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7/10/2025, 6:06:49 AM
Been a while since I talked about it, but I've decided to redo my 86Box Windows pack. I realized the Socket 7 build I went with was too limiting for those who aren't like me and have a PC actually worth a damn, so I decided to start again from scratch, this time with a Super Socket 7 build. This foundation lets us use not only Pentium MMX processors, but high-end AMD ones as well, including the K6-III+ at upwards of 500 MHz. The good thing about it is you can clock it as low as 100 MHz, as I do here, if you CPU sucks shit.
For the rest of the hardware, I decided on the AWE64 Gold for sound and the Voodoo Banshee for video. Both of these work quite well on Windows and should have good DOS compatibility as well, and having only one video card simplifies the build overall. The Banshee can, of course, be upgraded to a Voodoo 3 if desired.
Speaking of Windows, I decided to replace Windows 95 OSR2 with 98Lite, installed through the Windows 9x QuickInstall project. This is Windows 98 SE, with all available updates, but debloated and using the old non-IE Explorer shell, which means it has almost all the benefits of Windows 98 SE but with a much smaller hard drive footprint, and it's just as fast if not actually a bit faster than Windows 95 OSR2. After a good bit of testing and comparison between the two, it just seemed like a total no-brainer.
Of course, now I need to get around to reinstalling all the games from the previous W95 pack, as well as setting up DOS mode yet again. Thankfully, many of the games are as easy to install as simply copying the folders over to the new hard drive image.
This new pack will still be incorporating both 86Box and PCem, the former for all the cool new features, and the latter for speed. Even my shitty PC seems to handle this machine rather well for the most part at 100 MHz, though, but YMMV.
For the rest of the hardware, I decided on the AWE64 Gold for sound and the Voodoo Banshee for video. Both of these work quite well on Windows and should have good DOS compatibility as well, and having only one video card simplifies the build overall. The Banshee can, of course, be upgraded to a Voodoo 3 if desired.
Speaking of Windows, I decided to replace Windows 95 OSR2 with 98Lite, installed through the Windows 9x QuickInstall project. This is Windows 98 SE, with all available updates, but debloated and using the old non-IE Explorer shell, which means it has almost all the benefits of Windows 98 SE but with a much smaller hard drive footprint, and it's just as fast if not actually a bit faster than Windows 95 OSR2. After a good bit of testing and comparison between the two, it just seemed like a total no-brainer.
Of course, now I need to get around to reinstalling all the games from the previous W95 pack, as well as setting up DOS mode yet again. Thankfully, many of the games are as easy to install as simply copying the folders over to the new hard drive image.
This new pack will still be incorporating both 86Box and PCem, the former for all the cool new features, and the latter for speed. Even my shitty PC seems to handle this machine rather well for the most part at 100 MHz, though, but YMMV.
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