I've been on a strange hunt for an ITX board that supports Windows 98. (Yes, I'm weird.)
I've found some of the old VIA boards, and some have floppy connectors, etc... but even the oldest ones only officially support Windows XP with drivers. Do any of them work with 98?
EDIT: If I was hell-bent on a tiny Win98 system, what about PC104/SBC type industrial computers?
It's because mini ITX didn't exist in 1998, and didn't come out until 2001. You'd have to shoot for a board from around then, because Win9x support died a quick and painful death after ME.
Via has ITX boards with Windows 98 support. I know this because I have one.
^ What model number?
Via Epia-M
Their website only lists WinXP drivers:
I've got a Aopen XC Cube which is a Pentium M barebones system that supports Windows 98 and it's ITX form factor. It's running Windows 98 with a Geforce 4 Ti 4200 or FX 5500. It's a great compact retro gaming system!
I also had a VIA Epia M board back in the early 2000s. It ran Win98se for years with no problem at all, also drivers supported!
Then where are the drivers on the Via website?
Why the obsession with VIA drivers? Just because they aren't there doesn't mean the board doesn't support Windows 98.
Roland recently removed support for older OSes from their website.
My SD-90 works from Windows 98 to Windows 8 yet you won't find the drivers at roland site...
I just want to make sure it'll work. What will and won't work out of the box?
You want official confirmation on something that is 12/13 years old? Google it.
^I mean, I've tried... can't really find them. Maybe I'm just lazy.
I suggest reading the manual or specs and go to Via download site.
Earlier in the thread I linked to the download site.
You really are lazy. I said Via download site, not product page.
As I mentioned I highly recommend a Pentium M based system which I believe is an 855GME chipset or something like that. Definately works with Windows 98 and it's about the fastest thing you'll be able to get to run Windows 98 without jumping through a lot of hoops.
Your not going to find anything brand new that still supports Windows 98 unless it is New Old Stock. Personally what I would do is go to ebay. Look under motherboards and CPU/Motherboard combo sections and just search for miniITX. Skip over all the listings that are too blatantly new then google for drivers for the chipset to see if there are any Windows 98 ones out there. Or better yet post some of the ones you are looking at on this thread and someone might comment if they have had good luck with them or not.
Basically I would start out with figuring out what you can find first, then see if it will work with 98, rather then asking people what they are using only to find out you won't even be able to find it.
wrote:You really are lazy. I said Via download site, not product page.
So basically I need to individually download the drivers based on the chipset?
wrote:wrote:You really are lazy. I said Via download site, not product page.
So basically I need to individually download the drivers based on the chipset?
Unless you can optain a piece of hardware which is either new old stock or at at least comes with the original driver CD then yes. It's pretty hard to find old drivers on manufacturer's websites sometimes even for hardware which supported older OSes at one time.
Really sorry to necro an old thread (please tell me if this is against the rules!), but I recently got a hold of a machine with a VIA EPIA-ML board, and I can confirm that not only does it have full Windows 98 drivers, the sound card even has some level of DOS Sound Blaster compatibility too apparently. I'm looking forward to trying it out!
