Preferred Operating System?

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22 Mar 2016, 4:52 pm

Fun fact, the Win95 calculator is actually a Win32s application. Check it out running under Nathan Lineback's (aka ToastyTech) pimped-out Windows 3.1 setup:

http://toastytech.com/guis/misc3.html

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Edenthiel
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22 Mar 2016, 5:15 pm

ZD wrote:

Edenthiel wrote:

ZD wrote:

The Win32 API was available on windows 3.1 running on 386 hardware..... it wasn't an invention for windows 95 it was in development already.

Quote:

One of the largest changes to the Windows API was the transition from Win16 (shipped in Windows 3.1 and older) to Win32 (Windows NT and Windows 95 and up). While Win32 was originally introduced with Windows NT 3.1 and Win32s allowed usage of a Win32 subset before Windows 95

Oh, these are old, rusty, long neglected neurons you've sparked to life....now I'll be lucky if I can quiet them and get any real work done before lunch.

Win32s was only a partial implementation of the Win32 API & a separate download for Win 3.x. Sort of a WOW32 (thunking) only in reverse, but with only a Subset of the full API (the 's' indicated subset IIR). I remember having to dig in and learn the boundaries of what was in the subset when i was diagnosing a serial connection for...something that was NOT a printer or modem. While available, it was not a mainstream consumer release.

Servers, on the other hand had the Win32 API from NT 3.1 on as did NT 3.1 workstation, IIR, but in the context of the thread it was not a 'gaming' OS at all as NT was intentionally not fully compatible with Windows 3.x or 9x. Amazingly, I think there was even a 64-bin version of Windows NT as early as 3.1 (circa 1991 or 93?) for the DEC Alpha or MIPS (R4000 and R4400) processors.

Update: I think it was something really stupid, like laplink over serial...I also seem to recall Win32s being included with the TCP/IP stack + Mosaic which was the only way to get online, circa..1993 or 94 (initially the browser, stack and some other crucial proprietary dial-up piece was only available through a disk that came with a book).

I couldn't help mention it

Yeah it was only a subset of the final API as I said though it was in development just not as complete as the final windows 95 API.

Yeah 3.1 didn't have networking support that was 3.11 so proprietary stuff was needed

ah I remember laplink brings back memories lol (had to google it and it's still going!!).

Okay, I've fallen into a black hole of pedantry and I can't get up. Or some other weird mixed metaphor.

3.1 actually *did* have network support...but it was real mode. IIR the 3COM 905c NIC was supported right 'out of the box' along with a few others (SMC brand, too?) but Win 3.1 included & used DOS drivers. The absolute worst part was that you had to tell DOS (& therefore windows) to avoid the high memory used to talk to the card using Config.Sys settings. It was amazing because it worked, but looking back it was a nightmare. Usually though, you just used the packet drivers and device drivers that came with the NIC. And a borrowed, begged or stolen copy of Trumpet Winsock. That's the sockets driver that came in a disk that everyone snagged from library books & BBS's (or if honest, bought the book. It was a very useful book).

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Edenthiel
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22 Mar 2016, 5:21 pm

mr_bigmouth_502 wrote:

Fun fact, the Win95 calculator is actually a Win32s application.

Check it out running under Nathan Lineback's (aka ToastyTech) pimped-out Windows 3.1 setup:
(image)
http://toastytech.com/guis/misc3.html

That's...good to know. Okay, it's totally useless but I love it. I forgot to mention on the "things you collect" thread in another subforum that I love collecting truly trivial information!

I wonder how many people back in the day knew this. Would've been useful in a shop that used both OS's if there was some difference in functionality.

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mr_bigmouth_502
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22 Mar 2016, 10:01 pm

Edenthiel wrote:

mr_bigmouth_502 wrote:

Fun fact, the Win95 calculator is actually a Win32s application.

Check it out running under Nathan Lineback's (aka ToastyTech) pimped-out Windows 3.1 setup:
(image)
http://toastytech.com/guis/misc3.html

It's likely this screenshot may have been taken "back in the day", since Nathan switched his 486 DX4 rig, which ran this setup, to RedHat Linux a number of years ago. I'm not sure if he still owns this rig, because the page listing all the computers he's owned hasn't been updated in a long time.

http://toastytech.com/about/computers.html

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Simargl
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29 Apr 2016, 12:24 am

Win / OS X for games and work.

FreeBSD for personal sanity

VMS when I'm nostalgic.

