Scythifuge wrote on 2020-02-27, 01:17:

Is there anything I should know? What are the lowest system requirements for 486 to Pentium pcs? I've been having difficulty finding 86box forums.

Well, I'm not 100% sure, since my father and me haven't kept track of current PC development, but..
I've managed to run a higher end 486 emulation on an Athlon 64 X2 3??? running Win 7..
A picture (screenshot) is available in an older thread, were I was running an ancient NES emulator inside PCem atop of Windows 3.1..
Re: Emulation speed issues with 86box
Re: A problem when trying to install a Living books game on Windows 3.1 on PCem.

Scythifuge wrote on 2020-02-27, 01:17:

Is there anything else I should know in order to have the best experience?

Is there something you're trying to run that won't run in DOSBox for some reason?

If you're stressed and depressed then perhaps it is worth considering a more straightforward solution.

Jorpho wrote on 2020-02-28, 22:43:

Scythifuge wrote on 2020-02-27, 01:17:

Is there anything else I should know in order to have the best experience?

Is there something you're trying to run that won't run in DOSBox for some reason?

If you're stressed and depressed then perhaps it is worth considering a more straightforward solution.

I use DOSBox, but it just isn't the same. I use it when I need to use a physical disc, as 86box currently lacks support for physical drives.

I've managed to dive into 86box a bit, and I am back to playing with DOS commands and editing start up files. Though I can't get VIDE-CDD.SYS to load on the Rise Computer R418 when the cdrom is placed on the secondary master.

Scythifuge wrote on 2020-03-02, 15:57:

I've managed to dive into 86box a bit, and I am back to playing with DOS commands and editing start up files. Though I can't get VIDE-CDD.SYS to load on the Rise Computer R418 when the cdrom is placed on the secondary master.

Wait, I've had the same issue with PCem! 😳
Using OAKCDROM.SYS worked for me. Also, never load VIde-CDD "high" - it doesn't like that, apparently.

Jo22 wrote on 2020-03-03, 13:43:

Scythifuge wrote on 2020-03-02, 15:57:

I've managed to dive into 86box a bit, and I am back to playing with DOS commands and editing start up files. Though I can't get VIDE-CDD.SYS to load on the Rise Computer R418 when the cdrom is placed on the secondary master.

Wait, I've had the same issue with PCem! 😳
Using OAKCDROM.SYS worked for me. Also, never load VIde-CDD "high" - it doesn't like that, apparently.

The problem is that oakcdrom.sys uses a lot of memory. So far, it seems that having vide-cdd.sys work with the drive as a slave is the only option. It is a driver specific issue, so maybe someone could hack the driver and add whatever allows other drivers to work be implemented. I was over at the 86box discord, and I think it was explained that it is an issue with atapi and that particular motherboard/driver combo.

Scythifuge wrote on 2020-03-03, 15:29:

The problem is that oakcdrom.sys uses a lot of memory. So far, it seems that having vide-cdd.sys work with the drive as a slave is the only option.
It is a driver specific issue, so maybe someone could hack the driver and add whatever allows other drivers to work be implemented.
I was over at the 86box discord, and I think it was explained that it is an issue with atapi and that particular motherboard/driver combo.

Well, someone could also say that oakcdrom.sys uses a fair amount of memory and vide-cdd.sys is a hacked-together piece of something that uses the bare minimum. 😉

Jo22 wrote on 2020-03-04, 11:37:

Scythifuge wrote on 2020-03-03, 15:29:

The problem is that oakcdrom.sys uses a lot of memory. So far, it seems that having vide-cdd.sys work with the drive as a slave is the only option.
It is a driver specific issue, so maybe someone could hack the driver and add whatever allows other drivers to work be implemented.
I was over at the 86box discord, and I think it was explained that it is an issue with atapi and that particular motherboard/driver combo.

Well, someone could also say that oakcdrom.sys uses a fair amount of memory and vide-cdd.sys is a hacked-together piece of something that uses the bare minimum. 😉

Ultimately, I am going to have to invest in a new Socket 3, PCI, coin-battery board and hope it doesn't die, in order to fully enjoy MS-DOS gaming. I'll keep playing with 86box and DOSBox, however. But my star up files were perfect and everything was set up just right on my 4DPS and I had over 600k free RAM.

Scythifuge wrote on 2020-03-04, 18:24:

Ultimately, I am going to have to invest in a new Socket 3, PCI, coin-battery board and hope it doesn't die, in order to fully enjoy MS-DOS gaming. I'll keep playing with 86box and DOSBox, however. But my star up files were perfect and everything was set up just right on my 4DPS and I had over 600k free RAM.

Well, what about kicking SmartDrive out of the config files (assuming you're running a standard installation of DOS 6.x) ? 😀
It's not really needed in an emulator. This would give you some of the memory back that oakcdrom.sys consumes..

Some other ideas for the real hardware:
Also, on the real thing, you could get one of these UMB cards, like that from Lo-tech.:
https://www.lo-tech.co.uk/wiki/Lo-tech_1MB_RAM_Board

This would give you a lot of UMBs and you could get rid of EMM386, JEMM, QEMM etc.

In conjunction with the 2MB EMS card, you could also get EMS without the need for V86.
(Strictly speaking, you could also run the less compatible EMM286. And load it high, even, if an UMB card is installed).

Edit: There's somehting else that comes to mind!
The guest additions for MS Virtual PC 2004 came with a tiny CD-ROM driver for DOS.
It was called CDROM.SYS or similar. Maybe it works in PCem/86Box, too ?

Edit. For the sake of completeness, the Win 3.x additions can be found here:
-> https://www.betaarchive.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=31218
Though PCem still has no seamless mode or virtual API, so it's of little use for now.

Edit: You'll find the older additions of VPC here -> https://joeinmadison.com/vpc/vdospc.htm
Anyway, I've also attached you the cdrom.sys and mouse.com files, since I consider them Freeware.

Thank you!

http://www.mdgx.com/newtip1.htm#CDROM4 and http://www.mdgx.com/drv.htm suggests XDVD2.SYS, XGCDROM.SYS, and ODDCDROM among others.

Scythifuge wrote on 2020-02-27, 01:17:

With my socket 3 set up dying and until I can find a suitable replacement, I will probably give 86box a try. My target system will be a 486DX2/66Mhz with an AWE32, and hopefully use my Roland MT-32. I'll probably shoot for a P-90 Win9x set up for some other games.

why not repair it ?

maybe some one here is living near you and can lend you a hand ?

matze79 wrote on 2020-03-13, 08:29:

Scythifuge wrote on 2020-02-27, 01:17:

With my socket 3 set up dying and until I can find a suitable replacement, I will probably give 86box a try. My target system will be a 486DX2/66Mhz with an AWE32, and hopefully use my Roland MT-32. I'll probably shoot for a P-90 Win9x set up for some other games.

why not repair it ?

maybe some one here is living near you and can lend you a hand ?

There isn't anyone in my area who could work on the mobo. It would probably be cheaper to buy a replacement.

Good luck! 😀

I seriously hope that you can find one.
The early Pentium systems were high-end at the time and of higher production quality maybe.

Personally, I think its getting harder and harder to find working components from that era.
We're likely reaching the point at which all vintage hardware needs some amount of repair.

Capacitors are so old that most of them are either dried out or causing shorts.
Same for resistors, also, but to a lesser extent. Some of them are so brittle that they fall apart.