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Running Windows 98 in 2020 and beyond...


Wunderbar98

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DOS has it's own built-in editor EDIT.COM, useful for reading or editing files. Just run the 'edit' command or 'edit filename' from COMMAND.COM window or a DOS boot. It's very good for reviewing game readme files when in DOS.

PictView v1.94 is a DOS picture viewer. It's been good for reviewing a GIF image of USNF's keyboard shortcuts without having to exit DOS.
http://www.pictview.com/

Now DOS is cooking with peanut oil.
http://www.quickmeme.com/meme/3u0vvw

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14 hours ago, Wunderbar98 said:

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

I use DOSKEY a lot, thanks for the links.

To make it permanent, following line in AUTOEXEC.BAT is convenient: DOSKEY /insert

Also as first command in "Safe command prompt only", /insert can be changed to /overwrite with "insert key". 

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Thank-you deomsh. Now DOSKEY automatically loads whenever AUTOEXEC.BAT gets processed.

The Safe mode command prompt only comment is not understood. When booting into this mode not even AUTOEXEC.BAT gets processed, so user needs to manually run DOSKEY to initiate it. No switch is required, just entering DOSKEY command works. So a little lost what is meant by having to run DOSKEY /insert or DOSKEY /overwrite or using the 'Insert' key. Please elaborate.

Edited by Wunderbar98
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In "Safe command prompt only" no AUTOEXEC.BAT of course, but standard PATH is loaded. I noticed after loading DOSKEY without switches, the typing mode is actually "overwrite". Typing <insert> changes the mode to "insert", and back. With switch /insert DOSKEY starts in insert mode - if prefered.

Edited by deomsh
Typo
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Thank-you deomsh for the explanation. Now the 'Insert' key has a purpose! Whether a DOS boot or COMMAND.COM window, noticed the cursor is a flashing block when using insert mode and a flashing underscore in overwrite mode, easily toggled during runtime. Good to know, thank-you.

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Was going to delete 'Windows 9x Web Helper' (9xweb script) code when RetroZilla started connecting well. Decided to keep it, still handy for bookmarking and accessing certain sites via Google cache and archive[dot]org. Would also be useful for vanilla Windows 98 browsers with connection issues or if the future internet isn't kind to RetroZilla. The script should be posted soon.

Specifying a date works well now for the archive[dot]org (specify date) function. This provides an easy way to go back in history with a year-month-day combo, even just a year is good. If the exact date is not available archive[dot]org returns the nearest date. Thank-you for this information earlier siria. So the script will become an easy time machine portal for old websites.

Also finalizing search engine URL link stripping. The worst offender is Yahoo, their embedded Bing URL links do not appear strippable as it breaks the link, or i haven't figured it out yet. Obfuscated Yahoo links not containing a Bing URL can be cleaned up. During testing came across a funny example, Yahoo search result link for 'obfuscate' for the Merrian Webster dictionary:

https://r.search.yahoo.com/_ylt=Awr47KYGdRJeDGoAz15XNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTEybGltNjczBGNvbG8DZ3ExBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDQjg3NDVfMQRzZWMDc3I-/RV=2/RE=1578296711/RO=10/RU=https%3a%2f%2fwww.merriam-webster.com%2fdictionary%2fobfuscate/RK=2/RS=c9VCi2PY5fHq3evKtBj_FNnk.T4-

Using the script's [t]rim function:

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/obfuscate

Search engines that use obfuscated links likely particpate in referral programs. This to me also means your data and search preferences are more likely to be tracked. Although i love SeaMonkey they made an agreement with DuckDuckGo some time ago, receiving monetary concession when DuckDuckGo searches were performed from the browser. I believe it's set up to be the browser's default search engine.

The best search engines of the bunch from the RetroZilla search engine collection were Dogpile, a pleasant surprise, and Startpage. Neither obfuscate search result links.

The 9xweb script can now clean up the following search engine collection URLs: DDG-HTML, DDG-Lite, Google, Google Images, MSFN_DDG-HTML, MSFN_DDG-Lite, MSFN_Google, some Yahoo. Site internal search engines, such as Internet Archive, Twitter, Wikipedia and YouTube do not need trimming.

