Well guys, I think I made a discovery this morning. http://vetusware.com/ They have the largest collection of abandoneware they call it. Here is just the first box of stuff. 5 recently added: 5 most popular: IBM OS/2 2.1 for Windows [Spanish] 2.1 ES Sharp MS-DOS 3.2 Fastwel DOS 6.22-2005 Fastwel DOS 6.22-2001 LANtastic 4.1 MS DOS 6.00(Sources included) (10955) MS DOS Boot Disk 7.10 (8534) OS/2 2.1 (7502) MD DOS Boot Disk 7.10 (6475) DOS32 Advanced 7.33 (5410) It has Lantastic!!! I haven't seen that since 1998... because unlike most PC Gurus, I said yeah right! Windows 95 in 98! I kept my customers, (those that would listen) on Win 3.x, WFW 3.x untill 1998. They never missed a beat. Can't say that for "the hypnotized" that dove right into 95, because it had such a cool bootup screen. But, I am going to start taking Glenn's advice, get a Win 8 OS going, and get to using it. Is there any w2ay to cut the tiles out of it completely? Or do I have to go to Win10?
http://repo.lastos.org/Open-Shell_v4.4.135_NT6_ssApp.apz The above app will remove the tiles from the start menu and give you back a Classic XP style menu (you can fully configure it). To physically remove tiles from the OS will cause random crashes and will also cause most Microsoft Updates to Fail, Windows 7 was the last OS that was able to have the Core modified and able to install updates as they change to including all previous updates into one cumulative update file instead of individually, this causes the OS to fail to install updates and roll back, then get stuck in an update/reboot loop. so PLEASE do not remove OS components, this will lead to a bad time (maybe not today, or tomorrow, but eventually), Instead just tweak and replace features using shell mods like Open Start. We are currently working on a Windows 8 mod, but I am not sure how it will go - been years since I modded anything other than Windows 10, so might take a while, I will be updating the Last8 tweaks on the repository soon, then you can just install Vanilla Windows 8 and have the best tweaks/features on it. http://repo.lastos.org/Last8.Tweaks_2019.10.6.BETA_Win10_ssApp.apz The above tweaks are meant for Windows 10, so may cause a problem until I update and test the tweaks Freezer shared today, if you have a VM or spare time to backup your OS (terabyte Image etc), you can do the same tests yourself, but I'll hopefully get to it within in a few days.
Thanks, but since you have to be a member to download, and I don't know if I want to be one, would you mind getting a few of what you think are most interesting/useful and upload them for us? They are small, after all. Then, I'm sure if we find it useful to us, we'll go ahead and join ourselves.
Well... I've got 10 TB hooked to my Win 8 machine... empty drives just waiting for orders! But here is the thing... what backup software can actually put everything back exactly as it was? True Image 2011 does not. You mentioned a backup software... I used it on my wife's Win 10 machine... but it was done so quickly, I don't know what it even backed up? Well that's no problem... I actually hit my download limit today... and I was promoted to being a Gold member, after I uploaded CPS Desktop for Windows 3.1. I was looking for the old Asteroids game, that Microsoft had put out... downloaded a few files, and bam! I was told to try again tomorrow! So now I will be much more selective when I download from them. I did manage to get WinMiser Pro, which was an AMAZING utility for Windows 3.1. The kernel had a big memory leak, we all knew it, and they would go after and reclaim the memory the kernel had lost. I called Chicago Soft today, and the lady who was in charge of software distribution, who also answered the phone, had no clue about it. I had to tell her to check her own website, on the Corporate page here http://chicago-soft.com/corporate.php, to see they had produced WinMiser and Winmiser Pro. I told her I would like to get a copy, that I had bought it back in those days, but I have lost my copy due to the death of my mother. So I will add that to the vmdk file, and make sure it don't need a registration code. I think it will dangit. She said the owner, probably the guy who wrote it, is Not Active anymore. They are exclusively providing software to IBM nowadays. So the big question... have you guys already put Asteroids in one of your files? I don't think www.vetusware.com has it. I will find it somehow. I have backups of backups, but I think my kid brother stole that machine from my mom's when she died. But I will no doubt find other software to upload to vetusware.com.
