Does anyone know if Windows Longhorn will be able to read FAT16 partitions like Windows XP, or is it too early to tell?

I don't think Longhorn is going to be released until 2005-2006 (or was it 2007?) so I think it's too early to tell. If it were easy to make FAT32 support backwards compatible with FAT16, I can't see any reason why Microsoft wouldn't do it. But I don't think they're going to kill themselves supporting a file system that can't support more than 2 gigs.

I'm not sure, but I don't think it will according to what I've heard. Nobody who uses FAT16 should've been allowed to survive the '90s anyway :p

The reason I ask is that I'm using FAT16 to dual-boot with IBM DOS 5.0. It's the only way I can play the older games. Even if FAT16 is no longer supported by Longhorn, I can still use DOS on my computer, but without the ability to transport files to it, things will become much more complicated.

Please don't give me a talk about how I'm living in the past, because I was born in 1987, and was only permitted to play educational games when I was little. I only discovered most of these games about 6 months ago. How can my judgment be clouded with nostalgia if I only discovered the games recently?

Sorry, I just couldn't resist the comment

Those older DOS games should work just fine if you dual-boot with Windows 98, by the way. And you can even get most of them to run under Windows XP with a little persuasion.

See this article.

Before attempting to install DOS, I tried to get Windows 98 working. It simply doesn't go because I have too much ram in my computer (1gb). I found a site that told me a line to put in an ini file to fix the problem, but I can only do that once the OS is installed, and the installer has the same problem. "Not enough available memory".

As for old computers, that's far too short term a solution for me. Old computers die, it's what they do, and it wouldn't last forever.

I apoligize if I gave an impression of hostility. I'm just overly sensitive about it because my brother has been nagging me to get rid of the games ever since I installed them. Games with completely different gameplay styles simply cannot be compared with eachother no matter how far apart their release dates are.

Is your RAM a single module or two 512Mb ones?

You have two options to get success. If you have two 512Mb mnodules, pull one out, install Win 98 then fix things up, put the other module back in, and install XP.

If you have a single 1Gb module, borrow a smaller one, even if it's 128 Mb or 256Mb. Install 98, carry on as before.

All it takes is a little lateral thinking. Don't give up at the first hurdle, eh?

Well, I had been trying to get DOS games to work long before I discovered the majority of them I'm using now. A Doom TC I liked to play was not running on my new computer, and I tried for 3 straight years.

I was going to remove the RAM. I have a Dell Dimension 8200 which, ironically enough, started with 512mb (2 256 sticks, and two dummies). My brother had a near identical computer, and he was no longer able to use his ram because the new motherboard he was getting did not support RD when he got a new computer. So he gave it to me. My friend installed it for me (as I am rather hardware illiterate) with me, my brother, and another friend there to watch.

When I actually went to temporarily downgrade to 512, I couldn't, because I didn't know what sticks were originally there, and neither could anyone else who had been there. I was told by Dell tech support that if the wrong ones were removed, my computer would be fried. Fun stuff!

In the end I simply couldn't do it for this reason.

Dell tech support told you wrong!

You can run that PC with only one module installed, and it simply needs to be in memory slot 1. You'll most likely find that the slot numbers are printed on the board beside the slots

Edit:

oops, sorry. If that Dimension uses RAMBUS memory it'll need to be used in pairs. I'll check that one out tomorrow. It's late and I'm tired

The 8200 does use RAMBUS memory, just an FYI. But, you won't "fry" the system, it just won't POST until you put that memory in. It might not boot, but it will at least give a memory beep.