Wunderbar98

Was checking my parts cupboard for ethernet cards and stumbled across some 1.44 MB floppy drives and a bunch of 56K PCI modems from pre-ethernet era. Still regret getting rid of my floppy disks years ago, many still unused. Just curious if there may still be a demand for dial-up 56K modems or should they just be recycled? Previously contemplated returning to dial-up but the interweb is now too bloated and integral. Vaguely remember hearing high speed is still not available to everyone outside metropolitan areas, curious if true, thanks.

= Windows 9x Web Helper (9xweb) FAQ = Q: I get messages like 'awk: command not found', what does this mean? A functional 'Enhanced Cygwin-Lite' install is required, instructions linked in post #1. This frankenstein installation of 'Cygwin-Lite' and 'Win-Bash' provides all necessary commands for the 9xweb script. Q: How do I limit the number of results when YouTube searching? The 9xweb script presently just fetches the 'first page' and outputs results via the 'More' command. Since no 'page two' results are fetched, restricting hits to top 10 or 20 is artificially limiting. Perform a revised search if the desired result(s) are not listed. As the command.com window does not support scrolling use Spacebar, Page Up/Down, Up/Down arrow, Home and End keys to scroll and [q]uit to exit the list to make a selection. Q: Why do some video download attempts result in a 403 forbidden? Most video URLs are hiding in plain sight within the YouTube video page. Certain videos have obfuscated and protected video URLs, likely due to a combination of copyright protection, royalties or advertisement revenue. Although 9xweb does not support the download of 403 forbidden videos, the default configuration is to ask if keepvid[dot]works should be opened in the configured browser to attempt the video download. This may or may not be successful. YouTube functions in 9xweb are designed to provide basic YouTube functionality. Most videos related to retro computing and gaming, for example, will work. Research other projects, such as youtube-dl, as desired. Q: Videos that are at least an hour long causes TCPMP to crash. Is there a way to fix this? The TCPMP video player is configured as the default player as it is lightweight and works in Windows 95. It was found to be buggy and occasionally crashes, even with shorter videos. Either start a new forum thread requesting TCPMP troubleshooting assistance or configure the 9xweb script to use a different media player of choice. See the 'USER CONFIG START' section towards the top of the 9xweb code. Q: Is it possible to play a video using the OS's built-in players like WMP and Realplayer? If so, should the videos have to be in a different format other than MP4? The 9xweb script currently supports only MP4 fetches as they are universally available with all search results, it was easier to code and is a standard media type. If WMP and Realplayer do not support MP4 playback, configure an alternative media player of choice as outlined above. Q: Is it possible to stream a video from the video player instead of downloading it to C:\WINDOWS\TEMP? That way, if there is little hard disk space, that can be done? Despite numerous attempts streaming could not be properly configured using Enhanced Cygwin-Lite with any of the vanilla Windows 98 media players tested. For this reason the preview option was added (partial download), primarily to determine if the video was worthy of further viewing. If drive space is limited specify 640 x 360 video only, consider using the search modifier ' ,short' (space comma short) for short videos and/or use '[d]elete video' after playback to free drive space for the next video. Q: Is it possible to download videos from services other than Youtube (eg. dailymotion, m.watchcartoononline.io)? Not at this time, patches welcome. This is just a hobby project. It takes time and energy to add features, many websites are more protective than YouTube and the old Wget executable is unable to access all sites. Minor support for MSN video may be added in the future, although the videos are not all sourced from the same provider, creating barriers. Research other projects, such as youtube-dl, as desired. Q: Any other interesting things I can do with 9xweb? The script is transparent, review each on-screen option. Each of the three screens (Main, Bookmarks, Video Fetch) has it's own [h]elp section. Features that may be useful include: quick access to a proxy page if experiencing website connection issues, access Google cached pages, [t]rim obfuscated URLs from search engine results, specify search date for archive[dot]org's Wayback Machine, bookmark clipboard content and YouTube video URLs for later. Q: Are you planning on introducing new features for 9xweb in the future? Probably not, life is short and there are too many other projects. The script is still beta, there are bugs, fixes are pending. Please report bugs via this thread or private message.

As some queries were recieved via private message, a FAQ section will be added below and linked from the first post. Much of the information was probably covered earlier but is scattered. A minor bug was observed when viewing YouTube video information, new release pending.

