Stop Microsoft
All Things Microsoft => Microsoft Software => Topic started by: Calum on 27 April 2002, 20:41
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well, i was in this op-shop today, (oh yes, i go to op-shops every now and again, usually looking for cheap sci-fi novels) anyway, today i was in there looking for a record player (no such luck, but i'm digressing wildly).
So, what should i see for 2 pounds fifty pence, but a copy of windows 3.1, on 6 (or is it 7?) floppies!
Is it worth buying that do you think? mainly my questions are twofold:
1.) Will i be able to install windows 3.1 on a partition labeled "D:" instead of "C:"? if not, then i may as well not bother.
2.) There's no serial number on this copy of windows 3.1. I know this isn't a warez site and all that, but do you guys think that i'll be able to find a working serial number for it? shouldn't be too hard should it? i'm not askinghow, mind you, just if it's easy or not, and basically if it's worth the bother. I don't want to waste 2 quid fifty.
Basically i just want to see how windows 3.11 goes, since i have never used it! i was using macs at that time in high school, and only got using windows after 95 was out.
What are yr thoughts then folks?
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Windows 3.1 is an OS that feels like it's takeing acid. Windows within windows, heighnous colors, freaky interface over all, and I actually like it :D
SOmething about it, it's so basic and clunky, it's got this totaly retro charm to it. Like the MacOS's deformed autistic child. Get it, it's worth screwing around with. I belive you can install it on any drive letter you wish, the installer is pretty simple As far as cracks for 3.1, do a search in google. I have run across some abandonware sites that have Win3.1 and sierial numbers so it shouldent be to hard to snag one.
If your in to screwing around with computers, that's a must have in your collection.
BTW, Win31 is not a real OS. It is really just a shell for DOS. So you don't technically have to replace any OS at all. You can even install it in to it's own directory.
All you have to do is type win at the DOS prompt and your off. You can have the whole GUI in a folder in Win95/98. I have seen people do this. I can't couch for other OS's
[ April 27, 2002: Message edited by: psyjax ]
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quote:
Originally posted by Calum:
well, i was in this op-shop today, (oh yes, i go to op-shops every now and again, usually looking for cheap sci-fi novels) anyway, today i was in there looking for a record player (no such luck, but i'm digressing wildly).
So, what should i see for 2 pounds fifty pence, but a copy of windows 3.1, on 6 (or is it 7?) floppies!
Is it worth buying that do you think? mainly my questions are twofold:
1.) Will i be able to install windows 3.1 on a partition labeled "D:" instead of "C:"? if not, then i may as well not bother.
2.) There's no serial number on this copy of windows 3.1. I know this isn't a warez site and all that, but do you guys think that i'll be able to find a working serial number for it? shouldn't be too hard should it? i'm not askinghow, mind you, just if it's easy or not, and basically if it's worth the bother. I don't want to waste 2 quid fifty.
Basically i just want to see how windows 3.11 goes, since i have never used it! i was using macs at that time in high school, and only got using windows after 95 was out.
What are yr thoughts then folks?
its on 7 floppies (http://smile.gif)
i think it is worth putting on, i am planning to use it now that i happen to have a spare computer
:D or i might try the copy of Windows 3.00 i have
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quote:
Originally posted by X11:
Its on 6!!!, i have it right in front of me and its on my PC. Runs nice and fast.
Windows 3.11 For Workgroups is 8
Hey, X11, would you be willing to send me a copy?
I wan't to install it on my VPC.
Send me an e-mail at [email protected]
let me know in the forum if you sent the e-mail as I have not tested it yet ;)
-psyjax
[ April 28, 2002: Message edited by: psyjax ]
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fucking A!
I think i'll away out and buy 3.1 right now!
also i'll be putting it on a partition of its own, i think, just to be safe.
Gods, i wish i had bought that old copy of OS/2 i saw last year for AUS$15! if i'd known IBM were charging so much for it now et c...
