installing windows 1.0 beta in 86box
A chaotic but functional tutorial on installing Windows 1.0 Beta in the 86Box PC emulator. The creator walks through configuring the emulator, setting up MS-DOS 3.30, and installing Windows 1.0 Beta, then briefly explores the included applications. The video is informal and self-deprecating, with frequent mistakes and corrections made on the fly.
Summary
The video begins with the creator, Warp Gaming, accidentally opening the wrong instance of 86Box before correcting themselves and starting a new machine configuration. They set up a Generic XT clone with 640KB of RAM, an EGA display, a serial mouse, a PC/XT storage controller, and a 5.25-inch 360K floppy drive — deliberately skipping sound, network, and most port options.
The installation process starts with MS-DOS 3.30. The creator uses FDISK to create a primary DOS partition, formats the C drive with the /S flag to transfer system files, and then boots from the hard disk. Before running the Windows setup, they note an important tip: manually create the Windows directory in advance, as the setup often fails without it.
During the Windows 1.0 Beta setup, the creator navigates multiple disk swaps — setup disc, applications disc, and utilities disc — and selects EGA as the graphics adapter. After the installation completes, they skip printer configuration and launch Windows. They note the mouse sensitivity is too high but ignore it.
Once inside Windows, the creator explores several built-in applications: Boxes.exe (described as 'an application with multiple boxes'), Paint (called clunky but beloved), a font demo showing fixed pitch, variable pitch, and terminal fonts at various sizes, and Reversi — which they express strong frustration with, losing badly but refusing to give up. They also note making a thumbnail using Paint within the session.
The video ends with the creator wrapping up by saving their thumbnail and signing off in their characteristically self-deprecating style, calling it a 'dumbass video.'
Key Insights
- The creator warns that the Windows 1.0 Beta setup often fails if the Windows directory does not exist in advance, recommending users manually create it before running setup.
- The creator notes that an EGA display adapter must be manually selected during the Windows 1.0 Beta setup, and that the oBIOS does not natively recognize EGA, causing a non-fatal error on boot.
- The creator observes that Windows 1.0 Beta requires multiple disk swaps during installation — including the setup disc, applications disc, and utilities disc — and that the setup unexpectedly re-requests the setup disc mid-process.
- The creator states they lost Reversi by 20 points, which they describe as more progress than achieved with the DR5 version and significantly more than with the alpha version of Windows.
- The creator forgot to navigate to the Windows directory (CD Windows) and type 'win' to launch Windows after installation, calling the mistake 'extremely stupid.'
Topics
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