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i have single core single threaded cpu - Intel Pentium III-S "Tualatin". therefore any higher OS is waste of effort. I need Win32 based environment with DOS support, with widest HW support possible. WDM standard is the most spreaded driver standard and windows 98SE is the best for me. This configuration gives me full compatibility from year 1980 to year 2004 (Radeon x850), and software i can run is much newer - such as Oblivion and Prey from 2006. XP needs emulator for this spectrum of applications, i need upgraded kernel (kex). Most dos based apps (optimized for Pentium Pro and later) can run flawlessly, all Win16-bit apps from Windows 3.11 and earlier too, and also all true Win32 apps can run and Win32xp surely will run when KEX will reach version 1.0.0 Also I still think that KEX is better than dos emulation which should be never perfect.

version 1.1 recently uploaded. enjoy

changes made today - Added readme.txt - fixed minor graphical bug in "Close only" and "help" button windows - Changed "Pop-Up" blinking button in taskbar - Changed progress bar to "Quicksilver" I failed to create scrollbars which will look better than the old original scrollbars. i like the old ones so i will keep them there Also i still did not find a way how to move the buttons in maximized window to their correct position... Any hint from you oh Tihyi? if this bug will not be fixed within week i will release the theme as version 1.1 In next versions i plan to find some new icons (or create them), but it will take much more time. Also the wallpaper... hmm i am not skilled enough I have on mind something with sun, clouds and sky of course

well if there is 50 percent of XP users and 50 percent of 9x users but XP users are more active in clicking and reading they may reach higher percentage in acessing maybe it just shows from which OSs are using most webbots i think that only useable method is to use unique acessing to large portals such as google or yahoo, but still it is hard to distinguish if the user is single or there is a swarm hidden behind router. but honestly, when walking thorought the city it is hard to find other PC that IBM compatible with XP.

to geek: remember the windows ME overbloated, with no real needed features, practically same as previous version... I have seen XP and worked with them in work and home for some time. i dont see no real benefit in using them instead of using 98SE... but we are already OT. people here really are not interested how many people are currently using XP or 98SE. the numbers from different networks may vary dramatically. what i am sure about is that people HERE are interested in further development of OS based on Win9x platform (full dos support, hybrid 24bit kernel, ability to execute Win32 based apps) and if possible to do it legally and in way which may be little bit more professional and user friendly.

i would be happier to keep this theme for uberskin and windows 9x only.

is here somebody familiar with skinning engines for xp or vista? how can be this skin ported to them? just theoretically.

to cluberti: many software developers told me that it is better to use fully 32bit operating system (which means that it uses all 32bit dlls - as 2k/Xp does). they told me about trouble with 16bit mutex and so on. told... they were crying just as a lazy kid which has to go somewhere for a walk and not by car in many cases 16bit code means limitation, but also it does not automatically means that "less bits=less efficiency". if a simple 4-8-16 bit program can return its values correclty i dont know why i should not use such app in any system if it does its job properly. by the way most systems now runs on very very old code which is integrated very deeply in any computer (famous y2k ) and only thing i have heard from sw developers was that XP is better made.. jeez, they havent even heard about linux? about old good Mac? have they been able to work with OS which is not so user friendly as XP indeed is? i dont believe it. Face to face Win98SE versus WinXP with approx 20 drivers and 20 testing applications i have identified same bugs in behaviour for both OSes. No new bugs appeared, no unpredicted crashes happen. Both systems were runing on same hardware, with almost same drivers (only graphic card used different one). I am little bit strange, because i test things that are supposed to be facts, and i like to turn them into myths. Stability of WinXP is indeed better, but it has nothing to do with 16 or 32bit system modules as it was presented by programmers and maybe by ms. The drivers and the apps are the reason. Programmers just learned how to create them correctly. in year 95 only few people mastered it really, in 2000 the situation was much better and today i can run wide range of apps without any major trouble. (and only few people are able to run Windows 9x working for days without forced reboot or APP crash ) to PuntoMX: i cannot say that. Win9x and WinXp systems are very similar in way how they work. In year 2002 somebody said same thing about Windows 9x and today it is being used by 1 percent of all users. XP and its majority is realtively new phenomenon. I personally did not find XP better as 98. it has skinning (win98 now has it) new kernel exports (win98 now has them), NTFS (i dont need bigger files than 4gb and practically DVDs barely hold them on their filesystems). But also i havent found XP worse than 98SE. they are equal for me. two different operating systems, with different capabilities. dropping of SW support is just about lazyness of game developers, but if the win98 now can offer evolution for the future same can happen to XP. question is how many people from 95 of all pc users are programmers skilled enough to make so sophisticated (or bloated) os compatible with more sophisticated (or bloated) Vista. Win9x is simplier, so its future MODDING should be much easier. by the way... the things that are people here creating for Win9x is not patching... it is modding, just as it is happening with games. New features, new enemies, bugfixes

