I want to get a dedicated Windows 98 box to put in one of the cabinets in my desk. Going to use it to play old Windows 98 games, and just as an "out of boredom" project. Despite being born in '96, Windows 98 was my first computer operating system I used. I want to relive the glory days playing Mech Warrior 2: 31st Century Combat natively.
My original 98 machine was a custom built Athlon system. It's long gone. I work at a computer repair shop, so I have access to many old machines. I am working on a Dell Inspiron 530S right now (Its a Pentium Dual-Core). Wondering if something like this would work, or do I need to stick with single core systems? (Like a P4). Trying to get something that is skinny that will fit in my cabinet and not produce a lot of heat. Any suggestions?
WHY? ლ(ಥ Д ಥ )ლ something this glorious should be displayed prominently for all to see it's 16/32 bit glory. As far as hardware requirements go i have no idea lol.
This doesn't seem odd to me at all... I was born in the middle of 94 and win95 was my first OS. Ah the glory days lol.
Modern type 2 hypervisors do support limited hardware accel and that game is so old that it should play normally. Then you're free to put the virtual disk on a modern SSD and experiment giving Win98 SE additional resources (cpu cores/ram/v-hds).
Installing it on real hardware will likely mean drivers will become an issue but if you really want to... any modern x86 compliant system should be able to boot windows 98 if it has a CSM (BIOS boot mode) and can place the storage controller in IDE mode. SATA actually emulates IDE internally, so even modern VNAND SSDs should not be an issue. I do recommend using a PS/2 keyboard/mouse tho.
I have Windows 98 SE emulated on my Core 2 Duo Thinkpad, but I can't get the game to run correctly due to VMware's video driver. I will have to play around with it some more I suppose. Correction: Windows 98 SE in a virtual machine.
I used to run Mechwarrior 4 on it and I believe it was a P4. Only time I ever bought intel new. I love running stuff natively on old hardware and you lose something with a VM.
Later you may even want to do Flight Simulater 1.0..........on an 8086:) Actual 3d gaming on 30k transistor count:) I seriously need help:)
Yes Win98 doesn't see extra threads as far as I'm aware. You want a heavily piped single-core like a K7 Athlon or PIII. (P4 would work too, but kinda overkill and just too 'new' for what I would consider appropriate.) In all honesty there are old industrial embedded ITX boards on eBay with 1.3GHz Pentium Ms onboard and those would work a charm for this. Low power, small form factor and a PCI slot for graphics. Should fit in a cabinet without choking.
Oh %&$#! Sorry dude was thinking MW4 Your looking at Dos or win95 setup which means 5x86 or pentium 60 or 66....Yes they actually have BOTH a pentium 60 and 66. 486 should do in a pinch. What do you have available? It has been a long time since DMA channels and IRQ's and all that.
