Skip to content
  • Categories
  • Recent
  • Tags
  • Popular
  • World
  • Users
  • Groups
Skins
  • Light
  • Cerulean
  • Cosmo
  • Flatly
  • Journal
  • Litera
  • Lumen
  • Lux
  • Materia
  • Minty
  • Morph
  • Pulse
  • Sandstone
  • Simplex
  • Sketchy
  • Spacelab
  • United
  • Yeti
  • Zephyr
  • Dark
  • Cyborg
  • Darkly
  • Quartz
  • Slate
  • Solar
  • Superhero
  • Vapor

  • Default (No Skin)
  • No Skin
Collapse
Code Project
  1. Home
  2. The Lounge
  3. The end of an era - Windows 3.x

The end of an era - Windows 3.x

Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved The Lounge
comquestionannouncement
15 Posts 11 Posters 0 Views 1 Watching
  • Oldest to Newest
  • Newest to Oldest
  • Most Votes
Reply
  • Reply as topic
Log in to reply
This topic has been deleted. Only users with topic management privileges can see it.
  • W Offline
    W Offline
    whatUrunning com
    wrote on last edited by
    #1

    Its hard to believe that it is still widely used but its the end for Windows 3.x[^]. Anyone have any fond memories?

    www.whatUrunning.com www.whatUrunning.com blog

    M B N P R 6 Replies Last reply
    0
    • W whatUrunning com

      Its hard to believe that it is still widely used but its the end for Windows 3.x[^]. Anyone have any fond memories?

      www.whatUrunning.com www.whatUrunning.com blog

      M Offline
      M Offline
      Matthew Faithfull
      wrote on last edited by
      #2

      Yes, many fond memories. In some ways it's the best OS I've ever had. In others it was scarily poor. I still have a Windows 3.11 virtual machine with a lot of my old stuff on and yes it's sort of internet capable with I.E 5 and SVGA drivers. Unfortunately Microsoft VMs audio support is pathetic to non existent so none of the old audio stuff works. Borland C++ 0.99 for DOS is still as stonking as it ever was and the desktop even in its raw form is still better than Open Solaris 18 years on :-D

      "The secret of happiness is freedom, and the secret of freedom, courage." Thucydides (B.C. 460-400)

      B D 2 Replies Last reply
      0
      • W whatUrunning com

        Its hard to believe that it is still widely used but its the end for Windows 3.x[^]. Anyone have any fond memories?

        www.whatUrunning.com www.whatUrunning.com blog

        B Offline
        B Offline
        blackjack2150
        wrote on last edited by
        #3

        My first computer was a 386 with Win 3.1. Fond memories... hmm... typing win.com to start Windows after POST reading and learning "Win 3.1 in 10 minutes lessons" Paintbrush (today Paint) Write (today Wordpad) a lot of silly games, some of which I was never capabale of winning. Nice years...

        Keyboard not found. Press F1 to continue.

        M 1 Reply Last reply
        0
        • M Matthew Faithfull

          Yes, many fond memories. In some ways it's the best OS I've ever had. In others it was scarily poor. I still have a Windows 3.11 virtual machine with a lot of my old stuff on and yes it's sort of internet capable with I.E 5 and SVGA drivers. Unfortunately Microsoft VMs audio support is pathetic to non existent so none of the old audio stuff works. Borland C++ 0.99 for DOS is still as stonking as it ever was and the desktop even in its raw form is still better than Open Solaris 18 years on :-D

          "The secret of happiness is freedom, and the secret of freedom, courage." Thucydides (B.C. 460-400)

          B Offline
          B Offline
          benjymous
          wrote on last edited by
          #4

          Apparently it's possible to run win3.11 with sound under Dosbox - Clicky[^]

          Help me! I'm turning into a grapefruit! Buzzwords!

          L 1 Reply Last reply
          0
          • B benjymous

            Apparently it's possible to run win3.11 with sound under Dosbox - Clicky[^]

            Help me! I'm turning into a grapefruit! Buzzwords!

            L Offline
            L Offline
            leppie
            wrote on last edited by
            #5

            Cool, now where is my floppy drive? ;P

            xacc.ide - now with TabsToSpaces support
            IronScheme - 1.0 beta 1 - out now!
            ((lambda (x) `((lambda (x) ,x) ',x)) '`((lambda (x) ,x) ',x))

            1 Reply Last reply
            0
            • W whatUrunning com

              Its hard to believe that it is still widely used but its the end for Windows 3.x[^]. Anyone have any fond memories?

              www.whatUrunning.com www.whatUrunning.com blog

              N Offline
              N Offline
              NormDroid
              wrote on last edited by
              #6

              :(( so so sad, I cut my teeth on Quick C for Windows on 3.0.

