WDM hardware complient for Windows 98SE \ VOGONS

WDM hardware complient for Windows 98SE

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First post, by raymater

Posted on 2024-01-20, 10:54

raymater Offline

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Joined: 2024-01-20, 10:40

Hi,

I've heard that Windows 98SE support WDM (Windows Driver Model) and witch is better than VXD drivers for system stability (even if these drivers are WHQL).

So I would like to search about WDM hardware compatibles with Windows 98SE but I don't find any WDM drivers lists for Windows 98SE, even more: I don't know how I can check easily if a driver is or not WDM. Except if you see on Windows 98SE the driver proprieties to see if there are .vxd files or .386 files... But on download: we don't see this information.

What specific hardware devices have WDM drivers for Windows 98SE?

I know only they exists these WDM drivers for these devices:
- CMedia CM8338 Audio driver

Not sure:
- Intel INF chipset driver 3.20.1008

No WDM driver available:
- Realtek RTL8029
- 3dfx Voodoo3 (last version of stable official driver)

Would like to know what graphics cards, what chipset drivers, what network drivers, what other sound cards have WDM drivers for Windows 98SE (what about SoundBlaster Live!, Realtek or 3com network cards?)

Reply 1 of 1, by dionb

Posted on 2024-01-20, 12:21

dionb Offline

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Just take a look in the driver files themselves. If you see .VXD, they're VXD drivers. If not, they're WDM.

But...

WDM enhances stability by giving drivers less privileged access to hardware. Sounds great but means some functionality doesn't work. For starters devices with WDM drivers aren't available to any DOS programs you may be running under Windows, but a lot of other things may be limited too.

Tbh, Win98SE is never going to be as stable as a modern NT-based OS, and it can and does still crash with WDM drivers too - but if your hardware is functioning correctly it's not like you get BSODs all the time. Back in the day Win98SE was eminently usable (and a huge improvement on Win98FE or Win95) for practical purposes. As a retro platform you're probably not writing your dissertation on it or mission-critical work stuff, so the consequences of an occasional crash are - for me at least - less severe than the consequences of losing .VXD functionality.

Still, if you want to give it a try, why not - again, just unpack the driver files and look for .VXD files. That tells you all you need to know.

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