StriderTR wrote on 2024-12-10, 02:40:

One the items recently donated to me was an old HP Onmibook 900, it's in really good condition, and so far, seems to be in good operating order. The backlight is a bit dim, but brightens after a few minutes. I can probably replace the tube if it ever came down to it.

That being said, what to do with it. It's a Pentium III 450MHz with 64MB of RAM installed (max is 192MB) and has a built in ATI Mobility-M 2xAGP 4MB GPU supporting up to 1024x768. Based on those limitations, I'm thinking either DOS or Win95 for it's OS since it could probably handle many games (especailly non-3D) for both environments. Win98 and beyond, not so much. I would likely run it at 800x600 on desktop for Win95.

Any thoughts?

From the look of it I'd think it's made by Twinhead for HP, not quite as distinctive (or weird) as the old Omnibook 800 😀

Looking at the service manual it looks like there are two versions and yours should be the later one with the ESS ES1978 Maestro-2E. If it was the older version then it's got Neomagic for both video and audio 😒
If you haven't got the OS installed yet the quick way to tell would be to enable "Video Expansion" in the BIOS since ATI graphics will have nice smooth scaling while the neomagic would have the blockier integer scaling.

With the spec it has with that amount of RAM, Win98 should be no trouble for it. Or you could try NT4 perhaps, not much there for games of course. I should really do that with one of mine, I keep installing Win98 on everything but haven't used NT4 in so long.

Thermalwrong wrote on 2024-12-10, 04:18:

From the look of it I'd think it's made by Twinhead for HP, not quite as distinctive (or weird) as the old Omnibook 800 :) […]
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From the look of it I'd think it's made by Twinhead for HP, not quite as distinctive (or weird) as the old Omnibook 800 😀

Looking at the service manual it looks like there are two versions and yours should be the later one with the ESS ES1978 Maestro-2E. If it was the older version then it's got Neomagic for both video and audio 😒
If you haven't got the OS installed yet the quick way to tell would be to enable "Video Expansion" in the BIOS since ATI graphics will have nice smooth scaling while the neomagic would have the blockier integer scaling.

With the spec it has with that amount of RAM, Win98 should be no trouble for it. Or you could try NT4 perhaps, not much there for games of course. I should really do that with one of mine, I keep installing Win98 on everything but haven't used NT4 in so long.

99% sure it's ATI. 😀

Before I get too much into it I'm going to look at replacing the screen to get a brighter backlight. I can get one for about $20 shipped, not bad I think.

If I flush it out, I'll likely swap out the HDD for a dual CF adapter or maybe SSD option. So, I got time to decide what to put on it. The main reason I was looking at pre-98 was there are no games on 98 I want that don't run on 95.

I'd use Windows. Some reasons:
- The sticker on the computer says it was sold with some kind of Windows, so you'll have drivers for that.
- A Pentium III is too fast for many DOS games. Jazz Jackrabbit will surely fail. Also, you have too much memory installed; MS-DOS HIMEM won't detect it all (and maybe some games will complain of insufficient RAM).
- You don't say what kind of sound card is installed. If it uses any PCI chip, you'll run into problems in DOS.

Soooo... Windows 98. The sticker says Windows 98, and it will be more stable than any Windows 95.

Zup wrote on 2024-12-10, 06:56:

I'd use Windows. Some reasons: - The sticker on the computer says it was sold with some kind of Windows, so you'll have drivers […]
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I'd use Windows. Some reasons:
- The sticker on the computer says it was sold with some kind of Windows, so you'll have drivers for that.
- A Pentium III is too fast for many DOS games. Jazz Jackrabbit will surely fail. Also, you have too much memory installed; MS-DOS HIMEM won't detect it all (and maybe some games will complain of insufficient RAM).
- You don't say what kind of sound card is installed. If it uses any PCI chip, you'll run into problems in DOS.

Soooo... Windows 98. The sticker says Windows 98, and it will be more stable than any Windows 95.

Yeah, the more I thought the more DOS made no sense, for the reasons you list and more.

It had 98 on it originally, before I got it. Other than game support, my main reason for 95 was it was lighter than 98. However, you make some good points. My argument works in reverse, if it will run on 95, it will run on 98. I could use 98 Lite Pro on it as well, I still have a copy of it I haven't used in years.

That also makes me want to use an SSD adapter for it over CF since I'll have full USB support in 98 for file transfers since I don't have the external CD/Floppy bay adapter for the laptop.

Wish there were SB Audigy ZS Notebook drivers for 98, I got a new one of those in my donations the other day as well. Would be cool to use, oh well. 😀

Why? Sticker on palm rest saying it is Designed for Win 98/NT, every PII-PIII laptop I have got Win98 installed and it runs fine.

MAZter wrote on 2024-12-10, 17:09:

Why? Sticker on palm rest saying it is Designed for Win 98/NT, every PII-PIII laptop I have got Win98 installed and it runs fine.

