MS DOS Emulation

[Amigamia]

Or you could take a trip around and look for PC's on sale in a yard sale and install MS-DOS on it. Some people even give them away for free!!!

[Xanxi]

What exaclty is your board keropi?

Does a 386 Commodore bridgebaord allows to play Alone in the Dark or such serious games?

[Speelgoedmannetje]

Doppie1200 wrote:
But the best option is to get a real x86 from the junk yard.

Nope, it isn't.
Dosbox can emulate a wide range of computers, from 8088 'till 80486. It's nearly 100% compatible. While a true 486 is too fast or even incompatible.

[KThunder]

with a bridgeboard alone the video is emulated it is better to get a real isa video card and soundblaster then you have a full speed fully capable pc in your amiga

[keropi]

my bridgeboard is a GoldenGate 486slc /25mhz + fpu + isa CL5420 vga 1MB + ISA ESS 1868 soundcard + wavetable expansion.... it perfoms a little more than a real 386DX/40 , and runs currently PC-DOS 7... It cannot run DOOM at steady fps, but 2D games rule... everything that runs OK on  a 386DX/40 runs great on the 486slc too! I had to sacrifice 3 slots of the A4000, but I don't care, on the last one I have a picassoIV+concierto+paloma  :lol: with a csppc and kickflash+subway combo...
It's like having 2 retro-gaming machines in 1 case!

[Hodgkinson]

Hi there everyone,
Thanks for all your replies.

Just to clarify things, the reason I’m looking to run dos on the A1200 is because the A1200 is my "shack" computer (See my photos, a HDD and network have been added since that photo was taken) and I really don’t want to have yet another computer filling up my precious bench space. Having said that, I have got an old PC somewhere that would be more than capable of running DOS.

It seems that I already have PC Task v3.1 (The Full version, as on CUCD 17), and I have MS-DOS, albeit v6.21.

Since V6.21 is on HD disks, any suggestions (Before I start installing PC Task) of how to load up DOS? I presume that once PC Task is running it requests a bootable disk?
Being able to load MS-DOS from a HDD partition (Transfer it over the network from a PC first) would also be useful.

One other thing...What exactly is PC-Task (Specifically v3.1) capable of? Is it just text only, or can it do sound? Basic graphics? How about drive and serial / parallel port access?

Thanks,
Hodgkinson.

[InTheSand]

Hodgkinson wrote:
Since V6.21 is on HD disks, any suggestions (Before I start installing PC Task) of how to load up DOS?

If you have access to a real PC, you can transfer DOS to DD disks easily enough. You'll need to do a full install of DOS first (perhaps in a virtual or emulated environment such as the type provided by VMWare, Bochs or QEmu), then format a load of DD disks with:

format a: /t:80 /n:9

Then make one of the DD disks bootable with:

sys a:

Then copy some key commands (fdisk, format, sys, etc) to the same disk with:

copy a:

And finally copy the remainder of the "DOS" directory to the other DD disks, e.g.:

copy c:\dos\a*.* a:
copy c:\dos\b*.* a:
copy c:\dos\c*.* a:

... etc... until each disk is full, then repeat as needed.

When PC Task boots, insert the first DD disk, then use fdisk and format as you would on a real PC.

Then, to transfer DOS to the emulated hard drive:

sys c:

Then create a "DOS" directory and copy the rest of the stuff from the other DD disks into it.

Sorry if this is vague and/or incomplete, but it's been a long long time since installing real MS-DOS!

One other thing...What exactly is PC-Task (Specifically v3.1) capable of?

It can certainly do graphics (up to EGA and basic VGA as far as I know), not sure about sound, but will provide basic access to serial and parallel ports - "system-friendly" stuff stands a chance of working, but stuff that bashes directly on the hardware may fail...

 - Ali

[Xanxi]

I have PCTask 4.4 here and still have to install it to give it a try.
How does it compare to a 386 or 486 bridgeboard on a A1200 with a no FPU 060@66Mhz and RTG board?
Could it run Alone in the Dark well as keropi shown in this topic?

[McVenco]

Is PC-Task still shareware or is it freely available nowadays? I remember I have it on an Aminet CD somewhere (Aminet 7 IIRC), but that was a shareware version (3.0 I believe).

[Xanxi]

4.4 is still a commercial version as far as i know.

[spirantho]

OK, anyone who wants some speed comparisons of emulators let me know.

I have, in order of PC speed (roughly):

1x A500 with KCS PowerPC board (NEC V30@10.7MHz)
1x A1500 with A2286 bridgeboard (10MHz I think)
1x A1500 with A2386 bridgeboard (25MHz)
1x A1500 with GoldenGate 486SLC25
1x A4000 (060@50, CSPPC@200, Voodoo III) with full PC-Task 4.4. Also full PCx.
1x AmigaOne (G4@800) which I think can run Bochs and PC-Task possibly

and also the obligatory A500s, A600, A1000, A1200 spare.

So if anyone wants me to test anything on any of the above let me know, but preferably
no large programs on my KCS board please (see the post I'm about to make re that!)

[McVenco]

4.4 is still a commercial version as far as i know.

That's sick. Charging money for emulating ancient computers on ancient computers...

But we're used to that with the Amiga. :-(

[krize]

I would never pay for software wich is not supported or developed, at least I would like the money to go to the original authors.

Not some guy selling old stock from home.

[Xanxi]

spirantho wrote:
OK, anyone who wants some speed comparisons of emulators let me know.

I have, in order of PC speed (roughly):

1x A500 with KCS PowerPC board (NEC V30@10.7MHz)
1x A1500 with A2286 bridgeboard (10MHz I think)
1x A1500 with A2386 bridgeboard (25MHz)
1x A1500 with GoldenGate 486SLC25
1x A4000 (060@50, CSPPC@200, Voodoo III) with full PC-Task 4.4. Also full PCx.
1x AmigaOne (G4@800) which I think can run Bochs and PC-Task possibly

and also the obligatory A500s, A600, A1000, A1200 spare.

So if anyone wants me to test anything on any of the above let me know, but preferably
no large programs on my KCS board please (see the post I'm about to make re that!)

Interesting.
Could you try the above mentioned Alone in the Dark on both the 060 with PCTask and the A1500 with A2386? Or any PC based benchmark?
Would you sell one of these board by the way? Or trade (i have some serious hardware available)?

[keropi]

I found an ancient DOS benchmark called mips.com ...
I tested with the gg486/25 and gave me that:

it is 22,72 times faster than a IBM/PC 4,7mhz
it is 5,48 times faster than a IBM/AT 8mhz
it is 2,69 times faster than a Compaq 386

sadly no more info on the hardware or speed of this Compaq386 machine...

[Hodgkinson]

Hi there again,
Well, I've managed to find PC-Task v3.1 on a cover disk that I have (Totally legit, btw)...But that brings me to another problem.

I dont suppose anyone out there has a electronic version of the PC-Task 3.1 documentation/manual, as supplied normally with the software?

Another point, I see from what documentation that I have that the turbo modes allocate 8MB+ of ram or somthing, so would a 8MB RAM expansion + normal system ram just scrape through here? Or isn't it really sufficient?

Thanks,
Hodgkinson.