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The software is very impressive... But I think could do with usability improvements, for example typing 'dosbox win98.iso' at a prompt should end up with me at

The software is very impressive... But I think could do with usability improvements, for example typing 'dosbox win98.iso' at a prompt should end up with me at the win98 desktop. All the config should be auto detected and auto set unless overridden.

vintagedave 1y ago
While I completely agree with you -- that's what I would want too, I want Win98 without the pain, click or type and it's there, it's a very 2025 expectation -- I laughed because of the huge disparity between this and what installing DOS and Windows were really like. Part of the experience is selecting drivers and configuration :D (Even better in DOS with the IRQs and config.sys and whatnot.)
- genewitch 1y ago
  PCem does it relatively pain free; also emulates voodoo 2 so you can play GPU accelerated games on it. The network is pig-slow and i haven't figured out why, though. All in all PCem is the exact amount of jank and awesome to use for retro-emulation. it emulates ~8086 through Pentium II or so. maybe a bit further on both sides; my machine struggled to maintain 100% emulation speed with the highest end CPU selected.
  - trinix912 1y ago
    There's also 86Box which builds on the foundations of PCem and provides way more machines and options.
    - genewitch 1y ago
      oh, i've used that too, but i didn't know that - it's been a while. This gives me the opportunity to test out my wiki install for note-taking in real time; set up 86box and do the same things i've been doing with pcem (clone the drives (copy/paste)), screenshots, the works. +1
- chgs 1y ago
  Different boot disks and later different menu items in configsys and autoexecbat to control which drivers were loaded and where (himem etc) to launch different games I don’t recall how it was all figured out int he days before modems. I remember dos came with a nice chunky set of manuals, I guess games might have had information in there too, but I for one don’t really understand the different between high and low in the first megabyte, or between extended and expanded memory, or what an Irq really was, I just knew you had to live the jumpers on the sound card - which I assume I got from the manual.
keepamovin 1y ago
I agree with that, but then I tried the setup, and i found it was straightforward. playing with it gives you a sense of mastery (even if small), is satisfying, and may be the necessary "training" to get used to using/installing/configuring the full windows 98. How is it even doing this? A full DOS/Windows 9x environment—running on an M1 Mac?? On so many architectures and OSes? With a ton of options, yet somehow everything just works—games, operating systems, all of it. Like a time machine you can configure. Seriously cool i got windows 98 networking working (on macos needs sudo dosbox-x) and browsed google from ie 5. most websites will not work (due to TLS/cipher mismatch). i want to write a very thin, old JS client for BrowserBox to let you connect to bbx running on local network so that old OS like this can browse the modern web.
- anthk 1y ago
  Retrozilla will work with the TLS settings at about:config. Search DDG/GG. ALso, gopher runs fine: gopher://magical.fish HN, read only over gopher: gopher://magical.fish
  - keepamovin 1y ago
    Here's a very early version of browsing the modern web from IE6 in Win 98 SE: https://imgur.com/gallery/browserbox-enabling-secure-access-to-modern-web-from-ie6-windows-98-m89wpvy https://imgur.com/gallery/browserbox-enabling-secure-access-...
    - anthk 1y ago
      Retrozilla in not IE. You can get it from http://piteusz.ovh/files/windows/9x-nt/retrozilla-2.2.en-US.win32.installer.exe http://piteusz.ovh/files/windows/9x-nt/retrozilla-2.2.en-US.... Also: gopher://magical.fish There's a TLS 1.3 fix for Rzilla too: https://msfn.org/board/topic/177106-running-windows-98-in-2020-and-beyond/page/15/#comment-1174993 https://msfn.org/board/topic/177106-running-windows-98-in-20...
      - keepamovin 1y ago

vintagedave 1y ago

While I completely agree with you -- that's what I would want too, I want Win98 without the pain, click or type and it's there, it's a very 2025 expectation -- I laughed because of the huge disparity between this and what installing DOS and Windows were really like. Part of the experience is selecting drivers and configuration :D (Even better in DOS with the IRQs and config.sys and whatnot.)

genewitch 1y ago
PCem does it relatively pain free; also emulates voodoo 2 so you can play GPU accelerated games on it. The network is pig-slow and i haven't figured out why, though. All in all PCem is the exact amount of jank and awesome to use for retro-emulation. it emulates ~8086 through Pentium II or so. maybe a bit further on both sides; my machine struggled to maintain 100% emulation speed with the highest end CPU selected.
- trinix912 1y ago
  There's also 86Box which builds on the foundations of PCem and provides way more machines and options.
  - genewitch 1y ago
    oh, i've used that too, but i didn't know that - it's been a while. This gives me the opportunity to test out my wiki install for note-taking in real time; set up 86box and do the same things i've been doing with pcem (clone the drives (copy/paste)), screenshots, the works. +1
chgs 1y ago
Different boot disks and later different menu items in configsys and autoexecbat to control which drivers were loaded and where (himem etc) to launch different games I don’t recall how it was all figured out int he days before modems. I remember dos came with a nice chunky set of manuals, I guess games might have had information in there too, but I for one don’t really understand the different between high and low in the first megabyte, or between extended and expanded memory, or what an Irq really was, I just knew you had to live the jumpers on the sound card - which I assume I got from the manual.

keepamovin 1y ago

I agree with that, but then I tried the setup, and i found it was straightforward. playing with it gives you a sense of mastery (even if small), is satisfying, and may be the necessary "training" to get used to using/installing/configuring the full windows 98. How is it even doing this? A full DOS/Windows 9x environment—running on an M1 Mac?? On so many architectures and OSes? With a ton of options, yet somehow everything just works—games, operating systems, all of it. Like a time machine you can configure. Seriously cool i got windows 98 networking working (on macos needs sudo dosbox-x) and browsed google from ie 5. most websites will not work (due to TLS/cipher mismatch). i want to write a very thin, old JS client for BrowserBox to let you connect to bbx running on local network so that old OS like this can browse the modern web.

anthk 1y ago
Retrozilla will work with the TLS settings at about:config. Search DDG/GG. ALso, gopher runs fine: gopher://magical.fish HN, read only over gopher: gopher://magical.fish
- keepamovin 1y ago
  Here's a very early version of browsing the modern web from IE6 in Win 98 SE: https://imgur.com/gallery/browserbox-enabling-secure-access-to-modern-web-from-ie6-windows-98-m89wpvy https://imgur.com/gallery/browserbox-enabling-secure-access-...
  - anthk 1y ago
    Retrozilla in not IE. You can get it from http://piteusz.ovh/files/windows/9x-nt/retrozilla-2.2.en-US.win32.installer.exe http://piteusz.ovh/files/windows/9x-nt/retrozilla-2.2.en-US.... Also: gopher://magical.fish There's a TLS 1.3 fix for Rzilla too: https://msfn.org/board/topic/177106-running-windows-98-in-2020-and-beyond/page/15/#comment-1174993 https://msfn.org/board/topic/177106-running-windows-98-in-20...
    - keepamovin 1y ago