This should make things a lot easier.

Twiggy

As some of you may have guessed by now, I have Windows 98 running on my Compaq Deskpro EN.

I am running first edition.

Up until now, getting things from my main computer (Mac Mini 2011, i5 @ 2.54Ghz) was a chore which invovled copying files onto a USB then using that USB in a laptop from 2000 which can burn CD's as well as has a floppy drive. So I could burn a CD or write a floppy.

However, CD's cost money, and that will add up over time, also while floppies can be reused, constantly formatting and writing floppies can get pretty time consuming, and annoying.

Today I managed to find USB Flash Storage drivers for Windows 98 FE (I am running FE because I feel it is more appropriate for a P2 era Machine, than SE is).

I installed the drivers, and they work, they read and write to my flash drives fine.

So now, I can just transfer from my main computer, to my main vintage/90's computer, with no need for a middle man.

I guess I'll even just use the floppy and CD imaging software I have to extract the files from the images, put them all in one folder, and run things directly off of the flash drive.

Thank you, USB, I love USB.

USB IS GOD, USB IS LOVE, USB IS LIFE! :P

BlueSun

wow, I had forgotten about OSes not having mass storage drivers by default. My first flash drive actually came with the drivers for it on CD.

66659hi

Windows 98 Second Edition is a lot better than First Edition - the Pentium III was released extremely late 1999 so Pentium II systems were sold with Windows 98SE factory installed, so there's no reason to stick with a more buggy operating system just for the sake of it.

That being said, USB mass storage device drivers for 9x are not hard to find, I'm surprised it took you that long. But, do you not have a laptop from the mid-2000s that you could just eliminate the whole mac mini factor that has an optical drive? Regardless of the fact that this is irrelevant now, I just find it hard to believe that you wouldn't have any other computers than shitty late 90s/early 2000s computers and a Mac Mini.

KCompRoom2000

66659hi wrote:

do you not have a laptop from the mid-2000s that you could just eliminate the whole mac mini factor that has an optical drive? Regardless of the fact that this is irrelevant now, I just find it hard to believe that you wouldn't have any other computers than shitty late 90s/early 2000s computers and a Mac Mini.

Although I'm not the OP, I believe he mentioned on another thread that he's not interested in hardware newer than Pentium IIIs (then again, he mentioned he has a Vista laptop in one of the topics from Vista's EOL so IDK for sure).

I think he's using 98 First Edition for nostalgia purposes just like how some people use XP SP1 on older hardware, but I guess dual-booting wouldn't hurt.

popeyewinter wrote:

However, CD's cost money, and that will add up over time, also while floppies can be reused, constantly formatting and writing floppies can get pretty time consuming, and annoying.

There's such a thing as CD-RW discs that can be rewritten several times, they cost $6.99 per 5-disc pack at Best Buy, but there are a couple problems that could detract their usability with older systems:
1. Most CD-ROM drives manufactured in the 90s can have trouble reading CD-RWs, even if they can read CD-Rs just fine.
2. Assuming you're using an older system to burn discs, you might need to look into using newer burning software that explicitly supports -RW discs.

Twiggy

I have a laptop with a Core 2 Duo that I got for Xmas 2009, which came with Windows 7. What I said is that I could probably put Vista on it now, as it is not in use anymore (the laptop I mean).

I'm not interested in buying any hardware/software past the year 2000, and no processors newer than a Pentium III, though considering P4's were out in 2000 already, it had a short life....

I do have a Windows 7 Laptop with similar specs to my Mac Mini. That's all I need, I'm not a gamer, so an i5 does me more than good for browsing, bunring CD's, floppies, watching a movie or two, listening to music.

66659hi

Why install vista.......just....why? Like, it's a total waste of the hardware to just use it for an EOL operating system. Core 2 Duos are still useful today - hell, when my hard drive failed back in November - I didn't have time to transfer over parts due to school and I pulled out my backup computer (A Dell Vostro desktop with a Core 2 Duo) and it worked great for me in everything except for graphics heavy stuff, and I could just install a better GPU in it and that problem would be solved.

As far as "I'm not interested in buying any hardware/software past the year 2000"....well, head? Meet desk. Athlon XP machines are actually better for vintage software than old Pentium III machines...Let me explain.

Athlon XP machines are really easy to come by for usually free (I got mine free). You can install Windows 98 on them (Drivers can be found easily enough) and the hardware will be more reliable than the hardware in older computers, and even if it fails - it'll be a LOT less expensive to replace. Old hardware is fun as a little side hobby, but you're taking it too far - you're investing all of this money in 20+ year old hardware that if fails, will be a lot of money to replace due to rising prices on this vintage hardware. I don't even have anything in regular use that runs anything pre-XP, and the XP laptop that I'm referring towards is not network connected.

There really isn't any difference between 98 and 98SE in terms of interface or even boot logo. Like, the boot logo for 98SE doesn't have a "second edition" marking on it, and the only place you can find an indicator of the fact that it is, indeed, Second Edition, is in system properties.

XP was really unstable at first and it had a similar reception to Vista. I know my dad bought a Dell Dimension desktop that shipped with XP RTM - he ran Windows 2000 on it. Running XP SP1 also has no real reason because XP SP1 and XP SP3 are pretty much the same operating system except with something that I think might be just a tiny bit important - SECURITY UPDATES.