Action Retro explores installing (on a Pentium 4 machine) and playing with Windows XP Professional but for Point of Sale systems. Really it's just Windows XP Professional, with a slightly...
Action Retro explores installing (on a Pentium 4 machine) and playing with Windows XP Professional but for Point of Sale systems. Really it's just Windows XP Professional, with a slightly different theme.
This makes me almost nostalgic for a version of Windows I never used (XP; I skipped from 98SE to 10 due to a decade and a half stop-off on Ubuntu; then I almost immediately switched to Mac because I didn't want to upgrade to Windows 11.)
I can't speak for OP, but I took a similar-ish path (but went right from Linux to Mac in the end, no intermediate return to Windows land). For me, it was just wanting everything to work right so I...
I can't speak for OP, but I took a similar-ish path (but went right from Linux to Mac in the end, no intermediate return to Windows land). For me, it was just wanting everything to work right so I can do the things I actually want to do. When I was younger, messing around with Linux was among the things I wanted to be doing, so it made sense. Now, not so much.
A lot of the Linux "problems" are different from what they once were. Drivers are generally solid and you can buy a machine designed for Linux. But the software story turned into a mess with the Wayland switch, Gnome breaking the world every other version, KDE turning into a nightmare with KDE 4 and then basically starting over with Plasma, etc. Some things that drove me away are probably fixed now (Plasma seems pretty great), but some are ongoing, and I've just been chugging along with my Mac, so there's no reason to switch again.
The Mac hardware is also so, so much better (to me), especially since the M1 came out. So there's that, too.
I really like Debian as it’s no nonsense. But I can’t run it on my M3 Air, so it’s MacOS for me. Even if I could run Asahi a computer is after all not just software, but hardware and software...
I really like Debian as it’s no nonsense. But I can’t run it on my M3 Air, so it’s MacOS for me. Even if I could run Asahi a computer is after all not just software, but hardware and software working together. And I’ve heard Asahi doesn’t have the best integration with the Apple hardware yet.
It was mostly a homecoming. I started off on MacOS System 7-9 and I got a taste of MacOS X's beta and first official release before I lost my job and slid into debt I'm still digging out from...
It was mostly a homecoming. I started off on MacOS System 7-9 and I got a taste of MacOS X's beta and first official release before I lost my job and slid into debt I'm still digging out from under and I just could not ever justify the cost of even the cheapest Mac for years and years. I was perfectly happy on Linux, but then Apple released the Mac mini, which was still a bit too expensive, then they announced Apple Silicone was coming and dropped the price of the Intel Minis and suddenly Mac was back in my price range. I grabbed two to see how I liked them (the other went to my mother, because she missed her Mac as well and I had enough to grab two) and I've been with them ever since. I still keep an eye out for good hardware that can run Linux, though, because as much as I like the "it all just works" aspect of it, there's an advantage to being able to have absolute control over your system that Linux brings that neither modern macOS nor Windows allows, at least not in a way I'm comfortable with.
That was a fun nostalgia watch. I wouldn't be messing with IDE cables and Windows drivers again for my life, but watching others do it is definitely great. Kinda like horror films.
That was a fun nostalgia watch. I wouldn't be messing with IDE cables and Windows drivers again for my life, but watching others do it is definitely great. Kinda like horror films.
I've been trying to do it... I'm suffering. I have a Pentium 4 machine with IDE cables, an nvidia geforce card, 40gig HDD, basically the entire trifecta of 2000s hardware. First tried to install...
I've been trying to do it... I'm suffering.
I have a Pentium 4 machine with IDE cables, an nvidia geforce card, 40gig HDD, basically the entire trifecta of 2000s hardware. First tried to install Windows 98, thing "worked" but had issues with stability and it kept doing "illegal exception" errors when installing graphics drivers. Now I'm just gonna upgrade to XP or whatever and see if that works.
Meanwhile I have this old Pentium II 350Mhz with a voodoo 3 and that happily installs Windows 9x and literally has no hassles at all. I don't get tech
But you can at least google what "illegal exception" means. I have no idea how I got things running in pre-internet days. I guess they didn't a lot of time, but it was much less of an issue...
But you can at least google what "illegal exception" means. I have no idea how I got things running in pre-internet days. I guess they didn't a lot of time, but it was much less of an issue because the world wasn't so centered on IT.
For alot of things googling doesn't really go anywhere tbqh unless it's a common issue. If you're trying to install legacy software on legacy hardware you might not find much unless it's on...
For alot of things googling doesn't really go anywhere tbqh unless it's a common issue. If you're trying to install legacy software on legacy hardware you might not find much unless it's on something like vogons or it's installing legacy software on modern hardware. Alot of times your specific issue might be fixed by looking at the readme or the manual addendum (the readme.txt tends to have alot of obscure error fixes).