Version 1.1 is in production right now Changes: - Fixed minor graphical bugs on taskbar - changed "popping-up" taskbar button - Fixed minor graphical bugs in buttons Planned changes: - fix for maximized windows - buttons are not properly placed - skin or not to skin - the scrollbar ? - background? - minor fixes in window skins or major changes? - add "readme.txt" Stay Tuned

to Cluberti: the same refusal that is now visible with vista did not happen with XP some yeasrs ago. People have just seen nice skinning and nothing else. But later they realized that system is performing better, just they didnt know why. the real reason why was XP more stable was better HW drivers based on 32bit WDM standard. It took me months to analyze approx 100 drivers in my system, replace them with WDM format and later compare Windows 98 side by side with XP on same hw. it really doesnt matter if windows use 16 or 32bit modules ,even when the handling with 32bit modules is really better solved. i have never met system crash due 16bit module. People just want stability and performance. the way how is it archieved does not interest them, and i may say that in many cases MS pushes information which are not completely true (especially the one about full 32bit system). People which will use XP for sure next decade have several reasons for it: 1. It is stable 2. Most apps they use work with it 3. It looks good. these are the same reasons why i use still 9x (+ some things that win98 is more suitable for singlethreading than xp). really i dont believe that most users are interested in differences between XP and Vista. that is not a reason for change for them.

well long awaited topic i have to cool it down little bit, but i really understand most of it since 1995 there was no major software move on field of operating systems. just ask yourself what really changed in system? we moved from 9x base to NT (some people ) but thats really all. What should OS do? throught it user can acces files, read them, modify them, use them and run programs. Also it should unify acessibility to hardware. Win95 was not revolutionary, but CP/M was in age of 8bit machines. First real OS able to read and run all apps based for Z80 cpu computers. Win95 was nice 32bit environment which made creating of 32bit apps easier. Double threading versus Single threading This is only reason why i should in future change my machine and system. My current computer is based on Pentium III-S "tualatin". Single core and single threaded processor. This computer really dont need better operating system as Win98SE But also i started to build Dual Core system. XP is most suitable for it, but when it comes to multithreading... Only two apps were using more than one core - The benchmark test (useless) and X264 codec. Everything else was running on one core... (but i really think that it is excellent processor). Before i can use XP and the CPU fully many things have to change in writing of applications. Shall it come? i hope it shall, but right now... WinXP is almost 8 years old and only diehard users (as we ) will be able to wait for that move on software market and in future they have to struggle with annoying message like "Installer expects newer version of windows" i really dont believe that there is a sort of conspiracy that will produce more expensive and more inefficient OSes. users and ms maybe believes that they are using up more potential of hardware, but Bill Gates leaves the field in MS. he nows that the time is short to Tarun: XP is not secure. i dont believe it. Vista... 70 percent of vista home computers are infected by some sort of malware.. why? If an OS pops more windows and asking twice same question, you will not take care about what is in the question.. People just click "Yes". When somebody makes a joke that roof is on fire, and he is doing it for 99 times, nobody will believe him when the roof really start to burn. thats a psychological problem that was created directly by Microsoft. and win98--- if a virus tries to run on my system it will just crash or acess missing export I work for home users, not servers. There is less data theft and problems with it, but also that is the point where people want to be also secure. 95 percent of all systems are windows, mostly XP. really big target group when you are going to create virus.

ok lets talk about laws again. i am going to contact a law attorney in my city to discuss the matter of any unnoficial support, hotfixes and new system features. Until i meet the lawyer i will not say what should be or not legal. My contact: mir-@post.cz icq: 284094134 and now talk about work once again. BIG QUESTION #1: Whatt should be the target system? i personally prefer the Windows 98SE because of its stability and driver compatibility. We here have to discuss this, because it is very important. We cannot add system files from higher or lower windowses to any package, but i think it should be possible to redistribute some files which were released as redistributable patch or upgrade. BIG QUESTION #2: How should we act? we can act as we are doing right now - as persons. also we can act as some form of organized group. both have advantages and disadvantages... i really dont know how can be international group of PC users registered anywhere. when i meet the attorney i will gladly respond most questions about the laws, i try to find somebody who knows international law and authorship law ... to Mods: well, i have seen before how was some lobbysts working for big software companies. Take care. As long i know noone here has taken any action to create warez like windows. everything here is adding new code or bringing hotfixes to users. (jeez. now there is more than hundred hotfixes for win9x. imagine the hell when ms drops support for xp) all whats happening in this topic is more about people and less about software...

