ja-rek
asked on
IBM T20 - can DOS and Win95 be installed and fully working?
Dear Experts,
I need a retro machine for DOS/Win95.
IBM T20 seems to be a good choice because it is easy to buy, no problem with spare parts etc.
1. Is T20 a good choice for Win 95?
- how can I obtain all drivers needed for Win 95?
2. Is T20 a good choice for DOS?
- what about sound card? is it SB-compatible?
- how can I obtain all other needed drivers?
- Will the printer/parallel port work fully under DOS? I have some old hardware for parallel port (not a printer) that I would like to attach.
Please share with me your experience.
thank you!
Jarek
P.S. Please do not recommend virtual machines instead.
I need a retro machine for DOS/Win95.
IBM T20 seems to be a good choice because it is easy to buy, no problem with spare parts etc.
1. Is T20 a good choice for Win 95?
- how can I obtain all drivers needed for Win 95?
2. Is T20 a good choice for DOS?
- what about sound card? is it SB-compatible?
- how can I obtain all other needed drivers?
- Will the printer/parallel port work fully under DOS? I have some old hardware for parallel port (not a printer) that I would like to attach.
Please share with me your experience.
thank you!
Jarek
P.S. Please do not recommend virtual machines instead.
It will not run Windows 95. I have Windows 95 running on my ThinkPad X230 and I do that with VMware Workstation and Windows 95 running as a virtual machine. That will work complete with networking.
I don't think Hyper-V will support Windows 95 so you really need to consider VMware.
I don't think Hyper-V will support Windows 95 so you really need to consider VMware.
ASKER
noxcho, John,
I am somewhat sceptical about your comments that Win95 will not run on T20 as I am finding right now different T20 drivers for Win 95.
See for example:
https://web.archive.org/web/20090406070244/http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-4JRMN9
I am somewhat sceptical about your comments that Win95 will not run on T20 as I am finding right now different T20 drivers for Win 95.
See for example:
https://web.archive.org/web/20090406070244/http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-4JRMN9
It is back a while now, but I tried Windows 95 for a client on older hardware and it did not work.
You say you can get some drivers. Have you tried installing Windows 95? All you can do is try.
You say you can get some drivers. Have you tried installing Windows 95? All you can do is try.
ASKER
I don't have this machine yet.
I want to buy a "retro" notebook to use with Dos and Win 95 and I thought of this particular model IBM Thinkpad T20.
>>It is back a while now, but I tried Windows 95 for a client on older hardware and it did not work.
John, your comment is too general to be useful unless the older machine is IBM Thinkpad T20 or a very similiar model.
Please do not recommend virtual machines.
Thank you.
I want to buy a "retro" notebook to use with Dos and Win 95 and I thought of this particular model IBM Thinkpad T20.
>>It is back a while now, but I tried Windows 95 for a client on older hardware and it did not work.
John, your comment is too general to be useful unless the older machine is IBM Thinkpad T20 or a very similiar model.
Please do not recommend virtual machines.
Thank you.
Windows 95 driver and BIOS stopped decades ago. You would need to look for Windows 95 machines on eBay or risk buying the T20.
Windows 95 had a very short lifespan , was superseded by Windows 98 which has much more general hardware support .
I have used all this stuff.
Windows 95 had a very short lifespan , was superseded by Windows 98 which has much more general hardware support .
I have used all this stuff.
Well, if IBM did originally design this machine for Windows 95 but then Windows 98 came out - then you have luck. I remember having problems installing Windows 95 onto an old IBM Laptop where Windows 98 was working perfectly. It was in 2002 and I don't remember anymore what exact model that was.
ASKER
It seems people get it running with Windows 95
http://www.ebay.com/itm/162048428759
How about DOS? I suppose sound card is the biggest concern here?
any thoughts?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/162048428759
How about DOS? I suppose sound card is the biggest concern here?
any thoughts?
I have had more luck with DOS than with Windows 95. No sound however.
For DOS, yes, soundcard, USB port and network could be a problem. All the rest should work. Windows 95 is the same MS-DOS but with advanced GUI imo.
Windows 95 needed BIOS support as well.
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IBM Thinkpad T22 were the first notebook bought by our company and they are still in our store room.
They were pretty expensive at US$2500 each and we bought two units in late 1999 or early 2000.
The HDD is small at 40GB but it was already the largest HDD we could have at that time.
Of course, they ran pretty slow and was bundled with Win 95, but they were solid and still working now.
They were pretty expensive at US$2500 each and we bought two units in late 1999 or early 2000.
The HDD is small at 40GB but it was already the largest HDD we could have at that time.
