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[_r.u.s.s.]

lol of course we are not going to convince you to buy slower cpu, it's your business and problems. we were giving advices based on our personal experiences with problems on faster cpus and older systems

[Japo]

Originally Posted by Scatty

First of all Pentium III is mostly ok, but 3 Ghz is way too fast

True, although I think architecture would be more important than clock rate. I'd (uneducately) guess that clock rate would be the least of your concerns, and slowdown programs such as Moslo would solve it many times. I never got a game running too fast in my P3, true it was 450 MHz, but that's still 20 times as much as the rates those games were intended for. There are some few core features that are kept for compatibility, but each processor series has tons of individual specs. Of course a 3 GHz Pentium IV is not a 3 GHz Pentium III with only a different name.

Even 64 bits processors have a compatibility mode for 32 bits, I would know since my current machine has a 64 bits Pentium D and a 32 bits Windows XP (it's an out of the box Dell desktop!) and works perfectly. But I'd bet I wouldn't get good results turning it into a DOS machine, even if I hacked off the cards without DOS support and installed old ones in slots that the computer doesn't have.

More than 128 MB RAM is also not recommended, 64 is even better and safer.

I agree with Horseman here, games that crash catastrophically at startup with much RAM, then work just fine with less. Keep in mind that under DOS, programs have to address physical memory themselves. I've seen this in DOSBox, and I know I know, but still I wouldn't be surprised if tests on a real machine confirmed it, nor the bit about Pentium III-IV and DOS.

For 3D and such DOS games that need much RAM, keep in mind that they may run fine AND natively in Windows 9x. What in turn runs perfectly fine inside Virtual PC in a XP or Vista host. (Again they may not, like Tomb Raider in Win98SE for me--but it runs perfect in DOSBox.)

Windows 95 and Ms-Dos 7 it uses is also perfect for all old Dos and Windows games, I didn't encounter any problems with it compared to Ms-Dos 6.22 whatsoever. Windows 98SE is also good. But Freedos might be worse in terms of compatibility.
And drop Windows XP, you're much better off to use a better computer only for Windows XP and internet and that Pentium III for old Windows95 / Dos games only. That Pentium III is not optimal for it anyway, and you also are forced to have more RAM than old games support without a problem.

I've said this before, but my experience does say that quite some games run in 6.x but don't in Win9x (at least Win98SE), not even "rebooting in DOS mode" (DOS 7.1)--in the same physical machine. (It might also work the other way around, LOL.)

[_r.u.s.s.]

hey i just found a video about how will some games look like on fast cpu =P
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDZ3h...eature=related

[dipo]

I remember now why I wasn't using MS-DOS 7.10.
EMM386 didn't start well because of "can't set page frame address". FreeDOS worked out of the box. This might have me believe that FreeDOS is currently the best less-then-ideal solution for after Windows 98 hardware.

Haven't remembered yet why I didn't continue to use 6.22 after I did choose this first. Maybe it was only because of no FAT32 support but maybe also because of similar issues.

Originally Posted by _r.u.s.s.

lol of course we are not going to convince you to buy slower cpu, it's your business and problems. we were giving advices based on our personal experiences with problems on faster cpus and older systems

Well, I see it as challenge to use the fastest hardware I currently have. :amused: It's just for fun.

Originally Posted by Japofran

But I'd bet I wouldn't get good results turning it into a DOS machine

Doubt that. Worth a test. At least DOS would start due to BIOS drivers (which MUST work because Windows and Linux still need it.)

Biggest issues for gaming seam CPU/RAM/EGA/VESA and SB16. Everything else is working out of the box, which is very little. :amused:

Originally Posted by Japofran

even if I hacked off the cards without DOS support and installed old ones in slots that the computer doesn't have.

Addon cards are ignored by default. Just without PCI slot you have currently no way of getting SB16 in real DOS.

Originally Posted by Japofran

Keep in mind that under DOS, programs have to address physical memory themselves.

The real mode ones, yes. Much others use EMS, XMS or DOS Extenders.

I've noticed that there are a lot of the 'better programmed games' such as prince of persia 1 and 2. Doesn't seam to matter how fast the CPU is or how many RAM to much. The game runs at normal speed and with perfect sound.

Well and I remembered my original impulsion to force my current computer to play classic dos games in real dos. I was using DOSBox, not that many games didn't run... But often I was told to tweak some settings, like setting down cycles. While playing I was unsure if the game runs now at optimal speed. Well optimal.... Like I was remembering/feeling from past, maybe like the game producers originally indented to.

On real hardware it's obvious. Either it's much to fast/messed up or it's running perfectly.

Btw the keyboard bug was because of keybord + mouse USB support in BIOS. Because I am using PS/2 converter I needed to disable this.

[sgtboat]

I had someone give me an old 486 system that I use at home for all my old games.. You can usually pick them up for nothing or next to nothing. You would be surprised at the number of these that are sitting in peoples attics forgotten, because they put it there and forgot. If you ask some of your older fiends you might get lucky.

[tikbalang]

aside from games, is use DOS for troubleshooting PC's and as a simple point-of-sale system using dhpos.com.