Well, win3.1 it is then... :D
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Windows 3.1? Way too modern!
You should try Windows 1.01. You have to run it on DOS 5.0 or earlier, because it spits out garbage when you try to run it on DOS 6 and above. Still, it's quite nice, in a minimalist sort of way. No bloat, not too many colours, no PS/2 mouse support, not even a file manager (that didn't come till 3.0). Aye, things were simple back then...
(Oh, and it runs like a fox with a rocket up its arse on my Athlon 1.4GHz!)
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quote:
Originally posted by X11:
Its on 6!!!, i have it right in front of me and its on my PC. Runs nice and fast.
Windows 3.11 For Workgroups is 8
ya, ya... i have workgroups 3.11, it is 8 disks.
and my special version of 3.00 is 7 disks.
[ April 28, 2002: Message edited by: Master of Reality ]
[ April 28, 2002: Message edited by: Master of Reality ]
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windows 1! no mouse, no file manager! what did it have then?
i suppose support for a serial mouse...
Also, can windows 3. be run on any other DOS except MS DOS? eg, can i get one of those things that runs DOS programs in linux, and run windows 3.1 under linux?
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Well, here's a page which purports to have (http://www.btinternet.com/~woofgbr/) all the dos based versions of windows for download, and also a couple of programs, such as w4w version 1.1!
i tried to download 3.1 yesterday (the op shop was shut) but it was a corrupt archive, so off out to the op shop today i think!
Here's the homepage for the open source DOS (http://www.freedos.org/) project, it aims to be totally compatible with MS DOS, so with those two links, you could conceivably run windows on an open source OS. unusual thought...
And here's a thread i found very useful in my quest (http://www.computing.net/windows31/wwwboard/forum/6483.html).
I know it looks like i am answering my own questions, but it's only in case anybody else fancies doing this as well, the info might as well be here for those people to see...
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if you look inside a ball mouse, you'll see those wheels inside, the ball just moves them around.
Hey, does anybody know where i can see some screenshots of windows 1, 2 and 3 in action? (especially windows 1!)ta!
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hey! that's great! i would never have thought of that, although it seems like a little overkill!!
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Calum, you can see screenshots of old versions of Windows right here (http://toastytech.com/guis/indexwindows.html).
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There are also some nice shots of Windows 1.01 in action (including the setup program) here (http://internet.ls-la.net/ms-evolution/windows-1.01/).
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those links are fantastic!
especially the pages on toastytech of the prewin95 and prewindows1 screenshots!
And the hexedited programs from windows 1 and 2 that run in win32!
Oh yes, and the link that enables you to switch on real mode DOS in winME! that makes it as good as win98! (isn't that fantastic (sarcasm))
I also liked the liberal 98lite screenshots, designed to make you want to go and get 98lite if you hadn't already.
I'm all enthused about windows 3.11 now!!!
hey, not only that, but i can run FreeDOS, with win98 on top of it, and there's this (again, free and open source) program i saw (originally in German! but has been rewritten in English) which allows a lot of win32 features, 32 bit programs being run, start menu et cetera in windows 3.1.
So with that model, it's a free, open source, non microsoft operating system, with windows (a program) running on top as a GUI, with this german thing (i wish i could remember the name!) running on top as the real GUI that i am seeing, and using to execute the 32 bit programs.
To cut a long story short then, windows would be doing the job of the X-server, FreeDOS would be doing the job of linux, and this German thing would be doing the job of GNOME. Add to the fact that the actual OS is free and open source and i think this setup (which will cost me a grand total of
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Ah, the nostalgia. (Has an old Laptop which is still running Win 3.1 on it)
I remember the old times of my 486... Those were fun days.
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Afraid the extent of my Windows experience goes back only as far as Win 3.0...
3.0 was absolutely dreadful. don't even *think* of trying to get it to cooperate with any other machines, MS or otherwise.
