MRVFONE wrote on 2021-04-30, 05:00:

The Dell CP series are great dos laptops. Also the Libretto's are great for dos as well.

T.

The Latitude CP line are not all good DOS machines.
Only the CPM and CPiD, which has the Crystal CS4237B would qualify. The CPiA/CPiRs are Neomagic AC97 only, and the CPx models are ESS Maestro/Allegro based (no ESFM hardware support).

I was ONLY talking about the "CP" serires. Not CPXXX. So the M233ST etc...

MRVFONE wrote on 2021-04-30, 07:08:

I was ONLY talking about the "CP" serires. Not CPXXX. So the M233ST etc...

Those are all considered CP series machines (because, you know, they all contain CP in their names and use the same C-series bays and accessories), and technically, the CPM and the CPiDs are the same exact chassis - same motherboard, GPU, RAM type, all that. You can in fact swap MMC1 CPU modules and go from the Pentium MMX to the PII Mobile easily with the use of the TR4 BIOS and turn them from CPM to CPiD with about 5 minutes of work and 2 BIOS flashes (one to TR4 and one away from TR4). And yes, I did that many years ago and it was a practical way to buy a CPM on the cheap and then upgrade it to a Dixon-128 Celeron later for a very decent CPiD class machine.

You wouldn’t believe how many people come into Vogons asking for help on DOS audio support on CPs that turn out to be either CPiA or CPiR even though it was mentioned time and again that only the first 2 and the last machines in the CP series have full DOS audio support. It’s almost like NO ONE uses that search function before they post questions.

Guys, I ordered HP COMPAQ T5700 and WYSE Vx0 V10LE so I can check if it's SBPro compatible (I hope so) just tell me how. 😁

haker120 wrote on 2022-05-09, 12:04:

Guys, I ordered HP COMPAQ T5700 and WYSE Vx0 V10LE so I can check if it's SBPro compatible (I hope so) just tell me how. 😁

Did you manage to try the thin clients ??

Is anyone tried SBEMU yet ?

Biomecanoid wrote on 2023-05-10, 22:04:

haker120 wrote on 2022-05-09, 12:04:

Guys, I ordered HP COMPAQ T5700 and WYSE Vx0 V10LE so I can check if it's SBPro compatible (I hope so) just tell me how. 😁

Did you manage to try the thin clients ??

Well, not yet, I just got tired of thin client for Win9X. Too much of a hassle for me.

Prez wrote on 2023-05-11, 08:22:

Is anyone tried SBEMU yet ?

Yep, works with HP T5730 😀

Prez wrote on 2020-04-22, 08:29:

Please feel free to comment, or ask for modifications of this document, that i hope will be useful for people like me who were wondering what cheap computer to buy to play MS-DOS games natively with sound 😉

I've got an HP t5530 and can give you details missing from HP's spec sheet to fill out an entry for it in the "not compatible" section.

Brand: HP
Name/model: either "t5530", "t5530 64F/128R", or "HSTNC-002L-TC", depending on which half of the sticker the seller believed to be more authoritative and how they interpreted it.
CPU: 800MHz VIA Eden (Not sure whether that's a C3 or C7 part. Wikipedia doesn't distinguish.)
RAM: 128MB (shared with the GPU, resulting in 112MB listed in Win98SE)
SB Pro compatible: No (AC'97 only)
ISA port: No
PCI port: No
Bootable Media: IDE, USB (including CD/DVD drives), or Netboot
Remarks: ...but good for Win98SE (graphics comparable to GeForce 4 according to PassMark)
On internet: https://www.parkytowers.me.uk/thin/hp/t5530/

Mine was sealed new old stock if anyone has any further questions they want answered.

Here's what lspci running from Damn Small Linux sees:

00:00.0 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. CN700/VN800/P4M800CE/Pro Host Bridge 00:00.1 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. CN7 […]
Show full quote

00:00.0 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. CN700/VN800/P4M800CE/Pro Host Bridge
00:00.1 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. CN700/VN800/P4M800CE/Pro Host Bridge
00:00.2 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. CN700/VN800/P4M800CE/Pro Host Bridge
00:00.3 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. PT890 Host Bridge
00:00.4 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. CN700/VN800/P4M800CE/Pro Host Bridge
00:00.7 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. CN700/VN800/P4M800CE/Pro Host Bridge
00:01.0 PCI bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8237 PCI Bridge
00:0f.0 IDE interface: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C586A/B/VT82C686/A/B/VT823x/A/C PIPC Bus Master IDE (rev 06)
00:10.0 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev 81)
00:10.1 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev 81)
00:10.2 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev 81)
00:10.3 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev 81)
00:10.4 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. USB 2.0 (rev 86)
00:11.0 ISA bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8237 ISA bridge [KT600/K8T800/K8T890 South]
00:11.5 Multimedia audio controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8233/A/8235/8237 AC97 Audio Controller (rev 60)
00:12.0 Ethernet controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT6102 [Rhine-II] (rev 78)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. UniChrome Pro IGP (rev 01)

I believe the AC'97 audio is from a VT8237 because I put SBEMU on my "to try" list and I don't see VT8235 support listed for SBEMU, but I forget how I arrived at that conclusion and I haven't confirmed it yet.

EDIT: The SBEMU FreeDOS 1.3 boot disk crashed to nonresponsive text-mode garbage when I flashed it to a USB stick, booted from it, and tried to run the copy of Skunny Kart I keep on the hard drive for use in DOSBox . No clue if that's a FreeDOS thing or a "SBEMU isn't compatible enough with something in this setup to be worthwhile" thing.

EDIT 2: Yeah, it's not just FreeDOS... "Fatal exception at ... in Ring 0" when I try to use Skunny Kart and SBEMU in MS-DOS Mode.

For anyone who decides to go with it anyway as a Windows 98SE machine, you'll also want a replacement Apacer 44-pin disk-on-module off eBay since the one that comes in it is 64MB. (I'm running an 8GB DoM in it and taking advantage of how I don't notice any appreciable sluggishness from having "minimal install" games loading most of their data off ISOs over a 100Mbit network link via Windows File Sharing and DAEMON tools.)