Hi Deomsh. Maybe your example from above is best as it gets the whole pathway from root in a single set of double quotes. ls (hd2,0)/"lnkfiles/windows verkenner.lnk" Don't know of a tool for EXT3, EXT4 and ReiserFS partitions inside Virtual Box 6.0. Personally still only use EXT2, even in modern GNU/Linux and with encrypted USB sticks. For me it's still the best with little overhead.

Well security.ssl3.dhe_rsa_aes_128_sha was toggled from true to false. Cleared cache, restarted RetroZilla and thankfully both John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John's wiki entries are still available, i will rest easy tonight :)

win32 I'm still quite satisfied with Windows 95 ... and RetroZilla 2.2 until MSFN broke in it earlier this morning due to apparent change in encryption. nice coincidence. RetroZilla is working just fine here for MSFN browsing and login (JavaScript disabled). This is from Windows 98 SE not 95 though it should be the same RetroZilla build.

Hi loblo. The sentiment is understood and pretty much shared. It is, however, a site where contributors need to login securely to edit information and manage their accounts, just like these forums. Since Wikipedia is so universal, however, it would be nice if they provided HTTP read-only accessibility for those that just want to read information from old systems. Did a couple quick Wikipedia searches in RetroZilla just now, it's working fine. Maybe i hit a couple old servers or i'm from a different location.

Good to know siria, keep hacking and feel free to post anything else you think may be useful to keep this old browser running and better configured.

Thank-you for your input Bracamonte. Being anti-social i have little use for such software, for me forums and occasional email are enough. If it has a chance the kernel extension users will likely know best. Good luck with your quest. Wonder how sofware like Chatzilla works on the modern internet? Spent the better part of my free time today picking up a used (of course) Canon MX310 printer. This is exactly the same printer used here at home now with Windows XP. The printer appears to function well and it came with a new black cartridge, more valuable than the printer. So now a backup printer plus a new cartridge. This is a pretty good printer, works natively in Windows XP and prints okay in GNU/Linux. Doesn't fuss or require any special resetter when refilling cartridges, which can be done many times if careful. Cleaned it up nice with a rag and lots of warm soapy water, hopefully good for printers for a while. For anyone into retro hardware, highly recommend checking out Kijiji or whatever your country uses for used buy/sell. Kijiji has a free section for giveaways. Usually try to make 2-3 pickups per year and, therefore, always have a supply of used parts. Once this stuff goes to recycling it will never be used in production again, what a shame. Here the recycle depots do not allow others to take or cheap purchase items for re-use. Remember dropping off a bunch of stuff a while back, dozens of used childrens bicycles, all wasted, couldn't parents just pass it along to some kid up the street? We're doomed When people give away computing stuff they are just trying to do the right thing. They too realize that re-use is preferred to recycling. Forgot to mention, happened a few times over the years, once they know you are into 'retro' computing they find other stuff that they also want to give away. Most modern computer users don't realize that a 6GB hard drive or a 500 MHz processor, for example, is still extremely useful. They sometimes then dig around a little more and find other stuff, usually still worth it even if it takes a couple more emails and a follow-up trip. The world needs more scavengers Meant to post this link earlier, was bookmarked on a different system, hopefully loads fine in Windows 98. The article is entitled 'If it ain't broke: You share your oldest working gadgets'. Thankfully Windows 98 software will essentially last forever, provided we have the hardware or a virtual machine. Believe Tiny Core Linux founder Robert Shingledecker was once quoted as saying something like 'software has no expiry date'. Guess that's technically true, although it may no longer work properly in the modern world. https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-52965974 Hardware Info Utility for Windows -> C:\WINDOWS\HWINFO.EXE. Always wondered about it as the executable won't launch from DOS or a run box, run as 'hwinfo /ui'. Why the cryptic '/ui' switch and why not in the default System Tools menu. Maybe Microsoft used it moreso during development phase or for support personnel. They probably thought Accessories -> System Tools -> System Information and Control Panel -> System stuff was adequate for the consumer. Information overload, colour key is at the bottom, numerous filters help find what you want. A satirical definition of MS-Windows as given by an anonymous USEnet poster. Windows [n.] A thirty-two bit extension and GUI shell to a sixteen bit patch to an eight bit operating system originally coded for a four bit microprocessor and sold by a two-bit company that can't stand one bit of competition." http://hermit.cc/it/win/windef.htm Maybe not too far off, after all MS-DOS is rooted in QDOS (Quick and Dirty Operating System). Spending more time in DOS-land. The learning is fresh to me, less clicky-click and Unix-based commandline is now mostly routine chores. Regret missing the DOS heyday, slightly before my young adult computing years plus too busy working. The DOS gaming forum at VOGONS is active and has lots of DOS setup and performance information. Still tweaking AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS files for custom boot options, memory and performance. Many DOS applications have specific memory and setup requirements, definitely not for those who want plug and play. http://www.vogons.org/index.php The VOGONS wiki has a nice DOS memory management section. http://www.vogonswiki.com/index.php/Main_Page Hermit's Free Library has good DOS and Windows 98 information and the Windows registry overview is great. Gets me interested in Windows 3.1 to experience differences under the hood. http://hermit.cc/it/index.htm http://hermit.cc/it/win/win9xreg.htm Nice to see some HTTP only sites.

