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Chicago95 – Windows 95 Theme for Linux

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Re: Chicago95 – Windows 95 Theme for Linux

#211

Post by [deleted] »

wanderingstan wrote: post #49
soraminazuki wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not how I remember it. Windows 9x was slow and constantly crashing. Booting and launching programs took ages. To be fair, the performance problems had more to do with the available hardware back then, but still.

Hard to believe that a few system crashes per day was the norm. You just hoped you hadn’t lost too much, would re-boot and go get a drink while you waited. Due to that “training” I still hit CTRL-S obsessively even when it hasn’t been needed for years.

[deleted]

Re: Chicago95 – Windows 95 Theme for Linux

#212

Post by Narishma »

justsomehnguy wrote: post #63
mcny wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> windows didn't really get any more usable after that... The old UI is good but I am not a fan of the everything is folders and files idea of the start menu. Maybe I'm misremembering but iirc as a child I used to forget which sub menu inside the thing I needed was except for the ones I used frequently. I like being able to just type obs and press enter in the new windows. I preferred the old theme better than window…

> iirc I only had 128MB on my pentium 4 computer Which is quite strange, because even P2 level machines already had 64-128MBs of RAM, eg look at Quake 3 sysrq.

Not strange at all. I remember having a couple of P4 laptops with just 128MB of RAM. Even one with only 64MB but that one might have been a P3.

Re: Chicago95 – Windows 95 Theme for Linux

#214

Post by tommica »

troad wrote: post #187
tommica wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a hail mary, but would there be something similar for getting the Win XP look? I'd love that

There is a KDE theme called 'Expose', by the same person who made Reactionary, which looks like it might be what you're after. (For icons, there's a set called just called 'Windows XP').

Neat, thanks!

Re: Chicago95 – Windows 95 Theme for Linux

#215

Post by tracker1 »

soraminazuki wrote: post #26
reacharavindh wrote: post #4

Not that I want the UX To _look_ like Windows 95, but I sure do feel nostalgic how fast and responsive the desktop “felt” back in those days. These days, it is a rarity to see a native app that is as responsive. It feels like all native apps burn through CPU cycles in cosmetic things and animations that it feels sluggish in comparison.

That's not how I remember it. Windows 9x was slow and constantly crashing. Booting and launching programs took ages. To be fair, the performance problems had more to do with the available hardware back then, but still.

I think it largely came down to how much RAM you had in your system.. 4MB was mostly okay, and sluggish, 8-16 much more usable... 32+ was downright snappy.

I recall using an AMD 5x86@133 with 64mb ram with Win95 then NT4 and it was very usable at the time. It wasn't the best for gaming, my cpu/gpu weren't great, but for general work/productivity use it was pretty great for the time. I had received the wrong ram by mistake, and it worked... was supposed to be 16mb.

edit: I also recall paying extra to add in a cache module on that mb.

Re: Chicago95 – Windows 95 Theme for Linux

#216

Post by tracker1 »

throwaway2990 wrote: post #16
moron4hire wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My Windows 11 laptop at home is quite snappy. My Windows 10 laptop at work with more RAM, a better SSD, and a newer, faster CPU, is not. It's because they virus scan and authorization check every single file access, every time. Even starting small programs like Notepad takes at least 2 seconds at work whereas it's instantaneous at home. Same story at my previous job. Actually, my work laptop had been faster than my p…

I got a dell XPS 15 for work, 2022 one. 32gb 12700h. It’s slow and loud. Especially compared to my personal laptop. Not enough to be annoying tho. But then IT decided they want some software installed to make sure they can monitor for bad processes. Wow it’s annoyingly slow now for development because every process is analysised.

I find that doing almost everything under WSL is a much better experience, if you can spare enough ram to the environment. Mostly because the monitoring software doesn't run inside the WSL/Ubuntu env.

Re: Chicago95 – Windows 95 Theme for Linux

#217

Post by tracker1 »

bitwize wrote: post #144
reacharavindh wrote: post #4

Not that I want the UX To _look_ like Windows 95, but I sure do feel nostalgic how fast and responsive the desktop “felt” back in those days. These days, it is a rarity to see a native app that is as responsive. It feels like all native apps burn through CPU cycles in cosmetic things and animations that it feels sluggish in comparison.

Windows 9x feels snappy and responsive -- on a VM on modern hardware. On the hardware of the day... yeah, it chugged. You needed about 16 MiB of RAM and a graphics accelerator for acceptable performance in 1995, and that was quite a beefy system for that year.

I got the wrong ram (64mb instead of 16) and will say it ran like a dream on a 5x86-133 with a cache module. NT4 ran really well on there as well for the time. OS/2 didn't behave quite right, after NT4 I never really looked back. Kept a 9x partition for games only.

Re: Chicago95 – Windows 95 Theme for Linux

#218

Post by seabass-labrax »

winrid wrote: post #173
seabass-labrax wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My Intel Pentium 4 machine usually runs reliably and responsively, but you have to be careful: the default Windows picture viewer instantly freezes the PC if you click 'next image' before the current one has finished loading!

In XP it would be fine. Are you running win10 on a P4? Madman :)

Haha not Windows 10 :) Actually it was Windows XP... I cannot remember which Service Pack, but I believe it is the second. One day I'll try NetBSD on it...

Re: Chicago95 – Windows 95 Theme for Linux

#220

Post by sombragris »

troad wrote: post #25

I'm a big fan of this aesthetic. If you appreciate the usability of W95 without needing a pixel perfect copy, it's very easy to theme KDE to strike a really good balance. As your global theme, use 'Reactionary'. Set your application style to 'MS Windows 9x'. For your icons, use 'Memphis98'. For cursors, 'Hackneyed (scaleable)'. Your Plasma style, colours, and window decorations should all follow your global theme (Re…

I completely agree, but in my personal preference I would use the KDE1 window deco rather than the Windows 95/Redmond one. The Win95 style is good, but KDE1 is even better IMHO.
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