The drivers I'm running on Windows 98SE are:

• via_rhine_ndis5_v384a.zip (NIC driver. The rest becomes much simple once you can just set Samba to allow old auth methods and load everything else you need to install from a network share.)
• Nusb36e.exe (Again, it's useful to be able to continue the install process from a USB flash drive as plan B. Also, required for the next thing on the list.) (EDIT: To avoid blue-screening when unplugging a USB mouse or keyboard, as cheap KVM switches do electrically, either use the VIA_USB2_V270p1-L.zip drivers or downgrade USBHUB20.SYS to that version, available separately in WULOS under Windows 98SE Updates/Unofficial/NUSB33E/Fix/)
• x360c.w98.x86.en.zip (Xbox 360 gamepad drivers. 'nuff said.)
• cn700_win9x_16-01-23-24.zip, (VIA/S3G UniChrome Family Graphics. Contains VT3314_Win9X_16-01-23-24_wIShld.zip)
• Vinyl_AudioCodec_V650a.zip (WDM-based. I'm told the VXDs impart better SoundBlaster Pro emulation to Win98's Virtual DOS Machine than the Microsoft implementation all WDM drivers were encouraged to share, but I also saw people talking about increased crashing and the t5530 is fast enough for DOSBox on Win98SE to run a lot of the earlier DOS games. EDIT: I managed to break DirectX audio support using the VXDs, and I wasn't a huge fan of VIA's FM synth compared to the Microsoft softsynth... the v600 VXDs did however, prevent a particular incompatibility between Timon & Pumbaa's Jungle Games and the v650 WDM drivers.)
• via_hyperion_4in1_v456v.zip (Chipset drivers. More of an "I'm told to add these and they don't seem to hurt anything".)
• dgVoodoo1.50Beta2.zip (It was commonplace for games of the period to have their best graphical fidelity limited to Glide even if they supported Direct3D for hardware rendering.)

The VIA drivers are from VIA's own driver download portal, grabbed just this January 2024.

You'll at least need a PS/2 keyboard during the install to check "don't tell me again" and close the Windows 98SE dialog about no mouse being found so you can install the USB drivers.

Also, I'm not sure if this is specific to this device or something I just never ran into as a teenager because I had a Voodoo 3 3000 PCI, but, if Future Cop L.A.P.D. dies on startup or Need for Speed III: Hot Pursuit seems sluggish, it's probably because you forgot to run its 3D setup utility and switch from software rendering to Direct3D. (Ignore the "Our test team has never heard of your GPU. We cannot be held responsible for what happens"-style warning.)

EDIT: Given that VIA's driver uninstaller can't be trusted to perfectly mirror the driver installer, I recommend using either net-booting or a USB CD drive to launch Damn Small Linux 4.4.10 and rsync -hvrltcDP --delete --exclude=recycled --exclude=temp --exclude=windows/win386.swp /mountpoint_for_dev_hda1/ /mountpoint_for_dev_sda1/hp_t5530 to back up your OS to a flash drive before installing the audio drivers if you want to experiment with different versions. (Note the presence of the trailing slash on the source argument and absence of trailing slash on the destination argument. That's significant to rsync and works out to "use the destination folder directly... don't create a folder inside it".)

Also, if you want to use DAEMON Tools to mount ISOs from a Samba share, uncheck Automount in the context menu or you run the risk of blue-screening in VREDIR on startup when something tries to query the virtual CD's autorun.inf for its icon before the network redirector is ready. (Think of it as asking DAEMON Tools to put away your toys when you're done playing with them so Windows doesn't step on them when it's getting up.)

EDIT: According to this comment, BIOS version 1.03 can cause blue-screening when playing certain MP3s in Windows Media Player, so consider downgrading the t5530 to BIOS 1.01 if your specs match mine and you encounter that problem.

ssokolow wrote on 2024-01-31, 14:41:

I've got an HP t5530 and can give you details missing from HP's spec sheet to fill out an entry for it in the "not compatible" s […]
Show full quote

Prez wrote on 2020-04-22, 08:29:

Please feel free to comment, or ask for modifications of this document, that i hope will be useful for people like me who were wondering what cheap computer to buy to play MS-DOS games natively with sound 😉

I've got an HP t5530 and can give you details missing from HP's spec sheet to fill out an entry for it in the "not compatible" section.

Brand: HP
Name/model: either "t5530", "t5530 64F/128R", or "HSTNC-002L-TC", depending on which half of the sticker the seller believed to be more authoritative and how they interpreted it.
CPU: 800MHz VIA Eden (Not sure whether that's a C3 or C7 part. Wikipedia doesn't distinguish.)
RAM: 128MB (shared with the GPU, resulting in 112MB listed in Win98SE)
SB Pro compatible: No (AC'97 only)
ISA port: No
PCI port: No
Bootable Media: IDE, USB (including CD/DVD drives), or Netboot
Remarks: ...but good for Win98SE (graphics comparable to GeForce 4 according to PassMark)
On internet: https://www.parkytowers.me.uk/thin/hp/t5530/

Mine was sealed new old stock if anyone has any further questions they want answered.

Here's what lspci running from Damn Small Linux sees:

00:00.0 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. CN700/VN800/P4M800CE/Pro Host Bridge 00:00.1 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. CN7 […]
Show full quote

00:00.0 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. CN700/VN800/P4M800CE/Pro Host Bridge
00:00.1 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. CN700/VN800/P4M800CE/Pro Host Bridge
00:00.2 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. CN700/VN800/P4M800CE/Pro Host Bridge
00:00.3 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. PT890 Host Bridge
00:00.4 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. CN700/VN800/P4M800CE/Pro Host Bridge
00:00.7 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. CN700/VN800/P4M800CE/Pro Host Bridge
00:01.0 PCI bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8237 PCI Bridge
00:0f.0 IDE interface: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C586A/B/VT82C686/A/B/VT823x/A/C PIPC Bus Master IDE (rev 06)
00:10.0 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev 81)
00:10.1 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev 81)
00:10.2 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev 81)
00:10.3 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev 81)
00:10.4 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. USB 2.0 (rev 86)
00:11.0 ISA bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8237 ISA bridge [KT600/K8T800/K8T890 South]
00:11.5 Multimedia audio controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8233/A/8235/8237 AC97 Audio Controller (rev 60)
00:12.0 Ethernet controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT6102 [Rhine-II] (rev 78)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. UniChrome Pro IGP (rev 01)

I believe the AC'97 audio is from a VT8237 because I put SBEMU on my "to try" list and I don't see VT8235 support listed for SBEMU, but I forget how I arrived at that conclusion and I haven't confirmed it yet.

EDIT: The SBEMU FreeDOS 1.3 boot disk crashed to nonresponsive text-mode garbage when I flashed it to a USB stick, booted from it, and tried to run the copy of Skunny Kart I keep on the hard drive for use in DOSBox . No clue if that's a FreeDOS thing or a "SBEMU isn't compatible enough with something in this setup to be worthwhile" thing.

