Windows 95 Runs On N900 Via Dosbox

[Monk]

Probably for the same reason they put a line under Gamecube or PS2 emulation: The system's not powerful enough to do anything *useful* with it.

I'm sure some talented individual could spend weeks porting/coding a PS2 emulator just to have it run at less than 1fps. But what would be the point?

Well Got to start somewhere, if nobody makes software that actually reaches the extent of what this can do... there won't ever be a need to have something more powerful right?

Also - I can't remember the quote, but some clever chap apaprently said something like "In order to find the limits of what is possible, we must first go beyond the possible - then take one step back".

Is "run" really the appropriate verb?

In previous years, when speaking of Windows software, around here we switched to "crawl" all too often as a more accurate alternative... and that was on x86 hardware!

 

[craigix]

I guess we can get a glimpse of what the OMAP4 could run reasonably well.

 

[Titcher]

I guess we can get a glimpse of what the OMAP4 could run reasonably well.

I'm liking the positive attitude recently. A lot less stressed now that the cases are ready to go?

 

[Grench]

OK - this may sound stupid...

So, in the case of the Pandora, DOSBox emulates a 32bit X86 machine on an ARM CPU then loads DOS on it.

Has anyone made a LinuxBox that emulates a 32bit X86 machine on an ARM CPU then loads Linux X86 command line on it? I.e. a DOSBox like thing that boots to Puppy Linux or the like?

I have one game in particular that I would like to try to run that has an X86 Linux binary, but no source code available to re-compile to ARM... We probably wouldn't have the resources to drive it past 1FPS, but even at that I could have fun with it. Never Winter Nights.

So, is there an X86LinuxBox for Arm somewhere?

 

[mindlord]

Isn't this just the thing that QEMU is for?

 

[kingoddball]

As for OLD games that run on Win95/DOS.. Most of these games are now free download anyhow..

GTA 1 was released by R* and many older games are even abandon-ware. You can get many, many 95/DOS games free AND legally!

 

[WizardStan]

Has anyone made a LinuxBox that emulates a 32bit X86 machine on an ARM CPU then loads Linux X86 command line on it? I.e. a DOSBox like thing that boots to Puppy Linux or the like?

Isn't this just the thing that QEMU is for?

It's called "user mode"

 

[Prometheus]

As for OLD games that run on Win95/DOS.. Most of these games are now free download anyhow..

If by "free download" you mean 100% legally free (see below), could you please provide some resources? I'm interested in keeping a list (it's in my signature, as you can see, and I do still add to it from time to time), but only of legally freely-available stuff.

GTA 1 was released by R*

It was indeed! But which version was it? They don't seem to say, unfortunately.

I and many older games are even abandon-ware. You can get many, many 95/DOS games free AND legally!

Not to cause a debate, but "abandonware" is not a legal concept in any country I'm aware of. It's a made-up name used to refer to software which isn't supported by its creators anymore, but which is still in copyright. Somebody calling something abandonware doesn't mean it's legal to download it.

 

[willrandship]

Alongside a lot of this argument, I have one thing to say about win95 games. Many of the best ones had a dos mode, and the windows only ones have many ports.

EX: Castle of the Winds was my favorite win95 game of all time. (Mainly it was because it was the only roquelike i've ever heard of)
Play Powder, nethack, rogue, or something, you don't have shops or anything but gameplay is quite similar.

But honestly, a lot of win95 games sucked.

 

[Prometheus]

Good lord, The Castle of the Winds! I haven't heard that name since playing around with a CD filled with shareware episodes of games that I used to have, well over a decade ago.

I can only think of one Windows 95 title myself that doesn't have an engine-remake (to my knowledge), didn't run in DOS mode, and wasn't ported elsewhere, and that was Jazz Jackrabbit 2. It's a real shame that they never open-sourced it - it had a fantastic multiplayer mode that probably would've been a riot on the Pandora.

