Running Windows 98 in 2020 and beyond...

[Wunderbar98]

Thanks for the find Drugwash.
 
The RetroZilla Search Engine Collection post above was edited, including a screnshot and new download link. Choice is good, there are now 3 engines to choose from for MSFN site searches: Google, DDG-HTML, DDG-Lite. The 'site:xyz' option does not work with Startpage.
 
IMHO the built-in Startpage search engine file was outdated, bloated and complicated. A new, leaner startpage.src file is now included in this collection (176 vs 1255 bytes). The URL was updated for search efficiency as the original URL https://classic.startpage.com automatically redirects to https://startpage.com anyway. If you prefer the built-in Startpage file, do not overwrite it with this collection file.
 
All engines still work fine without JavaScript. Actually, temporarily allowing startpage.com via NoScript causes Startpage breakage. So it really needs to be used without JavaScript.
 
The only drawback with DDG-HTML and MSFN_DDG-HTML searches is that RetroZilla's View dropdown -> User Style -> Default Style does not display the search box on the search results web page. If this is bothersome:
- Use DDG-Lite search engine
- Perform new searches from browser's URL bar
- Change RetroZilla's User Style -> None
- Try a site specific CSS file

[Wunderbar98]

Spent too many hours deep into the night before Christmas digging through the Firefox Legacy Collector Dump on archive[dot]org, mentioned a few posts above. Downloaded and tested numerous versions of numerous extensions. In the end only kept one extension for RetroZilla v2.2, believe it was imagezoom_0.3.1.xpi.

The collection is mostly for newer Mozilla-based browsers. Those running enhanced Windows 98 or newer Windows 2000 or XP would benefit the most from taking a look, before the site apparently goes down.

[Wunderbar98]

== RetroZilla Extensions Collection ==
 
= Overview =
 
Extensions tested to work and play nice together in RetroZilla v2.2. Posted here in case online links become unavailable. All credit goes to the original authors. Applicable extension(s) will be removed should an author object. Use at own risk, these extensions are outdated and unmaintained.
 
Extensions are unmodified from the original download with the exception of NoScript, a minor install.rdf file modification to get it to install. Most provide functionality similar to what would be expected of a modern browser.
 
Hopefully @rn10950 will eventually populate the proposed extension repository. At present RetroZilla's Tools -> Get Extensions link opens an empty page:
https://rn10950.github.io/RetroZillaWeb/extensions.html
 
Extensions are bundled in the attached RetroZillaExtensions.zip. Due to forum file size attachment limitations NoScript is not included and can be downloaded here:
https://msfn.org/board/topic/177106-running-vanilla-windows-98-in-2019/page/15/?tab=comments#comment-1174709
 
= Extensions =
 
cleardata.xpi
Provides Clear Private Data entry in the Tools dropdown (cache, history, cookies, location bar).
 
context_search-0.2.2-mod.xpi
Select page text and search with any installed search engine via right-click context menu.
 
imagezoom_0.3.1.xpi
Right-click image and zoom from context-menu selection. After install during first browser restart a broken options window may pop up, close it. Options get intrusively installed in browser preferences (Edit dropdown -> Preferences -> Image Zoom).
 
noscript-1.10.xpi
Fine grained JavaScript control and other options to improve online safety and security. As RetroZilla's JavaScript handling is poor, this allows selectively executing scripts as needed.
 
ook.xpi
Access all bookmarks from the right-click context menu.
 
open-image-in-new-tab-1.0.xpi
Right-click image and select open image in new tab.
 
paste_and_go_2-0.8-mod.xpi
Right-click the URL bar and select Paste and Go to immediately paste and launch a URL.
 
tabclickingoptions-0.6.9.xpi
Various tab-handling options accessible via Tools dropdown (eg. double-click tab bar for new tab).
 
tabs_open_relative-0.3.3-mod.xpi
Open new tab links adjacent to active tab, rather than the far right.
 
undoclosetab.xpi
Re-open previously closed tabs via right-click context menu.
 
user-agent-switcher-0.6.10-bump.xpi
Change browser's user agent, necessary to load some websites.
 
= Install and Remove =
 
Extension installation and removal in RetroZilla is messy and may lead to breakage. Recommend backing up the entire RetroZilla user profile before installing extensions or test drive the extension(s) in a new test profile. A full browser removal/re-installation may be helpful in case of severe breakage, as extension files may install into both the user profile and the browser installation directory, default pathways:
C:\Program Files\RetroZilla
C:\WINDOWS\Application Data\RetroZilla
 
Ensure RetroZilla's Edit dropdown -> Preferences -> Advanced -> Software Installation is set to 'Allow web sites to install extensions and updates'. This is required even when installing extensions locally. For security reasons it is best to disable this checkbox after all desired extensions are installed.
 
