awkduck

The main thing I miss about "older" goods was the in-built design decisions, for repair-ability. I think, by the time I was born, food stuff had already started declining in quality. There was already information that farming soil was nutritionally depleted, in the 1940's. Clothing was certainly still better, but likely worse than what had previously existed. One of the more notable tragedies is the decline in vehicle quality. If I could pick the era of quality, for a vehicle, it would probably land between the 40's to the mid or late 70's (something with a manual transmission). I think Amazon, as a focus for product decline, high-lights some areas of well deserved and needed attention. There are variables, existing in that scenario, that really only apply to Amazon. I think Amazon's methodology is just one example, of over all trends. In some markets there is very little option, for quality. In others, quality is only advertised/available where it is likely to be afforded. It seems to me that the decline in quality is an attempt to retain spending; this in the face of climbing inflation. If quality products replaced affordable ones the state of things would be more apparent, to the common individual. Instead, we see an increase in housing, some foods, energy, and transportation. With this increase we also see an increase in wages (depending on where you live), but this increase is "not" proportional to market inflation. There are different methods of offsetting (at least perceptually) the disproportional increase in these financial variables. At the grocer, consumers may have noticed the increase in meat and egg prices (maybe a little with dairy). But, that increase does not enough express the actual inflation versus quality of product ratio. The quality of the meat and eggs has decreased, while their price still increased. If you look outside, of the common grocer, these products are even more expensive; in the case of meat four times higher, when previously being nearer to equivalent. The increase in the cost of oats, as another example, is less dramatic. But that cost is offset by methods of growing. The use of pesticides is increased, to speed up the oat drying process. By this practice, the yield "per season" gained enough to offset the consumer unit cost. It kinda looks like (despite making more money, by transitioning to inferior products) that the overall goal is to slant consumer perspective, on the actual state of inflation. Some product actually remains at stable prices, helping secure a perspective of stability. Gasoline is a great example of this, as it's pricing gets lots of attention.

LOL, I love it (for an America). It still needs work. When I am tired, the punctuation gets much worse. You're speaking my language, now. American English enunciation is a crime to competency. The destructive evolution of defining specific words, in the U.S., is also awful; but that is a newer development.

Thanks! GoldMemory listed a substantially larger range.

Well, it is nitpicking at this point (on may part); but it still would not prevent Global Governance. You can still run different petri dishes under different rules, and be under the same umbrella of Governance. You can even have stand-offs and wars between them. It would probably work way better, than moving everything to the exact same culture of rule (Open Global Governance). There is a/some history of aristocrats and rulers fearing their own public, more than an invasion. As terrible as it may seem, there is a sound logic to sending males to battle other males (a less powerful public, during times of native unrest [especially if wishing to implement radical change]). While this it is really unlikely to have been the case "extremely" often, you can bet it has been used as a kind of population control; acts of straight out genocide being more documented. America has a pretty strong heritage of having running the Brits out. But, in reality, there is documentation of sizable British forces still being present there, after America won its independence; not long present, but enough to raise questions for some. While I won't say the whole thing was a sham (not nearly well enough informed to deny or support it) you can see the "liberation" of America being a pretty huge selling point, to get plenty of folks risking everything to develop an undeveloped territory. A large quantity of people failed, in the process of developing America. People seeking freedom of religion, freedom to develop experimental utopias, and other enamored by escaping the oppression of their native lands. There is a good chunk of that freedom that has since been revoked. For example, many delighted in the idea of allodial titles; a privileged mostly enjoyed by kings. As the government developed, this type of ownership ideal really kinda disappeared, and is now similar to what is available in many other countries today. This is "JUST" an example; so please, no one run with it as some kind of conspiracy theory. But it does show how blood and bullets could be considered cheap, when your philosophy is that you own it all anyway. What is harder to own, is the beliefs of the people. But, there is a large amount of documentation showing that great progress and success has been had there, for a very very long time. That aside, thank you for reminding me about "Checkpoint Charlie". I had fun distracting myself by digging into different aspects of it; as is available on the web, anyway. I could really easily agree with you about "Open Globalized Governance", as opposed to just the idea of a "Functional Globalized Governance". The latter likely only to be entertained speculatively (by the public), while for former being something likely quite obvious to the inhabitants thereof.