              Software Kinetics - Moving software

              1 Reply Last reply
              0
              • W whatUrunning com

                Its hard to believe that it is still widely used but its the end for Windows 3.x[^]. Anyone have any fond memories?

                www.whatUrunning.com www.whatUrunning.com blog

                P Offline
                P Offline
                Paul Watson
                wrote on last edited by
                #7

                whatUrunning.com wrote:

                Anyone have any fond memories?

                Absolutely. It was the beginning of the GUI OS for me. Before that it was all DOS and command lines.

                cheers, Paul M. Watson.

                1 Reply Last reply
                0
                • M Matthew Faithfull

                  Yes, many fond memories. In some ways it's the best OS I've ever had. In others it was scarily poor. I still have a Windows 3.11 virtual machine with a lot of my old stuff on and yes it's sort of internet capable with I.E 5 and SVGA drivers. Unfortunately Microsoft VMs audio support is pathetic to non existent so none of the old audio stuff works. Borland C++ 0.99 for DOS is still as stonking as it ever was and the desktop even in its raw form is still better than Open Solaris 18 years on :-D

                  "The secret of happiness is freedom, and the secret of freedom, courage." Thucydides (B.C. 460-400)

                  D Offline
                  D Offline
                  Dave Parker
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #8

                  What? Imho back in the days of Win 3.1, the AmigaOS was *way* ahead. The only thing I liked about windows back then was better integration of applications through OLE really.

                  M 1 Reply Last reply
                  0
                  • D Dave Parker

                    What? Imho back in the days of Win 3.1, the AmigaOS was *way* ahead. The only thing I liked about windows back then was better integration of applications through OLE really.

                    M Offline
                    M Offline
                    Matthew Faithfull
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #9

                    In its raw form, yes, I'd say AmigaOS was better from the bits I played with on friends systems. What I liked about Windows 3.11 was the way it could be customized by 3rd party often free or very cheap software. I've posted here before about the highly customized panning desktop, Motif style pinable menus and voice controlled window manipulation that I had set up so I won't go into it but suffice to say that such things have never been available, cheap or free, and able to integrate with one another and with most applications since Windows 3.11. As the OS has become more sophisticated it has inevitably placed more restrictive requirements on applications, stopped them modifying or extending one another and limited the depth and breadth of user customization. This is not a bad thing in the pursuit of standardization and reliability but it does mean that tinkerers like me can no longer tweak together a really incredible software system on a tight budget in the Windows world. Hence why many I suppose have gone over to Linux but that is another issue.

                    "The secret of happiness is freedom, and the secret of freedom, courage." Thucydides (B.C. 460-400)

                    D 1 Reply Last reply
                    0
                    • W whatUrunning com

                      Its hard to believe that it is still widely used but its the end for Windows 3.x[^]. Anyone have any fond memories?

                      www.whatUrunning.com www.whatUrunning.com blog

                      R Offline
                      R Offline
                      Roger Wright
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #10

                      whatUrunning.com wrote:

                      Anyone have any fond memories?

                      Lots of memories, none of them "fond." But it did take the PC from "useless geek toy" to useful ubiquitous appliance, and create most of our jobs. :-D

                      "A Journey of a Thousand Rest Stops Begins with a Single Movement"

                      1 Reply Last reply
                      0
                      • M Matthew Faithfull

                        In its raw form, yes, I'd say AmigaOS was better from the bits I played with on friends systems. What I liked about Windows 3.11 was the way it could be customized by 3rd party often free or very cheap software. I've posted here before about the highly customized panning desktop, Motif style pinable menus and voice controlled window manipulation that I had set up so I won't go into it but suffice to say that such things have never been available, cheap or free, and able to integrate with one another and with most applications since Windows 3.11. As the OS has become more sophisticated it has inevitably placed more restrictive requirements on applications, stopped them modifying or extending one another and limited the depth and breadth of user customization. This is not a bad thing in the pursuit of standardization and reliability but it does mean that tinkerers like me can no longer tweak together a really incredible software system on a tight budget in the Windows world. Hence why many I suppose have gone over to Linux but that is another issue.

                        "The secret of happiness is freedom, and the secret of freedom, courage." Thucydides (B.C. 460-400)

                        D Offline
                        D Offline
                        Dave Parker
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #11

                        Actually I remember on Win 3.1 using a shell replacement for program manager, think it was called wayfarer, or something similar to that. On the amiga I had some pretty good 3rd party add-ons (mostly freeware). One that I remember was called MultiUser which added support for NTFS style multi-user permissions (I think it used its own filesystem that it included drivers for but can't remember). There were also drivers to accept other filesystems such as MS-DOS formatted disks etc.