To install extensions go to File dropdown -> Open File -> select and install extension -> restart browser.

 

To cleanly remove extensions either restore a previously backed up profile, delete the profile's chrome directory (created on restart), create a new profile or fully uninstall/reinstall the browser. Note not all extensions install cleanly into only the chrome directory (eg. NoScript) and some extensions even alter the browser's Preferences configuration window (eg. ImageZoom).

 

RetroZillaExtensions.zip

[siria]

Always great tips and contributions, thanks. Just a pity that I don't manage to check more of them, for lack of time and too busy with other stuff, and slightly more modern browsers.

And I can't quite believe this, but could it be that really no one here is aware of the last remaining addon archives?? (yet only a matter of time until those vanish too)

1a) http://legacycollector.org/
1b) https://web.archive.org/web/20191102092539/http://legacycollector.org/
Just mini-description and xpi-files, no targets and target versions. But easily accessible as webpage, almost all Firefox addons too. Although sadly this archive too got killed by malicious people (as all good things nowadays). So since some weeks that site's now only surviving in wayback archive. And who knows when they'll kill it in there too... (the torrent download you found is a separate thing, this will now get deleted, and I strongly envy everyone who was able to download such a giant but invaluable 15GB file!!)

2) https://addons.thunderbird.net/en-US/seamonkey/
Still complete, but only the SEAMONKEY and Thunderbird addons escaped Mozilla's axe, for now (but how long??), and the few Firefox addons which were also compatible with Seamonkey.

3) https://github.com/JustOff/ca-archive/releases
Sadly THIS list is only available as xpi-addon, requiring a rather modern browser to view, min FF31 or was it 38? The xpi contains a 50MB sqlite database of old AMO pages, but the great advantage is: It includes info about target browsers and their versions, plus old user comments. While the giant 15GB archive with the XPI-files is hosted kindly by the Waterfox guys (who knows how long they'll be able to keep it up, seeing how the great legacycollector guy was already forced to give up)

[Wunderbar98]

As always, thank-you for the links and information siria. It saddens me this stuff is disappearing, so much work has gone into coding these extensions, still useful for old systems and hardware. Hoarding a few select extensions wasn't something i gave any thought about years ago, wrongfully assumed it would always be available for download. Thankfully some are working on keeping it available. The legacycollector[dot]org site indicated a torrent would be briefly seeded.

I am also surprised there wasn't more of an uproar. Maybe most users have already moved on or taken what they wanted. Modern living maybe has led many into a life of busy distraction. It's up to the end-users now to keep it going, just as it was when Windows 98 updates got pulled. A 15 GB download probably is not a big issue for most, which can cheaply be stored on a $10 USB stick, but rather how to distribute and make the files available to others.

[siria]

legacycollector.org download - how??

Wunderbar98 said:
> A 15 GB download probably is not a big issue for most, which can cheaply be stored
> on a $10 USB stick, but rather how to distribute and make the files available to others.

Sure too, but the very first prob for someone who just wants to store it really is downloading itself. There are large areas worldwide with extremely slow internet, or even no internet at all. And even in better areas, lots of people have provider dataplans with much smaller limits, and very slow speed.
Now in a last-minute attempt to somehow get that darn thing downloaded before it's deleted (probably on Dec-31?), finally got crazy ideas: perhaps drive to a big city and try a public wlan or internet cafe? Although never trusted those and zero clue anyhow. Perhaps just buying a supercheap smartphone just for downloading such giant files, in the future too, but do nothing else with that unprotected spy device.

But having no clue of "torrent" stuff, and still no download access anway, am already completely confused now to discover 2 packages on wayback: 15GB or 8GB??

This original archived webpage says:
https://web.archive.org/web/20191102092539/http://legacycollector.org/

For those wanting to mirror this site, please use the following torrent magnet link in favor of scraping the website. I won't be able to seed this torrent for long, so please seed for others if you grab this.

Get the full website copy. (.tar.xz)
https://web.archive.org/web/20191102092539/magnet:/?xt=urn:btih:2332zbsojxkxt36szehrjnck5nn4pxf4&dn=legacycollector.org.tar.xz&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.openbittorrent.com%3A80

(torrent file if magnet doesn't work for you)
https://web.archive.org/web/20191102092539/http://legacycollector.org/legacycollector.org.tar.xz.torrent

Mirroring by downloading from this web server is allowed as well if the torrent can't be used, and standard rate limiting restrictions have been lifted accordingly for this. Be aware that this is over 15GB of files!

