I accidentally misreported the system specs, it is actually a P3 500MHz with 192MB of RAM. I bought a 10GB hard drive to put in it from the local used comp parts store.

I started out by installing DOS7.1 and Windows for Workgroups 3.11. Both installed fine but when I went to install audio and network drivers, everything broke. Both of these are on-board devices, and appear to have DOS drivers, but I have had zero luck getting them to run.

I ended up installing a Sound Blaster AWE64 card I had sitting around, which I have gotten working good, but it required installing DOS6.22 instead. With a little experimentation I was able to get the newer interface features from 7.1 working on 6.22. I had to copy the Command.com and doskey.com from a 7.1 installation and paste them into the 6.22 directory.

Today’s milestone was rewarded with a very enjoyable session of Commander Keen 4.

Well, not the operating system specifically, just the games I used to play on it.

I can’t get my Creative X-Fi card working in DOSBox, so I decided I am going to build a new computer just for running DOS. So far I’ve dug out an old P2 333MHz computer with 384MB of ram in it. I still need to find a hard drive to stick in it, and a VGA monitor. I actually managed to find my old DOS 6.22 discs but they don’t seem to work any more. Fortunately, bittorrent was able to provide a suitable replacement. I’ll post again when I get it all put together and let you know how it runs.

…and are taking over the overpriced desktops market.

Seriously though, there is no way that likeness is coincidental. Click below for proof.
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