This is my latest weekend project in progress. I am expanding my collection with another custom addition; I want to build a bit of a unicorn hybrid vintage-modern system. I am not sure if it has ever been done before. When complete, the system ought to:
Have the widest application support on one machine - from DOS through Win7 (32-bit)
Be fast – aiming for a 3.4GHz CPU or better
have a fast and large main drive (SSD - at least 240GB)
Multi-boot DOS/Win3.x, Win98, WinNT-4, Win7, maybe a few others too
Max out the RAM (4GB for Win7)
Support USB in all OSs
Support audio in all OSs
Support IDE and SATA drives in all OSs
Support internal 1.44, 1.2M, Zip100, CD/DVD R/W, internal CF/SD Card reader
Support max rez and color for each OS
TCP/IP enabled in all
56K internal modem
Wired and wireless net connectivity
Support analog video capture and TV tuner
This system will support a ton of applications designed for DOS all the way up to Win7 on the same box.
I haven’t seen anything like this yet myself. Building such a monster presents some pretty unique challenges.
• To get full-function DOS/Win3.x and later requires ISA slots
• To get audio working in DOS/Win3.x requires DMA and IRQ control in a mixed ISA/PCI
• To get high rez/max color in all requires a VGA adapter with broad driver support
• To get all those drives working requires dual-channel IDE/SATA and on-board USB
• To get Win7 requires a Direct X 9 card
• To get Win95 and Win98 to co-exist in a 4GB RAM (more than 512MB) requires some trickery
• To get TCP/IP working in DOS and Win requires a shim
• To get USB working under under DOS and Win3.x requires some special drivers
• To get more than 4 OSes requires boot manager that supports more than 4 primary partitions
• To get all those drives into the same case requires an good expandable ATX case
....and even more challenges
Can it all be done on one machine? Maybe. I am most of the way there…
More to come....
Have the widest application support on one machine - from DOS through Win7 (32-bit)
Be fast – aiming for a 3.4GHz CPU or better
have a fast and large main drive (SSD - at least 240GB)
Multi-boot DOS/Win3.x, Win98, WinNT-4, Win7, maybe a few others too
Max out the RAM (4GB for Win7)
Support USB in all OSs
Support audio in all OSs
Support IDE and SATA drives in all OSs
Support internal 1.44, 1.2M, Zip100, CD/DVD R/W, internal CF/SD Card reader
Support max rez and color for each OS
TCP/IP enabled in all
56K internal modem
Wired and wireless net connectivity
Support analog video capture and TV tuner
This system will support a ton of applications designed for DOS all the way up to Win7 on the same box.
I haven’t seen anything like this yet myself. Building such a monster presents some pretty unique challenges.
• To get full-function DOS/Win3.x and later requires ISA slots
• To get audio working in DOS/Win3.x requires DMA and IRQ control in a mixed ISA/PCI
• To get high rez/max color in all requires a VGA adapter with broad driver support
• To get all those drives working requires dual-channel IDE/SATA and on-board USB
• To get Win7 requires a Direct X 9 card
• To get Win95 and Win98 to co-exist in a 4GB RAM (more than 512MB) requires some trickery
• To get TCP/IP working in DOS and Win requires a shim
• To get USB working under under DOS and Win3.x requires some special drivers
• To get more than 4 OSes requires boot manager that supports more than 4 primary partitions
• To get all those drives into the same case requires an good expandable ATX case
....and even more challenges
Can it all be done on one machine? Maybe. I am most of the way there…
More to come....