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Win7 is a no-go. Unable to find wireless network drivers. I suppose it is possible that one of my older USB adaptors will work but they are too slow and were replaced for a reason.

At the moment I have the following picture: - the latest version of IceApe that works properly: http://o.rthost.win/hbl-uxp/iceape.win32-20250531-id-656ea98-ia-c642e3c-uxp-4cb39ffa48-xpmod.7z - the latest version of IceApe that still works, but no longer supports restoring the previous session, as well as the "Recently Closed Tabs" feature: http://o.rthost.win/hbl-uxp/iceape.win32-20251220-id-656ea98-ia-c642e3c-uxp-b9f12b43c6-xpmod.7z - all subsequent versions currently available seem to be completely broken (they do not start): http://o.rthost.win/hbl-uxp/iceape.win32-20251225-id-656ea98-ia-c642e3c-uxp-fd19819276-xpmod.7z http://o.rthost.win/hbl-uxp/iceape.win32-20260110-id-656ea98-ia-c642e3c-uxp-3e9ca11775-xpmod.7z http://o.rthost.win/hbl-uxp/iceape.win32-20260117-id-656ea98-ia-c642e3c-uxp-aace8fa8c0-xpmod.7z http://o.rthost.win/hbl-uxp/iceape.win32-20260131-id-656ea98-ia-c642e3c-uxp-6ee9e34e29-xpmod.7z Is this happening to you now?

CPU overhead gained by using 720p over 1080p.

1080p but avc1 instead of av1. Some "breathing room" for cpu multitasking, but not much. "h264-ify" userscript:

CPU drop at change from 2160p/vp9 to 1080p/av1. No extensions. No lagging, but no CPU overhead for multitasking.

Test video at 2160p, VP9, no extensions - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLuTLF3x9sA Laggy as H#LL (obviously), all cores pegged to 100%.

Here is my Win11 -- only 0.9 GB of RAM used at startup, but yeah, it did bump up to 1.0 when I opened the "about" screen. That seems very much in-line with the "more-capable" versions of Linux. "Apples to apples" here is 11 with all AI removed since Linux doesn't have these AI features, so not really "fair" to compare Linux-without to Win-with. And yeah, it's a GOOD THING that there is no AI and the end-user doesn't have to jump through hoops to remove/disable.

My wi-fi is pretty fast. Yeah, I'm only on a 500 Mbps ISP but my wi-fi connects anywhere from 300 all the way to the full 500. Two TV's are currently streaming news so that does bring me down a tad during these screencaps. At any rate, this is PLENTY FAST ENOUGH for YouTube "watchability".

In 10, my test-case browser is not going to be the same as my test-case browser when I install 7. Mainly because 10 has MORE AVAILABLE and 7 will be "limited" to something like e3kskoy7wqk or r3dfox. While some may consider this to not be "apples to apples", that is not my goal here, I want to know if 7 or 10 is "better" for YouTube. And that will determine which OS *stays* on this 'junk hardware'. Should still be "very close" (e3k-needs-easier-name has a HIGHER version of Chromium as I write this).

I opted to install 10 first. Admittedly, I fear that to be a mistake because I will very likely end up with 10 so I should have done it last.

I may revisit Q4OS. I actually suspected from the get-go that I made a *MISTAKE* when *not* selecting the TRINITY desktop. I did not screencap, but Q4OS ate up 6.5 GB of only 8 GB RAM. That was on a DIFFERENT computer, but still, that's one helluva lot of RAM consumption just for the desktop!

Hi, I am going to build from scratch a Lan driver for XP SP3 for any i219. I use Ndis5.1 original from XP, not Ndis6 from Vista, win7 etc. Just now, for the very first time, I get this my lan driver startet under XP. Oh crazy..what a hard work with Windbg Dietmar 0: kd> !devnode 8b5e8ee8 DevNode 0x8b5e8ee8 for PDO 0x8b51ccf8 Parent 0x8b5e9998 Sibling 0x8b5e8dc8 Child 0000000000 InstancePath is "PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_15B8&SUBSYS_15B81849&REV_00\3&11583659&0&FE" ServiceName is "i219" State = DeviceNodeStarted (0x308) Previous State = DeviceNodeEnumerateCompletion (0x30d) StateHistory[07] = DeviceNodeEnumerateCompletion (0x30d) StateHistory[06] = DeviceNodeStarted (0x308) StateHistory[05] = DeviceNodeStartPostWork (0x307) StateHistory[04] = DeviceNodeStartCompletion (0x306) StateHistory[03] = DeviceNodeResourcesAssigned (0x304) StateHistory[02] = DeviceNodeDriversAdded (0x303) StateHistory[01] = DeviceNodeInitialized (0x302) StateHistory[00] = DeviceNodeUninitialized (0x301) StateHistory[19] = Unknown State (0x0) StateHistory[18] = Unknown State (0x0) StateHistory[17] = Unknown State (0x0) StateHistory[16] = Unknown State (0x0) StateHistory[15] = Unknown State (0x0) StateHistory[14] = Unknown State (0x0) StateHistory[13] = Unknown State (0x0) StateHistory[12] = Unknown State (0x0) StateHistory[11] = Unknown State (0x0) StateHistory[10] = Unknown State (0x0) StateHistory[09] = Unknown State (0x0) StateHistory[08] = Unknown State (0x0) Flags (0x000000f0) DNF_ENUMERATED, DNF_IDS_QUERIED, DNF_HAS_BOOT_CONFIG, DNF_BOOT_CONFIG_RESERVED CapabilityFlags (0x00002000) WakeFromD3

