TECH What to do with Old Software

[Phil Ca]

Quite some time ago back in Windows 95-98 days I bought the 8 disc National Geographic set of Maps and the 7 disc set of Mad Magazine. I decided to do a pre-emptive strike on Spring Housecleaning and I would like to aask a question but with some of my own ideas included.

1 My ideas are: Since the current DOS is Windows XT and the discs do not work, what is best to do with them?

2 Make a mobile to hang in the house or one in a garden to keep birds away.

3 Take to my grandsons school and give donate them to the computer instructor.

4 Take them out and see if they make good "clay" pigeons. Or, offer them to the firearms instructor to use as targets on a berm around the range.

5 Give them as reflectors for people to carry in case of emergency while traveling in the wilderness.

6 Toss them unceremoniously in the trash.

7 Offer them on Craig's List.

8 Make a mural art project when I have the time.

Any resasonable suggestion would be appreciated. Most of my ideas are strictly off the top of my head and it has been preoccupied with family events lately.

Thanks

 

[knickgnat]

Sell them on Ebay.

 

[TheSearcher]

One word:

PULL!

 

[Kent]

Are you sure it will not work? Most 98 software will work on XP.

 

[howdeedoodee]

I have some 98 and even some 95 stuff that I can run on XP. The clipboard on some of the stuff does not transfer over but there may be a fix for that. I keep everything.

Edited to delete goofs.

 

[denfoote]

 

[dstraito]

there is actually a market or maybe it's more accurate to call it a cult following for collectors of AOL software, especially unopened.

I probably have about 150 AOL CD's of different versions and types. I'm not really sure why I kept them, started out as a joke.

I have about 300 other CDs, I eventually want to find a wall in the house and cover it with the cds.

 

[Publius]

I still have copies of DOS 3.0 & 6.0 and other software programs, some day it will have some value mostly to bring back to life an old computer for show or other.

 

[Kent]

there is actually a market or maybe it's more accurate to call it a cult following for collectors of AOL software, especially unopened.

OH NO! I could have made millions of dollars!

 

[Ben Sunday]

I like to tinker with the old machines, as well as bring them back to some kind of functional usefullness. It is easy to have software discs pile up.

I still use 95 and the other machine runs 98 . Both machines are roughly 20 year old laptops. I keep my stash of OEM discs, two different upgrade sets for 95, plus odd goodies like Adobe 4.0 for pdf, a CD copy of IE 5.0, and those grim update CD's to boost 95 to 98 or 98SE.

If all else fails, try selling the National Geographic and Mad magazine stuff. You never know when some poor soul, hopelessly mired in Win 95, will appreciate them.

 

[Abdon]

You might look into buying an actual computer from back in the day.

I bought a new 2005 computer last year from a lady who was computer clueless for $100. Runs XP and is still in the box.

 

[Wise Owl]

Wow, a 2005? That would be 5 years younger than the one I am typing on. It's a 99 I think. Still runs fine but I keep it tuned up pretty good. Got another one in the loft for a spare that's about the same age. Wouldn't know what to do with one of those really fast ones. All we have is dial up out here anyway so why spend the bucks? Ya know?

As to the cd's.......I still have a ton of them also. DH has the 95 disk somewhere I think.
I have operating disks for printers I haven't used in 10 years now....AND a perfectly good scanner up in the loft that needs to go bye bye as I will never use it again.

 

[RCSAR]

I still have one puter running win 3.1 on a 486 but it had a floppy and not a CD.

 

[blueridge]

Sold a Kaypro 10 'portable' computer on eBay to a dude in Canada who was setting up some kind of computer museum - didn't really make anything on the deal, but at least the computer wasn't junked.

FWIW - most old(er) software has a historic value and sometimes a practical value to those who keep the olde machines running.

DOS forever!!!


Sold several loads of C-64 software on eBay recently - got some decent bux for it - go figure...

 

[Sysman]

I guess it depends on how much you like the software.

The technical issues are almost always easy to fix. The "Command Prompt" that comes with all versions of Windows is usually enough to run most old DOS software. But there are conflicts sometimes, especially with some games and other "graphical" software. Programs like DOSBOX can resolve most of these issues. And you can also consider looking at some of the virtualization software, it's just as easy to virtualize DOS as it is Windows or Linux, even easier...

 

[Troke]

Shucks, I have a Win98Se around the house to run some Ms-Dos programs (that's right MS) data bases that can't be converted they say and too tedious to re-do.

So....

 

[Dennis Olson]

Download DosBox and install them (if you choose) if they're DOS-based.

 

[Sysman]

Heck, I still have my original IBM PC. An 8088 with a 10 meg hard drive, 5." floppy, and 256K of RAM. Actually, I have an "Above Board" card for that machine, that cranks memory up to 1.25 meg. And I have a CGA video card, and the old monitor. It all still works as far as I know, but I haven't fired it up, in about a couple years...

I also have a working 286, 386, and 486. My 386 is hot, has the old IBM "Blue Lightning" chip, 16 meg of RAM, it was king of the hill in it's day. Runs Win98SE, I used it as my backup server (as in backup my c: drive) up until a couple years ago, when I replaced it with W2K machine...

I know, it's all "junk" today, but I can't help it. I'm an old nerd...

 

[Troke]

Thanks for the tip DO. I have all my photos (over 30,000) in a keyword retrieval data base and the guy that originally designed it says it cannot be converted. It's a very neat and useful program

So I nurse my W98SE along to enable my using it. Should it die before I do (heh) I will look into your suggestion.

