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Acer and Windows 98?


RacerBG

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Hello guys,

Im new here but for me Windows 98 SE is not a new experience at all. This was my first OS and still the favorite one but now I have a huge dilemma:

I want to install Windows 98 SE on my laptop which is Acer Aspire 5738Z. If further hardware specific things are required I can give them.

The reason why I want this? Maybe because Im crazy nerd but hell I love retro software and games! Now Im using here Windows XP SP3 x86. There are a few problems although:

1. Drivers, drivers, drivers... Any advice where I can get them for 98? With XP was fairly easy.

2. Installation - I'm a little bit afraid about MS DOS and Windows 98 installations because my hardware at all and my skills at second place. I can install every Windows but in a virtual machine the feeling is different. Is there exists any 98 SE install which can be installed without first installing DOS? And how I can wipe out my C drive before the actual 98 install?

3. How I can pass the limits of Windows 98 - for example RAM size, etc...?

4. Which programs to install/to not install? KernelEX is a must for sure.

5. Any other advices?

Any advice will be appreciated and sorry if I sound like complete noob but I want this thing on my laptop... Also sorry about my spelling because English is not my native language.

And by the way my real name is Georgi (in English George). Nice to meet you all! :)

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Welcome Georgi. :)

First thing you should do should be to go through this "sticky":

http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/95815-important-stickified-pinned-959898-seme-topics/

which lists more all less all we have avaialble regarding your questions.

Once you will have read that (and the relevant topics linked to in it) you will have a fair idea of what has already been done and probably find between 90 and 99% of the answers to your questions.

As well, about installing, take your time on this thread (also sticky):

http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/118623-how-to-create-easily-a-second-win98xp-in-the-same-computer/

Then, do come back with the questions to which you haven't found a suitable answer in the above.

jaclaz

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Yes, but I do not find any specific things about my hardware.

Sure :), but you cannot expect to find an existing tutorial titled "How to dual boot XP and Windows 98 on an Acer Aspire 5738Z, including all the drivers you will need for both OS's, the BIOS upgrades and a complimentary list of all programs and add-ons that a typical Windows 98 user from Bulgaria may find useful".

:whistle:

jaclaz

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Welcome to MSFN, Georgi!

This might be an interesting project considering how new the laptop is. You'll definitely want to look into how to get Windows 98 running with a hard drive bigger than 128GBs and running more than 512MBs of RAM.

As for drivers, try using Everest Home Edition to figure out what drivers you need. Having Realtek High Definition audio might be challenging but I don't know if it's impossible or not. Maybe you can help us a little more as well by telling us what hardware you have in your laptop since laptops come with different variants at times.

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My laptop consists of the following hardware:

Intel Pentium T4400 (2.2 GHz, 800 MHz FSB)

Intel GMA 4500M

15,6 HD LCD

3 GB RAM

320 GB HDD

DVD Super Multi DL drive

Acer Nplify 802.11b/g/n

Bluetooth 2.1+EDR

Multi-in 1 card reader

6-cell Li-on battery (which is most probably f*cked because of me :D )

Im very eager to learn when I must apply this hotfixes and in what order to do the things (if any).

But first of all what do you think about this Acer? Windows 98 SE friendly or not?

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I wouldn't call this laptop 98SE friendly by any means... There aren't any existing 98SE compatible drivers for your hardware. But, if you are determined enough, you can probably get everything to work under 98SE except the Video (you'll be stuck at 640x480x16, maybe fixable with VBE9X depending on the intended use), Audio, and Networking functions. Bluetooth is a toss up if you can find a 98SE compatible stack that works with your hardware. It really depends on what you want to use 98SE on this machine for.

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^^Exactly

Also, you must disable any secondary cores. Windows 98 may handle your processor but it will only utilize one core. I'm not sure what'll happen if you leave it set to dual but it's sure not to put out the results you expect. Laptops are really harder for these types of projects only because you're limited to what is on the board. If it were a desktop, you can do whatever you want basically to those things. So as LoneCrusader said, it might be very limited on what it can do if it'll work at all. But if you're really that determined, go for it! You'll never know unless you try.

