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[russianfool20825]

Hello, I'm new to the forum, and was just wondering: it's not possible to run Dwarf Fortress under MS-DOS, is it? Seeing as how it works flawlessly on WinXP, I assume the whole game was written with the system in mind, which means running it under DOS would not work (different ways to deal with memory, etc.).

Am I right? Or is there in fact some other way to make it work that I missed?

As a follow up question, will it run under Win98?

[SolarShado]

This is an interesting question...

I don't think it'd run under DOS, but it should run under Win98... AFAIK it's a win32 program, so it should run on anything win95 and up. At least as far as software/OS requirements, the hardware of a machine running an OS that old...

I'm guessing you're asking about DOS because it has much less overhead than windows?

[Moleculor]

Wait... does this mean that Dwarf Fortress has problems running on a 64bit OS?

[calrogman]

Dwarf Fortress runs fine on x86_64 if the libraries it calls are compiled for x86.

[SolarShado]

Wait... does this mean that Dwarf Fortress has problems running on a 64bit OS?

No, because 64-bit OSes have a compatibility layer for 32-bit apps. I know Windows does and I'm sure Linux does, but I've never used a 64-bit build myself.

Is there MacOS-x64? I'd assume there is, but I don't keep up with Mac news...

EDIT: calrogman is a ninja

[russianfool20825]

Well, no, the reason I'm asking is because I have a laptop where the only data input available  is... a floppy drive. Which means it's impractical to get anything but DOS (and tiny distros of linux on there, but since I haven't ever worked with Linux, I wouldn't know what to do). I thought it'd be cool to have Dwarf Fortress on there... hmm... now, how to get Win98/95 installed using only floppies.

[Jake]

Well, no, the reason I'm asking is because I have a laptop where the only data input available  is... a floppy drive. Which means it's impractical to get anything but DOS (and tiny distros of linux on there, but since I haven't ever worked with Linux, I wouldn't know what to do). I thought it'd be cool to have Dwarf Fortress on there... hmm... now, how to get Win98/95 installed using only floppies.

Just how old is this machine, and what are the specifications? It sounds to me like you'd be better off putting it up on eBay in the vintage computing section; if it's in good condition it'll fetch enough to buy a netbook that can run DF tolerably.

[Leperous]

You could try pluging the harddrive into another computer and put an OS on it - early versions of Windows miiiight even be happy about the hardware change when you put it back into the laptop.

Not sure if I'm talking about a full installation or just the installer, someone else can probably help you with that.

[dudeinthedark]

Well, no, the reason I'm asking is because I have a laptop where the only data input available  is... a floppy drive. Which means it's impractical to get anything but DOS (and tiny distros of linux on there, but since I haven't ever worked with Linux, I wouldn't know what to do). I thought it'd be cool to have Dwarf Fortress on there... hmm... now, how to get Win98/95 installed using only floppies.

Windows 95 install takes 13 floppies have fun with that!

[russianfool20825]

Only 13? It took me 3 for MSDOS, 3 for Norton Commander, and 7 for Dwarf Fortress to try it out to make sure... that's not a problem

And the machine is a laptop, Compaq Armada 7362DMT. Surprisingly, the battery holds a charge for an hour or so (running a more graphical OS, like WinME [ugh] which was on here originally, which is amazing considering how old this thing is). I installed Dos to make it at least more functional, since the installation of ME was very old, and everything was... slow. Anyway, if that's all it takes, I shall try it.

And hooking it up to another computer would mean I have to go and try to find a harddrive adapter: laptops have a smaller cable plug, it's not the normal IDE cable as far as I know.

Anyway, thanks for all the help everyone

[Tilla]

Wow that is a bit on the ancient side. Good luck at getting a framerate above single digits if it ever runs at all. Seriously, just because it looks like ASCII doesn't mean your old lappy can play it. Don't be expecting much :O

[Jake]

You mean one of these? Look, I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but DF is not going to run on that machine. It doesn't meet the minimum specs for RAM, let alone processor speed.

[Tahin]

Wait, will it actually run dwarf fortress? I had an old win 98 laptop that ran the 2d version at ~1 fps, and it sounds like that thing was considerably newer than what you've got.

[SolarShado]

O. M. G.

I just had a nostalgia attack.

That laptop has specs about the same as my first computer... Win95, Pentium MMX, 32MB RAM...

Wow...

[SIGVARDR]

Many "smart" phones have better speeds that that does.
Man,go to Walmart if you have one where you are.brand new computers for around 300or less.
Of course,if you live in Russia as your forum name depicts,I don't have an answer for you.maybe someone familiar with Russia can give advice?