Of course, they ran pretty slow and was bundled with Win 95, but they were solid and still working now.
ASKER
Jackie Man,
thanks for feedback!
So Windows 95 will be working - great.
Regarding DOS - well, there is an official "Configuration utility for DOS"
https://support.lenovo.com/pl/pl/olddownloads/ds013835
but what does it do exactly?
Do you think it will setup sound card as well?
Do you think there will be issues with parallel port under DOS?
(I do not think so, as it is standard device.)
thanks for feedback!
So Windows 95 will be working - great.
Regarding DOS - well, there is an official "Configuration utility for DOS"
https://support.lenovo.com/pl/pl/olddownloads/ds013835
but what does it do exactly?
Do you think it will setup sound card as well?
Do you think there will be issues with parallel port under DOS?
(I do not think so, as it is standard device.)
You can try a USB to Parallel converter. I have done this and it works.
What does it do exactly?
Your link is just an update or patch for MS DOS prompt.
Do you think it will setup sound card as well?
Need to check next week. Do you mean sound in MS DOS?
Do you think there will be issues with parallel port under DOS?
(I do not think so, as it is standard device.)
We did not use DOS at all as our notebooks were bought just for MS Office 95.
Your link is just an update or patch for MS DOS prompt.
Do you think it will setup sound card as well?
Need to check next week. Do you mean sound in MS DOS?
Do you think there will be issues with parallel port under DOS?
(I do not think so, as it is standard device.)
We did not use DOS at all as our notebooks were bought just for MS Office 95.
IBM T20 did come with all kinds of ports. Serial and parallel ports were a MUST at that time.
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ASKER
I have found compatibility matrix from IBM.
It says (file t20hwsw.pdf) that T20 is compatible with Windows 95 but not with DOS.
I found on Wikipedia that the model preceeding T20 is 600.
The compatibility matrix of model 600 (600hwsw.pdf) says it works fine both with Windows 95 and DOS.
Do you have any experience with model 600?
I read they had problems with batteries.
Is 600 a good model or I should consider buying an even older Thinkpad model?
thanks so much for your feedback so far and I kindly ask for more :)
It says (file t20hwsw.pdf) that T20 is compatible with Windows 95 but not with DOS.
I found on Wikipedia that the model preceeding T20 is 600.
The compatibility matrix of model 600 (600hwsw.pdf) says it works fine both with Windows 95 and DOS.
Do you have any experience with model 600?
I read they had problems with batteries.
Is 600 a good model or I should consider buying an even older Thinkpad model?
thanks so much for your feedback so far and I kindly ask for more :)
Windows 95 is based on DOS, so I don't see why it shouldn't work. The only problem you could run into is that some driver may not be easy to find or available, but do you really need every port etc to run under DOS? Remember that DOS can only directly use 640KB RAM, and if you load all the drivers (even if you can load some into the area between 640KB and 1024KB using himem.sys) it will use up RAM and then many DOS programs won't run properly. So loading only those drivers you absolutely need is usually better than loading all of them.
ASKER
rindi, thanks for comment.
I do not need all drivers but I need a DOS sound card driver.
Found no solution on the web (contrarily, I found information on people failing to setup sound under DOS) so I decided not to go for T20, rather than I consider now Thinkpad 600.
Any thoghts about this model - Thinkpad 600?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_ThinkPad_600
I do not need all drivers but I need a DOS sound card driver.
Found no solution on the web (contrarily, I found information on people failing to setup sound under DOS) so I decided not to go for T20, rather than I consider now Thinkpad 600.
Any thoghts about this model - Thinkpad 600?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_ThinkPad_600
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Do not just rely on info from wiki.
I don't know those models. I also can't remember what sound chip was built into the T20, but I don't think it was anything special, and I'm almost sure you can get sound to work under DOS.
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ASKER
rindi,
T20 has Intel AC'97 Audio with a CS4297A codec and Crystal Semiconductor CS4624.
I am sure I can get sound to work under DOS with T20, but I want an available solution.
I do not want to hire a low-level DOS programmer to code the drivers for me :)
600E and 600X have the audio DOS drivers, while T20 seems not.
Or am I wrong? :)
T20 has Intel AC'97 Audio with a CS4297A codec and Crystal Semiconductor CS4624.
I am sure I can get sound to work under DOS with T20, but I want an available solution.
I do not want to hire a low-level DOS programmer to code the drivers for me :)
600E and 600X have the audio DOS drivers, while T20 seems not.
Or am I wrong? :)
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ASKER
Thank you for help!
The laptop came out first in 2000 and Windows 95 was already on the OS pension time already at that time.