New Version of Windows 95 JavaScript App Runs On Basically Any Platform (betanews.com) 32
An anonymous reader quotes a report from BetaNews: Slack developer Felix Rieseberg released Windows 95 as an Electron app four years ago, updating it shortly afterwards to allow it to run gaming classics like Doom. Now he rolls out a new version which can run on any Windows, Mac or Linux system. Based on the Electron framework, Rieseberg's Windows 95 is written entirely in JavaScript, so it doesn't run as smoothly as it would if it was a native app, but you shouldn't let that put you off.
This is the second update of the year, which brings it up to version 3.1.1 and includes two important changes:
- Upgraded from Electron v18 to Electron v21 (and with it, Chrome and Node.js)
- Upgraded v86 (sound is back!)
The earlier update (in June) brought the software up to 3.0.0 and introduced the following changes:
- Upgraded from Electron v11 Electron v18 (and with it, Chrome and Node.js)
- Upgraded v86 (now using WASM)
- Upgraded various smaller dependencies
- Much better scaling on all platforms
- On Windows, the link to OSFMount was broken and is now fixed.
- On Windows, you can now see a prettier installation animation.
- On Windows, windows95 will have a proper icon in the Programs & Features menu. You can download the latest version of the Windows 95 app for Windows, macOS, and Linux at their respective links.
This is the second update of the year, which brings it up to version 3.1.1 and includes two important changes:
- Upgraded from Electron v18 to Electron v21 (and with it, Chrome and Node.js)
- Upgraded v86 (sound is back!)
The earlier update (in June) brought the software up to 3.0.0 and introduced the following changes:
- Upgraded from Electron v11 Electron v18 (and with it, Chrome and Node.js)
- Upgraded v86 (now using WASM)
- Upgraded various smaller dependencies
- Much better scaling on all platforms
- On Windows, the link to OSFMount was broken and is now fixed.
- On Windows, you can now see a prettier installation animation.
- On Windows, windows95 will have a proper icon in the Programs & Features menu. You can download the latest version of the Windows 95 app for Windows, macOS, and Linux at their respective links.
Atwood's Law at work (Score:2)
gg, you did it.
Was it worth it though?
Re:Atwood's Law at work (Score:4, Interesting)
Could be just for fun, in which case yes it was worth it for the author [justforfunnoreally.dev]
A better question is if it comes with all the Win95 vulnerabilities...
Re: (Score:2)
Well, the Win95 bambi-on-ice mouse pointer behavior is *chef's kiss* exquisitely implemented in this release!
Well okay (Score:5, Insightful)
But does it come with the "Weezer on Happy Days" video?
Re:Well okay (Score:4, Informative)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
Re: Well okay (Score:2)
Electron : Frankenstein's monster (Score:5, Interesting)
Honestly, I despair. Electron used for Atom was OK, if a little fragile, but now it's popping up everywhere as the HTML/CSS web developer hegemony spreads. The produce is always inferior (MS teams desktop for example, just yuk), consumes memory that challenges even powerful machines and crashes far too often.
Folks, building a tower of babel in software will never produce anything superior.
Re:Electron : Frankenstein's monster (Score:4, Insightful)
People don't know how to build win32 apps anymore. The API is just confusing to them. Not that it's any more confusing than HTML/CSS, but they aren't familiar with it, so it confuses them.
Re: (Score:2)
Well writing UI with HTML/CSS is just easier and less painful than with Winforms or WPF.
Re: Electron : Frankenstein's monster (Score:2)
But but but
Just use SDL! WxWindows! MFC if you must! No need for raw Win32!
Which means the real problem is probably around writing C/C++.
You kids get off my lawn etc.
Re: (Score:2)
SDL, WxWindows, MFC and C/C++ are all a problem for the kids.
Can SDL2 app work with a screen reader? (Score:2)
Just use SDL! WxWindows! MFC if you must! No need for raw Win32!
Say I've written an application for composing music using C++ and SDL2. I've received requests from a couple blind users to make it work with screen readers. How do I make an SDL2 app interact with the accessibility APIs of Windows, Linux, and macOS, so that a user of NVDA, JAWS, or another screen reader can tell what the cursor is over?
Re: (Score:2)
I can't stand it when modern PCs run apparently simple things slowly. Even Microsoft has managed to make parts of Windows 11 have some lag by rewriting it in "modern" languages.
I'm not advocating for everything to be written in C but it seems we're going too much the opposite way:
Re: (Score:2)
Well that's all fixed now that they've got Windows running inside it.
Now you can run native apps in Electron.
Although there's some advantages to be gained by running inside a browser in the apps running within the Windows electron browser window app browser Windows windows.
Not impressed (Score:4, Funny)
All they had to do was show a image of the start screen and flash a blue screen of death when you try to do something crazy like move the mouse or click on an icon.
I know how this ends. (Score:5, Funny)
Developer shows up in Hell.
Demon: Welcome!
Dev: What? Why am I here?
Demon checks card.
Demon: Strange, this says "Incomprehensible indirection".
Dev: Wait, no, that code was self documenting, I swear it!
Demon: Oh, another developer?! You guys are terrible! Jake, Open the gate for level 10!
Dev: I thought there were only nine levels in Hell.
Demon: Technically there are because the gate to level 10 isn't here but nobody knows where or if it goes somewhere.
Dev: Like a dangling pointer?
Demon: Enjoy eternity!
Demon pushes developer into the void
Developer suddenly appears in an office cubical.
Dev: This isn't so bad.
Developer reads the computer screen.
You shall remain here until all your code works flawlessly.
Dev: Well... I better get to it.
Developer goes to check stackoverflow
Network connection not found.
Dev: NOOOOOOOOO!
Re: (Score:2)
"I thought there were only nine levels in Hell"
"They're numbered starting at zero."
Re: I know how this ends. (Score:1)
Made me laugh
Hmm yuk (Score:3)
Combining Windows, Javascript and Electron... That man deserves a prize for most nauseating collection of software absurdly glued together.
Re: (Score:3)
Is it really Javascript if it uses WASM?
It runs Dune II (Score:5, Interesting)
It runs Dune II
http://www.abandonia.com/en/ga... [abandonia.com]
There are no shared folders.
Settings - Mount floppy disk in "img" format was not working for me.
New files can be added by editing windows95.img in tools such as PowerISO. (windows95.img can be located by Menu - Machine - Go to Disk Image)
https://github.com/felixrieseb... [github.com]
GitHub page with source code and installer downloads:
https://github.com/felixrieseb... [github.com]
Nifty! i like Win9x (Score:3, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2)
Whippersnapper.
My first PC didn't even have a hard drive. I sorta miss the Diskette Disco.
Re: (Score:2)
Ooooh!! Get you with your futuristic diskettes and your random file access!! Bloody youngster, I bet some of your childhood friends are still alive!
Oh (Score:2)
Considering someone will run Windows 11 in whatever will be the equivalent of javascript and a webbrowser in 2049.
cool (Score:2)
Can it run Crysis?
Can I watch (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)