Win98 Skeleton

[The_SandMan]

Hi

I am running GL in Win98 DOS mode. Everything is working 100%. When I go in through Step by Step Confirmation i.e. F8 mode, one of the first things that Win98 does is load the registry into memory. Knowing Windows and the size of the registry, this is a memory killer.

As I am running in DOS and not in Win32 mode, is there any way of disabling the loading of the registry upon startup ?

Cheers,

[Howard_Casto]

Don't take this as sarcasam, but yeah.... it's called installing dos and getting rid of win 98.  

As far as windows is concerned, windows IS the registry.  If you were to remove it absolutely nothing would work properly.  

[_Iz-]

FORCE PC TO BOOT-UP IN DOS MODE..! Edit MSDOS.SYS file located in the Root Dir. Note: File is read only and hidden..... Turn the attributes off and change the line boot GUI=1 to boot GUI=0 Remember to turn the attributes back on.

[The_SandMan]

Comment 1:
If I use native DOS then I can't go beyond 2Gb therefore Win98 Barebones.

Comment 2 :
I already have the PC booting directly into DOS with BOOTGUI=0.

There has to be a way to boot into Win98 DOS without loading the registry 'cos after all in Win98 DOS you are not using any of the Win features and the OS is using the AUTOEXEC and CONFIG files to drive the system.

Cheers,

[Howard_Casto]

I already answered, I know it's not the answer you wanted to hear but it's the truth.

It's very improbable to run a working version of windows, gui-ed or not without loading the registry.  The registry tells windows where all it's components are and how to use them, in essence it's the backbone of the operating system.  Without it windows doesn't even know where run32.dll is, which launches EVERY exe, including mame.  Also the registry helps windows understand hardware, so if by some miracle you would be able to safely remove the registry you would have the same 2 gig problem again.  

When you do a step by step confirmation and choose not to load the registry it's for debug purposes only... it really screws up how windows works not to load it, even if you are only running a dos prompt.      


Sorry

[SirPoonga]

HC is right.  windows DEPENDS on the registry.  it's the backbone of windows.  You take that away you have no windows.

BTW, win95/98 you will not be able to use, what was it, above 512meg of memory.  Just like in dos nothing above 128.  Those OS were intended for the computer around the time the OS came out.

[rampy]

I might be wrong here, but I think there is some confusion (no doi) ... but this is my understanding...

Question: if you do step-by-step mode does it load the gui at the end of it (i'm gonna experiment at home myself as I have simliar setup - but at work now)?

I'm surprised that the registry would be loading if your in DOS mode... versions of windows up to NT/2k/xp were really fancy graphical shells on top of DOS... If you do the bootgui=0 or whatever on msdos.sys system file it shouldn't load anything windows at all (except what's specified in config.sys/autoexec.bat

You should be able to get > 2gb if formatted/partitioned/FAT'd properly... (I think... unless there's a restriction on the primary/bootable partition... but I wouldn't think so... haven't experienced it...)  If you don't feel like fdisking I'm sure you can find non-destructive partitioning tools ( partition magic if you don't mind sepending $)

I wouldn't think you'd want to use more than 500 megs of ram in DOS anyways... it's not like you're running concurent applications besides MAYBE a TSR or two that's like 20k each.  You can also use alternate upper  memory managers i believe... upmci or something ... Unless you wanted to load all of your ROMS into a RAMDRIVE or something =P  MAME uses a memory extender thing anyways in DOS to utilize above 128 I believe (among other things)

*shrug*

The_Sandman   ... I think it can be done/straightened out...  I'm willing to help.. we may find out in the end that HC, et al was right... but there's a chance that it's not...  Worse case scenario - assuming you want to sill ocassionaly boot into windows  for somet things... Installing a bootloader and having a pure(r) DOS/DOS 7/FreeDos/enhancedDOSoDOOM partition separate from windows as your default...

[Chris]

BTW, win95/98 you will not be able to use, what was it, above 512meg of memory.  Just like in dos nothing above 128.  Those OS were intended for the computer around the time the OS came out.

DOS will do 256 MB with QEMM installed...

[Howard_Casto]

I might be wrong here, but I think there is some confusion (no doi) ... but this is my understanding...

Question: if you do step-by-step mode does it load the gui at the end of it (i'm gonna experiment at home myself as I have simliar setup - but at work now)?

I'm surprised that the registry would be loading if your in DOS mode... versions of windows up to NT/2k/xp were really fancy graphical shells on top of DOS... If you do the bootgui=0 or whatever on msdos.sys system file it shouldn't load anything windows at all (except what's specified in config.sys/autoexec.bat

You should be able to get > 2gb if formatted/partitioned/FAT'd properly... (I think... unless there's a restriction on the primary/bootable partition... but I wouldn't think so... haven't experienced it...)  If you don't feel like fdisking I'm sure you can find non-destructive partitioning tools ( partition magic if you don't mind sepending $)

I wouldn't think you'd want to use more than 500 megs of ram in DOS anyways... it's not like you're running concurent applications besides MAYBE a TSR or two that's like 20k each.  You can also use alternate upper  memory managers i believe... upmci or something ... Unless you wanted to load all of your ROMS into a RAMDRIVE or something =P  MAME uses a memory extender thing anyways in DOS to utilize above 128 I believe (among other things)

*shrug*

The_Sandman   ... I think it can be done/straightened out...  I'm willing to help.. we may find out in the end that HC, et al was right... but there's a chance that it's not...  Worse case scenario - assuming you want to sill ocassionaly boot into windows  for somet things... Installing a bootloader and having a pure(r) DOS/DOS 7/FreeDos/enhancedDOSoDOOM partition separate from windows as your default...

This is what I do for a living, trust me it can't be done.  I'm not trying to start an argument, just trying to save unnecessary work.  

When the bootgui is turned off the registry is loaded but not the entire registry.... only the non graphical component dependancies are loaded. There's more to it than that, but that's the simple explaination of it.  Long story short it loads only what's needed.  To load any less severely cripples windows or makes it completely inoperable.  

Btw... if you have the new computer with more than 512 megs of memory then you should be using windows anyway... On a modern pc dos and dos mode actually slow things more than the added resources of a windows footprint.   Any new pc should have xp on it as it handles new hardware.  98 won't cut it for machiens with a lot of ram/ big hard drives and obvously dos won't.  

[DZuroff]

One thing you can try is to boot from a Windows 98 startup disk and manually partition and format your hard drive with the /S (copy system files) parameter from the boot disk.  This will copy the windows 98 system files to your hard drive.  Since windows 98 is not installed there is no registry to load so when you boot up you will be in Windows 98 DOS without the 2gb HD limitation MS-DOS has, and the best part.. there is no registry to load.