I'll give an example, I was trying to run an old DOS game (A-Train by maxis) on a DOS PC and I kept getting strange black-and-white graphics. I googled for a solution, barely found anything minus a really old usenet post describing the same exact problem but on Windows 95. I even tried tracking down a paper copy of the troubleshooting sheet, only to find nothing. I eventually found out that the problem was a specific mouse driver which led to that graphics corruption, changing the driver fixed it.
Some stuff just doesn't work until you do something and it works. Even applies now for modern tech.
Also off-topic but IIRC illegal exception is when the program does something "illegal" (access memory outside it's bounds, illegal opcodes), in the most generic definition. Problem being this was extremely vague and in some cases (like mine) it apparently didn't matter.
Action Retro explores installing (on a Pentium 4 machine) and playing with Windows XP Professional but for Point of Sale systems. Really it's just Windows XP Professional, with a slightly different theme.
This makes me almost nostalgic for a version of Windows I never used (XP; I skipped from 98SE to 10 due to a decade and a half stop-off on Ubuntu; then I almost immediately switched to Mac because I didn't want to upgrade to Windows 11.)
Why did you quit Linux, out of interest?
I can't speak for OP, but I took a similar-ish path (but went right from Linux to Mac in the end, no intermediate return to Windows land). For me, it was just wanting everything to work right so I can do the things I actually want to do. When I was younger, messing around with Linux was among the things I wanted to be doing, so it made sense. Now, not so much.
A lot of the Linux "problems" are different from what they once were. Drivers are generally solid and you can buy a machine designed for Linux. But the software story turned into a mess with the Wayland switch, Gnome breaking the world every other version, KDE turning into a nightmare with KDE 4 and then basically starting over with Plasma, etc. Some things that drove me away are probably fixed now (Plasma seems pretty great), but some are ongoing, and I've just been chugging along with my Mac, so there's no reason to switch again.
The Mac hardware is also so, so much better (to me), especially since the M1 came out. So there's that, too.
I really like Debian as it’s no nonsense. But I can’t run it on my M3 Air, so it’s MacOS for me. Even if I could run Asahi a computer is after all not just software, but hardware and software working together. And I’ve heard Asahi doesn’t have the best integration with the Apple hardware yet.
It was mostly a homecoming. I started off on MacOS System 7-9 and I got a taste of MacOS X's beta and first official release before I lost my job and slid into debt I'm still digging out from under and I just could not ever justify the cost of even the cheapest Mac for years and years. I was perfectly happy on Linux, but then Apple released the Mac mini, which was still a bit too expensive, then they announced Apple Silicone was coming and dropped the price of the Intel Minis and suddenly Mac was back in my price range. I grabbed two to see how I liked them (the other went to my mother, because she missed her Mac as well and I had enough to grab two) and I've been with them ever since. I still keep an eye out for good hardware that can run Linux, though, because as much as I like the "it all just works" aspect of it, there's an advantage to being able to have absolute control over your system that Linux brings that neither modern macOS nor Windows allows, at least not in a way I'm comfortable with.
Interesting, thanks!
That was a fun nostalgia watch. I wouldn't be messing with IDE cables and Windows drivers again for my life, but watching others do it is definitely great. Kinda like horror films.
I've been trying to do it... I'm suffering.
I have a Pentium 4 machine with IDE cables, an nvidia geforce card, 40gig HDD, basically the entire trifecta of 2000s hardware. First tried to install Windows 98, thing "worked" but had issues with stability and it kept doing "illegal exception" errors when installing graphics drivers. Now I'm just gonna upgrade to XP or whatever and see if that works.
Meanwhile I have this old Pentium II 350Mhz with a voodoo 3 and that happily installs Windows 9x and literally has no hassles at all. I don't get tech
But you can at least google what "illegal exception" means. I have no idea how I got things running in pre-internet days. I guess they didn't a lot of time, but it was much less of an issue because the world wasn't so centered on IT.
For alot of things googling doesn't really go anywhere tbqh unless it's a common issue. If you're trying to install legacy software on legacy hardware you might not find much unless it's on something like vogons or it's installing legacy software on modern hardware. Alot of times your specific issue might be fixed by looking at the readme or the manual addendum (the readme.txt tends to have alot of obscure error fixes).
I'll give an example, I was trying to run an old DOS game (A-Train by maxis) on a DOS PC and I kept getting strange black-and-white graphics. I googled for a solution, barely found anything minus a really old usenet post describing the same exact problem but on Windows 95. I even tried tracking down a paper copy of the troubleshooting sheet, only to find nothing. I eventually found out that the problem was a specific mouse driver which led to that graphics corruption, changing the driver fixed it.
Some stuff just doesn't work until you do something and it works. Even applies now for modern tech.
Also off-topic but IIRC illegal exception is when the program does something "illegal" (access memory outside it's bounds, illegal opcodes), in the most generic definition. Problem being this was extremely vague and in some cases (like mine) it apparently didn't matter.