Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!fernwood!apple!usc!wuarchive!uwm.edu!rpi!dali.cs.montana.edu!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!caen!ox.com!mudos!mju From: mju@mudos.ann-arbor.mi.us (Marc Unangst) Newsgroups: comp.unix.msdos Subject: Re: Windows 3.0 bombs on startup under VP/ix 1.1 (ISC 2.2) Message-ID: Date: 22 Oct 90 08:10:54 GMT References: <108@raysnec.UUCP> Organization: The Programmers' Pit Stop, +1 313 665 2832 Lines: 29 shwake@raysnec.UUCP (Ray Shwake) writes: > It's been my understanding that earlier versions of Windows were > runnable under VP/ix. Though I'm running a little low on memory (4 MB) on > this platform, decided to fire it up from a mounted filesystem (/dos). > Upon startup, confronted the error: > > General protection fault, cannot emulate instruction Well, I haven't actually done any testing or anything, but I'd bet the problem goes something like this: Unix is an OS that runs in the 386's protected mode. Windows 3.0, usually, is an OS that runs in the 386's protected mode. When you start up a VP/ix session under Unix, you're creating a virtual 8086, not a virtual 80386. So, when Windows 3.0 tries to execute its 386 instructions, it fails the same way it would if you tried to run it on a regular XT clone -- with an "illegal instruction" error. (Except, on the XT, you'd get a nice system crash. On the 80386, you get a core dump.) The solution to this is to run Windows in "real mode". There should be a command-line switch for this, but I don't have Windows 3.0 so I can't check. Either that, or wait for the 80686, which will hopefully have a virtual 80386 mode. -- Marc Unangst | mju@mudos.ann-arbor.mi.us | "Bus error: passengers dumped" ...!umich!leebai!mudos!mju |