Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Calmira Reborn – a Windows 9x-inspired shell for Windows 3.1

huntertur.net

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 81 posts

Re: Calmira Reborn – a Windows 9x-inspired shell for Windows 3.1

#41

Post by thesuitonym »

LeoPanthera wrote: post #13
1vuio0pswjnm7 wrote: post #5

How do we download and install Windows 3.1 in 2023. I would like to install it on bootable USB stick.

Remember that Windows 3.1 is a shell, not an operating system. You need to install DOS first. https://winworldpc.com/product/windows-3/31 And your choice of DOS: MS-DOS 6.22: https://winworldpc.com/product/ms-dos/622 or, PC-DOS 2000: https://winworldpc.com/product/pc-dos/2000 A good choice for early PC emulation is 86Box: https://86box.net

FreeDOS might be as better choice, since it has modern conveniences like USB support and (I think) TCP/IP drivers.

Re: Calmira Reborn – a Windows 9x-inspired shell for Windows 3.1

#43

Post by kab0b »

aliqot wrote: post #36
askonomm wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know, with 64GB 6000mhz RAM and Ryzen 9 7950X processor, things are instant for me on Windows 11, and even faster on Windows 10. Surely nobody runs on Windows on any lesser system?

jeeeesus, do you dump old beer and banana peels into that thing or does it take unleaded?

unleaded? That thing needs bunker fuel to keep it running.

Re: Calmira Reborn – a Windows 9x-inspired shell for Windows 3.1

#44

Post by sumtechguy »

LeoPanthera wrote: post #13
1vuio0pswjnm7 wrote: post #5

How do we download and install Windows 3.1 in 2023. I would like to install it on bootable USB stick.

Remember that Windows 3.1 is a shell, not an operating system. You need to install DOS first. https://winworldpc.com/product/windows-3/31 And your choice of DOS: MS-DOS 6.22: https://winworldpc.com/product/ms-dos/622 or, PC-DOS 2000: https://winworldpc.com/product/pc-dos/2000 A good choice for early PC emulation is 86Box: https://86box.net

eXoWin has done most of it already for win3x games (borderline plug and play). But there is not much to it other than get dosbox and then get a win311 copy running by typing in win in the windows folder. DOSBox, with a couple of forked copies here and there for an oddball game, is pretty much what he used for all of it. Not sure what he is going to use for the 9x project.

Re: Calmira Reborn – a Windows 9x-inspired shell for Windows 3.1

#45

Post by stuaxo »

ttrrooppeerr wrote: post #7

Took me a while to find the link, so here are some screenshots for you: http://calmira.net/screenshots/index.htm

Nice; back in the day "grey" was Win95 and the new thing all the themes look like Win95.

It would be interesting to see the start menu etc but in a more native Windows 3.1 style.

Re: Calmira Reborn – a Windows 9x-inspired shell for Windows 3.1

#46

Post by [deleted] »

thesuitonym wrote: post #41
LeoPanthera wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Remember that Windows 3.1 is a shell, not an operating system. You need to install DOS first. https://winworldpc.com/product/windows-3/31 And your choice of DOS: MS-DOS 6.22: https://winworldpc.com/product/ms-dos/622 or, PC-DOS 2000: https://winworldpc.com/product/pc-dos/2000 A good choice for early PC emulation is 86Box: https://86box.net

FreeDOS might be as better choice, since it has modern conveniences like USB support and (I think) TCP/IP drivers.

[deleted]

Re: Calmira Reborn – a Windows 9x-inspired shell for Windows 3.1

#47

Post by stuaxo »

the_mitsuhiko wrote: post #24

Somehow related: Windows NT 3.51 looks pretty much exactly like Windows 3.11. However at a later point where customers able to try the "new shell" beta which added Windows NT 4.0 / Windows 95 UI on top of Windows NT 3.51. You can see the transformation on youtube: https://youtu.be/lTeeml8RULM?t=793

NT 3.51 had some interesting things that didn't make it across because things got overwritten by Windows 95 versions.

Progman.exe actually allowed nested program groups. Winfile.exe supported long filenames.

These both seem to have been overwritten by the versions from Windows 95 (with their Windows 3.1 ancestry) so lost those functions going forward.

Re: Calmira Reborn – a Windows 9x-inspired shell for Windows 3.1

#48

Post by jeroenhd »

anthk wrote: post #33
qwerty456127 wrote: post #18

I'd rather have a good (all I've seen are grotesquely low-quality gimmick) Windows3x/9x/XP shell for modern OSes. IMHO what we need to preserve is retro UX seamlessly integrated into the modern world (e.g. a pixel-perfect Win3x-like DE based on all the modern libraries/kernels and this way capable of interacting with modern web and peripherals). But it's definitely nice to see people are developing anything cool for…

Chicago 95 does it well with XFCE. And B00merang has almost 1:1 theme clones for 3.11.

I've tried out Chicago95 and it probably does the best job it possibly could, but it's not all there.

Things like the "start menu" and buttons are weirdly proportioned because of the conflicting design style between the underlying desktop environment and the clear Win9x era design vision Microsoft employed.

The closest thing to an old style desktop interface that I know of must be SerenityOS. All of its applications and UI elements are actually designed from the ground up to work with the classic theme.

I actually prefer it to the real old Windows style because it adheres to the old clear design standards but also takes advantage of modern display resolutions and colour support.

It's nowhere near a workable operating system yet, but it's an interesting take on OS design nonetheless.

Re: Calmira Reborn – a Windows 9x-inspired shell for Windows 3.1

#49

Post by integricho »

anthk wrote: post #32
askonomm wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know, with 64GB 6000mhz RAM and Ryzen 9 7950X processor, things are instant for me on Windows 11, and even faster on Windows 10. Surely nobody runs on Windows on any lesser system?

Get Virtualbox. Install Windows 2000 or XP or an old Linux with KDE 3.15 on it. Notice the lack of latency, notice how it flies and there's no delay on displaying the widgets and typing on a text editor or a word processor.

Yes, that's exactly the feel I'd like to have with a modern operating system also!

Re: Calmira Reborn – a Windows 9x-inspired shell for Windows 3.1

#50

Post by integricho »

doix wrote: post #25
integricho wrote: post #6

So is there a light, Windows 9x-like (so really really fast and responsive) shell for Windows 10? I cannot believe how unresponsive Windows 10 is, the menus, windows, all opening with so huge delays, it's a disgrace.

Back when I was forced to use windows, I used ClassicShell[0], but it looks like it's abandoned now. The spiritual successor seems to be OpenShell [1]. I can't remember if the shell was enough, but I remember that all the store apps were disabled, search in the start menu didn't search online, no cortana stuff, it was actually quite usable. You might need the non-home edition to do some of the those things, I think g…

This looks like a step in the right direction, I haven't tried them though, must check them out, I hope they don't bring just the looks, but the performance and latency characteristics of those old systems as well!
Post reply on HN