It has been done. · 4:28am Mar 20th, 2019
FreeDOS + Win2k dual booted, full driver package installed for both (save for networking in FreeDOS. I don't need it since I can transfer files from Win2k), and Office 2000 installed and working, with the Office 2007 compatibility pack also installed so that I can access the things I write in Office 2019 on my Surface Go.
Still need to find a decent lightweight web browser though. I think Opera 12 should be fine with its (okay-ish) HTML5 support, though my main gripe against using Windows 2000 is first that I can't use my wifi dongle for faster internet, and so I'd have to rely on the 10 megabit ethernet card, and second, I can't use K-Meleon 75.
Seriously. That thing has full html5 support going even as far as Youtube html5 video, and I've been able to log into Fimfiction multiple times before on that same computer under XP when it was my testbench.
On the other hand, XP always makes the CPU usage shoot up to a constant 100%, and just even after a fresh install, ends up eating about a third of the 384 megs of RAM I have. Also, disk thrashing when under heavy load.
So it's pretty much a tradeoff at this point, unless I triple boot with WinXP.
Most likely not. It ain't period-correct for that computer, even if its minimum requirements are any i586 processor and 64 megs of RAM.
You could always see how well Phoenix works on it, and see if that's preferable. If you click on the Browsers link at the top, there are some other old browsers there, too.
Guess you aren't going to put Links or Lynx on the DOS partition if you aren't doing networking on it...
--Sweetie Belle
5030526
I've done it before while it was still a testbench. It works great, but many websites are either entirely broken or don't load properly. I currently plan on using Opera 12 mostly for its minimal support of HTML5, so that on the rare occasion in which I need to look something up or download without using my main PC, I'd be able to access the site without being presented with a jumbled mess of elements.
Palemoon installs, but BSODs the system on first run, unfortunately. I was hoping I'd be able to use a backported version of Firefox such as that instead of resorting to an older browser.
5030528
Hmm. How about Midori?
Edit: Download Link
--Sweetie Belle
5030529
Midori uses the i686 architecture. The AMD K6 in my old PC is an i586 with (very) basic i686-era extensions.
I've tried it before under XP. It throws an error due to missing CPU instructions.
5030533
Huh. Weird, it's lightweight enough I'm surprised it doesn't work. I was more worried about if it would render well.
--Sweetie Belle
5030535
Yeah, the main issue I've had with finding software for that machine is that nearly everything has moved from i386-i586 architecture to minimum i686 for its implementation of SSE in its later variants. That's part of the reason why I retired the computer. I already largely knew what works and what doesn't as far as software (and hardware) goes.
Some notable ones:
5030540
Finding driver's must be difficult, because sites always tend to push the latest ones, and only consider if they dropped support for things if you are luck. Though you can find sites around that specialise in old stuff. I used to know of a physical retro computer store that only sold old hardware a long time ago, but it kinda vanished between visits. I remember it had things like a mouse pen. (A ball mouse in the shape of a pen...) I think it might have had a Lisa there.
And anything that goes beep boop definitely rules. I remember having to remind myself that getting soundcards for computers wasn't needed any more...
--Sweetie Belle
5030546
I still have a Sound Blaster in my main PC, but nowadays it's more for the hardware-level EAX effects than sound output of any kind.
5030547
Don't think I have any actually in a computer, but I had a Sound Blaster Live! 5.1 Digital sound card sitting in my closet. I don't generally get rid of old computer hardware, it just sorta collects when I replace it. I know if I looked around enough I'd find a eeePC 701 someplace. As it was, there was a Palm Pilot, and both a GeForce 8500GT and a 8800GT. I must have done an upgrade, then upgraded the upgrade at some point...
At one point, I built a computer out of junk I had laying around, but I kinda upgraded it when I started using it more, so it's no longer mostly recycled computer stuff.
--Sweetie Belle
5030550
My main PC is still to this day a conglomerate of new parts (GTX 1050ti, Core i5 2400) and used (Sound Blaster Live! 24-bit, 8 of the 16 gigs of DDR3, all but one hard drive).
5030551
Yeah, the only reason I have a free hard drive bay on my main computer is that the hard drive that was in that slot went out. Usually with a hard drive upgrade, I just add in a new hard drive alongside the old ones. It was still a mesh of old and new, but less so since I bought a new case. The old one had gotten junky, fans were going out, and it had part of an audio plug snapped off deep inside either the headphone or microphone port on the front. It was really overdue for a replacement. And one of the times I replaced the motherboard, I had to replace a bunch of other stuff because of standards changing.
That eeePC was kinda interesting. It was one of the first netbooks. It had a 7" 800 x 480 display, an Celeron-M processor and came with either Linux or Windows XP. It was a neat but kinda limited computer. I remember XP was kinda sluggish on it, but installing either Linux distributions made for it (which used to exist) or Lubuntu worked a lot better on it. It was kinda durable, if thick by today's standards. There are a lot better options now, but it was pretty unique at the time, and thick equals durable...
--Sweetie Belle
5030554
Hm. I actually picked up a similar eeePC at a thrift store. It doesn't have a charger, but as far as I can tell it's in decent condition still.
5030555
Yeah, they had a whole line of them in the day. The 700 & 701 were the first models that started the idea, but it got popular for a bit. If you ever do find a charger, Lubuntu was the distribution I had the most luck with on it last time I installed anything on it, though it's been a couple years, so that might have changed. It was neat for having something small around to do writing on, though that screen was pretty tiny.
Finding chargers for old equipment always is tricky, though, especially since cables are easily things you could accidentally get rid of. I recently bought a Gameboy SP Advance charging cable on Amazon, because I found the SP but not the actual charger, and actual physical stores around didn't have it. I'd make sure on the model, but Amazon has eeePC chargers for $8-$10.
Of course, I forgot how dim the Gameboy SP Advance's screen was, but I still might play Final Fantasy Tactics Advance on it for a while, since I can charge it now.
--Sweetie Belle