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Windows 96

windows96.net

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Re: Windows 96

#251

Post by dclowd9901 »

thatwasunusual wrote: post #29

Pretty. :) Gives me PTSD-like flashbacks to the time when I was tasked with installing Windows 95 on 50+ computers on the local school. For the young(er), Windows was on 14-ish 3.5" floppy disks, and I had to do some heavy calculation and logistics copying those discs while installing the OS to make my effort as efficient as possible. IIRC, I managed to keep the installing cyclus going on 28 computers at a time, and…

I give a little prayer to people like you when I add a few more numbers to my “matrix” field in GitHub actions and spin up 4 more machines in parallel.

Re: Windows 96

#252

Post by dclowd9901 »

bootlooped wrote: post #125
pram wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Windows 95/98 definitely decayed over time. Especially after installing stuff like AOL and RealPlayer, your system was like a disgusting cesspool of random trash. I distinctly remember nuking the entire thing would noticeably increase my frame rate in stuff like Homeworld lol

To day I still factory reset my PC and my phone about once a year, just to keep them fresh. I have no idea if it's still helpful with modern a OS.

I have to think that at least with modern phone OSes, apps are so compartmentalized, that there really isn’t an opportunity to pollute your entire phone.

But feel free to look at all the extensions and bullshit you have in your browsers and bash shell

Re: Windows 96

#253

Post by nly »

Did anyone notice you can run the real Windows 95 in dosbox by installing it from the package manager?

Re: Windows 96

#254

Post by nly »

yyyk wrote: post #223

Massive regression compared to Windows 95 - there's no minesweeper or freecell.

You can install Windows 95 from the package manager (runs in dosbox), and both minesweeper and freecell are present.

Re: Windows 96

#255

Post by touggourt »

pjerem wrote: post #193
jamal-kumar wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I learned computers because in 1996 I was completely ignorant and a little kid who decided to drag everything into the recycle bin because I thought it would be 'recycled' back into place but really it just destroyed windows enough that I had to learn how to reinstall from floppies created in DOS

I like how old OSes let you place anything in the recycle bin, or remove system files without permission (because the concept barely existed). Simplicity at the extreme. I miss those times where hacking and learning was as easy as breaking things and repairing them. But I think this also was a source of fear against computers for most people : if I click on the wrong place, it will break and cost money. Nowadays syst…

The concept of permissions existed far before Win95 launch. At least on Unix and WinNT. As a Unix and WinNT seller, Microsoft knows it perfectly. It was also not possible on Macos to through system files in the trash bin.

Re: Windows 96

#256

Post by nyanpasu64 »

sangnoir wrote: post #177
jamal-kumar wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just looked it up -- Windows 98 was THIRTY EIGHT floppy disks hahahahaha

I don't think there any modern tech modern that can induce the stomach-turning horror of hearing hearing the pitiful, repetitive grinding of the floppy drive motor that presaged a "Cyclic Redundancy Check error"

Does the hard drive click of death count?

Re: Windows 96

#257

Post by consp »

10000truths wrote: post #108
luxuryballs wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I like to think that if we tried installing Windows 10 entirely via floppy disks the floppy drive would fail somewhere around disk 5000.

The Windows 10 ISO is ~3.5 GB in size, and a standard 3.5 in. floppy could hold 1.44 MB. So you'd actually need almost 2500 floppies.

The Windows install floppy disks almost always came on DMF formatted disks which hold 1.68mb of data. That saves you about 350 floppies.

Fyi: that is as far as I know the reason for most oldy cab installation files being that size.

Re: Windows 96

#258

Post by kijin »

thatwasunusual wrote: post #163
kijin wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I remember those floppies... The 8th disk was kinda finicky on older hardware. I think that's where the installer actually tried to switch from DOS to Windows mode. If it failed for whatever reason, you had to start again from the 1st disk.

What happened the 2nd time you hit the 8th disk? I assume not much had changed, except the weather outside?

The weather might help, as well as the phase of the moon.

But you could be a little more scientific and try different parameters once you went back to disk 1. Maybe also remove some of the more questionable drivers or memory-saving tweaks from your DOS configuration while you were at it. Or perhaps it was just a flaky floppy drive that randomly flipped a bit somewhere.

Re: Windows 96

#260

Post by julian_t »

jamal-kumar wrote: post #112
koyote wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Back in those days re-formatting and re-installing Windows was a very common thing because usually the system would get into some kind of bad state after several months of usage (or at least mine did). I believe I only had a Windows 98 'Upgrade' CD, which could not be used to install on a bare system. This meant I had to first install a previous copy Windows, which in my case was Windows 95 on floppy disks (and I fee…

I just looked it up -- Windows 98 was THIRTY EIGHT floppy disks hahahahaha

I once had to install a Unix system that came on over 90 floppies... and failed about two before the end :-(
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