cosmicnut on 25/5/2006 at 12:43

---

There was an attempt to make a linux native version but that got canned (like all really usefull SS conversion projects :tsktsk: )
I've tried XP / Vista / 98 / dosbox ........ all have had their flaws. Lucy me has the whole of MSDN to play with and every version of windows past/present/future and the best i've found THE FREE STUFF IN LINUX

Now, I'm not a linux guru and I can't tell you from scratch how to install a linux box. What I'll tell you is what I'm using to get a pretty quick version of SS1 running.

First of all, a confession. I'm not really running SS1 in linux. I'm using an emulated virtual PC running DOS 6.21 :cheeky:

First a quick word to the windows user about linux. It's free, it's fun and can be a pain in the a$$ to get working. Once you do it's very cool. First thing to note is that you need either a second empty Hard Drive, or some unpartitioned space on your windows drive. you can't use windows partitions to create a linux box.

1. Install your favorite linux distro. The one I am using at the moment is called gentoo ((www.gentoo.org)). I'm using this because I am lasy and installing software is as simple as typing "emerge <name of software>"

2. Get the usual setup out the way. You'll need a form of X Windows and a window manager (I'm using Gnome). graphics drivers (Open GL drivers preferable), Alsa / OSS sound (I've yet to get sound working in SS but I'll edit this when I do).

3. Install qemu / kqemu - you need to have kqemu working. virtual machines are quite slow but using kqemu you will get an emulated machine at about half the speed of you desktop machine. Even so, this is the fastest PC I've ever used DOS on :laff:

4. Create a hard drive image for qemu to use

5. Open qemu. Use the man pages to bind your CDROM/floppy drive to the virtual PC. It's also a good idea to use the "fat:/" option to create a second HD that can be used in linux and DOS. Great for copying over drivers, etc.
(here's my command line: qemu -soundhw sb16 -cdrom /dev/cdrom -fda /dev/fd0 -boot c -hdb fat:/<path to my shared DOS/Linux area> <path to the virtual hard drive I created> )

5. Find a copy of DOS. I dusted off my old 6.2 DOS disks for this. There are also untested version

freeDOS((http://www.freedos.com/))

The good old Win98 boot floppy ((http://www.bootdisk.com/)) - got to try this one myself. You can either make an image. Or do a "format C: /s" to make your hard drive a system disk and copy the floppy contents to the hard drive.

Then you need to install it. The -boot option tells qemu where to boot from. It should be "a" for the floppy drive

5. Get you CD-ROM working in DOS. You just need the oak driver added to config.sys and mscdex.exe added to autoexec.bat (check the net for the settings, there's tonnes of info on these)

Stick SS1 in the CDROM drive

Install

Enjoy


Let me know what you think.
To Do's:
Get sound working
be a bit more specific in the dos install section

Kolya on 22/6/2006 at 00:07

---

necro2607, it's usually frowned upon here to resurrect older posts, especially if you have nothing of value to add. That's not to say you're first one doing it or anything. Just thought you might like to know when the flames start.

Kolya on 22/6/2006 at 00:33

---

Fortunately you've come to save us from extinction. :thumb:

Briareos H on 22/6/2006 at 08:53

---

DVD iso ? :eww:
I guess it'd possible to re-use a minimal linux distrib for USB flash sticks and include SS1 to improve even further on Kolya's idea by making a bootable linux-based SS1 USB stick :D

necro2607 on 22/6/2006 at 09:57

---

haha, that would be awesome..! Mmm even better an SS2 version... ;)

Actually the SS1 bootable USB stick thing would be very cool. I wonder if you could potentially get it cross-platform if you had a decent enough x86 emulator. Now that would be pure sweetness...