"HeyBub" <heybub@xxxxxx> wrote ...
Quote:
> Vista doesn't do 16-bit stuff. At all.
That is incorrect. What is your reason for claiming that Vista does not run
16 bit applications?
32-bit Vista runs 16 bit applications using the NTVDM ("NT Virtual DOS
Manchine") and, for 16-bit Windows apps, the WoW (Windows-on-Windows)
thunking layer.
Because of changes in the display model, Vista running with WDDM drivers
canot display character-mode applications full-screen. If (and only if) an
application requires full screen access to run, it cannot run on Vista; or
it must be run in an emulator like DosBox, as Synapse Syndrome correctly
suggests. Vista using a non-WDDM display driver can also display DOS apps
full screen (although this is not a recommended solution for the OP).
DOS applications can run just fine in a Window; likewise 16 Windows apps.
For example, I always run a copy of VisiCalc.com (c.1981) on every new
version of Windows, to test backwards compatibility. It runs fine on Vista.
64-bit Vista cannot run any 16 bit applications. This is an architectural
limitation of the CPU, and is also true for 64 bit XP and Server 2003.
Any DOS or Win3.x application is subject to all the usual compatibility
constraints when running on NT (eg cannot directly write to hardware
adresses etc). But apart from that, Vista has the same 16 bit compatiblity
as XP, Windows 2000 and NT 4.0 (in fact somewhat better, because there have
been numerous bug fixes to the NTVDM since NT 4.0).
Your statement is either wrong, or else you omitted important caveats
("Vista doesn't do 16-bit stuff. At all. on 64 bit Vista. But 32 bit Vista
is fine"; etc).
--
Andrew McLaren
amclar (at) optusnet dot com dot au