Offler

Ok lets talk about the sound hardware I used: Soundblaster LIVE 5.1 (with SPDIF digital CD IN) And/or Soundblaster X-fi Fatality (extreme music) ATA DVD rom Samsung with SPDIF-CD Oout Bose speakers Software: Windows 98SE + KEX + Windows media player 9 WDM drivers for Soundblaster (they work by some miracle) Direct X 9.0 with Directsound and/or Windows 7 Ultimate x64 WDM drivers 32 bit Direct X 11 without Directsound (removed since vista) OpenAL, ALchemy Windows media player 11 (+-) Getting work SPDIF input on Win98 was a hard nut. No other software except WMP 9 was able to run it. But when it was done, and WMP has been tuned up to use digital-CD-IN the sound was very very good. to re-test it i have run program which consumed up the CPU, but the sound was still perfect. Therefore I believe that sound is processed via soundcard without any direct need of CPU. (hardware accelerated). But here the first and last degradation occurs. SB Live outputs sound natively in 48KHz while CD format is 44 KHz. New system, new hardware... But no SPDIF input for standard digital CD input. Still possibility to connect it via SPDIF IN but only via jack, not PIN. Until i construct that cable the sound must be "grabbed" and transported via ATA cable. Sound quality from CD has been here downgraded for the first time. there is not direct sound - therefore there is no pure hardware acceleration. When CPU is involved another sound stuttering might occur during high load of system. At all the card is able to output sound in 44Khz Still the older system has one less possible degradation... If I will be able to connect the DVD drive directly to the SPDIF it might help to improve sound quality. But is there any software able to play from SPDIF? Will see. But for me its strange to know that 10 years hardware has better sound as the new one.

I have tried dataram. works fine for the testing purposes... Has any of these ability to startup with system and let pagefile to be placed here? (due compatbilitiy issues I need pagefile).

Thanks guys. It works.

I have just setup an 8gb system and I am interested to run ramdrive. I searched a bit but except malware-like products or trial versions there was nothing useful. Any suggestions? Freeware will be best choice. Thanks.

I have just tested l3codex.ax ... Works well and i have confirmed that you need only to replace it in system directory. From Media Player Classic you just need to play any *.mp3 file and check the Filter name "Mpeg Layer-3 Decoder". check the version before and after the update. Before update i had version 1.5 (build 50) and now its 1.6 (Build 51). Also most interesting should be link to Fraunhofer institute web

Nero contains a lot of video filters. Dont know why for a CD-DVD burning sw.

Media player classic: The subtitle filter in player does not work on Windows 9x. Same is true for CD audio player and some other functions. I dont know why, but i always suceeded when i downloaded original filter and installed it manually. At all i dont think that fixing bugs in Win9x version is the priority for the development team now. For subtites with MPC: Vob Sub 2.23. There are newer versions of this filter, but you may experience trouble when playing movies in YUV2 YV12 colorspace (in Win9x). This one works for me. Supreme quality of text, but at cost of CPU... When you look on the settings of this subtitle filter you will see almost same settings which are included with Media player classic.

Win ME is Vista of its time. Buggy, big installation, ability to restore viruses and so on. I have been using it for some time, but I was really confused with it. For a long time i believe that best Windows ever released is Windows 2000. to Lightning slinger: Good to know that people here like P3-S Tualatins.

Few days ago there was some kind of error with YouTube. Some users of Opera reported that they need to re-install the Flashplayer. Since my old PIII has Win98SE and Vista as secondary system I tested it bit deeper. Reinstallation of Flash Player worked for Vista without reboot. For Win98 i was desperate. Accidentally i tried the Youtube some days later and it worked even on windows 98. Currently using Opera 10.52 and Flash Player 9.0.262.0 - the latest that Adobe offers for Windows 98. YouTube now declares which standard for flash is being... tolerated? At all modern browsers can support higher versions as Adobe flash 9, but what about Win9x? Installer is locked, but with Vista i still have an acess to the flash player itself - i just need to move it to Win9x and register it correctly.