                        M 1 Reply Last reply
                        0
                        • D Dave Parker

                          Actually I remember on Win 3.1 using a shell replacement for program manager, think it was called wayfarer, or something similar to that. On the amiga I had some pretty good 3rd party add-ons (mostly freeware). One that I remember was called MultiUser which added support for NTFS style multi-user permissions (I think it used its own filesystem that it included drivers for but can't remember). There were also drivers to accept other filesystems such as MS-DOS formatted disks etc.

                          M Offline
                          M Offline
                          Matthew Faithfull
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #12

                          There was certainly an active community of developers for the Amiga and much good stuff being done. Floppy disks used to get passed around faster than STDs. I suppose the difference was I went off to university with my PC and suddenly had access to the internet when 99% of people had never heard of it. Within a year to 18 months I could take my pick of 300GB of Windows software from the SunSite archive in London. I spent many happy hours filtering out the dross and making the best bits work together nicely. It's the world we all live in now but back in the days when my friends had Amiga's it was beyond most peoples dreams. 300,000 floppy disks, accessed over the phone, you're 'aving a girraffe :-D

                          "The secret of happiness is freedom, and the secret of freedom, courage." Thucydides (B.C. 460-400)

                          D 1 Reply Last reply
                          0
                          • W whatUrunning com

                            Its hard to believe that it is still widely used but its the end for Windows 3.x[^]. Anyone have any fond memories?

                            www.whatUrunning.com www.whatUrunning.com blog

                            P Offline
                            P Offline
                            PIEBALDconsult
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #13

                            I only switched from Win3.11 to Win98se because I wanted to use Photoshop (that may have been in 2001 or so). What I didn't like about Win98 was that although it could boot to the command line, it wouldn't load drivers (mouse, sound, CDrom, etc.) until it loaded the GUI, that's just plain wrong. I use XP now only because that's what we use at work.

                            1 Reply Last reply
                            0
                            • M Matthew Faithfull

                              There was certainly an active community of developers for the Amiga and much good stuff being done. Floppy disks used to get passed around faster than STDs. I suppose the difference was I went off to university with my PC and suddenly had access to the internet when 99% of people had never heard of it. Within a year to 18 months I could take my pick of 300GB of Windows software from the SunSite archive in London. I spent many happy hours filtering out the dross and making the best bits work together nicely. It's the world we all live in now but back in the days when my friends had Amiga's it was beyond most peoples dreams. 300,000 floppy disks, accessed over the phone, you're 'aving a girraffe :-D

                              "The secret of happiness is freedom, and the secret of freedom, courage." Thucydides (B.C. 460-400)

                              D Offline
                              D Offline
                              Dave Parker
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #14

                              lol yeah thats true, there certainly was a wide range of software available that ran under windows/dos. I had a PC emulator for my amigas, though it never really got any use on my 7MHz A500 or 14MHz A1200 ;P

                              1 Reply Last reply
                              0
                              • B blackjack2150

                                My first computer was a 386 with Win 3.1. Fond memories... hmm... typing win.com to start Windows after POST reading and learning "Win 3.1 in 10 minutes lessons" Paintbrush (today Paint) Write (today Wordpad) a lot of silly games, some of which I was never capabale of winning. Nice years...

                                Keyboard not found. Press F1 to continue.

                                M Offline
                                M Offline
                                Mark_Wallace
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #15

                                blackjack2150 wrote:

                                Write (today Wordpad)

                                No way! Windows Write was a very cool app, with full support for OLE, TTF, etc, and a very nice, simple gui. Wordpad is amateurish crap, by comparison. It's a great injustice that the Write.exe that's bundled with later versions of Windows is no more than an executable version of a shortcut to Wordpad. I used Write all the time, at one point, because Word 2 didn't go any too quick on a 286 (type a letter, wait two seconds -- NO! For God's sake, don't click the scrollbar!!!)

                                1 Reply Last reply
                                0
                                Reply
                                • Reply as topic
                                Log in to reply
                                • Oldest to Newest
                                • Newest to Oldest
                                • Most Votes


                                • Login

                                • Don't have an account? Register

                                • Login or register to search.
                                • First post
                                  Last post
                                0
                                • Categories
                                • Recent
                                • Tags
                                • Popular
                                • World
                                • Users
                                • Groups