Please wait...
Even worse for us BSD people back in the day. ( and why i had to abandon ship at one point )
Wed Jul 29 2026 09:34:02 EDT from IGnatius T FoobarIf you had anything even a little bit exotic it probably wasn't supported under Linux.
My current Surface Pro 5 is on its last legs. Hanging, crashing, unresponsive - rebuilt recently from scratch.
I am never going to Windows 11. You may have finally won me over to the Year of the Linux desktop for my daily driver.
I'm pretty sure Bambu has a version of their 3D printer driver for Linux - and I already have a basic comfort with Blender and GIMP and word processing doesn't matter anymore - and most streaming platforms are device agnostic now.
I don't see Apple as a better alternative.
Shhiiiiit.
I hate you *nix fkerz. Do I have to start letting my neckbeard grow out?
Even if it did, there is a *nix alternative that will do the job. I cant think of any "task" that does not have some alternative to move to. Sure, re-learning may be needed in some cases due to different ways of thinking, and might not have the same extended ( $ ) feature set, but the base functionality, accounted for.
Sun Aug 02 2026 02:55:20 EDT from ParanoidDelusionsword processing doesn't matter anymore
It turns out there are older-generation 'softies hanging around on X, including Brad Hitler Silverberg, who get very upset when someone points out that the Windows 95 taskbar borrowed heavily from RISC OS and NeXT.
They really want to maintain the myth that Microsoft invented that.
Don't forget to tell them the entire concept of a GUI was based on IP theft from Xerox..
It turns out there are older-generation 'softies hanging around on X, including Brad Hitler Silverberg, who get very upset when someone points out that the Windows 95 taskbar borrowed heavily from RISC OS and NeXT.
They really want to maintain the myth that Microsoft invented that.
2026-07-26 07:54 from IGnatius T FoobarA drop-in Windows-like system you could bestow on modern hardware in order to run old software would be a godsend for retro enthusiasts. Right now, if you want to run old windows applications on modern hardware, you have to:
Is it though? I'm struggling to imagine a use case where ReactOS would
be indicated instead of an easy to use Linux with really good Windows
compatibility.
Obviously I'm suuuuuuuper biased here so I'm probably missing it.
1) Use an emulator or virtual machine, such as 86Box or Dosbox. That works but has troubles emulating any post 2000s system: 86Box can theoretically do it but it needs more horsepower than consumer hardware can provide. They cap at Pentium II or so.
2) Patch the application in order to work with modern Windows facilities that replaced the facilities old Windows used to have. Doable most often than not, but a pain in the ass.
Linux has a huge advantage in 2) because you can properly simulate a large array of Windows systems using WIne or Proton
That approach is still not fully safisfactory in a number of cases. Having a dedicated Libre Windows would be a godsend.
1) Use an emulator or virtual machine, such as 86Box or Dosbox. That
works but has troubles emulating any post 2000s system: 86Box can
theoretically do it but it needs more horsepower than consumer hardware
Pardon my confusion, but why not run a "real" hypervisor and install MS-DOS in it?
Intel and AMD have both painstakingly kept 16-bit support in their 64-bit CPU's for exactly that reason.
Don't forget to tell them the entire concept of a GUI was based on IP
theft from Xerox.. [36m
Not worth it. I'm trying not to piss off Dave Plummer, who I actually have some respect for.
Pardon my confusion, but why not run a "real" hypervisor and installBecause quality hypervisors in the wild don't emulate a number of the things a retro setup requires, such as Vodoo cards or MIDI adapters. Your typical KVM things is not designed to replicate really old systems. You can install MS-DOS in a modern hypervisor no problem but good luck getting sound for your games out of it without taking extra steps. I think FreeDOS has a software adapter trick that lets DOS games that use Soundblasters and the like use modern audio outputs, but I have never looked into it.
MS-DOS in it?
Also you and I are looking at different objectives, so what I'm saying probably doesn't serve your needs anyway.
You're asking "How can we make available hardware serve the retro community with maximum fidelity?"
I'm asking "What will it take to get AMD and Intel to finally take all the stupid 16-bit modes out of their chips?"