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On 1/3/2020 at 6:46 PM, Wunderbar98 said:

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/

You can emulate Apple IIe with this:

http://www.virtualii.com (for mac)

https://github.com/AppleWin/AppleWin (for Win)

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Thank-you for the links Bruninho. Nice to see the nostalgia is strong. Good to remember where we came from. Many new OS and software releases are more about eye candy than functionality, requiring much higher hardware resources to accomplish pretty much the same thing. These old releases were very functional and fun.

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Got most YouTube videos downloading in vanilla Windows 98 !

Merged some scratch coded YouTube download functions into 9xweb, makes sense having all functions within 'Windows 9x Web Helper'. Have been using it to view full screen YouTube videos in VLC and MPlayer for a few days.

The code is still a work in progress. Only 8/10 downloads were successful from link below. Success rate will depend on browsing preference. URL and title extraction is coming along. Most of the errors now are 403 Forbidden, such as VEVO music videos. May cross reference with youtube-dl's code. Will release the script as beta. Testers, feedback and patches welcome, especially if you can help break YouTube's code :)

https://www.youtube.com/feed/trending -> Recently Trending

The only dependency will be a Cygwin-Lite install, will provide notes later, which includes an old version of wget. Should work in enhanced Windows 98 installations too. Unsure about Windows 95, don't have a test system available.

Edit: Confirmed working in Windows 95.

Edited by Wunderbar98
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== Enhanced Cygwin-Lite ==

= Overview =

Cygwin-Lite is Unix-like software that provides a Bash shell environment with numerous executables that run in a COMMAND.COM window. It is useful for scripting, file or system management. The shell supports tab completion, up arrow for last command, command history, etc. Cygwin-lite's ~ 20 executables are enhanced with ~ 100 more executables from Win-Bash, some duplicated.

In total this provides all built-in Bash commands plus 109 executables. Total disk space required is < 10 MB. It can be removed using Add/Remove Programs. Win-Bash is not formally installed, only it's files are utilized.

Compatabilty and stability from mixing Cygwin-Lite and Win-Bash is not guaranteed. For the most part everything works. Bash shell performance is a little laggy and buggy, see the Bugs section below. Not all functions have been tested.

= Installation =

Download Cygwin-Lite (cygwin-lite.exe, 1317 KB, no JavaScript needed):
http://cygwin-lite.sourceforge.net

Install cygwin-lite.exe to default path C:\cygwin, choose Normal (full) install.

Download Win-Bash via direct link (shell.w32-ix86.zip, 5422 KB, no JavaScript needed):
https://managedway.dl.sourceforge.net/project/win-bash/shell-complete/latest/shell.w32-ix86.zip

Unzip shell.32-ix86.zip to a temporary directory, example C:\WINDOWS\temp\shell.w32-ix86.

Copy the entire content of this shell.w32-ix86 directory, excluding the META-INF subdirectory, into C:\cygwin\bin. At each prompt, repeatedly (17 times) choose NOT to overwrite any existing Cygwin-Lite files. Only unique Win-Bash executables will then be copied over.

= Setup =

The first run of Cygwin-Lite will automatically create a user $HOME directory.

For whatever reason the default 'export PS1' line in c:/cygwin/etc/profile is broken up:

export PS1='\[\033]0;\w\007
\033[32m\]\u@\h \[\033[33m\w\033[0m\]
$ '

This should be corrected into a one-liner then commented out (# character). Having a PS1 line in .bashrc will over-ride this entry anyway. So change broken multi-line above to:
#export PS1='\[\033]0;\w\007\033[32m\]\u@\h \[\033[33m\w\033[0m\]$ '

As the vi/vim text editor does not appear to work, lean out the configuration and comment out these lines in c:/cygwin/$HOME/.bashrc.
#export VIM=/usr/share/vim
#vim no-compatibility mode enables things like command history
#alias vi='vim -c "set nocp"'
#alias vim='vim -c "set nocp"'

The setup items below are optional.

A $HOME/.bashrc PS1 entry similar to below may help with a poorly contrasted Bash prompt:
export PS1='\[\033[0m\][\t]\[\033[32m\]\w\[\033[0m\]\$ '

Customize $HOME/.bashrc alias entries as desired. For example, adding a 'temp' command will change directory to c:/windows/temp:
alias temp='cd c:/windows/temp'

= Bugs =

Working in a limited DOS environment has been observed to cause out of memory errors, stackdump file creation and system instability. Some work around and strategies that may help are outlined.

