RTC stands for real time computer and it typically runs MS-DOS 6.22.
GUI stands for Graphical User Interface and it typically runs 98SE.
SBC stands for single board computer.
Windows Me may not work because a driver for the shared memory card
has to be loaded at boot
where Windows Me seems to have done away with autoexec.bat and config.sys.
The ISA only passive backplane is a passive backplane that supports at
least 18 ISA cards.
The computers we have to use are industrial computers that plug into
the backplane.
Windows XP will not work, it is not a dos based kernel and Q-Soft
probably won't even run on it.
The RTC is almost full of ISA cards including a shared memory card, so
we can forget going to a different backplane that has PCI slots. What
we will do is wire a buck convertor to a PCI slot so we can run Pentium
class and later computers on the RTC. 486 SBCs are hard to come by
let alone working. We have one, but it
isn't working. To run a Pentium class SBC on a ISA only backplane you
have to provide the 3.3V line through
a PCI slot.
Many SBCs on the market today, realize they are upwards of 20 years
old, do not work with Windows 98SE. Windows XP came out and most
hardware manufacturers abandoned support for 98se. Considering that a
set of modern heads is $7000, and has different problems/bugs as well
as antiquated Windows 7... that is not a feasible route to go.
And an SBC is not your typical PC motherboard. These aren't designed
the same. They plug into a backplane. They cost a lot more
typically, especially if they are refurbished.
Seems there is no direct replacement for Windows 98SE, the last dos
based version of Windows. This is a shame because you cannot get
support for this system. The major problem for these machines is that
they depend on 98se and MSDOS 6.22 which Microsoft could care less
about these days. Freedos may work as an in place substitute for
MS-DOS, but what I'm hearing is that nothing will replace 98se on this
old hardware.
Doesn't help that running 98se on top of a virtualization layer is
highly difficult now, at least with VirtualBox. Oracle dropped
support for legacy Windows 98 applications.
Realize these are $15k-$30k machines refurbished.
_______________________________________________
PLUG mailing list
[email protected]
http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug
