Windows 95 CGA mode
Windows 95 CGA mode
Most of you have probably seen pictures of Windows 95 running with an EGA video driver.
Windows 95 doesn't ship with an EGA driver, however it is able to use an EGA driver from Windows 3.1, similarly to how Windows 3.1 could use a CGA driver from Windows 3.0.
A good question is whether Win 95 can use the CGA driver from Win 3.0 (which was the last version to provide one). Running Windows on a 640x200 resolution MONO has always been painful, and one can expect Win95 to be close to impossible to operate. That is, assuming that you can manage to load the CGA driver: however, Win95 RTM stoichally resists all attempts of being used with a CGA driver, showing an error message and defaulting to VGA.
Today, I found myself wondering whether the same happened with beta versions of Chicago. The oldest beta I could install is build 189 (the previous ones complain about media corruption when I try to install them, I wonder why). The result has been surprising: that beta DOES run at this resolution, albeit with all sorts of glitches (including an unavailable Start menu, no DOS prompt, several dialog boxes reduced to a width of a few pixels).
Here's what it looks like:
Windows 95 doesn't ship with an EGA driver, however it is able to use an EGA driver from Windows 3.1, similarly to how Windows 3.1 could use a CGA driver from Windows 3.0.
A good question is whether Win 95 can use the CGA driver from Win 3.0 (which was the last version to provide one). Running Windows on a 640x200 resolution MONO has always been painful, and one can expect Win95 to be close to impossible to operate. That is, assuming that you can manage to load the CGA driver: however, Win95 RTM stoichally resists all attempts of being used with a CGA driver, showing an error message and defaulting to VGA.
Today, I found myself wondering whether the same happened with beta versions of Chicago. The oldest beta I could install is build 189 (the previous ones complain about media corruption when I try to install them, I wonder why). The result has been surprising: that beta DOES run at this resolution, albeit with all sorts of glitches (including an unavailable Start menu, no DOS prompt, several dialog boxes reduced to a width of a few pixels).
Here's what it looks like:
Re: Windows 95 CGA mode
Offtopic Comment
This is acutally pretty cool
Re: Windows 95 CGA mode
I keep looking at the screenshot and I'm struggling between "wow this is cool" and "OH MY GOD WHY???"
I upload stuff to archive.org from time to time. See here for everything that doesn't fit BA
Re: Windows 95 CGA mode
Finally, Windows 95 for my Deskpro 386/16 with amber CGA graphics
Might just have to try that out sometime..
Might just have to try that out sometime..
Preservation
How could you know where you want to go today if you don't even know where you've been?
How could you know where you want to go today if you don't even know where you've been?
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The Distractor
Re: Windows 95 CGA mode
You're using the wrong Beta Site ID/Password.xelloss wrote:The oldest beta I could install is build 189 (the previous ones complain about media corruption when I try to install them, I wonder why).
Re: Windows 95 CGA mode
Yeah, that's what the various threads on Chicago said.The Distractor wrote:You're using the wrong Beta Site ID/Password.xelloss wrote:The oldest beta I could install is build 189 (the previous ones complain about media corruption when I try to install them, I wonder why).
Maybe I'll dedicate more time to it in the future, but it's frustrating because it takes quite some time between when you enter the Beta ID/Password and when Setup complains about the installation media.
And every time you have to start from the beginning...
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The Distractor
Re: Windows 95 CGA mode
http://proxima.rol.im/chicakey.htmlxelloss wrote:Yeah, that's what the various threads on Chicago said.The Distractor wrote:You're using the wrong Beta Site ID/Password.xelloss wrote:The oldest beta I could install is build 189 (the previous ones complain about media corruption when I try to install them, I wonder why).
Maybe I'll dedicate more time to it in the future, but it's frustrating because it takes quite some time between when you enter the Beta ID/Password and when Setup complains about the installation media.
And every time you have to start from the beginning...
Re: Windows 95 CGA mode
*nevermind, I completely misread...*
Last edited by ovctvct on Mon Feb 29, 2016 4:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Windows 95 CGA mode
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_Graphics_Adapterovctvct wrote:If you mean 95 in monochrome, there is a registry edit possible, posted on toastytech, that allows running in 2 color(monochrome) mode.
Re: Windows 95 CGA mode
Yes, I know that CGA is color, but the OP screenshots are monochrome(or so they look).AlphaBeta wrote:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_Graphics_Adapterovctvct wrote:If you mean 95 in monochrome, there is a registry edit possible, posted on toastytech, that allows running in 2 color(monochrome) mode.
Re: Windows 95 CGA mode
That's not VGA mono, but CGA "high" resolution. CGA only provides colours at a resolution of 320x200, which was never adequate for running to run a GUI: not even in 1985, when Windows 1.0 was released.ovctvct wrote:Yes, I know that CGA is color, but the OP screenshots are monochrome(or so they look).AlphaBeta wrote:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_Graphics_Adapterovctvct wrote:If you mean 95 in monochrome, there is a registry edit possible, posted on toastytech, that allows running in 2 color(monochrome) mode.
Thus Windows CGA drivers used the monochrome CGA mode, which provides a resolution of 640x200 with a decidedly rectangular pixel aspect ratio.
That's why the graphics in the picture looks distorted.
Re: Windows 95 CGA mode
I beg to differ. Have you ever heard of GEOS or TOS?xelloss wrote:... a resolution of 320x200 [...] was never adequate for running to run[sic] a GUI: not even in 1985, when Windows 1.0 was released.
I upload stuff to archive.org from time to time. See here for everything that doesn't fit BA
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Lukas Marsik
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Re: Windows 95 CGA mode
OP shows 189 using CGA, RTM+ using Monochrome is way different. Reading is hard, I see.ovctvct wrote:Yes, I know that CGA is color, but the OP screenshots are monochrome(or so they look).
Re: Windows 95 CGA mode
Yeah, I made an unnecessarily strong statement, but it was a hyperbole. Doing real work at a 320x200 resolution is quite painful.Darkstar wrote:I beg to differ. Have you ever heard of GEOS or TOS?xelloss wrote:... a resolution of 320x200 [...] was never adequate for running to run[sic] a GUI: not even in 1985, when Windows 1.0 was released.
(Why do you think that "running a graphical user interface" is not proper English?)
Edit: nevermind, I now see what I really wrote...