running 16bit code

[Damjan Jovanovic]

On Tue, May 8, 2012 at 11:40 AM, David Laight <david at l8s.co.uk> wrote:
> Does wine support running of 16bit windows apps?
> If so does it rely on the underlying OS having support
> for 'virtual 8086 emulation'?
>
> I'm thinking of removing the VM86 support from NetBSD,
> and wine is about the only likley user.
>
>        David
>
> --
> David Laight: david at l8s.co.uk
>
>

16 bit Windows applications are written and compiled to either use
real mode or 16 bit protected mode.
Those that use real mode (mostly MS-DOS and Windows 1 and 2
applications) need virtual 8086 mode.
Those that use protected mode (mostly Windows >= 3.0 applications)
don't need virtual 8086 mode.

You'd break DOSBOX a lot more than Wine. But why do you want to remove
this from NetBSD? I thought compatibility with other operating systems
was one of its major features?

Damjan