Speedrunning Windows 95 • Hacker News Board

Re: Speedrunning Windows 95

#31

Post by anon_cow1111 » Sat, Mar 09, 2019, 5:20 PM UTC

rubenbe wrote: post #15

I was recently amazed to find out that Windows 95 is still used in an industrial automation setting. The company uses the NetBEUI[0] protocol and Windows 95 is apparently the only version to support it. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NetBIOS_Frames_protocol

In the last job I had, Win 95/98 was on a computer used to send programs to a 20-ton piece of metal working equipment. Of course, you had to drop into DOS to use the necessary software. Transfer rate was around 900 baud. The computer that actually ran the machine consisted of a white monochrome monitor and a desk-sized cabinet full of control boards. The cabinet had an air conditioner attached to it and had trouble running on hot days.

Trivia about this machine: on the corner of one control board there was a single, green indicator LED with a broken lead. It was bent over so the broken part would still contact the solder joint and light up. If at any point it stopped making contact with the circuit, the entire machine locked up or threw random error codes until you wiggled it back into place.

"We'll fix it later"

Re: Speedrunning Windows 95

#32

Post by hjk05 » Sat, Mar 09, 2019, 5:22 PM UTC

lqet wrote: post #27

dejawu wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There was a thread a few days ago where someone mentioned their password was the key to "a very popular software" and someone in the replies guessed it: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19298120

Hah, I had no idea that others have this problem too. There must be something to this sequence that makes it very easy to memorize.

Spaced repetition makes any sequence easy to remember. Which is essentially what being the local “could you install xp”-guy was for this specific key.

Re: Speedrunning Windows 95

#33

Post by ComputerGuru » Sat, Mar 09, 2019, 5:26 PM UTC

I had an assembly line for setting up Windows 95 with the 21 floppy disks (and later Windows 98 with 38) at a school lab. Start one, when it asks for disk 2 move on to the next PC, and the next thing you know, you have a clean install on every PC in the "lab."

Re: Speedrunning Windows 95

#34

Post by 781 » Sat, Mar 09, 2019, 5:30 PM UTC

OT: can someone explain this anime/waifu thing to me, in particular why does someone record a video like this one with careful window placement so that we can see the anime? I feel like I'm missing something.

Re: Speedrunning Windows 95

#35

Post by fetbaffe » Sat, Mar 09, 2019, 5:30 PM UTC

Two important URL:s from the Windows 9x era

1) http://www.annoyances.org/

2) https://www.litepc.com/

Good times.

Re: Speedrunning Windows 95

#36

Post by zamalek » Sat, Mar 09, 2019, 5:31 PM UTC

daveFNbuck wrote: post #11

acoye wrote: post #7

Can you speedrun something that is not locked to specific hardware like a console game would be? Feels like hardware is most of the "speed"

You can speedrun PC games. For video games, better hardware can speed up things like loading times (which also happens if you put an SSD in your PS4) and increase the framerate but the actual gameplay won't become faster beyond the threshold necessary to play the game smoothly. This particular speedrun is much more tied to the hardware, but that's part of the fun for these people. It might make more sense if you comp…

Speedrunners have built tools for some games (most Valve games if I'm recalling correctly) that monitor times, while excluding loading screens. Obviously this is a separate category, and both curiously exist for games with a built-in timer (GDQ ignores in-game timers, for example).

Re: Speedrunning Windows 95

#37

Post by tarellel » Sat, Mar 09, 2019, 5:36 PM UTC

rubenbe wrote: post #15

I was recently amazed to find out that Windows 95 is still used in an industrial automation setting. The company uses the NetBEUI[0] protocol and Windows 95 is apparently the only version to support it. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NetBIOS_Frames_protocol

At a college I worked at a few years ago in one of the larger lecture class rooms. There was a Windows3.1 PC mounted in the podium/lecture counter. It was used primarily for controlling the levels of lights, dropping down the screen and projector, and a few other menial tasks. I don't believe it was wired into the network and don't believe it was ever replaced.

Re: Speedrunning Windows 95

#38

Post by gsich » Sat, Mar 09, 2019, 5:37 PM UTC

rubenbe wrote: post #15

I was recently amazed to find out that Windows 95 is still used in an industrial automation setting. The company uses the NetBEUI[0] protocol and Windows 95 is apparently the only version to support it. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NetBIOS_Frames_protocol

Your link says otherwise. XP can do it too. Might just be a software thing

Re: Speedrunning Windows 95

#39

Post by selune » Sat, Mar 09, 2019, 5:40 PM UTC

rubenbe wrote: post #15

I was recently amazed to find out that Windows 95 is still used in an industrial automation setting. The company uses the NetBEUI[0] protocol and Windows 95 is apparently the only version to support it. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NetBIOS_Frames_protocol

Reminded me of this https://news.vice.com/en_us/article/7xakd9/windows-31-is-sti...

Re: Speedrunning Windows 95

#40

Post by lanstin » Sat, Mar 09, 2019, 5:51 PM UTC

Ok we need speedrun install Gentoo 2004. Speedrun install Slackware Linux 1.0 from floppies. Speedrun install perl 5 from Configure. Speedrun update all the GNU autotools and gcc from a non-root user with a non standard prefix.