EDIT 2: Yeah, it's not just FreeDOS... "Fatal exception at ... in Ring 0" when I try to use Skunny Kart and SBEMU in MS-DOS Mode.

---

For anyone who decides to go with it anyway as a Windows 98SE machine, you'll also want a replacement Apacer 44-pin disk-on-module off eBay since the one that comes in it is 64MB. (I'm running an 8GB DoM in it and taking advantage of how I don't notice any appreciable sluggishness from having "minimal install" games loading most of their data off ISOs over a 100Mbit network link via Windows File Sharing and DAEMON tools.)

The drivers I'm running on Windows 98SE are:

• via_rhine_ndis5_v384a.zip (NIC driver. The rest becomes much simple once you can just set Samba to allow old auth methods and load everything else you need to install from a network share.)
• Nusb36e.exe (Again, it's useful to be able to continue the install process from a USB flash drive as plan B. Also, required for the next thing on the list.)
• x360c.w98.x86.en.zip (Xbox 360 gamepad drivers. 'nuff said.)
• cn700_win9x_16-01-23-24.zip, (VIA/S3G UniChrome Family Graphics. Contains VT3314_Win9X_16-01-23-24_wIShld.zip)
• Vinyl_AudioCodec_V650a.zip (WDM-based. I'm told the VXDs impart better SoundBlaster Pro emulation to Win98's Virtual DOS Machine than the Microsoft implementation all WDM drivers were encouraged to share, but I also saw people talking about increased crashing and I didn't want to experiment to see if they just picked the wrong choice between the multiple VXD-based revisions on VIA's website when I'm primarily nostalgic about Windows 98SE and DOSBox seems to run fine on it in place of using the native virtual DOS machine.)
• via_hyperion_4in1_v456v.zip (Chipset drivers. More of an "I'm told to add these and they don't seem to hurt anything".)
• dgVoodoo1.50Beta2.zip

The VIA drivers are from VIA's own driver download portal, grabbed just this January 2024.

Note that, when using NUSB as your USB drivers, you'll get a fatal error 0E if you're using a USB keyboard or mouse and unplug while the machine is powered on. (So, if you want to KVM it, either get a switch that emulates a permanently connected set of input devices to eliminate hotplug delays rather than one that just works as a fancy switcher or use a PS/2 KVM switch.)

You'll at least need a PS/2 keyboard during the install to check "don't tell me again" and close the Windows 98SE dialog about no mouse being found so you can install the USB drivers.

Also, I'm not sure if this is specific to this device or something I just never ran into as a teenager because I had a Voodoo 3 3000 PCI, but, if Future Cop L.A.P.D. dies on startup, it's probably because you forgot to run its 3D setup utility and switch from software rendering to Direct3D. (Ignore the "Our test team has never heard of your GPU. We cannot be held responsible for what happens"-style warning.)

Thank you so much for this info! It really saved me a lot of time when setting up my HP t5530.
I'm also trying to install Windows 3.1 on it and i found a WAVE driver for the 8233 VIA chipset that works with this computer, allowing wav files to be played. Unfortunately it hates the memory drivers SBEMU uses, so they need to be replaced with the "regular" DOS versions (HIMEM.SYS and EMM386.EXE). Only problem is playing midi files, as i haven't found any midi driver for this chipset yet...
Also, do you know any windows 3.1 drivers for the graphics card?
Thanks again!!!

DoutorHouse wrote on 2024-05-28, 20:03:

Thank you so much for this info! It really saved me a lot of time when setting up my HP t5530.
I'm also trying to install Windows 3.1 on it and i found a WAVE driver for the 8233 VIA chipset that works with this computer, allowing wav files to be played.

Nice! What's the archive filename I should be looking for?

DoutorHouse wrote on 2024-05-28, 20:03:

Unfortunately it hates the memory drivers SBEMU uses, so they need to be replaced with the "regular" DOS versions (HIMEM.SYS and EMM386.EXE). Only problem is playing midi files, as i haven't found any midi driver for this chipset yet...

Would you be willing to document your full configuration in detail?

DoutorHouse wrote on 2024-05-28, 20:03:

Also, do you know any windows 3.1 drivers for the graphics card?

The best one I'm aware of is Japheth’s SVGAPatch (usage instructions) which seems to sacrifice 256-color support in exchange for 800x600 or 1024x768 support.

ssokolow wrote on 2024-05-28, 21:09:

Nice! What's the archive filename I should be looking for? […]
Show full quote

DoutorHouse wrote on 2024-05-28, 20:03:

Thank you so much for this info! It really saved me a lot of time when setting up my HP t5530.
I'm also trying to install Windows 3.1 on it and i found a WAVE driver for the 8233 VIA chipset that works with this computer, allowing wav files to be played.

Nice! What's the archive filename I should be looking for?

DoutorHouse wrote on 2024-05-28, 20:03:

Unfortunately it hates the memory drivers SBEMU uses, so they need to be replaced with the "regular" DOS versions (HIMEM.SYS and EMM386.EXE). Only problem is playing midi files, as i haven't found any midi driver for this chipset yet...

Would you be willing to document your full configuration in detail?

DoutorHouse wrote on 2024-05-28, 20:03:

Also, do you know any windows 3.1 drivers for the graphics card?

The best one I'm aware of is Japheth’s SVGAPatch (usage instructions) which seems to sacrifice 256-color support in exchange for 800x600 or 1024x768 support.

Thanks for the quick reply! I looked for lots of different Windows 3.1 drivers for working with this card and found a patch for the svga256.drv. It allows for 800x600 and 1024 resolutions but it crashed when i used the Indy Desktop Adventures game (could be because of the SBEMU drivers). Gonna attach it here and try the ones you mentioned too!

I am also using the USB drivers from VIA, not the nusb36e.exe ones, as they seem to make Windows 98SE more stable (no more random crashes). File is named VIA_USB2_V270p1-L.zip and it's still available at the viatech site.

I also noticed a couple of interesting facts for this particular Thin Client:

-Sound works in DOS with SBEMU but IRQs 5 and 7 are used either by the Parallel port or the USB controller!!! The IRQ assigned to SBEMU needs to be the same assigned to LPT1, otherwise the sound will fail (Default for both is IRQ 7 but it can be changed to IRQ 5). For example, I gave IRQ5 to the LPT1 port instead of the default IRQ7 to allow SBEMU to use 5 too!
Also, SBEMU needs to be disabled on AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS before installing Windows 98 Second Edition, or the installation will fail!!!

