DosFreak wrote on 2023-01-23, 17:15:
Don't bother with MinGW or MinGW-W64 they won't work for less than NT 3.50/95. Both can compile working programs for NT 3.50 and 95.
Thanks! NT 3.5 would be a start for me, at least, if it's possible. 😀
DosFreak wrote on 2023-01-23, 17:15:
You shouldn't need to run an environment on an old Windows OS (XP) unless you want to or the compiler you want to use is 16bit on a 64bit system. If 32bit you should be good. IIRC, OpenWatcom can produce 16bit Windows 3.x binaries.
You're right, I guess. It's just.. The XP PC is my latest Windows machine. It's an Intel Xeon.
My story: After Windows 7 went EOL, I had no other chance than to abandon Windows/PC:
The later releases were nolonger compatible with both my ideals and my PC hardware, too.
The upgraded Athlon 64 X2 machines my dad and I used for years can't run Windows 8.1 anymore, even.
"Your CPU does not support CompareExchange 128" *sigh* So we decided to abandon Windows/PC at this point.
Ok, so I had to decide were to go to, which in the end I couldn't decide. So I started using a Raspberry Pi 3 as a stop-gap solution many years ago.
- Currently, I'm still stuck with the Raspberry Pi platform, using a modern Raspberry Pi 4 in the maximum RAM version.
My dilemma is: The current development on the x86 PC platform after Windows 7 went EOL isn't for me. It's a philosophical matter, too.
That's why I'm still waiting. Waiting for things to change for the better. If that's going to happen is uncertain.
I didn't like Windows 8.0, 8.1 and Windows 10. Windows 11 looked promising (originally, before its release and the many restrictions), but not so much anymore.
UEFI without CSM/BIOS, TPM 2.0 and Secure-Boot requirement etc. This is nolonger my world. Everyhing is locked-in. I'm not sure if I still want to buy/get a new PC.
But even if I do buy/get one, it will be locked to Windows 10/11. Older OSes are nolonger possible to boot, not even as a dual-boot.
Without CSM/BIOS and other things, SATA ports, I can't even do boot DOS from an USB medium anymore.
And PCs capable of Windows 11 (officially, without hacks) aren't older than 3-5 years.
They lack a lot of legacy features (plain USB 2.0, floppy controller etc) that would be useful for Windows XP/7.
So I thought about getting a new Macintosh as an alternaive and use an x86 virtualizer (Vmware, Parallels, VBox) for a peace of mind.
However, Apple started switching to M1/M2 processors a while ago, too.
So I would have to use x86 PC emulators on this platform.
Also, modern Mac OS X (now macOS) doesn't look friendly anymore. I'm not sure if I should move over.
I liked the look&feel of Mac OS X 10.0 Cheetah to Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger the most.
Snow Leopard, 10.6, was fine, too. I liked its ability to run Power PC applications using Cocoa and Carbon API.
Modern Mac OS X also tries to prohibit all sorts of stuff, like running 32-Bit applications
and using applications distributed as an offline-installer (-> everything not from Apple Store).
That's almost as bad as using current Microsoft Windows. *sigh*
Last but not least: The virtualizers available on M1/M2 Macs can run a virtualied Windows 10 for ARM, at best.
Which in itself has a basic x86 emulator integrated for running Win32 applications. However, this isn't exactly ideal, either.
The whole thing contradicts with my interest in x86 VMs and retro development.
That's why I'm still using the old Xeon as a Windows XP host.
Its two CPUs are quite capable for what they are, despite their age.
Hopefully, I can get some basic VMs with Windows 7-10 going on this old iron. 😀
DosFreak wrote on 2023-01-23, 17:15:
Are you recompiling programs for an earlier OS or hacking the OS (wrappers) to get the code to work on an earlier OS or both?
A little bit of both, I guess. I haven't completely decided what to do, right now. 😅
So far, I've managed to re-compile a handful of existing programs for Win32s using
their original source code and with the help of mid-90s compilers such as Delphi 2 and VS C++ 5.0.
Some of these were comparably simple things, though: Little utilities for emulators, etc.
DosFreak wrote on 2023-01-23, 17:15:
For MinGW and MinGW-64 if using the later versions then you'll need to add/update the MSVCRT in 3.50,3.51,NT4,95,98,ME,2000.
Re: DOSBox Compilation Guides
For MinGW-W64 you'll need to make sure you use a win32 thread compiled MinGW-W64 and compile all program dependencies yourself (don't use pacman!)
Thanks, I'll keep that in mind. 😄
Edit: Edited.
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