A question about disk images

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Myperson54
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A question about disk images

#1 Post by Myperson54 »

This has been annoying me for a while now, so I figure I'll ask here. The people who browse this end of the forum generally seem to know their way around computers from the inside out.

So here's the problem:
I want to run windows 95 on my android, and I know how do it, but the actual image I've downloaded is a .ISO, which I can't use. I can only use .IMG files, and I don't know how to change my ISO file into an IMG file, or even if there is an easy way to do so. Google has failed me this time, unfortunately.
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RobbieThe1st
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Re: A question about disk images

#2 Post by RobbieThe1st »

http://vogons.zetafleet.com/viewtopic.php?t=24936
should help out. Basically, you won't be running Windows 95 on Android, you are running Windows 95 in a DOSBOX VM, emulating something like a 486 on the ARM processor in your android box.
Basically, this means things will be pretty slow - Intel chips are designed entirely differently than ARM ones, so DOSBOX has to convert each low level instruction in the program/OS you are running into low-level instructions on your actual processor. This eats into performance quite a bit. Expect that it will work, but will seriously eat your battery life, and the effective speed of the VM you are running Win95 in will be a small fraction of the clock speed of your tablet/phone's processor.

edit:
That being said, there's actually a couple of other emulators(aside fron dosbox) out there, with instructions and images(not all of which are compatible with each other). The priciples behind them are similar(and actually, most are based on QEMU, BOCHS or DOSBOX)


That being said, why run Windows 95? What's your goal?

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Re: A question about disk images

#3 Post by Myperson54 »

RobbieThe1st wrote:http://vogons.zetafleet.com/viewtopic.php?t=24936
should help out. Basically, you won't be running Windows 95 on Android, you are running Windows 95 in a DOSBOX VM, emulating something like a 486 on the ARM processor in your android box.
Basically, this means things will be pretty slow - Intel chips are designed entirely differently than ARM ones, so DOSBOX has to convert each low level instruction in the program/OS you are running into low-level instructions on your actual processor. This eats into performance quite a bit. Expect that it will work, but will seriously eat your battery life, and the effective speed of the VM you are running Win95 in will be a small fraction of the clock speed of your tablet/phone's processor.

edit:
That being said, there's actually a couple of other emulators(aside fron dosbox) out there, with instructions and images(not all of which are compatible with each other). The priciples behind them are similar(and actually, most are based on QEMU, BOCHS or DOSBOX)


That being said, why run Windows 95? What's your goal?
Yeah, I've tried so many methods so far. I actually have aDOSbox installed currently, which I tried to use to install Win95, and then I learned that I couldn't do so without going through such a complex process. I saw the post on Vogons as well, but it's all over my head. I only know a bit about the actual base framework of computers.

The other thing I tried (which I needed the IMG file for) was using BOCHS to run Win95, but my problem with that was already mentioned above.

I think I can use an ISO with the dosbox version, if I can get it running. I guess the answer for now is perseverance, then.

As for why: Because I can. I was impressed when I learned my phone could run N64 games relatively well, and I want to push my phone further. I think the most advanced thing I can run is Starcraft: Brood War, but only with Winulator. It's advanced, but Winulator isn't even really an emulator. I want to see how far I can push my phone in its processing power. (I also really want to try age of empires on a tiny screen.)
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RobbieThe1st
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Re: A question about disk images

#4 Post by RobbieThe1st »

You want to stress your tablet? You can run Oldschool Runescape on it(at a couple fps), but it's a serious challenge(install a Linux chroot, Java, and then get the native client launcher running).

That being said, one other thing to look at is see if you can't get a Ubuntu install/dual-boot your tablet. If you can, you've got access to a whole lot of stressful applications and games -- you can even run OpenOffice or Gimp!

Gaming wise, Winulator is the future, it looks like. It's basically Wine for Android, with Qemu built in to translate machine code and make things work. You'll not be able to get anywhere near the performance if you have to emulate more than what Winulator is doing.

As far as win95 goes, check youtube. I've seen some links to pre-made images there; that's what you want.
Also, see, the ISO is a CD image - effectively the windows installer, with the compressed files. the .img file is a harddisk image of the /installed/ OS. This is the issue you've been having.

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Re: A question about disk images

#5 Post by Myperson54 »

That would explain a lot about why it won't boot. :P Thanks. I'll also take a look at Ubuntu.
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