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

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

#51

Post by idiocrat »

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…

In addition to OpenShell, I am also using RamMichael's "7+ Taskbar Tweaker".

https://tweaker.ramensoftware.com/

It is working on Win 10, but not supported om Win 11 anymore.

The lightweight app lets me define the taskbar behavior.

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

#52

Post by UncleSlacky »

thesuitonym wrote: post #40
protoman3000 wrote: post #16

Who uses these things productively as daily driver in 2023? No judgement, just curious.

Do people have to be constantly productive all day every day? Maybe someone just has some old games they want to play, and they want a more modern shell to do it with. But if productivity is the only thing you recognize, I recall reading that George R.R. Martin uses an incredibly old PC to write on. I think it was DOS or maybe Windows 3.1.

IIRC he uses a DOS machine with WordStar.

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

#53

Post by UncleSlacky »

integricho wrote: post #49
anthk wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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!

KDE 3.15 was forked to Trinity Desktop and is still actively developed - it's also a default desktop for Q4OS Trinity, EXE GNU/Linux and PCLinuxOS:

https://trinitydesktop.org/

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

#54

Post by UncleSlacky »

pantalaimon wrote: post #21
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…

I mean you can install CDE on a modern system. And SerenetyOS tries to re-create the look and feel of that era.

There's also Trinity Desktop (fork of KDE 3):

https://trinitydesktop.org/

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

#55

Post by BizarreByte »

protoman3000 wrote: post #16

Who uses these things productively as daily driver in 2023? No judgement, just curious.

I use a handful of modern projects on a Mac running System 7 for “productive” purposes. I don’t use the computer itself for work, but I program on it, manage my servers on it, keep my household information recorded on it (bills, budget, power usage, etc), write on it, etc.

Beyond being distraction free it doesn’t remind me of my work computer, which helps doing things on it not feel like an extension of my day job.

In all fairness I’m pretty weird in this regard. I don’t see it as a toy, or fun retro thing, and it’s not a nostalgia thing, it’s just a computer and experience that I enjoy using to accomplish things I would have had to do anyway.

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

#56

Post by hulitu »

leeman2016 wrote: post #26
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.

Using Windows 10 with the 6th Gen 6700 HQ, 16 GB ram and an SSD. There are some annoying lags here and there. Like the login screen, for example. Lock the PC (Windows Key + L) followed by CTRL key to activate the password prompt, and immediately put in my password ... then the 1st one or two characters from my password won't usually make it into the password input.

This is one of the long living bugs in Win 10 which won't be fixed.

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

#57

Post by the_mitsuhiko »

stuaxo wrote: post #47
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.

Not that it matters much, but winfile.exe with long filename support lives on and can be installed from the Store even on Windows 10. https://apps.microsoft.com/store/detail/windows-file-manager...

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

#58

Post by elevendroids »

stuaxo wrote: post #47
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.

Those were still included in Windows NT 4.0 as optional features (similarly to the Win 3.1 tools on Windows 95).

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

#59

Post by bluedino »

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

Somewhat related article: Why wasn't the Windows 95 shell prototyped on Windows NT?

https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20120102-00/?p=87....

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

#60

Post by rpastuszak »

anthk wrote: post #35
rpastuszak wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure about running it from a bootable USB stick, but DOSBox + Win 3.11 was fairly simple to set up on Mac, i.e. I have no internet, but MS Bob works like charm.

DOSBox-X has internet support with NE2000.

Thanks!
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