Cygwin-Lite occasionally crashes producing *.stackdump file(s) in the working directory, default startup is the $HOME directory. When this occurs Cygwin-Lite may refuse to re-launch. Recommend reviewing command usage and scripts for errors. Then manually delete these stackdump files.

The following stackdump check line should be added to the C:/cygwin/etc/profile file. Note just add the one stackdump line, the surrounding code below is just pasted for placement reference. It may be wise to add a stackdump check into the header of scripts.

c:/cygwin/etc/profile modification:

for i in /etc/profile.d/*.sh ; do
if [ -f $i ]; then
. $i
fi
done

# Adding only this stackdump check line:

ls $(pwd) | grep '\.stackdump' && rm --verbose $(pwd)/*.stackdump

export MAKE_MODE=unix



Adding a STACKS=nn,nnn entry in C:\CONFIG.SYS appears to help with stackdump issues. This system is presently using the highest available setting, as lower settings were still caused problems:
STACKS=64,512

More information regarding the CONFIG.SYS 'STACKS=nn,nnn' entry:
https://www.computerhope.com/ac.htm#config-sys
https://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000382.htm

If experiencing instability it may be useful to periodically reset the Bash environment by exiting Cygwin-Lite and it's COMMAND.COM window.

= DOS Commands =

DOS commands are not available by default. They can be custom added by creating a command.bat file in Cygwin-Lite's /bin/ directory. For example, adding the following cls.bat file will allow running 'cls.bat' from Bash to clear the screen. Note this creates a custom environment with commands that may not be available on other systems if sharing scripts.

@echo off
cls



An alias can be added to $HOME/.bashrc to shorten the 'cls.bat' command to 'cls':
alias cls='cls.bat'

= Built-in Bash Commands =

To review built-in Bash commands run 'bash -c help'.

= Executables =

All additional executables are located in the /bin/ directory, default is c:/cygwin/bin.

= Basic Usage and Help =

Launch a Bash shell from the 'bash' Cygwin-lite system tray or desktop shortcut. The Bash shell runs in a COMMAND.COM window. While initializing it is best to wait until the busy hourglass cursor settles.

Entering pwd (print working directory) will show /home/your_system_name. This $HOME directory is the Windows equivalent of C:/cygwin/home/your_system_name/.

Alternatively right-click a directory from Windows Explorer and select 'Run GNU bash' to open Bash in that directory. Likely a bug, two 'Run GNU bash' instances are created in the context menu.

Unlike a Unix environment, capitalization of directory and file names is not necessary. For example, both 'cd c:/windows' or 'cd C:/Windows' work.

Due to scrolling limitations, either pipe (| character) output using more or less commands or direct output (> character) to a file as needed.

Bash uses the opposite slashes of Windows for directory paths.

List files:
ls

List all files (including hidden dot files):
ls -a

Go to root drive (/cygwin/c/):
cd c:

Go to Windows temp directory:
cd c:/windows/temp

Go home (C:/cygwin/home/your_system_name):
cd

Return to last accessed directory:
cd -

Go up a directory (unlike DOS a space between cd and .. is needed):
cd ..

Append --help to review executable usage help:
awk --help

Pipe commands as needed, example prevents scroll off screen:
less --help | less

Review executable path:
echo $PATH

Use full pathway to access Windows files, escape spaces with slash:
c:/program\ files/dillo/dillo

... or just double-quote a spaced pathway:
cd "c:/program files/dillo/"

Run history to view command history:
history

Use up arrow to load previous commands.

Use !# (history item #) to re-run a previous command from history:
!7

Review C:\cygwin\html\ for help guides, especially begin.html and bash.html.

Numerous tutorials online, search 'linux bash command line'.

= Scripting =

Begin a Bash script with the header:
#!/bin/bash

Place the script into c:/cygwin/bin/.

In Windows the 'chmod +x' command is not needed to activate a script file.

Enter the script's name as the command to launch the script.

= Limitations =

With limited testing several items are noted:

The Bash shell is outdated and limited, use POSIX code.

Executables are outdated and limited. For example, wget.exe does not support --no-check-certificate, sed -i (in place) is not available, single > data direction appends not overwrites, use work-arounds.