Never noticed the replies to this. Thanks, guys. I used Memtest86+ ranges and added (beginning adjusted for first bad logged address [xxxx000] and end for last bad logged address [xxxxfff] ) it to SYSTEM.INI > [386enh] > EMMExclude=xxxx000-xxxxFFF I see that I have a reduced total amount of ram, listed under properties. It is equivalent to the quantity listed in EMMExclude= Memtest86+ placed the bad memory at about 50mb thru to 65mb. If in Dos only, I use XMSDSK (not at top of memory), create a 75mb ram disk, and then ignore it. I initially thought EMMExclude has something to do with reserved UMB regions. Much latter, when exploring this machine again, I knew better. Anyway, that is what I have done. If you have any corrections, advice, or warnings, I'm all ears. EDIT: I had to use HIMEMX, as HIMEM.SYS complains about the detected bad memory; and prevents the loading of Windows.

You could be right. I can't say I agree or disagree. In the context I used that example, I am referring to objects of orientation. Not really intending to claim any particular imagined object as good or bad. Just that the objects are not actually real, only enforced as if they are. For example, if you break a law of man, you face consequences from man. The law is imagined, and the enforcement is an imagine correlation (although completely within causal logic) brought about by mob-rule. An example, for cross examination, is when you place your had in the fire, actual laws cause your hand to get hot and or burned. The resulting consequences are not correlated, to the the causal act, by imagination only; they are real. It may seem like it is all irrelevant, because the consequences you pay (from the imagined dictates of mob-rule) are still real, in their affect. But for examining the differences between your life and societal life, the distinction is relevant. So, it doesn't matter if they are good or not; they are still imagined. In order for you to act on them, as good or bad, you have to first drink the kool-aid (not meant as a criticism). However, I'm not sure that having enforced national boarders, prevents a globalized world. We may already be in one, but allowed (and highly encouraged) to see nations. In point-of-fact, it may prove to be advantageous. The less aware the public is, the easier it is to "Wag the Dog". But, again, I am not really informed enough to really comment on it further.

The Internet has always been bad. The intent, from the beginning, was never in our best interest. What made it good, was us. That is where the issues seem to be coming from. The Internet is less "us" as users and more as "us" as members. The playground has a lot more rules. What is making the Internet worse, is the very invested interest in turning it into an eventually "required" public utility. Once "Zero Trust" technology is more fully integrated, into peoples lives, there won't be much left that allows people a "casual" life, without Internet access. Captcha,2FV, browser scrutiny checks, and gaming services requiring root access to your device, are all parts of easing the world into accepting the idea of secured devices and "state level" digital I.D. authentication. 90% of the world's Governments and 90% of the major tech sector are very openly "PRO" - "Zero Trust" services. We are surrounded by simple examples of this everywhere. For example, apps that won't install on devices that you yourself have administrative access to (rooted), age verification laws, China's voluntary Digital I.D. (is voluntary really voluntary, if you live in China), fraudulent student loans, fraudulent employment, a good supply of data breaches, deep fakes, cyber attacks..... it almost seems like an endless list of real good reasons, for "Zero Trust". So a "secured" device will equate to, a device that has "secured" your personal and legal potential/liability to the Internet and the device you are using. I hope I'm not coming off as in support of this; I don't care for it at all. I'm just putting it out there, and trying to express that this is no personal theory of mine. I think most people kinda suspected this was the intent for the future. But, for anyone interested, the term "Zero Trust" isn't mine. I think even light research could turn up the relevant information, to confirm what I have here laid out; just dig into "Zero Trust". I think that there is probably a good portion, of many societies, that would find this information comforting. It will come with all kinds of changes, that many will find pleasant. I'm just a freak that views life and societal life as two distinct things. Anything that makes it harder to realize that all society is imagined (and functionally upheld by mob-rule (like lines between nations) kinda bothers me. I kinda feel like Internet as a dependency is one of those things. Sadly, for me, I don't think there are many people left, that can understand the difference between life and societal life. When most question what their life is, most probably cannot identify much, outside of a societal context. This kind of self identity, is one of the reasons we are where we are. It is also the cause of a lot of major human emotional distress. We are provided/grown with mental pattern structurings, like low/high self esteem. At the very root, self esteem establishes the your value is measurable (almost certainly at a social level). That alone is a core fracture in the truth of your reality. No matter how you look, smell, are treated, etc., you will always be the most important person to yourself; and with that realization there can be no self-esteem. You have to be good enough for yourself, it is your "only" option. The interesting thing here is that such capacity to realize yourself, puts you in line with definitions for psychopathic and sociopathic traits. It becomes clear why, when you realize that psychological health standards are set via sociology (social psychology). So, you are not a healthy member of society, if you see your self as a "singular" individual. You are psychologically healthy (for the whole) when you see yourself as an individual/member of the whole. To wax on this a little longer, there was a study about mice living in mazes, having observed two primary types of mouse reactions, to it. In one, the mice would establish habits of feeding, drinking, and grooming, well adapted to the construct of the maze. One note of interest, is that they began to groom quite constantly. The observing scientist nick-named the group "The Beautiful Ones". In the other, reaction, the mice were excessively focused with escaping the maze. Many were so concerned with escape, that they did not eat or drink; eventually perishing. This excessive grooming is masturbatory (psychological, not sexual). This masturbatory compulsion, for us, is the result of self identification within societal life. In other words, our natural patterns are replaced with ones provided to us. Any pride, opinion, psychological insecurity, and most identity traits, are completely masturbatory (pleasing/displeasing ourselves by the imagining of ourselves). I'm not saying I prefer chasing each other around with rocks, as we fight over the last fig. I just think it is a good and honest context, for understanding the aforementioned topic(s). Anyway, glad to see people resisting cellular payments. Maybe, with your help, it is something I don't have to try finding a way around from, for another handful of years.

