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  "PageContent": "<h3>MC PrtK's Blog | My Space, My Rules………. No Crap allowed here!</h3>I have always been fascinated by old computers. Their beige boxes and curved CRT monitors have had a certain charm for me. Although, in modern times, using an old Pentium-based PC is ridiculous, since it won’t do nearly all the things we’ve been accustomed that a computer might do! And then I discovered VMWare!VMWare is a nifty little program that emulates an x86 computer inside another x86 computer. This gives the software a fine number of uses – from running different operating systems on the same machine, to testing out programs and software within a sandbox; without hurting any of the core components of the “host” computer. For me though, it gave me a chance to run a few “classic” programs and see how it feels like to use them in the modern era.Going Old SchoolAs of 2018, it has been nearly 20 years since Windows 98 first burst on to the scene – and thanks to the myriad number of abandonware sites, there is a fledgling community of people who are interested in keeping the old school scene alive. For me, while I was introduced to computing using a Windows 98 PC that my cousin owned – my first computer was one that came with Windows XP pre-installed. Nonetheless, for a few applications, I have found Windows 98 outperforming my Windows XP machine – especially in the case of some games such as Age of Empires II, Max Payne 1 and Grand Theft Auto Vice City.However, one area that I saw Windows 98 lacking back then was internet security. Even after connecting to the computer using the internal modem that came with it, the system would eventually “catch” a wild number of viruses, that were a simple pain in the ass! The last time I used Windows 98 (circa late 2004), the system would get infected within 30 minutes of being connected to the internet on a slow 9600bps modem!Coming to the present age, I know that virtually NO ONE in their right minds use Windows 98 as a production system now, with Microsoft dumping the OS to their unsupported list ages back! All I wanted to know was how would it cope up with the challenges that I am about to throw its way!Invoking the Operating SystemStarting Windows 98 was fairly easy. If you’ve ever used VMWare or VirtualBox, you can simply create a virtual machine, plug the OS installer ISO and install it like any other operating system. For my Windows 98 machine, I chose the following – a single processor system with 8 gigabytes of storage and 256 megabytes of RAM. You can view all the settings details below:VMWare settings for Windows 98After the machine was set up, it was time to fire up the installer. I used my Windows 98 ISO that I downloaded off some abandonware site, along with a couple of ancient software titles that I believe would fit the operating system and the era perfectly. I won’t go into the details of the installation process, since there are hundreds of tutorials on the internet. However, it did give me some old feelings of nostalgia for the things we’ve forgotten since we all have started computing along the way. Booting Windows 98 CD  First Boot Screen  Setup Program  About this computer  More Details! There was one hiccup that I found along the way, but the key was actually supplied with the ISO.The bane of software pirates!With that out of the way, the installation went smoothly. One thing that caught my eye was the clock installation screen! Just take a look:Microsoft got the date thing right!If you look closely, you’ll find that the year counter is showing double digits – a relic from the pre-Y2K era; but the calendar is perfect for the year 2018! Wow, that is some cool stuff Microsoft.And lo and behold, within a few short minutes – the Windows 98 desktop, in all of its low-resolution, low color glory came up!Completely Old SchoolManaging the BeastI had literally forgotten how spartan Windows 98 was – and how you had to install ALL the necessary drivers, and the hundreds of times the system would reboot. I mean, after each driver was installed, the system needed a reboot! Anyways, I started off with VMWare Tools, since that would give me the SVGA drivers necessary to get 32-bit color and full screen capability. I bumped up the screen resolution to 1024×768, since that would be the maximum in most CRT monitors of that time. But, sound still eluded me. After going through some forums, I found out that I required the Creative SoundBlaster 16 drivers for Windows 98. AND THE OFFICIAL SITE STILL HAS THE DRIVERS! Anyways, with the drivers installed, I had my Windows system tweaked just as I used to do in the old days! Come, take a look:Aah the nostalgia!One of the more fundamental things that we take for granted in 2018 is internet access. And I wanted my old Windows 98 box to actually connect to the internet, and see if I would get infected within a short span of time. Unfortunately, the system still expects to be connected to the internet via a modem, and so, I had to go to Control Panel to change the options that I wanted to connect via LAN.Fun, Productivity and Everything in BetweenOnce I was connected to the internet, my first hunch was to open up a browser, and go to Google. There was a browser, and you all know which one it is – Internet Explorer in all of its glorious version 5 edition. Surprisingly, Google worked well, supporting such an ancient relic. Even Bing could not provide perfect support to IE5. Forget YouTube and other modern websites.IE5 – Yikes!I could install trusty Winamp to listen to music, but that was about it. Winamp looks just as good, in its early-200ish glory. Unfortunately, there are no web browsers, ancient or modern that supports Windows 98, and that was to be expected. However, I did not give up over there.Winamp – Still kicks the Llama’s Ass!Next I tried to see if some of these classics that I loved so much run on Windows 98. First was Microsoft Office, the quintessential Windows program, and one of the few reasons why so many organizations still use Microsoft Windows, even to this day. I got my copy of Microsoft Office from an abandonware site, and since it was Office 97, the expiry of the product support meant that I could use it for personal use legally.Boring Spreadsheets and Word ProcessorSince I could not connect to the internet directly, I thought of using something even more ancient, but one that still has users, and a miniscule community behind it – the Telnet. Well, a few BBSes did go well, but the rest were not up to my expectations. However, this topic would require a full blog post on its own. Coming back to Windows 98, there was one more thing I wanted to try out. GW-BASIC. Fortunately, this nifty little programming language was where I learnt to dabble in writing programs, and even today, I think it is one of the best languages out there, other than Python.Going back to the classic DOS prompt was a simple no-brainer. I prefer using the terminal on my Linux machines as much as possible, and doing the same over here also felt extremely natural.Finally, I installed a classic onto my system – Age of Empires II. I found the CDs in my old CD stash, still working, and immediately made ISO images off them. The installation and gameplay were just as I had remembered it was – classic real-time strategy with a lot of history to boot! Installing  More Installing  Good Ol’ AoE ConclusionI could go on and on about the nostalgia that I’ve felt with Windows 98, and moreso, even cooler things that I keep on discovering as I keep using the operating system. Unfortunately, even from a modern standpoint, the OS is not useful to me in any case, since I can’t go online, nor can I do pretty much anything of use. However, it is nice to have something this old, as a reminder of the old days, when things were simple – a lot simple compared to today.",
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