Are Windows 95 MS-Dos and Windows 98 MS-Dos compatible?

[eSDee]

This post might seem like it belongs on a message board 5 years ago. I am going to be ugrading an PC from Windows 95 to Windows 98 soon, and I am wondering if the MS-Dos in Windows 95 is compatible with Windows 98 MS-dos. I cannot upgrade the machine altogether for a handful of reasons(EISA card needed for one) so I need to use the parts I have. The upgrade will not be a clean install, which means the directories will remain intact for the programs. I am hoping that I will be able to still run the MS-Dos programs after I upgrade the machine to Windows 98 if the MS-Dos versions are the same, or at the very least, compatible. Anybody know if they are either off- hand?

Thanks in advance.

[Jeffbx]

It'll be fine. Both are based on the same DOS, and the upgrade is usually pretty smooth. I hope you have a newer hard drive, though... otherwise Windows 98 will eat up too much of that 340MB drive!

[mojo]

afaik the ms-dos in win98 is just the command interpreter and not really dos. that is, it would run dos commands, but the dos os is not present. so i think it's just the command.com thing. not too sure about win95. i guess win 3.1 was dos based, but i 95 may not have relied on dos too much, and 98 doesn't at all.

[sbp]

"sbp might seem he belongs on a message board 5 years ago." *waves cane at whippersnappers*

[Joshua]

Actually, that's incorrect. Win 95 through Win ME are ALL DOS based. None of them are true 32 bit OS's. They are actually 32 bit shells that sit on top of a DOS base.

If you removed all of the DOS components from these OS's, they would cease to function.

Windows NT was the first truly 32 bit OS from Microsoft. IBM's O/S2 was the first widely accepted 32 bit OS.

Originally posted by mojo
afaik the ms-dos in win98 is just the command interpreter and not really dos. that is, it would run dos commands, but the dos os is not present. so i think it's just the command.com thing. not too sure about win95. i guess win 3.1 was dos based, but i 95 may not have relied on dos too much, and 98 doesn't at all.

[eSDee]

Thanks everyone for your help. The dinosaur that I am trying to resurrect is an old vision-tracking machine that runs on a humongous EISA card and an old MS-Dos program. I would love to upgrade the machine but for one thing, the company that made the software went out of business so we can't get the installer for it, and two I'm not sure if they even build computers that have EISA slots anymore do they?

At any rate, I ran into another problem with the upgrade. I only have Windows 98 full install licenses, and so when I try to install it I get an error that says I need the upgrade version of Windows 98 instead. I could do a clean install, but that would delete the program files that I am trying to preserve.

Thanks for your help fellas. If I have a chance I will post a pic of the mutant EISA card.

[eSDee]

Notice how it's bent on the end to fit it in the case

[Dave_7]

Yeah, rule of thumb #1... if the PC has parts that bend under their own weight... time to find a use for it other than computing.









Dave.

[Joshua]

DUDE! See the little plastic lip on the bottom right, right next to the bottom of those wires?? The card is supposed to go into that slot!

That's scary man!!

There's got to be new companies that make a better product.

Just a cheap boss?