An OS (Operating System) Moral Dilema

[NoXTheRoXStaR]

I have 2 computers, one is an altar of (current) gaming and the other one has been sitting in my closet for over a year now. The problem is that my primary OS has Windows 8.1 installed and if you enjoy certain older games that require DirectDraw, you're shit out of luck. Now mind you, there are jury rigged workarounds but it's a hassle and I'd rather play these older games in their native OS.

 

Enter the KVM Switch. Now if you don't know what it is, it's basically a way to connect two computers with one monitor. Some have VGA attachments, DVI, USB, etc etc. The point is, with a press of a clicker you can access two computers, laptops or towers, hell they have some versions that can even connect to a video game console, Now if you've been reading this far into this topic you either A.) Know what I'm talking about or B.) want to know more C.) genuinely enjoy my topics (ha) I'll post some direct links if you're confused.

 

So my question to all of you is.... If you had 2 computers, What would your preferred 2 OS's be? We know I have Windows 8.1 and the other one is Windows 7. However, even 7 has conflicts with older games (I don't mean DOS, it even has issues with 95' & 98'). I'm starting to lean towards XP, on my second OS.

 

So give my your thoughts, sage advice and criticism.

 

][ - Links - ][

 

https://en.wikipedia....wiki/KVM_switch - what it is

https://www.iogear.com/kvm-switch.htm - what it looks like

https://www.youtube....h?v=EWTLteSd-uE - a video description

 

-NoX

[NKF]

Lots of great old games work on XP so it's a decent choice. But ultimately it depends entirely on what games you want to play. If it's an older game around the Direct X3.0 era (like Interstate '76, to name an obscure example), perhaps Windows 95 ~ 98. I know old favourites of mine like Fallout, Battlezone and Baldurs Gate engine games work great on these.

 

Alternately, get a removable hard drive rack and a couple of hard drive mounting frames for the rack. This way you can have separate hard drives for each OS that you can plug and unplug as you wish. I got one of these back when I was still at university with the intention to set up a spare HD with Linux , but for whatever reason the blasted copy I had would never set itself up after preparing the HD partitions. After the motherboard mysteriously split in two, I haven't really had a desktop PC since. It's certainly an option.

 

- NKF

[silencer_pl]

For windows 98 you need a really old stuff too. When XP was released, sometimes Windows 98 liked to kill itself even after fresh install. I used to have on those days two partitions, one with XP and one with 98SE, until one day I've just fed up with 98 because the components I had, were too modern for 98. With SP1+ W98 became obsolete.

 

However there is no need for dual systems with Windows 8, because there is a little workaround. It worked fine for few old windows games for me like X-COM Interceptor or Divine Divinity or Jagged Alliance 2.

 

Try downloading this: https://www.mediafire.com/?7xk062enx70pm75 and extract the dlls where the games exe is. Should work.

[NoXTheRoXStaR]

There IS a need for a dual system. Yes you can play with the 1.13 version of JA2. Sure you can play a lot of games with a work around. I know all about them. I don't want to. I want to play older games on their native OS. Honestly though it doesn't work as fluidly as it did with older renditions. Windows 7 fixes for instance are a lot compatible than Windows 8/8.1 work arounds. Here's 3 examples.

 

Bioshock - Sound Issues.

Desperados - Slowdowns

C&C - Directdraw issues.

 

Sure, I can fix all of these things with a workaround, but none of the workarounds work fluidly. With the KVM switch, and an external HD I can play classics without the need for having to go out of my way to play games I want to play just because Microshit didn't bother with backwards compatibility.

 

-NoX

[NoXTheRoXStaR]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't XP the last version of windows that had true DOS?

[silencer_pl]

Nope. That was just dos like command line. The last windows to use true Dos was W98SE

[NKF]

True Dos would've ended from Dos 6.x + Windows 3.x. Windows 95/98 offered the option of booting up to Windows or directly to the command.com interface that a lot of folks consider to be Dos. It practically was dos, but the guts were running on a Windows kernel.

 

I don't think XP ever let you boot directly to dos with a boot disk. I've only ever run command line shell within XP. Of course, not that I attempted to try thanks to the advent of better versions of Dosbox.

 

- NKF

[silencer_pl]

The basic stuff for Dos was command.com the other things in DOS directory were just additional apps not necessarily needed, but some were useful. And Windows 98 had command.com and I think it was called Dos 7.1? Oh the glory days were you set up configs just to have that precious game run only which was using 640k memory limit.

[NoXTheRoXStaR]

Hmm, thanks. I always assumed XP had the last true dos, wasn't aware 98SE was it. I agree, Dosbox came through for me for so many older titles. I'm surprised I even have eyesight anymore. Off subject within an off subject post. Have either of you played, Super Hero League of Hoboken? If you haven't you should, because this game started a friendship and I ended up marrying her.This game after all these years has me laughing tongue in cheek. I believe it's an abandon-ware game, so if you want or need links I have direct access to it. I suppose if you need more info you can go to Mobygames if you're unfamiliar with this classic. I had the CD rom version but I can't find it anymore.

 

-NoX

[NKF]

Late reply, but no I haven't played that game before. But, in the spirit of inquiry, I've just finished watching a Let's Play of it. Looks like a bit of combination of a cRPG and good old school Lucas Arts/Sierra style adventure game, along with the irreverent self deprecating humour - though this game obviously took it towards the extreme end. Also I see its a game from the CD-Rom era where voice audio started to become more common, as it had lots of talky bits.

 

Rather enjoyed it actually, though a couple of the main villain's madcap schemes were a bit on the wibbly side of disturbing to say the least.

