Windows 3.1

[MS Windows]

I know you all are going to think I'm completely insane, and probably aren't expecting this, but yes, I do use Windows 3.1 on my home computer.


Windows 3.1 in Action

Every day, I fire up my 14-year-old Gateway2000 P5-200 computer (A cutting-edge system in 1996), and do some typing, check my e-mail, do my finances, and, of course, browse forums. I use high-speed DSL internet, and have my modem hooked up to the computer system through ethernet, to an older 3Com 10/100 card I put in.

Many people prefer to use much more modern computers than old clunkers like mine, but there's still a lot you can get done in this 16-bit operating system from 1992. While it can't do everything, you can still browse the Internet OK, play some computer games, do your word processing and spreadsheets, and, of course, enjoy the classic Flying Toaster screen saver you all wish you had. And there's no product key or activation to worry about.

My co-workers in the IT department always laugh when they see that I use Windows 3.1. They're surprised I even got it on the Internet! But, if any of you all are interested in playing around with the older stuff, or getting that dusty old computer in the closet running again, I'll be happy to help you. I know some great sites for drivers and programs for Windows 3.1.

Now, I'm sure you all are asking why am I talking about Windows 3.1 on a Windows 7 forum? Well, like I said before, I'm kind of crazy. But, when you think about it, Windows 3.1 is an important chapter in the history of computers, and I thought you guys might like having a look at it.

By the way, like my new desktop? I changed it to the Windows 7 wall paper to get with 2010!

 

[Night Hawk]

Laugh? Why? I was trying to see if I could get 3.1 on a VM here but did manage 98SE so far.

Following the failed attempts with 3.1 I next went to 95 but now lack a floppy drive on the present build for booting purposes with a floppy or floppy image since those old installers still look for Drive A!

 

[MS Windows]

Laugh? Why? I was trying to see if I could get 3.1 on a VM here but did manage 98SE so far.

Following the failed attempts with 3.1 I next went to 95 but now lack a floppy drive on the present build for booting purposes with a floppy or floppy image since those old installers still look for Drive A!

I would recommend perhaps using a USB floppy drive as your drive A. They're pretty cheap to pick up and then you floppy installers can all work.

But, if you don't feel like doing that, I do know for a fact that Windows 3.1 and 95 do have CD versions. I'd recommend taking a peek at vetusware.com to see if you can find them. Also, if you already got MS-DOS installed (Finding a CD of that might be hard), you can install Windows 3.1 over the network.

 

[Night Hawk]

Originally I bought 3.1 new when first seen retail on a set of 6 floppies. That's going back a good 16yrs. now! If I hadn't given away one old case just refurbished I could have easily set 3.1 up on that one still seeing an ide drive as well as floppy for use. As far as usb floppy drives those old versions lacked any usb support to start with. 98 was the first to see USB 1.0-1.1 there.

 

[stve]

As far as i can remember you could still play Ultima Underworld Dos game on Win 3.1 used to be my favorite game.
I guess running something that old must make you pretty safe from viruses & malware ?
What's the most modern programs & browsers that you can run on 3.1 ?

 

[LiquidSnak]

I'm actually in the process of building a Windows 95 box to run my old games that I have laying around Congrats on keeping your machine running for this long!

 

[Night Hawk]

There wasn't many games around at the time to run except a few for Windows in addition to the few included like card games. The classic oldies like Wolf3D, Duke Nukem, Nukem 2, and a small list of other dos games would likely be found in an online museum! :roflmao:

As for browsers you would need to find a site that still keeps the oldest versions for Netscape and a few others that would run on the old Fat 16 OS there.

Have fun trying any that old like IE 4.0 being seen with 95. 3.11 was the better one for getting online being geared more in the direction that NT 3.1 saw later.

 

[LiquidSnak]

Janes ATF is still one of my favorite games, and as of yet, the only game I haven't become dis-interested in

 

[Trucidation]

Not strange at all - I see dozens of 3.11/95/98/ME machines on various networks at work all day (go go Flying Toaster screensaver!); the only catch being that they're almost always production line machines running really old software. We don't let them get on the internet so they work just fine. Ironically, the machines we do have hooked up because they are running more current OSes (NT/XP/Vista/7) are the cause of most problems.

