Path: csiph.com!x330-a1.tempe.blueboxinc.net!usenet.pasdenom.info!weretis.net!feeder1.news.weretis.net!feeder.erje.net!news-1.dfn.de!news.dfn.de!fu-berlin.de!uni-berlin.de!individual.net!not-for-mail From: "Klaus Meinhard" Newsgroups: alt.msdos,comp.os.msdos.programmer,comp.os.msdos.misc Subject: Re: What role does "DOS" play in Windows 95/98? Date: Mon, 17 Oct 2011 16:47:00 +0200 Lines: 38 Message-ID: <9g2tfsFj91U1@mid.individual.net> References: <4E9B5A53.392C9558@Guy.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="Windows-1252"; reply-type=original Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Trace: individual.net lKsHmt/Pjm7utAz1/nsOHwhrL8kQ+zH6fIPzryCiW8brg2kRDj Cancel-Lock: sha1:W4/ImEWpUrbUg/L2rOGZd6UGqQs= In-Reply-To: X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Windows Mail 6.0.6002.18197 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.0.6002.18463 Xref: x330-a1.tempe.blueboxinc.net comp.os.msdos.programmer:286 comp.os.msdos.misc:141 Hallo Rod, > > Many people believe that Windows 95/98 runs "on top of" DOS. > No. Yes, somewhat :-) > AIUI, there is a 32-bit, protected-mode DOS executive layer, but > it's not running under Windows 9x. It runs on top of Win9x like > other applications, services, using Win9x's 32-bit functionality. > I don't know what this is called for Win9x. It's called NTVDM for > other Windows OSes. That means NT Virtual DOS Machine, and it runs only under 32bit NT type OSs. Win 95 (and 98) belong to the DOS type OSsand were hybrid 16/32bit systems., They had to start DOS, which was then used to start some important drivers and system processes. You could, with a little hack, still boot to 16bit DOS (and remain and work there), then start Windows (WIN.exe command), and shut down Windows and end up in DOS again like after every other program. MS tried quite some antics to hide this fact, but it was of course widely publicized in all computer magazines. It is debatable if you can call this "running on top of DOS". Windows, when finally started, switched off some of the underlying 16bit DOS system and became more and more 32bit, but even 98 couldn't run without the underlying DOS. -- Best regards, * Klaus Meinhard *