> Double clicking on the CA52.EXE program opens up
> a command window as usual and the program runs ok with full mouse
> functionality but no sound – no fiddling required.

I think that's what I would have expected, the same as with Vista.

> There is the advantage
> that you can adjust the size of the window by right-clicking the icon in the
> top left hand corner of the title bar, selecting Properties and changing the
> size on the Font tab – 12 x 16 gives a very usable and clear sized window.

Yes, that works with XP and Vista too.
>
> DosBox 0.73 also works well on Windows 7 – it will give you sound, but at
> the expense of having to set up the additional DOS commands to mount a drive
> and then execute the program. I also find getting a window the right size a
> bit fiddly. You can use full screen but it doesn't look too good on a large
> (say 20" monitor with high resolution) monitor.
>
I agree. I run it with Linux, in fact, but the setup is more fiddly than
I'd like. There are various front ends available, but I haven't tried
any of them. The settings I use to get a usable window size are

windowresolution=1024x768
output=overlay

both in the [SDL} section.

> NB You will also have to either turn off UAC (which is easy in Win 7), or
> use the ESCAPE key command to set the directories to which files can be
> written to one of the USER's liberaries (e.g. somewhere in the Documents
> folder) if you want to save a position, or create LOG files.
>
That's a complication I hadn't thought of.

>
> It does strike me, however, that the programs might easily be adapted by
> adding a substitute sound module which plays an appropriate *.WAV file via
> the windows OS instead of the DOS Beep() or SB16 calls. This would make the
> programs compatible on all Windows OS from 95 to Win 7. It should work well
> with existing code and a recompilation.

In the Windows versions we have experimented with two different methods.
It is possible to detect the version of Windows and use a form of beep
in each case that should work. Alternatively, as you say it is possible
to use .wav files.

The Windows versions use standard Windows file open/save dialogues, so
there should be no access problems there.

Best wishes,
Tim Bourne (SIAM)