maemo.org - Talk - EASY GUIDE: Booting Windows 95 on the n900 :)

Here's the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsYyr9eUkA4

Ok, now you've seen what you're aiming to achieve, let's get on with it.

I've tried to make this guide as simple and short as possible so that everyone with an n900 can easily get Windows 95 running.

First things first, you're gonna need a few programs installed on your device to do this. Don't worry, they can be found in the maemo repositories.

emelFM2: This is an invaluable file manager. It allows you to do anything you want with any file on your device, including system files so be careful when you use it.

Dosbox: This is an x86 emulator with dos. It's what you're going to be using to boot Windows 95 with.

Installed those? Great. Next thing you're going to need is a bootable .img file of Windows 95. Now, i can't give you the one i have as that would class as piracy so you have two options; make one or find one on the internet. If you have the knowledge/skills to make one with your existing Windows 95 CD, do it. Failing that, search google for 'w95.img'. I'm quite sure you'll find what you need, if not you can always pm your email address for, 'extra advice'.

The same .img files used for loading Windows 95 on a symbian device or Sony PSP will work.

Ok, now you've got your .img, for the sake of making this guide easier to follow., rename the file w95.img. Good. Put the file in home/user/MyDocs (n900/ in the file manager)

Time to get started then ;)

Make sure you type all codes exactly as they are written here, linux is case sensitive.

1) open up x-terminal and type the following:

Code:

cd /home/user/MyDocs/

mkdir dos

cd dos

mkdir 95

cd /home/user/MyDocs/

mv w95.img /home/user/MyDocs/dos/95

2) open up emelFM2, click the white box on the left hand screen and type:

Code:

/home/user/.dosbox

A file called dosbox-0.73.conf should appear in the box below, highlight that file by clicking on it once then click the green downwards arrow in the center of the screen and press edit.

Scroll down to the bottom of this file to where it says 'Lines in this section willbe run at startup' and type the following underneath:

Code:

mount c /home/user/MyDocs/dos

c:

imgmount e c:\95\w95.img -t hdd -fs fat

boot -l c

Click save and close emelFM2. Open Dosbox and sit back and watch while Windows 95 loads on your n900 :D
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If you want to have a go at making programs run a bit better in dosbox, open up and edit the .dosbox config file again with emelFM2 and:

Disable all the sound emulation. (I'm sure you can do that without my help)

fullscreen=true
fulldouble=false
fullresolution=640x480

core=auto
cputype=auto
cycles=2800
cycleup=100
cycledown=100

These are the settings i use but they're not 100%; I can't seem to get the mouse to sync.

Try tweeking the cycle value (i'd stick to say, 1000-15000) to see how well you can run it. Note; setting it too high will result in massive slow downs!
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I have tested Windows 98 (lite professional) and it runs using the method shown here. It's not as quick as 95 but it's not too bad. If anyone wants to try run it themselves simply replace the w95.img with a Windows 98 image.

Peace.