First, I want everyone to know that PCE will run under both 32-bit and 64-bit Win
OSs! Here's a shot of it running under Windows 10:
Second, there is nothing to install... simply:
1) Download one of the ZIP files from here: http://www.hampa.ch/pce/download.html.
For example, to test IBM PC DOS 1.00 as shown above, you would download:
pce-20170208-df19414-pc-pcdos-1.00.zip.
2) Extract all the files USING THEIR FOLDER NAMES into any new folder, such as PCE right on your Desktop, then:
3) Run/execute the batch file run-cga.bat in that folder. (Note: If you download the PC DOS 3.30
files, we recommend running the run-vga.bat program.)
NOTE: The log file screen will show a reset pc
and then a number of keyboard reset lines, there will be a beep (if the PC's audio is on) and then
you'll finally see DOS 1.00 asking you to enter a date! To recap: It will take about 30 seconds for the PC Emulator to execute all the code in the BIOS,
load and then run DOS before finally getting to a DOS prompt; well, in 1.00 and 1.10, it first asks you to enter the date! Once it does, here are some
things you could try (also, Hampa has many screen shots on his site):
Enter: basica samples.bas, and
after it starts running the BASIC console, you'll soon see:
Press the SPACE BAR and now you see why
I had you start the BASICA program: A number of the files require it!
Here's the COLORBAR running:
NOTE: It may take a few keypresses for the ESC key or others to take effect! If you have
your audio turned on, try the MUSIC files and think about how little you could do back then compared to being able to compose commercial scores for movies
on some home PCs today!
When you're finished, you must ENTER the word system in order to get back to
the DOS prompt!
For something a bit more serious, if you appreciated our Forensic Exam of the IBM PC DOS 1.00 diskette, ENTER: debug at the DOS prompt, and when the 'dash' appears, ENTER: l 100 0 B2 1 [Note: That first character is an 'L' for LOAD; not a '1',
followed by '100' and '0' then 'B2' (the Sector number in HEX) and '1'] and then dump from 100 to 1FF and you'll see the curious note left in the
Slack Space of Sector 178 (B2 hex) of "DEC-20 Downlink to Boca Raton [300-bps] 9-Apr-81"
You can
E-mail me here. (It opens in a new window.)
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