Computer Tech Question

[Spiderman]

On a current, "modern" computer, is it possible to do something like "partition" the hard drive so you have Windows XP on one partition and Windows 95 or 98 on the other so I can run old games on the second partition?

 

[Limited]

I am sure you can; I am not entirely sure how though. You can make a new partition by restarting your computer with the XP cd in it and got to hard disk options or something.
Then, you can install an older windows on that partition..

Then you either get an option menu automatically or you have to add one yourself.

I've recently done this for someone, but they were upgrading. So, I had a computer with windows 98 and two partitions, inserted the XP cd which gave me the choice of upgrading the win98 or installing as new.

 

[Spiderman]

Yeah, I'm not exactly sure how to do it. I think it can be done, but as you can see, my knowledge of the terms makes me slightly dangerous in that I still don't know what to do. I'll try searching the web but thought I'd ask here too.

 

[Mooseman]

It can be done. But you need to set up a dual boot. So that when you start up the computer, you have to choose which operating system to use.
I know a lot of people who have done this with windows and Linux.

Try this pdf
"http://www.techsupportalert.com/search/t1216.pdf"

 

[Nightstalkers]

Yeah, what the moose said.

But I'd suggest that you dual boot XP and 98SE because 95 is pretty crummy. Plus if you do XP/98SE combo you get the best of the NT shell and the... Pretty much still DOS shell system (with 98SE).

 

[DarthFerret]

True that. Plus remember, that if you want Windows 3.11/95/98 you need to have a Dos Program installed on that partition. That is a difficult program to get a hold of, but you might find it on Ebay.

 

[Nightstalkers]

But... who in their right mind would want to use Win3.x?

 

[Spiderman]

Yeah, I don't think I want to go back THAT far But I do want a DOS shell to run the DOS games I nostalgically remember... 98SE probably will work too. But I wonder if a DOS bootup disk would work...

 

[DarthFerret]

I am not sure there Spidey, I heard someone once tell me they had a way to use the old DOS games and such, but I never did find out what they used. Have you tried a Google search?

 

[Spiderman]

Not yet I still plan to when I actually have the time to try to do this.

 

[HOUTS]

Yes, you can.

So, if you have XP, and then want to partition a slot for 98.
Insert drive, etc. Then when it asks you to delete, add, or repair, you're going to add another slot.

Very easy to do. But having 98 is like having a virus.
Ugh.
*shudders*

Make sure you have Xp installed first.
Then after set-up, you can have a dual boot opening to choose. With external drives, this is much easier, and less risky to do.

-HOUTS

 

[BigBlue]

You might try running them in XP with the compatability set to what you want... I know you can make a shell emulate quite a bit of old dos... it even let's you do some memory configuration.

 

[Spiderman]

Nope, tried that already... doesn't work with the games I'm trying (Wing Commander).

 

[Nightstalkers]

Umm... Try getting the DOSbox first. It's a freeware program that almost perfectly emulates a DOS environment and allows you to do certain tweaks like turn down the speed and stuffs.

Check it out before doing something drastic as buying Win98SE and making your system dual boot.



FYI: IMHO: Win95 IABA Win3.x Win98SE is teh roxxorz o' teh tree


>.>

FYI, I think Win95 is as bad as Win3.x and 98SE is the better of the three.

(sorry, went aoheller for a sec)

 

[Spiderman]

Well, I already have 98SE on CD from an old computer. But I'll check into DOSBox as slowing down the computer would be a concern too. Thanks.

 

[Nightstalkers]

I find it's usually better than going through the hoops and everything...

Oh, while you're checking into the DOSbox, lookup a game called "Liero" and try that. It's a fun little realtime game that is similar to the kinda popular "Worms" games. Basically two little "worms" with guns and ninja ropes running around killin' off one another. It's addicting and fun if you get two people playing. The newer versions out there have been modified so as more than two players can join in the massacre, as well as tweaks to allow it to run in windows XP...

 

[Oversoul]

I have Windows 2000 and before this computer was wiped it had Windows XP. With both I was able to play DOS games, although I've been told most computers with Windows XP cannot. I don't know WHY I can--I'm not that computer literate.

 

[Spiderman]

I'm sure there are some DOS games WinXP can play - it's just that with Wing Commander in particular, it's looking for certain stuff and I know I can better figure it out under DOS (since I played it way back when) than try to figure it out under XP (one thing I know WC needed was a DOS boot disk to clear most of the 640K memory).

 

[Nightstalkers]

I pulled out me old Wing Commander game and it plays fine in Windows XP...


Problem is that the game goes too fast to even be fair.

 

[TomB]

I'm still trying to figure out how to play the old Microprose Magic game on my XP machine...