DosFreak wrote:Wouldn't it make more sense to load a generic VESA driver and use DOSOX 0.74-2? (Requires IE4 w/ Active Desktop)
Which generic VESA driver would you like me test with the Intel HD Graphics in Windows 9X? VBEMP does not work and will cause a corrupted graphics screen in full screen mode. Explain the IE4 w/ Active Desktop requirement? Does this mean DOSBOX will only work down to 95B with IE4 installed? 95 OEM or 95A will not work with DOSBOX?
collector wrote:The other thing that is weird about this is if running 9x you have DOS already. Why would anyone need DOSBox at that point.
That would be based on the assumption the system DOSBOX is running on is retro system (with ISA slots) which wouldn't need DOSBOX to begin with. I'm using it for a post SkyLake modern system. More details in the rest of this message.
Azarien wrote:
Why don't use something less awkward, like real 9x-era PC with proper drivers, OR any cheap PC running XP or later and avoid such problems.
I already got plenty of legacy machines to do the real thing in DOS with ISA slots. I also have a modern enough system that does this with the proper 9X drivers that does DOS, 9X, 2K, XP, 2003, Vista, W7, and W10 all in one.
My goal is to make it possible and easier for someone to bring a DOSBOX emulated environment on a USB bootable device that works on any modern system just using nothing more then the commonly found Intel HD Graphics Video and Audio via the HDMI booted to 9X for the most compact OTG OS setup.
This may seem to you like a why do this when you can go spend a few thousand on retro gear? But eventually even retro gear will fail but modern pcs will continue to be available and powerful enough to do the same job for a lot less and can be run fanless on top of that so it will probably never fail.
Azarien wrote:That's theoretically possible if anyone knowledgeable enough wills to put his time and effort to it, but ask yourself why do you […]
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95DosBox wrote:Can someone recompile a new DOSBOX v0.72 version that either can run in the standard VGA 16 colors driver mode at 640x480 resolution or lower?
That's theoretically possible if anyone knowledgeable enough wills to put his time and effort to it, but ask yourself why do you want to use:
- Windows 95
- on hardware too modern for Windows 95
- only to use DOSBox anyways?
Well some loaded questions. First maybe you are unaware of certain changes in modern technology so I'll briefly update you. Anything beyond SkyLake began the death of EHCI which is commonly known as USB 2.0 which was supported from 9X onwards. The shift to pure XCHI which is known as USB 3.0 made it impossible to use operating systems such as Windows 2000, XP, 2003 unusable for a USB bootable approach since no Intel USB 3.0 drivers exists that can be slipstreamed into the OS. Only Windows 7 and later supports the Intel USB 3.0 and eventually W7 will no longer work.
Bios emulation allows USB devices to boot to DOS or 98SE DOS. Since 95/98 does support booting through USB it makes it possible to use any modern system to boot into it. Now you can get PCIe audio to work in 95/98 for the easiest approach.
The easiest most common graphics is included with the Intel CPU. The Intel HD Graphics however does not have a proper 9X driver that works with DosBox thus the 256 color issue I'm describing. Using VBEMP will not work either and causes a corrupted graphics display when running DOSBOX in full screen.
This is the reason why I was looking for a way to eliminate the 256 color restriction so Dosbox would still operate on 16 Color games and still perform the sound emulation via the sound card. And if this worked then you could use Munt in combination with running the DOSBOX game. An example could be Monkey Island 1 EGA would work with Munt.
Now if VBEMP actually worked properly with DOSBOX on the Intel HD Graphics that would solve that issue of the 256 color issue DOSBOX requires to run and thus anyone could then use DOSBOX to play on any computer via a USB bootable 9X type setup.
Later if a proper Intel HD Graphics HDMI Audio driver could be ported and made to work this would alleviate needing any extra hardware for DOSBOX to run on anyone's computer without worrying about OS issues (2000, XP, 2003). Another issue is ACPI no longer works on modern systems and SATA IDE Compatibility is eliminated making such NT based operating systems more challenging to make a simplified DOSBOX emulated system working on the go.
For the time being if DOSBOX did run properly with 16 Colors using the default Standard VGA 16 Color driver then you could still use a PCIe sound card to take care of the sound output on any modern system in 9X. This would not be the best scenario for playing all DOS based games but 2nd to the best in simplicity. And if Munt also worked or could be used along with it then you'd still have a pretty decent retro rig running on a modern machine. Until either a proper 9X driver works for all Intel HD Graphics for DOSBOX and 3D Graphics then you'd be running the easiest DOSBOX on the go on any modern machine including Coffee Lake. It would be equivalent of an EGA 16 Color retro rig.
The end the goal would be DOSBOX would be running purely off the Intel HD Graphics HDMI port of any modern computer (post ISA and legacy PCI motherboard with only PCIe slots) and just using a bare bones setup of the HDMI Video and HDMI Audio natively on the Intel iGPU to do all the DOSBOX emulation and bootable off the USB port even on USB 3.0 ports using BIOS emulation. What you will have is a DOSBOX capable system on modern equipment without all the headaches associated with it or the bloat.