It appears to me, that the last Kxproject driver (outside of community efforts) is 3550. There are earlier versions that work on Win98se and newer. Has anyone tried, or had any luck, getting/fudging newer versions to work? The driver/utilities source is available, now; so I can play around, at my leisure. However, my aim will be to get some functionality in Win98FE. I may decide it isn't a good aim I thought I should ask "here" before digging around, too much.

You are no novice user, so I assume most common questions aren't needed. For the sake of any novice, reading this thread, if you type C:\EXIT nothing happens? What happens if you use ahciwrap.sys or GCDROM.SYS? That may help eliminate that the issue is specific to rloew's driver. I'm not a huge user of cd-roms "in any O.S." with that said, the error exposes that the driver's disc filesystem functionality is blocked/unavailable; or now unable to recognize the data it observes it. Maybe, it could be the use of an updated UDF filesystem or other updates/patches; perhaps to the bit access of the drives and their controllers. A change/patch, when Windows loads, may be keeping something persistent, at the hardware level, in so doing "maybe" preventing the media from being recognized; after returning to DOS. I do think my reply is a placeholder, until someone else comes along. But you never know, as you are a competent user, maybe something here will help trigger a thought of your own. Looking forward to seeing this pan out for you.

So, I revisited this machine (with a fresh install) and WDMEX is needed to get the audio working. Once the driver is established as functional, it seems I can disable WDMEX. If I swap the driver out, and then back again, WDMEX is once again needed to initiate functionality.

Very nice!

I did find that Startech sells a mpci-e to pci-e riser, with a nice case and power supply. They were over $150, and I'd still need to convert slots to legacy PCI. Not saying under $200 is bad, but I am cheap.

I've been tempted to move to Alaska, from time to time. I've always been worried about the circadian rhythm. Messed mine up once, long ago, while working the overnight shifts. But, if moving to Alaska, maybe moving out of the US is an option too. Sorry, off topic. Soldering it fine. I use many old things, and must repair/modify them. I am also a little cheap; so buying it when broken, and fixing it for my use, is handy. Often, I don't take the time to make things look as nice as they could/should (except for guitars). I wondered if there was an already existing solution.

