Microsoft Windows NT 3.1 April 1991 build

[johnlemon647]

Jeff Parsons from PCjs.org had the Windows NT 3.1 April 1991 build. Disk images labeled "WOW Reversi MIPS Demo" that contain ZIP archives with the build's files were added to the PCjs miscellaneous diskette repository on GitHub. The build is only available as checked/debug, with COFF-format symbols.

Source:
https://github.com/jeffpar/pcjs-miscdis ... 2517adc657
Download Link:
https://mega.nz/file/4PojWLyK#jHC8TQDHl ... nBW4M33RcI

[anonymous74]

So it needs obscure hardware to run it? Any R3000 emulators out there? This is going to be very interesting to dissect. Earliest build of NT as we know it!

[Zv45Beta]

There are some efforts on getting R3000 Jazz working in MAME

[roytam1]

People are working on hacking around both machine emulator (replacing R4000 with R3000 in MAME) and ARC firmware:

[HowAbout8.1?]

indeed real build! i thoughts that September 1991 beta ePDK build of NT 3.1 was only available early build

[Main3782]

We're close! Shoutout to hyenasky on discord, they're doing all the work with this, compiled custom ARC firmware for a new architecture just for this build only 48 hours after we found out about it! NTOSKRNL launched, but doesn't start properly yet.

[Fxv62]

This IS what the os Looked like, so far.

https://www.betaarchive.com/imageupload ... .37939.png

[Fxv62]

that was the last thing i got before getting blocked.

[Fxv62]

or perhaps the only thing i got.

[Main3782]

This IS what the os Looked like, so far.

https://www.betaarchive.com/imageupload ... .37939.png

that is not the OS
that's just the firmware

[Main3782]

The kernel was initialized!
Device drivers are left
(of course i am not doing the job, it’s once again,
hyenasky)

[Main3782]

It drew the screen!

[ActivateYourTech]

Sorry if this is a stupid question, but is that OS/2 or the build?

[Zv45Beta]

OS/2 is running the MIPS debugger

[Tootles]

This is way cool, and sort of one of my holy grail things I've always hoped I'd see. And looking inside the images, it looks like there might be most of a system in there - I can see what looks like the standard utilities and an x86 kernel build.

Does this mean it'll be possible to boostrap an actual NT/OS system from these images? Or is there not enough there?

[Main3782]

NT was initialized, it’s now booted fully.
Video card is what’s missing here.

[anonymous74]

too early for a GUI I presume? Or is it trying to launch one without drivers?

This is some great work! Kudos.

[dixieLH]

"it booted fully" in yellowish-vomit like screen with nothing -_-

how is that a full boot ? O_o

[anonymous74]

They said right there. It's booted, but has no video driver.

[roytam1]

graphic issue is fixed.

[Tootles]

graphic issue is fixed.
snip

Whoa, bruh. Well done. That's really really cool.

I read the notes and it looks like the reversi thing is a ramdisk that's loaded in, right? I can see a couple of other things on the disk like Notepad, but no graphical shell - does that mean applications are loaded through the command line, like in your screenshot ("kernel appname.exe")?

The graphics still appear a little glitchy, is this because the driver's incomplete or a lack of image resources/fonts/&c? I mean I know it's super early so it won't surprise me if it's that.

But yeah I'll say again - super cool. You're making history here, man.

[anonymous74]

That's sweet.

I hope eventually we can download a pre-packaged emulator that's set up and ready to go with the build. Would be cool to mess around with it a bit.

[xelloss]

The graphics still appear a little glitchy, is this because the driver's incomplete or a lack of image resources/fonts/&c? I mean I know it's super early so it won't surprise me if it's that.

I remember an old report, maybe a blog post, mentioning that in the first development versions of NT the Reversi discs were realized as squares because the GDI (or the video driver? maybe both) were incapable of drawing circles. There you have it.

[OSDEV]

This is the link to the blog post: https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewth ... /?p=100545

[AlphaBeta]

"it booted fully" in yellowish-vomit like screen with nothing -_-

how is that a full boot ? O_o

Obviously it's not a full boot until a 3D cube with the progman manager and a Longhorn aurora in the background appear...