Hello NotHereToPlayGames, MSFN certainly is no forum for Linux experts. Nevertheless here are some charts for you. Contrast these charts with M$ Windows11 !! (By Gary Sims & Andy Walker)

Chromium 146.0.7679.0 still have MV2 support --enable-features=AllowLegacyMV2Extensions --disable-features=ExtensionManifestV2DeprecationWarning,ExtensionManifestV2Disabled,ExtensionManifestV2Unsupported in shortcut.

I added links to download the latest versions of WidevineCDM and added a guide for Windows 7 in the first post.

Thank you for testing. That is certainly strange behavior, the only way I think that would be able to work is if my driver is loading first, sets up communication to the codecs, configures the codec at address 0 to start receiving from stream 1, then is unloaded. Then the Watler's driver loads later, sets up the controller a second time, doesn't send any messages to codec 0 and just starts streaming audio to stream 1 which happens to go to the right place. Can you tell me what chipset / PCH that netbook is using as well as the PID and VID of the HDA controller ? It's becoming clear that I'm missing a lot of newer Intel chipsets that should have the nosnoop flag set and I should probably send a pull request to Sbemul and VSBHDA once I know everything that's missing. I haven't been able to do much coding lately as I have been ill and screens are still giving me headaches.

Just tested Google again with retrozilla v2.2 and k-meleonW9x v1.5.4. Still working on Windows 98SE. Further still same limitations as mentioned in my post above from September 21, 2025.

Today's "find". Darik's Boot and Nuke 2.3.0 (DBAN) - secure 3-pass "wipe" of hard drive to ensure that no data can be recovered after donating it. The POC Acer Aspire One showed ELEVEN HOURS for a "wipe" using Active@ Boot Disk's KillDisk (was just over 2hrs for the Acer Aspire X). DBAN is 43min in and shows 4hrs 33min remaining - using DoD Short 3-pass option. Largely, of course, due to the collosal POC nature of the Acer Aspire One. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darik's_Boot_and_Nuke https://sourceforge.net/projects/dban/

So below are my five oldest computers. The Intel Atom N450 (Acer Aspire One, 16yrs old, barely used, worst purchase ever!) is officially going to Goodwill. The Intel Celeron N3050 (Acer Aspire X, 11yrs old, freebie) is also officially going to Goodwill. The Intel Core2 Quad Q6700 is undergoing a small journey. I'm unsure of the depths of that journey at the moment. I installed Q4OS (based on Debian Linux) on the Intel Core i5-6300U. I did Plasma instead of Trinity, but eating up 6.5GB RAM out of only 8GB was a "H#LL NO!" and it got uninstalled. But that basically tells me that it would be a WASTE OF TIME to install Q4OS (or even Zorin) onto the Q6700 computer. So I have narrowed my options to Win7 Enterprise and Win10 LTSB 2016. I'm looking to compare/contrast YouTube "watchability".

Hi Isolar, long time no see. About your question: there are two possibilities, or their combination. 1) Your HD Audio controler needs a nosnoop bit set, you can check with WPCREdit. 2) The parser of WDMHDA identified some verbs you didn't use in your HDAICOUT.HDA. Possible candidates: 'opening' inputs (mixer?), EAPD or GPIO. Search in this thread for verbs.

Hi Deomsh! I was on this thread about 5 years ago and you assisted me to get audio working on a Soundmax AD1981HD codec. Since then I have also managed to get audio working on IDT 92HD75B3X5 codec and a Realtek ALC272 codec. I'm currently working on a 10EC 0280 codec which I have had limited success with so far, seemingly by using a mix of Watler's driver and Drew Hoffman's driver he is developing. If there's any info I can provide to assist your database please let me know and I'll be happy to assist. To note: the 10EC 0280 codec using Watler's is having the codec index mapping issue (it is mapped as index $2 which is actually the HDMI audio out, and the codec index should be $0), but with a combination of Hoffman's driver I am able to get sound - but no idea why. If you have any theories here I would be keen to know. Thank you and all the best!

