This is actually really useful to me. I've been working on-and-off re-implementing Comic Chat using HTML5. It's nice having a working copy again to reference. The paper is great but it omits some details.
Show HN: Windows 98 in browser
51–60 of 171 posts
Re: Show HN: Windows 98 in browser
#52Earlier quoted context omitted.
University courses? I'm pretty sure CPUs were a huge part of my first year of CS.
Wow, advocating higher education on HN. Feeling bold today?
I've not really enjoyed my time in higher-ed (and I have little to show for it), but sometimes it's really the only place where unfashionable but fundamental topics are covered in depth. My comment was meant as a pointer (i.e. "check out lecture recordings etc") rather than a quip.
Re: Show HN: Windows 98 in browser
#53That is brilliant. Little things like being able to change the screen resolution and waste time on Solitaire - what more could one want!!! Works amazingly.
Also it is quite a historical artefact, things like Active Desktop were truly cool back in the day. Plus the simplicity of the Win98 UI is a joy to return to.
Congratulations!
Re: Show HN: Windows 98 in browser
#54That's amazing - do you have any info on the underlying implementation?
It's a fully emulated PC: CPU, memory, hard drive, … The CPU especially took me very long to get right with all the details to run Windows 98. The code is here: https://github.com/copy/v86
NSA backdoor!
https://github.com/copy/v86/commit/159f565de4dd99bff9b46c45a...
Nope, Windows 98 undefined instruction.
Re: Show HN: Windows 98 in browser
#55Where does one start with such thing? I mean, where do I read how to emulate CPU (or at least how CPU works, so I would be able to come up with how to emulate it by myself), how does PS/2 work, how to boot an image from BIOS?
Yeah, I always feel the same when I see similar things. How do you even start?
Personally, I had some courses on computer architectures, and those covered the theory of how CPUs are constructed, how they run programs, etc. I decided to write an NES emulator. So:
- Find Wikipedia articles, and learn that it used a variant of the MOS Technology 6502, which was used in a lot of computers in the 80s.
- Find some digitized assembly programming manuals from the time (I think the one I used was distributed with the Commodore 64, and ended up having several typos introduced by OCR).
- Write a tool to recognize, decode, and print out an operation when you feed it a little data
- You basically need to set up a loop of fetching instructions, interpreting them, then doing what they say. An actual CPU runs in a similar loop, and it generally doesn't stop until power is removed,
I think that after the classes I took, I read a lot of what other emulator writers said. This article is a basic look at the structure of an emulator, the theory behind them, and some different designs: http://fms.komkon.org/EMUL8/HOWTO.html
Re: Show HN: Windows 98 in browser
#56The 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 :)
Really cool work. Looking forward to updates.
When I tried to run Internet Explorer and open a website, the window closed (crashed I guess).
I really want to open some common websites on Win 98 :D
Re: Show HN: Windows 98 in browser
#57Is this legal?
I'm surprised MS hasn't open-sourced NT 3.x already.
Re: Show HN: Windows 98 in browser
#58oh the irony, Win98 was the MS "internet as desktop" release. Least favorite OS ever Awesome project though!
It was very unstable. But I still like the UI, and have tried to replicate the simplicity in every machine I have had ever since.
Re: Show HN: Windows 98 in browser
#59This blows my mind.
Re: Show HN: Windows 98 in browser
#60Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's a fully emulated PC: CPU, memory, hard drive, … The CPU especially took me very long to get right with all the details to run Windows 98. The code is here: https://github.com/copy/v86
Do you worry that Microsoft might threaten you for the Windows 98 image? I don't think they make a cent from it anymore, but big companies and common sense aren't common bedmates.
So far Microsoft haven't even sent me a C&D for https://win95.ajf.me/, and that site got media attention!