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Just pulled out my first computer I got in 1994 with win 3.1

seabass1858

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Joined
Aug 7, 2011
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22
I need some help and I heared it is possible as long as i am not trying to watch flash videos to access and browse the internet on this operating system. I am a computer systems analyst for the army and havent attempted this yet. I just want someone to tell me that i am not wasting my time because people at my work venture to say that I am. I thought it was neat to play spiderman cartoon maker cd rom.



486/66mhz/dx2
32mb
1.5mb video with 24bit true color
win 3.1
540mb wd cavier
 
That was a very decent system for its time. More than enough to run Windows 95 or 98 and some small distros of Linux.

Heck, you have enough to run NT 4.0 quite comfortably.

I run Windows 95 OSR2 on a 386 16Mhz with 13MB of memory. That's really pushing things.
 
I remember my dad paid out the ass for it than gave it to me for school purposes. could i access the internet using win 3.1 because i used it up till 2001 and from 2000 - 2001 i had cable internet when it came out and an old isa 10/100NIC running ie3.03 and never had an issue as long as i wasnt doing streaming videos. do you think i can upgrade to ie 5.01 and still use the internet wired. I got my win 95 ibm pentium 166mhz 2g hdd to access the internet today wirelessly using a 16bit truemobile card. did everything but streaming videos.
 
Yes, a 486/66 with 32MB can access the internet. However, you probably won't like the results. Modern web pages have scripts that could easily take hours to resolve on a 486. And even the most modern browser that will run on a 486 will not correctly handle many web pages using newer formatting options. Facebook or similar websites would have all the images overlaid into one illegible mess.
 
what if i were using opera 3.64 with shockwave 4 to browse the internet. my pentium mmx with 95 works well with this 16 bit configuration and it says 3.1 compatable.
 
Give it a try. You can certainly use it to check your email and to browse some of the lighter-weight sites.

I'm tempted to pull out the old 486 hog and see exactly what I can do. Web sites have come a long way--and many use all sorts of fancy gizmos that will simply gobble up a slow CPU.

I don't know if upgrading the CPU will make a significant difference.

Edit: If you really want to see how much you can do with a little, consider this boot-from-a-single-floppy demo. On a single 1.44M floppy, contains OS, network interface and browser and some cute accessories. While dated, it's still pretty cool.
 
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Well, I pretty much agree with Chuck(G) on his assessment, however, if you were to throw a POD in it and punch up the memory a bit (OK, a LOT) you might get enough horsepower to stream video (I would expect it to drop a lot of frames to keep sync with the audio) that was, at least, somewhat usable.
 
I like your thinking ill go with 64mb and upgrade to a savage 4mb video but still keep win 3.1 and i may add another 540mb hdd
 
true i could always leave as is and build a pentium 120 and put 3.1 on it because i want to work with 3.1 and use the internet with it. i messed with the 486 when i was a kid and now it recently didnt hit me that i want to get more into vintage computing and not forget where i came from
 
what would you sugest if i were to start a win 3.1 system using nothing more than a pentium mmx
 
Why Win 3.1? Most browsers are Win32 applications, so you're loading what amounts to a whole new OS (WIN32S.DLL) over 16-bit Windows. Windows 9x (say, 98SE) is a better choice, I'd think. Or even OS/2 or Windows NT 4.0.

You might want to google "lightweight browser" and do your own research. Old versions of Netscape aren't bad but there are other choices.
 
im just into windows 3.1 after remembering how much i use to use it and i just figured the most up to date 16 bit applications will allow me to effectively lightly browse the web without complications. I just started it up and i will add later what the ultimate outcome is.
 
Try running your applications without the WIN32S,DLL file and see how far you get. Even Opera required it under 3.1.

WFWG 3.11 is a bit better on networking support.
 
opera 3.64 successfully loaded up no problems untill i tried viewing a lady gaga video and then it was like watching paint dry literatly. I am running a 10meg connection and as far as browsing goes it is perfict
 
I run Windows 95 OSR2 on a 386 16Mhz with 13MB of memory. That's really pushing things.

I ran 95 with a 386/25Mhz with 12MB RAM, I was surprised how snappy it was. As far as pushing it, try NT 4.0 on a 486SX/25 with 12MB of RAM and a 150MB HD.... yeah it works somehow. Heck a friend of mine hacked the installer to put it onto a 8MB machine, somehow that worked too... except CPU usage was always around 25-50% and the HD was constantly grinding due to the OS paging virtual memory.
 
I couldn't get streaming video to work through flash even on a 1ghz P3, but that was using modern flash and Youtube, so YMMV if you use older plugins and browsers. Perhaps a direct video stream would actually work comfortably..?
 
netscape seems to work better on the 3.1 machine. I was able to install shockwave player for 16 bit interfaces which worked on certain video streams. The 64mb upgrade along with the new video card helpd a lot. The internet is still quick however i would like to build a pentium mmx and put 3.1 on it and see how far i get.
 
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