I found Asteroids in the original Arcade, but I think the site is in Russia. http://www.xtcabandonware.com/game/638/microsoft-arcade is where I got it. I did not register there. I uploaded it, and WinMiser Pro to ftp. But, I am going to test it, with Avast in the VM. Should be tricky to do, but I always do that. Bite off more than I can chew. lol But I put it there for safe keeping.
Ok, Asteroids checks out. WinMiser... was a shareware app... but there is no way to register it anymore. I think. I cancelled the installation. It is a limited amount of features for the Free version. I'm going to call that woman again later today.
Did you ever try Active@ Disk Image? It would be better to run backup softwares from a PE (live disc/image) but just for making backups (not restoring) you can use a regular (installed) app. There is a free version of Active@ Disk Image in the repo I believe.
A while back, I'd made a ppGame out of it. That and its two sequels: Microsoft.Arcade_c1993_x86_ppGame.pgz Microsoft.Return.of.Arcade_c1996_x86_ppGame.pgz Microsoft.Revenge.of.Arcade_c1998_ppGame.pgz "Revenge" is the only one that works on x64 Windows (I think). But they all work great on XP!
Well after a few days waiting for her to get back to me... I called her back today. She said the guy that wrote the thing died a few years ago. They had no information on it. Funny how that works... she is working the company he started, but had no idea about the product that created her company! Or much info on the guy who wrote WinMiser. I am not going to let her off the hook so easily... if I have to fly to her city, and show up in her office. Well, as much as I agree with the mission over at Vetusware... things are not as smooth over there as I first thought. Contributing software to their collection, I ran into stupid problems like exceeding a file size limit... but now they have upped it to 1GB so that problem has been solved. The hunt for the REAL WinMiser Pro continues. I offered a $200 bounty for it over there. I did manage to read a little bit of their forum posts... and Google don't like what they are doing, so Google cut them off from the world, the same way Google does anything... and so that has affected their funds to keep running the site. So it is now a - "when I have free time I will get to it..." - kind of place. I got bumped up to Platinum with Diamonds membership over there so maybe I won't run into a silly download limit per day. Time will tell. But I want the REAL WinMiser. That guy who wrote it was AWESOME. I want to know more about him, while I am at this.
Wait he is?! Neat, always wanted to meet them (I kinda already knew it though lol because he said he created LastXP haha)
Just checking in... I bought an old gaming laptop, and put Last10 on it. What an adventure! But more time consuming... I discovered some old backups , of my long deceased mother’s PC I have been trying to get restored. I am still looking for the full version of WinMiser. The backups were made with the utility available here http://partition-saving.com/ So I have went back to school on c,h, s style partition mappings! Good News is, I got one restored, on completely different hardware. So windows won’t start... and I’m stuck in DOS. With long file names. This difficulty has been compounded by a floppy disk drive that can only read a few bytes before it goes into an error state. I have 2 usb floppy drives, but how to get them to work in DOS? Windows stops loading at SYSCRITINIT which starts out VMM. Tried googling that, nothing. I believe it has to do with this PC doesn’t have an SIS chipset. I should be coming back out of this rabbit hole in a few more days.
Oh what a mess that has turned into... But more on LastXP... I was looking around another older hard drive... and I found I had saved the webpage I got LastXP Compined from... I rar'ed it up, and will post it here. Special College Edition of Windows XP, no doubt meant to get those college 'kids' off of Linux!!! Just the name of the file ought to bring back some memories you guys. The password is password.
Here is something I got the same day... maybe one of you knows something about it. Lol. Timestamps preserved in the rar files.
