Okay, So...
I am looking at checking out some old Win games Dad found in a box. Infocom and Sierra stuff. I was thinking first that these are _so_ Win'95 that I really ought to just be able to use WINE (wine 1.2.1-0ubuntu1 Microsoft windows compatibility layer)
But then... I really do not want to junk up my nice fresh system, when I can just spin up a virtual machine.
Initially, I was just going to run the WIN7 VBox and have at it. But then I got to thinking again about how old these are, and how they are more than likely 16 bit dos-ported-to-windows games. DOS I could actually handle easier, I think, running DOSBOX, but that won't work here.
But, Win95 was bad. Win98 was a little less bad. Win98SE was starting to get not too bad. Then there is Win ME. That's Millennium Edition, just in case you were not keeping up. I mean, hey, that was a long time ago. So, Win ME was like the last of that old base of windows. XP was not too far off in some ways, but far enough in the ways that are going to be a factor here. Vista and Win 7 are quite the OS's in their own way, but I am looking at some really old software.
Oh, sure, I am sure that some of you out there are all like, "Windows is great. XP can handle it." Well, no and yes - but... Windows is not as bad as I like to make it out to be. Mushrooms and I do not get along (stay with me here) and neither of us have anything good to say about the other. Other people like 'shrooms. Fine. That does not make them bad people but it also does not make me want to go out and eat them. The 'shrooms, not the people. I do not eat people, that I am aware of. Except for Green. That Green from Soylent is some tasty stuff. Kidding.
The point of all that is: I don't wanna pickle.
Wait... no. The point is I am not trying to debate the pros and cons of the operating systems in general not point out any over merits or faults. I just have to find the best tool for the job.
But, here is what I have ready to go as far as virtual machines go: Win2k, Win2k3, Win2k8, Win7... see a pattern there? Server, server, server and Se7en. Well, somewhere, I think we do still have a Vista virtual box exported on disc, but as it would not be very helpful.
Oh, and if you have a "new" Win OS and are running old, 16bit windows games, I am not trying to invalidate you at all. If there is something about all this that I apparently do not know, that is okay - it is not the end of the world - I am quite certain that there is a lot that I do not know about a great many things.
Take Care-
LQ
PS. The LINUX tag in the tag cloud is to remind people that the host system for the virtual machine is LINUX.
Sierra! Classic adventure games, are they? I only played King's Quest VI, but that was one of my favorites from back in the day. :) If you have it, I highly recommend it. If not, I have a copy somewhere around here I could send you. <_<
ReplyDeleteAlthough sometimes it can be a chore to get an old game running on a new system. It took me awhile to get Thief II running. Well worth the effort. :)
'Tis "Lost in Time"
ReplyDeleteI have played "Hitchhiker's Guide" in a DOS emulator. It was cool. I _really_ like the text only games... both that I've played, anyway.