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> Windows setup still follows this pattern of installing a miniature operating system to bootstrap the setup program. But today, the miniature operating system
by dmurray 2y ago
> Windows setup still follows this pattern of installing a miniature operating system to bootstrap the setup program. But today, the miniature operating system is Windows PE, the Windows Preinstallation Environment.
So, 30 years later, Microsoft followed the approach the article mocks?
- luke-stanley 2y agoTo be fair, they had to ship first.
- stavros 2y agoPresumably Windows PE is much more suited to computers 30 years newer than what Windows 3.1 ever supported.
- Gormo 2y agoTo be fair, Windows 3.1 can still be run on modern computers.
- stavros 2y ago"Can be run" and "makes for a good setup experience" are two very different things. How's the USB support?
- Gormo 2y agoSupport for USB controllers in DOS and Win3.1 is, of course, basically nonexistent. However, with the correct BIOS settings, a USB storage volume can be treated as a conventional hard drive (naturally requiring a traditional, non-GPT partition table, and will only mount sub-2GB FAT16 partitions). I've got a bootalble thumbdrive, in fact, set up with Syslinux, and an option to boot a DOS 6.22 drive image (with Win3.1 installed) via memdisk. It works, but on modern hardware, can typically only use standard VGA or VESA video modes, and modern HDA audio devices are usually not AC97 or SB compatible, so usually no audio but PC speaker.
- D13Fd 2y agoNow they don’t face the same resource and compatibility limitations they did then.
- Kwpolska 2y agoWindows PE is based on real Windows 11, it's not a custom thing.
- NoahKAndrews 2y agoThe article isn't mocking the approach, it's explaining why it was the best option, even though it sounds silly at first.