Thank-you for the feedback and information Deomsh, sorry for the trouble.

My Windows experience started primarily with 98 SE, missed the 95 era except for some 'old' work computers around the office. Here's what some members had to say at the 20th anniversary birthday bash. https://msfn.org/board/topic/174333-20-years-ago-today/?tab=comments#comment-1106569

Thank-you for clarifying siria and for doing your homework, obviously i did not :) Should have known better as the chrome example *.css files use the cumbersome comment method even for one liners. The @comment find is interesting. My mistake posted above was edited.

Thank-you for the feedback Goodmaneuver. Interesting experience, the FTP address can be entered into either Internet Explorer v5 or Windows Explorer. It then shows the Windows Explorer toolbar with a title bar labelled 'Microsoft Internet Explorer'. The Help dropdown menu provides selections for FTP Server Welcome Message, FTP Help and About Windows 98. There is no About -> Internet Explorer. Works with password protected FTP too, of course with correct password. Guess part of Microsoft's web integration. Makes sense though as FTP browsing is more similar to using Windows Explorer than traditional web browsing. Sad FTP isn't more popular. Maybe monitor capacitor but still looks like flaky solder or connection. Will investigate further if the monitor conks out again. It's been rock solid since repositioning it but it's only been about a week. The repositioning 'fix' appears more consistent with a flaky connection. When the monitor is running there is no power or image brightness fluctuation, the image is stable. In the last week it's been booted dozens of times, including many reboots in and out of DOS, and many resolution changes in/out of video games.

Hi siria. Thanks again for feedback. Grey looks good, personally like red, maybe aging eyes, best shows off your handiwork :) Will leave post #1 as is, personal preference and user can decide to change 'red' to 'grey', comment out or delete the line as desired. /* * border: 4px dashed red !important; */

FTP sites are default accessible in both RetroZilla v2.2 and K-Meleon v1.5.4. For dedicated FTP access FileZilla v2.2.22 works well in vanilla Windows 98, readily available, ~3 MB download. Let's just say there is a certain FTP site that apparently contains over 700 GB of primarily DOS software. It's also available from that site that likes to archive stuff. Crazy amount of stuff, likely lots of duplication. Mixed feelings, undoubtedly much is copyright yet a shame it may otherwise be lost forever.

Hi Deomsh. May be a grub regression or simply intended kludge removal. As @jaclaz indicated full pathway and tab autocomplete is best. Avoid spaces, Unix-based commands are case sensitive and double-quotes should wrap the entire pathway not just a spaced file name. Try like below and if it doesn't work then full pathway. cat --hex "/LNKFILES/Windows Verkenner.lnk"

There was a recent forum thread from @Sergiaws entitled 'NVDA and Windows 9x' regarding screen readers, text to speech and running JAWS v7.10 with RetroZilla. https://msfn.org/board/topic/181644-nvda-and-windows-9x/ Came across a website from Jake Gross, who is either visually impaired or helps out. An eclectic collection of software, most appears to be Windows 3.1 to Windows ME era. This includes braille sounds, sound files, NVDA and JAWS stuff, a JAWS in Windows 98 podcast, etc. A link is not provided as the site appears to host some copyright software, keyword search 'jake' and 'grossgang' should find it.