-The 8xUSB 2.0 ports work on WIN98SE with VIA USB drivers VIA_USB2_V270p1-L.zip but ONLY if the Secure USB ports are enabled in BIOS (Advanced USB options), if not, not even the generic Native USB disk driver v3.6 will work!!!)

The Windows 3.1 Wave driver I found by chance is here: http://turkeys4me.byethost4.com/programs/8233VIA7.zip
There's a VIATSR.EXE file inside that needs to be loaded in AUTOEXEC.BAT before installing the actual VT8233.DLL file for playing WAV files (there are some instructions from the author too). Too bad that it doesn't play MIDI files too... There's also a SMIDI file on the same site but i guess it can't "see" this 8237 chipset properly.

I'm attaching my AUTOEXEC.BAT AND CONFIG.SYS files for both DOS and Windows 98SE (I am double booting after editing the Windows MSDOS.SYS file to allow it) and also the DOS IPX files for the integrated LAN card to work in DOS (tried it with DOOM and it worked really well)!

Also, a program called PCI shows the AC97 Audio Controller on this chipset as using I/O Port: F800h IRQ 10... Not sure if this is accurate but maybe will help improve the SBEMU program, which is working great, except with some games, like Warcraft II (sound goes up and down all the time).

Again, thanks for replying!

DoutorHouse wrote on 2024-05-28, 22:28:

Thanks for the quick reply! I looked for lots of different Windows 3.1 drivers for working with this card and found a patch for the svga256.drv. It allows for 800x600 and 1024 resolutions but it crashed when i used the Indy Desktop Adventures game (could be because of the SBEMU drivers). Gonna attach it here and try the ones you mentioned too!

I am also using the USB drivers from VIA, not the nusb36e.exe ones, as they seem to make Windows 98SE more stable (no more random crashes). File is named VIA_USB2_V270p1-L.zip and it's still available at the viatech site.

I was using NUSB because the Xbox 360 controller drivers for Windows 98SE list it as a requirement and this was my first time setting up an HP t5530. However, I've since messed it up while flailing around VREDIR crashes, discovered that PowerQuest Drive Image likes to hang during restore if net-booted and reading the image off a USB stick, and later discovered some stuff I didn't know before, so I'm preparing for a reinstall.

Things I'm keeping in mind this time around:

1. It's possible that VIA driver would work and the requirements for the XBox 360 controller driver were only tested against NUSB since it's more generic. (It's not as if I need full-speed support for USB flash drives under Win98SE when I have Win98SE-compatible Samba and miniserve (HTTP) on tap, the option to boot Damn Small Linux for alternative file transfer mechanisms, and compatible versions of WinSCP and Cygwin waiting to try out.)
2. I discovered WULOS and, under Windows 98SE Updates/Unofficial/NUSB33E/Fix/, there's a DLL and a README that says "Now, in what regards USBHUB20.SYS, it's more complicated: almost all chipsets work ok with v. 5.0.2195.6891, but VIA's don't. For VIA's chipsets, one needs VIA's own USBHUB20.SYS v. 4.90.3000.11 (findable inside VIA_USB2_V270p1-L-M.zip), in order to avoid BSOD's on removing (hot-deplugging) USB 2.0 HUBs from the machine. Note that it must be substituted by hand, in true DOS, because NUSB3.3 contains v. 5.0.2195.6891, so it's really a downgrade."
3. Rather than blindly installing the Windows 98 side of my Microsoft Windows Security Update CD 2004, I'm going to try using rishooty's Win9x slipstreaming tool with their 98se_Vogons_Approved_Slip pack and the files from 293793USA8.EXE (Fixes Vredir Errors) within.
4. The "Installers for Post-Installation" section of 98se_Vogons_Approved_Slip.txt contains "nusb22e.exe (installs a usb stack, doesn't replace explorer.exe unlike 3.x)", which means I'll probably want to use Damn Small Linux's dd to make an image of the install before adding the USB stack so I can experiment with multiple options.

DoutorHouse wrote on 2024-05-28, 22:28:

I also noticed a couple of interesting facts for this particular Thin Client:

-Sound works in DOS with SBEMU but IRQs 5 and 7 are used either by the Parallel port or the USB controller!!! The IRQ assigned to SBEMU needs to be the same assigned to LPT1, otherwise the sound will fail (Default for both is IRQ 7 but it can be changed to IRQ 5). For example, I gave IRQ5 to the LPT1 port instead of the default IRQ7 to allow SBEMU to use 5 too!
Also, SBEMU needs to be disabled on AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS before installing Windows 98 Second Edition, or the installation will fail!!!

I'll have to try that now that I've got an easy way to net-boot DOS RAM drives for testing. When Skunny Kart crashed it hard, I just assumed it wasn't going to work with protected mode games and lost interest.

(Partly because I've got other options for Windows 3.1, but also partly because Windows 98 SE is the most memorable, nostalgic part of my childhood and I suspect the 8GB DoM will fill up fast enough with just 98SE, even if I do take advantage of how nicely DAEMON Tools will mount images off a network share when I haven't managed to get the system into a state where that VREDIR crash occurs.)

DoutorHouse wrote on 2024-05-28, 22:28:

-The 8xUSB 2.0 ports work on WIN98SE with VIA USB drivers VIA_USB2_V270p1-L.zip but ONLY if the Secure USB ports are enabled in BIOS (Advanced USB options), if not, not even the generic Native USB disk driver v3.6 will work!!!)

Huh. I never tried turning them off, so I never discovered that.

DoutorHouse wrote on 2024-05-28, 22:28:

The Windows 3.1 Wave driver I found by chance is here: http://turkeys4me.byethost4.com/programs/8233VIA7.zip
There's a VIATSR.EXE file inside that needs to be loaded in AUTOEXEC.BAT before installing the actual VT8233.DLL file for playing WAV files (there are some instructions from the author too). Too bad that it doesn't play MIDI files too... There's also a SMIDI file on the same site but i guess it can't "see" this 8237 chipset properly.

I'm attaching my AUTOEXEC.BAT AND CONFIG.SYS files for both DOS and Windows 98SE (I am double booting after editing the Windows MSDOS.SYS file to allow it) and also the DOS IPX files for the integrated LAN card to work in DOS (tried it with DOOM and it worked really well)!

