Windows XP support

[amilo3438]

[EDIT by Toni: Moved from beta theread.]

According to winuae.net (by date of WinUAE publication):

WinUAE 2.6.1 (19.06.2013)

WinUAE 2.7.0 (05.12.2013)

...

WinUAE 2.8.1 (1x.06.2014) -> very likely

WinUAE 2.9.0 (xx.12.2014) -> guessing

Originally Posted by Toni Wilen

XP support probably goes away in very late 2014/beginning of 2015. Earliest. Maybe.

Yes, a very high probability that the WinUAE 2.8.1 could be the last version that runs on WinXP configuration !!!

Therefore, the question, is it possible to compile the WinUAE source code via MinGW ?

p.s.
In this regard, unfortunately, it will be difficult to find the motivation to continue supporting the version that probably will not work on WinXP configuration.

[IFW]

Once you upgraded your VS you really don't want to go back to an earlier version, especially not from VS2013
MS may keep XP support in with VS2014 or not... so it's really not up to Toni.

[amilo3438]

Originally Posted by IFW

MS may keep XP support in with VS2014 or not... so it's really not up to Toni.

Well, maybe will, maybe will not ... unfortunately, it is hard to say because officially they stopped give support to WinXP. So, we will see what will happen.

Yeah, it is not up to Toni, but what he can do is to prolong support for VS2013 if MS decide to not support VS2014 with WinXP, right ?

There are still a lot of PCs with WinXP capable to run WinUAE on decent speeds, so that such a decision could quite reduce customer support for new WinUAE versions in the future.

[Toni Wilen]

Version after 2.8.1 is guaranteed to have XP support. I won't change requirements during beta series and next beta series will be started before 2015

But nothing is guaranteed yet. It is possible that XP support may not dropped that soon.

DirectDraw support may be dropped and requirement for SSE 2 capable CPU may happen in 2015.

[amilo3438]

Originally Posted by Toni Wilen

But nothing is guaranteed yet. It is possible that XP support may not dropped that soon.

That is really great information Toni! Thanks (I must be !)


FYI, I was checking the 2.8.0 Docs folder in order to find any info about current WinUAE requirements and ran into a lot of outdated informations in Readme.txt file:

Also, excellent English *and* German help-files in Compiled HTML Manual (.chm) format can be found at http://www.winuae.net/download.htm.

Unfortunately, such a link to Compiled HTML Manual (.chm) format doesnt exist on winuae.net pages ?!

But instead I found one mentioned below that said it is official WinUAE help file:

WinUAE Official Help Latest release of the official help file for WinUAE. (is it really, why then there is no a link on the official www.winuae.net page ?!)


EDIT: Found some dead links on official http://www.winuae.net/frames/links.html page !

But most important; found there a link to Amiga Emulator FAQ which leads to latest WinUAE Help file -> Current version is 2.2.7 (19.05.2014).


and also...

There are no problems running WinUAE under Windows 2000 and XP - in fact, Win2K or XP is the best platform to run WinUAE on - providing the best
graphics and network performance, as well as core emulation duties.

Regarding the Win2K, as I recall, the WinUAE 2.0.1 was the lastest version supporting it, right ?

And yes, I could agree with that: "WinXP is the best platform to run WinUAE".

and also with...

If you are using Windows 95 (shame on you!)