 

- NKF

[Tycho]

98SE is the last version of Windows to be a Windows Shell over a DOS core. XP is very much like Windows NT/2000 in how it boots. It has a command line interface that can be reached but that is more similar to the NT command line interface. For those old games I'd go with WIN98SE as a second OS option. The only issues I had with 98 were how poorly the USB subsystem was supported under 98 and how easily driver issues would crash your system. Also, getting drivers that work for later chipsets, video, and sound might be a problem.

[NoXTheRoXStaR]

Well if there's a lot of issue with the 98SE in regards to USB would be used as a porting system. The games which are intended to play on their native OS are all lined up and work perfectly for each use. So no need for special drivers.

 

What pisses me off the most is that Microsoft continues to admonish the niche users who ask, "Why is it so hard to make backwards compatible programs/OS's in your newer OS's?" Oblivious of their past success? "We can't do that, unless you're willing to upgrade to the (Maximum Omega Super Edition) which pays by commission."

 

-NoX

[NoXTheRoXStaR]

Does anyone feel that there is a justifiable reason for "upgrading" to Windows 10? I've read article after article and I can't seem to find a valid reason, is there something I'm missing? It came out recently that Microsoft will support Windows 10 until 2025, which is good. Backward compatibility seems straight across the board with Windows 7, 8, 8.1 but I have some reservations.

 

Anyone else care to put in their 2 cents?

 

-NoX

 

:: Edit ::

 

No, the Start bar/menu is not enough.

[Space Voyager]

Free, not worse and means a longer support. I don't see why not.

[NoXTheRoXStaR]

Nothing is "free" Space.

 

I asked what is the justifiable reasons for upgrading?

[Nookrium]

I've been hesitant too, at least on my main PC that I run my LP's with. Since I do several older games I'm worried about compatibility, finding patches/fixes for windows 8 is pretty easy since it's been around for a while now, but I'd have to wait a while if 10 caused issues.

 

It is free and we're due for a "good" windows if you follow the every other year rule though...

[silencer_pl]

And what is holding you back to not to upgrade. I will wait aprox a month with update to see if there are any major issues with gaming. I don't care for the menu start. I've got used to W8.1.

[Kret]

What I think I'll be doing is making the reservation and wait until others make reports of the upgrade process and see if there's any major issues. You're not required to upgrade inmedietly once it's released, you can hold off for a while. Once enough guinea pigs come back alive, then I'll take the leap myself.

[Space Voyager]

Kret, where have you been?! Welcome back! And I agree that it is always wise to wait a while.

[NoXTheRoXStaR]

I agree. I too will wait to see the results. So here's the latest, why you should upgrade to Windows 10.

 

6 Reasons.

https://www.yahoo.co...4677680639.html

 

1.) It's "free". So fucking what?

2.) It has a "start menu". And? Last year Toyota decided to take out the airbags in their 2015 models, but have decided to bring them back for the 2016 models.

(They didn't, but hopefully some of you get the gist.)

3.) Don't like it, roll back, k.

4.) Most of your old programs work but not all....great more fucking patches.

5.) Contra. Pft.

6.) I have a whole year....well whoop de doo.

 

Article after article, I see the same lists, again I ask, "What is the justification for (upgrading) to Windows 10"? What's the perks?

 

Good point, Mike!

[Sunflash]

So I admit the original post(from tumblr) about the Win10 upgrade thing is gone, so I'm doing this mostly from memory; but the primary reason to upgrade would be because it would allow for so many extra programming extras that you just can't pull off in older windows.

 

I mean, there's software reasons(Was it XP or Vista that couldn't handle a certain amount of RAM that made the market panic?) that things arn't backwards comptiable as well as hardware reasons(can you picture a WinXp game trying to make full use of a six-core cpu with dual video cards and a bucket of ram?) for upgrading.

 

I dunno, like I said I don't have the full explantion-post that laid it out pretty well and I'm sorry; but I don't really see a reason NOT to upgrade. Sure, maybe not the day of or something, but there's enough bonuses from where I'm sitting(improved handling of hardware through windows, more up-to-date security stuff, simpler access to the newer games(which will also benifit from the handling thing), plus its not a set-in-stone thing. Don't lose your license for the previous version of windows.)

 

I'll be 1) Backing up my Steam Library and the like beforehand.

2) (Make sure you have a physical system restore disk)

3) Waiting at least a few weeks, probably closer to a month, to let them figure out the worst of the issues(8.0 to 8.1, after all)

4) Jumping in full throttle.

5) If something goes wrong, use my re-install disks to revert back to Win7 and lose a minor amount of time from the whole ordeal; and try again in a few months.

 

MOST games that are post-XP should work pretty well from what I've heard/read; and even XP games should DOS-Box well enough. Of course, that's so hit-and-miss even in 7 YMMV as usual.

I unno. Just seems like there's more reasons TO for me than NOT TO. But, of course, to each their own.

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[Kret]

Kret, where have you been?! Welcome back! And I agree that it is always wise to wait a while.

I'm still around, I'm just in super-lurker mode so that's why you don't see much activity from me.

 

The only reason you find yourself where you "must" upgrade would be if you really "must have" that game that only works in the DirectX version that windows 10 has. Otherwise, patience is key, take a couple of days off from any work and social interaction, have all the install/recovery disks and drivers ready for a reinstall if things go horribly wrong, backups aren't a bad idea or just accept that if something does go wrong you will lose data. You could also get a new (or used) HD to perform a fresh windows install so that you can test the upgrade process on that drive. Not sure if dual booting will be possible between your current version and 10 or if the upgrade won't allow for that unless you already have a dual boot setup.

[Thorondor]

 

::

 

The institutional line: ten tips from Microsoft for gamers to get ready for Windows 10 can be found here.