Thanks. 😀

DoutorHouse wrote on 2024-05-28, 22:28:

Again, thanks for replying!

Thank you. I've never been good at engaging online and I live in the middle of nowhere, so, whether on my blog or elsewhere, most of my retrocomputing is just "blogging into the void".

[/quote]

Thank you. I've never been good at engaging online and I live in the middle of nowhere, so, whether on my blog or elsewhere, most of my retrocomputing is just "blogging into the void".
[/quote]

No worries! I'm not a programmer at all, retrocomputing is just a hobby of mine (I've been collecting LucasFilm/LucasArts games for many years now and it started when i tried to fix my very first computer, an IBM PS/1 model 2011 and I found out about a project named IBMulator and then came across PCem and 86Box) and your info was super useful for setting up my Thin Client. I actually just bought another one off ebay, a t5710, which is probably better for games...
What I'm trying next is setting QEMM alongside SBEMU on the t5530, since it seems the JEMMEX lines cause most of the crashing, but i haven't been able to install it properly (always fails during setup). I need to search for the appropriate lines in AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS (I wanted something similar to the EMM386.EXE RAM line to be able to have EMS memory)...

Status Update:

First, thank you very much for pointing me at that VIA USB2 driver. It appears to have solved the USB HID hotplug crashes.

Second, slipstreaming in 98se_Vogons_Approved_Slip.7z caused the Date and Time control panel to be inaccessible with a "An error occurred while windows was working with the control panel file c:\windows\system\timedate.cpl" dialog, but this registry file fixed the problem:

https://web.archive.org/web/20011119103753/ht … e/timezones.reg

Third, regarding that Fatal Error 0E from VREDIR.VXD, the 293793USA8.EXE hotfix doesn't solve it. There's an even newer version (4.10.0.2231 with a modification date of 06-Aug-2002 09:19) which claims to solve more fatal error 0E incidents that's available inside the version of dsclient.exe offered up for Q323455 (So far, the only place I've managed to find it is in the Wayback Machine archive of the copy on MDGx) but it still doesn't solve the particular one I experienced.

However, I was able to avoid the error by going into Control Panel > Network > Client for Microsoft Networks and changing from "Login and restore network connections" to "Quick login", and unmounting my DAEMON Tools disk (I probably should have only changed one variable at a time) before clicking Browse in the Add New Hardware wizard, which suggests it's an init sequencing issue where it crashes because the Add New Hardware Wizard is trying to get something (icon?) from the DAEMON Tools virtual CD before the network redirector is ready to service requests.

...so probably a good idea to uncheck Automount in the DAEMON Tools tray icon if you're planning to mount disc images over the network if you don't want to risk needing a visit to Safe Mode to recover from an unbootable state.

Third, it turns out that the blue screen I was encountering when starting a game in Timon and Pumba's Jungle Games is some kind of incompatibility with the WDM drivers (I suspect with the MIDI specifically, since audio plays fine until when MIDI music should start.) and using the Add New Hardware wizard to install the VXD drivers from the 74 folder in Vinyl_AudioCode_v600a.zip will avoid it.)

...however, the "uninstall" option in the VIA Vinyl driver installers doesn't perfectly mirror the "install" option and I've now got VXD drivers where the WDM driver uninstallers were so thorough that they broke the copy of the Microsoft Synthesizer that gets installed by DirectMusic whether or not you're using a WDM driver.

(It still works if you use WinAmp's option to output it via a WinAmp output plugin, so it does still function... it's just somehow become misconfigured so its output isn't being routed properly when an application just trusts the system to handle it. UPDATE: Yep. DxDiag says no sound device is installed, despite general Windows system sounds and WinAMP playback working fine.)

Luckily, I did make a backup just before installing any audio drivers, so I should be able to restore that after I sleep. (Maybe I'll make a plaintext dump of the registry before I do, so I can diff it against one dumped from the backup to see if I can figure out what broke in DirectMusic.)

Heck, if I had more patience, maybe I'd try to diagnose why Timon & Pumbaa's Jungle Games crashes the WDM drivers.

ssokolow wrote on 2024-05-29, 10:38:

Status Update: […]
Show full quote

Status Update:

First, thank you very much for pointing me at that VIA USB2 driver. It appears to have solved the USB HID hotplug crashes.

Second, slipstreaming in 98se_Vogons_Approved_Slip.7z caused the Date and Time control panel to be inaccessible with a "An error occurred while windows was working with the control panel file c:\windows\system\timedate.cpl" dialog, but this registry file fixed the problem:

https://web.archive.org/web/20011119103753/ht … e/timezones.reg

Third, regarding that Fatal Error 0E from VREDIR.VXD, the 293793USA8.EXE hotfix doesn't solve it. There's an even newer version (4.10.0.2231 with a modification date of 06-Aug-2002 09:19) which claims to solve more fatal error 0E incidents that's available inside the version of dsclient.exe offered up for Q323455 (So far, the only place I've managed to find it is in the Wayback Machine archive of the copy on MDGx) but it still doesn't solve the particular one I experienced.

However, I was able to avoid the error by going into Control Panel > Network > Client for Microsoft Networks and changing from "Login and restore network connections" to "Quick login", and unmounting my DAEMON Tools disk (I probably should have only changed one variable at a time) before clicking Browse in the Add New Hardware wizard, which suggests it's an init sequencing issue where it crashes because the Add New Hardware Wizard is trying to get something (icon?) from the DAEMON Tools virtual CD before the network redirector is ready to service requests.

...so probably a good idea to uncheck Automount in the DAEMON Tools tray icon if you're planning to mount disc images over the network if you don't want to risk needing a visit to Safe Mode to recover from an unbootable state.

Third, it turns out that the blue screen I was encountering when starting a game in Timon and Pumba's Jungle Games is some kind of incompatibility with the WDM drivers (I suspect with the MIDI specifically, since audio plays fine until when MIDI music should start.) and using the Add New Hardware wizard to install the VXD drivers from the 74 folder in Vinyl_AudioCode_v600a.zip will avoid it.)

...however, the "uninstall" option in the VIA Vinyl driver installers doesn't perfectly mirror the "install" option and I've now got VXD drivers where the WDM driver uninstallers were so thorough that they broke the copy of the Microsoft Synthesizer that gets installed by DirectMusic whether or not you're using a WDM driver.

(It still works if you use WinAmp's option to output it via a WinAmp output plugin, so it does still function... it's just somehow become misconfigured so its output isn't being routed properly when an application just trusts the system to handle it. UPDATE: Yep. DxDiag says no sound device is installed, despite general Windows system sounds and WinAMP playback working fine.)