Thank-you siria for this great global tweak. Worked on the example sites here too. Didn't come across any other sites with recent browsing but no doubt they are out there. The 'Rendering Issues' section of the first post was edited with a simplified variation of your code and a link to your post. The dashed border was reduced to 4px, to me it's less obtrusive yet clearly shows when the tweak makes a difference. Thanks again.

Where do you want to go today? - Windows 95 marketing Spent yesterday evening enjoying my 'Windows 95 with USB Support' CD, which 'INCLUDES CD Sampler with FREE GAMES!'. Holy crap there's a lot of fluff on it. IMHO the world was already too busy by 1997. Can see why DOS purists resisted Windows 3.1, Windows 95 users never wanted Windows 98, Windows 98 fans thought DOS-based should never die, Windows XP lovers trash Windows 7 through 10. Been a long time since Microsoft was just about an OS. Reviewed the seemingly endless demos, extras, trials and marketing on the CD. This is, of course, in addition to bloat already built into the OS itself. The entire CD contains 588 MB of data, the D:\win95 directory is 148 MB. Scattered list below: 3D Movie Maker, Automap Trip Planner, Cinemania, Dogs, Oceans, PJ's Reading Adventures, Wine Guide, World of Flight, Streets Plus, NBA Full Court Press, Close Combat, Dreamworks The Neverhood, Gex, Arcade, Entertainment Pack, Flight Simulator, Golf, Sidewinder, Sidewinder 3D Pro, Soccer, Space Simulator, Cooper McQue Breaks Through, Dreamworks Goosebumps Escape from Horrorland, Dreamworks Someone's in the Kitchen, Explorapedia, Bookshelf, CarPoint, Encarta Encyclopedia, Encarta World Atlas, Complete Gardening, Mouse, Home Mouse, Natural Keyboard, Julia Child Home Cooking, Money, Reader's Digest Do-It-Yourself Guide, Hallmark Greetings Workshop, Kids Easy Ball mouse, Hellbender, Magic School Bus, Pac-Man, Picture It, Publisher, Deadly Tide, Monster Truck Madness, Hover, Edie Brickell's Good Times, Creative Writer, Works, ClipBook Viewer, Microsoft Diagnostics, Word View. In addition, the 'content' subdirectory in D:\win95 contains content for: aol, audionet, cmpnet, cnet, cnn, cnnsi, comics, conline, discover, disney, epicur, espn, expedia, forbes, fortune, hwood, investor, ivill, msn, msnbc, mtv, nbc, ngc, nyt, pcn, people, quicken, snap, sptline, time, wbros, wired, wsj, zdnet. Will stop now before i make myself crazy, too late! Next install will definitely be minimized in some way. Thinking multi-boot with DOS only, Windows 3.1, a minimized Windows 95 or 98 with RetroZilla and K-Meleon, one modern GNU/Linux for modern browsing, OpenBSD for banking. Scary: Microsoft Remote Registry service was already available in Windows 95. Fun fact: Pac-Man trial allows playing the first two levels :)

Website error messages aren't always accurate. For example, the Windows 95/98/ME forum at Bleeping Computer will not load using RetroZilla's default User Agent indicating JavaScript is required, it's not. Using the User Agent Switcher extension change the default user agent selection to something remotely more modern, such as built-in Opera 9.2 (Windows Vista), and the page will load. This doesn't always work but worth a try. https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/f/9/windows-9598me/

The 2001 era 19" ViewSonic CRT monitor used here daily continues to be flaky, first reported below. https://msfn.org/board/topic/177106-running-vanilla-windows-98-in-2020/page/20/?tab=comments#comment-1177004 Limped it along for over half a year, used several times daily. Sometimes weekly the monitor would need to be turned on/off and physically pursuaded to initialize an image. Not a 'Fonzie' hit, more of a back/forth rocking motion. http://s388007383.onlinehome.us/thelessonapplied/wp-content/uploads/fonz_jukebox.jpg Now when the monitor sits in it's casing it doesn't work at all. When the case and stand is removed, it works. Without the casing the monitor's weight flexes the circuit board that it now rests on, not recommended but it works. Working diagnosis is a flaky solder on the board but darned if i can find it. Now running it without a case, placed a wood block under the circuit board bracket to reduce some pressure and allow the monitor to sit flat. With casing removed will cautiously poke components with a wood chopstick if it conks out again to isolate the problem. Important safety note, the monitor does not run unattended, no kids or pets, exposed electrical not touching anything conductive. Long live VGA.

