VPC (whether on a Mac or a PC) is software that emulates a hardware PC, right down to specific brands of chipsets and boards, which is why you can pretty much install and use any PC operating system and have it work. For instance, the sound card is a SoundBlaster, the video card is a Sonnet S3 Trio, and so forth.
I’ve got MSDOS 3.3, Windows 3.1, Windows95, NT Server 4.0, Win 2000 Server, FreeBSD 4.4, Darwin Intel, and for awhile had Red Hat Linux. With the exception of MSDOS, Windows 3.1, and Darwin Intel, I’ve got them all online, and lately I’ve returned to the project of getting Win3.1 online as well.
The ethernet board being emulated is a DEC 21041. (Some versions of Windows, e.g., Win2K Server, identify it as an “Intel 21041”, dunno why). Windows 3.1 does not, of course, intrinsically recognize the hardware — drivers have to be downloaded and installed. (I had to do that for the Sonnet S3 Trio, too, & prior to doing so was stuck in 640 x 480). I’ve pulled several .zip files from http://www.driverguide.com that purported to be Win3.11 drivers for that exact board. All zip files expand to produce the exact same files, so they must be from the same original source. But under VPC-6, Windows 3.1’s network driver installer dialog sees them as being for a different DEC board — a 21140 or a 21143 (??). Whichever one I pick, it says a restart is necessary, then during the DOS phase before launching Windows itself, when it tries to execute “net start”, it errors out and says I need to be running NetBIOS or IPX before I can use “net start”. (NOTE: I don’t have a TCP/IP stack installed on this thing yet. That was going to come after getting the board recognized).
Anyway, when I go on to load Windows, it throws errors about Windows for Workgroups having a problem:
(Or, if I’ve tried the other board-option, Dec$21143).
I’m hoping to find someone who’s been through the process and can help me troubleshoot this. (In a more user-friendly manner than the “workgroup add-on user’s guide”, that is :)). I do have the installer diskettes (as diskimages) and I can install to an entirely new virtual machine to help troubleshoot, although I’m reluctant to try installing over what I’ve got because I’ve got Norton Desktop and a slew of applications working now, and if memory serves me right, Win3.1 doesn’t leave you much from your previous installation when you reinstall.
This is all hobbyist stuff, I don’t have a genuine pressing need to have Windows 3.1, online or otherwise, and recommendations that I buy an ancient PC off eBay instead of VPC would not really be of assistance here, I want it under VPC just as an idle toy to play with.
