Jerky, slow Mouse

[Gene45]

Running Win 7 64 bit, Virtual box 4.2.0
DOS 6.22 and Win 3.1.
Logitech Wireless keyboard and mouse.
The screen looks right , and appears to work right, but the ability to control it with the mouse is practically nil.

The pointed moves very slowly and jerky. As it approaches a target on the screen, it may stop or jump to the bottom of the screen.

I am also unable to make the win 3.1 display cover the full screen but that may be also dies to the mouse issue.

I have no corded mouse available but do have two other cordless mouse(S).

Is there a simple solution?

[mpack]

Please choose the best forum for your question. You chose "Windows Hosts" which seems unrelated to your question. Moving you to "Windows Guests".

IMHO, your problems don't sound VM related at all. They sound typical of problems seen with optical mice if the surface you run them over is too uniform - they need edges, contrast etc so they can measure motion. Wireless mice can sometimes be unreliable too.

In any case, neither DOS nor Win 3.1 are supported guest OSs, so their performance is what it is. You may be able to change the display size using "setvideomodehint" (see user manual), but I wouldn't expect too much: CRT display sizes weren't as flexible back in Win 3.1 days, and the driver will typically only support a limited number of sizes, none of which are likely to approach that of a modern display).

You can also try enabling VT-x if your host supports it, as that can sometimes make those older guests (with lots of 16bit code) run smoother.

[michaln]

Slow mouse in Windows 3.1 is a known problem, but there is not customer demand to fix it.

Workarounds are a faster computer, running Windows in Standard mode, not using hardware virtualization, or best of all not running Windows 3.x in 16-color VGA mode.

[Gene45]

Thanks for the replies.
I am trying to run a CAD program, that was originally made for windows 3.1 or 3.11.
The CAD system ran will up until Vista a but will not run in Win 7 64.
I am only trying win 3.x because it was available.

What other options do I have?
I'm game to try nearly anything.

[loukingjr]

Doesn't Microsoft offer a Windows XP VirtualPC for Windows 7 for free? They used to. Perhaps it would run in that. I suppose you could also try installing a non-Windows guest and see if the CAD program will run in WINE.

[Gene45]

Virtual XP will only run in Win 7 Pro .

Wine looks like a way to run windows programs in a non windows OS. Is that true?
I am downloading it to see.

[stefan.becker]

WINE is not a PC Emulation like VBOX.

WINE is a free version of the WIndows API, so that programs for windows on x86 can run under another os.

[michaln]

You may be able to change the display size using "setvideomodehint" (see user manual), but I wouldn't expect too much: CRT display sizes weren't as flexible back in Win 3.1 days, and the driver will typically only support a limited number of sizes, none of which are likely to approach that of a modern display).

Windows 3.x is far too old even for that. In fact it took Microsoft until Windows XP to provide a "universal" driver - for a very long time they operated on the assumption that it's the OEM's business to ship Windows drivers. It never crossed Microsoft's mind that someone might want to use Windows 3.x long after OEMs stopped caring about it

With the default VGA driver (the only one available out of the box on Windows 3.x), 640x480 with 16 colors is what you get. There may be a way to use 800x600 with 16 colors by editing some INI files but that's just as slow, so no help for the OP.

The only way to go is to install some 3rd party driver that uses VESA and provides far better performance, and possibly also supports higher resolutions.

[loukingjr]

I would think that any of the free CAD programs for Windows would read whatever file format a CAD program written for Windows 3.1 would be a better option and get you more features.

[Gene45]

I downloaded

"WineBottlerCombo_1.2.5.dmg"

Virtual box says it is not bootable.

Should it be?

or did I get the wrong file?

[loukingjr]

I downloaded

"WineBottlerCombo_1.2.5.dmg"

Virtual box says it is not bootable.

Should it be?

or did I get the wrong file?

as I mentioned. you would have to install a non-windows guest, i.e. a Linux of some sort then install WINE in the guest.

[mpack]

I assume installing and running the software in an XP machine has already been tested? I have a few "old Win16 favorites" that I've never thrown out (mainly because I wrote them myself and they have sentimental value) and they work fine in XP.

[Gene45]

My XP machine died and went to recycle heaven.

The Vista laptop I still have is getting close to the same fate, so I'm looking for the alternative.

Seems like my best choice is to give up.

[mpack]

I mean, have you established that your Win16 software will not run on XP? If it runs then XP (as a modern, supported OS) makes a much better VM than Win3.1 ever can.

[Gene45]

I mean, have you established that your Win16 software will not run on XP? If it runs then XP (as a modern, supported OS) makes a much better VM than Win3.1 ever can.

It runs perfectly fine in XP, XP Pro and Vista . But I have no original disks for any of them as the machines that came with those OS's did not come with the original software.
I now use a Win7 64 machine (which will not run the old software) and have no original disk(s) of the OS there either. Three of the machines where purchased new. I sort of long for the days when the machines came with no OS installed and a handful of disks to let me set it up.

I'm told there is no legal copy of XP available for a VM. If you know differently, please tell me where.