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Windows 95 with Internet?

Posted: Sat Oct 14, 2023 3:52 pm
by Schuetze1111

I have windows 95 installed and would like to use the internet explorer to surf the net.
I have read here twas m null modem., but no idea what I have to do.
does anyone have a tip on how to set up Windows 95 internet?


Re: Windows 95 with Internet?

Posted: Sat Oct 14, 2023 3:58 pm
by Bas

Re: Windows 95 with Internet?

Posted: Sat Oct 14, 2023 10:06 pm
by bbond007
Bas wrote: Sat Oct 14, 2023 3:58 pm

Check https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/Wiki_Mi ... rted-cores for some more info.

That guide suggests you use Trumpet Winsock, which I suppose could work OK, and that is the only option for Windows 3.11, however Windows 95 comes with dial-up networking included and to make it work you simply need to install the NULL modem driver and make sure dial-up networking is installed. Also, I'm not sure Trumpet works with 32bit winsock programs (it may only work with 16bit). Despite what that above guide claims - dial-up networking DOES work on Win95 (osr2 anyway)

https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/ao486_M ... odem9x.inf

To Install Dial-Up Networking:

  • Click the Windows 95 Start button, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.

  • Double-click Add/Remove Programs.

  • The Add/Remove Programs Properties dialog box opens.

  • Click the Windows Setup tab.

  • Select Communications.

  • Click Details.

  • The Communications page lists communications software components.

  • Select Dial-Up Networking and click OK.

  • Click OK to close the Windows Setup dialog box.

Now Dial-up networking should be now under "My Computer".

From there you should good to go. Just create a new connection using the modem driver you installed.

Hope that helps...


Re: Windows 95 with Internet?

Posted: Sat Oct 14, 2023 11:21 pm
by throAU

Once you get all this working you may be surprised at just how out of date any browser for windows 95 is… it won’t be pleasant.


Re: Windows 95 with Internet?

Posted: Sun Oct 15, 2023 4:05 am
by bbond007
throAU wrote: Sat Oct 14, 2023 11:21 pm

Once you get all this working you may be surprised at just how out of date any browser for windows 95 is… it won’t be pleasant.

You can't really reliably run MisterFS under Win95, so FTP is a good alternative for moving miscellaneous small files onto your VHD.

There are network playable games, IRC (which is like Discord) and a lot of things other than WWW...

And if you want to browse, there are proxies such as TheOldNet.

No, I would not suggest trying to do your banking and taxes on Win95 with an ancient browser :)


Re: Windows 95 with Internet?

Posted: Sun Oct 15, 2023 5:55 am
by throAU
bbond007 wrote: Sun Oct 15, 2023 4:05 am
throAU wrote: Sat Oct 14, 2023 11:21 pm

Once you get all this working you may be surprised at just how out of date any browser for windows 95 is… it won’t be pleasant.

You can't really reliably run MisterFS under Win95, so FTP is a good alternative for moving miscellaneous small files onto your VHD.

There are network playable games, IRC (which is like Discord) and a lot of things other than WWW...

And if you want to browse, there are proxies such as TheOldNet.

No, I would not suggest trying to do your banking and taxes on Win95 with an ancient browser :)

Yeah those are fair uses, but the op was about browsing the net…


Re: Windows 95 with Internet?

Posted: Sun Oct 15, 2023 1:06 pm
by Bas

The net is going TLS for just about everything nowadays. No browser on Win95 will support that.


Re: Windows 95 with Internet?

Posted: Sun Oct 15, 2023 5:57 pm
by dmckean
Bas wrote: Sun Oct 15, 2023 1:06 pm

The net is going TLS for just about everything nowadays. No browser on Win95 will support that.

I would assume he wants to browse sites from that era that are still online. But yeah, you can't browse modern sites using Win95.


Re: Windows 95 with Internet?

Posted: Mon Oct 16, 2023 10:22 am
by Bas

I tried installing a proxy that strips SSL/TLS and converts the protocol to HTTP 1, but then there's modern JavaScript, CSS, HTML5... Times have changed indeed.


Re: Windows 95 with Internet?

Posted: Tue Nov 07, 2023 10:28 am
by throAU
Bas wrote: Mon Oct 16, 2023 10:22 am

I tried installing a proxy that strips SSL/TLS and converts the protocol to HTTP 1, but then there's modern JavaScript, CSS, HTML5... Times have changed indeed.