3.1 was a little better though still no native support for TCP/IP. You had to use an external Winsock program to do all your dialling and suchlike. Trumpet Winsock was the most prevalent I believe. It was shareware, but I've never met anyone who admits to having paid for it.
3.11 was basically 3.1 but with a File Manager that supported browsing NetBIOS networks. Still no TCP/IP.
In fact, as far as I can tell even up to Windows 2000 we don't have true TCP/IP support in the kernel.. it's still done with a (tightly integrated) Winsock driver.. correct me if I'm wrong!
When I first got onto the 'net at home (ie not using the Uni's PC's) I was dual-booting Windows 3.1 and OS/2 Warp 3. It was such a shame that my modem wouldn't play with OS/2, because I much preferred it to Windows... and it even ran all my Windows apps better than Windows itself.
Ahhhh OS/2... Rexx was just so great to have available in the shell rather than that dreadful DOS excuse for a scripting language that they're still using today with very few improvements.
Of course it wasn't too long after that that I stumbled across the Slackware website and ordered my first copy of Linux...
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I never used Windows at all until 1995, and only then because my university decided to put Windows 3.1 on the PCs in the computer lab (alongside Debian). Since then I've tracked down most of the old versions of Windows and DOS (and OS/2) just for curiosity's sake.
Ever run DOS 1.00? With no support for directory structures or hard disks (or even floppy disks bigger than 360K), it wasn't particularly useful. What made it really interesting, though, was that it came with a game co-written in BASIC by none other than...Bill Gates himself!
And before you ask, yes, the game was crap.
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no support for directories? or disks over 360k?
hmmm. would you pay money for that?
some bastard bought MY copy of windows 3.1. :mad: so now i will have to hunt down a copy of it myself, some way, because my curiosity has been piqued...
I tried to download a copy as a .zip file but it was corrupt. I have no idea how i would install it from a .zip anyway since it's supposed to be multiple floppy images. Plus, i want to install it over FreeDOS. Back to the old drawing board i suppose!
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No need for that. Just bung us a blank CD, no questions asked.
You ain't seen me, right?
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quote:
Originally posted by Calum:
no support for directories? or disks over 360k?
hmmm. would you pay money for that?
some bastard bought MY copy of windows 3.1. :mad: so now i will have to hunt down a copy of it myself, some way, because my curiosity has been piqued...
I tried to download a copy as a .zip file but it was corrupt. I have no idea how i would install it from a .zip anyway since it's supposed to be multiple floppy images. Plus, i want to install it over FreeDOS. Back to the old drawing board i suppose!
I could put the floppies in 8 .zip files (you would have to unzip them each to a disk) on the internet for you to download. Its windows 3.11 for workgroups or windows 3.00 for Logitech (i have both)
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Calum,
Try d-loading the Win 3.1 disks from that site again. I did it and unziped them fine. Maybe your connection "burped" or something.
Anyway,
To install all you have to do is unzip all of the disk files in to one directory (Not in the C: or whatever drive you are installing on). The directory can be any kind of media, a single zip disk, CD, extra HD, partition etc.
You can even just unzip all of the files in to separet flopy drives and name them Disk1 etc. And feed them as the installer asks for them.
If you are installing from one directory (i.e. dumping all of the install data from the various zips in to one place) all you do is select custom setup from the menu, when the installer needs a certain chunk of data it will ask you if it is in the same directory and will even give you a path field to input which directory the data is located.
You should install fine.
I tried it on PC DOS so it should work.
Then
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there are several... well... skins for the lack of a better word for win 3.1. i have tabworks from compaq that organizes the "program groups" into pages in a book... makes 3.1 faster to navigate.
i also have something called feelo that says it makes windows easier to use. never used it.
i also have several old-school internet tools for 3.1, ranging from the original compuserve distro to software for a 9600 baud modem I remember buying HA! also a windows-based bbs dialer
if the disks are any good (doubtful) i will zip and post them.
somewhere i have games for windows 3.1 like the blue and the gray, maelstrom, and wolfpack.
i'll dig through this shit and see what i can come up with---i doubt anyone is going to be worried about the copyrights for this software
let's hear it for ski!
let's hear it for dosshell!
the thought of using 3.1 in the days of xp makes me salivate muahahahahah ..or whatever
good luck!
