jimmsta

Also, if you're interested, the DX9c package in Win9xPower Pack is slimmed down to the bare essentials to work on Win9x platforms. I went through each cab file, searching for references to Win9x, and removed any that did not have any inf files for Win9x. The package size went from 60mb down to approx 15mb.

MajorGeeks ended up finding the download on SoftPedia (it seems), and uploaded it. It was featured on their site yesterday. At this point in time, W9xPPv4 has been downloaded over 1500 times.

I'd like to take MDGx's stance on this - For people that are still stuck on dial-up, a 212MB file isn't a welcome download. MDGx tries his best to keep his patches down in size, as well as his website (of which, the design has not changed since he started as AXCEL216, many years ago). I'm big on keeping download sizes small, and that's why I opened this topic. I suppose that there's probably a handful of users that want the Unofficial Service pack, but as stuck on dial-up. Obviously, a 12MB download is more attractive than a 212MB download. I'm always up for having this package being the official package that contains all patches from this forum, though. (Actually, that is what I'm trying to make it be... ).

I was wondering who added the pack... Thanks a lot - Majorgeeks never responded. I've had problems in the past getting in touch with them, so it's not surprising that I haven't gotten anything from them. Again, Thanks

LLXX, You've amazed me - not only did you have one version done, but managed to get three different releases working in a short time. Good work. Now if only I had a way to test it, but alas, all my systems run XP or have small hdd's (I have a 98SE box with a bunch of 4-18GB SCSI drives, but not anything over that size).

I think I'll be creating a module-based approach for the next version. I'll be utilizing NSIS and my current webserver... this way, you can add what you want, as you need it. Should reduce download size considerably. I'm also looking into dedicated hosting, as my host isn't very reliable. edit: I just realized that I have an annual bill to pay them in the next 5 days. Either I renew for a year, or go elsewhere... I've got to get this sorted ASAP. Once I have everything sorted, expect to see a small patch, possibly using the module/component idea proposed above.

It's working fine on my end. I've had issues with the hosting company in the past. (Dreamhost.com)... They promise 1TB of transfer a month, but so far, I've had problems with them allowing me to go over 120GB a month. (I have not hit that limit yet). This subdomain is throttled at 850GB of traffic, which has not occurred yet. There shouldn't be any problems... I'll look into it.

I'd probably have to do that anyway... Yes, I'll release an update, with a replacement autorun with new links.

It's not intended as an automated installer. There's no way to test for all bugs, and I don't want to be held responsible for people losing their data due to an automated installer. All this is, is a PACK of installers, and tools, nothing more. It's a single package of most patches for win98 FE/SE/Me. I've toyed with the automated installer idea, and had created an early version of it, but never finished it. (Using INFex). I really don't like the idea of an automated installer, since most of the time, you have to reboot in between patches (all of the time, actually). It would not make sense to do so.

Check your start menu for a Dell Media Creation tool, which will take files from the hidden partition/I386 directory on your hard drive, and create a hackable iso image... then load that up in nLite, and remove the components that you need to remove. All new Dell systems (Dating back to approximatley March of 2005) include a large 3-8GB hidden partition on the hard drive which contains a modified copy of Symantec Ghost 2003, a GHO file (Ghost image file), and a few other utilities (Gui for recovery purposes, simple hardware diagnostics, CD IMAGE CREATION TOOL). The Dell Media Creation Tool will build an ISO from the GHO file on the system. It takes anywhere from 15 to 45 minutes, but when its finished, you'll have a legal copy of the OS that's currently installed on your system. Dell will charge you anywhere from $10 USD to $45 USD for the media. It's either that, or make the ISO from the hidden partition. Hell, if you go and run the dell recovery (Ctrl+F11 on bootup), you'll end up with a clean install of the OS, which will include the dell media creation tool (it gets deleted every time you run it - I guess this is some form of copyprotection, or theft-thwarting).

Alrighty. I'll keep it up, not change a thing. I'll offer a small update patch if there's demand for it. Otherwise, the readme will point people to here, anyway.