i downloaded dozen drivers for sb0100. some of them were vxd (similar to these) and some wdm...

what about wdm drivers based on emu10k.sys? i need for my machine wdm drivers - for quad repro it is almost impossible to use VxDs. also your drivers worked as expected. good for stereo, but hard to work with surround settings (set wavedevce instead of directsound may solve that, but it causes other trouble with some sound formats) also i prefer to use ASIO function for better sound with my sb0100 and that is available only with wdms...

some specifications for my computer: - adding swapfile to ramdisk helped with 3d performance - 12.5 percent improve in 3dmark2001 - this is quite high-end gaming machine - all the best for the MOBO and Win98 - its purpose is mostly gaming and multimedia - everything fueled with overclocking

i have taken a closer look at the registers which are calling VXDs from different directories. i found that there is a bit mess when file is called from VMM32 directory, because every time when are registers used to scan system directories it scan everywhere. it may also use vxds from "VMM32 family" when they are located in system directory not only in VMM32 directory. When the files are compiled (whether are needed or not) in single file and all other files are erased it at least helps with system bootup and further performance... since the VMM32.vxd is compiled it is hard to enter it and update its components, thats why registers may alter vxds and make them primary from VMM32 directory. but i dont think that it is good idea when a database is ordering to executable to replace its parts in system memory. also needed and non needed files... registers contains a lot of thrash, even subsystems which are not needed by system are called from here and loaded (tested with some VXDs). maybe the best way should be to compile vmm32.vxd from newest files and erase all other "vmm32 family" files from system. Windows does not use files which it really need... it is quite random (except some really needed files).

so i believe that the law stuff and some other things have been cleared so we can focus on work. Advantages of current state: a) people who made the updates are doing the best job they can when each of them is focused on single thing B) this way can be created more updates c) people are free in things they do Disatvantages of current state: a) no complete localization possible B) updates may be incompatibile one with each other c) too many updates and people just dont know how to handle with them d) harder implementation of some features (it is hard to add features when some things in system are missing) e) missing/not public documentation so i dont want to pust to anybody, but i think that some disadvantages must be removed. the goals of for the any developing are clear to any user who will continue to use Win9x system further and improve its stability and functionality. many parts of this have been already archieved bat they are spreaded all over and it tooks hours to pick them all up...

to Sfor: i really dont know how are dll exports of XP kernel made in source code. If completely new code is created to emulate XP kernel and being added to existing 98's kernel... i believe it is very similar to Wine under linux, but i cannot be sure...

removing bugs: can be done with using of reverse engeneering without breaking the eula. MS have to be informed about the activity and has to receive the fixed file. some bugfixes have already been done. adding features: can be done by adding new dlls, which are based on completely new code. Xenos kernel patcher ideed adds new features, but the way how it works is quite masterpiece when we are looking from law point. xenos kernelex is a patcher. completely new code which is being added to existing kernel files. program indeed adds new code. but new code add every new application and application connects itself with system. again - there things which are well known about windows and every good programmer know about them and use them to connect his application with system. dll exports belongs to this category of knowledge and really, i didnt read in any eula how application can add new features to system

We can add new code to system. just as we can add new driver to system we can add new modules (just as tihiy does in uberskin) and we can collect existing updates which were released by MS. all this software can be redistributed to people who legally own licensed Win9x. this is completely clear to me. but when it comes to modifying of existing files the situation is not so clear. laws, eulas and licenses may contain some things that does not allow us to modify the code, but it is not so strict as some people believe... i shall take a look again and maybe i found something interesting.

