Date: 30 Jun 1997 12:53:02 -0000
Message-ID: <19970630125302.11283.qmail@dns01.ops.usa.net>
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To: opendos AT delorie DOT com
From: b52g AT usa DOT net (JP Morris)
Subject: Win95 and OpenDOS: an experiement.
Precedence: bulk


Further to the ideal of getting win95 to run under opendos, you may find
this interesting..

Surrogate himem.sys
===================

1.      First I ran windows 95 as normal.

2.      I renamed himem.sys to himem.sos and restarted Win95.
        Win95 K-panics because himem.sys has gone, and goes back to DOS.
        As expected.

3.      I took OpenDOS' himem.sys and substituted it for the real one.

4.      Win95 DID NOT NOTICE AND STARTED PROPERLY.

So, wherever the built-in incompatability is, it is NOT in himem.sys,
as some people have suggested.


Command.com
===========

On the other hand, if I attempt to run The OpenDOS command.com any time
at all in windows, (Primary Command.com, a DOS shell, as a window,
any configuration you can imagine),  Win95 will not have it.

I also tried this:

1.      I inserted Win95 SR/2 startup disk and booted it.

2.      I changed to the Windows SR/0 directory and typed 'WIN'.

3.      Windows 95 judged me and found me Guilty:

"You started your computer with a version of MS-DOS incompatible with
 this version of Windows."

MS-DOS?  Oo, what a giveaway!

"Insert a Startup diskette matching this version of Windows and then restart.
 The system has been halted.  Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart your computer."

From this, it seems that these two versions of command.com are mutually
incompatible, even though they are both from versions of
Windows 95, that Microsoft would have you believe are the same.


Conclusion
==========

Himem.sys is absolutely critical to windows95.
Practically any version of himem.sys can run Win95.
Therefore, himem.sys has not been bent to run win95.

Command.com has been modified to run Win95.
We still do not know how much it has been modified.
Personally I suspect it has not been changed much.

If a version of OpenDOS is made to run windows 95, there
will need to be TWO (or more) versions, each specific to
a build of Windows 95.

I.E. we will need a SR0 compatible version and an SR2
compatible version.

** b52g AT usa DOT net ** http://members.tripod.com/~JPMorris **
Data control & IBM, Science is mankind's brother
but all I see is draining me & my Plastic Fantasic lover!
 -- Jefferson Airplane