Windows 9x Web Helper (9xweb) - Discontinued

[Wunderbar98]

An updated 9xweb script is available for download (forum login required), v20200712 Beta. Relevant information and links, including helper software, can be found on post #1 of this thread. The changelog has been updated on post #2.

[Wunderbar98]

On my system using RetroZilla browser and 9xweb's keepvid[dot]works fallback for video download, the video is automatically named 'videoplayback' without a file extension. If too lazy to rename the file with a system recognized 'mp4' extension, just right-click 'videoplayback' and select SendTo for quick media player launch. To add a SendTo item, create a media player executable shortcut in
C:\WINDOWS\SendTo.

[Wunderbar98]

YouTube Trending search in the 9xweb script broke today. No combination of Googlebot User Agent string or polymer disable appears able to load the old style trending page. If someone finds a magic combination for a Windows 9x browser please tell.
https://www.youtube.com/feed/trending

Still some good, custom YouTube searches still work in 9xweb using the existing Googlebot code. Also 9xweb's Wget executable successfully fetches YouTube's new 'polymer' based HTML pages. Although obfuscated the video title, information, duration, image thumbnail and download URLs are hiding in plain site.

Having spent a fair amount of time on the last 9xweb update, just going to chip away slowly. Will likely wait for custom searches to fail too, then convert all 9xweb's YouTube functions to process the new and shiny polymer format, hopefully won't be too difficult.

[Wunderbar98]

Got a rough prototype for YouTube Trending search using the new polymer layout. It does not require a Googlebot User Agent or modified polymer_disable URL, likely to be abandoned by big G anyway. The data is finicky and it will take more work to consistently parse titles, durations and URLs.

[Wunderbar98]

Custom YouTube search and YouTube Trending search are now fully 'polymer' compatible. Will work next on polymer video URL fetch then the whole script will be up to date. Fun headscratcher this evening, an experienced coder would have picked it up in a heartbeat. Couldn't figure out why the number of YouTube Trending titles wouldn't sometimes match the same number of video duration hits when parsing the file.

85 video hits, why only 82 durations?
grep '^seconds\"}},\"simpleText\":\"'

In hindsight the obvious answer is this:
'^seconds\"}},\"simpleText\":\"'

... does not match this for one second (no plural) duration:
'^second\"}},\"simpleText\":\"'

Now we're golden!
grep '^\"}},\"simpleText\":\"'

The revised grep gets it right, no more skipped durations:
"}},"simpleText":"4:01"},"

Edited August 1, 2020 by Wunderbar98

[Wunderbar98]

An updated 9xweb script is available for download (forum login required), v20200805 Beta. Relevant information and links, including helper software, can be found on post #1 of this thread. The changelog has been updated on post #2. Search, select, preview, fetch and auto-play videos from a command.com window. Playback fullscreen with favourite media player. No web browser required.

[Wunderbar98]

As some queries were recieved via private message, a FAQ section will be added below and linked from the first post. Much of the information was probably covered earlier but is scattered. A minor bug was observed when viewing YouTube video information, new release pending.

[Wunderbar98]

= Windows 9x Web Helper (9xweb) FAQ =

Q: I get messages like 'awk: command not found', what does this mean?
A functional 'Enhanced Cygwin-Lite' install is required, instructions linked in post #1. This frankenstein installation of 'Cygwin-Lite' and 'Win-Bash' provides all necessary commands for the 9xweb script.

Q: How do I limit the number of results when YouTube searching?
The 9xweb script presently just fetches the 'first page' and outputs results via the 'More' command. Since no 'page two' results are fetched, restricting hits to top 10 or 20 is artificially limiting. Perform a revised search if the desired result(s) are not listed. As the command.com window does not support scrolling use Spacebar, Page Up/Down, Up/Down arrow, Home and End keys to scroll and [q]uit to exit the list to make a selection.

Q: Why do some video download attempts result in a 403 forbidden?
Most video URLs are hiding in plain sight within the YouTube video page. Certain videos have obfuscated and protected video URLs, likely due to a combination of copyright protection, royalties or advertisement revenue. Although 9xweb does not support the download of 403 forbidden videos, the default configuration is to ask if keepvid[dot]works should be opened in the configured browser to attempt the video download. This may or may not be successful. YouTube functions in 9xweb are designed to provide basic YouTube functionality. Most videos related to retro computing and gaming, for example, will work. Research other projects, such as youtube-dl, as desired.

Q: Videos that are at least an hour long causes TCPMP to crash. Is there a way to fix this?
The TCPMP video player is configured as the default player as it is lightweight and works in Windows 95. It was found to be buggy and occasionally crashes, even with shorter videos. Either start a new forum thread requesting TCPMP troubleshooting assistance or configure the 9xweb script to use a different media player of choice. See the 'USER CONFIG START' section towards the top of the 9xweb code.

