Archive Magazine CD 1995/Archive Magazine CD 1995.iso/discs/prog_disc/volume_8/issue_12/windows95/Clarkson/Win95Text

Text File | 1995-07-26 | 6.6 KB | 100 lines

Installing Windows 95 on a Risc PC
Officially, Windows 95 doesn’t work on the Risc PC since it has currently only reached a final beta
version this is not surprising, and Aleph One are working on implementing it shortly after its
commercial release.
However, after some tweaking I just about got my version working – only in 16 colours, and single-
tasking only (not in a window), but working nonetheless.
You will need:
The “final beta” version of Windows 95 (though the following may work with earlier versions, and
possibly the release version; not having tried them I can make no guarantee).
6Mb of RAM (minimum total)
100Mb (!) of free hard disc space. You may get away with 80, and maybe even 65 if you already
have DOS installed on a DOS partition.
2 DOS format floppies (both 1.44Mb format)
About 3 hours, I think - maybe less if you have more RAM, or a faster PC card.
For reference:
I installed Win95 from floppy, though a CD beta is available and would be considerably easier and
quicker to install.
My system is an ACB15 expanded to be 6+2 Mb RAM, with a standard Acorn PC card.
Be warned: installing Win95 replaces earlier versions of Windows, and it is not easy (or even
possible?) to return to 3.1/3.11 without re-installing them from scratch. By far the easiest way to get
back to your previous state is to delete the partition and start again! But beware - back it up now!
Win95 integrates your previous Windows setup, so data and applications should remain intact and
be absorbed into the new user interface. However, this is a beta version, and is (only just) running in
an alien environment. If you have valuable data, back it up and consider if you want to go through
with this! Needless to say no one (neither I, NCS, Acorn, Aleph One, Microsoft etc.) can be held
responsible for any losses which do occur.
If at all possible, I suggest creating a new partition and working from this - you then put nothing at
risk.
To install:
1. You will need 100Mb free on a DOS partition. If you don’t already have a partition, use
!PCConfig to create one. If you already have DOS installed, you will only need about 80Mb,
depending on the options you choose for Win95 and the options you have chosen for DOS.
2. You need to use !PCConfig to alter the configuration settings. However, you need to use some of
the “advanced” settings described on page 3 of the 486 card release note. I hope what follows
should be clear enough without referring to the release note, but if you need help try it.
a) While holding down shift, double click on !PCConfig. This opens a directory.
b) Use the filer to copy ConfData to eg. OConfData (short for OldConfData, so you have a backup
should anything go wrong).
c) Double click on ConfData to load it into !Edit
d) Scroll down to item “UseWindowFE” and delete the # in the line title “#Allow desktop
operation”
e) Scroll down a little further to item “VGAAttached” and again delete the # in the line title
“#Enable VGA mode support”
f) Click the close window icon, and save the altered file.
g) Close the directory viewer
h) Close the !PCConfig window if it is already loaded
i) Double click on !PCConfig to load it with the new settings
j) You will see there are two new settings which you have just enabled. Choose the following:
Start up to full-screen
Do not allow desktop operation (no tick in the box)
Enable VGA mode support (tick in the box)
Printing from Win95 is possible if you use RISC OS printer stream LPT1 but only if you have a
suitable Acorn printer driver loaded. Turbodrivers don’t appear to work, and it is best not to select
background printing.
Leave direct parallel port support unticked
The screen mode for Windows is ignored by Win95, as is the memory to use for video.
I think a minimum of 4096k (4Mb) is needed for PC memory size. The more the better.
Click OK at the bottom of the screen.
That sounds much more complicated than it is.
3. (I assume you can skip this step if installing from CD-ROM).
Apart from the first disc, Win95 is supplied on 1.7Mb floppies, which DOS/Windows is unable to
read on the Risc PC (presumably it doesn’t have sufficiently direct contact with the floppy drive to
be able to alter it for this). You will therefore need to take the following steps:
(a) Use the RISC OS filer to copy both files from Win95 disc 2 onto the hard disc partition. Take 2
DOS 1.44Mb floppies and label them 1 and 2. Copy PRECOPY2/CAB onto disc 1, and WIN95_02/
CAB onto disc 2.
(b) Use the RISC OS filer to copy Win95 discs 3 to 12 onto the DOS partition (into the root
directory).
(The RISC OS filer can read 1.7Mb DOS floppies even though DOS cannot!).
4. Install DOS if you have not already done so.
I suggest running in single-tasking DOS mode from here on (ie. not in a window), both for speed
and ease of use.
5. Insert the first Win95 floppy and type
A:
setup
6. Win95 begins to install, albeit painfully slowly (due to a relatively slow processor, and slow disc
access to the floppy. And this is Windows). Follow the various prompts as they appear.
7. When prompted for Windows disc 2, insert disc one which you created in step 3. (If it complains
this is the wrong disc, give it the other one of the two!).
8. When it next asks for a disc, give it disc two created in step 3.
9. When asked for Windows disc 3, remove the disc from the floppy and leave the drive empty.
After trying to access the floppy, a dialogue box will appear asking you to enter a file path. In the
lower box, replace A: with C: (or possibly C:\, sorry, can’t remember). You should now be able to
leave the machine to install from the files you copied onto the partition - it will take in the region of
an hour or more.
Windows 95 should then start up. However, colours will be odd (it only runs in 16).
There a plenty of configuration options in Win95 (as might be expected) - too many to detail here. I
have been unable to find a video driver which supports more than 16 colours (not even ARM
DRV.DRV supplied with the PC card package), but SVGA is possible - use the standard SVGA
driver. For maximum performance, you may want to tweak some settings - more virtual memory for
example.
N.B. If Win95 fails to load the first time, don’t despair. Quit the PC card software, then reset the
whole machine. When you start up !PC486 you will get a couple of error messages, both warnings
about video RAM - not enough memory for the setting chosen (however much you have given it in
!PCConfig), and using the default mode. Click OK to both of these and Win95 should boot, though
it may throw up its own error messages - click whatever box it gives you (mostly OK or Cancel) and
it should get there. Eventually.