New OS ... question(s)

[MindFever]

Okay, this is purely fictional [obviously] ...but with a few questions:

If for example they make an operating system like "Windows 360" or "Windows
GameZone" [the names are just my example.I wouldn't mind these names ]...
i was wondering, is it possible to make an operating system that is booted
directly from an OS ,ment only for gaming (install and run the game)
....something like the consoles have ?

Or an OS that could have 2 options like:[the name is just an example]
GameZone/Windows ... you choose "GameZone" and the system resources are free
to run more complicated game-tasks (does this sound right?).You know, no
apps ... just a built-in web browser,media player and a choice to install a
few other things (something like gadgets in Win Vista).No fancy
utilities...

The most obvious question is : would this drastically improve the
performance of the PC ? is this DOABLE ? If so, why don't they do something
like this already ? The last question: why not? [taken out from the
"generic questions" database ) ]

 

[Robert Schiele]

Okay, this is purely fictional [obviously] ...but with a few questions:

If for example they make an operating system like "Windows 360" or
"Windows GameZone" [the names are just my example.I wouldn't mind these
names ]... i was wondering, is it possible to make an operating system
that is booted directly from an OS ,ment only for gaming (install and
run the game) ...something like the consoles have ?

Or an OS that could have 2 options like:[the name is just an example]
GameZone/Windows ... you choose "GameZone" and the system resources are
free to run more complicated game-tasks (does this sound right?).You
know, no apps ... just a built-in web browser,media player and a choice
to install a few other things (something like gadgets in Win Vista).No
fancy utilities...

The most obvious question is : would this drastically improve the
performance of the PC ? is this DOABLE ? If so, why don't they do
something like this already ? The last question: why not? [taken out
from the "generic questions" database ) ]

Possible? Yes. But I can't see MS doing it, not like that. Dell does
something of the kind for some of their laptops at least. There are two
"power" buttons. One boots the regular OS. The other boots Media Direct,
which contains just enough OS support to be able to watch DVDs, play
mp3s, use the "office" software, etc. And unlike Vista, it boots in only
a few seconds.

Ms seems to me to favor a different approach, though. For example, their
XP Home, Vista Home Basic and Vista Home Premium OSs have support built
in for gaming, multimedia, and so on. The "business" versions of these
operating systems are optimized for business uses instead.

Can you boot an os from another os? Yes, you can. There is a way most
Linux distributions can be booted from Windows that works, but aren't
used much anymore. Instead, most people who want a version of Windows
plus a distro of Linux usually use a dual boot setup.

Hope this helps answer your question.

 

[RobertVA]

Okay, this is purely fictional [obviously] ...but with a few questions:

If for example they make an operating system like "Windows 360" or
"Windows GameZone" [the names are just my example.I wouldn't mind these
names ]... i was wondering, is it possible to make an operating system
that is booted directly from an OS ,ment only for gaming (install and
run the game) ...something like the consoles have ?

Or an OS that could have 2 options like:[the name is just an example]
GameZone/Windows ... you choose "GameZone" and the system resources are
free to run more complicated game-tasks (does this sound right?).You
know, no apps ... just a built-in web browser,media player and a choice
to install a few other things (something like gadgets in Win Vista).No
fancy utilities...

The most obvious question is : would this drastically improve the
performance of the PC ? is this DOABLE ? If so, why don't they do
something like this already ? The last question: why not? [taken out
from the "generic questions" database ) ]

Unlikely

The problem isn't so much the other software on the hard drive, its the
WIDE variety of general purpose computer hardware configurations.
General purpose computers are manufactured by an assortment of companies
with an even larger assortment of CPUs, sound cards, video accelerators
motherboard chip sets and CPUs. Each brand of consoles is VERY
consistent hardware (and therefore driver) wise. That GREATLY simplifies
the game developer's process of making the software compatible with the
particular console they are developing the game for and testing the game.

 

[Joe]

Okay, this is purely fictional [obviously] ...but with a few
questions:

If for example they make an operating system like "Windows 360" or
"Windows GameZone" [the names are just my example.I wouldn't mind
these names ]... i was wondering, is it possible to make an
operating system that is booted directly from an OS ,ment only for
gaming (install and run the game) ...something like the consoles have
?

Or an OS that could have 2 options like:[the name is just an example]
GameZone/Windows ... you choose "GameZone" and the system resources
are free to run more complicated game-tasks (does this sound
right?).You know, no apps ... just a built-in web browser,media
player and a choice to install a few other things (something like
gadgets in Win Vista).No fancy utilities...

The most obvious question is : would this drastically improve the
performance of the PC ? is this DOABLE ? If so, why don't they do
something like this already ? The last question: why not? [taken
out from the "generic questions" database ) ]

Humm, how to approach this...

You want to turn your PC into a gaming console, or make it easier... so
like you can just insert a DVD of a game and boom it runs.

I can tell you a lot of people have tried to do this, as a result we have
services like Gametap (great front-end that you can controll with a
wireless gamepad, lots of free games or games you can access with a
subscription), Steam (Great games available online, similarly easy to
setup and install apps over the net.), and other similar services.

I get what you want to do, I am guessing your computer runs slow and you
were inspired to make an OS without all this extra stuff just for running
games? That's great in theory, but unless you plan to control how all PC
developers package their games then you're going to be fighting an uphill
battle. Consoles require developers to make their games interface exactly
the same way, because they want everyone to have the same experience.

I think the closest example of what you're thinking about is the illfated
"Phantom" console. It was supposed to be a PC that worked like a console,
buy almost any PC game, insert it and the console would set it up
automatically and run. That would require a ton of maintence though,
you'd have to keep the console up to date on each game that comes up,
unless you could convince [pay] devs to make games for your system.

We're talking a huge headache here, probably why the console failed.

So in closing, I think what you're trying to do sounds good in theory,
but Windows is modifyable enough already that it's totally unnecessary.

Try setting your computer to boot up with Windows Media Center set to
auto start. Probably the simplest way to access all media and games on
your system from a simple interface.

I have a system in my MAME cabinet that simply starts up into a full
screen interface using FreeDOS. I don't play Windows stuff on it, just
emulated Arcade games which run great and fast from DOS.

I'd say look into WMC, or Gamefly or Steam.