European Air War in 2019

[RIBob 39]

Well, as I said previously, you have always treated me with politeness and answered questions in a way that allowed me, as a mere user, to benefit from your answers.  In relation to computer upgrading, mentioned above, I might add that Microsoft has declared that the extended end of service from them  of Win 7 will occur on January 14, 2020.  It will be possible to buy further service from them on an escalating scale for an additional 3 years.  So, even Win 7 will be consigned into "legacy" system status.

It seems, at least to me, that working hard on augmentations to EAW and at the same time dismissing the inevitable extinctions of such OSs is a problem.  

Now, men of good will, and set upon the same goal, can differ amongst things.  I believe we are both such, and moreover, you are like a mentor to me.  I make this comment with a certain amount of caution, lest it be considered a personal criticism.  

I am simply pointing out that if EAW has any future, it must be easily installed onto Win 10 computers.  Simple as that. I think the days of people keeping legacy computers on-hand to play old sims are dying with the users, and dying with their computers. 

So, I submit this suggestion, with all possible good intent.  Your competitors, so to speak, might be ahead on this score, and I think the EAW world would be much brighter if your creations could be used by new users, using new computers.

Your friend, RIBob

Sorry about the font change; it just happened. 

[Sky High 166]

I read on the A2A forum for BoB II of a similar concern and one poster suggested that computers ought soon be, or perhaps are now, powerful enough to run virtual versions of older operating systems, for example a virtual Windows 7 on a putative Windows 12 machine. This kind of software might already exist, or be close to existing. Alternatively, it is easy and cheap to install dual-boot systems. Where there is a will there will be a way. 

[Jel 37]

I encountered problems with XP.
For EAW programming I run XP on a virtual machine on my Win10 drive. However, the graphics driver for the VM cannot handle EAW on the VM.

I use a caddy for my HDDs so I tried to install XP on an old HDD, It failed because there was no drivers available that are suitable for my graphics card.

Jel

 

 

[RIBob 39]

 

II currently have a Win 7 Pro machine, and two Win 10 Pro computers.  I have, because of the "Pro" nature of my OpSys, access to Windows Virtual Machine.  This feature allows setting-aside partitions within one's hard drive for other Operating Systems to reside.  Generally speaking, this takes a pretty large drive capacity..  OTOH, it allows setting-up of any "legacy" OpSys one might desire.  There are ways to achieve the same thing without owning "Pro" OpSys.  Google "Virtual machine", and there are many good programs that will allow such on non-"Pro" OpSys.

The point to this exercise is to have a modern computer, capable of doing whatever one wants, including modern, secure, internet connection, and also accessing a subset of that same computer wherein resides a subset of win 7, win 98, or whatever one wants.  Not all of us can afford to maintain "legacy" computers that are friendly to EAW.  There are "work-arounds" if one wishes to use them.

Now, as time goes on, we devotees of EAW just might find that the next version of Windows will not support EAW at all.  So, the employment of VM on our computers will become a necessity in the future, as opposed to a novelty at present.

I encourage all to investigate VM.  It is built-in to most Microsoft "PRO" level OpSys, but there are independent programs that will achieve the same goal if one lacks a "PRO" level OpSys.

The only downside to VM is that many people will need to greatly augment their HD capacity.  I don't think a 2 Tb HD would be excessive at all.

In order to make the VM machine work, you will need to obtain useable versions of legacy OpSys.  In some cases,, this can be done by "cloning" existing OpSys onto a segment of an existing HD.  If one lacks the desired OpSys, then it will need to be bought;  perhaps one's local computer guy can provide a copy at small cost.

Perhaps your semi-discarded HDs can, along with their legacy OpSys, provide the basis for a VM.  Just set up VM, transfer legacy disk contents into appropriate VM environment, and you are back in time.    

IMHO, the only way to keep EAW alive is to help people with modern computers to access the game.  Virtual machine is a big part of that.  YMMV.  

Edited March 26, 2019 by RIBob

[MarkEAW 62]

I know your into that VM stuff. I'm not. I did find my Virtual support thing when turned on in the bios slows my computer down.

Anyhow I have a WinXP machine, its an older intel, but i recently upgraded its components with some free parts I had and some I bought new.
I went with a 3.6ghz processor, but I had a 2.6 (I think) Pentium D (I guess its dual core). Not sure which one is really better.....

Anyhow the WinXP machine, if you use the EAW source code you need the XP and the compiler (customly configured) to be used.
Also its the only 16 / 32 bit computer I have remaining that works with some of the tools for EAW. (16 bit windows EAW tools).
DosBOX EMULATOR can be used with the other DOS tools on a Win10 system.

Am I derailing this thread? I hope not.
I just wish to think Win10 will continue (and improve possibly) EAW support. It started right sorta, but the support seems to taken a turn......

 

[RIBob 39]

17 hours ago, MarkEAW said:

I know your into that VM stuff. I'm not. I did find my Virtual support thing when turned on in the bios slows my computer down.

Anyhow I have a WinXP machine, its an older intel, but i recently upgraded its components with some free parts I had and some I bought new.
I went with a 3.6ghz processor, but I had a 2.6 (I think) Pentium D (I guess its dual core). Not sure which one is really better.....

Anyhow the WinXP machine, if you use the EAW source code you need the XP and the compiler (customly configured) to be used.
Also its the only 16 / 32 bit computer I have remaining that works with some of the tools for EAW. (16 bit windows EAW tools).
DosBOX EMULATOR can be used with the other DOS tools on a Win10 system.

Am I derailing this thread? I hope not.
I just wish to think Win10 will continue (and improve possibly) EAW support. It started right sorta, but the support seems to taken a turn......

 

That's no derailment, Mark, nor even close  Your comments seem to be entirely pertinent, and thanks for making them.

[MarkEAW 62]

I meant to say when I had VIRTUALIZATION Enabled in my Bios, it made my system choppy. I don't know why or if I even had it fully enabled or what.

In Win10 if you check your Performance and it says something HYPER-V enabled yes or no, that will tell you if its working, I think.

In the same tab it says something about Virtualization Supported, yes or no. That should tell you if the bios and hardware support VM use, perhaps??? I think.

Again I can't spend much time on this.

 

Above Jel says his vid card wont run EAW in VM WinXP on a Win10 system. 
I was thinking you could emulate or access your win10 video card by selecting an old video card type from some setup screen for the VM configuration. I guess not.....???