Are there any disadvantages for putting Windows 3.1 on a Pentium 133?

[vintagegamecrazy]

Well, I have had no luck whatsoever towards getting my hands on a working 386 or 486, I've gotten so many that are problematic but yesterday I finally got my hands on a fully working Pentium 133. I don't even know why someone set it up the way they did, no network card, no USB support yet they put Windows 98 on it, pretty useless if you ask me. It has a 1.5GB hard drive, 32MB of ram, CD rom and A drive. Would Windows 3.1 be incompatible with any of the hardware such as sound or video cards? Any other things to worry about other than time sensitive games?

[CRTGAMER]

Well, I have had no luck whatsoever towards getting my hands on a working 386 or 486, I've gotten so many that are problematic but yesterday I finally got my hands on a fully working Pentium 133. I don't even know why someone set it up the way they did, no network card, no USB support yet they put Windows 98 on it, pretty useless if you ask me. It has a 1.5GB hard drive, 32MB of ram, CD rom and A drive. Would Windows 3.1 be incompatible with any of the hardware such as sound or video cards? Any other things to worry about other than time sensitive games?

I don't get the reason for the downgrade, Windows 3.1 will give you more headaches in trying to get all the drivers to work. Windows 3.11 for Workgroups would be better, but why not stick with Windows 98 and upgrade to Win98 SE? Windows 98 SE supports USB, you can even setup a duel boot with DOS 6.22 for the DOS Retro Games.

[alec006]

Windows 3.1 is a nightmare when it comes to it especially with drivers and compatibility. Windows 95 and 98SE would be the best for a Pentium 133 machine since both are pretty stable OS's and run most DOS programs and games very well. And as CRTGAMER said, you can even dual boot MS-DOS 6.22 for the best compatibility with DOS Games. I would also put in a 5.25 Floppy Drive if you have the room if you have any old DOS games on 5.25 Floppys.

[BlastProcessing402]

You don't really even need a dual boot. You can exit out of or reboot out of 98 into DOS 7 which, if you set things up right, can run just about anything DOS 6.22 can. Even something as finicky to run as Ultima 7 can still be made to work. I think the only thing I couldn't get to run in DOS 7 was Win 3.1, lol.

I had a DOS 6.22/Win 98 dual boot for a long time, but finally wanted to move up to FAT32 instead of FAT16, so I started seeing what I could do with DOS 7 and found it to be pretty much all I needed, so I finally said goodbye to DOS 6.22.

[CRTGAMER]

You don't really even need a dual boot. You can exit out of or reboot out of 98 into DOS 7 which, if you set things up right, can run just about anything DOS 6.22 can. Even something as finicky to run as Ultima 7 can still be made to work. I think the only thing I couldn't get to run in DOS 7 was Win 3.1, lol.

I had a DOS 6.22/Win 98 dual boot for a long time, but finally wanted to move up to FAT32 instead of FAT16, so I started seeing what I could do with DOS 7 and found it to be pretty much all I needed, so I finally said goodbye to DOS 6.22.

DOS 7 doesn't have all the commands such as CHOICE, but you can add them. Dual boot allows for a quick startup to DOS, but I can see wanting to get the larger FAT32. Another option is removable IDE boot drives, one for DOS 6.22 and one for Win98SE.

My computer actually has four removable IDE boot C drives with a D drive inside for sharing common files such as JPGs.

1. Dos 6.22
2. Win98 SE
3. Win XP Pro (My drive)
4. Win XP Pro (Wife's drive)

[Jorpho]

The question is indeed, what exactly would you want to do in Windows 3.1 on a Pentium 133? There are some games for Windows 3.1, I suppose, but do you actually want to play them? There are enough quite excellent games out there that do not require Windows 3.1 to keep you busy until you are dead. DEAD!

