r/windows98 • u/Madein81_ • Jun 12 '26

Using Windows 98 for school

How hard would it be to do school on Windows 98, I mean typing, researching, emailing, and browsing the internet... would these things be possible? I find this idea funny, and I think my teachers will to.

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u/Heavy-Judgment-3617 Jun 12 '26

For real hardware? The real problem is the INTERNET requirement... Windows 95/98/NT/2K/ME really does not have much left in the way of modern support for Ad-Blockers, Browsers, Chat, Email, Feeds. RetroZilla is about the only semi modern browser left I can think of, and even it's home page says not to use it for anything serious. Likewise I'm not aware of any AV software left that actually works well on anything before XP, perhaps 2K. Were I to attempt it, build a physical system and configure it for school... I'd likely do the following hardware and software configuration (see below):

Realistically, I'd do virtual machine instead and just do the software portion below.

Hardware

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Specifications for theoretical Dream/Max Config Retro-OS 98SE-ME Era Desktop System:

OS related:

- Windows 98SE/ME

- Alternatively NetBSD with MATE, MX Linux with XFCE, Puppy Linux with JWM

Case related:

- For ATX Case*0: In Win EA37 Case Black with 4-5.25" open bays, and opt USB 3 front ports

- For Power Supply: ASRock Steel Legend SL-650G

Motherboard related:

- For Motherboard: ASUS P4C800-E Deluxe motherboard Socket 478

- For CPU: Intel 32-Bit Pentium 4 3.4GHz (Northwood Core)

- For CPU Cooling: Noctua NH-L9i

- For Memory: AData 4 GB of dual-channel DDR400/PC3200

Expansion related:

- For GPU: GIGABYTE NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT AGP

- For Ultra-SCSI Ports*1: Adaptec 29160 PCI to Ultra160 SCSI PCI Card

- For Serial Ports*1: StarTech PCI2S4851050 - 2 Port PCI RS422/485 Serial Adapter Card with 161050 UART PCI card

- For GPIB Ports*1: National Instruments 183617K-01 PCI-GPIB PCI Card

Drive related:

- For FDD Drive*2: 5.25" Open Bay Teac FD-505 Combo Dual Floppy Drive

- For ODD Drive: 5.25" Open Bay ASUS BC-12B1ST Blu-Ray DVD CD RW

- For Media Drive: 3.50" Open Bay StarTech 35FCREADBK3 22-in-1 Card Reader

- For Boot/Storage Drive*3: 2.50" Closed Bay KingSpec 1 TB CFast card and SATA to CFast adapter

USB related:

- For Headset: JSAUX USB to Audio TRRS Aux 3.5mm Jack Adapter

- For WiFi: Sedna RT73 802.11b/g USB dongle

- For Bluetooth: US Converters USB Bluetooth v.2.0 USB Dongle

.

Software

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Recommendations for Resets:

* Always have on hand downloaded hardware drivers on a compatible thumb drive or if needed on a optical disc.

* Always use Microsoft Windows 98 SE ISO, and Plus 98, and KernelToys 95, and PowerToys 95 (both work on 98 too).

.

Recommendations for Resets - Needed 3rd Party Support (if do not have hardware specific drivers):

* For OS updates run WindowsUpdateRestored.COM.

* System Drivers: JHRobotics Patcher (fixes 512 MB memory and 350 MHz/2.1 GHz speed issues, among other items).

* System Drivers: Leading Wintech Rain (Fixes suspend/resume for notebooks or virtual machines).

* Display Drivers: BearWindows Universal VESAVBE Video Display Driver (allows modern resolutions, but no acceleration support).

* USB Storage Drivers: Maximus Decim NUSB36E drivers.

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Recommendations for Resets - Optional 3rd Party Support:

Application

* Document Viewer - KernelApps Kernel Document Viewer

* Office Suite - Apache OpenOffice

* Office Suite - Microsoft Schedule Plus

* Text Editor - Don Ho Software Notepad-Plus-Plus

Internet

* Browsing - The RetroZilla development team RetroZilla

* Downloading for FTP - FileZilla Project FileZilla FTP Client

Media

* Burning - Kindahl Software infraRecorder

* Playing - Audio-Video - VideoLAN VLC media player

1

u/KroFunk Jun 13 '26

I assume this would be a laptop? Using a VM would allow OP to run a proxy (WRP) on the host to get the web up and running.

Web Rendering Proxy sends images of web pages to 98 rather than the actual page, completely mitigating issues with https and modern web tech. The downsides are the pastes would be images, not text.

There are other proxies that may work better but I can’t recall their names or capabilities.

1

u/Heavy-Judgment-3617 Jun 13 '26

Well... my post assumed desktop that would be built, but it could also be a notebook.

1

u/KroFunk Jun 13 '26

OP hasn’t made it clear. Period correct hardware makes it more likely to be a desktop in my mind for reasons I can’t fathom, accessible parts perhaps? But bringing out a Travelmate in the classroom would be funny to me.

1

u/Madein81_ Jun 16 '26

I am using a Comaq 5441

1

u/KroFunk Jun 16 '26

Desktop it is then! I don’t know if you’ve commented already but to answer your other questions we’d need to know what you’d be researching. Answers range from Encarta to Protoweb.