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I downloaded windows 2.0 but don't have a copy of dos anymore to go with it...does anybody here know where a person could download versions of dos?
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well....that was interesting. I installed win 98, then win 3.11 for workgroups on a second 174MB hard drive (dont ask), apparently i was trying to use win 3.11 with an incompatible version of DOS, this is what it told me when i tried to restart it. What version of DOS am i supposed to use with win 3.11???
Win 3.11 setup gives you and incredible amount of control compared to newer winders. You even get to edit the config.sys and autoexec.bat yourself.
Win 3.11 also fucked up win98 that was on my computer.
[ April 30, 2002: Message edited by: Master of Reality ]
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quote:
Originally posted by steppy:
I downloaded windows 2.0 but don't have a copy of dos anymore to go with it...does anybody here know where a person could download versions of dos?
where did you dl 2.0 from?
p.s.
welcome to fuckmicrosoft! (http://smile.gif)
[ May 01, 2002: Message edited by: Master of Reality ]
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quote:
Originally posted by Master of Reality:
where did you dl 2.0 from?
p.s.
welcome to fuckmicrosoft! (http://smile.gif)
[ May 01, 2002: Message edited by: Master of Reality ]
Read back to a Post by Calum on the first page. He lists a link to a site that keeps old windoze versions for d-load. The guy has every version from Win 1.0 to Win 3.1.1.
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that's where i gt my 'corrupt file' copy of 3.1 from. Not a good success rate there, eh.
re: DOS and windows 2, you might have problems there, because FreeDOS and DR-DOS aim to emulate the most recent versions of MSDOS. The problem is that windows 2 does NOT run on versions of MSDOS later than 5. MSDOS^ can't run windows 1 or 2 for some reason, so you need to get an OLD version from somewhere...
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quote:
Originally posted by Master of Reality:
I could put the floppies in 8 .zip files (you would have to unzip them each to a disk) on the internet for you to download. Its windows 3.11 for workgroups or windows 3.00 for Logitech (i have both)
if you could, that would be fab! i suppose i'm after windows 3.11 for workgroups, if i put them on disks, will they boot okay? i've noticed that a DOS bootdisk doesn't work (i get the "Not A System Disk" error) if i just copy the files from one disk to the other. Perhaps i need to make bootdisks, then extract the cntents of these zip files over them, well, we shall see...
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quote:
Originally posted by Calum:
if you could, that would be fab! i suppose i'm after windows 3.11 for workgroups, if i put them on disks, will they boot okay? i've noticed that a DOS bootdisk doesn't work (i get the "Not A System Disk" error) if i just copy the files from one disk to the other. Perhaps i need to make bootdisks, then extract the cntents of these zip files over them, well, we shall see...
i can/have make images for the disks, I tried to put them on a tripod site, but they must limit file size now, becuase it didnt work. Do you have an e-mail that can take 10 MB?? Either that or i will set-up a webserver on my computer and put them there (http://smile.gif) (in case you have any doubts, i am insane)
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quote:
Originally posted by Calum:
if you could, that would be fab! i suppose i'm after windows 3.11 for workgroups, if i put them on disks, will they boot okay? i've noticed that a DOS bootdisk doesn't work (i get the "Not A System Disk" error) if i just copy the files from one disk to the other. Perhaps i need to make bootdisks, then extract the cntents of these zip files over them, well, we shall see...
Calum, check the PM i sent you
[ May 05, 2002: Message edited by: Master of Reality ]
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well that site was pants was it not? does anybody have any real links for old abandoned DOS guis, such as windows 3.1? i am still none the wiser...