DOS 4, but I actually think it's pretty neat. I like the oldschool MS-DOS Shell with its separate file management section and all those crazy colours. I also enjoy the fact that it plays really nicely with Windows 3.0 and the system's 386 Enhanced Mode. Something that, sadly, cannot be said about MS-DOS 5.0 or later.

So langsam schließen sich die letzten Lücken in meiner Sammlung antiker Windows- und Office-Disketten. Excel 3.0a lief als letzte Excel-Fassung noch original unter Windows 3.0 und war außerdem das erste mit einer grafischen Symbolleiste! Dieses unglaubliche Feature wurde damals auch noch groß auf der Verpackung beworben!

Hier ein perfektes Set der deutschen Vollversion mit 1.2MB, 5.25 Zoll KryoFlux Images. Natürlich wieder inkl. aller IMGs und sauberer JPG-Scans sämtlicher Datenträger:

https://archive.org/details/ms-excel_30a_de

Viel Spaß und gute Nacht ihr Wahnsinnigen!

Hatte gestern einen eigentlich ziemlich hässlichen 720K Diskettensatz in der Post. Den Dingern sah man ihre 35 Jahre doch schon ziemlich an, aber die Optik war in dem Fall nebensächlich, denn das Auslesen per KryoFlux war dann eine wirklich positive Überraschung. Alle Datenträger waren absolut perfekt lesbar!

Es handelt sich um die deutsche Vollversion von Microsoft Excel 2.1d. Diese Fassung von Excel wurde noch rein über MS-DOS installiert und lief auf Windows ab Version 2.x. Ziemlich historisch. Hier gibt es die kompletten Flux- und IMG-Images, sowie 300dpi Scans aller Disketten:

https://archive.org/details/ms-excel_21d_de

Viel Spaß!

Hatte heute Nachmittag eine echt schöne 5 1/4 Zoll HD Diskettenversion von Windows 3.0 in der Post. Das Auslesen per KryoFlux lief auch fast perfekt, bis auf ein paar unlesbare Sektoren auf insgesamt drei Spuren auf Diskette Nr. 5. Die Fehler beschränkten sich zum Glück auf eine einzelne Datei und so konnte ich das schnell und einfach per Hex Editor in Ordnung bringen.

Den fertigen, sauberen und getesteten Satz an 1.2MB IMGs und 300dpi JPGs hab ich wie immer gleich mal ins Internet Archiv hochgeladen:

https://archive.org/details/mswin_3.0_de

Viel Spaß!

Ohje, sieht so aus, als wäre die Nützlichkeit von Windows/386 als Gaming-Plattform doch eher begrenzt. Das System weigert sich, selbst die einfachsten Spiele aus meiner Sammlung auszuführen. Kein WEP, kein TETRIS, nicht mal MAMBA 1.0. Was ein Mist .

P. S. Das einzige Spiel, das ich zum Laufen bringen konnte, war ein ganz alter Klon von Missile Command namens "STARBASE".

Created a brand-new 86Box system, custom made for MS-DOS 3.31 and Windows/386 2.11.

This is using a 386 CPU with 4 megs of RAM, Trident TVGA 8900D graphics and a 120MB WDAC2120 harddisk. Everything seems to be pretty compatible and works without issues, running in 386 enhanced mode. Including the latest and greatest MS Word 1.1a and Excel 2.1d.

I ran into a few issues with Windows 2.x and later versions of MS-DOS, so I figured I should simply install an older version of MS-DOS. Version 3.31 seemed appropriate, because it supports harddisks larger than 32MB.

Easier said than done, because - as a surprise to me - this version of DOS apparently didn't even have a setup program. You have to do everything yourself: FDISK, FORMAT, SYS,... you even have to copy COMMAND.COM from A: to C: by hand. Simpler times!

Wow! Windows 386 is so much more usable now in 1024x768 SVGA resolution with 256 colors. Yes, I finally found a working graphics driver! And also "yes", I have nothing better to do at 3am!

If you want to run BeOS on the 86Box, create a machine using the specifications on the website. I will soon create a VM for BeOS using the 86Box.
https://asleson.org/public/mirrors/www.be.com/support/guides/beosreadylist_intel.html

Back in the day, "PC Paintbrush for Windows" used to be my favourite image editor. I kept using it well into the modern Windows 9x era. Only recently, I learned of its history as an MS-DOS application. There are plenty of interesting similarities!

Ein Image der "4 PC-Super-Spiele" Diskette ist jetzt auch im Internet-Archive verfügbar. Im Jahre 1995 war das vermutlich die Krönung der PC-Spiele-Kunst! Ähhh... Okay, vermutlich nicht.

Trotzdem viel Spaß!

https://archive.org/details/4_pc-super-spiele

Another bad retro diskette! At first glance, this one seemed pretty much gone. None of my disk imaging tools were able to read it. Windows Explorer just crashed.

Only a low level KryoFlux dump managed to uncover the physical cause behind this: A corrupt root directory beyond any chance of repair. Luckily, both the file allocation tables as well as most of the data clusters were still in good shape. I used a hex editor to manually recover all the files from the valid tracks. It worked!

I guess these games are nothing special, but it still made me happy to pull usable data and working files from such a destroyed file system!