wierd_w wrote on 2025-05-27, 03:08:

Windows will not permit a foreign DPMI server to rule instead of using its own.

True.
But there's also a modified version of Windows, exactly for running under foreign DPMI server - Win-OS/2.
But it can't use VXD drivers, which makes it incompatible with many apps that install their own VXDs.

digger wrote on 2025-05-25, 18:56:

Setting aside the debate on whether or not it would be worth the effort to implement, how much effort do you reckon it would take? It's mainly about conforming to certain expected memory structures and implementing some kind of EMM handover API, right?

I didn't elaborate this. The main problem is that Jemm is not a monolithic piece of code, but is expandable (JLMs) - so it may easily become a kind of "mini" Win386.exe, or, in other words: a house of cards that won't tolerate harshness.

Baron von Riedesel wrote on 2025-05-25, 13:45:

Unlikely. Despite definitely being a grumpy old man ( :) ) I like Win3.1 a lot, but I always run it in Standard Mode (using HDPM […]
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digger wrote on 2025-05-24, 11:35:

In the case of GEMMIS support, either someone knowledgeable needs to create a Pull Request for this in the Jemm project on GitHub, or someone needs to convince Baron von Riedesel to add this support.

Unlikely. Despite definitely being a grumpy old man ( 😀 ) I like Win3.1 a lot, but I always run it in Standard Mode (using HDPMI16i and MS-DOS). That provides GB of free memory for Windows and allows me to run Win32 console apps (using HX) in DOS-Boxes, something pretty impossible with Win3.1 in Enhanced Mode.

digger wrote on 2025-05-24, 11:35:

Oh, and if your goal is to run Windows 3.1 on a system with a graphics card that is too new to have native Windows 3.x drivers available for it, be sure to use the excellent new vbesvga driver by PluMGMK. Unlike the generic SVGA driver with the old VBE patch, this newer driver has suppport for higher color modes, as well as other features and improvements.

This driver is indeed excellent now.

A little extra goody for "new" machines: Win3.1 may accept the SB emulation of VSBHDA; the Creative drivers won't work, but the MS drivers ( msadlib.drv and sndblst2.drv ) may accept the emulation. You'll have to add in system.ini:

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1[drivers]
2timer=timer.drv
3midimapper=midimap.drv
4wave=sndblst2.drv
5midi=msadlib.drv
6
7[sndblst.drv]
8MIDIPort=330
9DmaChannel=1
10Int=5
11Port=220
12VerifyInt=0

The important thing is the "VerifyInt=0" setting. You'll get SoundBlaster mono sound only, but it's still better than the speaker.

Hello ! I would like to tell you about a problem I have with the sound in Windows... I followed your steps but, when trying to configure Soundblaster in the control panel, the problem starts
[img]

Hi, did you try Sound Blaster 1.0 driver, too?

Jo22 wrote on 2025-06-01, 22:57:

Hi, did you try Sound Blaster 1.0 driver, too?

Yes, I'm trying, but it gives me the same result in Windows. DOS games work very well

Aw, that's bad! But there's a workaround - a Covox SpeechThing on parallel port and the Covox driver for Windows 3.1.
It's not as good as a Sound Blaster, but works better than PC Speaker driver.

Lualb wrote on 2025-06-01, 23:48:

Jo22 wrote on 2025-06-01, 22:57:

Hi, did you try Sound Blaster 1.0 driver, too?

Yes, I'm trying, but it gives me the same result in Windows. DOS games work very well

Did you do what the Baron said to do, and set the appropriate VerifyInt=0 flag in the system.ini file?

Here is what I would do:

Turn off the soundblaster driver for now with the GUI.
Edit the system.ini file, and put in the values the Baron said.
reboot.

See what happens.

VerifyInt=0 seems to be in the screenshots, at least..

wierd_w wrote on 2025-06-02, 00:23:

Did you do what the Baron said to do, and set the appropriate VerifyInt=0 flag in the system.ini file?

Yes, I should have mentioned that I didn't bother to run any setup in Windows but just edited system.ini manually, both the [driver] and [sndblst.drv] sections.

wierd_w wrote on 2025-06-02, 00:23:

Did you do what the Baron said to do, and set the appropriate VerifyInt=0 flag in the system.ini file? […]
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Lualb wrote on 2025-06-01, 23:48:

Jo22 wrote on 2025-06-01, 22:57:

Hi, did you try Sound Blaster 1.0 driver, too?

Yes, I'm trying, but it gives me the same result in Windows. DOS games work very well

Did you do what the Baron said to do, and set the appropriate VerifyInt=0 flag in the system.ini file?

Here is what I would do:

Turn off the soundblaster driver for now with the GUI.
Edit the system.ini file, and put in the values the Baron said.
reboot.

See what happens.

Yes, I have done it, in the image above you can see that I included the line you mentioned, but I still have the same problem

Apparently, according to the error message, Windows does not detect any device on port (220)

Lualb wrote on 2025-06-02, 16:29:

Apparently, according to the error message, Windows does not detect any device on port (220)

That's a strong sign that the Windows kernel doesn't run under HDPMI16i, but runs with the Windows-supplied 16-bit DOS extender DOSX.EXE.
Perhaps I should supply some detailed infos about how to change that - but it's rather off-topic here, so it may be better to open another thread that covers this for people that doesn't know the HX DOS extender ...

