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Calmira Reborn – a Windows 9x-inspired shell for Windows 3.1
- erremerre 4y agoIf only there was a screenshot in the site...
- derefr 4y agoWhile I don't have anything to point to for what this version (Calmira Reborn) specifically looks like, I know that a number of YouTubers have done walkthroughs/reviews of previous iterations of the project. (One such review, of Calmira II 3.3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMeIwShY434 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMeIwShY434.) I don't expect this new iteration differs much from the previous release; my impression is that this is just a resumption of maintenance and bug-fixing by a different author, so the UX should be the same. (Also, I can't really blame them for not providing screenshots; it's likely a deliberate choice. If you're using the kind of retro-computing setup that the target audience of this shell uses, you're probably connected to the web through Trumpet WinSock on a 28.8kbps modem — not the ideal environment for loading screenshots! Sure, you could first visit this page on another, faster computer; but you might have to eventually visit the page on your retro-computer to actually download the software onto it. At that time, you'll be very glad that this page doesn't have any screenshots on it!)
- lm2s 4y agoThe screenshots don't need to be in the main page, there can be links to them as it used to be done in the past.
- thesuitonym 4y agoI suppose it looks like Windows 95/98, and if you don't already know what that looks like, it's probably not a product you're interested in anyway.
- timbit42 4y agoSome here: http://toastytech.com/guis/cal.html http://toastytech.com/guis/cal.html
- spiritplumber 4y agoI remember Calmira, it allowed us to skip an upgrade cycle on some company laptops once.
- 1vuio0pswjnm7 4y agoHow do we download and install Windows 3.1 in 2023. I would like to install it on bootable USB stick.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- signaru 4y agoI searched that FreeDos can now somehow run Windows 3.1 [0], but the article only shows it on QEMU. FreeDos might be able to boot on a USB stick [1]. As for downloads, there's WinWorldPC where you could also find 16 bit Delphi 1.x. [0] https://virtuallyfun.com/2021/07/27/freedos-running-windows-3-1/ https://virtuallyfun.com/2021/07/27/freedos-running-windows-... [1] http://wiki.freedos.org/wiki/index.php/How_to_Create_a_USB_Boot_Disk_Using_FreeDOS http://wiki.freedos.org/wiki/index.php/How_to_Create_a_USB_B... Edit: I deleted my previous dosbox answer as it missed the booting from USB part.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- LeoPanthera 4y agoRemember that Windows 3.1 is a shell, not an operating system. You need to install DOS first. https://winworldpc.com/product/windows-3/31 https://winworldpc.com/product/windows-3/31 And your choice of DOS: MS-DOS 6.22: https://winworldpc.com/product/ms-dos/622 https://winworldpc.com/product/ms-dos/622 or, PC-DOS 2000: https://winworldpc.com/product/pc-dos/2000 https://winworldpc.com/product/pc-dos/2000 A good choice for early PC emulation is 86Box: https://86box.net https://86box.net
- anthk 4y agoDOSBox will do it fine and much faster than 86box. EDIT: Ok, install. Well, using DOSBox in full screen would be pretty close to a screen of its era, save for being flat.
- thesuitonym 4y ago
- integricho 4y agoSo is there a light, Windows 9x-like (so really really fast and responsive) shell for Windows 10? I cannot believe how unresponsive Windows 10 is, the menus, windows, all opening with so huge delays, it's a disgrace.
- Bayart 4y agoIf know of things from the UNIX world, like Blackbox for Windows.
- askonomm 4y agoI don't know, with 64GB 6000mhz RAM and Ryzen 9 7950X processor, things are instant for me on Windows 11, and even faster on Windows 10. Surely nobody runs on Windows on any lesser system?
- anthk 4y agoGet Virtualbox. Install Windows 2000 or XP or an old Linux with KDE 3.15 on it. Notice the lack of latency, notice how it flies and there's no delay on displaying the widgets and typing on a text editor or a word processor.
