Windows 95a or OS1 was 16-bit. WIN 95B or OS-2 was 32-bit and was the pre-cursor to WIN 98. WIN 98SE was the best OS yet, next to XP SP-3. Anyway, yes there are still machines and disks out there. But unless someone can tweak them on a regular basis, he should go with a used XP system. This will allow old programs to play. I wish there were someway to get Sony or Dell or HP to donate some Refurbs to this home.
David Thompson
--- On Tue, 9/15/09, David Gillett <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
From: David Gillett <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: [PCSOFT] Query: 16bit - 32bit
To: [log in to unmask]
Date: Tuesday, September 15, 2009, 6:15 PM
On 12 Sep 2009 at 19:03, Lewis C. Emerson wrote:
> .... I have copied, to a floppy disk, several games from
> the computers at the local Senior Center here (with their permission),
> and have sent them to her via an e-mail attachment. In testing them
> on an older computer here, with Windows-95, I often see this error
> message: One of the files needed to run A:xxxxxx.EXE cannot load in
> the 16 bit Windows Sub System because it is a WIN32.DLL My sister
> lives in another state and I do not know what computer she has, nor
> which operating system she's using, and I doubt that she's savvy
> enough to tell me. Also, I'm along in years too and don't understand
> things I probably should know. I suspect that the problem is
> associated with the old machine and/or the old operating system,
> but..... Is there a work-around for this problem other than a newer
> machine and/or a modern OS?
If I recall correctly, Win95 was the first of the Win32 OSes
into the hands of consumers; odds are that the games you are
trying are newer than that and perhaps need a newer OS.
DLLs are typically supporting modules required by an
application. In this case, it appears that Win95 has loaded the
application's main module as a 16-bit executable and then
discovered that at least one of the supporting modules it needs
is 32-bit. It's possible that Win95 didn't include a way for a
16-bit program to use a 32-bit module (more recent OSes may have
rectified that). It's also possible that the game is really in
some newer 32-bit format that Win95 doesn't recognize and so it
is by default trying to load it as a 16-bit program....
I can't remember any reason that a Windows 95 system cold not
run Windows 98, so if you can locate a copy of that OS it may be
possible to correct the issue with the machine that you are
testing on. And in the (unlikely, I think) case that your
sister also runs Windows 95, the same is likely to help her.
[I think Win95 was the first Windows OS to include a
"compatibiity mode" list for old applications, but I don't think
that can help you with applications that are *newer* than the OS
knows about.]
David Gillett
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