I think I'll be pulling the download for W9xPP, since there's been a bunch of various updates since release, and I had included 3 separate files for this single addon. (NUSB v2.21, NUSB Decorator, and mdgx's unofficial v2.22 patch). Good work, Maximus-Decim! Thanks again!

Looks like I'll either be pulling this release, and updating it, or releasing a patch, since Tihiy has fixed some relativley major bugs in Revolutions v5, as well as Maxiums-Decim's new NUSB v2.3 release. I'd love to be able to simply patch it, which I'll attempt, but it's really just going to be W9xPP v4.1.

If I can get a team of people together, I will be willing to get a multi-language (non-english) release going. I've already created a simple "Multi-Language" logo for it (included in the current release download, with PSD files). I was planning on a multilingual edition sometime in the future.

I've got to remember to add this- This pack is ENGLISH only. I have not been able to get it translated. If anyone wants to translate it, I'd be grateful.

JUST TO CLARIFY: v4.5/5.0 is in active development. A new site, http://www.Win9xPP.org/ has been started as the development log for the new version. Download link: Softpedia: http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/OS-Enh...ower-Pack.shtml Majorgeeks: http://www.majorgeeks.com/Windows_9x_Power_Pack_d5201.html Personal Hosting: http://repository.jimmsta.com/w9xpp/index....nloads&id=2 MD5: 47B1A26D8B272A2250FD5B73A2AD445B FILE SIZE: 212MB, 7Zip SFX/Archive I've attached the SFV file for this release as well (zip file at bottom of post). Digg Link: http://digg.com/software/Windows_9x_Power_Pack_v4_Released v4.1 Here's what's new with v4.1: Latest Unofficial Service Pack for win98 FE Latest Unofficial Service Pack for WinMe Better Looking Autorun Updated Revolutions Pack Updated NUSB drivers for Win98SE Added a small codec pack Patch: http://repository.jimmsta.com/w9xpp/index....nloads&id=4 Full Release: http://repository.jimmsta.com/w9xpp/index....nloads&id=3 Mirrors - SoftPedia: http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/OS-Enh...ower-Pack.shtml MajorGeeks: http://www.majorgeeks.com/Windows_9x_Power_Pack_d5201.html MD5 for v4.1 Patch: D8E01372D184FBB77EA34BA5B1FBE160 MD5 for v4.1 Full: 3F9C877C92B0A59385C3666B6244C436 What is this? This is a compilation of most major patches found here, in this subforum. I've also included IE6.0SP1, and DirectX 9.0c (June 2006 w/Managed DX). What's included? All Unofficial Service Packs for 98 Gold, SE, And Windows Me. MDGx's 98SE2Me Tihiy's (re-release) RPLite v5, and instructions/zip for lameskin v6 preview. 7-Zip Windows Media Player 9.0 + Codecs MDGx's Windows Media Player 10.0 for Win98SE Xeno86's Kernel Update Project v0.2.7 Maximus Decim's NUSB, NUSB Decorator patches Maximus Decim's MDAC update package Maximus Decim's IE6.0 components update for Win98SE Microsoft XML Update There's probably more that I'm forgetting, but I think this sums it up. Why? I find it easier to have a cd full of the stuff that makes this forum so great.... and it's easier to work on older systems that have no NIC, or fast connection to the internet. This project has taken 2 weeks of work to get together, including finding the best way to package it. What format is this file? It is a 7zip archive wrapped within a 7zip installer. It can be successfully decompressed with WinRAR or 7zip, or any other 7-zip compatible archivers (p7zip for linux users). If you run the file, it will decompress into your Windows Temp folder (in a folder called "7zxxxxx", where x is a random string...), or your local user profile temp folder (Win2k/XP/NT). Comments/Questions are appreciated. I'll be requesting Majorgeeks.com's mirroring help for this release, if all goes well. Above all, please enjoy this release! Credit has been given to all those involved by using their names for the folder names within the compilation. This way, everything is organized, and people get name recognition! edit: Added Softpedia link. Special thanks to SoftPedia, for hosting the package. edit2: Seems MajorGeeks.com has caught on today, and has posted the download as well. Added Link. EDIT3: Added links for v4.1 full and v4.1 Patch, as well as mirrors. W9xPPv4.zip

For open-source ipod support on Windows 9x, I'd use Yamipod... It's free, opensource, and cross-platform compatible.