Hi Drew, With initial help from Deomsh over at the 'Audio driver for Realtek HD Audio' thread, I have been using Watler's driver to get HD Audio working on Windows 98 laptops for a while, and came across one that I had some trouble with. Currently I have managed to get SoundMax AD1981HD working on a HP6710b laptop, IDT 92HD75B3X5 working on a HP 6550b laptop, and Realtek ALC272 working on a Lenovo S10-3 laptop with Watler's. Attempting a Lenovo S20-30 proved difficult as the codec was identified as 10EC 0280 of which I could not locate a datasheet for. I used HDAICIN responses to identify all NID's/CAPS and found the connection path to be the same as ALC 272 (and most other Realtek codecs from the looks of things) with $01 = AFG, $02 = DAC, $0C = Audio Out connected to NID $14, and NID $14 = Line Out. I managed to create a working HDAICOUT.HDA file but no sound. I had stumbled across your driver (great work I can see this being invaluable in the future!) and trialed v16, but sadly no sound to start with. So I re-installed Watler's to try some other options. What I notice is that your driver, although removed from device manager and 're-installed' to Watler's, is maybe still using the registry entries, so when I go to multimedia settings I can see the WDM driver still listed as an option, along with the midi/volume control, however Watler's is selected and installed. The HDA.SYS driver file still exists in windows\system32. The veeeery interesting thing here is that this combination has helped me to get sound working (although buggy) on the S20-30 laptop! I have no idea how or why this works but hoping you could shed some light on it, or I can provide you some more info that may be able to help you with development? I did try to rename HDA.SYS to HDA.BAK and rebooted but got no sound at reboot which indicates to me that although Watler's driver is installed it is still somehow using HDA.SYS in combination with HDA2.DLL to route the sound to the speaker - I am good with verbs but not with codec initialization, CORB, RIRB etc. To note: HDAcfg.ini from Watler's driver shows codec index $2 is active, which is incorrect (this is the HDMI audio out, whereas the 10EC 0280 codec is on index $0) so how I am getting any sound at all is a mystery.. At boot I get a high pitched squeal through the speakers until the initial windows start sound finishes, then I can go to sounds and play the sound samples. DirectX 9C is installed and runs the tests all okay. Happy to assist here with any information I can provide to get you further and help me understand why sound works with this combination, just let me know if anything is required. All the best and I will be following your progress. Cheers!

Good finding! Any [locked] buffer (page aligned, of course) can be converted to WC (on processors with PAT support, of course) or UC. Undocumented but officially under Windows 98 & ME (WDM case) and direct hardware access under Windows 95. P.S. >Unlike Microsoft I only need the driver to function on x86 But you have to struggle with any hardware incompatibility then.

I'm setting the PCI config flags based on vendor and device ID, and 8d20 is currently in the list while 10F0 isn't. The white list from mpxplay probably wasn't updated for 10 years. Need to find the most up to date version of that list of device IDs. Snd-HDA-Intel doesn't seem to use that approach anymore. Alternatively I should set nosnoop on all unknown Intel device IDs and only enumerate the devices that don't need it (ICH 8 and 9 and what else?), and also add a registry config option to force it on or off. Unlike Microsoft I only need the driver to function on x86, if someone is dedicated enough to get it working for Win2k on Alpha I'm not really sure what hardware exists to use it on. Video cards with HDMI audio that won't have drivers anyway and maybe one Terratec pro audio card? I did manage to find an official description of the caching policies of the UAA driver: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/drivers/audio/data-copying-and-caching-policy Just don't know a good way to get the audio buffer to be MmWriteCombined on Win98 while still using PortCls WaveCyclic. Could add an extra bounce buffer and do a third buffer copy? Could also discard the whole framework of PortCls and write a Stream driver instead which would save a buffer copy anyway, or make a VxD driver, or fix Watlers?

OT: I made a preliminary, quick test under Win98. I test-installed under Win98 a slightly earlier version, Kaspersky Anti-Virus v6.0.3.837 Workstation (MP3, 25Feb2009), then attempted to update using this newly-found AutoPatch. It did not work v6.0.3 requires different folder names in the update folder. I also got the error message: "License verification failed" when I tried to update. Maybe v6.0.3 does not have a free 1st update, in contrast to My Ancient Version of Kaspersky, I don't remember. 10+ years ago I had a valid license, now expired long ago, so I didn't have the issue "License verification failed". Summary: it didn't work but maybe I will look into it again, much later.