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I do prefer the way it was done in the 9.2. The icons were in dimmed colours. So, the menus were more readable, and still not disturbing. Grey is good for the tool bar. But, in the menu coloured icons are much better. Yet another problem. The Opera 9.60 appears to loose entries from the download list, between sessions. The sort order is distorted, as well. Right after installation, it appears, there are no skins with coloured icons in the installation package. I do prefer the Opera 9.2. So, I've unistalled the 9.60, as it appears to bring less good than bad.

Oh, I did not realize the VBEMP = Universal VBE. Apparently there are two branches of the same project (9x and NT compatible). Still, it allows to use just 800x600 mode. How can I "persuade" the BIOS to use 1024x600?

I've upgraded Opera from 9.2x to 9.60. The problems with oppening .URL links remained unchanged. When comared to the 9.2 the 9.60 does have worse readablity, because almost all icons are just in shades of gray. I do not know how to make them coloured, at the moment.

Is there Windows 98 compatible VBEMP driver available? All I've found is Windows NT related, so far.

After adding the 1024x600 modes I had to restart the system. Then I was able to select the 1024x600 mode. Unfortunatelly, the screen remained at 800x600. The desktop was resized to 1024x600, but the visible part is 800x600, only. So, GAMode does not change much I've checked the 1024v768 mode, again. I was wrong. The screen is cut to just 800x600 instead of 1024x600. I have no idea how to set the native 1024x600 LCD resolution.

The SNAP driver works correctly with DOS applications. But, the system does not switch off itself. It is necesary to use the power button. The top possible resolution on the LCD is the 800x600, still. It is possible to select a higher resolution, but the LCD will cut it to the top left 1024x600.

The SciTech SNAP driver does not support Windows 98. The SciTech Display Doctor does not support i910. The conclusion is there are no Windows 98 SciTech driver for i910.

It's somewhat true, but I have found nothing about Scitech support for Windows 98.

Another possibility is to set the .ODT files as comressed archives in the Total Commander. The good side is the Total Commander is available in many language versions. The bad side is, it is not free. As it should be bought after the trial period. I'm still looking for the Polish version of the Copernic Desktop Search 2.3. There are multiple clues the Polish version was available, in the past. But, I can not find it, any more.

Not true, anything below 128GB should do. It would be good to test how the system works with the SATA drive disconnected, as the Windows 98 could need additional drivers to work with SATA drives. This experiment is not the solution, but it could remove one part of the equation.

Copernic Desktop Search 2.3 works in Windows 98 and is able to index and search in the OO ODF files.

The flash seems to be much too slow to be usable as a RAM. Besides, the amount of write cycles is significantly limited.

The ODF files are in fact a compressed XML. In order to use the FIND command it would be necesary to unzip the XML files first. So, the FIND is useless as is. Not to mention, the average user will not want to play with the DOS prompt commands.

With the OpenOffice becoming more and more popular in the business systems the amount of ODF files is rising fast. It was possible to locate the documents through the text search of the Windows Find function. But with the compressed ODF files, the Find function is useful no longer. So, I'm trying to find something able to deliver the ability to search through the ODF files. I hope, there is something free around.

Remove the Lilo or Grub and Linux will not operate, as well. So, this statement is a bad example. Still the DOS can be used as a stand alone OS, not just the OS loader. So, it is a very good toll, when the 9x kernel is damaged. Windows 9x has to use none 32bit code in order to keep compatibility with older applications and drivers. What one is treating as a disadvantage the other believes to be a huge advantage. Windows 9x supports 3 generations of code, that way (DOS, 16bit and 32bit API). Still the key part (kernel) of the code is 32 bt. So windows 9x has a right to be called a 32bit OS. The funny thing is the NT based OS were stripped from the compatibility related code, yet they are still bigger. So, perhaps the old code is not that bad.

Well. In one case it is safer, in other it is not. Still, I'm not afraid to connect a newly installed Windows 98 directly to the internet, while I would not do it with Windows XP without a router on the way. To use an objective comparament it is necesary to define the boundries. In general both systems do have some advantages in some cases. Also the technical advancement is not equal to the satisfaction of the user. I do prefer to use an older car without an advanced computer between me and the engine.

Yet another observation. Windows 98 without a network driver installed boots in just 9 seconds, while it takes 43 seconds to boot with a NDIS2 driver with the ethernet connection detached. The DOS NDIS driver tries to detect the network connection speed , first. Then the TCP/IP protocol stack tries to get an IP through DHCP. Both tasks are useless while booting in the move. Luckily there is a very easy way to select if we want to boot with or without the network adapter driver. For the NDIS2 driver to work it is necesary to run NET START command from the AUTOEXEC.BAT. Wihout it the driver gets disabled after booting. As the result the system boots in 9 seconds, instead of 43. Using the [MENU] section in the CONFIG.SYS it is possible to create a boot menu and give an option to start the system with the network driver disabled. an example for the CONFIG.SYS [MENU] MenuItem=WINDOWS,Windows 98 MenuItem=NONET,Windows 98 - bez sieci MenuDefault=WINDOWS,10 [WINDOWS] device=C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\display.sys con=(ega,,1) Country=048,852,C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\country.sys [NONET] include WINDOWS an example for the AUTOEXEC.BAT GOTO %CONFIG% :WINDOWS C:\WINDOWS\net start :NONET mode con codepage prepare=((852) C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\ega.cpi) mode con codepage select=852 keyb pl,,C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\keybrd4.sys The code page and keyboard settings should be different in your case (unless you are using Polish language).