 

[Night Hawk]

That old Packard Bell that saw 95 running on it is still in good shape! The problem is that I don't have it onhand to try things out like dual booting the old stuff on it!

I gave that away back in the 90s but since learned it was still in working shape after all these years. It would be something to see some of those "golden oldies" running again however. :roflmao:

(thankfully there's dosbox for some! )

 

[yowanvista]

I know you all are going to think I'm completely insane, and probably aren't expecting this, but yes, I do use Windows 3.1 on my home computer.

View attachment 110430
Windows 3.1 in Action

Every day, I fire up my 14-year-old Gateway2000 P5-200 computer (A cutting-edge system in 1996), and do some typing, check my e-mail, do my finances, and, of course, browse forums. I use high-speed DSL internet, and have my modem hooked up to the computer system through ethernet, to an older 3Com 10/100 card I put in.

Many people prefer to use much more modern computers than old clunkers like mine, but there's still a lot you can get done in this 16-bit operating system from 1992. While it can't do everything, you can still browse the Internet OK, play some computer games, do your word processing and spreadsheets, and, of course, enjoy the classic Flying Toaster screen saver you all wish you had. And there's no product key or activation to worry about.

My co-workers in the IT department always laugh when they see that I use Windows 3.1. They're surprised I even got it on the Internet! But, if any of you all are interested in playing around with the older stuff, or getting that dusty old computer in the closet running again, I'll be happy to help you. I know some great sites for drivers and programs for Windows 3.1.

Now, I'm sure you all are asking why am I talking about Windows 3.1 on a Windows 7 forum? Well, like I said before, I'm kind of crazy. But, when you think about it, Windows 3.1 is an important chapter in the history of computers, and I thought you guys might like having a look at it.

By the way, like my new desktop? I changed it to the Windows 7 wall paper to get with 2010!
View attachment 110429

How did you get 32-bit color to work in 3.1?

 

[Night Hawk]

I don't think that is even possible with 3.1 while 95 was able to. The background underneath the first image looks like what you would see available for a VM being too new while the dark olive color seen in one of the 3.1 windows is the typical 256color variation default with 95 as well.

 

[MS Windows]

I know you all are going to think I'm completely insane, and probably aren't expecting this, but yes, I do use Windows 3.1 on my home computer.

View attachment 110430
Windows 3.1 in Action

Every day, I fire up my 14-year-old Gateway2000 P5-200 computer (A cutting-edge system in 1996), and do some typing, check my e-mail, do my finances, and, of course, browse forums. I use high-speed DSL internet, and have my modem hooked up to the computer system through ethernet, to an older 3Com 10/100 card I put in.

Many people prefer to use much more modern computers than old clunkers like mine, but there's still a lot you can get done in this 16-bit operating system from 1992. While it can't do everything, you can still browse the Internet OK, play some computer games, do your word processing and spreadsheets, and, of course, enjoy the classic Flying Toaster screen saver you all wish you had. And there's no product key or activation to worry about.

My co-workers in the IT department always laugh when they see that I use Windows 3.1. They're surprised I even got it on the Internet! But, if any of you all are interested in playing around with the older stuff, or getting that dusty old computer in the closet running again, I'll be happy to help you. I know some great sites for drivers and programs for Windows 3.1.

Now, I'm sure you all are asking why am I talking about Windows 3.1 on a Windows 7 forum? Well, like I said before, I'm kind of crazy. But, when you think about it, Windows 3.1 is an important chapter in the history of computers, and I thought you guys might like having a look at it.

By the way, like my new desktop? I changed it to the Windows 7 wall paper to get with 2010!
View attachment 110429

How did you get 32-bit color to work in 3.1?

I actually use 16-bit color. My computer, however, was designed for Windows 3.1, so I just installed the video driver for the card that's in there and it works great.

 

[sygnus21]

I know you all are going to think I'm completely insane, and probably aren't expecting this, but yes, I do use Windows 3.1 on my home computer.

