Xbox Series X Can Run Windows 98, Along With Classic PC Games of The Era (purexbox.com) 23
Alex Battaglia from the YouTube channel "Digital Foundry" was able to use the "RetroArch" software emulator to run Windows 98 on the Xbox Series X, along with several PC games of the era. "Technically, you're supposed to be an Xbox developer to access this, and you will need to sign up to the paid Microsoft Partner program and turn on 'Developer Mode' for your system to activate it," notes Pure Xbox. "In DF's case, rather than directly playing emulated games through RetroArch, they used the program to install Windows 98 software." From the report: Beyond the novelty of actually booting up Win98 on a modern console the channel then decided to test out some games, running through the older version of Windows. Playthroughs of Turok, Command & Conquer, Quake 2 and more were all pretty successful, although the act of loading them onto the software requires a bit of messing about (you have to create ISO files and transfer them over -- sadly, Xbox's disc drive can't read the original discs). Of course, this wouldn't be a Digital Foundry video without some performance comparisons, so the team did just that. The video compares hardware of the era with Xbox Series X's emulation, and while the console often lags behind due to the fact that it's literally emulating an entire version of Windows, and then a game on top of that, it fares pretty well overall. You can watch Digital Foundry's video here.
wow.... (Score:2, Informative)
Any computer that can install dosbox, can install 98....
and has been able to for YEARS..
but no... lets make it out like the xbox is the only computer capable of that.,
Re:wow.... (Score:5, Informative)
Except you're skipping over the fact that you can't arbitrarily run DOSbox on an Xbox.
The key to this is the fact that Microsoft still has a developer program open that lets you run unsigned code on the Xbox - pay Microsoft $20 and you can unlock your Xbox. This is then used to load in .NET version of RetroArch which can then emulate a PC.
But this isn't really a new trick - when the Xbox Series S was new, there were plenty of videos showing people using this to run older games on the Xbox Series S. In fact, for a while, this was the ideal way to run PlayStation and PlayStation 2 games as well, making it a rather ultimate backwards compatibility machine running games that Sony's Playstation 5 couldn't run (at the time).
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You can run most DOS stuff on a vanilla XBOX I think, via the web browser. If you check archive.org they have a lot of DOS games you can play instantly in the browser, using an emulator built from Javascript.
That said, most mid 90s to early 2000s PC games are complete crap anyway. It was the early days of 3D and developers struggling to transition from 2D.
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> lets make it out like the xbox is the only computer capable of that
Said, nowhere.
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a vision of the future (Score:4, Insightful)
You have to have a paid developer account to use this functionality. Sound familiar? You have to have one to sideload software on your iOS device, too.
Apple and Microsoft are two peas alike.
Incorrect for iOS (Score:1)
You have to have a paid developer account to use this functionality. Sound familiar?
You can use a free developer account to deploy software to iOS via Xcode. That's been true for years.
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It was fun to fuck around with it for a minute, but then it just got annoying. Even with the helper software to auto-refresh them for you.
I'm quite sure it exists only because some exec felt like it would function suitably as a demo.
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It exists only because Apple thought they might get in trouble for making it cost money to develop for their device when it's free to make and test an Android app, with freely downloadable software that runs on multiple platforms. As it is, you already have to buy a Macintosh, but obviously they weren't going to change that.
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WP was like Android- turn on sideload in phone settings, accept disclaimer that this will allow software that wasn't signed by a known developer, and transfer the app package.
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Yeah, that was always Microsoft's selling point, Windows Phone and Windows Mobile before it was supposedly good for developers. The problem is that was bullshit, Microsoft changed APIs for making phone apps like four or five times. So you could load an app from anywhere, but there were no apps to speak of because Microsoft kept punching windows phone devs in the nuts.
I had a Windows Mobile phone around version 6.5. It was a HTC Raphael 110. It taught me to avoid Windows phones in the future. It was the righ
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Nah, just provide no support for that feature when used with unapproved software. It's not like Microsoft is known for their support anyway
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It's an important distinction to make that Microsoft advertises their product as a gaming console, while Apple claims to sell general-purpose computing devices but don't call them that [youtube.com]. Not that I'm giving Microsoft a free pass, though. They've tried several times to pull similar shit with Windows (Surface RT, and currently Windows in S mode [hrwiki.org]) but public backlash has thus far kept it from catching on.
MS supporting Win98? Yet not Win7? (Score:2)
This is so "rich".
MS is supporting Win98 on their new X-Box . Are they going to support
Win7 again as well?
Why would MS go out of its way to kill off Win7, but then go out of its way to support Win98?
I don't know if anyone else sees the irony in this move....why would MS put so much effort into obviating Win7 but at the same time put in effort to support WinXP?
No one else is a bit suspicious as to why Win7 is dissed, but XP is repromoted?
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More info (Score:2)
You can run any* app on an Xbox by getting a paid developer account (was it $20 or $30?). It is lifetime, but they will disable it if not used for a while.
But... Specifically for RetroArch, it is possible to download it in "retail mode" (i.e.: regular console).
Instructions here: https://gbatemp.net/threads/re... [gbatemp.net]
Caveat: It does not always work. Every now and then gets broken, and needs an update. But so far Microsoft is cool with it.
And you get to play PlayStation's God of War, or NES's Super Mario in 4K ups
They're getting there (Score:2)
Finally the XBox has functionality Linux had for a few decades.
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Finally the XBox has functionality Linux had for a few decades.
I'm running VPinMAME in Wine, Civilisation in dosbox, Diablo II on WinXP in VMWare and Age of Empires II on Windows 7 in VirtualBox.
All at once on 3 screens on a PC running Linux.
Shove your con-soul wherever it fits.
Big freaking yawn. (Score:1)
Wake me when... (Score:2)
And it will crash? (Score:2)
So, Blue Screen of Death every two days?