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For some reason I keep seeing people on HN showing their sites that recreate desktop environments—almost always in the style of Windows, and frequently in the 9

by aasasd 5y ago

For some reason I keep seeing people on HN showing their sites that recreate desktop environments—almost always in the style of Windows, and frequently in the 90s ‘concrete slabs’ look. It's gonna be hard to beat https://www.windows93.net https://www.windows93.net, though. P.S. BTW, using PCjs one can actually run Windows 1 to 95 in the browser (and a bunch of other OSes). Alternatively, there's Dosbox—which Archive.org uses for emulation in the browser, and which likewise can run some versions of Windows. So one could really make their site as proper files in the virtual computer, though loading is gonna be a bit rough.

DustinBrett 5y ago
Agreed that Windows 93 is a hard one to beat. My plan is to try and beat them all eventually, but I am patient and enjoy making the app. I've had this idea for quite a while but only in the last few years felt confident enough in my skills to attempt it. As for more sites recreating the web desktop idea, here is a great list: https://github.com/syxanash/awesome-web-desktops https://github.com/syxanash/awesome-web-desktops
- Jyaif 5y ago
  > My plan is to try and beat them all eventually, but I am patient and enjoy making the app. Patience (and slight obsession) is a superpower.
retrocryptid 5y ago
10 years ago i did this classic-mac-a-like. But actually... I sorta liked most of the Win98 UI. Sure, there were weird corners like trying to confuse printers and control panels as files, but it was the beginning if msft paying attention to UX concepts an A11Y. Call me a weirdo, but I thought the color-reduxed / high-contrast theme for Win2k was the apex of MSFT UIs. https://github.com/OhMeadhbh/disco https://github.com/OhMeadhbh/disco
ekzy 5y ago
I've just tried to play minesweeper on this windows93 and it is very hard to say the least...
- pflanze 5y ago
  It has two modes, you just have to figure out how to change modes :)
- DustinBrett 5y ago
  Ya yes minesweeper is a good one. I'll need to add this too. The Windows 93 was quite hardcore as he made a lot of those games himself.
r90t 5y ago
nice one. Went there, opened chrome. Checked IP. The links are purple. It turns out I am not the first one LOL
DustinBrett 5y ago
I actually have v86 on my system which can also run things like PCjs. And I have jsdos which uses dosbox to play DOS. I also have BoxedWine for running 16/32-bit apps.

by aasasd 5y ago

DustinBrett 5y ago

Agreed that Windows 93 is a hard one to beat. My plan is to try and beat them all eventually, but I am patient and enjoy making the app. I've had this idea for quite a while but only in the last few years felt confident enough in my skills to attempt it. As for more sites recreating the web desktop idea, here is a great list: https://github.com/syxanash/awesome-web-desktops https://github.com/syxanash/awesome-web-desktops

Jyaif 5y ago
> My plan is to try and beat them all eventually, but I am patient and enjoy making the app. Patience (and slight obsession) is a superpower.

retrocryptid 5y ago

10 years ago i did this classic-mac-a-like. But actually... I sorta liked most of the Win98 UI. Sure, there were weird corners like trying to confuse printers and control panels as files, but it was the beginning if msft paying attention to UX concepts an A11Y. Call me a weirdo, but I thought the color-reduxed / high-contrast theme for Win2k was the apex of MSFT UIs. https://github.com/OhMeadhbh/disco https://github.com/OhMeadhbh/disco

ekzy 5y ago

I've just tried to play minesweeper on this windows93 and it is very hard to say the least...

pflanze 5y ago
It has two modes, you just have to figure out how to change modes :)
DustinBrett 5y ago
Ya yes minesweeper is a good one. I'll need to add this too. The Windows 93 was quite hardcore as he made a lot of those games himself.

r90t 5y ago

nice one. Went there, opened chrome. Checked IP. The links are purple. It turns out I am not the first one LOL

DustinBrett 5y ago

I actually have v86 on my system which can also run things like PCjs. And I have jsdos which uses dosbox to play DOS. I also have BoxedWine for running 16/32-bit apps.