Softwindows 2 - 68k

[Grex]

Hi! Softwindows is actually a port of Windows to the Macintosh, so it is a MAC-program. However I once heard rumors, that Softwindows 2.x had custom-optimised routines for 68k and hence is said to be the fastest possibility to emulate Windows on a real Amiga (using a MAC-Emulator such as Fusion of course).
I've tried older Versions of Softwindows (1.x) under Fusion, it works but it's slow.
So if anyone has this damn rare piece of sofware (given that it DOES really exist)...

SoftPC -> PC 8086 -> Windows3.0.
SoftWindows1 -> PC 286 -> Windows3.1.
SoftWindows2 -> PC 386 -> Windows3.11/Win32s

I have only SoftWindows 1 for 68k, but it features only 16bit emulation and is slow.
SoftWindows 2 for 68k can execute 32bit apps and can run Windows 3.11 + Win32s with 32bit apps like Derive, MS-Office95(5.0), ACDSee2, WinAmp2.5,Adobe3 ...
Reading some old articles it seems than SoftWindows2 on ShapeShifter is faster than PC-Task 4.4 !

No one with this cool app? =((

If someone found it please send me a copy, or reply this post.

[Grex]

@Superturrican2: Hi turri, it was actually you who told me about Softwindows-2-68k, when we chatted via Hotline some 2 years ago. Do you still have this web-link to this Italian Amiga-User-Forum, that you once gave me (I managed to translate it quite well via Google)? It would make the whole thing more credible, proofing that it is not just pure rumors, but that there really ARE people who once had this running on their Amiga.

hehehe, yeah, that boy was me :P
I was connected on hotline with my A1200 and ShapeShifter.

The page on the AmigaPage.it-forum is lost when the author replace the system of posting news with a new one. The page contains benchmark and screenshot about SoftWindows2 on a A1200-040/25 and PicassoII.

Anyway there is an article about Mac emulation on Amiga and contains some tips about PC emulation under Mac under Amiga :P
http://www.amiworld.it/programmi/emu...umacfinal.html
( take a look at "Shape e gli arcobaleni" )
The article says:
"Da tests effettuati Softwindows 2 è circa 2.5 volte più veloce di Pc-Task4.4"
means:
"running benchmarks it seems that SoftWindows2 is up to 2/3 times faster than Pc-Task4.4!"

2 years ago, I contacted Paochi and SpawnPPC to ask them to send me a copy of SoftWindows2 or an updater (SoftWindows1 -> SoftWindows2) but no-one found it =(((((

it's strange, nobody have the best PCemulator for 68k-machines.

[Grex]

Okay, now I at least finally found someone, who sell's it regularly. The shop is called "Dan's 20th Century Abandonware" and can be found at www.d2ca.org.

Here is a screenshot of Softwindows 2.0 (near the bottom of the page):
http://www.d2ca.org/d2ca-ssg-mac.html

And here it is featured in the ordering-catalog:
http://www.d2ca.org/text/sw-catalogs...-macintosh.txt

I already contacted the shop-owner, Dan Rose, and asked him, if he could confirm, that it works on 68k, however he didn't have an appropriate Mac to test it, so he couldn't tell if the version he offers in his shop would run on 68k.
Although I would be curious to buy it and find it out myself, I won't do this, because the shop is in the USA, which means high bank-transfer-fees, high shipping-costs and costs to clear the custom. All of this together would most likely be more expensive than the program itself...
Sigh.

[coze]

Originally Posted by Grex

which means high bank-transfer-fees,

ever heard of paypal ?

high shipping-costs

come on this is software. I doubt it will cost more then 30 usd.

and costs to clear the custom.

what about a 'gift' from USA ?

[Retro1234]

This is meant to be SoftWindows 2 on a Mac 2SI - What's that 68030 - well it can only be a Max of 68040 - Anyway it's fast!!!
[ Show youtube player ]

Anyone have can Zone this?

Actually it says V1.x

[Retro1234]

In the Zone is a HFV hardfile of SoftWindows 1.0.3 if anyone want to try and it is FAST! compared to PC-Task etc

I've only tried this under Basilisk II so-far and not ShapeShifter yet.

There is a problem as-far as I know there is no working key for SoftWindows 1.0.3 so it's in Demo mode - So make a copy of the HFV and just keep adding it.
Unless someone can CRACK it.



I might try 1.0.2 at some point that is meant to have a working key.

[Retro1234]

I just tried it under ShapeShifter and it was slow! - If a 68030 MAC can run this fast I don't know where the bottleneck is?

Disk Access - I don't think so
I've not tried RTG setup a RTG setup should be able to match a MAC of the same spec.
It was painfully slow on a MAC - I can't quite believe this?

[squidbass]

There's a few different versions of Softwindows on this site:

https://www.macintoshrepository.org/4-softwindows-2-0

[xc8]

on 'Macintosh Garden' as well:

https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/softwindows-10

[drHirudo]

I used SoftPC on Macintosh and it works surprisingly good:
[ Show youtube player ]

SoftWindows 2 is PPC only I think. Also SoftWindows 2 is available for Silicon Graphics Indy:
[ Show youtube player ]

[xc8]

Insignia ported this on various platforms. I run the SunPC on a (low-spec) SPARCStation LX, this is not 100% s/ware based: it comes with an S-bus card (5x86) ,darn , I paid an arm + a leg for this on 90s.

[Retro1234]

Originally Posted by drHirudo

I used SoftPC on Macintosh and it works surprisingly good:
[ Show youtube player ]

rl]

Is that on real hardware?

[drHirudo]

Originally Posted by Retro1234

Is that on real hardware?

No. This is emulated Apple Macintosh IIci - Motorola 68030 @ 25 MHz.

[Retro1234]

Ok from info I'm gathering this is not a true representation of how it would run on real hardware. On real hardware it would be slow x

[Grex]

As you can see, I have started this thread back in 2007, but originally there were very few replies. Hence I went for another go in a Mac-forum. See here:

https://68kmla.org/bb/index.php?thre...s-2-68k.16655/

As you can read there, I finally managed to get in touch with one of the developers. Actually even two developers, but IIRC the other guy was working on a UNIX-port of SoftWindows, and didn't know much about the 68k-department of Insignia. I have also been told, that the rights-owners of SoftWindows have changed MANY times, I have no clue, who is currently holding the rights.
As it was confirmed to me, that SoftWindows 2.0 68k was ready for sale, but finally NEVER released, one can be sure, that any buyable version of 2.0 that can be found on the internet is the PPC-version.
As you can also read there: They were even working on ports of SoftWindows for Amiga (and Atari), but the Amiga-version was, according to the developer, never fully finished. However I don't remember if that Amiga-/Atari-ports were official Insignia-projects or rather private projects of that developer.

(Edit: Sorry for the wrong link, made a mistake with copy and paste)

[drHirudo]

Originally Posted by Grex

As you can see, I have started this thread back in 2007, but originally there were very few replies. Hence I went for another go in a Mac-forum. See here:

http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?p=1598804

Link points to this forum thread...

[Pyromania]

It looks way to soft.

[Estrayk]

I've a real Macintosh Performa 630 with 68040 40Mhz FPU.
if someone wants me to do some test or capture some video, tell me where to get the softwindows 1 for 68k and some image with some software and I'll try it.