Man that is actually pretty cool. Believe it or not I've been wanting to build a Windows 98 system, but I'm not sure how far I could push the technology before I run into compatibility issues. Anyways your post just pushed to to give it a hard look again.

A creative AWE 64 Gold sound card, Voodoo 5500 video card, pentuim 4 processor 1.8gig, 1 gig of RAM, hmmm.....

Cool.

 

[Night Hawk]

98 will have problems on any system with more the 512mb of memory installed. That requires an edit of the autoexec.bat file or system.ini file to compensate and allow the old Legacy version to recongnise the full amount. Otherwise 98 simply will refuse to run past the initial startup screen.

 

[mickey megabyte]

ah, nostalgia ain't what it used to be!

 

[Night Hawk]

Well you have to take into account the vast amount of hardware changes seen in the last several years and compare that to what was available when these older versions were first new!

For 98 the driver support dropped off about 6-7yrs. ago on just about everything. It's day had come! In fact the last time other then on a VM I saw 98 running was on an old Socket A case with a pair of 512s and a 128mb AGP card. Once the newer boards came out 98 was lost in the shuffle. Su

At least one thing is for sure. If you have an old system still running you may be fortunate enough to find device drivers for those classic oldies and be able to run them there. As far as running some of the classic pc games you still find a few sites that archive the old titles that are DOSBox supported. Surprizingly DOSBox works for that on the 64bit 7 as well as the 32bit just to have a few memorabilia moments!

 

[DeaconFrost]

I couldn't imagine doing that, because of what I'd be missing out on....especially working on IT. I would have serious reservations about continuing to employ someone in my IT department who avoided new technology, and I feel comfortable saying that as an IT Manager/Admin. It's cool on the level of seeing it happen, but that's what VMs would be for...not primary systems.

I guess my biggest question would be why work in IT with a mindset like that? What good would a doctor be who would still consider leeches a cure for most ailments? What good is a mechanic who only owns a pair of roller skates? What good would an architect be who never built anything more than a Lego building?

Your reasons for sticking with it make me question why you'd be in IT even more. Activation? That's hardly a negative for anyone playing by the rules. Frankly, I'd be embrassed to admit these things to my IT co-workers. Insane...yes. Scary? Even more so.

I'm seriously hoping/waiting for the "ha ha, April Fool's" line to come out, but sadly, it is November.

 

[Pusspa]

Laugh? Why? I was trying to see if I could get 3.1 on a VM here but did manage 98SE so far.

Following the failed attempts with 3.1 I next went to 95 but now lack a floppy drive on the present build for booting purposes with a floppy or floppy image since those old installers still look for Drive A!

you do realise you can use img files with virtualbox to load from a floppy (can be designated as drive A), thats how i installed win3.11 (heck and DOS6.22)

 

[Darician]

I can agree with that DeaconFrost. Don't get me wrong, it's cool to say "I got x computer to run Windows 95 and it runs really fast" just as a test or something with some old hardware or a challenge to try new hardware with an extremely old OS. It's like those people who try to run Windows 7 on a Pentium I or II just to see if they can.

On the one hand, there's the mentality of "well, it works". But on the other, there comes a time when an OS has to be taken to the back of the old wood shed. Windows 3.1 certainly has passed that time already. I remember I took a class about a year ago where they made me install Windows 3.1 just to practice installing Windows. I thought that was so ridiculous as it's not really relevant in today's world but at the same time, it was an experiment to see such a relic from the past actually work.

But for everyday use, I can't even stand Windows XP anymore for regular use as even it's too old for my taste. How you can browse the internet without constant errors is even more of a mystery to me as anytime I have an old virtual machine or really old PC that has Internet Explorer 5.5 (think that's up to what 3.1 can run), I get nothing but script errors and a whole bunch of other garbled mess. Fun as an experiment, 3.1 certainly is. Fun as an every day use computer this day in age, not a shot. And also, as Deacon said, working in IT, I certainly would expect you to want to be on the cutting edge as most IT people like to be or at least stay somewhat modernized.

Oh, and in regard to the mechanic thing ... isn't it ironic that the man who can fix cars often himself rides in some old beat up junker that needs to be started up in a special way? This is probably not all mechanics but I've seen quite a few where this is the case.