VOGONS


First post, by ScoutPilot19

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Hi all ! Althogh I have a lot of PCs from 8088 to P-III - there's need sometimes in a good emulator... Recently tried PC-EM and PC-em-x... Not bad, but no FPU option in 8088-386 modes... What is good besides it... ? It must emulate, first of all, a 286 machine WITH FPU, from AT 5170/6mhz to fast 16-20mhz machines...

Reply 1 of 9, by Jorpho

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What exactly do you want to run that requires a 286 machine with FPU?

Have you considered Bochs?

Reply 3 of 9, by keenerb

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There was an FPU emulator (em87?) for 186+. Might work with Dosbox/PC-EM

Reply 4 of 9, by Jo22

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@Jorpho I use them on some of my 286's to accelerate AutoSketch, Windows 3.1 and WinFract.
They're also nice for old raytracers. Of course, a 486 will also do the job. Can't think of an x87 accelerated, but 286-only software either.
Perhaps the OP is using a speed sensitive software with a 16bit extender ? Or an old OS like OS/2 1.x or Xenix ?

leileilol wrote:

There's also the relatively obscure Soviet PC-XT emulator.

Oh, that's the same author who made Script PC! I successfully ran Win 3.1 on that emulator in 286 mode.
However, VGA didn't work for me (missing BIOSes ?). I used CGA or Hercules instead.

keenerb wrote:

There was an FPU emulator (em87?) for 186+. Might work with Dosbox/PC-EM

Yup, I remember "EMUL87". It's in my collection, too. I got it with manual and floppy from a german ebay seller.
You can get a copy here. If you want the opposite - you want to "disable" an existing co-processor, look for an utility named "hide87".

"Time, it seems, doesn't flow. For some it's fast, for some it's slow.
In what to one race is no time at all, another race can rise and fall..." - The Minstrel

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Reply 5 of 9, by ScoutPilot19

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leileilol wrote:

There's also the relatively obscure Soviet PC-XT emulator.

Thank you for the link

Reply 6 of 9, by ScoutPilot19

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Jorpho wrote:

What exactly do you want to run that requires a 286 machine with FPU?

I'm just trying to learn Assm and the arhchitecture of old PC's and I want an emulator in my modern laptop behave exactly as my 286-20 real machine - to exchange files from it to emulator - to work on real hardware at home and in emulator, being on the road)

Jorpho wrote:

Have you considered Bochs?

Reply 7 of 9, by Jo22

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ScoutPilot19 wrote:
Jorpho wrote:

What exactly do you want to run that requires a 286 machine with FPU?

I'm just trying to learn Assm and the arhchitecture of old PC's and I want an emulator in my modern laptop behave exactly as my 286-20 real machine - to exchange files from it to emulator - to work on real hardware at home and in emulator, being on the road)

Jorpho wrote:

Have you considered Bochs?

Ah okay, sounds cool! 😀
Btw, There were also tiny laptops with 80188 processors/µC (called "Palmtop PCs" by our ancestors).
I know, they aren't quite the same as real 286 machines (long-time 286 user here!) but from a real-mode point-of-view they are quite capable (asm..).

List of DOS-based palmtop computers
http://www.tankraider.com/DOSPALMTOP/list.html

Alternatively, if you want to go the emulation route, there's another solution for PalmOS/Win(CE) devices.
It features 8088-80286 emulation and also has an optional i80387 FPU emulator plug-in available for download.

Have a look at my post from this thread (beware, shameless self-advertisment here! 😁 ):
Re: Handheld PC's: What happened to them?

The only other emulators left I know of are MESS and MAME. Maybe some of them do emulate a PC/AT compatible model that's useful for you.
Other emulators like qemu or bochs are also worth a try. However. I don't know whether these are cycle-exact or not. 🙁

"Time, it seems, doesn't flow. For some it's fast, for some it's slow.
In what to one race is no time at all, another race can rise and fall..." - The Minstrel

//My video channel//

Reply 8 of 9, by Stiletto

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MAME is definitely worth a look. Not sure if it meets ScoutPilot19's needs, but definitely worth a look. 😀

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do the Fandango!" - Queen

Stiletto

Reply 9 of 9, by crazyc

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We don't yet emulate 8087s or 80287s yet although there's at least one partially working machine that requires it so that's on the todo list.