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Ok, but overall Windows is great in terms of backward compatibility compared to Apple/Linux/Android. You can still run DOS and Windows 3.x apps on 32 bit Window
by cat_plus_plus 4y ago
Ok, but overall Windows is great in terms of backward compatibility compared to Apple/Linux/Android. You can still run DOS and Windows 3.x apps on 32 bit Windows 10 and lack of 64 bit support is just Intel hardware limitation. There is Hyper V if you do need such support. Inability to window DOS graphics is peanuts compared to impossibility of say running Power PC MacOSX apps with hardware graphics acceleration.
- pohuing 4y agoThis reads like you didn't check the date of the post
- cat_plus_plus 4y agoIsn't even more impressive how much old stuff still runs almost 2 decades later?
- pohuing 4y agoYeah and I love windows for that. I've tried thrice to get old software to run on Linux and mac, mac turned out impossible, the Linux bit I ran the Windows build in wine.
- WirelessGigabit 4y agoI hate to admit it but VMWare is better for playing games in a VM. USB pass through. 3D graphics etc.
- cat_plus_plus 4y agoSure, there are add on emulation/virtualization software, but even built in backward compatibility is impressive. That's important for casual users with limited computer skills, system administrators who don't have to manage another level of abstraction, those on a budget who don't have to pay for an extra license just to run software they already own...
- pifm_guy 4y agoVirtualbox is nearly unusable for windows 9x nowadays. The system boots kinda sometimes, but applications or windows explorer usually crash with some memory protection or illegal instruction fault within a minute or so. This has been the case for years, so I guess nobody wants to track down and fix the bug.
- userbinator 4y agoThat sounds like this bug, of which someone created a patch for (look at the end of the comments): https://blog.stuffedcow.net/2015/08/win9x-tlb-invalidation-bug/ https://blog.stuffedcow.net/2015/08/win9x-tlb-invalidation-b... Turning off nested paging seems to work around it.
- RulerOf 4y agoPeople who absolutely need to run 16-bit DOS apps on x64 Windows can use NTVDMx64: https://github.com/leecher1337/ntvdmx64 https://github.com/leecher1337/ntvdmx64
- userbinator 4y agoand lack of 64 bit support is just Intel hardware limitation. Common misconception, maybe even MS-originated FUD. WINE on 64-bit Linux supports 16-bit Windows apps perfectly well. ...and NTVDMx64 --- based on MS' own leaked Windows code! --- is probably the best evidence that it has nothing to do with hardware limitations and everything to do with where MS wants to force users to go.
- hulitu 4y ago> Common misconception, maybe even MS-originated FUD. WINE on 64-bit Linux supports 16-bit Windows apps perfectly well. Huh ? Wine on 64 bit linux supports only 64 bits apps. Same on 32 bits linux, but here supports also 16 bits apps. For 32 bits support on 64 linux you need 32 bits linux libraries.
- andrewf 4y agoYou need the 32 bit libraries, but it all runs under a 64-bit kernel alongside 64-bit processes on the same system, right? EDIT: More details at https://www.codeweavers.com/support/wiki/Diag/BrokenLDT16 https://www.codeweavers.com/support/wiki/Diag/BrokenLDT16 . I suppose if you run 16-bit programs inside 32-bit WINE on 64-bit Linux, you wouldn't be able to get real interop (eg drag-and-drop) with a 64-bit windows program separately running under 64-bit WINE?
- scintill76 4y agoSeems like the truth is somewhere in between. NTVDMx64’s readme says “NTVDM on Win32 uses V86 mode of the CPU for fast code execution which isn't available in x64 long mode.” So there is a real hardware limitation. On the other hand, emulating the CPU entirely is feasible, and MS has the code, as the leak shows. And apparently newer Intel CPUs enabled V86 again.
- msla 4y agoI've had better luck with Linux than Windows, especially when running 32-bit software on 64-bit hardware.