
The Windows 3.x Showcase - nikbackm
https://archive.org/details/softwarelibrary_win3_showcase&tab=collection
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PebblesHD
I was impressed years ago when some bright spark got linux running in a web
browser session, and I'm yet again impressed that we've progressed in
technology to the point that I can watch a quicktime video in Windows 3.1 in
Safari on my laptop. Not to mention a fantastically organised and easy to use
collection of historically interesting software, nice!

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dsfyu404ed
FWIW I still use windows 3.11 on DOS-BOX to view 90s vehicle service manual
software.

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iolothebard
Amazing how many old pieces of manufacturing equipment are still driven by
DOS/ Win9x machines.

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geon
My colleague recently had to troubleshoot an amiga app controlling an
industrial press, running in an emulator.

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leke
I was wondering, could DosBox do networking? If so, you could get windows3
with internet installed on anything that could run Linux and DosBox.

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pjc50
There's a patch which adds emulation for the popular NE2000 network card:
[http://home.arcor.de/h-a-l-9000/ne2kstuff/db_ne2000.html](http://home.arcor.de/h-a-l-9000/ne2kstuff/db_ne2000.html)

DOS itself had no networking support. I don't think Windows 3.1 had native
networking either - you had to install Novell for LAN networking or Trumpet
Winsock to use a modem.

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Sophira
You're correct that DOS itself (MS-DOS, at least) has no networking support,
but you might be surprised to learn that DOSBox _does_ natively have
networking support - in more ways than one.

On the DOS side of things, you can configure DOSBox so that one instance acts
as an IPX 'server' \- a server that other DOSBox clients can connect to in
order to form a virtual IPX network over UDP. Programs running under DOS would
then be able to use the IPX network - especially useful for games, as back
then IPX was typically the only kind of networking available.

DOSBox also has support for emulating modems, tunneling the communication over
TCP. It does this by allowing the Hayes dial commands to accept IP
address/port combinations corresponding to the DOSBox client on the other end
(which would have been set up as a server), which many programs would then
just accept without validating them. In the event that a program _did_
validate them and not let you enter anything except numbers, you can still do
it by padding the numbers with zeroes. For example, if you wanted to connect
to 192.168.1.45:1234, you could 'dial' 1921680010451234\. Many modem games can
then be played this way without having to use any DOS networking support.

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zamalek
There was also the port tricks, connect two PCs with a COM or LPT cable and a
few games could communicate over them. I recall (but could be wrong) that DOOM
3D could do this. DirectPlay (DirectX networking) also supported this in at
least Windows 95. A few VIC 20 games also used this trick.

~~~
Sophira
Yep! That was commonly called a "null modem" cable, and DOSBox supports that
style of connection too. :)

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beefhash
Isn't this risky with regards to copyright laws? This seems to download some
of the software (including Win 3.x itslef).

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taspeotis
I believe there are exemptions for the preservation of copyrighted works.
Please don't consider this authoritative or even applicable here, but, as an
example:
[https://www.copyright.com/Services/copyrightoncampus/basics/...](https://www.copyright.com/Services/copyrightoncampus/basics/fairuse_archive.html)

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comex
> To qualify for the exception, your library or archive must: [...]

> Produce no more than a single reproduction of a given work.

Copyright law would consider the Internet Archive to be reproducing the
software every time someone clicks the link and their browser downloads it, so
this wouldn't apply.

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runn1ng
Wow. I can actually play a .mov video in QuickTime player, in Windows 3.11,
emulated in Javascript/DOSBOX. And it actually works.

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hartpuff
Can anyone tell me if the embedding works for them with Internet Archive stuff
like this?

It loads okay at the IA site, but when I use their embed code for this, and
the previous times I've tried with their DOS and Arcade games, the
games/programs load, but they don't load in the right position in the embed,
about 30% too far down, so are essentially unusable.

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unknownzero
This is amazing, just played Desert Storm: The Air Campaign for a few minutes.
The collection of software here is such an important reminder that even
seemingly unimportant software has historical context and is worth preserving.
The Internet Archive is good people.

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ultramancool
Wow, I'm very impressed, surprised this works so well. Any chance we can get
Exile 3: Ruined World added to this? Probably my favorite Windows 3.1 game and
the full version is now available for free from the developer.

[http://www.spiderwebsoftware.com/exile3/winexile3.html](http://www.spiderwebsoftware.com/exile3/winexile3.html)

Actually, if I can do it myself I'll look into it tonight, there's a few
titles I could upload like this if possible...

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dspillett
Running in a similar manner, I was impressed when I stumbled across
[https://win95.ajf.me/](https://win95.ajf.me/) recently.

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ratfacemcgee
too good for this world, too pure

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bane
Oh yes, WinTrek, I spent many a relaxing afternoon hunting down Klingons.

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stuaxo
Awesome, was able to play the tile game Taipei :)

