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Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Hardware Issues and discussion => Topic started by: sim085 on December 04, 2008, 01:04:32 PM
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Hi,
If I buy a PC emulator for my A500+ then I could install an old version of Windows? Or? What is the actual use of this device?
Thanks and Regards,
Sim085
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that will be much more expensive then getting an old pc from the trashcan.
Forget the software route as it will be really expensive and the result will be quite slow even with a 040.
There were hardware PC Emulators like AT-Once, AT-Once Plus, KCS PowerPC, other from GVP... you'll probably need a hard disk controller too.
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I don't think there's any way in A500(+) using either software or hardware emulators to achieve speed better than of a 80286. Which is tooooooo slow!
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@sim085
They are much more suited to run MSDOS.
Varthall
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thanks for the replies :)
so what where there use in the past?
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Remember that Windows didn't take off properly till Win95 - long after these boards were made. Everything before that used MS-DOS.
My A500 has a Vortex ATOnce with a 10MHz NEC V30 (8086 compatible). It's actually a nice little board, especially as it's a RAM and clock board too. EGA is very slow, though and VGA is mono, but it's great for old CGA stuff!
You could run Windows 2 on it I think, but I could be wrong....
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Well, if I could install Windows 3.1 then I would consider buying it ... Windows 2.0 would also be nice I guess!
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They were used to run any of the thousands of serious applications that the Amiga lacked, like the Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet, Autocad, TurboPascal compiler, various business software (invoicing, payments, etc.), even games that haven't been ported to the Amiga. I have been using PCx (a software emulator) for some time on my 030 A1200 to play the original MSDOS Tetris (still my favourite version of Tetris) and for BBS messaging (Amiga lacked for a long time a good freeware Bluewave reader).
Varthall
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sim085 wrote:
Well, if I could install Windows 3.1 then I would consider buying it ... Windows 2.0 would also be nice I guess!
To run Windows 3.1 a 040/060, or a 386 card, is required to have a decent speed.
Varthall
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Varthall wrote:
sim085 wrote:
Well, if I could install Windows 3.1 then I would consider buying it ... Windows 2.0 would also be nice I guess!
To run Windows 3.1 a 040/060, or a 386 card, is required to have a decent speed.
Varthall
hmmm ... but didn't these cards come with their own processors? or they still made use of the Amiga processor in order to function?
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sim085 wrote:
Varthall wrote:
sim085 wrote:
Well, if I could install Windows 3.1 then I would consider buying it ... Windows 2.0 would also be nice I guess!
To run Windows 3.1 a 040/060, or a 386 card, is required to have a decent speed.
Varthall
hmmm ... but didn't these cards come with their own processors? or they still made use of the Amiga processor in order to function?
Yes, they have their own CPU. The 040 I mentioned was in case a software emulator is used.
Varthall
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aaa .. ok thanks :) well from my research so far I did not find any card with a 386 processor for the A500+! So I guess 3.1 would be a little impossible!
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There are 486SX upgrades for 286 chips available. Hard to find, but available.
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as a bit of a speed guide for pure software emulation.
i managed to get Dos6.22 and windows3.1 installed on an A4000 with a 25Mhz 030, using AGA screenmodes. it updated the screen just about fast enough to show the seconds counter on the clock in windows.
an actual x86 chip would abviously give more speed. as would a GFX card, but with software emulation, you can emulate a 586 class CPU. i don't know who has the strenghth of will to do a win95/98 install on an amiga, but it would be purely an excersize in "cos i can" rather than being able to do anything usefull. :-)
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Thanks that is good to know :)
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curtis wrote:
There are 486SX upgrades for 286 chips available. Hard to find, but available.
Do you know if these where for any accelerator card with a 286 chip? Also is it possible to upgrade it even more? 586?
Regards,
Sim085
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AFAIK the Atonce have 80286 8mhz onboard that is enough to run windows 3.1 (not 3.11 !!) with other boards using 8086/8088 compatible processors you can use windows 3.0 (latest version to support xt hardware/real mode operation)
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I don't think that 486SX can be used on 286 based motherboard. I think it is the 486SLC produced by Cyrix that was an upgraded 386SX (witch has an external 16bit bus to be used on 286 based boards). The 486SX is a 486DX without math processor.
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I had an old 286, don't remember the specs, but it had ms-dos 6.22 and windows 3.1 installed. Not much use for windows back then..
I once tried installing windoze 95 on a 386/16Mhz, way to slow, could not use it for anything :lol:
My (crappy) 486sx laptop with 16mb ram runs win95 fairly.
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afaik the ad ons for the 500 which I had one(vortex at-once plus 286) at one point was for 286 compatible software and it was capable of installing ms-dos (9.11) or what ever, also the old radioshack/tandy comp Os.
it did flicker abit as it ran hot and eventually locked up the system from overheating
pc-task 4.x was a better solution but being software based, it was slow and needed at least a 030, I never got it going on my 1200T 060, as it wouldn't default to my drive for whatever reason, but i did install win95 on my sx-32pro 030 which ran sloooow, but did do win applications, and could boot some games, again slooow
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The only ones I know about were for 286 to 486 and then only the square chips.
sim085 wrote:
curtis wrote:
There are 486SX upgrades for 286 chips available. Hard to find, but available.
Do you know if these where for any accelerator card with a 286 chip? Also is it possible to upgrade it even more? 586?
Regards,
Sim085
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I tried PC Task on an A1200 and as ziphoid said is was so sloooooow that I soon took it of again. As already said get yourself a cheap PeeCee.
clint
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You may be right on that. I'll have to check when I get home from work. Do know the manufacturer CLAIMED it was a 486. However, like you pointed out, the Cyrix was just a souped up 386.
Still, it'd be better than a kick in the head!
jlariv8957 wrote:
I don't think that 486SX can be used on 286 based motherboard. I think it is the 486SLC produced by Cyrix that was an upgraded 386SX (witch has an external 16bit bus to be used on 286 based boards). The 486SX is a 486DX without math processor.
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Got around to checking the 286 to 486. It's a TI486SLC, so we're looking at a 486 in 386 clothing.