Windows 3.0 System Requirments

[Floppies_only]

Gang,

I seem to remember that you can run Windows version 3.0 on the IBM PC/XT. 8088 CPU, 360k floppy disk drive and 10 Meg hard drive. Somebody on eBay is saying that you need a 286. Is he right or am I? I know that version 3.1 needs a 286.

Thanks,
Sean
--
Sean wants to trade what ever you want for a copy of Microsoft Works for Windows version 1. If you've got a copy drop him a line.

[modem7]

See answers at http://www.vintage-computer.com/vcforum/showthread.php?t=3445

[rachael24]

That link pretty much sums it up...Good stuff!

[vwestlife]

Windows 3.00A runs just fine in real mode on my CompuAdd 810, with an 8088-compatible NEC V20 chip running at 9.54 MHz, 640K RAM, and 640x480 16-color VGA graphics. It's actually quite useable -- a bit sluggish of course, but you can play Solitare, doodle a drawing in Paintbrush, and type a letter in Write just fine.

I'd like to get the Multimedia Extensions add-on to support my Sound Blaster-compatible sound card, but it probably requires at least a 286, if not a 386.

[Mike Chambers]

Windows 3.00A runs just fine in real mode on my CompuAdd 810, with an 8088-compatible NEC V20 chip running at 9.54 MHz, 640K RAM, and 640x480 16-color VGA graphics. It's actually quite useable -- a bit sluggish of course, but you can play Solitare, doodle a drawing in Paintbrush, and type a letter in Write just fine.

I'd like to get the Multimedia Extensions add-on to support my Sound Blaster-compatible sound card, but it probably requires at least a 286, if not a 386.

yeah i've run it on one of my XT clones at 4.77 mhz with 640 KB RAM. it was SO slow, and running notepad and clock at same time was cutting it really close to being out of memory.

btw i had a sound blaster pro 2 in that system and windows did work with it okay, but it was not much of a use. everything was extremely choppy. trying to play a WAV file even in DOS pushes a CPU like that to it's max.

[rmay635703]

Off topic but I also would like to find even a downloadable copy of MS Works for Windows 1.0 or 1a just to see how it compared to Word 1. for windows, I know MS Works came later but was still compatible with the old Windows 2.x varients.

I am also looking for a full version of First Name Almanac for DOS (not windows) too bad the author says he doesn't have it.

I am also looking for a working copy of Autocad release 1 I have a few disks from that but none are readable, nor do I have all the necessary disks.

Too bad autocad would require its old versions back if you upgraded, that killed most of the old copies of the software.

Gang,

I seem to remember that you can run Windows version 3.0 on the IBM PC/XT. 8088 CPU, 360k floppy disk drive and 10 Meg hard drive. Somebody on eBay is saying that you need a 286. Is he right or am I? I know that version 3.1 needs a 286.

Thanks,
Sean
--
Sean wants to trade what ever you want for a copy of Microsoft Works for Windows version 1. If you've got a copy drop him a line.

[vwestlife]

I am also looking for a working copy of Autocad release 1 I have a few disks from that but none are readable, nor do I have all the necessary disks.

Too bad autocad would require its old versions back if you upgraded, that killed most of the old copies of the software.
I don't know about version 1, but in the 386 era, AutoCAD (for DOS only back then) was unique in that it wouldn't run if you had HIMEM.SYS and EMM386.EXE loaded. It also had dual-monitor support: EGA/VGA/etc. for graphics, and MDA monochrome for commands, as opposed to flipping back and forth between graphics and text mode, or having a small text window at the bottom of the CAD screen.

There was also Generic CADD, which had quite a lot of functionality but was scaled-down enough to run fine on a 4.77 MHz 8088 with only dual 360K floppy drives. It was the first PC application I ever used a mouse for!

[Floppies_only]

Off topic but I also would like to find even a downloadable copy of MS Works for Windows 1.0 or 1a just to see how it compared to Word 1. for windows, I know MS Works came later but was still compatible with the old Windows 2.x varients.

My copy of Word for Windows version one says it requires "Windows 2.11, 3.0, or later.", a 286 CPU, and one meg of RAM. It has both sizes of floppies. I have used it with an EGA monitor but didn't like it because the text ran off of the right side of the screen. I couldn't figure out how to get it to not do that (if I recall correctly).

I have seen a copy of Works for Windows version one operating on an IBM PC clone with a ten meg hard drive and EGA monitor.

I'd also like to get Geoworks ensomble version one because it has windows into files and operates on a machine with an 8088 CPU.

Sean

[VintageComputerman]

I am also looking for a working copy of Autocad release 1 I have a few disks from that but none are readable, nor do I have all the necessary disks.


I'm pretty sure I have 1, 2 maybe even 3, as well as several others. My fatherinlaw gave me 10 which I used on a 286. He worked on the space station and shuttle arm and taught me a lot about autocad, which I use almost every week. I used to do a lot of designing.


I might even have a copy of word. I'll have to go down in the dungeon and look around for a while.

[Anonymous Freak]

Yeah, I ran Windows 3.0 on my HP 200LX, just for kicks, back in college. (I'd play Solitaire on it.) Worked just fine on the 7.9 MHz 80186 (Essentially a slightly faster lower power 8088,) 640K RAM, B&W CGA display, and lack of mouse.

[vwestlife]

Yeah, I ran Windows 3.0 on my HP 200LX, just for kicks, back in college. (I'd play Solitaire on it.) Worked just fine on the 7.9 MHz 80186 (Essentially a slightly faster lower power 8088,) 640K RAM, B&W CGA display, and lack of mouse.
That's the same CPU as used in the Tandy 2000 (8 MHz 80186). Microsoft used the T2000 as a featured system for Windows 1.x because it had the best graphics available in a "semi-PC-clone" at the time (640x400 in 8 colors). I have a Tandy 2000 HD with the built-in 10 MB hard drive and the optional tower stand (perhaps the first "tower" PC ever sold?), but it only has the built-in monochrome text video, no graphics or color.