- M95D 4y agoI hate to say it to you, but there a VERY BIG latency on anything newer than Win95! VERY BIG. The Win95 Explorer is the last that doesn't have Internet Explorer embedded in it. It keeps the whole start menu in memory. Starting with Win98 (or was it Win95OSR2? - can't remebember) they added IE into everything. From then on, opening the start menu requires a disk read. Also, you can't really experience the no-latency speed of Win95 if you use virtualization. You probably got used to Win7/10/11 latency so much, that even WinXP with virtualisation feels fast. Trust me: that isn't fast.
- anthk 4y agow98 could be debloated, the same with w95 without that sp. On XP, well, with the classic theme it can run pretty fast. But I woudn't use propietary OSes today except for nostalgia experiments on secluded VM's.
- ttrrooppeerr 4y agoTook me a while to find the link, so here are some screenshots for you: http://calmira.net/screenshots/index.htm http://calmira.net/screenshots/index.htm
- ickoonite 4y agoGosh, the first screenshot took me back. The MIDI player was part of a set of apps that came with the SoundBlaster 16 that stacked together like hifi separates. There was a CD player and a WAV player as well. Haven't seen them in, oooh, 25 years. http://calmira.net/screenshots/andrew.htm http://calmira.net/screenshots/andrew.htm
- gattilorenz 4y agoA CD player, a Wav player... and a remote! They came also with later Creative SoundBlaster cards, I had that on my AWE 64 driver disc.
- andrepd 4y agoOh my god, memory unlocked for me as well. I remember playing around with all the instruments. I must have been no older than 4 or 5.
- pocketarc 4y agoThe Chrios screenshot is interesting. > Sorry for my Bad English i am a 14 Years old Boy who loved old OS's! That's actually amazing. You have to wonder what the story is. How did he end up even hearing about/using Calmira? And he's got his hands on an old laptop as well, apparently. It's stuff like this that makes you appreciate that the internet is just as quirky as it always was. Curious people are still using it to learn and explore. It's great.
- Gordonjcp 4y agoI used to use this in the olden days, when Netscape Communicator ruled the Internet and the webby company I worked for had their servers in my mate's kitchen in the flat upstairs, with a whopping 128kbps leased line. I dual-booted my 486DX4/120 between Windows 3.1 (Windows 95 was out but who could afford that much RAM?) and some early Slackware.
- protoman3000 4y agoWho uses these things productively as daily driver in 2023? No judgement, just curious.
- pantalaimon 4y agoI think those retro projects are mostly just for fun. There is nostalgia involved, but also those older systems tend to be easier to tinker with.
- nirimda 4y agoThe copyright in the source code has a big jump from 2007 to 2022, so I guess possibly no-one, it's probably more entertainment/skills development for someone who finds modern always-on internet computers too distracting. I sometimes used Calmira when I was in school until I switched to RedHat 5.1.
- thesuitonym 4y agoDo people have to be constantly productive all day every day? Maybe someone just has some old games they want to play, and they want a more modern shell to do it with. But if productivity is the only thing you recognize, I recall reading that George R.R. Martin uses an incredibly old PC to write on. I think it was DOS or maybe Windows 3.1.
- UncleSlacky 4y agoIIRC he uses a DOS machine with WordStar.
- AtlasBarfed 4y agoI remember stories of famous authors using one-off word processor devices (imagine: old LCD that can only show about 5 lines of text, and the device can hold a megabyte of crap in some sort of flash or something similar) from back in the day. Basically the minimal step up of computerization from the typewriter. What else does a writer really need?
- 4y ago
- qwerty456127 4y agoI'd rather have a good (all I've seen are grotesquely low-quality gimmick) Windows3x/9x/XP shell for modern OSes. IMHO what we need to preserve is retro UX seamlessly integrated into the modern world (e.g. a pixel-perfect Win3x-like DE based on all the modern libraries/kernels and this way capable of interacting with modern web and peripherals). But it's definitely nice to see people are developing anything cool for Windows 3.11. I would certainly install it if my Windows 3.11 PC was not left in another country. Any screenshots BTW?
