The other reason why I love Virtual PC

re: The other reason why I love Virtual PC

John Elliott — Mon, 25 Oct 2004 23:12:00 GMT

John: Windows 1.0x is picky about what version of DOS it runs on. I suspect you need MS-DOS 3.3 or earlier (or DRDOS 6, which pretends to be Compaq DOS 3.31).

My copy of Virtual PC has Windows 1.04 running atop DRDOS 6. The crash on exit (which I presume is the same one mentioned in the parent article) seems to be when either button in the MessageBox() is highlighted, and before it gets to ExitWindows(). I can also get similar crashes in other MessageBox()es - for example: File, Run, type FOO, press RETURN. The "Please insert FOO.EXE disk in drive A:" screen crashes in just the same way as the "Exit Windows" screen.

re: The other reason why I love Virtual PC

Virtual PC Guy — Sun, 24 Oct 2004 16:00:00 GMT

Hi John,

I am just using the stock EGA driver.

Cheers,
Ben

re: The other reason why I love Virtual PC

John — Sun, 24 Oct 2004 09:48:00 GMT

I've been trying to get Windows 1.01 working for a few days now, and I seem to be missing something. Whenever I start it, all I get are garbled characters and a lot of beeping. I've tried all of the video cards listed, they all do the same thing... Do you have any more tips for getting this going?

re: The other reason why I love Virtual PC

Virtual PC Guy — Thu, 21 Oct 2004 07:52:00 GMT

Hi John,

I have not tried to track this down - but given the amount of effort it took to track down the Windows 95 source code - I should imagine this would be very hard (Microsoft is quite a big place).

Cheers,
Ben

re: The other reason why I love Virtual PC

Virtual PC Guy — Thu, 21 Oct 2004 07:48:00 GMT

Hi Mike,

The problem with using the AltGR key on UK keyboards a the host key should be fixed in Virtual PC SP1.

Cheers,
Ben

re: The other reason why I love Virtual PC

Jonathan Maltz — Thu, 21 Oct 2004 01:50:00 GMT

Hi Mike,

Interesting - I never knew that (probably because I've never experienced a non-US keyboard. Probably would be neat though :)

Jonathan

re: The other reason why I love Virtual PC

John Elliott — Wed, 20 Oct 2004 23:51:00 GMT

Does the source code of Windows 1.01 still exist and could you get access to it to try and track down the crash - or would you have to disassemble the binary?

Then, of course, there's the question of finding a Windows 1.0 DDK to write updated keyboard/screen/mouse drivers. Windows 1.0 in 1280x1024 truecolour would be a sight worth seeing.

re: The other reason why I love Virtual PC

Mike Dimmick — Wed, 20 Oct 2004 15:15:00 GMT

The default of right-Alt as host key causes the guest OS to think Ctrl is stuck down if you press AltGr. AltGr replaces right-Alt on almost all non-US keyboards (my UK keyboard has AltGr, although only two letters using it are marked on the keycaps: ¦ and €).

You can fix it by pressing and releasing the right Ctrl key, but expect a lot of weird behaviour until you work this out. I always use right-Win as the host key.

re: The other reason why I love Virtual PC

Virtual PC Guy — Tue, 19 Oct 2004 16:10:00 GMT

Jonathan:

This is just my starting guess. ;-)

Cheers,
Ben

re: The other reason why I love Virtual PC

Jonathan Maltz — Sat, 16 Oct 2004 23:54:00 GMT

So that's what "Title" meant. Whoops :) Too many different blog platforms are available these days.

Ben:
Would the AltGr key cause the keyboard to stop working that session? I thought it only meant that the host key interfered with everyday use of the guest.

Jonathan