I have plenty of Laptops and Thin-clients. Majority of the more powerful older systems (circa 2005-2012) have internal MPCI-E. So, it seems I can buy MPCI-E (male) to 2x legacy PCI (female); but it has no case and is powered by sata power (meant to be use in a desktop). Most external sata powers supplies are DC adapter/USB to Sata power cable. They typically provide 2A, which isn't enough (a fair PCI GPU will use 7A, for sure). I have a MICRO PC case, and could run it (MPCI-E to PCI) off the power in there, potentially mounting the 2 PCI slots inside it. Before playing with any of that, I thought I should ask if anyone has seen something that comes with it's own case/power? The bare adapter runs about $40 US. I wouldn't want to pay a whole lot more, than that. I've seen PCMCIA (male) to 2x and 4x PCI (female); but they are rare and costly. However, they came with nice cases and power supplies. My MICRO PC case has a fanless PSU, so it may be the best choice for me (noise is important here). But, if there ever was a place to ask advice, this is the place. Notice:This may not be a solution, for adding PCI cards to "late era" Win9x machines. For that, the PCMCIA route is likely more certain.

I do apologize, I'd love to follow the path jumper has started, and or research rebuilding/test alternative run-times/applications. I don't need Pidgen (prefer IRC/BBS[Mystic]/Hotline/KDX), but I enjoy working this kind of thing out. Access to my.... Retro machines? is limited, and free time is gobbled up. Supposedly, this winter will improve the situation (for awhile). @jumper has again stepped up as an upstanding member of the community. Several members here are quite inspirational to me; and I am glad they so willing help other.

Not sure if this will improve the situation or not (maybe you solved it already?), but you could try using other builds of GTK+2. Pidgin does offer a package without GTK. Even if the builds are newer, they may have been built with different build environments and configurations. But, it should be noted that running with a global set of GTK dlls can be irritating (if you need more than one set of Global GTK dll versions). OTOH, building Pidgen and GTK+2 with a different build environment and config could also solve the issue. I think Mingw32 has flags to set the max winver to support during compile (I believe there was two required). I'm guessing an old Mingw32 and Msys would work (still on sourceforge); probably shouldn't need Cgywin's userland). The source documentation may provide a hint. There are times when setting the max winver flags can bork the build, if the code explicitly asks for something. But, GTK is less likely to cause an issue there. And from the looks of this issue, Pidgen probably wouldn't either, or it could be an easy fix. Maybe of interest, this guy tested some different win32 GCC versions, and TDM-GCC may also be an option. You can find userland (msys) included versions of Mingw and TDM-GCC floating around on the net. Its harder to find, but there are fully bundled versions of Cgywin floating around, too (more useful for the usreland). Don't have my old GTK+2 builds around anymore. Kept GTK+1.3 only, it seems. But that doesn't mean someone else's builds couldn't improve the situation. Maybe here or here? You can also check on "mmnt dot ru slash int". Search gtk+ and then within results something like win32.

Hi @ABCDEFG, Just checking to see that I've got you right. You're saying, we could used an extra core, for the software GPU. You are also clarifying, that this is different from truly taking advantage of a multiprocessor/multicore system; which we cannot do. This I 100% agree with. Thanks for pointing that out, so we don't get lots of hopeful multicore win9x questions. I dream of taking a couple year holiday, and doing something fun with these, and other, ideas. I've been wondering if I could host a VST server (something similar to MuLab Plugin [used to be called Mux], or VSTHost) on the available cores (one host each). Each host being available to any Midi capable (potentially audio route-able) DAW. It would have to be a "from scratch" project. Hard to get motivated for something like that, with only "occasional" weekends available. Going into it, there are ALOT of problems with such a goal. Might get reduced to one core being a SoundFont/GigaSample server (headless); something like LinuxSampler. But, in the end, I'd be one of the few, or the only person, to ever use it. PipeDreams. But, SoftGPU sparks a little fame under my chair. @FantasyAcquiesce, I did compile some MMX/SSE1,2 software rendering Mesa binaries (I think you are encouraged to use the included non sse3+/Avx binary, for older machines [i915]). The included binary, without AVX, doesn't include SSE. On an Pentium M 1.2ghz, Unreal Gold "with Wine3D" was almost acceptable @ 640x480 & 800x600 both 32bit. The binaries I built only seemed marginally better; however, they scored noticeably better with the included OpenGL benchmarks (the Unreal game engine probably taps out any boost the SSE (and assembly optimized) builds ?may? potentially provide). So yeah! On a faster CPU, there may be a bit of hope for some older machines (the included Mesa [softpipe] probably being sufficient). I'm not sure they were worth my time. But if any one wants to test these older Mesa builds, I could upload them somewhere. I've also noticed slightly faster load times, with older versions of Wine3d. But, nothing huge.