Use full directory pathways to reference files and variables. For example, referencing a file in $HOME should be expanded to c:/cygwin/"$HOME"/reference_file.

The COMMAND.COM window is limited compared to a modern full-featured terminal emulator. For example, no scrolling and cut/paste does not work.

No man(ual) pages, run executable_name --help.

Vim (vi) editor does not appear to run.

= Big Juicy Warning =

The system administrator is responsible for their system. Be cautious using the mv (move) or rm (remove) commands or wildcards (* character). There is no trashbin or protection from inadvertent system file removal. To prevent error use the full directory pathway when using commands. For example, entering 'rm *' when in the c:/windows directory, instead of c:/windows/temp, will wipe out your system. The preferred command would be 'rm c:/windows/temp/*.

Edit1: Added extra Setup information.
Edit2: Added some work arounds and links in the bugs section.
Edit3: Removed 'exec bash' recommendation to reset Bash, found to cause multiple Bash instances.

Edited by Wunderbar98
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Did a fresh Cygwin-Lite install to double check default setup. The how to above was updated. Just in case someone already installed, additional configuration recommendations are outlined. Anything to help Cygwin run leaner and more stable.

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Additional strategies were outlined in the Cygwin-Lite bugs section above. This includes updating the stackdump check entry for the working directory, not the $HOME directory, in case Cygwin-Lite is launched from another directory using Windows Explorer. Also added information regarding CONFIG.SYS's 'STACKS=nn,nnn'.

Didn't think Cygwin would teach me so much about DOS. Stability is improving, not perfect.

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== Windows 9x Web Helper (Discontinued) ==

= Overview =

Windows 9x Web Helper is a Bash script, file name 9xweb (25 Kb), designed to improve internet accessibility. Scratch coded using Microsoft Notepad, it is free to use, modify and share, using Unlicense (https://unlicense.org). Tested in vanilla Windows 98. Provided an Enhanced Cygwin-Lite install is functional, it should run on enhanced Windows 98 and is confirmed to run in Windows 95.

The script runs from a Bash terminal in a COMMAND.COM window. It is configurable and web browser/media player agnostic. The screenshots are fairly self explanatory. Entering [h]elp ('h' key) provides additional information for each of the three screens: main screen, bookmarks, video fetch.

= Screenshots =

Main screen.
https://i.postimg.cc/hjjXp8WD/9xweb-01-main-screen.png

Bookmarks screen.
https://i.postimg.cc/gkq6c2DP/9xweb-02-bookmarks-screen.png

Video Fetch screen.
https://i.postimg.cc/C1XYGKvy/9xweb-03-video-fetch-screen.png

= Pre-requisites =

This 9xweb script.

Enhanced Cygwin-Lite install (see detailed January 7th post three up).

Stable network connection.

Favourite web browser(s).

Favourite MP4 capable media player(s).

Web browsing with JavaScript disabled will save system resources, especially if using MP4 autoplay. All default USER CONFIG section URLs work without JavaScript.

= Preparation =

Install pre-requisites.

Move the 9xweb script to C:\cygwin\bin.

= Configuration =

Modify the 'USER CONFIG' section of the 9xweb script as desired.

= Usage =

Launch Cygwin-Lite via desktop or system tray shortcut. [1]

Enter command '9xweb' at the Bash terminal prompt (or 9, tab, Enter keys). [1]

Although [q]uit is preferred to cleanly exit, pressing Ctrl-c can be used to terminate downloads and force exit. The script is smart enough to properly re-initialize the next time it is run.

[1] Wait for the busy hourglass cursor to settle before proceeding.

= Web Proxies =

Two web proxies can be configured, which can be toggled and accessed from the main screen. As web proxies act as a man-in-the-middle, they are a potential security weakness. It is recommended they only be used for non-sensitive browsing when no available web browser can natively access a site. At the time of this post, RetroZilla v2.2 with the about:config tweaks mentioned earlier can access almost all sites without issue.

= Internet Archive =

The main screen archive.org functions use the Wayback Machine. This is useful to view a snapshot of a website in time or access sites that are no longer active. Selecting most recent will load the most recent snapshot available. Unfortunately not all websites have been archived.

