Thinkpads Forum

I am interested in playing with some very old DOS and Windows software and need to get my hands on a working DOS 5 or DOS 6 and Windows 1.0, 286, 386, 3.0 or 3.1.

Doesn't really matter which version, so long as its cheap.

Andrew, you're regressing.........not progressing.....sounds like fun, though. I'll check my archives for some old FLOPPIES.

Ron

Not regressing, I just want to play DOOM II, Red Baron (the original) and to do some creative writing in a non-distracting though full-featured word processor (Word for Windows 1.0).

I've got an immaculate ThinkPad 600E that should make the perfect platform for this as it isn't worth enough money to bother selling. All I need next is to find a serial-port joystick!

Might I suggest freedos?

EDIT: I forgot to include this in my first attempt. I had several copies of DOS and Win3.1/3.11, but when I tried them last year, NONE of them worked. I think that the life of the floppy is being put to the test. I tried on several different machines, and none of them worked. These disks were stored safely, and in some cases, different locations.

tfflivemb2 wrote:Might I suggest freedos?

EDIT: I forgot to include this in my first attempt. I had several copies of DOS and Win3.1/3.11, but when I tried them last year, NONE of them worked. I think that the life of the floppy is being put to the test. I tried on several different machines, and none of them worked. These disks were stored safely, and in some cases, different locations.

Yup, all of my old disks seem pretty much dead too. The disappointment was huge when I tried to play some of my old Amiga 500 games and they all failed to load.

asiafish wrote:Not regressing, I just want to play DOOM II, Red Baron (the original) and to do some creative writing in a non-distracting though full-featured word processor (Word for Windows 1.0).

I have a TP600 running dos and win 3.11 just for my fiction writing. The thing flies. I use Word 5.5 for Dos and absolutely love it.

Now if I could only find a copy of Collaborator 3 (fiction writing software) I'd be in 7th Heaven.

Kat

Thats what I'm after, though I don't want to go to a DOS word processor. You wouldn't happen to have Acronis or Ghost and be willing to send a Win 3.11 image would you?

Afraid not - I've never even attempted 'ghosting' before. If I can find (again) the Win3.11 disks - I could possibly burn a copy of them for you (using this machine) but that might take awhile. (I'm waiting for Lenovo to send me a new burner).

Kat

Would the boot disk alone be sufficient? You can download them on bootdisk.com.

I do have a set of setup disks for DOS 3.3, 5.0 and 6.2, and Windows 3.1 and 3.11 and all of them still work, but they aren't with me at the moment. They're in my mom's home in TX.

I still have a 75MHz Pentium Classic (i.e. not even MMX!) Packard Bell desktop just for playing Doom and Doom2.

Hmmm sounds like fun alright... going back to DOS or Win 3.11. I might as well try it just to be able to play DOOM again or Lemmings...

I miss the arcade days (oops.. shows my age here huh). But it sure is fun to go back in time and be able to enjoy those games again. Oh why not... I 'd better start looking for one too.

asiafish wrote:<snip>... need to get my hands on a working DOS 5 ...<snip>

I think I have a DOS 5 set of floppies at work. Came in a package from Firenze (?) for some of our old AST 286 machines (wow, there's some memories...). I'll PM you tomorrow after I dig them out and if nobody else can come up with a set.

Still don't have a working DOS and Windows, so anyone who does find one, I'd love it. CD or ISO is fine too, as the 600E is so equipped.

Let me see what I can find. Do you have an ftp site?

you'll maybe want PCTools for DOS too, no..?? yes..??

i MIGHT have those diskettes someplace IF i did not toss them and a lot of other ancient software in this move..

shucks, i had a box of 5 1/4 inch floppies..

I don't own anything capable of reading 5 1/4" floppies, and what is PCTools?.

Glad to see minds think alike. I'm currently running DOS 6.22 and Win 3.11 on my 2nd hard drive. I did it for the exact reasons listed above (Mostly for Doom and Doom 2 though) I may still have the floppies around for both, but as with most 1990's software, I didn't exactly own the original. If anyone is interested in attempting the same, let me know.

NorrisCell wrote:Glad to see minds think alike.

It is nice to see that other people are still using DOS. Most people look at me like I'm absolutely nuts when I say I have a DOS machine.

Kyaresk wrote:It is nice to see that other people are still using DOS. Most people look at me like I'm absolutely nuts when I say I have a DOS machine.

I draw a few funny looks from people too. I first learned on DOS, so it's second nature to me. I love all the old games for DOS and I wanted to be able to play them again. Doom, ROTT, Civilization, Descent, I love them all

PM sent.

I might have an old version of Windows on a 720K 3 1/2" floppy - it was either 2.0 or 3.0, I cannot remember which, I just know it preceeded 3.1. Let me know if you would like it, and I will look around for it. I probably have some old DOS as well in the same format - 5 or 6. I might have DOS 1.1 but it would be on 5 1/4 floppy and is OLD!

Mike

Thanks to everyone who PM'd me with locations for downloads. I now have DOS 6.22 and both Windows 1.0 and 3.1.

Can't wait to get this installed either in a VM on my T60p or on a partition on the new (to me) T40 I'm waiting on or as default OS on my 600E.