Q: Is it possible to play a video using the OS's built-in players like WMP and Realplayer? If so, should the videos have to be in a different format other than MP4?
The 9xweb script currently supports only MP4 fetches as they are universally available with all search results, it was easier to code and is a standard media type. If WMP and Realplayer do not support MP4 playback, configure an alternative media player of choice as outlined above.

Q: Is it possible to stream a video from the video player instead of downloading it to C:\WINDOWS\TEMP? That way, if there is little hard disk space, that can be done?
Despite numerous attempts streaming could not be properly configured using Enhanced Cygwin-Lite with any of the vanilla Windows 98 media players tested. For this reason the preview option was added (partial download), primarily to determine if the video was worthy of further viewing. If drive space is limited specify 640 x 360 video only, consider using the search modifier ' ,short' (space comma short) for short videos and/or use '[d]elete video' after playback to free drive space for the next video.

Q: Is it possible to download videos from services other than Youtube (eg. dailymotion, m.watchcartoononline.io)?
Not at this time, patches welcome. This is just a hobby project. It takes time and energy to add features, many websites are more protective than YouTube and the old Wget executable is unable to access all sites. Minor support for MSN video may be added in the future, although the videos are not all sourced from the same provider, creating barriers. Research other projects, such as youtube-dl, as desired.

Q: Any other interesting things I can do with 9xweb?
The script is transparent, review each on-screen option. Each of the three screens (Main, Bookmarks, Video Fetch) has it's own [h]elp section. Features that may be useful include: quick access to a proxy page if experiencing website connection issues, access Google cached pages, [t]rim obfuscated URLs from search engine results, specify search date for archive[dot]org's Wayback Machine, bookmark clipboard content and YouTube video URLs for later.

Q: Are you planning on introducing new features for 9xweb in the future?
Probably not, life is short and there are too many other projects. The script is still beta, there are bugs, fixes are pending. Please report bugs via this thread or private message.

[Wunderbar98]

An updated 9xweb script is available for download (forum login required), v20201124 Beta. Relevant information and links, including helper software, can be found on post #1 of this thread. The changelog has been updated on post #2.

[Wunderbar98]

Unless regional only, THAT popular video site revamped and broke most 9xweb video_fetch functions. Got all functionality working again, must test and tweak more. The old 9xweb download was pulled, any future sharing will likely be private, although i'm unsure if attachments can be sent via private message, maybe email. All old releases will be broken for video_fetch, the last release posted should still work for video search. Not sure how long the fixes will last but for now vanilla Windows 9x systems should still get some access. Probably the beginning of the end, i've read THE site plans changes that will lock out alternative accessibility methods that don't receive full advertisements. Future releases of THEIR recommended browser will also apparently do away with useragent strings.

Most project screenshots are accessible from the first link of this thread, page 17 of the 'Running vanilla Windows 98...' thread. Some updated screens can be found on the bottom of page two of this 9xweb thread. The screenshot below displays videos that have been tagged (=>) in video search [c]ache. This means the video's URL was previously sent to system clipboard, it could have been preview fetched, full fetched, 403 Forbidden, fetched with fallback site keepvid[dot]works or not acted on. Just makes it easier for the user to identify which video(s) were accessed when viewing a long search result list with similar titles.

[Wunderbar98]

The Windows 9x Web Helper (9xweb) project is discontinued. Thanks to those who participated. The eventual discovery of several TLS v1.2 capable browsers makes much of the script unnecessary.
https://msfn.org/board/topic/177106-running-vanilla-windows-98-in-2020/page/33/?tab=comments#comment-1189203

As of today video fetch functionality is still possible in vanilla Windows 9x using Enhanced Cygwin Lite and a hacking spirit.

echo "### RIP 9xweb ###" > C:\cygwin\bin\9xweb

[Wunderbar98]

Still discontinued but with recent patches works fine if anyone wants project ideas. The screenshots on page two and in the vanilla Windows 98 project post were changed from image tags to links. The new forum software no longer displays embedded screenshots when running old browsers. If your old browser still doesn't show the screenshot from the 'postimg' link, select 'Download original image' to view, no JavaScript needed. Peace out :)

[jacksmith541]

my question is where is this download link i cant find it anywhere

 

 

[jumper]

Browser dependent. If you see a link to a .png on i.postimg.cc, click there.

 

[Wunderbar98]

Hi @jacksmith541, the Windows 9x Web Helper code (9xweb script) was pulled when the project was discontinued. Just tested and my Quick and Dirty YouTube script still works or use an Invidious instance.
https://msfn.org/board/topic/183125-vanilla-windows-98-web-browsing-summary/