-------------- 2 wayback Hits for creator legacycollector ------------

https://archive.org/search.php?query=creator%3A%22legacycollector.org%22

1) https://archive.org/details/Firefox_Legacy_Collector_Dump
22.oct: File collection with a 14GB file and has 1000 views

2) https://archive.org/details/legacycollector.org.tar.xz
23.oct: File collection with only a 8GB file and has 26 views

The ??? part:
The description on the main page links to something with "xz" (=8GB?) although the main site says "over 15GB of files". So, why are there 2 such different downloads? What's what?

[Drugwash]

The difference may only be in the wording used to describe the contents. An 8GB archive may well contain over 15GB of files. I did download the 8GB archive but didn't look into it yet*. Judging by the description you posted (Get the full website copy) it may contain the HTML pages, images and everything else besides the actual extension files.

There are two main problems in handling such archive:
1. Its size does not allow a Win9x user to download it since it exceeds the max 4GB allowed by FAT32
2. Opening/extracting files from it may require quite a lot of RAM+CPU power, depending on the decompressing application used, and also spare time

* Just out of curiosity I now tried to open the archive under Linux Mint (Intel i5 DualCore HT CPU, 4GB RAM) and it's been about 5 minutes before 'opening archive' progressbar got at about 65%. When finished I saw there is a folder structure which ultimately contains hundreds of subfolders in firefox-addons. When fully extracted the real space occupied by the files and folders may greatly exceed 15GB. Right now I have no time and will to extract that archive, not to mention free space on HDD is quite scarce.

[siria]

Oops... thanks for the reminder of the 4GB limit on Fat32!
Had completely forgotten about it, since Win98 is not my issue here, completely impossible anyway.
But it's still a killer prob for storing the file on a 32GB or smaller microSD card, what I had started considering! So, if downloading the file on perhaps a public wifi spot (no clue yet), to perhaps a huge internal smartphone storage (don't have yet either), it would first have to be unzipped internally, in order to copy the smaller bits to an external SD card with Fat32. Ouf...

But guys, I just started realizing:
perhaps those "Dump" files are not genuine at all, just copies??
And one already half deleted? (What would one delete? Non-FF addons? Older xpi versions?)
Perhaps only the archived, normal website contains the original file?
But if so, the big question is, did archive.org really store that link completely??
Otherwise we'd be stuck with the 15GB copy of the "dump", of unknown authenticity.
And also wonder: can it be downloaded without that "torrent" stuff, just the simple "tar" link?
But the good news is:
if that theory is right, no hurry anymore: nothing is going to be deleted NOW, because that text simply refered to the living website - which of course IS already deleted!

[Wunderbar98]

== Firefox Legacy Collector URLs ==
 
The power of vanilla Windows 98 and available tools (Dillo, Cygwin-Lite).
 
Saved an HTML file from below, the webpage is so long it drained all system RAM using RetroZilla.
https://ia803100.us.archive.org/view_archive.php?archive=/16/items/Firefox_Legacy_Collector_Dump/legacycollector.org.tar
 
A text list of 51,332 *.xpi entries was generated from the HTML file and converted into proper HTTP links. The file was split into 52 ordered files. A human readable master list of all extensions, named extensions.doc, was also generated. All files load in WordPad.
 
FirefoxLegacyCollector.zip is attached (~357 KB).

Due to forum file size limitations, the master list file (extensions.zip, ~260 KB) will be attached to next post.
 
Maybe this helps some members selectively retrieve legacy extensions. Review the text files and paste the desired URL into any browser for download, even Dillo. The download takes a few seconds to initiate, presumably archive.org database delay.
 
Quick search text files using built-in Windows 98 Find GUI. Open Find in the unzipped FirefoxLegacyCollector directory and enter a search query in the 'Containing text' field. This will identify which text file contains the extension's download link. Then in WordPad use Ctrl-F to warp to the actual HTTP link.
 
Numerous extensions could be parsed and downloaded from a text file via one-liner or simple script. These are not HTTPS links so even outdated wget would work. Sorry i have no idea which extensions work with which browser version, probably trial and error.

FirefoxLegacyCollector.zip

[Wunderbar98]

Master extension list attached (extensions.zip, ~260 KB).

