FantasyAcquiesce Posted September 3, 2018 Share Posted September 3, 2018 (edited) I've been searching the internet for helping myself to learn C++ and understand the Windows 9x architecture. I'm hoping to contribute one day to this wonderful operating system It would be a dream come true to compile drivers for newer systems, fix Windows 9x altogether, modernize it, and backport modern software! I need to start from the beginning: are there any good books you would suggest to learn Windows 98 coding and architecture? Thanks! Edited September 3, 2018 by ~♥Aiko♥Chan♥~ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrMateczko Posted September 4, 2018 Share Posted September 4, 2018 (edited) You're not alone. I would like to know such things as well. Here are just some thoughts from the top of my head in no particular order: Win9x was relevant from 1995 to about 2004ish (when XP SP2 was released). Good thing is to limit books/articles released in that time period. IDA Pro is a nice tool (a must?) to have while dealing with Win9x. @rloew might give some ideas as well. Try looking in old articles from The Wayback Archive. Look inside Win9x disks content, there might be references to some books (tours/guides/cd sampler thingies alike). Download and have a look inside the SDKs. I know that Visual Studio 2005 is last version to compile Win98 compatible stuff. (even if you have to compile apps inside WinXP) Learn about the limitations (limited API calls, Unicode support) Driver architecture (VXD, PDR, MPD) is unique to Win9x, so it's hard to make drivers, since you cannot use knowledge from other OSes. I would like for someone to dive deep into NTKERN.VXD - expand it so the NT compatibility is much greater, if even possible. Don't get your hopes high for writing ground-breaking drivers, Nouveau for Linux is made for decades and is not perfect. Maybe basic stuff like an universal better IDE driver to replace the Microsoft's default one, or an universal HD Audio driver is possible. But something like GPU drivers? Probably impossible. Keep in mind that a lot of the Win9x kernel is still 16-bit and even DOS based, making it even harder to improve it! Edited September 4, 2018 by MrMateczko 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MERCURY127 Posted September 6, 2018 Share Posted September 6, 2018 for first steps, i recommend get and run oldest MS Quick series compilers - Basic/C&Asm/Pascal. these things give VERY good base knowledge for programming (and also learn to technical english ). it is DOS only tools, but it enough for understanding base structures, control flow, calling... or, if u want FAST to program w/o understanding low level internals, just learn Delpfi/VisualBasic/Net... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ABCDEFG Posted September 8, 2018 Share Posted September 8, 2018 https://www.amazon.com/Unauthorized-Windows-Developers-Exploring-Foundations/dp/1568841698 https://www.amazon.ca/Windows-95-System-Programming-Secrets/dp/1568843186 https://www.amazon.com/Windows-Undocumented-Formats-Working-Inside/dp/0879304375 https://www.amazon.com/Visual-Basic-Windows-Insider-Hard/dp/0471064831 https://www.amazon.com/Writing-Windows-VxDs-Device-Drivers/dp/0879304383 https://www.amazon.com/Visual-Bible-Richard-C-Leinecker/dp/0764532286 http://shop.oreilly.com/product/9781565921702.do 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goodmaneuver Posted April 12, 2020 Share Posted April 12, 2020 There are some PDFs out there. https://www.e-libraryme.com/2018/10/more-effective-c-35-new-ways-to-improve.html http://www2.cs.uregina.ca/~hilder/cs833/Other Reference Materials/The C Programming Language.pdf http://index-of.co.uk/C++/C++ Design Generic Programming and Design Patterns Applied.pdf https://www.codewithc.com/programming-principles-and-practice-using-c-pdf-bjarne-stroustrup/ This sample gives some authors names and they have more publications. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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