BitRoad
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30 Apr 2016, 3:12 am

I'm definitely a Windows fan. I use it for my desktop, my Surface Pro, and my Microsoft Lumia phone. I also use an Xbox One for my gaming console. However, I should probably disclose that I actually work at Microsoft; so I'm a bit biased.

auntblabby
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30 Apr 2016, 3:38 am

^^lucky man you are :thumleft:

mr_bigmouth_502
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30 Apr 2016, 8:35 am

BitRoad wrote:

What do you think of Linux?

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BitRoad
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30 Apr 2016, 1:08 pm

mr_bigmouth_502 wrote:

BitRoad wrote:

What do you think of Linux?

I used to use Linux a fair amount just for the fun of learning a new system. I tried several different distros including Gentoo Linux where I compiled the my own copy of the kernel. When I moved to WA to work at Microsoft, I felt funny because the only computer I brought with me had desktop Linux installed on it. I think the appeal that Linux had for me was that the source code was available (although I liked the license for the BSDs better and I tried a few of the BSDs too). Now that I work at Microsoft, I have read/write access to the Windows source code; so Linux and the BSDs no longer have that advantage to pull me in.

I want to get back to using more platforms though. I'm trying to convince my boss to let me port the product I work on so it works cross-platform. A lot of Microsoft software is going cross-platform these days. Even our flagship database software (SQL Server) is being ported to Linux. It would be nice if I could port my software too.

CryptoNerd
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09 May 2016, 2:07 pm

I just installed FreeDOS, and so far it looks like a pretty neat operating system. It has a fairly complete help menu and the source code is installed in FreeDOS's filesystem. Also, it gives you a few different options when you boot, like booting into 4DOS, or booting into FreeDOS without drivers.

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10 May 2016, 2:33 pm

Well I going from demigod status (Arch Linux) to just full blow God status (Linux From Scratch) as soon as I get it working which won't be long.

It'll be on my server and second desktop though, main rig will still be Arch Linux because Arch Linux is the best operating system ever made. Arch Linux and Windows 2000 have been my favorite OS so far. Windows 2000 was way ahead of its time at release.

Though Ubuntu, Windows 7, Puppy Linux, debian all get honorable mentions. FreeBSD gets the boot though and it may have been because I was not technical enough to use it when I tried to install it. Others on my crap list are Haiku and raspbian (on the Pi).

PacBSD is on my watch list when it gets more developed.

Nights_Like_These
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10 May 2016, 2:52 pm

Overall, I still prefer Windows, although I haven't been a huge fan of the updates since after Windows 7. I have a Macbook Pro that I use for my photography as well, and I prefer it for that, but for everything else I still use Windows. I hadn't touched a Mac since high school when i got this one (I think the first model of iMac was the last Mac I'd touched before this one lol), and after listening to Mac fans rave about them for years and years, I must say, they aren't really all that superior to me, just different. They can be just as quirky and you can encounter just as many problems as you can on a PC (sometimes just based on dumb luck). The retina display is awesome (which is why I use it for Photoshop/Lightroom/etc), for sure, but after listening to Mac fans all of this time, I was kind of expecting more from it.

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JJabb
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13 May 2016, 6:25 pm

I run Arch Linux with an XCFE desktop on my laptop and Fedora 23 with a Gnome classic desktop on my, well.. desktop. I use Winows for work but hate every minute of it...

Welshe
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13 May 2016, 6:55 pm

I use Windows 10 for my main machine, when it comes to server os i use Ubuntu,Gentoo,Windows Server 2008 or 2012

auntblabby
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13 May 2016, 7:22 pm

who else here that uses W10 runs out of memory after about a day of computing?

MissAlgernon
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13 May 2016, 8:20 pm

The very first computer I touched for years was a 1984 machine running on DOS.
The very first computer that truly was mine was a Macintosh IIci with Mac OS 7.6 when the update was just released. Since then I was a Mac OS / OS X fan. I was glad to have a truly reliable machine. I liked Snow Leopard the best.
That was until the Yosemite release, and then OS X turned into a bloated OS that is slower and slower, gets more and more bugged, and runs out of memory every hour even with 8 GB ; I now call it the memory-eating monster. In addition, the tendency to create rootless systems that do everything to not let you root and customize them is driving me nuts, and Apple is now starting to take that path, I wouldn't be surprised if they make disabling SIP quite difficult in the near future. This is the one thing I dislike with Android as well although I like Android in general.
I haven't much experience with Linux yet, but I love everything I've seen of it. Ubuntu feels familiar as it reminds me of older Mac OS X, but lighter and customizable. And as I like learning, I view the more rough around the edges side of Linux as an advantage, personally. But I haven't really tried other distributions yet. I'm still too new.

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