Any one know of a modern browser for win 98?

[swoll1980]

Machine will not run linux.

[FuturePilot]

Opera should work on Windows 98

[K.Y.A]

Will not run Linux, eh? It will run NETBSD then.;)


Teh l33t haxorz uz3 teh NETBSD.



But seriously, I would use an older version of Firefox or Opera... It doesn't matter what browser you use that machine is a sitting duck.

[Dr. C]

Firefox 2.xx

and gasp but still supported IE 6

[papenpj]

Im sorry but do the honorable thing and office space that computer or turn it into a headless server.

But seriously what are the specs on it that it can't run linux? Im assuming you have tried the stripped down variants like xbuntu? have you considered puppy linux? I got an old machine that ran 98, The nice thing about puppy is it a live cd but you can also install it and run it off the HD which will make your RAM actually be used as ram, along with allowing you to setup some swap as a assume your Ram on that computer gotta be small along with the processor

[swoll1980]

But seriously, I would use an older version of Firefox or Opera... It doesn't matter what browser you use that machine is a sitting duck.

Any Windows machine my girlfriend uses is a sitting duck. Better that old p.o.s. than my main machine.

[steveneddy]

Puppy or DSL should run on that thing reasonably well I would think.

[papenpj]

Any Windows machine my girlfriend uses is a sitting duck. Better that old p.o.s. than my main machine.

If I were you I would give her an etch-a-sketch and tell her to image the internet, that way it is also moblie

[K.Y.A]

If I were you I would give her an etch-a-sketch and tell her to image the internet, that way it is also moblie

That might take a lot of etch-a-sketches...

[swoll1980]

Puppy or DSL should run on that thing reasonably well I would think.

It won't run puppy, or DSL, It just spits out a bunch of error messages.

[swoll1980]

If I were you I would give her an etch-a-sketch and tell her to image the internet, that way it is also moblie

That made me laugh pretty hard.

[papenpj]

But in all seriousness, What are the specs that it runs windows 98 and not able to run linux???

Before i moved back home after graduation I setup a "server" for my roommate but he wanted to be able to hook a monitor to it. 350MHZ with 64MB ram (maybe it was even 32, since it was a joke).
I started with ubuntu server. and found a guide abotu IceWM and installed firefox. It was painfully slow but could run it.

[sertse]

http://www.opera.com/support/kb/view/386/


Minimum configuration for Opera 9:

20 MB of free disk space
Any system running Windows 95 (or later)

Recommended configuration for Opera 9:

Pentium II class system with 64 MB of RAM and at least 50 MB of free disk space
Windows 98 or higher

Question answered. Latest Firefox requires XP now I think. And I think any other option, if there are any (IE 6? Old Firefox? Seamonkey?) would be an inferior browser. No debate :P

[drawkcab]

Go to the thrift store and pick up a $50 pc that will run one of these sub 100mb linuxes.

[FuturePilot]

http://www.opera.com/support/kb/view/386/



Question answered. Latest Firefox requires XP now I think. And I think any other option, if there are any (IE 6? Old Firefox? Seamonkey?) would be an inferior browser. No debate :P

The oldest Windows version Firefox will work on is Windows 2000.


Windows
Operating Systems

* Windows 2000
* Windows XP
* Windows Server 2003
* Windows Vista

Minimum Hardware

* Pentium 233 MHz (Recommended: Pentium 500MHz or greater)
* 64 MB RAM (Recommended: 128 MB RAM or greater)
* 52 MB hard drive space


http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/system-requirements.html

[Rubicon_82]

Machine will not run linux.

If the box meets the minimum system requirements of Windows 98, it'll run SliTaz.

Windows 98 system requirements (from http://support.microsoft.com/kb/182751/):


A personal computer with a 486DX 66 megahertz (MHz) or faster processor (Pentium central processing unit recommended).

16 megabytes (MB) of memory (24 MB recommended).


You'll need to use some tricks to get SliTaz (http://www.slitaz.org/) installed on a system with 16 MB memory, but it can be done.
(From http://www.slitaz.org/en/doc/releases/2.0/relnotes.en.html, emphasis mine):


SliTaz GNU/Linux supports all machines based on i486 or x86 Intel compatible processors. A minimum 256MB of memory isrecommended to use the main LiveCD. 64MB is needed for the "slitaz-loram" flavor and 16MB for the "slitaz-loram-cdrom" flavor.

With the slitaz-loram flavor, the system is less responsive, but allows you to graphically install SliTaz on very oldmachines. Once installed, SliTaz works well with a minimum of 16MB memory, but forget about using Firefox to surf the web - you'll have to use the text based 'links' for example.

Once you've got SliTaz installed, you could try a lightweight browser such as dillo.

[Sublime Porte]

TinycoreLinux runs lightening fast on very low specs too.

Perhaps you should just put us all out of our suspense and post the specs.

[Greenwidth]

If I were you I would give her an etch-a-sketch and tell her to image the internet, that way it is also moblie

Or just get the printed version:
http://www.theinternetnowinhandybookform.com/

[benj1]

Any Windows machine my girlfriend uses is a sitting duck. Better that old p.o.s. than my main machine.

strange i always thought you were a girl, don't know why ;)


anyway, (i only joined this thread because i used win 98 up until recently, although thinking about it its more like 6+ years and i used netscape) does dillo count as a modern browser? dillo 2 supports tabs i believe. or some other lighter weight browser, an epiphany port, midori?

