Newbie User

[nostaglic98]

Hi guys,

Noticing how Windows 9x is dying off these days, I've decided to come join in what's left of the community.

Here is some basic history with me and computers:

First computer used:

White-box Clone

450Mhz Celeron Processor

480MB of RAM

20GB Western Digital, failed in 2004/2005, 80GB Maxtor installed

Windows 98SE, upgraded to XP Pro w/ SP1 in 2003/4. XP SP2 Pro

3 Dial-up modems (went through them like stink!)

Onboard sound + Soundcard

Sadly, PSU issues caused this puppy to "go bust" in late 2007.

First personal computer:

Acquired around this time of year 2002

Windows 98 (unsure of version)

Two Hard disks (again, unsure)

MS Office 97

Had AT/5 pin DIN keyboard, Serial mouse

CD-ROM + Floppy

Unknown processor, assumed AMD K6 (common in those systems with 2 parallel/serial)

Add in Graphics and Sound card

Due to "experimentation" at a young age with Windows 98, this computer met it's match at the end of 2002. It was a free computer...

2nd Personal Computer:

Acquired early 2003

"Windows 95/NT4 Compatible" Acer Desktop (Pizza box style)

Pentium 2 w/ MMX "slot in" processor (heatsink,fan, cpu as an all in one style that slots into MB)

3GB Quantum FIREBALL HD!

Unknown RAM - Enough to run XP like stink! (Faster than a 2.4GHz Celeron we have today!)

Acer monitor - 17," nice 'n' big

OS(ses): Windows 98, reinstalled so many times it isn't funny (experimentation my friends!) Ran Windows ME in from early 2004-September(ish) 04. Then up to Windows 2000 for 2 weeks, then Windows XP (for the rest of its life). Stopped working December 05 - keyboard stopped responding after loading screen, mouse port dead, Com2 port used for mouse support. Due to an accident with the voltage switch, I took out "everything" on this computer in May of 2005.

Used the "First computer used" until May 2007.

3rd Personal Computer

1.83Ghz Core 2 Duo E6300

250GB SATA Hard Disk

IDE DVD-RW

2GB of RAM

Windows XP Home (supposed to have come with Vista - no discount or anything with XP, peed me off a lot!)

Still running today as a gaming system for Flightsim etc

Also acquired in 2007:

AMD K6

3GB Quantum Fireball

Windows 98

Same ports etc as my first system.

Worked great, until I reinstalled Windows 98 w/o sound drivers!!! Had a 24MB S3 Trio in it. Monitor cable was "messed up" by some dodgy pins (bent out of shape).

A similar system to this was acquired in mid 2003, but sadly, the PSU "just stopped," but still allowed power to the monitor. That thing had just 1 1GB Seagate disk!!!

4th Personal Computer (2nd of my own machines):

"CDM" from 1999/2000

800MHz Pentium 3

384MB of SD-RAM (upgraded by the school computer tech just for me!)

10GB IDE HD

Windows XP Pro SP1 (this was in August/September 2008!), with all apps etc still present (computer was supercharged by being disconnected from the school network). Decided to install Windows 98 + Ubuntu 10.04. Took a while to get it, but everything worked splendidly. Back to XP in late 09 in preparation for selling, acquired first laptop, and had to get rid of this thing.

I believe this machine is actually advertised in a 2nd hand goods newspaper in a locality near to where I was. Might be worth dragging her back - I spent $50 on an IDE DVD burner for that thing!

5th Personal Computer:

1.5GHz Pentium M

30-40GB of Hard Disk

480MB of RAM

XP Pro, then Home SP1/3

Xubuntu in its final days. Took me lots of work to get the integrated graphics function though.

6th Personal Computer:

13" Apple Macbook Pro, Late 2011

4GB of RAM

500GB HD

Superdrive

FaceTime HD

iLife

MS Office 2011

OS X Lion

Been a great system!

Other systems in the house include a 2004 custom built with XP Home, 2.4GHz Celeron on a P4P800MX board with 480MB of RAM (I lost the 1GB stick I had for it). This system was on Windows 98SE until very recently, just 2 days ago. I just didn't have the software to keep it going.

I am looking into coming back to Windows 98, but need a good computer from the time, preferably one that was 100% plug 'n' play, similar to the system from 2007. It would be great to have that sort of thing back in my life, a personal system with older games such as Midtown Madness 1/2, old Age of Empires, V-Rally Expert Edition 2 (from a cereal box!), etc.

Is it even possible to build Windows 98 compatible systems today on a cheap budget? Or are components starting to get more expensive because of lack of use, etc?

Greatly appreciated guys, and thanks for reading the above info!!! I treasure these old computers, so it would be nice to get them back into me

Edited March 25, 2012 by nostaglic98

[LoneCrusader]

You might be surprised what hardware works with Windows 9x

Have a look at boards using the Intel 865 and 875 chipsets for example. See the last table on this page, and you should also look at these relevant threads:

Compatible Hardware with Windows 9x

Day-to-day running Win 9x/ME with > 1 GiB RAM

Welcome, and good luck!

[nostaglic98]

I'm actually beginning to wonder whether a HP DC7100u might be an idea... Would the Windows 2000 drivers run under 98 with KernelEx installed?

Might have to attempt this in my VPC 2007 installation of 98SE...

Can anyone think of a name brand PC that would have been widely used that has 98 compatibility? I think of IBM/Lenovo when I say this... Maybe I should just pickup the system that reminds me of my P3 system from 08-09ish.

[dencorso]

W2k driver with KernelEx won't work. KernelEx doesn't cater for drivers.

Some will work with WDMSTUB.SYS, but not many.

Search the forum for WDMSTUB, and you'll find much more about it.

BTW, welcome to MSFN!

[nostaglic98]

W2k driver with KernelEx won't work. KernelEx doesn't cater for drivers.

Some will work with WDMSTUB.SYS, but not many.

Search the forum for WDMSTUB, and you'll find much more about it.

Disappointing, might have to do some more research on that one then!

Thanks for your welcome too!