so i have to clear some things before somebody do something stupid... to mods: ad legality If we are talking about collecting official updaters from Microsoft and create one updater (similar to unattended installations, which includes also service packs) it is absolutely legal unless we claim any autorship of the code. and really i dont want to see that anybody here is going to claim authorship of software which has been developed by M$ or be paid for it. for me personally it took months to find all updates for my windows which were created by microsoft and learn how to install them in correct order. the installation of all updates can take hours and i must be on PC. if i create some kind of scripts which do this automatically, It can be done without modifying of the packages. When it comes to unofficial fixes it is as i said before. anybody can fix errors of his own system. this just cannot be prohibited by law. if somebody asks me how to fix same problem on different system (anybody can ask, including M$) i can give him the solution, but only for free. when it comes to creating of new software based on microsofts apis then the situation is quite clear i hope. but when it comes to creating new software using microsofts files... hard to say where is the border line between creating new app based on MS Visual C++, and between system patch which was created unoficially. I worked for newspapers so i know laws about authorship in my country. If i use some parts of any material which has been distributed previously i have to mention it in final product. (for example if i create new core file for ms system it must contain information what it was based on). If the final product produces profit, then the author of the original work has right for part of it. so if i create new fixed version of any ms file there must be mentioned that the file/package is still protected by M$ licensing and eula(as is mentioned in certain unofficial updates) honestly, there are quite a lot of commercial software which modifies microsoft's products in many different ways, more than we will ever be able to modify. for example some codecs, renderers, freeware apis and so on. if here in this part of forum is approximately 10-15 people able to build up a team, they will surely do their jobs for the feeling of good work. i dont believe that these people represent any threat to M$. please tell me your idea about how win9x can be consolidated, sorted (removed obsolete, used only those which will avail) ... i really dont want that such work may cause trouble... to people here: i think that some people here will lost their breath, but i believe that Tihiy is right in many things he said. Right now i see that tests with various dlls may broke certain system processes (for example MDAC is completelely screwed up on my system now and i have to restore backup). the things have to be done more carefully as it will be done with such enthusiasm i see. to Tihiy: i started to perform analysis of the files available here and on MDGX's webpage. i found certain bugfixes but also things that may cause serious version conflicts (see io.sys problem in forum upward). unskilled user which has seen number of possible updates was so confused that he even didnt know from where to begin... but on other hand, i found solutions which i was pursuing for months without knowing that they are currently available, also some updates caused version downgrade so i have to restore some patches again... and thats also the reason why i beliieve that consolidation is needed...

the czech io.sys was from previous installations of system. maybe it was part of czech sp1 and was remained on disk as a part of installation. english was added later and i really dont know how. slovak IO.SYS was returned from second windows backup (i have actually 20gb disk with 5 complete win installations from different installation stages) so i think that that file was from WIN98SE SK installation CD. unpatched, but i never met such behaviour... maybe after major update of my system (due some project) something changed and something not.

we shall see if the resulted patch package will run correctly or not... thats one of the things that needs to be tested (file by file...)

to herbalist: it is hard to distinguish which version of file has been created oficially of unoficially only thing i can do is pursue the most highest versions from internet and the most recent dates (even when the files are completely identical a pick up the newer one, because it does not tamper mi sorting system which is based on date and then on version number) right now i may say that i have fixed at least one BSOD which was software issue... in this case app just freeze and can be closed from taskmanager. also files i am collecting have to work with windows 98se, so i am afraid that the resulted package wont run everywhere... to Specialbao1: i hope you have read the legal information i collected. i dont believe that MS will took any action, but i cant say it. files which i am working with have been released throught official patches so nobody can say that i cannot collect them or pehaps redistrubute. these upgrades have same status as DX which can be freely downloaded and used on more computers (admin can store last version a perform system upgrade in whole building). when it comes to unofficial bugfixes there is no legal way how to act against person who is fixing bug on his own computer system. No matter how he do it. if we are making sw support (and patch release is support), which has been actually dropped by sw developer it is surely legal, but we cannot do it for money. it is not written in any law how long or if sw developer has to maintain its product, or how to qualify quality of the product. therefore support is not dictated by law, but it is also not forbidden to pick up unofficial support and also it is not forbidden to perform addtional system upgrades when it does not breaks the licenses and eulas. the patcher ... for now it should be best to use zip package because i really dont know how to program the patcher and also the transport of zip package is best. no mdsums are needed, if the package is broken you have to download it again, but you surely will not execute broken code.

after some upgrades i realized that my slovak localization from io sys vanished and file was czech and later english. no problem for me but i just plan to have slovak versions... i restored slovak version but system just wont boot. in dos mode i was very scared when i saw all my harddisks (except SCSI) empty. later i restored english io.sys and it works... where can be the problem with it? i never met this kind of behaviour.