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Windows 3.0 VGA color driver for 8088/XT

M

Montecarlo4tony

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Joined
Nov 6, 2009
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I've patched the Windows 3.0 VGA color driver to work on the 8088/86. The file in the ZIP is named VGATEST.DRV and is just a drop-in replacement for the standard VGA.DRV. If anyone tests this or runs into issues let me know and I'll see what I can do.


Tony
 

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  • VGATEST.zip
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Yea, V30 was required for my model 25 to use the VGA driver when I had a VGA card installed (and hooked up to it's internal CRT).

Oddly it says MCGA requires a 286 also, but that is definitely NOT true. Works fine with a regular 8086.
 
Wow, that sounds great to me.
I'll install Windows 3.0 on PCE Emulator (IBM 5150 BIOS with Standard IBM VGA Mode) later.
 
Montecarlo4tony said:
I've patched the Windows 3.0 VGA color driver to work on the 8088/86. The file in the ZIP is named VGATEST.DRV and is just a drop-in replacement for the standard VGA.DRV. If anyone tests this or runs into issues let me know and I'll see what I can do.


Tony
Click to expand...


I just found a bug in another BitBLT stack compiler. It'll take some time for me to fix it, so refrain from using this in the meantime.
 
The bug's been fixed; you may use this updated driver.

The MS driver doesn't push an error message though, it just loads the splash screen and hangs.
 

Attachments

  • VGAon8088_11.zip
    72 KB · Views: 82
I know this is a bit of a gravedigging post, but I've just tried this driver on actual hardware (an Amstrad PC 5086, 8086 CPU, 640kB ram, VGA card and Windows 3.0) and it actually worked. I'm impressed, and thanks!
 
Reviving this thread again, but... Montecarlo4tony, how much frustration was it to actually patch this driver? Which 186 instructions were used? I'd guess POPA PUSHA, ENTER, and LEAVE, but... it's a bit curious to me.

According to the 286 dev manual, a 286 is a 186 with the protected mode features and different instruction timings... so presumably, the driver was actually developed for 286 machines. I wonder why Microsoft bothered, considering their quest for backwards compatibility.
 
I wanted to add my thanks.

I've been trying to install Windows 3.0 on an IBM 5150 but kept being left with a black screen. I overwrote the driver on the Windows 3.0 setup disk with this one (VGATEST.ZIP) which allowed it to install and work.
 
Hum... strange. I used to run Windows 3.0 on my Commodore PC10-III, which has an 8088.
I had a Paradise PVGA1A card in there. Now I don't know if I ever used the standard Windows VGA driver, or only the Paradise SVGA driver, but it did work.
 
Scali said:
Hum... strange. I used to run Windows 3.0 on my Commodore PC10-III, which has an 8088.
I had a Paradise PVGA1A card in there. Now I don't know if I ever used the standard Windows VGA driver, or only the Paradise SVGA driver, but it did work.
Click to expand...

My 5150 with 640K only runs CGA and Hercules. To run EGA 640x350x16 I need the EMS RAM (I am using lo-tech) otherwise it just hangs on the loading screen.
 
Just another THANK YOU! This is awesomely impressive to see the colors and support for VGA on that old PC XT 5160. Will even try it out on my 5150.
 
Me i tested it on my Olivetti M240, Windows 3.0 logo starts as VGA but after i have weird MODE 40 dos prompt. Windows doesnt start. If i issue mode 80 i have back black screen dos prompt.
I have Paradise PVGA1A card.

I ordered a NEC V30 but using this patch i thought i could have no problem with standard 8086 cpu.
 
I had the Windows 3 VGA mono driver working on a bog standard XT with no issues always wondered why vga required a 286
 
Ok guys i tried the first version of this patched VGA and with my 8086 Olivetti M240 it works! Sometimes it crashes but considering its retroengineering work, my compliments for this job!!
I wonder why the second file VGAon8088_11.zip doesnt work. Is it only for 8088 cpu?
 
Ok guys sorry, my big mistake. I used mTCP ftp client in wrong way. I moved this file through ftp using ASCII, instead i had to set ftp client to BINARY mode. I tried the VGAon8088.zip driver transferred in binary mode and it works perfectly.
 
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