Yup

Lots of things a windows 95 compatible browser won't handle:

SSL/TLS standards that won't work in windows 95; as stated above there's a push for SSL everywhere
Memory requirements on web content have blown out massively - look at how much memory a modern web page consumes
HTML features in modern browsers that didn't exist back then
Javascript/CSS features that didn't exist
modern video codecs/image formats that didn't exist

If it's for FTP, networked gaming, or very, very basic text only web pages maybe... but you're not going to be using windows 95 for general browsing unfortunately - the modern web has well and truly moved on.


Re: Windows 95 with Internet?

Posted: Tue Nov 07, 2023 12:45 pm
by ToothbrushThreepwood

Well… there’s always pages like https://www.spacejam.com/1996/ to give you that Win95 dial-up web flair :)


Re: Windows 95 with Internet?

Posted: Tue Nov 07, 2023 3:27 pm
by cursedverses

And things like http://frogfind.com/ too!

Out of interest, How'd you get your Win95 to connect and then actually receive more than a few hundred bytes of data? Mine does the former but not the latter...


Re: Windows 95 with Internet?

Posted: Tue Nov 07, 2023 3:44 pm
by NML32

This might be of interest to someone. Printing from Windows 9x to a home networked printer. I set up printing to my Wireless Brother MFC-7860DW laser printer.
This worked on my MiSTer Windows 95, 98, and Me image.
https://youtu.be/essroo7FwiM


Re: Windows 95 with Internet?

Posted: Sun Nov 12, 2023 8:03 pm
by Antoine.WG
cursedverses wrote: Tue Nov 07, 2023 3:27 pm

And things like http://frogfind.com/ too!

Out of interest, How'd you get your Win95 to connect and then actually receive more than a few hundred bytes of data? Mine does the former but not the latter...

You need to set DNS servers manually. Right click Network Neighborhood --> Properties --> TCP/IP Dial-Up Adapter --> Properties --> DNS Configuration --> Enable DNS, enter a Host name for your computer and add at least 1 DNS server, usually your router's IP address. If you're not sure, enter 8.8.8.8 for Google DNS.


Re: Windows 95 with Internet?

Posted: Mon Nov 13, 2023 12:31 am
by cursedverses
Antoine.WG wrote: Sun Nov 12, 2023 8:03 pm
cursedverses wrote: Tue Nov 07, 2023 3:27 pm

And things like http://frogfind.com/ too!

Out of interest, How'd you get your Win95 to connect and then actually receive more than a few hundred bytes of data? Mine does the former but not the latter...

You need to set DNS servers manually. Right click Network Neighborhood --> Properties --> TCP/IP Dial-Up Adapter --> Properties --> DNS Configuration --> Enable DNS, enter a Host name for your computer and add at least 1 DNS server, usually your router's IP address. If you're not sure, enter 8.8.8.8 for Google DNS.

Hey! Thanks for responding. I know what the problem is in more detail now. My connection is available and winipcfg shows my DNS server correctly, but that's where my problem starts.
My DNS server (Pi Hole) is on a separate device to my router and Windows is showing that the DNS IP as my gateway IP. Weirdly MiSTer is configured with the correct gateway IP/default route and doesn't seem to be passing it over...

EDIT: It works! A note most likekly to myself... Edit /sbin/uartmode and change the .254 at the end of the remoteip= line to something that's free on my network...
I'll look at adding something to that script to try to auto-determine something rather than just expect an IP to be free.


Re: Windows 95 with Internet?

Posted: Wed Nov 15, 2023 4:55 am
by Antoine.WG
cursedverses wrote: Mon Nov 13, 2023 12:31 am

Hey! Thanks for responding. I know what the problem is in more detail now. My connection is available and winipcfg shows my DNS server correctly, but that's where my problem starts.
My DNS server (Pi Hole) is on a separate device to my router and Windows is showing that the DNS IP as my gateway IP. Weirdly MiSTer is configured with the correct gateway IP/default route and doesn't seem to be passing it over...

EDIT: It works! A note most likekly to myself... Edit /sbin/uartmode and change the .254 at the end of the remoteip= line to something that's free on my network...
I'll look at adding something to that script to try to auto-determine something rather than just expect an IP to be free.

Nice! I'm running pihole too, 2 of them actually, but my first DNS server in Win95 is my router. I also don't have anything set on .254 on my network...


Re: Windows 95 with Internet?

Posted: Wed Nov 15, 2023 4:08 pm
by cursedverses

[nevermind, sorted now!]


Re: Windows 95 with Internet?

Posted: Fri Nov 17, 2023 6:13 pm
by thera34

You can find updated information/links on how to setup PPP (and not only) connections on different cores and supported OSes here : https://mister-devel.github.io/MkDocs_M ... /computer/
Still missing AtariST and MacPlus, as I never tried to install/configure PPP under these by myself. If anything, please feel free to contribute.