386 PC emulator for Windows?

prowla

I'm looking for an emulator of an old 386 PC that will run under Windows.

I'm already using VMware Player to run Windows/Linux/UNIX environments, but I have an old OS that needs a 386 system and I'd like to run it up just for the sake of it.

Is there such a thing available?

Notmyrealname

Your computer is a 386 or variant of. It contains the command set of the Intel 80386 CPU. Therefore your computer, if it is a PC, is already capable of running "386 system" software whatever the hell that means.

So what are you actually wanting to use, now we've cleared that up. DOS? If so, try DOSBox or VMWare.

esuhl

As above, current PC microprocessors are backwards-compatible with the 386 instruction set.

What OS are you trying to virtualise? Virtualbox or VMWare will probably run it unless it's really obscure.

prowla

It is an old version of SCO UNIX, and it won't run properly on a modern system.

There are discussions of a newer version than I have encountering issues (eg. http://communities.vmware.com/thread/95323) and it won't support the VMware network interfaces (and certainly not VMware Tools). It comes from the pre-PCI days and is supplied on floppy disks (it pre-dates CD-ROM drives!).

Despite the suggestions, it is not quite as straightforward as saying "everybody knows that a core2duo is a superset of a 386", as evidenced by "http://news-posts.aplawrence.com/2643.html", though somebody has managed to get it to boot (http://vetusware.com/download/SCO%20Unix%203.2%203.2/?id=5758), but not into a fully working state.

esuhl

Have you checked the SCO website? It says this about using VMware:

SCO provides tailored Support Services for the following Operating Systems on selected VMware platforms: SCO OpenServer 6.0.0 UnixWare 7.1.4 SCO OpenServer 5.0.7 SCO does not support any releases of OpenServer or UnixWare prior to the releases mentioned above on VMware. For details on Support Services for SCO Operating Systems running on VMware please contact your local SCO Sales representative or: In the Americas, phone 1 (800) 726-6561 In the rest of the world, phone +44 8700 994 992 For technical assistance with the installation and configuration of SCO Operating Systems on VMware please contact your locals SCO Sales representative or: In the Americas, phone 1 (800) 726-6561 In the rest of the world, phone +44 8700 994 992 for details of Support Agreements tailored specifically for running SCO Opearting Systems on VMware.

http://wdb1.sco.com/kb/showta?taid=127042&qid=2498763&sid=1783988793&pgnum=1

Dunno if that helps at all...?

prowla

Thanks for that info.
It's an old version that I have (3.x), and is out of support with SCO.

paddyrg

As an engineer, I have to ask if it is time to upgrade? ;-)

If it is a personal quest/for its own sake/bit of fun - wrestle away and have a ball!

If it is a business thing, the cost of resurecting and supporting an obsolete system (even virtualised) will probably outweigh the benefit. Yes, a full re-write may be costly, but so will maintaining an OS that nobody has patched, loved or worked around for 20 yes be. And when you leave the company, you will leave such a nest of dependancies someone will have to start from scratch anyway (if you're typical in that documentation may be scant, then each topology change doesn't update it, so as good as useless when it comes to review!)

If you are doing this in a business setting and the business owners won't see sense, try going to a dump/school IT dept/an old person's house and seeing if you can buy their clunker for £20. Who knows, you may even even get one with a maths co-processor, a full 1MB of RAM and 40MB hard drive. Networking you may have to go to a computer fair and buy a pile of 50p scrap network cards and see what you can make work!

paddyrg

Edit - just wondering how it would run as a virtualised app on an old mobile phone? A scrap/obsolete smartphone is a lot more powerful than the state of the art back then!

prowla

paddyrg wrote: »

As an engineer, I have to ask if it is time to upgrade? ;-)

If it is a personal quest/for its own sake/bit of fun - wrestle away and have a ball!

If it is a business thing, the cost of resurecting and supporting an obsolete system (even virtualised) will probably outweigh the benefit. Yes, a full re-write may be costly, but so will maintaining an OS that nobody has patched, loved or worked around for 20 yes be. And when you leave the company, you will leave such a nest of dependancies someone will have to start from scratch anyway (if you're typical in that documentation may be scant, then each topology change doesn't update it, so as good as useless when it comes to review!)

If you are doing this in a business setting and the business owners won't see sense, try going to a dump/school IT dept/an old person's house and seeing if you can buy their clunker for £20. Who knows, you may even even get one with a maths co-processor, a full 1MB of RAM and 40MB hard drive. Networking you may have to go to a computer fair and buy a pile of 50p scrap network cards and see what you can make work!

It's the personal quest angle (I work in IT and support datacentre UNIX & Linux servers).

I've got this old set of disks that I can either chuck out or have a fiddle with. I thought I'd run it up just for the sake of having something to bang my head against (I have a newer Open Server up and running on a Toughbook).

I used to have it running on a Toshiba portable with an orange plasma screen (if you remember them) and a WD ISA LAN card, but it departed some time ago. I've also had it on a slightly newer (but still really old) Toshiba, but that didn't have a network interface and I think I gave it away.

Almost everything else I have can be virtualized, so I'd just like to see if this can too...

esuhl

Hmmm... seems pretty old and obscure now... Good luck with that! :-P

Have you seen SCO's FTP site? I saw a reference to it in the second post of the forum page below. SCO Unix became OpenServer, and it looks like you can download 60-day trial ISOs of OpenServer 5 which apparently works in VMware:

http://compgroups.net/comp.unix.sco.misc/sco-unix-3.2v4.2/1265292

ftp://ftp.sco.com/pub/openserver5/507/iso/OpenServer-5.0.7-July2005/

prowla

Yup - I have Open Server, but it's the olde vintage one (3.2.4.2) I'm looking at here.

TBH, Linux has pretty much obsoleted SCO (along with their ridiculous attempt to claim ownership of UNIX), so it's just an academic interest.