24 Jul
2006
24 Jul
'06
9:05 p.m.
Dear Fractinters,
Here is my mini-tutorial on installing Virtual PC on Windows XP to run
Fractint. This really isn't very difficult to set up. The only hard part is
remembering how to install DOS after all these years. Once you have it set
up, running Fractint is easy. However, there is one big caveat: Fractint
will run much slower than on native DOS.
Nick
Using Microsoft Virtual PC 2004 to run Fractint
-----------------------------------------------------------
1. First of all, you will need a bootable floppy or CD with some version of DOS.
Or an ISO image of same. Virtual PC officially supports DOS 6.22 but most any
version of DOS should work.
2. Download Virtual PC from
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtualpc/default.mspx
3. Unzip the download and run setup.exe to install.
4. Setup a Virtual Machine.
When you first run VM, it will bring up the New Virtual Machine Wizard.
Answer the questions in the wizard as follows:
> select 'Create a virtual machine'
> specify the directory\name, e.g., DOS622.vmc
> select 'MS-DOS' as the operating system
> allocate 32Mb of RAM (this is the default)
> in Virtual Hard Disk Options, select 'A new virtual hard disk'
> specify the directory\name of the virtual hard disk, e.g., DOS Hard Disk.vhd
(this virtual disk seems to be 2Gb - note that it is not partitioned or
formatted - see Install DOS below)
You should now have an icon in Virtual PC Console saying 'DOS622-not running'
5. Install DOS on your virtual hard drive.
(This is how I installed DOS 6.22 from a bootable floppy,
see Notes below for other methods)
> put your DOS diskette in drive A:
> start Virtual PC Console, highlight your vm, then hit the Start button
> this will 'boot' your floppy to an A> prompt, inside the vm window of course
> at this point you will install DOS as if you were installing it on a new
PC with an empty hard drive; this is what I did:
> run FDISK to create a partition on the virtual hard disk
> FORMAT C: to format the virtual hard disk
> SYS C: to make the virtual hard disk 'bootable'
> copy files from A:\ to C:\DOS
Remove the floppy and select Action -> Ctrl-Alt-Del. This should 'boot' your
vm from your virtual C: drive to a C> prompt.
6. Install Virtual Machine Additions for MS-DOS.
This makes your DOS vm much more useful. For example, it allows the vm to
share folders on your real hard drive, integrates the mouse pointer, etc.
It says it supports MS-DOS 6.22 but I'm sure it will work with other versions.
> start your DOS vm if it isn't already running
> go back to your Windows desktop, run Windows Explorer, and find the file
'DOS Virtual Machine Additions.iso' which will be in a directory called
\Virtual Machine Additions under the dir you installed Virtual PC
> drag this file to the floppy disk icon on the status bar at the bottom of
the vm window - this will open an A> prompt
> enter DOSADD at the A> prompt to install the additions
> right click on the floppy disk icon and select 'Release...'
> select Action -> Reset to 'reboot' your vm
7. Configure VM Additions
After you install the additions, there will be more options under 'Settings'.
Some of the settings you can only get to when the vm is running and others
only when the vm is not running. To set up a shared folder:
> start up the vm
> be sure you have a line 'LASTDRIVE=Z' in config.sys although I think the
additions may automatically put it there
> select Edit -> Settings
> highlight the Shared Folders setting then click the Shared Folder... button
> for example, you could share C:\Fractals as F:
> if you are using an sstools.ini file for fractint, be sure to change any
references, e.g. from C:\Fractals\Fractint to F:\Fractint
8. Run fractint!
Open your vm and run fractint as you would under DOS, e.g:
C>F:
F>CD\Fractals\Fractint
F>Fractint
Of course you can put the above in your autoexec.bat.
NOTES
-----
> Getting help.
The chm help file that comes with Virtual PC is good. Also, the Virtual PC
web site has an active forum. One of those two should answer most questions,
but you can contact me if you have any questions.
> Performance.
Your DOS vm will be able run fractint and most all of its functions, including
color cycling. You will also be able to run many (but not all) DOS games that
otherwise wouldn't run on Windows. However, it will be quite a bit slower than
running from native DOS. The vm will also eat up a lot of CPU cycles on your
'real' PC.
> Installing operating systems from CD or ISO.
I haven't tried this, but I think to install from an ISO, just drag the ISO
file to the CD or Floppy icon at the bottom of the Virtual PC Console.
To create an ISO, WinImage (http://www.winimage.com) is a good program.
> Configuring DOS.
While I was setting this up, all those long-forgotten issues with setting up
DOS came back to me like a bad dream. I once again had to deal with upper
memory managers, extended/expanded memory, config.sys, autoexec.bat, etc.
Actually, Fractint doesn't need a lot of tweaking but if you want to squeeze
out every bit of memory for running DOS games, etc., here are some tips:
- Installing the VM Additions for DOS puts a bunch of stuff in Autoexec.bat and
Config.sys and doesn't load them into upper memory, so you will have to do this
- I don't think QEMM (the old 3rd party memory manager) works in Virtual PC, but
there is a free one called UMBPCI that works fine:
(http://www.uwe-sieber.de/umbpci_e.html)
- If anyone has trouble with this, I could send them my configuration
> Changing video modes.
Virtual PC emulates the S3 Trio 32/64 PCI video card. Therefore, Fractint thinks
it is using that card. I suppose you could run MAKEFCFG.EXE but that isn't
necessary. All the 256 color VESA Autodetect modes work (SF6, SF7, SF9, etc.)
If you are running Virtual PC in a window, it doesn't acually switch your real
video card into that mode. For example, if you are running your Windows desktop
at 1024x768 and run fractint at 640x480 in vm, you get a 640x480 window on your
1024x768 desktop. If you tell fractint to switch to 800x600, the vm will just
resize the window. If you change fractint to 1280x1024, which is bigger than
your desktop, it will create a scrolling window. You can switch Virtual PC into
full-screen mode where it does seem to switch your video mode, for example, to
1280x1024. I haven't yet found the right register settings for 1600x1200
however.