No. The computer is configured for Dial Up networking internet access. In case of the internet access through a lan card and router you do not need any connection application or anything like it. To switch to the network adapter you have to change the settings in the Control Pannel - Internet Options - connections tab. Exactly as noguru said.

I've got a correction to the way the Windows 98 treats NDIS2 drivers. (I do not have an English language version, so I can not provide the proper option names) In order to install a NDIS2 driver it is necesary to skip the hardware auto detection procedure and to select the manual installation option. Then open the network adapters list, then to click the button letting to search the driver on the disk. When a NDIS2 driver location is provided Windows will go the usual network driver procedure with just one difference. Windows will not check the compatibility of the driver with the hardware. So Windows will install just any NDIS2 driver without complaining. The Atheros NDIS2 driver han an ability to change the MAC address in the protocol.ini file. This gives an ability to use Eee PC 900 with Windows 9x as a quite useful network testing tool. Especialy, when the Internet services provider uses MAC restriction techniques. I've been successfully using my Eee to do some test in the WAN. The Windows 98 seems to be unable to keep multiple network configuration sets. So, I had to change the services and protocols bindings every time I was changing the LAN and WAN connections. I tried to solve this problem in multiple ways: - a second copy of the Windows easy switchable on the system start. - occupies a lot of disk space - mutiple hardware profiles - displays an additional menu at the system start. Very inconvenient - a second driver to the same network adapter with different bindings. - quite complicated to set up, but it works. It is possible to modify the L2.DOS and corresponding .INF file to create a new driver. The Windows will install both drivers. Then it is necesary to make different protocol and services bindings to both drivers. Switching between drivers is possible through changes in the protocol.ini file, and making the unwanted driver .DOS file unavailable in the windows directory. I did it with two .BAT files. One is switching to the LAN adapter, the other to WAN. Running one of them disables one adapter, and enables the other. I'm still playing with the idea to exploit all the possibilities. I'm curious if there are other ways to switch between the network enviroment settings easily.

My WAN is attacked by default gateway MAC address ARP poisoning attacks, a few times a day. So, I have tried to add a static entry in the ARP table to defend myself. It worked for a moment. But, a while after that the ARP table static enty changed itself to the spoofed one, somehow. Does the Windows 98SE have some sort of a bug in the ARP table handling code? -------------------------------------------------- I found I'm not the only one to observe this phenomenon http://xforce.iss.net/xforce/xfdb/4828 They say there is no way to force the Windows to keep a static entry a true static one, at the moment.

Erm... The Windows 98 does not appear to have a default NDIS driver. When installing a NDIS driver, Windows asks to provide a proper driver disk, or to show where it is located. Besides, NDIS is the protocol used between driver and OS. So, the same driver can be used with any network software compatible with the NDIS specification.

The _default.pif file does the job. I've modified the command prompt in the Start menu and the /WINDOWS/PIF/COMMAND.PIF files. The COMMAND.PIF is the best template for the _DEFAULT.PIF, as it does not have the working directory set. The _DEFAULT.PIF should be placed in the WINDOWS directory. I've noticed a side effect when doing a computer reboot from the Xandros Linux system. The DOS NDIS2 driver freezes when testing the network connection, in such a case. It is necesary to power the computer off, then to boot to Windows 98 with a cold start, after working with Xandros.

The problem with the Universal VBE driver requires to force all DOS text mode applications to use the full mode. It is possible to do it with .PIF files. But, it would require to create a .PIF file for every DOS application. The FSTOGGLE.EXE is designed to switch between full screen and the windowed modes. It is not the solution, as it does not allow to select the mode before running the command processor. I'm wondering if there is a .PIF file with default DOS application settings, or something like that.

I've managed to bring the built in internal ethernet port to life with Atheros NDIS2 DOS driver. In order to do so I had to: - start the new hardware wizard - skip the auto detection and to go for "find the driver from the list" - find the NDIS2 driver related entry And it went the usual automatic way from this point. The driver is started in the AUTOEXEC.BAT with the NET START command. It looks like the Internet and Microsoft Networking functions are working correctly. It's a bit funny the DOS driver is provided, when the newer 9x systems are forgotten. And still, the 9x systems are able to use the DOS driver. It would not be possible with the NT based system.

I have moved the Windows 98 to internal SSD. The speed difference is huge. The system boots to desktop icons in less than 15 seconds. The hour glass is gone in less than another 15 seconds. I've noticed the Windows 98 does not detect the new devices connected to the USB ports. It is necesary to reboot the system in order to to use them. ------------------------------------------------------------- Another observation, the DOS application window problem is related only to the windowed DOS processes. If a DOS application is running the full screen mode, everything seems to be working correctly. Perhaps there is a way to force every DOS process to use the full screen mode. But, I have to find it, still.