Still in the hole... but I don't know if any of you have thought of this. I have Last10 installed on C:, which is a SSD. I only have 250GB there. So I moved: Pictures Desktop Documents Downloads to F: Which has much more room. But Program Files, Program Files(x86), ProgramData all remain on C: They will get large as I move into this machine. It was cumbersome to do. When I tried the first time, I totally botched up USER. So I created new accounts. One a temporary Administrator account to try and follow some web page's advice. I wound up with new accounts that did not have anything that USER had on the start menu. I have even read that moving some of those folders to a DATA volume not on C:, will break Windows Update. (That would be a great thing!!!!!) There are many more people with SSD C: System disks. They all have the same dilemma.
You can set your Documents to D: or another drive as a default, the Settings tool included in the LastOS images can do this. I myself don't use that (although it makes a lot of sense to) but I've trained myself to put all files that have permanent value to other drives, and I use the OS drive only as a temporary working space (my desktop folder, mostly). It takes some time to get into that habit but it will save people from losing stuff when their OS gets messed up. Windows tries to goad people into their default folders for everything, so it requires vigilance or else using that Documents transpose function but others will have more experience with that than I do.
I personally always set my Settings app to make Documents on my D: Data drive, I do this twice as for some reason the settings don't always stick the first time you press Apply Settings (I think it's due to the folders being created just before setting the reg key and it must fail if folder not found or something (never could get it to work, even tried calling apply settings twice pragmatically with a 1 seconds delay - still fails sometimes, so I just press it twice. The only other folder you have to set manually is Downloads, it is VERY simple to set this one tho; right click on the "Downloads" folder in the Quick Access (Folder menu on left of explorer window), then choose Properties, pick the Location Tab, pick Move, and browse to where you want it and create a new folder, finally pick the folder and pick to move all your files (if you want). It's fun watching you discover LastOS Johnrw, your very clever figuring out that you need these options/choices, I guess some of them aren't obvious they are there unless you grew up using LastOS's beyond LastXP v16 when I added that feature to the settings app etc. Some people don't spend the time pre-configuring stuff like this and when they do system backups they have all their data backed up, when the OS crashes they then restore the image and overwrite updated data/files with the older backup ones... Building upon the idea that the Data disk should hold a users data, we made ppApps which are installed to whatever disk you put a \ppApps folder on (or set with the settings app and or with SetupS Control Panel), then if you configure an app the way you want, if you restore the image your apps will not be part of the backup and instead be configured with the latest use you had configured, you use SetupS Control Panel to regenerate shortcuts to the start meu, or if you install a LastOS image it will do this on first logon without any user interaction. There is heaps of ways to do the same things in LastOS tho, another way I see people use is to right click the \ppApps folder on their computer and pick SendTo SetupS, this will do the same thing, either method will also apply any registry information, scripts and AppData locations if required. Another thing I do to my own installs is move the Virtual Memory from C: to D: or other disks, this will save 10GB of space on C: also makes the OS Backups smaller if using one that doesn't skip this file (TeraByte True Image skips it if ticked).
People are also worried about the wear-leveling with their SSD's. Moving the swap-file (virtual memory) off the SSD makes sense because then the controller doesn't have to rotate the OS's static blocks as much, which slows down the performance. Ditto with relocating your all your "Library" folders such as Documents, Pictures, Music, Videos, Downloads, and even Desktop to an HDD. Dell's Alienware are built configured with an SSD for the OS and HDD for data. I'm not sure how far they go with moving the swap-file and library folders to the HDD drive. Also I don't know if their mainline (Inspirons and Latitudes) are configured like that either.
Some good points here What you say makes sense Freezer but I doubt any manufacturer puts a swap file or anything else OS-related on a secondary drive (maybe only backup or restore partitions). Myself I never do, and if you use VirtualBox and build OS images and archive a lot, it does take its toll -- but even then I get surprisingly long life out of these SSD's. One thing though, if you get the wrong brand or edition SSD it doesn't last long. I had a Munchkin (lol, I actually wrote that: it's Muskin) SSD that I ran into the ground in a year, but none of my Crucial ones have clunked out on me yet and some are as old as 6 years. I still think HDD's may have a longer life-cycle (when they're good) but I think things are improving. The laptop has a NVMe drive; it's fast, 250gb, and has performed surprisingly well the last couple of years. Originally it did have 4 partitions on it I believe, one with recovery. I backed it all up at the time but installed a Last10 Pro over it I made at the time. I recently updated it for the first time and it ran the updates fine. It kind of surprised me that I just did that, I was distracted and just clicked update and then kind of regretted it but it worked out okay For me I usually get a 250gb or so SSD for OS drive, just enough space to run some VMs and have a desktop filled with too much stuff. If I were a gamer it would be wholly inadequate, but even then you could install games to secondary drives.