Four things happened: 1. I was able to set "VMR9 Mixer mode" On in Media Player Classic. Effect: Enhanced DVD video playback, visible better color quality. 2. I found that i can play 4,1 (or 5,1) sound while in Surround mixer i can set any of the effect ON. 3. I use Creative Sound Blaster 5.1 with WDM drivers. anyway i was not able to reproduce my current system configuration. For me it is mystery how this works. 4. windows media player is after all able to play CDs via SPDIF interface without chops. This has been archieved by adjusting "Audio CD F:" properties. I selected "digital" playback and enabled "error correction". Too many things fixed recently. I did some minor changes since last system restore, i probably forget how i set them previously to work fine and now when I set them to correct values I am amazed at the way how they work. Just backing up my own system settings. Check them, i have been testing hundreds of any possible values on my hardware but these works best. Autoexec.bat @echo off cls @CTTY NUL LFNFOR ON set windir=c:\os set winbootdir=c:\os mode con codepage prepare=((852) C:\OS\COMMAND\ega.cpi) mode con codepage select=852 lh keyb sl,,C:\OS\COMMAND\keybrd2.sys rem c:\dos\xmsdsk\xmsdsk.exe 513732 K: /c1 /t /y c:\dos\xmsdsk\xmsdsk.exe 524288 K: /c1 /t /y rem C:\OS\COMMAND\label K: scorpion lh C:\dos\blaster\sbeinit.com c:\dos\shsucdx.com /d:AADVARK /Q /l:f c:\dos\cmouse\ctmouse.exe rem lh c:\dos\lsl rem c:\dos\e1000odi rem c:\dos\e1000pkt 0x60 rem c:\dos\ipxodi.com /a rem lh vc rem c:\umbpci\fastvid\fastvid.exe 111 -128 d0000000 SET PATH=%PATH%;C:\PROGRA~1\ATITEC~1\ATICON~1 c:\dos\umbpci\umbfill.com CTTY CON Config.sys SWITCHES=/F /E DOS=HIGH,UMB,noAUTO FILEShigh=150 FILES=150 BUFFERShigh=50,8 BUFFERS=50,8 LASTDRIVE=k FCBShigh=1,0 FCBS=1,0 STACKShigh=0,0 STACKS=0,0 DEVICE=C:\OS\HIMEM.SYS /numhandles=128 /hmain=64 /TESTMEM:OFF /Q DEVICE=C:\dos\EMM386.EXE RAM NOTR SET PATH=C:\OS;C:\OS\COMMAND;c:\vc;C:\DOS SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 SET CTSYN=C:\OS DEVICEhigh=C:\DOS\QCDROM.SYS /D:AADVARK rem SHELL=C:\COMMAND.COM C:\ /E:1280 /L:160 /U:160 /P /F ACCDATE=C- D- E- F- DEVICEhigh=C:\OS\SETVER.EXE DEVICEhigh=C:\OS\IFSHLP.SYS devicehigh=C:\OS\COMMAND\DISPLAY.SYS con=(ega,,1) Country=421,852,C:\OS\COMMAND\country.sys System.ini [boot] oemfonts.fon=vgaoem.fon shell=Explorer.exe system.drv=system.drv drivers=mmsystem.dll power.drv user.exe=user.exe gdi.exe=gdi.exe sound.drv=mmsound.drv dibeng.drv=dibeng.dll comm.drv=comm.drv mouse.drv=mouse.drv keyboard.drv=keyboard.drv *DisplayFallback=0 fonts.fon=vgasys.fon fixedfon.fon=vgafix.fon 386Grabber=vgafull.3gr display.drv=pnpdrvr.drv [keyboard] keyboard.dll= oemansi.bin=xlat852.bin subtype= type=4 [boot.description] system.drv=Štandardné PC keyboard.typ=Štandardná klávesnica 101 alebo 102 klávesov alebo klávesnica Microsoft Natural mouse.drv=Štandardná myš aspect=100,96,96 display.drv=RADEON X850 Series [386Enh] ebios=*ebios woafont=dosapp.fon mouse=*vmouse, msmouse.vxd device=*dynapage device=*vcd device=*vpd device=*int13 keyboard=*vkd display=*vdd,*vflatd MaxPhysPage=40000 ConservativeSwapfileUsage=0 MinSPs=16 DMABufferSize=64 PagingDrive=K: MinPagingFileSize=523264 MaxPagingFileSize=523264 MaxDMAPGAddress=1000 [NonWindowsApp] TTInitialSizes=4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 18 20 22 [power.drv] [drivers] wavemapper=*.drv MSACM.imaadpcm=imaadpcm.acm MSACM.msadpcm=msadpcm.acm MSVideo.VfWWDM=vfwwdm.drv wave=mmsystem.dll midi=mmsystem.dll VIDC.IV41=ir41.dll VIDC.IV32=ir32.dll VIDC.IV31=ir32.dll VIDC.YVU9=iyvu9.dll VIDC.MSVC=msvidc.drv VIDC.MRLE=MSRLE.drv [iccvid.drv] [mciseq.drv] [mci] cdaudio=mcicda.drv sequencer=mciseq.drv waveaudio=mciwave.drv 4 avivideo=mciavi.drv MPEGVideo=mciqtz.drv MPEGVideo2=mciqtz.drv [vcache] MaxFileCache=32768 MinFileCache=32768 ChunkSize=512 [MSNP32] [drivers32] msacm.lhacm=lhacm.acm VIDC.VDOM=vdowave.drv MSACM.imaadpcm=imaadp32.acm MSACM.msadpcm=msadp32.acm MSACM.msgsm610=msgsm32.acm MSACM.msg711=msg711.acm MSACM.trspch=tssoft32.acm vidc.CVID=iccvid.dll VIDC.IV31=ir32_32.dll VIDC.IV32=ir32_32.dll vidc.MSVC=msvidc32.dll VIDC.MRLE=msrle32.dll VIDC.IV50=ir50_32.dll msacm.iac2=C:\OS\SYSTEM\IAC25_32.AX msacm.l3acm=C:\OS\SYSTEM\L3CODECA.ACM VIDC.YUY2=msyuv.dll VIDC.UYVY=msyuv.dll VIDC.YVYU=msyuv.dll VIDC.I420=msh263.drv VIDC.IYUV=iyuv_32.dll vidc.X264=x264vfw.dll vidc.xvid=xvid.dll VIDC.HFYU=huffyuv.dll vidc.ffds=ff_vfw.dll msacm.avis=ff_acm.acm VIDC.YVU9=tsbyuv.dll [TTFontDimenCache] 0 4=2 4 0 5=3 5 0 6=4 6 0 7=4 7 0 8=5 8 0 9=5 9 0 10=6 10 0 11=7 11 0 12=7 12 0 13=8 13 0 14=8 14 0 15=9 15 0 16=10 16 0 18=11 18 0 20=12 20 0 22=13 22 Note: Since last of the tests i randomly performed was test of VcacheFix (which failed on my system) i have to put vcache.vxd info here. Modified: 11.2. 2008 (obviously the "fixed" version). I use selfcompiled vmm32.vxd which uses newer versions as defaults - maybe some trouble have been caused by this, and maybe some memory settings have been correctly set. Not sure about that.