The 'JavaScript Issues' section on the first post was simplified, removing personal preference note for the NoScript extension. As JavaScript processing is so broken on this old browser, personally don't bother even selectively enabling code. To keep the RetroZilla install lean, just change javascript.enabled to false via about:config and forget about NoScript.

Thank-you jaclaz for the information and forum link. Winimize may be too minimal for me, sounds like basically reverting to a Windows 95 shell. The min98.zip Readme.txt indicates just win95_02.cab is needed from the Windows 95 CD for the following. No problem but the note below is vague. explorer.exe comdlg32.dll shell32.dll notepad.exe *** Note : The 95 files should be from an early version of Windows 95 that does NOT have the dreaded Internet Explorer "integrated" into the OS. *** My 'Microsoft Windows 95 With USB Support' CD is dated 1997, query too new. Don't know regarding IE integration, the win95 directory has a 'ie4setup.ini' file containing 'Shell_Integration=1'. No good, just not optimal, anything else to check?

Thank-you siria. The direct download link from the last available is below, though the min98.zip download has the same byte count as the earlier link, so probably the last release. Although untested, it should be noted 'winimize' requires some Windows 95 files plus the Windows 98 files. Personally will probably stick with another Kan's Minimum Windows 9X Install Project (minwin9x.zip) next time around, although 'winimize' was officially hoarded just in case :) http://web.archive.org/web/20111003011358/http://www.winimize.com/min98.zip

Set up the latest Tiny Core Linux v11 on a > 10 year old netbook yesterday, the only household SSE2 capable hardware. Using OpenBox window manager, iptables firewall, Dillo and the latest SeaMonkey v2.53.3. The operating system for the job gets booted, even if not an all-time favourite. Here it's GNU/Linux (Devuan Jessie and Ascii, Debian Wheezy, Tiny Core). Two Windows XP installs primarily used offline, one for graphic art/print projects and the other for Windows gaming and last year an official income tax return. Of the two Windows 98 SE installs, the primary is used almost daily for news and forums, some YouTube, retro gaming and computer learning. The other is a backup in storage. Rediscovered some 500-700 MHz processors in the basement, should be able to run Windows 98 SE on bare metal for a long time. Hope to free a 10 GB hard drive later this year for a third Windows 98 SE build, a 'slower' system primarily for DOS and early Windows gaming. Found a Pentium 4 processor but no motherboard, it may eventually become a high performance Windows 98 SE machine. MemTest v7.0 from HCI Design (2019, free for personal use, MemTest.zip, 17 KB) allows testing system memory for faulty RAM modules. It runs from within Windows, as instructed close as many open applications as possible before testing. May be useful for quick convenient testing, otherwise seek memory test software that runs outside the OS (boot floppy or CD, boot loader). Personally an old GNU/Linux live-CD is used to MemTest questionable RAM. https://hcidesign.com/memtest/ Since my Windows 98 C:\WINDOWS footprint is probably larger than the new and shiny Tiny Core install, i'm interested again in a more minimal install, which won't get trialed until fresh hardware becomes available. My experience is these 'lite' tools are best used after a fresh Windows 98 install, before too many customizations. As indicated earlier, Kan's Minimum Windows 9X Install Project (minwin9x.zip) was used previously with good success. https://msfn.org/board/topic/177106-running-vanilla-windows-98-in-2020/page/25/?tab=comments#comment-1179823 May look at 'winimize', although the current website needs JavaScript and does not work in RetroZilla. A direct download is available below, unsure if it's the latest version to trial. Maybe forum member @jaclaz can clarify. http://web.archive.org/web/20060712175942/http://www.winimize.com/min98.zip Another option is 98lite v4.5 Preview Edition (98lite45.exe, 319 KB) and IEradicator (IEradicator2001.zip, 200 KB), both free for personal use, license acceptance required. Promoted as a 'custom installer for Microsoft Windows 9x'. Can be used to remove Windows 98 web integration, Internet Explorer and convert default features to removable options. https://www.litepc.com/preview.html https://www.litepc.com/ieradicator.html