Nostalgia via Virtualization

[S.SubZero]

The 90's for me will always be about two products that were doomed to fail by their very makers: The Sega Dreamcast, and IBM's OS/2. While I do have a Dreamcast emulator, this isn't a gaming console forum. It *is* an Operating System forum though. I'm fairly certain OS/2 would never properly install on modern hardware. However, thanks to Virtualbox, I can now install it happily in a virtualized machine.



I ran OS/2 from 1993 to 1996 and loved every minute of it. It was my "OS I ran cuz it wasn't Windows" (It was honestly better in many respects). My feelings towards MS back then were not much unlike many of you folks today. I may have even used a dollar sign in MS at one time or another.

I always assumed OS/2 died out years ago, but apparently there's still some very bored people porting apps like Firefox to it and there's even a company that has licensed it from IBM and is making enhancements to it. Google "ecomstation" if you're interested.

This post was made on Firefox for OS/2. Shine on you crazy diamond.

[CrowdAds]

[Acid8000]

It's always interesting to see older operating systems once again, especially if they're running newer applications. I have Windows 98 running in Virtual PC for that reason. Can OS/2 run under Virtual PC also?

[WarpSpeed]

Acid8000,
I cannot get my Saitek 290Pro joystick to be properly recognized in Win98 running under Virtual PC ver. 5.3.582.27. Host is Win2KSP4. Do you have any tips for me? Thanks

[Acid8000]

It appears that Virtual PC does not support USB in the guest OS. You'll have better luck with using VMWare to get the joystick working in the guest OS. I assume you'll just have to install the drivers under Windows 98 and it will work fine. I've not used VMWare in quite some time.

[S.SubZero]

Originally Posted by Acid8000

It's always interesting to see older operating systems once again, especially if they're running newer applications. I have Windows 98 running in Virtual PC for that reason. Can OS/2 run under Virtual PC also?

MS's website says OS/2 Warp V4 Fixpak 15 and higher will run in Virtual PC. Note that versions below I believe 4.50 will not have bootable CDs and will come with boot floppies.

I was kind of surprised at how much support OS/2 still gets despite being an orphan.

[WarpSpeed]

Acid8000,
Thanks for your reply. I tried VMWare without much luck. I think I also tried Virtual Box. There are no specific drivers for the joystick other than those bundled with Win98, and they recognize all of the device's features. However, they aren't recognized when Win98 is a guest OS. I've also been trying to get things working under Wine in Linux. What a hassle just to play an old game!

[Acid8000]

My experience has been that games don't run particularly well in a virtual machine anyway, especially if they run best with 3D hardware acceleration. For gaming in a virtual machine I tend to only do so with old DOS games like SimIsle or the older Monkey Island games under the MS DOS environment provided by Windows 98.

[WarpSpeed]

Finally succeeded in creating a virtual VWware Win98 machine that plays my game just fine. Joystick function is normal, and the game runs at high speed, even virtualized. VMware provides some 3D acceleration, which seems to work. This is a dedicated Win9X game that I can't get to work in any other environment, to include WINE. The guest OS recognizes the joystick and uses its own drivers. Something of a victory for persistence of effort, if nothing else.

[Acid8000]

Is the game Need For Speed High Stakes by any chance?

[WarpSpeed]

No, it's Fury3. Originally published as Terminal Velocity, a DOS game. Microsoft bought it and reprogrammed it to play only on Win95. Truly 3D; fly and shoot. They also published a sequel called Hellbender. When they made the games, Microsoft apparently saw no likelihood of anyone wanting to play them on an NT platform.

[Aggemam]

Originally Posted by Acid8000

My experience has been that games don't run particularly well in a virtual machine anyway, especially if they run best with 3D hardware acceleration. For gaming in a virtual machine I tend to only do so with old DOS games like SimIsle or the older Monkey Island games under the MS DOS environment provided by Windows 98.

I've used DOSBox, for old games like: The manager, Transport Tycoon Deluxe, X-Com, Flashback, and Duke Nukem. They've all been running fine. Even the crappy midi music works... (Link: DOSBox, a x86 emulator with DOS)