Currently using: Verzia 10.51 Build 3315 Platforma Win32 Systém Windows 98 Hope you dont need translation. Everything works juuuust fine.

I use safe mode with more that 1GiB only with normally booted autoexec.bat and config.sys, while the dos ramdisk driver is active and consuming unusable memory. No need to hack, althought it does not solve the main problem. Another way i to use patch which is hanging there for some time.

i have been testing some browsers for Immolator project. IE6 failed, also just for curiosity i tested IE7 and 8 on newer windows. they did not pass either. After some experience with other browsers i tested Opera which passed the test and also is able to run on Win98SE. Also a reason why i started to use Opera. High compatibility with OS, and following the web standards.

I am using one monitor for normal work and i plan to use small samsung projector for TV and videos. I found some issues with any multimonitor setting. Applications using video rendering are crashing when attempt to drag them from one monitor to another, the same is when opening new application. Graphic card is X850xt so it is hard to say if it is caused by driver, or by DX... Have someone experience with dual monitors on win 9x?

newest haali renderer does not work for me. hard to say why.

There are generally some limits for memory. 1. 16 and 24 and 32 mb of ram. Dont remember which capacity is reccomended as minimum for Windows 95 and for 98. If you are below this limit GUI will start and perform very slow and computer performance will be more related to its harddisk. 2. 128/256 mb ram Here is limit for Win9x where people dont experience performance trouble related to memory. 3. 512 mb ram Generally reffered as maximum memory for windows 9x by some MS documents. 4. 768 mb ram Some sources referr to this number as last bootable amount of memory. Generally it is hardware limit for most of intel boards from years 1999 to 2001 so this amount was hardly to hit. 5. 1,128 mb ram This amount of memory was last bootable for me without any software modifications while all memory was available to system. 6. 1,512 mb ram My current configuration. 512 mb ram is used as ramdisk, and rebooting must be prevented by some settings in autoexec and config.sys. 7. 4 gb of ram With Rloews patch you can run system with amount of ram as with any other 32 bit Windows. Vcache trouble can be easily fixed. Set Maxfilecache to 32kb in system ini and you will never experience any trouble.

Haali renderer is completely hardware based as i know, and it works at least for me, but i rather prefer VMR9 or old Overlay mixer. X850 is relatively new card so it is possible that it will be fully supported for DXVA, but previous generation of 9x00 seems to be less supported (at all they are 9 years old...)

