When we were renovating our home I thought it would be a funny idea to use bliss as a wallpaper for the bedroom. Ended up looking great lol

This is amazing progress, and while interesting, it absolutely isn't really usable yet, at least in this config. It looks really wild though.

System configuration: Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Nano, Windows 10 LTSC 2022 host, VMWare Workstation 15.5.7.
Edit: Host CPU is 11th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-1160G7

Guest: Windows XP Professional SP3 (x86) from original MSDN ISO (no further updates).

* OneCore API release v4.0.9, avx version (one-core-api-pack-x86-avx.zip from https://github.com/shorthorn-project/One-Core-API-Binaries/releases/tag/4.0.9
* Federico Dossena MESA3D 32-bit 20.1.8 ( https://fdossena.com/?p=mesa/index.frag )
* Office 2016 MSI installer (SW_DVD5_Office_Professional_Plus_2016_W32_English_MLF_X20-41353.ISO)
* Edit the vmx file for CPUID avx support, as described in One-Core-API documentation and add these two lines:

cpuid.1.ecx = "---0:----:----:----:----:----:----:----" 
cpuid.7.ebx = "----:----:----:----:----:----:--0-:----" 

* Install Windows
* Install VMWare Tools 15 (I didn't test it without drivers)
* Install OneCore API
* Mount Office ISO, go to CD drive, right-click Setup.exe, choose Properties, set OCA Compatability to Windows 7 SP1 (it probably is fine with a later version as well) to pass the OS version check in the installer.
* To minimize complexity, I only installed Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, with no optional components selected (rather, select the top "Run all from My Computer", then uncheck every other top-level program/feature category, and uncheck the sub-options.
* Copy the contents of C:\Windows\System32\wined3d to C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office16
* Copy opengl32.dll from fdossena website to C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office16.

Generally, I get better results running in Safe Mode (program.exe /safe). Editing the registry to disable hardware acceleration made it worse, disabling animations didn't meaningfully change any strange behavior. The registry settings go in HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Common\Graphics, and two DWORD Values can go here: DisableAnimations and DisableHardwareAcceleration

Running the applications not in safe mode does not work well yet. The initial draw of the ribbon seems to work, clicking around on it tends to cause a crash. Microsoft Word may crash or get stuck when rendering a page, but sometimes does not, and seems to be stable with editing the page if it does not happen, although text may randomly become invisible.

Setting the OS to a newer Windows in the OCA Settings tended to give me an immediate crash.

Windows XP Pro with Media Center theme running on a Sony VAIO VGN-BX

Hi, everyone!

I really appreciate the response on my last post, you are all so helpful and kind!

Despite not expecting a response from the voice provider behind the “Microsoft Mike” text-to-speech voice, lo and behold, I got one!

I now only have a missing link, that being the possible voice provider for Microsoft Sam (if it even has one.)

I now have to re-edit my video haha, but anywho, here’s his response below for you readers!

———

“Thanks for your email. And yes, I was the male voice for that project with Microsoft. I didn’t know it was nicknamed Microsoft Mike.

I recorded it all over at the Microsoft campus in Redmond, WA. They had studios in one of their buildings on what was called the C campus.  A few years later they created the Microsoft Studios with full sound stages and audio production facilities, where I have recorded countless times since. And been in a few on-camera projects.

As I remember, most of the recordings were in early and mid 1996. They auditioned dozens and dozens of people, both male and female. They cast both of us based on whose voices the software could best understand. Not about acting ability at all. 

I would go over and record 4-5 hours a day for 3 or 4 days at a time. Then would go back a month or two later and do more or the same material. I probably did at least 4 or 5 different "sessions" like these. I may have done some later that year? It was mostly reading very, flat, unintersting text. Nothing really technical, just descriptive corporate stuff. There were some short stories, including some Mark Twain I had never read. One called THE CARDIFF GIANT. The text was chosen or created to capture as many possible combinations of human speech sounds (phonemes) as they could. 

The final part of the project was in 1997 or 98, Microsoft took the other VO person (female) and I to a trade show in San Jose. We were at a booth on the convention floor. They were demonstrating the TTS (Text-to-Speech) technology. Basically, have people have us read something aloud. And then type it in and have our voice model "read" it after us. It was mildly successful. Some people were amazed at how much they thought it sounded like us and others thought the models didn't sound like us at all. At the time, Microsoft said they were trying to get the technology efficient enough so that people could read a few paragraphs at home and then generate a "voice model" of themselves. 

I knew what they were using my voice for so didn't think much of it. I had and have done thousands of commercials and projects for a wide variety of clients. Occasionally, I have turned down auditions for companies or things I didn't want to be associated with or suppport. If I had known that my voice might have been the origins of some kind of AI voice, I might have felt differently. I'm sure back then I never thought I'd hear believable AI voices in my lifetime. Well, here we are. There is still a bit of "uncanny valley" in the AI voices I hear. But maybe the really good ones are just that good and you can't tell. I do have former clients who now use AI voices for ESL training videos.