Luckily, I did make a backup just before installing any audio drivers, so I should be able to restore that after I sleep. (Maybe I'll make a plaintext dump of the registry before I do, so I can diff it against one dumped from the backup to see if I can figure out what broke in DirectMusic.)

Heck, if I had more patience, maybe I'd try to diagnose why Timon & Pumbaa's Jungle Games crashes the WDM drivers.

Thanks for the update! I'm glad you're making progresses! I'm sure you'll eventually figure out what's wrong with those WDM drivers!

I actually decided to reinstall Win98SE from the beginning and apparently my system is finally almost stable (only some random winamp crashes but no more BSODs!). I made so many tries that i actually am not 100% sure of what fixed it but I'll try to summarize:
-Made a clean install of Win98SE
-Installed the video drivers first: cn700_win9x_16-01-23-24.zip
-Installed the audio drivers: vinyl_v700b.zip
-Installed the LAN drivers: via_rhine_ndis5_v384a.zip
-Installed the VIA USB drivers: VIA_USB2_V270p1-L.zip
At this point, everything seemed ok and no device was left unrecognized or malfunctioning... Then i inserted my USB pen and it was detected but WIN98SE said it needed a driver... I tried to install one from windows but the pen wasn't being detected so i installed the nusb36e.exe package, restarted and my pen was detected and working...
-Proceeded to uninstall the nusb36e drivers and restarted and my pen was working ok...
-Played random mp3 files (big ones) on media player and had random crashes and BSODs again!
-Deleted the DOS mouse.com line from the config.sys file and tried again but was still getting random crashes whenever playing music on media player
-Installed the via_hyperionpro_v524a.zip drivers just in case...
-Changed the VIA Bus Master PCI IDE Controller to Only Primary IDE Channel enabled
-Installed the 245682US8.EXE file (it's apparently recommended for the HP t5710) but had the same random crashes while playing mp3s on media player
-installed the Windows 98 Second Edition Shutdown Supplement (I remembered it had helped on a different computer with a similar problem...), the vbrun60sp5.exe file and restarted
-Stopped the graphic card tools from loading to the task bar (apparently got less crashes)
-installed directx 9 and all tests were ok... but still some crashes when playing mp3s...
At this point i decided to install Winamp 3.0 to play the mp3s instead of media player... Now winamp would crash sometimes but giveout an error message. This time, i was able to restart it and play again the same file but at least the crashes wouldn't give a BSOD.
-Decided to install the Vinyl_AudioCodec_V650a.zip drivers instead and restarted
-Apparently, way less crashes when playing mp3s: Winamp gives out an error, sometimes: exception 10H in module CNV_PCMDSOUND.WAC and sound gets "stuck" repeatedly, so maybe it's not the drivers fault
-installed the via_hyperion_4in1_v456v.zip drivers
-Ran out of ideas and noticed some DOS games have sound effects when ran directly from WIN98SE (Prince of Persia, Wolfenstein 3D...)
I really hope the t5710 I got on ebay will be better for Windows98SE!!! 😀

EDIT: Ok, I think i finally found out the reason for all the random crashes! The VIA Bus Master PCI IDE Controller needs to be set to have BOTH IDE channels enabled (two different IRQs). For some reason, when it's set for the default, only the Primary IDE Controller is enabled and i'm now 99% sure that is what causing all the random crashes! :=)

DoutorHouse wrote on 2024-05-29, 22:41:

Thanks for the update! I'm glad you're making progresses! I'm sure you'll eventually figure out what's wrong with those WDM driv […]
Show full quote

Thanks for the update! I'm glad you're making progresses! I'm sure you'll eventually figure out what's wrong with those WDM drivers!

I actually decided to reinstall Win98SE from the beginning and apparently my system is finally almost stable (only some random winamp crashes but no more BSODs!). I made so many tries that i actually am not 100% sure of what fixed it but I'll try to summarize:
-Made a clean install of Win98SE
-Installed the video drivers first: cn700_win9x_16-01-23-24.zip
-Installed the audio drivers: vinyl_v700b.zip
-Installed the LAN drivers: via_rhine_ndis5_v384a.zip
-Installed the VIA USB drivers: VIA_USB2_V270p1-L.zip
At this point, everything seemed ok and no device was left unrecognized or malfunctioning... Then i inserted my USB pen and it was detected but WIN98SE said it needed a driver... I tried to install one from windows but the pen wasn't being detected so i installed the nusb36e.exe package, restarted and my pen was detected and working...
-Proceeded to uninstall the nusb36e drivers and restarted and my pen was working ok...
-Played random mp3 files (big ones) on media player and had random crashes and BSODs again!
-Deleted the DOS mouse.com line from the config.sys file and tried again but was still getting random crashes whenever playing music on media player
-Installed the via_hyperionpro_v524a.zip drivers just in case...
-Changed the VIA Bus Master PCI IDE Controller to Only Primary IDE Channel enabled
-Installed the 245682US8.EXE file (it's apparently recommended for the HP t5710) but had the same random crashes while playing mp3s on media player
-installed the Windows 98 Second Edition Shutdown Supplement (I remembered it had helped on a different computer with a similar problem...), the vbrun60sp5.exe file and restarted
-Stopped the graphic card tools from loading to the task bar (apparently got less crashes)
-installed directx 9 and all tests were ok... but still some crashes when playing mp3s...
At this point i decided to install Winamp 3.0 to play the mp3s instead of media player... Now winamp would crash sometimes but giveout an error message. This time, i was able to restart it and play again the same file but at least the crashes wouldn't give a BSOD.
-Decided to install the Vinyl_AudioCodec_V650a.zip drivers instead and restarted
-Apparently, way less crashes when playing mp3s: Winamp gives out an error, sometimes: exception 10H in module CNV_PCMDSOUND.WAC and sound gets "stuck" repeatedly, so maybe it's not the drivers fault
-installed the via_hyperion_4in1_v456v.zip drivers
-Ran out of ideas and noticed some DOS games have sound effects when ran directly from WIN98SE (Prince of Persia, Wolfenstein 3D...)
I really hope the t5710 I got on ebay will be better for Windows98SE!!! 😀

Fffffffffffffffffffff! I got complacent and didn't write my Very Long Reply™ in a separate text editor and the effing forum's "you need to log back in" dialog ate it.

*sigh* OK. I'll try to remember as much of it as possible.