I was able to use DXVA on radeon x850 with Vista... which graphics do you have? by the way... article on guru3d is wrong when it comes to ati cards. UVD is not a part of GPU. As long i know it is a standalone chip placed on a card. Also GPU accelerated decoding depends on decoder you use. for example i use decoder for Mpeg2 which is HW accelerated. Other decoders are not supporting Win9x... You do not need proper drivers, you just need coded with ability of hardware acceleration, and that is GPU of course. When i also read some articles about DXVA i was quite surpised because author was talking about renderer, but when i downloaded the package i found codec. Thats a bit different. If you want to watch fully accelerated movies on win9x you can use Media Player classic and its internal Haali renderer alongside with any hardware accelerated decoder.

the image is not dx redist, it is software development kit. Some sort of libraries which can be used for SW development. They might install new files. Also DX redist from dec 2006 was the last one which was able to be installed on new fresh installation of Win98, but when you already had any previous DX9 installed you was also able to install newer package until november 2007. From my experience some new files were still available from this package, but i am not sure about it now.

Iced Earth - Angels Holocaust

I have a reason of putting Win7 here. Its because some people will buy new computer while selling the old one, only they migrate all data except OS. I want to see if there is a lot of these people. Also main reason of this poll is to see if people are running machines older thatn 2 or more years. Mostly the OS support for Win 95 and its derivations were supported 11 years, althought first practically usable systems were bit newer. Also the next generation of NT 5.0 which is currently still supported will have much longer lifespan that any other windows before... Some people which live in world of new things do not ever use anything older than 2 years no matter if it works or not. Really no offense, but i was able to work with my old Pentium III for eight years and only now i am going to make a really major upgrade.

Since I own one old but legal copy of Photoshop 7 i will always forget that somebody (including me) is looking for freeware replatecement. Here is list of some... 1. Gimp - not working with win9x. 2. GimpShop - looks more like photoshop, but works with original gimp. 3. Krita Part of KOffice of KDE. Porting linux to win9x was bit hard as i remember... 4. Paint.net Maybe should work but i havent test it yet. 5. Cine Paint - available for all OS except Windows 6. Seashore - another software not available for windows 7. Pixia - works on windows. Seems promising. 8. Pixen - Mac Only Other image editors i've are Web based and thus OS independent. Any interest? I shall look at Pixia, and Paint.net. If they fail to run on my machine it will be almost impossible to use something else as Photoshop 7 or web based editors. Edit: Pixia supports windows including all 9x versions. I am just bit confused at its GUI which is not as in photoshop and i have to learn how to work with it. At all will see.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Disk_Format Advantages over NTFS: - No journaling - better performance - no trouble with permissions - Acessible with multiple operating systems Advantages over FAT32: - Can handle bigger files Windows 98 can work with version 1.02. Since its behaviour is something that has not been tested yet with harddisks it might be interesting. I use UDF for DVDs and videocapturing. It is just a question how can other applications handle different filesystem. Generally there should be no trouble. Is there any disk tool available, such as scandisk or chkdsk to scan the drive for errors? And what exact method you have used for formatting? http://homepage.mac.com/wenguangwang/myhome/udf.html

I have been using UDF for some time even with IMGburn on windows 98. UDF seems really to be better solution for Windows 9x, but there is something else. I was able to acess 8gb files, even write 8gb files with video creating program, but i was never able to copy such files even from NTFS to NTFS drive. No matter what filesystem will be used this is limit in windows, at least for now.

DXVA does not work on Windows 98. I use Overlay mixer or the VMR9 - Video Mixing Renderer 9 - which is also part of DirectX 9. I know that both should be hardware accelerated, but it is not so completely. The difference is that the program responsible for rendering is running on CPU, while the rendering is handled by GPU, but more modern method is to use GPU not only for rendering, but also for running the rendering dynamic library (or executable). This makes rendering completely CPU independent and mostly much faster. Full HD format means for example 1920x1080 and 75 fps. It does not matter if it use Mpeg 1 or 2. Mpeg4 or H264 is used because of its better compression rate and later has now it is new compression standard. For Mpeg1 and 2 there is hardware which can accelerate the decompression process, or codecs which use GPU for this purpose even on Windows 98. For H264 the newer decompressor is not available even when there is hardware.. For AC3 decoding can be used old Soundblaster LIVE 5.1. I use it for this purpose and it helped me to bring another 10 percent of performance. Also if you wish to use Radeon 9800 for video decoding you can use Cyberlink PowerDVD. It is not freeware, but it was bundled to many older graphic cards. Last versions which also works with Windows 98 is version 6.0. In version 7.0 and 8.0 is also present module which makes available decompression of H264, but the module does not work with windows 98 kernel. WMV is container of media file... mostly based on WMV codec or Mpeg codec, but it can use other codecs. Its one of the worst methods of movie packaging because its too CPU consuming. Uncompressed AVI is something different, and also Matroska is something faster.