BenoitRen

Because WinXP is even more bloated can do almost everything that WinXP can. Linux has better compatibility because people write drivers for them. You don't see people doing that for Win9x. Of course, it's not all perfect, because if the manufacturer refuses to make their driver open source, it's an uphill battle. I don't agree. It's a WinNT clone, not a Win9x clone. What? They didn't. They just took Windows 2000 and twisted the thing into a consumer version.

The open-source community is strong, yes, but not almighty. Windows-specific hardware has been out for a while already, and they are still a problem. Not only in terms of support, but for efficiency as well. Read http://www.debian.org/releases/stable/i386...ml.en#id2517701

Indeed, I was referring to the needed space on the HDD, not the size of the HDD. Just like any other system requirements table... Neat! I've read about BeOS, it seems quite good. Its main goal was to have an uncrashable system, which it achieved. I'm sure it could have been a nice little game computer as well. Not to mention that every computer also is a good typing machine. You could probably browse the web with it too using Lynx, Dillo, or some other light-weight browser, and send e-mail.

If GNU/Linux really is better than Windows, it should require less, not more, in my opinion. It's not as hard as it sounds. And once you've learned how to compile something, it's easy to recompile that same project. Also, there are message boards and IRC channels out there to help you if something goes wrong that you can't figure out. Pretty good, since many distributions now also have a package manager with a GUI. You select the software you want to install (you have to have root priviledges, though), and there it is. The downside is that the package has to be available. That's a problem for everyone using alternative OSs or browsers thanks to silly company/college policies.

I read the installation manual on Debian's site, and I'm not sure if Debian is for me. The (minimum!) system requirements are a bit disturbing for someone who just wants the equivalent of Windows 95 OSR 2.x: Install Type: With Desktop RAM: 64 megabytes Hard Drive: 1 gigabyte Compare this with what I would recommend for my Windows 95 install: RAM: 32 MB HD: 300 MB I'm wondering if the requirement is for the regular Debian install. I haven't seen something specifically labelled as "base" (except in the documentation), only a network install, which I'd rather avoid in favor of having a CD. I've just seen that you the kernel by default has a lot of drivers, but that you can recompile it with only what you need, which is good. I would also like to know if it's possible to have the floppy boot Linux so my hard drive's MBR remains unaffected.

I was already planning to get a new computer one of these days anyway. I've had a Win98 SE disc for at least half a year already. Just need to buy the parts...

But if you use nLite, you're not really using 2000/XP anymore, but your custom-built Windows 2000/XP. When you recommend an OS to someone else, keep in mind that they may not want to bother with or not know of removing things they don't like. Defaults and setup options are important, and part of the OS.

Posting from **** Small Linux with Firefox 1.0.6. I made a boot floppy as suggested earlier, and booted the CD with that. DSL was created to be the best Live CD, so I don't need to install yet. If I do, there's this Frugal install type that just requires a different partition or something, and then you can write GAG or Lilo or something somewhere. Looks good, I had some fun playing MineSweeper, of all things. The rendering speed seems slower than Win95's, though, and I haven't found the option to adjust mouse sensivity (way too low). Makes for a nice side-OS.

That's Linux' biggest problem. There are so many distributions that you don't know what to choose. There are so many window managers you don't know what to choose. Standardisation is a big problem.

Thanks, glocK_94. Installed the GTK runtime. Oddly, it wanted to install in a GTK subdirectory of the chosen path. I knew this would give problems, since GTK 2.0 runtimes are usually installed in GTK/2.0 of the Common Files directory. Anyway, I proceeded. Next I tried GAIM 1.5. Needed GTK 2.6.9. GAIM 1.0.1 and below all wanted a GTK 2.4 version. GAIM 0.79 is the last that accepts a GTK 2.2 version. GAIM 0.76 or so was the version I tried before, I think. It gave me problems. So I closed everything first. GAIM.DLL yielded an error. Ran Dependency Walker on it. It couldn't find any of the GTK files. I saw that the GAIM downloads section also offered GTK runtimes, so I looked at the list. No GTK 2.3, but the last GTK 2.2. I'm starting to think that there never was a GTK 2.3. Actually, if the versioning is like Linux' kernel, it was probably an unstable developer version. There's no GTK 2.5 either. Now GAIM ran. Looked at the system resources. 94%. Tried to open a second instance, got a white error box without text with a Close box. Then I couldn't open anything from my desktop anymore. I still had one folder open, so I pulled that up and looked at the system resources. 94%. I closed GAIM. Explorer became unresponsive. Eventually I could terminate it. Then I couldn't do anything anymore. MSGSRV32 hanged as well, it was terminated. Selected "Shut Down" from Ctrl + Alt + Del. It didn't do anything. I couldn't even Ctrl + Alt + Del anymore. The Reset button was my last exit. EDIT: By the way, since we're on the subject of GTK anyway, I have to wonder what the webmasters of the GIMP website are smoking. How do they intend on supporting GIMP 2.0 on Windows 95 when it requires GTK 2.4? Pssh.