Why is there no "twice a year" option? I used to reformat either once every month, or once every 3 months. Now, with my new, stable machine, I'm able to go about 6 months before I need to reclaim the TB of storage I have (in a RAID 0+1 config, which amounts to 465GB useable space).

My webserver seems to dislike 200mb files being FTP'd to it, or it keeps failing or something... The file will be here: http://repository.jimmsta.com/w9xpp/index....tegory&id=1 when its done. Today has been a much busier day than I expected it to be. I also have to build a system when I get home... I'm still @ work until 7pm EST. Then I'll head home, build a system, eat some dinner, and re-upload the file while doing all that stuff...

It's DONE! I'm uploading the file to personal hosting first. I'll be upping an anti-leech script to keep that up for the initial blow. I'll be contacting Tim or Jim @ majorgeeks.com so they can mirror it, and will attempt getting more hosting from whereever else (torrent, eDonkey, etc). MD5 Checksum: 47B1A26D8B272A2250FD5B73A2AD445B File Name: W9xPPv4.exe This information will be reposted in a new thread tommorow. I jumped the gun tonight, and had to retest a bunch of the included files to ensure that everything is right. The file size is the same as the first final build. I promise this is it. It's uploading now (1:52AM EST). (212MB 7zip SFX w/Installer -- Can be extracted by WinRAR or 7Zip's File Manager, or you can run it, and it will extract to a temp folder on your system.) It should be ready tommorow morning for download. This development cycle has been a pain, but its all been worth it. I've learned a new SFX packaging scheme, which I will be using quite a bit in the future. A new thread will be opened tommorow with more information. Check back around 9AM EST to 6pm EST. I have no idea when I'll be able to post...

mods: please delete.

hrm... my day didn't go as planned. Our electric company decided to pull the plug when I got home from work @ 6pm... the power came back on 2 hours later. I've been working the past 1.5hrs on putting finishing touches on the package. As of right now, I'm testing out various compression formats. Something seems to be amiss with my 7zip installation, as it keeps telling me that 7zip isn't implemented (also reinstalled, same problem ). I'm VERY familiar with 7zip's console app 7za.exe, as I use it on my other compilation (http://bht.jimmsta.com), to update things like Adaware, and various other tools. I had never touched NSIS before this project, but after using it, will probably use it for BHT in the future, as it's a great tool, especially for those of us that are still using batch files to do our dirty work (patching releases, downloading apps from the web/patches). Ah! the first compressed file is done, I used RAR @ Best settings. The compressed file is: 214mb, which is a mere 4mb smaller than the uncompressed version ... As I have said earlier, I was rather sure that it wouldn't compress down that much, since most of the files are already compressed in some fashion. This includes DirectX, and IE6SP1. I think I'll be repacking both using that easySFX utility, and see if that can get the filesize down a bit more. Seeing as the old version (v3.0) was 346mb, I have to say that 130mb downsized is a big improvement, but I'd like to see something a bit better, considering that I'm a minimalist when it comes down to software... edit: good thing I did go back and check out the IE installer... looks like I might have made a big bug - I seem to have compressed the file over again, for no reason. I'm repacking it right now, and will use EasySFX to create the SFX.... edit 2: EasySFX doesn't work. I managed to get 7zip working again (don't ask me why it wasn't working before - I have no idea). I'm back @ square 1... I'll be searching for easy sfx/installer apps for 7zip or something... edit 3: After searching the net a bit, I found that there's a file available on 7zip's sourceforge file archive called 7z442_extra.tar.bz2. Included are the building blocks to create an installer based on 7zip. All you need to do is find instructions, which I've located in google's cache, here: http://72.14.209.104/search?q=cache%3AvzEy...sfx%20installer

7zip v4.42 is able to unpack NSIS installers now. I'll take a look at that tool you mentioned.

Great news! I'll test this in a VM, and the package will be ready later today.

I've done it before, and I'll do it again - I'll release two different versions. I'll also post the MD5 of each, just to be sure that the files don't get tampered with.