Why... as is Glenn's tradition... the password is password. Well, you got me pegged. I never went past LastXP v13 Combined. Fun watching me pull my hair out hahahaha, no, i am surely trying my best to share the experience I go through for the benefit of USERS that come after me. That is something I will try to do soon. I did most of those, the others are just empty because this Asus ROG G73JH Laptop is just getting going in my hands. Did I mention the guy I bought it from eventually answered my text messages, and made good on his promises. He actually did one better and brought me an APPLE SSD. I think it says APPLE in the drive's firmware, because I just can't seem to delete that out of it As far as wear leveling goes, THE REGISTRY, will put the most wear on the SSD than anything else. I guess we backup often or live with the inevitable reinstall. You do realize, I have LastXP Combined drives that have been in service to me since 2010. In my shop. I primarily work on Caterpillar, Cummins, Detroit Diesel, International, and Volvo Trucks. I believe in Software Separation. I have separate 500GB drives for each Company. I started out with the Thermaltake MAX-3543 here https://www.aerocooler.com/thermaltake-rc3400101a-max-3543-4x2-5-3-5inch-hot-swap-hdd-bay/ in a Antec p190 case, with the Antec liquid cooling CPU cooler, I forget what model, but I mounted it outside the case by hollowing out 2 fans and using them as spacers for the radiator. Quite clever of me, as this was my original design and I still use it. I guess I have to install iTunes in order to upload a pic from my cell. Will get that done soon. But Thermaltake stopped making that thing... so I was buying up as many spares as I could get on ebay. But now I might move to 2.5 inch. Did I mention the APPLE SSD is a Seagate? That is all I use. Seagate. Almost all of the HD's that don't work anymore are Western Digital.
Maybe I am doing something wrong... but when I tried to burn LastXPv22_USB.(RON.Core).iso to a thumb drive, I got a SYSLINUX error on bootup I used Rufus, rufus-3.8p.exe the portable version. /HBCD/menu.c32 is not a COM32R image Then when I tried to burn it to a Verbatim DVD-R, I found that the image had 33,787,904 too many bytes in it. I threw it into UltraISO and removed some things I don't need... but my point is... could it have been this hard all along for everybody? What am I missing?
The article says: The guy reporting his failure: boot/syslinux/shichsys_c32: not a COM32R image The guy with the answer says: This error is because you are trying to use syslinux v6 *.c32 files (used by Arch) from syslinux v4 (currently installed in the USB). They are incompatible. You need to manually install syslinux v6 in your USB https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Sy … al_install. Do not forget to update the MBR as well. So, I am confused still. Where did the opposing syslinux files come from? Rufus? Did Rufus put the wrong syslinux files on the USB? So maybe that is correctable then?
Post #4 states: "The "Bootable USB Creators" programs in Windows typically include their own copy of syslinux which they use to install the MBR and ldlinux.sys (stages 1 and 2) but simply copy the *.c32 files available in the ISO, they do not overwrite the *.c32 files already present in the iso with the *.c32 files from their own copy of syslinux. I guess the USB creators include syslinux 4.xx version (mostly 4.06 or 4.07) and the Arch iso contains files from syslinux 6.xx (either 6.01 or 6.02). Therefore you have a version mismatch and syslinux fails to boot." So I'm thinking since it's XP you're using, it's those older files that don't get overwritten, hence a mismatch? I don't know, I haven't installed XP in ages and when I did it was from a DVD