 

[LtPiper]

I still have Windows 95 install on floppies. My kitchen machine is a Win 98 machine. I still have my 486 Dell laptop round here somewhere. Last time I tried it still worked and it's from back in ummmm 96 i think? Also got my "new" IBM Win 98 box sitting here too.

 

[BL225128]

I think that those old win 95/98 programs would still work on XP, or even Vista (which is what's on the current family machine).

But if you can't get them to work, maybe John Titor is looking for some old software to run on their cobbled together systems at Fort University or wherever he hails from...

 

[denfoote]

there is actually a market or maybe it's more accurate to call it a cult following for collectors of AOL software, especially unopened.

BY KENT:

OH NO! I could have made millions of dollars!

Oh Noes!! I could have saved ammo!!

Not really.

Those morons sent us so much of their crap in the mail that I was using them for targets!! The last one they sent, I put in the above seen 9mm Parabellum holes, took that picture, and sent the pic back to them with a note stating this was what I thought of their ISP service!! I never got another one.

 

[nharrold]

You can probably find some worthy group that might have a need for your discs; maybe I can attach an image for you...

 

[Sysman]

I think that those old win 95/98 programs would still work on XP, or even Vista

Yup, many old "native Windows" programs still run under current versions of Win with no problem. There are some exceptions with "system level" functions, just ask OddOne about those sort of details...

But, "in general", much of the old stuff still works just fine. Even many programs going back to the Win 3.1 days still run with the WOW support provided by Windows. I still play "Stars!", which is a Win 3.1 "graphic" game, and no "extras" are needed......

 

[4bears]

Old!

there is actually a market or maybe it's more accurate to call it a cult following for collectors of AOL software, especially unopened.

I probably have about 150 AOL CD's of different versions and types. I'm not really sure why I kept them, started out as a joke.

I have about 300 other CDs, I eventually want to find a wall in the house and cover it with the cds.

Would they want my diskette of AOL 1.1G ????????

(If I can find it.)

 

[OddOne]

Yup, many old "native Windows" programs still run under current versions of Win with no problem. There are some exceptions with "system level" functions, just ask OddOne about those sort of details...

But, "in general", much of the old stuff still works just fine. Even many programs going back to the Win 3.1 days still run with the WOW support provided by Windows. I still play "Stars!", which is a Win 3.1 "graphic" game, and no "extras" are needed......

Yeah, what Sysman said.

Many old applications will run fine on Windows 7, including old Win95/98 software, as long as it's 32-bit and not 16-bit. Even a few Win32S-on-Win3 programs have been known to run in Win7. Anything older than that (read: all 16-bit apps) will require a virtualizer.

Most versions of Windows after 2000 support a "compatibility mode" function where Windows will pretend to be a legacy version for the sake of letting a program run. You can set this on a per-program basis by right-clicking the EXE file, clicking Properties, then clicking Compatibility. Windows 7 Professional and Ultimate (but not Home) go one better and include a free licensed downloadable virtual-machine installation of XP Pro SP3 that runs in VirtualPC, which is also free.

If that doesn't work and you have an old Windows version's install CD, you can grab a copy of a free virtualizer like VirtualBox, VMWare Workstation, VirtualPC, etc. and create a virtual machine into which to install the old Windows. This virtualized-Windows-on-real-Windows approach will pretty much run anything.

 

[Sysman]

Anything older than that (read: all 16-bit apps) will require a virtualizer

Really?

So I guess I'm screwed when it comes to Stars, since it is a "true" 16-bit Win 3.1 app (not WIN32S). Bummer...

Can't say I'm surprised though, WOW is pretty old tech. Hummm, will NTVDM support be next, WOW is just a subset after all?

Thanks for the tip OO. Unlike the days when I was a netadmin, since I've been back in "mainframe land" full time, I can't keep up with all the modern Windows stuff, like Win/7...

 

[Phil Ca]

Thanks for all the input from all of you. My wife works on taxes during the season and i have to fit my time in between her clients. My expertise on the computer is a tad limited. After all we only had AM radio whn I was a kid, and black phones with a cloth covered cord on the handset and you had to dial th operator too. My PD limits my keyboard ability but it bbeats trying to write or print my correspondance.

I have another question about my TRASH-100 portable that I have had or about 20 years, bu that will have to wait until I find it.

Thanks again for giving my mind something else to think about.

I will lt you know about my software situation.

Phil





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[OddOne]

Really?

So I guess I'm screwed when it comes to Stars, since it is a "true" 16-bit Win 3.1 app (not WIN32S). Bummer...

Can't say I'm surprised though, WOW is pretty old tech. Hummm, will NTVDM support be next, WOW is just a subset after all?

Thanks for the tip OO. Unlike the days when I was a netadmin, since I've been back in "mainframe land" full time, I can't keep up with all the modern Windows stuff, like Win/7...

If it's a wholly 16-bitter, yeah, you'll need a virtualizer and Win3.1 to run it on.

As for WOW, the basic idea is old but there's a WOW64 module in Win7. Of course it's not a traditional WOW design of the sort from back in Win9x - the Win7 WOW64 32-bit executive is a HAL module that actually virtualizes underlying 64-bit API calls instead of just providing a duplicate set of calls in the older format. WOW64 also virtualizes the Registry for legacy app support and handles address and stack translations as well so things won't break when they ask for a pointer into 64-bit address space.