[blueturtl]

Opera 9.6 here on Windows 95! Go to www.opera.com and get the classic installer package. They provide language files too.

For security I recommend the last freeware version of Kerio/Tiny Personal Firewall. Just set it to allow Opera and deny everything else without asking and you should be fairly safe.

Seriously, Opera is the best browser for old computers. It will run, and it will run fast.

Setting up Linux will give you a more robust and secure system, but it will be slower and a bit of an adventure to set up.

[AnonCat]

But in all seriousness, What are the specs that it runs windows 98 and not able to run linux???

Before i moved back home after graduation I setup a "server" for my roommate but he wanted to be able to hook a monitor to it. 350MHZ with 64MB ram (maybe it was even 32, since it was a joke).
I started with ubuntu server. and found a guide abotu IceWM and installed firefox. It was painfully slow but could run it.

It doesn't surprise me that linux didn't run on his machine since I've had similar problems before. On my current machine I have to use the alternate installer and have to blacklist the agp port (even though it's turned off in bios) by booting to the text prompt in recovery mode or the machine just hangs and never boots. If someone didn't know what to blacklist, a machine could easily be unusable for linux.

[Sef]

K-Meleon (http://kmeleon.sourceforge.net/). I use it on my XP work computer.

K-Meleon FAQ (http://kmeleon.sourceforge.net/wiki/FAQ#requirements):


What are the system requirements?

While a Pentium level processor is recommended, K-Meleon can run on 486 systems that meet the minimum RAM requirements. Please consult the release notes (http://kmeleon.sourceforge.net/wiki/ReleaseNotes) for particular versions of K-Meleon.


Users of Windows 95, Windows 98 and Windows NT 4.0 may have to install Vcredist.exe (http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=259403) to get the latest run-time components for Visual C++ applications.
K-Meleon Release Notes for version 1.5 (Latest Version) (http://kmeleon.sourceforge.net/wiki/ReleaseNotes15):


System Requirements



Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows 2003 Server fully supported. Windows 95, 98, 98SE, ME, Windows NT 4.0 generally supported with updated Microsoft libraries.
32 MB RAM minimum recommended.
6 MB of free hard drive space for download. 18 MB of free hard disk space for full installation.

[caravel]

It won't run puppy, or DSL, It just spits out a bunch of error messages.

What is the spec? Maybe try Debian with LXDE or IceWM?

If it must be Win9x then Firefox 2.0 or Opera will do the job.

[HermanAB]

One of these browsers should work:
http://www.paehl.com/open_source/?download=links.7z
http://www.paehl.com/open_source/?download=elinks.7z
http://www.paehl.com/open_source/?download=lynx286.7z

[chucky chuckaluck]

+1 for k-meleon. i used to use it, upon occasion, in winME.

[swoll1980]

I tried opera for Win98, but it's horrible. I also tried something called world browser, also horrible. IE 6 is the only one that ran "good" I will try out k-melon later today. For those who went into shock when I said it won't Linux. It has a 700 MHz celeron, and 128 MB of RAM, so I'm sure it would run a Linux just fine. The problem is with compatibility. Linux distro just wont run on it.

[CharmyBee]

Seamonkey (http://www.seamonkey-project.org/) works great! From experience, this is the best browser I use on Windows 98SE.

Opera's slow on old machines. Its theme engine gets in the way, a lot. The "fast" Chrome isn't so fast either. K-Meleon is super unstable, crashes alot, and bad UI.

If you need absolute speed (for any machine less than 100mhz) try this rather FEATURELESS one:
http://offbyone.com/offbyone/
It's the fastest blazing minimalist graphical Windows www browser you'll get. That, plus Miranda IM for personal communication, will turn even a 486 into a capable 'net machine.



I should mention I did get Firefox 3 working on Win98 before, forgot how though. It did involve some java jar or classes I think. You won't be able to install the latest Flash in Win98 though, since Adobe likes to artificially lock-in.

[K.Y.A]

TinycoreLinux runs lightening fast on very low specs too.

Perhaps you should just put us all out of our suspense and post the specs.

I forgot about tinycore!!! @OP THIS WILL WORK :D

Tinycore is a 10mb distro with its own packaging manager. I set up virtualbox with no hard drive, no swap, 16mb of ram, and Tinycore flew. Heh, it ran links2 -g without problems. Opera is in the respitories too.


I would give it a ago!

[K.Y.A]

I ran Firefox 1.5 on Windows 95 and IE6 on 98 until i found out about Linux. Firefox was slow, but I would recommended 1.5 for that machine.

For all those who are curious, I put Ubuntu 6.10, my first Linux distro, on the Windows 98 machine, with 450mhz Pentium 3, 16mb Video, and 128mb ram. The motherboard for this machine hangs on my wall now.

Windows 95 stayed on the other machine until it would no longer boot and then I put WLCP Linux on it. 32mb ram, 3.1gb hard drive, 1mb Vram. I used it for a few weeks, then scrapped it.