^Probably. The colour scheme of Windows is light blue also, which was standard on Win 3.1x SVGA drivers (S3 for example).

Which in turn often need 386 Enhanced-Mode to run (only a few do support Standard-Mode).
Windows for Workgroups 3.11 (386+) had used this colour scheme, too, I guess.

Normal VGA driver of Windows 3.1x had dark-blue colour, by contrast.

So I guess Windows might not be running in Standard-Mode (WIN /2 or WIN /S)..

Speaking of, in case of Windows 3.1x, DOSX isn't being executed on 386+ systems anymore,
but krnl386.exe (for both Standard-Mode and Enhanced-Mode).

In order to force DOSX/krnl286.exe, it can be started manually.
C:\WINDOWS> C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\DOSX

But that's another story. I also think that the DPMI16 isn't being used, likely.

Edited.

Jo22 wrote on 2025-06-02, 17:35:

^Probably. The colour scheme of Windows is light blue also, which was standard on Win 3.1x SVGA drivers (S3 for example). […]
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^Probably. The colour scheme of Windows is light blue also, which was standard on Win 3.1x SVGA drivers (S3 for example).

Which in turn often need 386 Enhanced-Mode to run (only a few do support Standard-Mode).
Windows for Workgroups 3.11 (386+) had used this colour scheme, too, I guess.

Normal VGA driver of Windows 3.1x had dark-blue colour, by contrast.

So I guess Windows might not be running in Standard-Mode (WIN /2 or WIN /S)..

Speaking of, in case of Windows 3.1x, DOSX isn't being executed on 386+ systems anymore,
but krnl386.exe (for both Standard-Mode and Enhanced-Mode).

In order to force DOSX/krnl286.exe, it can be started manually.
C:\WINDOWS> C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\DOSX

But that's another story. I also think that the DPMI16 isn't being used, likely.

Edited.

The light colors of the title bar are produced by the 24-bit vbesvga.drv driver. Regarding the configuration that I use in Windows, it is Standard mode (Win/s)

Baron von Riedesel wrote on 2025-06-02, 17:20:

Lualb wrote on 2025-06-02, 16:29:

Apparently, according to the error message, Windows does not detect any device on port (220)

That's a strong sign that the Windows kernel doesn't run under HDPMI16i, but runs with the Windows-supplied 16-bit DOS extender DOSX.EXE.
Perhaps I should supply some detailed infos about how to change that - but it's rather off-topic here, so it may be better to open another thread that covers this for people that doesn't know the HX DOS extender ...

Correct ! I will open another thread in another section, because this, personally, I am quite passionate about and I would like us all together to find the solution hehehe

3.11

It lacks standard mode entirely.

http://www.win3x.org/win3board/viewtopic.php?t=27123

^It could be ordinary Windows 3.11 (non-WfW 3.11) but that version was rare?
I heard it was a sort of bug-fix release that was silently being put into 3.1 box.
Back in the day, I had Windows 3.10, though, so my experience is limited.
But maybe that's the reason, still. I don’t know how much 3.11 differed from 3.10.

Jo22 wrote on 2025-06-02, 17:35:

Speaking of, in case of Windows 3.1x, DOSX isn't being executed on 386+ systems anymore,
but krnl386.exe (for both Standard-Mode and Enhanced-Mode).

This info isn't quite accurate. DOSX.EXE is generally used for Win31 Standard Mode, regardless of the cpu. If the cpu is 80386, it will enable Paging, but, unlike Win386.exe, won't install a swapfile.

Baron von Riedesel wrote on 2025-06-03, 03:23:

Jo22 wrote on 2025-06-02, 17:35:

Speaking of, in case of Windows 3.1x, DOSX isn't being executed on 386+ systems anymore,
but krnl386.exe (for both Standard-Mode and Enhanced-Mode).

This info isn't quite accurate. DOSX.EXE is generally used for Win31 Standard Mode, regardless of the cpu. If the cpu is 80386, it will enable Paging, but, unlike Win386.exe, won't install a swapfile.

Please double check. If I run WIN /S in DOSBox, I'll see krnl386.exe in the title.
Deleting krnl286.exe will still make Windows 3.10 run in either mode.
I think your info is correct for Windows 3.0, though, I made same observation here.

Edit: I'm sorry for my rough wording, but I've hurt my leg, and it hurts when sitting with my tablet on sofa..
And since I have no access no my PC, I can’t do such tests myself right now.
The tests I did happened years ago. I don’t remember if I had deleted krnl386.exe, too, before running DOSX.

Edit: To anybody reading this: There are also SB Pro/SB16/PAS16/AudioDrive drivers included in the "Windows Sound System" floppy disk (v2.0, bit maybe also v1).
The difference is that they don't need custom installers, but can be installed in a fashion like via Control Panel.
Maybe that's useful to know to anybody. Good luck! ^^