Specifying a date will load a snapshot of the site on the specified date, if available. Otherwise the most recent date available after the specified date gets loaded. For example, specifying 2011 may display a snapshot from February 2011, the earliest available in 2011. Review the 'archive.org' URL in the browser to confirm the actual snapshot date. To get something later in the year enter a more specific query, such as 201106.

= Bookmarks =

The bookmarks screen displays only the URL, no description. URLs are usually descriptive enough and this conveniently prevents most longer bookmarks from screen wrapping. A descriptive entry can be added as a 'bookmark', to be used as a 'sticky note' or provide a description for the URL above.

For example, bookmark a non-descriptive youtube[dot]com URL from clipboard. Then select clipboard [n]ew and enter a description to the clipboard, such as '^^^ CONFIG.SYS info ^^^'. Although screen output will display '---Invalid URL---', select [ b ]ookmark clipboard. This description has now been bookmarked as a note below the non-descriptive URL (see screenshot). URLs and notes can be removed using [d]elete bookmark.

= Video =

AFAIK there is no longer a working mechanism for vanilla Windows 98 to access youtube[dot]com or any other multimedia site content, as the OS is not capable of meeting the recommended modern browser requirements. The primary purpose of video fetch is to provide some multimedia access, especially Windows 98, DOS and retro computing related educational media.

Note video fetch provides partial URL support only, some downloads will fail with 403 Forbidden errors. To me this is acceptable, respect the content provider's wishes, just choose another less restrictive video. Both regular (short) and channel (long containing 'list=' and/or 'index=') URLs work. To keep the code simple only Formats 18 (640 x 360 MP4) and 22 (1280 x 720 MP4) are supported.

= Limitations =

Enhanced Cygwin-Lite and the Bash shell are limited and not fully stable.

The Unix environment may create new browser or media player configurations in c:/cygwin/home/system_name/ when first launched (eg. SMPlayer's mplayer).

The browser or media player may dump data to the terminal and clutter 9xweb's output. Some software is configurable. For example, first run using SMPlayer's mplayer will create a new configuration directory c:/cygwin/$HOME/mplayer. Adding this to c:/cygwin/$HOME/mplayer/config will stop undesirable output:
really-quiet=TRUE

The default 9xweb_bookmarks.txt file location is c:/cygwin/$HOME/, which can be changed in USER CONFIG, and will be lost if Cygwin-Lite is fully un-installed.

= Bugs =

Report bugs via this thread or preferably private message. If fixable new releases will be posted here. Please do not send bug reports for Wget 403 Forbidden errors.

= Disclaimer =

This software is freely provided in the hope it will be useful. Use at own risk. End-user must accept full responsibility, including potential data loss or system issues. Review UNLICENSE information at the top of the 9xweb script.

