WinUAE - Windows 2000 compatibility

[chiark]

Originally Posted by killergorilla

Worry about it in 2 or 3 years.

Or stick with WinUAE v x.x.x which works on XP and had been proven for years?

[killergorilla]

Or that

Either way, getting depressed about it is a tad stupid

[Graham Humphrey]

That's rather off-topic so can we please avoid going down this route, thanks.

[MethodGit]

I notice there are compiling guides dotted around here. It left me thinking..... how easy or difficult would it be for someone to take the current source and use older versions of the necessary tools (VS etc) to compile a 9x/2000-friendly executable? That's assuming it's still possible to get older versions of everything and you needn't worry about significantly scrubbing the source itself to deal with speed issues, of course.

[rare_j]

So what's the last version to support w2k? Is it 2.1.0? I have a 2k box i wanted to make into a dedicated winuae box so would like to be sure i get the last compatible version. I tried to get that version but the link is not working for me on winuae.net. Think it might be a duff link. Can it be fixed Toni at some point? Many thanks as ever

[TCD]

This is the correct link for 2.1.0 : http://download.abime.net/winuae/fil...WinUAE2100.exe
There's just a typo in the link on winuae.net You can also get the zipped version with this link : http://download.abime.net/winuae/files/WinUAE2100.zip

[rare_j]

Nice one tcd.

[Lonewolf10]

Originally Posted by Toni Wilen

No. Use old versions if you use old hardware. Can't be any simpler. Or recompile and patch it yourself.

- Windows 2000 is dead and unsupported.

It's only "unsupported" as MS want us to spend more money on their new OS's.

Originally Posted by Toni Wilen

- new fast Picasso96 emulation needs at least XP
- Visual Studio 2010 creates executables that need at least XP SP 2
- I do not do any extra work for compatibility with something ancient and non-supported. It gets dropped, simple as that.

(and this thread goes instaclose if someone mentions something older)

You can try http://win2kgaming.site90.com/phpBB2/ but you are totally on your own.

I'm not expecting you to support every OS that people want, but perhaps you could specify the requirements for running newer WinUAE versions on the website (assuming newer versions are on the way) - that way you don't get (as many) questions from people asking why doesn't version X work on my system?


BTW, great job with the stuff you (and the rest of the team) have done with WinUAE so far.

For anyone wishing to attempt to do new Win2K versions, which version of Visual Studio were you using?


Regards,
Lonewolf10

[Toni Wilen]

Windows version not supported by MS anymore: I also don't bother with it anymore if it means easier job for me. (XP should be dead and buried already if you ask me but unfortunately it isn't. Yet.)

2008 is last Visual Studio version that creates Windows 2000 compatible executables (but note that for example new Picasso96 emulation can't work with Windows 2000). I guess the real problem is MSVC C library startup code that requires XP SP2 or later..

[andreas]

Exactly that's it.

I think it's stupid to say that "Microsoft deliberately removed Win2K support" in current VC version.
Frankly, I too had sung from the same hymn sheet once, but not anymore.

The reason is:
You have to consider that from developer's side, the underlying layer got a lot more complex and hence, the API got a) more sophisticated and b) even made things possible with a few statements that required either a LOT of code or you just had to do without some bells and whistles.

Yes, these oh-so common "Entry point not found ... " errors when trying to run an XP application on Win2K.

It's the awful lot of workaround code that makes Win2K compatibility such a nightmare. And that's not just my own point of view: for another developer, it was THESE VERY reasons to drop W2K support, since he had to THINK in a two-tier fashion: code for XP+, then create a branch where he had to do lots of extra code trying hard to work around functionalities simply not provided by good ol' Win2K API.

Perhaps (well I say perhaps!) it can be compared to some web developer who codes client-side scripts in Javascript meant to run on Firefox 3/4 and IE7/8 but now somebody comes along, gesticulating excitedly, "We must have IE6 support, since this is still standard configuration in our employees' PC cluster XYZ in wing C!!"
Since this is MY area of expertise, I know how much work this is to do, let alone to watch the customers getting a slightly deflated look in their faces once I say: "Sorry, you'll have to live with 50% less eye candy since the JS version supported by IE6 just DOES NOT support the bells and whistles YOU expect to have in there."

And what's that "eye candy" in WinUAE now?
Well, you guessed it, all that filtering stuff, full-window feel like on a 1084. etc.
So if do you want that, you'll have to call it quits to your old OS and/or software one fine day.