Win 2k?

[crasherball]

would it theoretically be possible to port win2k on the pandora if you had the source?
I remember that the source was leaked few years back.

i know its illegal - Im just speaking in hypothetical terms

 

[lulzfish]

If you had the entire source and you could re-write the Pandora's device drivers to fit into the Windows Driver Model, then maybe.

See also ReactOS.

Um, but it would be useless, because all Win2000 applications are compiled for x86. So, basically, you'd need all of that source code again.

 

[sindbad]

Basically, even if you had the complete source code and a proper build system for it, it is unfeasible.

But why would you do such a thing? There would be no applications running on it. Any applications would have to be compiled again (if able to run on ARM at all) and there's winelib for that.

 

[craigix]

I never understand why people want windows. What would you want to do in it that you can't do in Linux?

 

[kattle87]

I never understand why people want windows. What would you want to do in it that you can't do in Linux?

BSOD, just as an example

 

[MDave]

I never understand why people want windows. What would you want to do in it that you can't do in Linux?

A lot of people are asking for Half-Life and other PC x86 closed source games. :unsure:

 

[Vladsharp]

I never understand why people want windows. What would you want to do in it that you can't do in Linux?

BSOD, just as an example

Anything else, for that matter? :rolleyes:

 

[conso]

I never understand why people want windows. What would you want to do in it that you can't do in Linux?

BSOD, just as an example

Ah, ok. I think I can write an emulator for the BSOD in a matter of minutes. If you wish, you can call it a Pandora-feature. I could even block all input-devices as well as ssh for hardcore-BSOD-users.

 

[cb88]

Actually BSOD was recently added as a supported feature to the Linux kernel aka Kernel Mode setting

 

[Pleng]

I never understand why people want windows. What would you want to do in it that you can't do in Linux?

Visual Studio.NET

 

[zxxxy]

What about Mac OS X? It was designed for ppc(at first).

 

[lulzfish]

What about it?

 

[Klepto]

I remember that the source was leaked few years back.

As I understand it only a small portion of the code leaked, mainly networking stuff. Even with the full source available porting Windows to ARM would be a mammoth task, this may be why Microsoft hasn't done it yet (CE doesn't count). As lulzfish and sinbad has pointed out you would also need to port all the applications due to the binary distribution model employed in the Windows world.

Obligatory automotive metaphor: this would be like converting a perfectly good modern car to run on leaded two star petrol.

 

[Eniko]

I never understand why people want windows. What would you want to do in it that you can't do in Linux?

A lot of people are asking for Half-Life and other PC x86 closed source games. :unsure:
Shame they don't understand that Windows ported to ARM still won't run Windows games not ported to ARM.

 

[Wolfsclaw]

Linux is still too hard to understand, at least for people like me that normally don't do much in terminals or such except basic things in windows like ping google.com or ipconfig.

Installed ubuntu a few days back, works fine, it's just that i can't get to install any wlan stick drivers and any google help didn't work, as i had NO idea what to with words such as "sudo" "apt-get" or such things and i have no idea what KDE, ndiswrapper, iwconfig and all these other funky words mean. Call me a noob and an ignorant windows lamer, but I personally can't see what's wrong about an n-Lited Windows XP + SP3 integrated. It works flawlessly over here, there are no crashes, almost no slowdowns or whatsoever and all the games work fine, surfing, working, everything is just a few clicks away and i don't have to type words i have never heard before in a terminal, making me feel like PC's hadn't moved on much since the nineties. In fact, i tried to download some .dbe files, which I thought i could install in ubuntu, turned out (when i used right-click & an integrated install manager) it gave me a lot of weird error messages that I don't know how to deal with. That's about where i gave up, plus I didn't like the graphical interface that much (yes i know it's changeable, but still).

Linux might be usable for those that have enough patience to learn how it works and how to properly set it up, but people like me that want an easy-to-use, works-with-all-programs, dont-have-to-use-a-terminal OS are very much satisfied with Windows XP, I guess (well, if its properly set up and doesn't have senseless programs running that eat up all the RAM. As i said, n-Lite perfects it IMO). Not the same though for Vista, which sucks big time.

BTW, my Windows XP boots overall a few seconds faster than my Ubuntu, which confuses me a bit, but leaves me even more thankful for this OS.

 

[crasherball]

I never understand why people want windows. What would you want to do in it that you can't do in Linux?

A lot of people are asking for Half-Life and other PC x86 closed source games. :unsure:


+1


its not that Im "sad" or something like that, if there wasnt a way to have windows on my pandora.
but it sure would be a nice addition.

compare it to android. I dont NEED it. but it would be nice having it TOO.

there are just alot of games on windows that would run on a device like pandora (in terms of specs)
like diablo 2 or starcraft (plz dont tell me to play the n64 version of starcraft -.- )

 

[chole]

Basically, even if you had the complete source code and a proper build system for it, it is unfeasible.

But why would you do such a thing? There would be no applications running on it. Any applications would have to be compiled again (if able to run on ARM at all) and there's winelib for that.

It's not the same animal at all, but this thread has raised my interest in seeing how feasible win2k or (more likely, due to memory constraints) win9x would be virtualized on a Pandora. QEMU seems to already support ARM to a degree (it's listed as "Testing").

 

[mali]

You could play solitair then :rolleyes:

 

[MonkeyChops]

As has been said before, having windows on the pandora would not make those games possible. The games themselves are programed for x86 and would have to be ported to arm which requires source code. If you have the source code for the games to port them to arm you won't need windows.

Having windows on the pandora is pointless. well... except maybe ce.

Edit: I just thought of something, doesn't dosbox play x86 games on pandora? Guess that's more of a dos emulator whereas we are talking about a strait port of win2k?

 

[Klepto]

Linux is still too hard to understand

I'm a Linux user and I find Windows too hard to understand. It seems from the few times I have used it (since I switched from win98) that it's missing a lot of functionality I take for granted. I have no idea what a .dbe file is or what 'n-Lited Windows XP + SP3 integrated' means. The errors Windows gives contain little or no useful information that would allow me to fix the problem, often they are just hex numbers. Even if the cause of a problem can be identified then fixing it is hampered by the fact everything is locked up inside binary modules that if they existed in the physical world would have big stickers saying 'no user serviceable parts' on them.