Re: DOS Emulator

["Robert Holmgren" holmgren@xxxxxxxx]

** Reply to message from Patricia M Godfrey  on Mon, 20 Jan
2003 15:52:13 -0500


> Why need a new (hardware) system require a new opsys? It is possible to
> buy bare iron and install your old opsys (assuming you have the CDs).

The difficulty is, that unless you bought the full retail version (generic
installation) CD from M$, this strategy generally won't work. Most OEM
versions of the CD, for example the ones supplied by Dell as rescue disks, are
prevented from working with any other computer or manufacturer, while others
(e.g. IBM) just restore an image file of the original installation (no user
configuration whatsoever, i.e. tailored for the original machine). M$ began to
require this of its OEM distributors about 3-4 years ago. Moreover, just to
demonstrate how nasty they could be, they let you go through the whole
installation routine before announcing, at the very end, that you're using an
inappropriate CD -- and then aborting without further recourse. Copying the
files won't do it either: the OS needs to build the Windows Registry for your
environment, and that won't happen.

If however you want to _buy_ a full generic version, that's easy enough -- poke
around on the Net, you'll find it (Ebay, if necessary) -- but a different
problem then arises, with new hardware which the old OpSys doesn't recognize
(for Plug'n'Play) -- gotta go fetch from each manufacturer. And what are you
going to do about updating the BIOS? Most BIOSes are tweaked for specific
machines these days -- you can't just go to Phoenix and get "the latest"
without running a grave danger of disabling your machine (and no going back!).
In short, it can be done, but no guarantees.

-----------------------------
Robert Holmgren
holmgren@xxxxxxxx
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