The gist was that I'd be frustrated too if I were in your situation but I never had any WinAMP crashes other than in_usf.dll crashing on shutdown if a USF file has been played.

I think the difference is that never tried vinyl_v700b.zip and went straight to Vinyl_AudioCodec_V650a.zip. (I vaguely remember being pointed at that version number by a post I searched up somewhere... Reddit, I think.) Based on my experience using the official uninstall to swap between the v600 VXD and the v650 and v600 WDM drivers, you've probably got crumbs of vinyl_v700b.zip floating around in your system, causing crashes.

(Or, failing that, you're missing one of the official Microsoft updates present in the 2004 Security Update CD I used the first time and Rishooty's 98se_Vogons_Approved_Slip.7z slipstream pack that I used the second time.)

I also mentioned that one difference that shouldn't matter is that I typically install via_rhine_ndis5_v384a.zip and cn700_win9x_16-01-23-24.zip first and then reboot and install the rest off a network share.

Also, I read that at least the 3.x versions of NUSB include a USB 2 hub DLL newer than the VIA one which contains the blue-screening fix, so you may need to grab Windows 98SE Updates/Unofficial/NUSB33E/Fix/USBHUB20.SYS from WULOS and copy it into place in MS-DOS Mode. (I only use USB flash drives when booted into Damn Small Linux, so I never tried anything but USB HID devices.)

Granted, I'm also using WinAMP 2.95 because WinAMP 3 was a half-assed product and not received well to the point where they eventually jumped to version 5 so they could claim 2+3=5.

Speaking of which, I just tracked down a FLAC input plugin for WinAMP 2.95 that doesn't cause WinAMP to crash when you try to start it on Windows 98SE... in_flac.dll from the official flac-1.2.1-win.zip on SourceForge. That said, this HydrogenAudio thread says 1.2.1 has a problem with 24-bit files so, if you're audiophile enough to waste space on a sample depth that's really only for preventing accumulation of rounding errors within a mastering pipeline instead of transcoding down after paying for the less neglectful mastering, maybe try 1.2.0 or older instead.

EDIT: And, if you need Musepack, you can get it at https://web.archive.org/web/20070928192530if_ … n_mpc_0.99g.zip

ssokolow wrote on 2024-05-30, 01:15:

Fffffffffffffffffffff! I got complacent and didn't write my Very Long Reply™ in a separate text editor and the effing forum's "y […]
Show full quote

DoutorHouse wrote on 2024-05-29, 22:41:

Thanks for the update! I'm glad you're making progresses! I'm sure you'll eventually figure out what's wrong with those WDM driv […]
Show full quote

Thanks for the update! I'm glad you're making progresses! I'm sure you'll eventually figure out what's wrong with those WDM drivers!

I actually decided to reinstall Win98SE from the beginning and apparently my system is finally almost stable (only some random winamp crashes but no more BSODs!). I made so many tries that i actually am not 100% sure of what fixed it but I'll try to summarize:
-Made a clean install of Win98SE
-Installed the video drivers first: cn700_win9x_16-01-23-24.zip
-Installed the audio drivers: vinyl_v700b.zip
-Installed the LAN drivers: via_rhine_ndis5_v384a.zip
-Installed the VIA USB drivers: VIA_USB2_V270p1-L.zip
At this point, everything seemed ok and no device was left unrecognized or malfunctioning... Then i inserted my USB pen and it was detected but WIN98SE said it needed a driver... I tried to install one from windows but the pen wasn't being detected so i installed the nusb36e.exe package, restarted and my pen was detected and working...
-Proceeded to uninstall the nusb36e drivers and restarted and my pen was working ok...
-Played random mp3 files (big ones) on media player and had random crashes and BSODs again!
-Deleted the DOS mouse.com line from the config.sys file and tried again but was still getting random crashes whenever playing music on media player
-Installed the via_hyperionpro_v524a.zip drivers just in case...
-Changed the VIA Bus Master PCI IDE Controller to Only Primary IDE Channel enabled
-Installed the 245682US8.EXE file (it's apparently recommended for the HP t5710) but had the same random crashes while playing mp3s on media player
-installed the Windows 98 Second Edition Shutdown Supplement (I remembered it had helped on a different computer with a similar problem...), the vbrun60sp5.exe file and restarted
-Stopped the graphic card tools from loading to the task bar (apparently got less crashes)
-installed directx 9 and all tests were ok... but still some crashes when playing mp3s...
At this point i decided to install Winamp 3.0 to play the mp3s instead of media player... Now winamp would crash sometimes but giveout an error message. This time, i was able to restart it and play again the same file but at least the crashes wouldn't give a BSOD.
-Decided to install the Vinyl_AudioCodec_V650a.zip drivers instead and restarted
-Apparently, way less crashes when playing mp3s: Winamp gives out an error, sometimes: exception 10H in module CNV_PCMDSOUND.WAC and sound gets "stuck" repeatedly, so maybe it's not the drivers fault
-installed the via_hyperion_4in1_v456v.zip drivers
-Ran out of ideas and noticed some DOS games have sound effects when ran directly from WIN98SE (Prince of Persia, Wolfenstein 3D...)
I really hope the t5710 I got on ebay will be better for Windows98SE!!! 😀

Fffffffffffffffffffff! I got complacent and didn't write my Very Long Reply™ in a separate text editor and the effing forum's "you need to log back in" dialog ate it.

*sigh* OK. I'll try to remember as much of it as possible.

The gist was that I'd be frustrated too if I were in your situation but I never had any WinAMP crashes other than in_usf.dll crashing on shutdown if a USF file has been played.

I think the difference is that never tried vinyl_v700b.zip and went straight to Vinyl_AudioCodec_V650a.zip. (I vaguely remember being pointed at that version number by a post I searched up somewhere... Reddit, I think.) Based on my experience using the official uninstall to swap between the v600 VXD and the v650 and v600 WDM drivers, you've probably got crumbs of vinyl_v700b.zip floating around in your system, causing crashes.

(Or, failing that, you're missing one of the official Microsoft updates present in the 2004 Security Update CD I used the first time and Rishooty's 98se_Vogons_Approved_Slip.7z slipstream pack that I used the second time.)

I also mentioned that one difference that shouldn't matter is that I typically install via_rhine_ndis5_v384a.zip and cn700_win9x_16-01-23-24.zip first and then reboot and install the rest off a network share.