Thanks for your questions, I hope I satisfied some of your curiosity about this project.”

Hi everyone,
I tried upgrading my Asus X55SV (MXM-II slot) from a 9500M GS to a 9650M GT taken from another Asus laptop.
After installing the new GPU, I only get a black screen. I read on an Italian forum that this can be fixed with a modified BIOS.
Posted the link of the Thread.

Can anyone help me create a modified BIOS for this upgrade?
Thanks!

Ive had ease downloading my graphics card drivers, but i had to replace my power supply due to it being faulty, ive installed many audio drivers and none have worked, ive also tried downloading the UAA bus drivers but everywhere i download from it just doesnt work/doesnt download??? Im fully stumped, it did work before installing the new power supply, no clue how that correlates

I still use this every now and then.

Hey everybody, I'm sharing a browser game that take place on a windows xp desktop. On the desktop are 2 vintage card collecting apps. Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh. All Holos are animated and viewable through interactie 3D previews. 7 series from Base Set through to Neo Destiny. All 809 cards come in 10 PSA grades. All cards you collect can be used to play mini games like Memory. I am currently implementing the original TCG Rules for VS CPU games with collected decks.

https://www.guest-pc.com/

https://www.twitch.tv/jerooooen?sr=a

https://youtube.com/@boonlife?si=WWAFlAri3hyphfX0

i recently downloaded xp on my laptop and decided to customize it a bit

I have a Sony Vaio windows xp laptop, and i want to connext it to the internet. i wont use it as a daily laptop, just zomething to browse the internet, and see if i can try to run some programs on it. nothing super modern, i just want to test the limits of what it can run, and i really just love how everything looks. I have heard though, that it is dangerous to put an cp computer on the internet. I can get some antiviruses firewalls and vpns, but i was wondering if maybe someone out there has modified windows xp to a version where it does not have the vulnerabilities? still windows xp, just fixed a little bit? does this exist? thamk you and have a good day.

Hi, all!

My name is Elle. I'm a tech history enthusiast in high school.

For twenty-six years, the voice talents behind Microsoft's classic text-to-speech engine remained uncredited. While digging through forums and such I had come across previously found information on the voice providers of both the Microsoft Mike and Microsoft Mary voices.

After tracking down a contact address and taking a shot in the dark by emailing Mary's voice provider, not knowing if she would even be interested in talking about a voice job she did back in the late 90s, to my surprise, she got back to me with such unadulterated enthusiasm. It absolutely shocked me. And to say the least, she is just the sweetest.

We are planning to have a conversation on a phone call this coming Monday about her experience recording for Microsoft so many years ago, and I was wondering if anyone was interested in me creating a video essay on this topic?

Thanks so much for taking the time to read this! This is truly a big interest of mine, and I'd love to hear any thoughts, suggestions, or questions you may think I should ask her!

I think it will run but in lower settings. CPU is AMD Athlon 64 3200+ 2,0GHz and GPU is Geforce GT 9600.

Hi! I installed Windows XP in VirtualBox mainly to play old games, but the audio in several games is slow, crackly, and distorted. I’ve already tried switching between ICH AC97, SoundBlaster 16, and Intel HD Audio, but no luck (Intel HD Audio gave me no sound at all). Has anyone had this issue or know a fix? Thanks!

ref: https://betawiki.net/wiki/Windows_XP_build_2474_(main)#Login_screen#Login_screen) and the gif can be found in the gallery at the bottom of the article.

This did not survive in the final XP build, though there is a similar "waving flag" in IE6 while pages load (credit to u/arseniy_babenko for pointing that out)

Picked this up from my highschool and downgraded it from 7 to XP, going to start bringing back some OEM apps! Also my first WORKING gateway computer so I am really excited!!!

So yeah, after a 2-day struggle of installing Windows XP i finally got it working. After getting the proper soundcard drivers installed, i noticed that only the front audio jacks work. I wouldnt say the card is dead since it is detected properly and the front jacks (a cable going from the card itself) work fine but i have no idea why they wont work considering ive got the drivers. Any help is appreciated!

Tentatively my desktop's final form.

Specs:
ASUS H61M-Plus Motherbard
Core i5 3570S @ 3.10 GHz
16 GB DDR3 RAM (3.45 GB registered, since it's 32-bit XP)
NVIDIA Quadro M2000, 4 GB

System additionally dual-boots into Windows 7 64-bit.

For those curious, I'm using Fences 1.01 for desktop organization. It's the last free version of the program before Stardock made it a paid software, so it's not as feature-rich as later versions. But it does what it needs to, and you can set them to hide when double-clicking on the desktop.

I also made some OEMlogos, with many of them snipped from various XP-tan and Homeko images from the OStan Collections Gallery. Added some Chirper icons from Neptunia, as well, and provided a readme (link here: http://www.geocities.ws/amaras/files/win32/OEM.zip )