Is there really a 1.9 MB forum limt? Per day/week/month/total? At my limit and i want to contribute more. Always used tinyupload (no sign-up, no JavaScript to download) but it appears broken. Any suggestions?

extensions.zip

[Drugwash]

Try Dropbox. I didn't trust it back on Windows but now on Linux I guess it's okay. It's not difficult to create an account and copy files to the dedicated folder. Unfortunately a free account only allows 2GB of files, with max 100MB per file using Dropbox Transfer, so we can't store the entire 8GB archive, but it would be enough for any helpful scripts/files/etc.

If anyone knows of a better free host that is not time-limited please chime in.

[Wunderbar98]

Thanks Drugwash. May end up using Dropbox, the standard, don't like the registration though. Nice that you can link files permanently, the size limit is lots. Emailed TinyUpload hoping they can fix the problem. Looked through several '10 best file sharing' articles, don't really like any of them.

[Drugwash]

11 hours ago, Wunderbar98 said:

Looked through several '10 best file sharing' articles, don't really like any of them.

I hear you. Been looking for such thing myself for quite some time, with same dissapointing results. If it wasn't for that stupid GDPR I'd still have my CloudMe account and repository (free plan has 3GB storage and 150MB max file size, better than Dropbox). An older version of their client could run on Win98SE/ME using KernelEx and some UPX trick.

[Wunderbar98]

Happy new year everyone. Thread title updated.

Thanks for the reply Drugwash, still pondering and nobody's chimed in.

My DOS knowledge slowly grows. Never had a system so perfect for DOS gaming. Just recently got USNF (US Navy Fighters, circa 1994) running, with sound. Owned the game for 20 years, starting to play a bit. Not the best game but playing DOS games on real hardware is awesome.
https://www.mobygames.com/game/dos/us-navy-fighters/screenshots

Also got the original Red Baron (circa 1990) running. Found all PDF maps online and printed them out. Playing with paper maps simulates the pilots of old.
https://www.mobygames.com/game/dos/red-baron/screenshots

Red Baron requires slow down software. Mo'Slo v1.32b works well (trial version, copyright David Perrell 1990-1997). Place MOSLO.COM in to C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND. Run MOSLO.COM from Windows to see usage information. More information regarding Mo'Slo and licensing is linked, although the most recent v1.5 was not tested.
http://moslo.info/basic.asp

Raised in the era of Pong and Atari 2600, these graphics don't look that dated, the imagination takes over just like reading a good book.

There's still lots of DOS information and drivers online. Definitely the time to take in all this goodness. Keep stumbling on archive[dot]org links, they're doing a great job.

[Wunderbar98]

Windows 98 was my first OS purchase aside from a Commodore Vic 20. Spent many hours as a kid typing and saving Basic code on to cassette tape. In earlier years also used an old Apple IIe provided by an employer.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_VIC-20
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_II_series#Apple_IIe

Dumb luck buying Windows 98 SE (super edition), released just months before building an AMD K6-2 450 MHz system with 64 MB RAM in 1999. Still using the tower and many components. Spent a crazy $400 CDN back in the day on a CD burner, still using it, getting my moneys worth. For the most part older hardware seems built to last. Avoided the perpetual upgrade cycle and still compute daily with hardware that isn't much better (800 MHz, 384 MB RAM). Spend my 'upgrade' time exploring, compiling and coding lean software. Also maintain the hardware as needed (cleaning power supplies, fans and CD/DVD lasers, reseating CPUs and connections, CMOS batteries, etc).

My current hardware isn't adequate for DOSBox, games lag. Didn't use Windows 98 long before switching to Windows 2000, great for business but not for gaming, DOS and otherwise. Windows XP was great for modern games but lacked real DOS. RetroZilla makes looking up information and downloading files easy in Windows 98, as i do not have the files and knowledge base to set these games up in a DOS only environment.

Found some easy ways to make COMMAND.COM less clunky. This functionality was already developed years ago, seems we often run in circles. DOSKEY.COM should be located in C:\Windows\COMMAND, if not it's on the Windows 98 CD. Running the DOSKEY command whenever opening COMMAND.COM is cumbersome, modifying a COMMAND.COM shortcut -> Properties -> Program tab -> Cmd line field is easier:
C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND.COM /k doskey

There are lots of ways to configure it and make it more persistent but my needs are simple. Just having the ability to do this is great: up arrow previous command(s), review command history, reload commands without retyping, clear typed data. The F7 and F9 keys are your friend.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DOSKEY
https://gist.github.com/vladikoff/38307908088d58af206b

Enhanced DOSKEY v2.8 is a free DOSKEY drop-in replacement that adds tab-completion, although somewhat primitive compared to modern TTYs and terminal emulators.
http://paulhoule.com/doskey/