Also, I read that at least the 3.x versions of NUSB include a USB 2 hub DLL newer than the VIA one which contains the blue-screening fix, so you may need to grab Windows 98SE Updates/Unofficial/NUSB33E/Fix/USBHUB20.SYS from WULOS and copy it into place in MS-DOS Mode. (I only use USB flash drives when booted into Damn Small Linux, so I never tried anything but USB HID devices.)

Granted, I'm also using WinAMP 2.95 because WinAMP 3 was a half-assed product and not received well to the point where they eventually jumped to version 5 so they could claim 2+3=5.

Speaking of which, I just tracked down a FLAC input plugin for WinAMP 2.95 that doesn't cause WinAMP to crash when you try to start it on Windows 98SE... in_flac.dll from the official flac-1.2.1-win.zip on SourceForge. That said, this HydrogenAudio thread says 1.2.1 has a problem with 24-bit files so, if you're audiophile enough to waste space on a sample depth that's really only for preventing accumulation of rounding errors within a mastering pipeline instead of transcoding down after paying for the less neglectful mastering, maybe try 1.2.0 or older instead.

Thanks for the tip about the USB fix! I actually got a file named U98SEUSB.EXE to install on my T5710, when it arrives, as i read somewhere it could be needed...
I'm now 100% sure that it was the fact that just the primary ide controller was being enabled caused all the random crashes. The default setting, once applied and the computer reboots, only detects one. I had to go and choose BOTH and then restart. Now my system is super stable and had no more crashes when playing mp3 files on winamp or media player. Everything seems super smooth. I also went to check what driver is now installed and it's the one from the via_hyperion_4in1_v456v.zip drivers. I don't think this VATAPI.VXD is in any of the more recent driver packs, and usually windows uses its own IDE driver... I might do one last complete reinstall of windows 98se to make sure everything is fine this time (it's actually kinda fast because all the needed drivers are already on the disk, alongside windows98se itself).

DoutorHouse wrote on 2024-05-30, 01:46:

Thanks for the tip about the USB fix! I actually got a file named U98SEUSB.EXE to install on my T5710, when it arrives, as i read somewhere it could be needed...
I'm now 100% sure that it was the fact that just the primary ide controller was being enabled caused all the random crashes. The default setting, once applied and the computer reboots, only detects one. I had to go and choose BOTH and then restart. Now my system is super stable and had no more crashes when playing mp3 files on winamp or media player. Everything seems super smooth. I also went to check what driver is now installed and it's the one from the via_hyperion_4in1_v456v.zip drivers. I don't think this is any of the more recent ones, as usually windows uses its own... I might do one last complete reinstall of windows 98se to make sure everything is fine this time (it's actually kinda fast because all the needed drivers are already on the disk, alongside windows98se itself.

Enjoy it. 😀

It's no accident that there was a dedicated "from my cold dead hands" fanbase for Windows 2000's combination of an NT kernel with the 9x UI. I'm still hoping that it'll be within my lifetime that society realizes that, just like clothing, UI design is fashion and retro revivals are an acceptable thing for it too.

I'm probably going to recap one of the "for spare parts" P4-era machines in the closet and build a second Windows XP machine... but this one with the patches to get rid of the uncanny valley edges that occur when you try to use Windows XP's built-in configuration options to make it look and act like a 9x-series Windows with a more robust undercarriage.

(I'm a bit of a fan of "rose-colored glasses builds", such as my DOS PC that combines MS-DOS 6.22 with things like 4DOS, ANSIPLUS, and other freeware/freeware'd/open-source drivers and TSRs from FreeDOS to get a combination of free conventional memory and Linux shell-like functionality that wasn't possible back in the day.)

My own "enjoy it" moment is that, around the time you first contacted me, the creator of the ps2x2pico asked me to test out a new firmware version based on their experiments with an acquired t5530 and it's fixed basically every bug I care about. (There is one remaining one, but I only boot my t5530 into Damn Small Linux to make or restore backups and Windows 98SE seems immune.)

ssokolow wrote on 2024-05-30, 01:58:

Enjoy it. :) […]
Show full quote

DoutorHouse wrote on 2024-05-30, 01:46:

Thanks for the tip about the USB fix! I actually got a file named U98SEUSB.EXE to install on my T5710, when it arrives, as i read somewhere it could be needed...
I'm now 100% sure that it was the fact that just the primary ide controller was being enabled caused all the random crashes. The default setting, once applied and the computer reboots, only detects one. I had to go and choose BOTH and then restart. Now my system is super stable and had no more crashes when playing mp3 files on winamp or media player. Everything seems super smooth. I also went to check what driver is now installed and it's the one from the via_hyperion_4in1_v456v.zip drivers. I don't think this is any of the more recent ones, as usually windows uses its own... I might do one last complete reinstall of windows 98se to make sure everything is fine this time (it's actually kinda fast because all the needed drivers are already on the disk, alongside windows98se itself.

Enjoy it. 😀

It's no accident that there was a dedicated "from my cold dead hands" fanbase for Windows 2000's combination of an NT kernel with the 9x UI. I'm still hoping that it'll be within my lifetime that society realizes that, just like clothing, UI design is fashion and retro revivals are an acceptable thing for it too.

I'm probably going to recap one of the "for spare parts" P4-era machines in the closet and build a second Windows XP machine... but this one with the patches to get rid of the uncanny valley edges that occur when you try to use Windows XP's built-in configuration options to make it look and act like a 9x-series Windows with a more robust undercarriage.

(I'm a bit of a fan of "rose-colored glasses builds", such as my DOS PC that combines MS-DOS 6.22 with things like 4DOS, ANSIPLUS, and other freeware/freeware'd/open-source drivers and TSRs from FreeDOS to get a combination of free conventional memory and Linux shell-like functionality that wasn't possible back in the day.)

My own "enjoy it" moment is that, around the time you first contacted me, the creator of the ps2x2pico asked me to test out a new firmware version based on their experiments with an acquired t5530 and it's fixed basically every bug I care about. (There is one remaining one, but I only boot my t5530 into Damn Small Linux to make or restore backups and Windows 98SE seems immune.)

Hehe, most of that is way beyond my skills! I've never even used LINUX! I'm very happy I managed to fix this problem in a few hours as I was starting to think i should just wait for my t5710 to arrive and get rid of this one...

I also was looking for a way to enable more options (like IRQ assignment!) in the bios with a modded bios file or something like that but had no luck so far. I found a 1.13 modded bios for another thin client model but it probably is unusable on this one!

The reinstallation just finished and had no more crashes! System seems fast and stable running Windows 98SE. Time to test some DOS games using the SBEMU program! 😜