NAICT, there isn't any, but I thought I'd ask here. I've been using OS/2 & eCS for over a decade in order to acceptably run my indispensable DOS apps Quattro Pro and Paradox in 132 column SVGA text mode.
The DOS apps themselves have to be configured to any of the video chips current at the time of their release in the early '90's, or newer chips compatible with older chips. Apparently at the time of QPro/Paradox release, VESA was in its infancy, or not yet conceived, as it seems the only way I could get 132 columns with most video chips was via their proprietary modes. To do so with post-release video chips I eventually figured out enough of how their video menu resource files are set up so as to get most Tseng, Trident and ATI chips to work via native 132 column modes[1]. For PCIe video, apparently ATI/AMD is the sole remaining option among non-legacy hardware. eCS runs DOS as well as ever, but for for modern GUI apps run the way I run them it's running out of gas. Specifically, the only web browsers are the Geckos Firefox & SeaMonkey, which are getting so piggy that they often run eCS out of "shared" RAM (RAM below 512GiB), bringing the desktop to its knees or worse. So I need to migrate off needing eCS for the purpose of running DOS. First I tried DOSemu under Linux. Its video capability WRT QPro/Paradox seems hopeless. In DOSbox under Linux QPro video is workable, but HD I/O is just as dreadful as when booting DOS directly, and thus unacceptable. After those failures, it seemed the only remaining options would come down to either running DOS in a VM other than an OS/2 or eCS VM, or running eCS in a VM and a DOS VM inside the eCS VM. My next step was the KISS branch: try to run DOS in a single VM layer. Because the OS/2 & eCS people that I know who run either in a VM prefer VirtualBox, that's what I tried first, and where I am now. This is what all the available 132 column modes in QPro look like: http://fm.no-ip.com/SS/qprodos-vbox01.png 1-Is there any way in DOS in a VBox VM to have apps think they're gaining access to a specifically supported-by-the-DOS-app video chip's proprietary 132 column text modes? 2-If 1 is false, can eCS in a VBox VM can be configured to behave as if it was using the actual hardware and matching eCS video driver, so that it could present that to DOS apps in one of its own VMs? [1] my long ago modified/updated video resource files (The latter has a minimal amount of self documentation.): Qpro: http://fm.no-ip.com/PC/video.rsc Paradox: http://fm.no-ip.com/PC/paradox.vid -- "The wise are known for their understanding, and pleasant words are persuasive." Proverbs 16:21 (New Living Translation) Team OS/2 ** Reg. Linux User #211409 ** a11y rocks! Felix Miata *** http://fm.no-ip.com/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Live Security Virtual Conference Exclusive live event will cover all the ways today's security and threat landscape has changed and how IT managers can respond. Discussions will include endpoint security, mobile security and the latest in malware threats. http://www.accelacomm.com/jaw/sfrnl04242012/114/50122263/ _______________________________________________ VBox-users-community mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/vbox-users-community _______________________________________________ Unsubscribe: mailto:[email protected]?subject=unsubscribe