 

[x86Daddy]

For benchmarking purposes, I can say that I've run Starcraft on a Toshiba Libretto, clocked as a 100MHz Pentium, and it ran fine in single player, and lagged the whole game for everyone in an 8 person multiplayer. For multiplayer, I was using a 16-bit PCMCIA Ethernet adapter (no 32-bit support on the machine). This was at a larger LAN party a couple years ago, where every spare machine might be in use... and it was funny to try... surprising that it ran as well as it did.

I've yet to try running Windows 9x on my Nokia N85, as it's purely a novelty thing without good inputs, but there was news a year or so back where someone installed Windows 95 on a Nokia N95 successfully (and it ran slow).

 

[rohezal]

Lets a list of free games (which was commercial in the past)

GTA: http://www.chip.de/downloads/Grand-Theft-Auto-GTA_13007686.html
GTA 2: http://www.chip.de/downloads/Grand-Theft-Auto-GTA-2_13015291.html

Edit: addes explanation

 

[WizardStan]

http://www.rockstargames.com/classics/
The "license" (I suppose is the safest thing to call it) says that Rockstar is giving these games to members of their mailing list. You need to sign up to their mailing list to be allowed to download and install. Downloading from that chip.de site may technically still be illegal, even if they'll never prosecute anyone. It doesn't really matter, but it's probably better to get them from the official source anyway: signing up for the mailing list is free, and you can just use a junk address if you're worried about spam.

 

[Monk]

I can only think of one Windows 95 title myself that doesn't have an engine-remake (to my knowledge), didn't run in DOS mode, and wasn't ported elsewhere, and that was Jazz Jackrabbit 2. It's a real shame that they never open-sourced it - it had a fantastic multiplayer mode that probably would've been a riot on the Pandora.

Agreed that Jazz Jackrabbit 2 is great, and my son and I enjoy 2-playe rmodes... however, wasn't it produced for the Macintosh later (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jazz_Jackrabbit_2) and isn't there a probably incomplete abandoned OpenSource clone somewhere?

Let me see if I can find...

Ah, this is probably it - looks like it might be less dead than I had assumed!

http://sourceforge.net/projects/openjazz/

 

[Prometheus]

Yay, glad to see someone else with the good taste to recognise Jazz 2's greatness! (Also, yep, it was produced for the Mac at around the time of the launch of the first iMac and iBook. They made promotional Jazz beanie plushes, too, which could be bought separately after the company responsible for the Mac port went under. Got one sitting next to my computer now. :lol: )

Unfortunately, OpenJazz is for Jazz 1...

But, it has its own multiplayer game now, so I do believe we are in luck. Fingers crossed for a port, I guess!

 

[worzyl]

Hmmm...I wouldn't mind running the now defunct Autodesk Animator Studio on 95. Having said that, I'm still on XP and have never attempted to try and see if it works on it...

 

[Monk]

Yay, glad to see someone else with the good taste to recognise Jazz 2's greatness! (Also, yep, it was produced for the Mac at around the time of the launch of the first iMac and iBook. They made promotional Jazz beanie plushes, too, which could be bought separately after the company responsible for the Mac port went under. Got one sitting next to my computer now. :lol: )

Unfortunately, OpenJazz is for Jazz 1...

But, it has its own multiplayer game now, so I do believe we are in luck. Fingers crossed for a port, I guess!

Pooh - I don't think I even have Jazz #1, unless it's tucked away on teh CD (I got a fully boxed copy of Jazz #2!)

But yeah - it's sonic for the PC. But crazier.

 

[Monk]

Hmmm...I wouldn't mind running the now defunct Autodesk Animator Studio on 95. Having said that, I'm still on XP and have never attempted to try and see if it works on it...

Crikey, that takes me back - although I only ever saw the original DOS version, myself.


I feel old

 

[Prometheus]

Pooh - I don't think I even have Jazz #1, unless it's tucked away on teh CD (I got a fully boxed copy of Jazz #2!)

I have both, and the lesser-known Game Boy Advance follow-up.

I think Epic Classics still sells Jazz 1, but I was lucky enough to find Jazz Jackrabbit CD on eBay a while back for a LOT less. Keep your eyes peeled!

 

[chickendung]

SkiFree.

Again, SkiFree runs perfectly on Windows 3.11. Not to mention Myst or the first Journeyman Project game.