- pantalaimon 4y agoI mean you can install CDE on a modern system. And SerenetyOS tries to re-create the look and feel of that era.
- UncleSlacky 4y agoThere's also Trinity Desktop (fork of KDE 3): https://trinitydesktop.org/ https://trinitydesktop.org/
- anthk 4y agoChicago 95 does it well with XFCE. And B00merang has almost 1:1 theme clones for 3.11.
- jeroenhd 4y agoI've tried out Chicago95 and it probably does the best job it possibly could, but it's not all there. Things like the "start menu" and buttons are weirdly proportioned because of the conflicting design style between the underlying desktop environment and the clear Win9x era design vision Microsoft employed. The closest thing to an old style desktop interface that I know of must be SerenityOS. All of its applications and UI elements are actually designed from the ground up to work with the classic theme. I actually prefer it to the real old Windows style because it adheres to the old clear design standards but also takes advantage of modern display resolutions and colour support. It's nowhere near a workable operating system yet, but it's an interesting take on OS design nonetheless.
- pfoof 4y agoForget your i3s or dwms, this is the desktop environment we need.
- the_mitsuhiko 4y agoSomehow related: Windows NT 3.51 looks pretty much exactly like Windows 3.11. However at a later point where customers able to try the "new shell" beta which added Windows NT 4.0 / Windows 95 UI on top of Windows NT 3.51. You can see the transformation on youtube: https://youtu.be/lTeeml8RULM?t=793 https://youtu.be/lTeeml8RULM?t=793
- stuaxo 4y agoNT 3.51 had some interesting things that didn't make it across because things got overwritten by Windows 95 versions. Progman.exe actually allowed nested program groups. Winfile.exe supported long filenames. These both seem to have been overwritten by the versions from Windows 95 (with their Windows 3.1 ancestry) so lost those functions going forward.
- elevendroids 4y agoThose were still included in Windows NT 4.0 as optional features (similarly to the Win 3.1 tools on Windows 95).
- the_mitsuhiko 4y agoNot that it matters much, but winfile.exe with long filename support lives on and can be installed from the Store even on Windows 10. https://apps.microsoft.com/store/detail/windows-file-manager/9P7VBBBC49RB?hl=de-at&gl=at&ocid=badge&rtc=1 https://apps.microsoft.com/store/detail/windows-file-manager...
- bluedino 4y agoSomewhat related article: Why wasn't the Windows 95 shell prototyped on Windows NT? https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20120102-00/?p=8743#:~:text=From%20the%20software%20development%20side,t%20exist%20in%20Windows%20NT https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20120102-00/?p=87....
- helf 4y agoI still have CalmiraXP on my childhood i386. It’s great lol
- sbjs 4y agoThere’s certainty a nostalgic emotional reaction when seeing these but it’s not strong enough to move me to prioritize trying out esoteric technology over the other million interesting or necessary things on my plate.
- rbanffy 4y agoThe idea of a UI revamp for Windows 3 reminds me of HP's Dashboard. I actually liked it.
- johnea 4y agoReally is a sad thing, an entire generation brain damaged by M$.
- timbit42 4y agoI prefer the OS/2 Workplace Shell so I use WPS4WIN.zip which puts the OS/2 Workplace Shell on Windows 3.x. Screenshots: http://toastytech.com/guis/wps.html http://toastytech.com/guis/wps.html The download is here: https://winworldpc.com/product/ibm-workplace-shell/151 https://winworldpc.com/product/ibm-workplace-shell/151 The app windows still have the Win3.x buttons so I use the button editor in MAKEOVER to make them look like OS/2 buttons. Download: https://archive.org/details/MAKEOVER_ZIP https://archive.org/details/MAKEOVER_ZIP