Edit:
20200112 Beta - 1st Beta
20200203 Beta - 2nd Beta
- View YT video description
- New sleepSecs variable for file system race condition
20200405 Beta - 3rd Beta
- Improved main screen readability
- Modified video Wget command
- Improved video_fetch and getURL logic
- Remove non-ascii text from video description
- New delete video option after video and information view
- More strategic sleepSecs for file system race condition
- Decreased sleepSecs variable from 3 to 2 seconds
- Additional Video Fetch help
- Video title cleanup
20200411 - Confirmed to work in Windows 95.
20200522 - 4th Beta
- Removed duplicate video_fetch clipboard retrieval
- Modified showClip clipboard cat command (query reduce stackdumps)
- Disabled Video Fetch Wget user agent string (uncomment as desired)
- Modified getHTML and getMedia Wget commands
- Reset several variables after Video Fetch
- Adjusted $sleepSecs instances (file system race condition)
- New $preview variable (off, 5, +5 toggle)
- New $description variable (yes, no, ask)
- Updated Video Fetch [h]elp
20200712 Beta - 5th Beta
- Broke proxy https://proxybrowser.xyz, new http://dontfilter.us
- Quote wrapped all /dev/clipboard instances
- Added '&disable_polymer=1' just in case note
- New $AskKeepvid variable for 'ERROR: 403 Forbidden' YouTube
- Simplified Wget command
- Silenced Wget kill after YouTube preview for clean output
- YouTube title cleanup: excess underscores, period tail
- New YouTube search, specify search or Trending, uses Googlebot UA
- YouTube search results include: video durations, single query cache
- Updated Video Fetch [h]elp
20200805 Beta - 6th Beta
- YouTube 'polymer' compatible: custom search, trending search, video fetch
- Initiate new search directly from search results screen
- More efficient getFormat HTML file chunking
- Modified $sleepSec instances
- Minor UI tweaks
20201124 Beta - 7th Beta
- USER CONFIG $browser2: old seamonkey.exe, new k-meleonw9x.exe
- USER CONFIG $sEngine1: old https://google.com, new http://google.com
- USER CONFIG $sEngine2: old https://search.yahoo.com, new https://lite.duckduckgo.com/lite
- Main screen 'archive.org cache' renamed 'Wayback Machine'
- Function loadUrl improved $url grep
- Function loadUrl now accepts FTP URLs
- Modified newURL function prompt 'enter new URL >OR CONTENT< to clipboard' (ie. bookmark tag)
- Clipboard content now displayed regardless of '--Invalid URL--'
- Clipboard output asthetically trimmed to one line, does not alter actual system clipboard
- Clipboard content >1 line (page break) denoted 'clipboard_content ...'
- Clipboard content with >68 characters denoted 'clipboard_content ..'
- Tag user selected titles from search_YT and cache_YT functions, denoted =>
- Fixed YouTube title extractions containing embedded double quotes
- More efficient $ytURL extraction in get_search_URL function
- More robust and efficient $vidTitle processing in getFormat function
- More efficient $vidText processing in extract_info function
- More robust title grep in search_YT function
- Improved titles cleanup in search_YT function
- Modified Wget commands
- Modified $sleepSecs and sleep instances
- Hopefully fixed pathways and prompts
- Revised Main screen and Video Fetch [h]elp
- Miscellaneous fixes and UI tweaks

Note: Project discontinued.

Edited by Wunderbar98
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For anyone using YouTube via 9xweb in vanilla Windows 98, both SMPlayer/MPlayer v0.6.7 and VLC v0.8.6d work, discussed in and around this post:
https://msfn.org/board/topic/177106-running-vanilla-windows-98-in-2020/page/5/?tab=comments#comment-1173021

TinyUpload is working again (yeah), even *.exe files up to 50 MB per file..so dangerous :) In case other links go down here are the goods. The player files should be readily available elsewhere, codecs might be harder to obtain. The files are untouched from original download other than renaming. No JavaScript required.

SMPlayer v0.6.7 (SMPlayer_0.6.7.exe, 13.0 MB):
http://s000.tinyupload.com/index.php?file_id=32421385938599921768

Codecs for SMPlayer's mplayer (SMPlayer_MPlayer_codecs.zip, 9.57 MB). In a default install, extract files into C:\Program Files\SMPlayer\mplayer\codecs:
http://s000.tinyupload.com/index.php?file_id=33821390908445725051

VLC v0.8.6d (VLC_0.8.6d.exe, 9.34 MB):
http://s000.tinyupload.com/index.php?file_id=34990583317191199660

Directing the 9xweb script to launch SMPlayer's 'mplayer', the default USER CONFIG entry, instead of 'smplayer' improves video launch time considerably. For SMPlayer's mplayer: f key toggles full screen, number 3/4 keys adjust brightness, arrow keys skip back and forth, spacebar pauses, q key exits.

An 800 MHz system, 32 MB AGP graphics, 1152 x 864 resolution and 16-bit colour can play Format 18 videos full screen. Lesser hardware may need to use a smaller window, enable skipped frames, etc.

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Just looking for some emulation or virtualization advice. Would prefer open source. Playing around with emulating newer web browsers using a GNU/Linux base. Been using QEMU, only very old versions work. Using vanilla Windows 98 and Windows 98 in general seems to be limiting.

So far i will stick with an old QEMU v0.8.2 (2003-2005 era). Performance is poor but so is my hardware. Tried several v0.9.x QEMUs and they fail to run. I've been unable to find any QEMU releases to test between these v0.8.2 and v0.9.x.

On top of that, looks like KQEMU accelerator is only for NT-based systems? Information from an old KQEMU readme:

KQEMU is supported on x86 or x86_64 Linux 2.4 or 2.6 hosts. Experimental versions are available for FreeBSD and Windows NT/2000/2003/XP

Any advice appreciated, thanks.

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