Many years of customer complaint experiences in terms of performance with laptops (used to repair systems as a side job) and having to explain the badge does not mean it can run all the games you want just because it's compatible with the OS on it.

Win95 is more lightweight, and obviously older, than 98 and not many non-3D games for it will stress the hardware. Games made post-Win98 will stress the system more for the same reasons. So, 95 is simply a self-imposed personal limitation, nothing more. One that I'm abandoning for this Omnibook in favor of 98 for USB support and using 98 Lite to strip it down how I like it. 😀

I vote 95 - you get both! 😁 Got plenty of power for Plus! package and eye candy you want

StriderTR wrote on 2024-12-10, 18:41:

Win95 is more lightweight, and obviously older, than 98 and not many non-3D games for it will stress the hardware. Games made post-Win98 will stress the system more for the same reasons. So, 95 is simply a self-imposed personal limitation, nothing more. One that I'm abandoning for this Omnibook in favor of 98 for USB support and using 98 Lite to strip it down how I like it. 😀

I don't think you would have any issues even with standard Win98 install, but agree 98 lite to squeeze every bit of performance out of it as you can.
But if you already have a Win98 computer it can be fun to run Win95 just for something different.
It's defiantly good enough for RTS games of the era.
Seems like the ESS ES1978 Maestro-2E has some limited dos support, so by no means ideal but maybe you'll be able to play a few dos games either from within windows or drop back to pure dos.

If you go with 95, make sure it's at least OSR2. What it will feel like to use depends most on the speed of the hard disk. With 64 megs of RAM, there won't be as much swapping as there'd be if you were stuck on - say 32 MB, but it's still going to chug more often with 98 than with 95 just due to the shell bloat. On that system you're probably not going to run any games that wouldn't run equally well with 95 anyway.

On the other hand, one could argue you go with what the sticker says for an easier setup (it's supported after all), but then again if you're going to tear into 98 to "lighten it up" you could just as well entertain 95 for that feeling of "because I could" and the triumph that follows from doing something that they said you couldn't / shouldn't do. 😉

chinny22 wrote on 2024-12-10, 22:34:

I don't think you would have any issues even with standard Win98 install, but agree 98 lite to squeeze every bit of performance […]
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I don't think you would have any issues even with standard Win98 install, but agree 98 lite to squeeze every bit of performance out of it as you can.
But if you already have a Win98 computer it can be fun to run Win95 just for something different.
It's defiantly good enough for RTS games of the era.
Seems like the ESS ES1978 Maestro-2E has some limited dos support, so by no means ideal but maybe you'll be able to play a few dos games either from within windows or drop back to pure dos.

Well, I have a pure DOS system already, and I have Win95 on my EPIA-800 based build, one more reason to go 98 on the Omnibook. 😀

If I'm honest, I'm not a big fan of laptops. For much of my life I often looked at them as overpriced and under-powered, a price you pay for the convenience of portability. If this one had not been donated to me, I would have never bought one for myself, not for games anyway. Now that I have it, I want to play around with it, see what I can do with it, "upgrade" it (SSD/new screen) and then I will almost certainly send it off to someone else to enjoy.

leonardo wrote on 2024-12-10, 22:50:

If you go with 95, make sure it's at least OSR2. What it will feel like to use depends most on the speed of the hard disk. With 64 megs of RAM, there won't be as much swapping as there'd be if you were stuck on - say 32 MB, but it's still going to chug more often with 98 than with 95 just due to the shell bloat. On that system you're probably not going to run any games that wouldn't run equally well with 95 anyway.

On the other hand, one could argue you go with what the sticker says for an easier setup (it's supported after all), but then again if you're going to tear into 98 to "lighten it up" you could just as well entertain 95 for that feeling of "because I could" and the triumph that follows from doing something that they said you couldn't / shouldn't do. 😉

Win 95C OSR 2.5 is all I use when I run 95 to I can get the most out of it, especially basic USB support for flash drives.

I kind of did the whole "couldn't / shouldn't" thing with my EPIA-800 build. I could have gotten more out of it, and saved myself some headaches, if I had went Win 98 on it. However, I really wanted Win 95 for all the arbitrary personal reasons I mentioned up a couple posts. I got it all working, and I'm very happy with how it turned out. Again, my limitations on that build were self-imposed, like no expansion cards to make the build as small as possible. Still, if I had went with 98, I would have had flushed out USB support and would not have had to track down a Gravis “Stinger” COM port controller to use in 95 since the board has no onboard gameport (and no expansion cards).

Sometimes, I like to do things the hard way I guess. 😜

Laptops are good if you want to mess around with old software.
Typical uses for me are unpopular OS's like Win98 FE or ME or use as the client to old servers I like to play with.
Stuff where the mid level hardware isn't really an issue and doesn't take up much space as most of the year it won't get used.