The MESA LLVM uses it, or its just a soft dependency? I am glad the 2D VESA doesn't need it. That would be scary. EDIT: I guess I'll find out soon enough. I'll test it out on the next machine I setup. Its a pretty interesting project. I've wondered if the source for rloew's Win9x multi-core API came came out, if projects like this could use it (or it's ideas). I can't count the times I've though something like this should be possible. Its kinda great that someone has taken the time to keep polishing it into a reality.

Its not a problem, just a curiosity, but I noticed the dependency on the Winsock 2 Dll. Does it actually use Winsock, or is that just a default dependency from the building tool chain's configuration?

Is that MSFN post about Win95? Anyway, you can swap out the dlls by booting to DOS. C:> ren \windows\system\shell32.dll \windows\system\shell32.lld C:> ren \windows\system\shell32.new \windows\system\shell32.dll That's if at the C: root. Just rename and copy the new one(s) over before you re-start in DOS. Then you can test and look for problems. If it doesn't work, start in DOS and revert. I'm running with version 4.0.0.1112. The last version of IE, to work with Win95, probably has the "official" latest shell32.dll for Win95. I'm not sure if there is a newer one. I've 7zip and Cab extracted IE before, and found the stuff I've needed. After extracting the main packaged installer, I needed the Cab extract found in the contents. Their are folders designated for the different versions of Windows. So the one with shell32.dll and labelled with a 95 is the one you want. There are probably easier ways to get it. And, the one in the latest IE (for 95) might not be the newest usable.

In that case, it might be a little bit before I can test it (the patch) In all seriousness, it might not be that bad. Depends on the source. IPv6 was implemented in v2.8.6; maybe for the Win port too. Side Note: I've noticed that some Ws2 applications will work, with the older versions of Trumpet, if the Ws2_32.dll is present. But not many.

Nice work I've got a hand full of WinSock 1.1 compatible apps. All of the old Xchat clients, before it went demo/paid/shareware, should work. But that would only test the IPv4 connectivity. Whats an IPv6 application, for Win9x? Xchat 1.8.8, Last one. Also have a Win95B VM (no WinSock Update), I could probably test it on. Yeah, it would be real hard to use only WinSock 1.1 applications. By 2001 almost everything was WinSock 2. But, it is interesting to see how he implemented it. Hx Dos extender has a WinSock implementation (Incomplete, I think?). It rides off of a packet driver and provides networking for Windows applications, in "real" dos. I suppose ReactOS has a WinSock, too. Both offer a peek into making a WinSock. But that is a time eating project (a little bit, anyway). It seems like it might be an inevitable need, I just don't know how soon. Although, I'm sure we'll figure it out, if the time ever arrives

I imagine it is the same WinSock revision as his earlier Trumpet versions. Think back to Win3.1(1). Before Microsoft released Wolverine (TCPIP, for Win3x) and Trumpet was the first to market. I'm pretty sure his WinSocks are only v1.1 (Win95A/Win3x). I've read that he aided the Mircosoft employee that wrote Wolverine (tips over email?); Wolverine also being WinSock API v1.1. Back then there was actually a program for swapping out your WinSock. I think that is the same-ish logic Trumpet uses, as during the install it searches for other WinSocks and renames them. Supposedly, there were a handful of WinSocks. I think AOL had one. If Trumpet v5 does as older versions, the stock WinSock should still be there, just renamed. I think the only way around the TimeBomb, is to keep the clock behind. I have no clue about run-as-date type programs, as I've never found them useful. If a person had a key, and unlocked the program, supposedly it would be fine to run it ahead again. But, who knows if getting a legal key is possible anymore? I'm also not sure if it works with ME.

Check out here. While it is still up, anyway :)

Well, this would be a solution for many retro systems. A person could probably make a small Linux router for the task. Maybe a RPI-zero or something. For virtual machines, one might also be able to modify Qemu, or intercept it's traffic. Something on a bare metal install, without a router, might still be nice. @FranceBB, thanks for commenting. Glad people are thinking about it.