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My suggestion to you bud is try Windows 2000. We have LOTS of projects going on with that and there about a 75% chance all your devices will function under Windows 2000, the only thing that *MIGHT* be an issue is the Acer Nplify 802.11b/g/n. Check out the Windows 2000 projects if you're interested, but I highly recommend it because Windows 2000 gives you that Windows 98 feel and the inner works of the NT line.

http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/156521-unofficial-sp-52-for-microsoft-windows-2000

You'd want to look for Unofficial Update Rollups here compiled by tomasz86. I can also assist you with it as well since I'm a Win2000 expert as well. ;)

Edited by Tommy
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Disabling multiple cores (or HyperThreading) on processors is NOT necessary. I have run Windows 95 on HyperThreading P4's and some later dual/multi core processors as well with no issues. The extra cores are simply ignored, and there is no reason to disable them, especially in a multi-boot environment where other OS'es can use them.

If you want a "performance" Windows 98SE system, look for a system (desktop or laptop) with a motherboard based on the Intel 865/875 chipsets and with a 3+ GHz P4 processor. Virtually all systems with this configuration should have working drivers (or drivers should be available that can be adapted).

Edited by LoneCrusader
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My suggestion to you bud is try Windows 2000. We have LOTS of projects going on with that and there about a 75% chance all your devices will function under Windows 2000, the only thing that *MIGHT* be an issue is the Acer Nplify 802.11b/g/n. Check out the Windows 2000 projects if you're interested, but I highly recommend it because Windows 2000 gives you that Windows 98 feel and the inner works of the NT line.

http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/156521-unofficial-sp-52-for-microsoft-windows-2000

You'd want to look for Unofficial Update Rollups here compiled by tomasz86. I can also assist you with it as well since I'm a Win2000 expert as well. ;)

Im sure Windows 2000 will work just fine here, does there exists any extra benefits for having it over XP? Of course the support for 2000 was dropped a while ago but you guys and all the community here are doing great job for extending it. ;)

You could also try running Win98 in a VM. I haven't done it, but I'm sure someone else has.

Cheers and Regards

That's very easy and practical, I had done that already on both my laptop and PC. :)

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My suggestion to you bud is try Windows 2000. We have LOTS of projects going on with that and there about a 75% chance all your devices will function under Windows 2000, the only thing that *MIGHT* be an issue is the Acer Nplify 802.11b/g/n. Check out the Windows 2000 projects if you're interested, but I highly recommend it because Windows 2000 gives you that Windows 98 feel and the inner works of the NT line.

http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/156521-unofficial-sp-52-for-microsoft-windows-2000

You'd want to look for Unofficial Update Rollups here compiled by tomasz86. I can also assist you with it as well since I'm a Win2000 expert as well. ;)

Im sure Windows 2000 will work just fine here, does there exists any extra benefits for having it over XP? Of course the support for 2000 was dropped a while ago but you guys and all the community here are doing great job for extending it. ;)

I'm going to go out on a limb and say yes simply because UURollup contains blackwingcat's kernel and core updates which actually contain some Vista/7 extensions. Simply put, Windows 2000 with UURollup installed will have some XP/Vista/7 components in it which I believe makes 2000 a lot better than XP. Of course you still have a bit of an issue with drivers but there are even unofficial drivers that work great with Windows 2000. We've also modified a lot of programs that were XP only to work on Windows 2000 as well. I also personally believe that Windows 2000 is a bit less resource dependent than XP so it seems to have a bit more power. Funny though because my Windows 2000 computer really seems a lot more stable and less crash prone than my Windows XP laptop downstairs. But I've been using Windows 2000 for 12 years and have used it well beyond the cutoff date, doesn't bother me a bit. :)

Oh, and tomasz86 has also created a compilation where you can install every single NET framework from MS, from 1.0 all the way to 4.0 and applications that require 4.0 really run on Windows 2000 now.

Edited by Tommy
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