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A comment on Show HN: A simple Unix-like operating system that runs Doom.

Re:Show HN: A simple Unix-like operating system that runs Doom by mysterydip on Saturday September 07, 2019 @10:29AM (#20903953)
Love the test case "but can you run Doom on it?" Great work!

Personally I'd like to see a homebrew OS that attempts some kind of compatibility with 16-bit Windows, with some modern design/conveniences (sortof a ReactOS for the 3.11 world). It seems like people make either 8 bit or 32 bit OSes. Maybe I'm not searching the right terms. Anyone know of anything, or a starting point?

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Re:Show HN: A simple Unix-like operating system that runs Doom by ozkl on Saturday September 07, 2019 @11:29AM (#20904365)
Thanks! I was going to go similar path you mentioned. Not 16-bit but in a way that is exe-like binaries and development with Visual Studio.

But it seemed to me that it is easier to support ELF binaries. And OSDev has great articles about elf files, binutils, cross-compilers, etc..

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Re:Show HN: A simple Unix-like operating system that runs Doom by mysterydip on Saturday September 07, 2019 @11:59AM (#20904589)
can't believe I never checked OSDev before... what a trove of info! I'll spend a while digesting there, thanks!
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Re:Show HN: A simple Unix-like operating system that runs Doom by unixhero on Saturday September 07, 2019 @12:20PM (#20904730)
And deeper down the rabbithole: http://wikichip.org
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Re:Show HN: A simple Unix-like operating system that runs Doom by oso2k on Saturday September 07, 2019 @01:29PM (#20905219)
HX DOS Extender can run some 16-bit and 32-bit Windows apps in a MS-DOS or even FreeDOS environment.

https://github.com/Baron-von-Riedesel/HX

https://web.archive.org/web/20141003032346/http://www.japhet...

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Re:Show HN: A simple Unix-like operating system that runs Doom by taneq on Saturday September 07, 2019 @07:54PM (#20907515)
It's a pretty traditional "Hell, O World" program these days. ;)
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Re:Show HN: A simple Unix-like operating system that runs Doom by jackvalentine on Saturday September 07, 2019 @07:54PM (#20907514)
Doesn't really address any of your questions, but may serve as a starting point: https://hackernoon.com/win3mu-part-1-why-im-writing-a-16-bit...
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Re:Show HN: A simple Unix-like operating system that runs Doom by mysterydip on Sunday September 08, 2019 @07:48AM (#20909956)
That's an interesting approach and might work, thanks!
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Re:Show HN: A simple Unix-like operating system that runs Doom by jackvalentine on Sunday September 08, 2019 @07:55PM (#20914133)
I personally couldn't get it to run, which was quite a disappointment!
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Re:Show HN: A simple Unix-like operating system that runs Doom by jacobush on Saturday September 07, 2019 @10:48AM (#20904059)
AFAIK you can run 16 bit Windows programs in Wine.
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Re:Show HN: A simple Unix-like operating system that runs Doom by mysterydip on Saturday September 07, 2019 @11:20AM (#20904292)
Thanks, I'll check it out for some ideas!
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Re:Show HN: A simple Unix-like operating system that runs Doom by tsukurimashou on Saturday September 07, 2019 @11:17AM (#20904270)
Yes I was about to give that advice, Wine handles 16 bit games pretty well
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Re:Show HN: A simple Unix-like operating system that runs Doom by cbluth on Saturday September 07, 2019 @10:33AM (#20903971)
Doesn't dosbox do this?
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Re:Show HN: A simple Unix-like operating system that runs Doom by jacobush on Saturday September 07, 2019 @10:45AM (#20904044)
Nope
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Re:Show HN: A simple Unix-like operating system that runs Doom by pushpop on Saturday September 07, 2019 @01:32PM (#20905240)
DOSbox will run Windows 3.x.

I’ve seen people running classic Windows games (pre-directX stuff) on a Raspberry Pi using this trick.

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Re:Show HN: A simple Unix-like operating system that runs Doom by benj111 on Saturday September 07, 2019 @10:57AM (#20904111)
You can run Windows 3.x in Dosbox, Dosbox can't run Windows 3.x compatible binaries directly though.
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Re:Show HN: A simple Unix-like operating system that runs Doom by ryacko on Saturday September 07, 2019 @11:25AM (#20904337)
There is no copy protection for 16-bit Windows.

And 16-bit emulators exist.

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Re:Show HN: A simple Unix-like operating system that runs Doom by mysterydip on Saturday September 07, 2019 @11:47AM (#20904493)
I wasn't asking about an emulator or how to pirate Windows. I was asking if there are any 16 bit homebrew OSes (with Windows compatibility a plus). Emulation might be a starting point, though. Do you have a link to any?
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Re:Show HN: A simple Unix-like operating system that runs Doom by ryacko on Saturday September 07, 2019 @12:11PM (#20904678)
https://github.com/otya128/winevdm
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