Anyway, dual-booting Win98 and MS-DOS 6.22 is quite trivial – all you have to do is have MS-DOS 6.22 installed on your hard drive before you install Windows 98. Then you just press F8 when "Starting Microsoft Windows..." (or whatever it is) appears on startup, and select "Previous version of MS-DOS" from the startup menu. It even automatically switches the AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS files around so you can keep your Win98 and MS-DOS settings completely separate. The only real disadvantage is that you have to keep the partition FAT16-formatted, so you're restricted to 2 GB, and you're likely to end up with "orphaned long file names" if you start mucking around too much in MS-DOS.

By the way, there are also drivers for USB hard drives that work in MS-DOS. (You may also consider getting a CF-to-IDE or SD-to-IDE adapter if that suits your needs.) USB mice and gamepads and suchlike are quite impossible to get working, however.

I think the only thing I couldn't get to run in DOS 7 was Win 3.1, lol.

There's a little patch that fixes that, but it's not an official Microsoft patch. (Otherwise, it only works with the DOS 7 from early versions of Windows 95.)

[old_skoolin_jim]

Forget all this baloney... Will it play LASER SQUAD?!!

[vintagegamecrazy]

Let me clarify this more.

I already have a faster than blazes Pentium II dual 333Mhz. Cartridge processor with 1GB of ram with Windows 98SE for all of my gaming needs for that era. When I play some of the older DOS games they are graphically blurry.

Is there a way to get them to work in their native resolution and in full screen on Windows 98?

The PC I just got for free is a P133 without any USB ports and I don't really want to add them if I don't have to. I could use he A or D drives to transfer files and drivers. I just want to throw Windows 3.1 on it because I really like that OS a lot and miss it and because I don't need it for anything more advanced that DOS games.

That's where I'm at right now.

[Jorpho]

When I play some of the older DOS games they are graphically blurry.

This clarifies nothing. "Blurry" to me suggests that there might be something wrong with your video card, or your monitor, or your video cable, or generally something entirely independent of the processor speed or your operating system. But perhaps "blurry" means something else to you? What video card are you using, anyway?

I could use he A or D drives to transfer files and drivers.

Heh. That's going to get old fast.

I just want to throw Windows 3.1 on it because I really like that OS a lot and miss it and because I don't need it for anything more advanced that DOS games.

Well, if you're going to do it anyway, what do you care if there's any disadvantages?

[Emperor Megas]

Heh. That's going to get old fast.

It really will.

[vintagegamecrazy]

I know it'll get old but no worse than getting drivers on an old 286 or 386. Maybe I'll just use Dos that's already on there to run the games. I will need to get a 5 1/4 drive for it though.

Thanks for the advice guys.

[CRTGAMER]

I know it'll get old but no worse than getting drivers on an old 286 or 386. Maybe I'll just use Dos that's already on there to run the games. I will need to get a 5 1/4 drive for it though.

Thanks for the advice guys.

If strictly DOS games, you can use a DOS Menu system such as Power Menu. This saves from having to command line every time you want to start a different game. The DOS Menu could even load Windows 3.1 or Windows 3.11 Workgroups. I put a M.BAT file in the DOS directory. Whenever I wanted to get back to the Menu from the command line a simple M and ENTER does the trick.

CONFIG.SYS - AUTOEXEC.BAT
Look into the DOS CHOICE Command, you can setup multiple bootups in DOS. HIMEM, EMS memory or even no upper memory management. The CHOICE Command also can determine if Windows or DOS is loaded at the bootup. It all depends if you want Windows or which DOS game to play.

[Jorpho]

Look into the DOS CHOICE Command, you can setup multiple bootups in DOS. HIMEM, EMS memory or even no upper memory management. The CHOICE Command also can determine if Windows or DOS is loaded at the bootup. It all depends if you want Windows or which DOS game to play.

Yikes, that's the excruciating old-fashioned way of doing things. Unless one wants to stick with DOS versions earlier than MS-DOS 6 for some odd reason, setting up multiple configurations in the config.sys and autoexec.bat is a fairly straightforward operation not requiring any mucking about with CHOICE.