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Show HN: Windows 98 in browser

copy.sh

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Re: Show HN: Windows 98 in browser

#141

Post by s-macke »

copy wrote: post #28
fsiefken wrote: post #17

How would v86 compare to jslinux speedwise? http://bellard.org/jslinux/ ELKS in javascript would be nice as well, you would get the ultimate speedy portable unix ecosystem in the browser. https://github.com/jbruchon/elks

Poorly, see https://github.com/s-macke/jor1k/wiki/Benchmark-with-other-e... Primarily due to the use of asm.js. I intend to implement a JIT similar to QEMU's tcg as soon as Web Assembly supports it: https://github.com/WebAssembly/design/blob/master/FutureFeat...

Great work on your emulator. I am also looking forward to use webassembly for my emulator when available. However, I don't expect much speed improvement. I guess you can speed up your emulator significantly by putting in some '|0' noops to prevent deoptimizations into double precision.

Re: Show HN: Windows 98 in browser

#142

Post by Bino »

copy wrote: post #36
apetresc wrote: post #12

The network interface doesn't seem to be configured – when I try to open the browser it wants me to install a modem. Is the VM just not configured for that, or do I need to do something? Would love to see what today's web looks like on '98 IE :)

It's possible, Windows 98 has drivers for the NE2000 network card we're emulating ( https://github.com/copy/v86/blob/master/src/ne2k.js ). However, currently the emulation isn't accurate enough, Windows 98 refuses to use it.

I can't wait until it works, you must ping HN again when it does!

Re: Show HN: Windows 98 in browser

#143

Post by agumonkey »

tomc1985 wrote: post #84
tkinom wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree it is a very cool demo. Is there anyway I can find out the call flow of this JS program? Like to see the actual dynamic call flow graph instead of just simple static flow analysis output.

That's because the Win98 code is that much simpler. It has less to do with speed and more to do with complexity. Your phone is doing all sorts of weird shit behind your back as you poke about. Stuff that it's not supposed to be doing if app-makers were actually respectful of their users... On that note, why does that crap take so long on smartphones anyway?

I miss the shitty machinery of win9x days[1]. The weird part is that I was deep into CGI, and compositors made so much sense to allow for all kind of graphical operations; yet.. I miss the refreshed icons, blinking cursor .. as if I was one to one with that simple machine.

That's very subjective, I'm in a minimalist passeist phase.

[1] Except for the non isolated driver model.

Re: Show HN: Windows 98 in browser

#144

Post by livatlantis »

pan69 wrote: post #35
michaelmior wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Lock mouse button helped with my first problem which was that the emulated cursor seemed to be scaling its position based on the side of my browser window instead of the size of the emulated window. Locking the mouse fixed the position issue but I'm still unable to click on anything though.

Once you go into fullscreen mode it seems it work fine, but it took me a while to figure this out...

Ah right, thanks! Ctrl+R, regedit

Now only if we had a version that could connect to the internet. Right now it tells me that it can't find a modem and that I should call MSN Technical Support! Cute.

Re: Show HN: Windows 98 in browser

#145

Post by agumonkey »

normac wrote: post #78

This is such a great demonstration of both how fast JS engines have become in the browser, and how much less efficient native software has become overall. Running on top of an x86 emulator in JavaScript , it's still faster to pop open a file browser and click around than it is on some modern smartphones.

I suspect smartphones to have crippled IO and memory subsystem. Marketing emphasize on "Hexa Core 128 bit Samsung silicon from the future" while the rest is subpar, leading to weird performance. JS engines are beautiful these days, especially given the adhoc nature of js, but a JVM should beat it hands down (based on blogs claiming reaching 1-3x C perf).

Re: Show HN: Windows 98 in browser

#146

Post by toyg »

Spooky23 wrote: post #125
toyg wrote: post #107

"My Briefcase" could have been Dropbox, 10 years earlier, if only 1) it could work decently, which it never did, and 2) had an option to sync to MS servers. Bandwidth was an issue at home, back then, but for offices it would have been fine.

In the age of 4.3 GB drives that cost $750, unlikely.

It was also the age of the average file being 20kb though. You could have provided 50mb per user and the world would have gone "woah".

Re: Show HN: Windows 98 in browser

#147

Post by bitJericho »

normac wrote: post #78

This is such a great demonstration of both how fast JS engines have become in the browser, and how much less efficient native software has become overall. Running on top of an x86 emulator in JavaScript , it's still faster to pop open a file browser and click around than it is on some modern smartphones.

I ran this successfully on my smartphone...

Re: Show HN: Windows 98 in browser

#148

Post by bitJericho »

tomc1985 wrote: post #95
lukeadams wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One tweak that made my G2 feel much more responsive is simply turning down the UI animation length in Dev Settings. That's not to say that app developers don't love their non-native webview apps crammed to the brim with ads, though...

UI animations have a lot to do with it, but I'm more referring to UI jank over simple stuff like 'enumerating a list of sharing targets' or 'swiping to the next page of the launchboard' when the phone is otherwise idle. Or, my favorites: the multi-second pause from unlocking my phone during a phone/skype call, or the taking of an actual eternity just to answer said fucking Skype call, of which half the time the call…

That's why I switched to windows phone. It's a whole new experience. I can actually answer my phone without the obligatory wait for catch up before I can swipe to answer.

Re: Show HN: Windows 98 in browser

#149

Post by unwind »

taneq wrote: post #136
Elv13 wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Back in 2007, my first semester in a technical CS school had plenty of assembly, binary, MMU emulation, OSI / TCP/IP, boolean math and so on. I know this is mostly gone at this point, but it should not. The fundamentals are essentials. I often meet people who are totally clueless how a computer work and have CS degrees. "How can you do C, it is so old? By now, we must have invented faster languages. Computers changed…

Wow. My first semester of computer science had me studying fuckin' Gofer.

As in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gopher_%28protocol%29, right, the precursor to HTTP?

Re: Show HN: Windows 98 in browser

#150

Post by shultays »

normac wrote: post #78

This is such a great demonstration of both how fast JS engines have become in the browser, and how much less efficient native software has become overall. Running on top of an x86 emulator in JavaScript , it's still faster to pop open a file browser and click around than it is on some modern smartphones.

  how fast JS engines have become in the browser
I am not so sure. It is more like "JS barely runs a software that has a recommendation of 66 mhz CPU".

Maybe it is about emulation the whole system but still I was expecting better.

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