To be honest, the division between the two forums isn't clear. It seems to me that the more technical issues get discussed in this subforum, and more general questions in the main one.

The CreateMD5SSOHash API can't be called on my system. I think it is the reason why MSN Messenger 5.0 won't log me in. It's part of WININET.DLL, of which I have placed the most recent version in WINDOWS\SYSTEM. According to Microsoft, this API is there since IE3... So I'm really wondering what the problem is. I thought it might be related to MSOSS.DLL, so I tried to register it, but it's not one meant to be, it seems. I've tried the usual. Dependency Walker, Filemon, and Regmon. I fail to understand what's going on.

I looked on that page before. I don't see an installer for version 2.3 of the GTK run-time environment on it.

Thanks for the help. I found the latest version for Win98/WinME of GTK. However, those idiots decided to put a version check on the installer! Windows 95 was dropped starting with GTK 2.4. I'm unable to find an installer for GTK 2.3...

Well, Miranda is just a shell that can't operate without plug-ins, no? I think I tried the MSN plug-in.

Yes, I tried Miranda, and I couldn't figure out the plug-in mess.

Simple question. What's the latest version of GAIM that works under Win9x? Version 1.5 wants some APIs that don't exist under Win95, and some that don't even exist in Win9x at all (*W APIs)! The only version of GAIM that I got to run was version 0.73, but it sucked up system resources like no tomorrow, making it almost unrunnable. I expect that a version that runs on Win98 could be made to be run on Win95...

AcerScan 620U. I used to have a CD with drivers for it and PhotoExpress, but my brother lended it to a friend years ago (**** pirates), and I never saw it back. Recently, after figuring that whining to my brother and parents wouldn't do anything, I called him and asked my CD back. He was going to look for it, but I haven't heard anything back. I'll continue investigating this. Meanwhile I tried to find drivers on the Internet for it, which I found, but they don't seem to work. Hell, the installation doesn't even detect that I'm on Windows 95 OSR 2.x, and complains about that (though you can choose to continue anyway). Now the scanner is completely useless as recently my rabbit bit into the power wire (not connected). According to my mom the wire was getting hardened too. I'll have to get a replacement. *sigh* Didn't he say that he doesn't anymore, as there are no Radeon drivers for it? Thanks, but that's where I already found it months ago.

Windows 2000 is a good OS, but only with Service Pack 4, and preferably with IE ripped out. I don't know about Linux as an alternative. They always seem to want to throw as much crap on you as possible, and the main window managers, KDE and Gnome, are designed for high-end PCs, so they are kind of a hog. A small Linux distribution like DamnSmallLinux with the FVWM95 window manager would be a good alternative, I think.

I'm in need of a step-by-step procedure. I've resolved to install/run either DamnSmallLinux or Ubuntu. Booting will be done via GAG on a floppy. So, first I make a boot floppy as explained on the DSL site, and run the CD with that. Does the install include a partition manager utility to resize and create partitions? I only have one at the moment. Then how do I enable the use of a GAG floppy?

Developing faster hardware is not nonsense. Creating operating systems that require faster hardware to run is.

I almost fell asleep there. The argument wasn't compelling enough.

And why do you have to disable scripting and downloads? Because its implementation is insecure! Other browsers do not come with ActiveX, and you don't get infected if you allow scripting and downloading for all sites.

It's not only a security nightmare, it also has a f***ed-up behaviour when it comes to rendering web pages. Additionally, it's quite ancient in its support of web standards.

Win982ME only transplants the files that got improved instead of made more buggy.