Windows applications through WIN16

An NE loader and Windows API compatibility layer running original 16-bit application files.

How to run it See all tested Windows applications Get the disks

The os8088 desktop with a window titled Minesweeper. It has Game and Help menus inside the window, two red LED counters either side of a yellow smiling face, and an 8 by 8 board with an open area of blue and green numbers in its top-left corner. — Windows application through WIN16.

Implemented API entries: 629
WIN16 executable: 139,268 bytes
XT Clock launch: 22 s

01 / Executable and API compatibility

Executable and API compatibility

WIN16 loads supported NE executables, relocates their segments and resolves imports to its own KERNEL/USER/GDI-compatible services. Application instructions execute on the host CPU when supported. There is no complete Windows installation underneath.

Microsoft's Windows 3.0 SDK documents the original API/resource model. Windows runtime mode and an individual executable's CPU requirements are separate questions; a Windows 3.1 label alone does not establish 8086 compatibility.

02 / Loader and message bridge

Loader and message bridge

The layer translates os8088 input, paint and timer events into the messages expected by the application. Each instance has its own compatibility-layer state and yields through the implemented message-wait path.

Wine and winevdm supplied referenced code/data and behavioural precedents. The derived package is GPL-2.0-or-later; its attribution and licence ship beside it. The linked development record identifies what was reused.

03 / Application captures

Application captures

The application gallery records the tested behaviour and limits of each executable. A screenshot is evidence of that exercised state, not complete application compatibility.

Windows 3.1's Calculator in its Scientific view on the os8088 desktop. The display reads 1.414213562373. Below it are Hex, Dec, Oct and Bin buttons, Deg, Rad and Grad buttons, and rows of rounded keys in red, blue, cyan and magenta, including sin, cos, tan, log and x^y. — Windows 3.1 Calculator scientific view.

Two windows on the os8088 desktop. On the left, Reversi: a green window with Game, Skill and Help menus and an 8 by 8 board in perspective holding red and blue discs. On the right, Clock: an analog face with hour marks and three hands, under a Settings menu. — Windows 3.0 Reversi and Clock.

Clock at the top left, Minesweeper at the right with a game in progress, and os8088's Task Manager in the middle. The Task Manager's list includes WINMINE using 125K and CLOCK using 93K. — Two compatibility-layer instances beside Task Manager.

The os8088 desktop in black and white at CGA resolution. Reversi on the left shows its board in a grey dither with white and black discs. Clock on the right shows an analog face. Both use a smaller, narrower font for their titles and menus. — Adapter-specific font and colour mapping on CGA.

04 / Desktop integration

Desktop integration

Applications have separate task/dock entries. Adapter-specific System fonts determine control and dialog geometry. INI state is kept under SYSTEM/APPDATA/WIN16. Text clipboard, supported speaker sounds and Hibernate participate in the host services.

The recorded examples consumed roughly 93-133KB per instance. Working-set requirements vary by executable and build.

05 / CPU checks and XT timings

CPU checks and XT timings

The recorded Windows 3.0 Calculator, Clock and Reversi tests ran on an 8088. The tested Minesweeper versions and Windows 3.1 Calculator use later instructions and need the supported V20/80186-or-later path. WIN16 checks reachable code before entry rather than relying on an 8088 invalid-opcode trap.

Recorded 4.77 MHz startup times were 37.0 s for Calculator, 22.2 s for Clock and 20.0 s for Reversi. The V20 Minesweeper case opened in 25.8 s. These are executable- and machine-specific emulator tests. Supported floating-point instructions can be emulated without an installed 8087.

06 / Kernel and API limits

Kernel and API limits

Protected-mode applications require the appropriate 286-or-later kernel path; the gallery identifies those captures separately from standard-kernel results. No Win32 support follows from NE compatibility.

Printing, OLE, broader audio and non-text clipboard formats are outside the captured implementation. An unresolved API import or unsupported call is reported; broad menus do not imply that every operation works. Microsoft executables remain user-supplied.

07 / Supply and launch an executable

Supply and launch an executable

Keep WIN16.O88, WIN16.TXT and COPYING.W16 together. Copy executables and required DLL/help files from your licensed software. make win16disk WIN3X=<folder> assembles a private test disk and reports omitted programs. Launch the executable from Disk; consult the gallery for its tested kernel/CPU path. A program that needs the 286+ kernel runs from the WIN16 disk in the release zip's 286-PLUS/PROGRAMS/WIN16 folder, with that folder's system disk in drive A.

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