Open Source Developer Brings Linux to Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows ME 22
Microsoft released the "Windows Subsystem for Linux" in 2016, adding an optional Linux environment into every operating system since Windows 10. But now an open source developer has brought Linux to Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows Me, reports the blog It's FOSS, "with Linux kernel 6.19 running alongside the Windows 9x kernel, letting both operate on the same machine at the same time."
A virtual device driver handles initialization, loads the kernel off disk and manages the event loop for page faults and syscalls. Since Win9x lacks the right interrupt table support for the standard Linux syscall interrupt, WSL9x reroutes those calls through the fault handler instead. Rounding it all out is wsl.com, a small 16-bit DOS program that pipes the terminal output from Linux back to whatever MS-DOS prompt window you ran it from.
The end result is that WSL9x requires no hardware virtualization, and can run on hardware as old as the i486, the article points out. On Mastodon the developer says they "really got this one in right under the wire, before they start removing 486 support from Linux."
The source code for WSL9x is released under the GPL-3 license, and was "proudly written without AI."
The end result is that WSL9x requires no hardware virtualization, and can run on hardware as old as the i486, the article points out. On Mastodon the developer says they "really got this one in right under the wire, before they start removing 486 support from Linux."
The source code for WSL9x is released under the GPL-3 license, and was "proudly written without AI."
Finally! (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:3)
Now, segmentation faults with a blue background.
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IIRC, Windows 95 and later versions were never ported to run under FreeDOS.
So this Windows ME Linux layer will never benefit from any 64 bit extensions to DOS just as mainstream distros are removing their 32 bit ISOs.
Impressive (Score:2)
Lack of hardware virtualization shouldn't be a problem as Windows 9x lets you do almost anything. Heck you can change addressing modes, which is verboten in WinNT+.
Proudly written without AI? (Score:2, Insightful)
Just one question (Score:4)
Why? /s
Re: (Score:2)
Why? /s
You must be new here. /s
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Aw, WSL is actually pretty cool. At least for Windows 10, it made it feel more like macOS, with a real commandline instead of the freakish thing that is PowerShell.
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Type in 'cmd' in the run box and the old DOS-like commandline opens up.
Re: (Score:2)
Allow me to repeat my comment.
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Allow me to post this: https://powershellfaqs.com/win... [powershellfaqs.com]
(showing the differences)
Re: Just one question (Score:2)
Youâ(TM)re comparing a runny turd to a floating turd. Theyâ(TM)re still both turds.
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Mac only gained a command line in OS10.0 (once the switched to BSD code base).
Windows always had it (3.1 up to just before the NT switch) was just a shell that ran overtop of a DOS-screen.
Nowadays, the DOS commandline and the newer PowerShell are there for compatibility and to do stuff that only some people use and, of course, for the scriptkiddies.
WSL is there for some *Nix stuff to run fine, but not everything works 100%.
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At least for Windows 10, it made it feel more like macOS, with a real commandline instead of the freakish thing that is PowerShell.
There are some other options for that as well, the most popular of which is probably Cygwin [cygwin.com].
As for the project discussed here, excepting Windows 9x support the closest existing software is likely Cooperative Linux [colinux.org].
Does it work with Microsoft Bob? (Score:2)
Interesting use case (Score:3)
This is really interesting for old-but-not-broken hardware you've got sitting around where you want to run win9x - but it isn't well supported.
Clearly you can run W9x under emulation just fine, but there are some use cases where that's not going to be enough (eg. you need explicit access to the hardware or there's weird clock-related eccentricities with the software). I'm sure the use case is quite narrow, but interesting none the less. This would've been far cooler 20 years ago when w9x was still relevant, though.
I'm sure this project idea was kicking around in his head all that time and it wasn't until recently that he was able to implement it (perhaps due to the assistance of AI - if not to write code, then to figure things out so he could). I've personally had a couple fun projects like this, where the itch could finally be scratched. Really amazing tech.
I'm still waiting... (Score:2)
...for someone to port Linux to my toaster.
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NO NO NO NO NO!! [youtu.be]
Absolutely heretic! (Score:1)
Purge! Purge! Purge!! Exterminatus!!!
Uninstall Windows 11 and do this right now (Score:1)
Everyone needs a hobby (Score:3)
I'm glad they did this for the fun of it but for the vast majority, this isn't remotely practical or usable. 486 hardware? Umm, yeah not since the early 90s. Probably fine one in a museum at this point. Really, those days were terrible. Hardware was really expensive, slow and significantly more detail orientated to setup. You had to pair your ram by both size and parity, as well as setting jumpers on the motherboard. Screw this step up and you'll fry the board and possibly the CPU as well.
Zero part of me has nostalgia for that old hardware and even less nostalgia for Windows 3.1/9x. Shit, remember you had to reboot the entire system just to change the resolution? Yeah, screw that. At least in Linux back then, you could just restart the the Xwindowing system without a reboot.
Windows XP and Win 7 were pretty much the only decent versions of Windows to ever exist. Good riddance.
Let's see if I can recall the joke for Windows from the 90s. Something along the lines of this:
Windows 95 is 32 bit extensions and a graphical shell for a 16 bit patch to an 8 bit operating system originally coded for a 4 bit microprocessor, written by a 2 bit company, that can't stand 1 bit of competition.
Pretty much sums up the situation.
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There are some recent 386 and 486 handhelds which are potentially kind of amusing. And there has lately been more interest in the early x86 compatible portables like the ones from rat shack.