[PLUG] Replace Windows 98SE with Linux....

[Johnathan Mantey]

Michael,
What has changed that is prompting this endeavor?

On Tue, Sep 17, 2019 at 9:47 AM Michael C Robinson <
michael at robinson-west.com> wrote:

> RTC stands for real time computer and it typically runs MS-DOS 6.22.
>
> GUI stands for Graphical User Interface and it typically runs 98SE.
>
> SBC stands for single board computer.
>
> Windows Me may not work because a driver for the shared memory card
> has to be loaded at boot
> where Windows Me seems to have done away with autoexec.bat and config.sys.
>
> The ISA only passive backplane is a passive backplane that supports at
> least 18 ISA cards.
>
> The computers we have to use are industrial computers that plug into
> the backplane.
>
> Windows XP will not work, it is not a dos based kernel and Q-Soft
> probably won't even run on it.
>
> The RTC is almost full of ISA cards including a shared memory card, so
> we can forget going to a different backplane that has PCI slots.  What
> we will do is wire a buck convertor to a PCI slot so we can run Pentium
> class and later computers on the RTC.  486 SBCs are hard to come by
> let alone working.  We have one, but it
> isn't working.  To run a Pentium class SBC on a ISA only backplane you
> have to provide the 3.3V line through
> a PCI slot.
>
> Many SBCs on the market today, realize they are upwards of 20 years
> old, do not work with Windows 98SE.  Windows XP came out and most
> hardware manufacturers abandoned support for 98se.  Considering that a
> set of modern heads is $7000, and has different problems/bugs as well
> as antiquated Windows 7...  that is not a feasible route to go.
>
> And an SBC is not your typical PC motherboard.  These aren't designed
> the same.  They plug into a backplane.  They cost a lot more
> typically, especially if they are refurbished.
>
> Seems there is no direct replacement for Windows 98SE, the last dos
> based version of Windows.  This is a shame because you cannot get
> support for this system.  The major problem for these machines is that
> they depend on 98se and MSDOS 6.22 which Microsoft could care less
> about these days.  Freedos may work as an in place substitute for
> MS-DOS, but what I'm hearing is that nothing will replace 98se on this
> old hardware.
>
> Doesn't help that running 98se on top of a virtualization layer is
> highly difficult now, at least with VirtualBox.  Oracle dropped
> support for legacy Windows 98 applications.
>
> Realize these are $15k-$30k machines refurbished.
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