Highest version of Excel on 8088/8086? 2.1d or 3.0?

[1200XL M.U.L.E.]

Last night I installed Windows 3.0 and Excel 2.1d on my 5150. I thought I saw Excel 3.0 required a 286..

Can someone here confirm that 2.1d is indeed the highest version that can run on an 8088/8086? Or, is it possible to run 3.0?

One nice feature of 2.1d is being able to install it not from floppy disks but from a directory or specified location. This allowed me to extract the disk images to directories on my CF card and specify those directories as the source location when prompted for a disk. Would 3.0 installation follow the same? I only have a single 360kB full height floppy drive so I cannot install from 720kB, 1.2MB, or 1.44MB media.

Thanks!

 

[Timo W.]

3.0 needs a 286 and 3 MB of RAM. That's what the box says. It may work with a V20/V30, however.

 

[jafir]

I’ve got a copy of 3.0, but it’s in a sealed office 1.6 box that I haven’t decided to open yet. Here is a copy of the systems requirements from a box on eBay though.

 

[Eudimorphodon]

If Standard/Enhanced mode is non-negotiable then a V20 isn't going to do it, you need a real AT or better. (Or one of those rare accelerator boards like the Inboard/386 that supports protected mode on a PC/XT.)

I've played a little with Word for Windows on my Tandy 1000 HX (using Windows 2.1 instead of 3.0, but 3.0 in Real Mode is basically the same thing just a little prettier) and it's horrendously slow, so I'm going to venture that even Excel 2.1 is effectively a bridge too far for 5150, but I suppose that depends on how patient you are.

 

[krebizfan]

The reviews* of Excel 2.1 before Windows 3.0 was released indicate it was faster than Lotus 1-2-3 v 2.2 and much faster than most of the other DOS spreadsheets. The sheets will have to be fairly small with any spreadsheet program from 1990 unless a large amount of EMS is available. Excel was amazing. Word for Windows was a bit too much for the hardware of the time but then the WYSIWYG DOS word processors weren't exactly speed demons either.

* See InfoWorld Jan 22, 1990 for an example.

 

[Eudimorphodon]

The reviews* of Excel 2.1 before Windows 3.0 was released indicate it was faster than Lotus 1-2-3 v 2.2 and much faster than most of the other DOS spreadsheets. The sheets will have to be fairly small with any spreadsheet program from 1990 unless a large amount of EMS is available. Excel was amazing. Word for Windows was a bit too much for the hardware of the time but then the WYSIWYG DOS word processors weren't exactly speed demons either.

I guess I'll have to try installing it, since, well, I've been looking for things that can actually use the 1MB of EMS I built into my Tandy RAM card solely for laughs. Unfortunately I'm not really a spreadsheet fan.

 

[1200XL M.U.L.E.]

Thanks for the replies, everyone!

Since Excel 3.0 requires a 286 or better, it looks like Excel 2.1d may be the latest version for my 5150. Cool!

I understand performance is terribly slow, especially by today's standards, but I'm not trying to be "productive" here. My goal here is simply to have a little fun pushing my 5150 and seeing what it can do, however it can do it.

Oh, and I'm doing this on a monochrome CGA display too. 8-)

 

[davide78]

Exel 2.1 is surprinsingly usable on a 8Mhz 8086 under Windows 3.0 in vga mode, all things considered. I can't tell wether it is faster than text-mode spreadsheets, but it's definitely prettier.