Windows is 90% bloat, 9% library and 1% operational…
The third panel of that is LINUX: Can you install this 25 year old program?
It was already installed on there.
Cat is so old it should be dead by now… Guess it’s got nine lives 😅
Not my experience. I’ve had multiple old games and an old printer that just straight up didn’t work under Windows. On Linux however (using wine for the windows exe’s) it usually does run. Sometimes it does require some googling, but there’s usually someone who tried it before.
Games are actually the hardcore compatibility test. They are much less compatible than the average piece of software. That’s due to them using much more of the hardware/low-level-APIs of the OS, but also due to DRM and Anti-Cheat-Software (where applicable).
And printers are also (for some reason) super difficult. Probably because they are cheap, planned-obsolescence pieses of crap hardware, which are chock-full of DRM.
Shouldn’t window’s compatibility mode solve most of those?
Should, yes, but I find it often doesn’t.
GNU/Linux:
- Can I install this 20yo software?
- Is already installed.
If you do
echo "3 6 * p" | dcin a terminal it’ll give you the result of 3x6, but thedcpart of that is software that was written probably between 1969 and 1971.That is crazy and cool! Thanks!
there is nothing to doOld Linux software usually has to be completed from source anyway (uhh the effort) which essentially makes it future proof
how about this driver for an obscure 20yo laptop’s touchpad?
already installed
Actually once recently I had problems because the wifi driver (b43) for the Dell Latitude D505 (2004) wasn’t in the live Boot environment (cause un-free).
huh. Did you end up using a ethernet cable then?
Had this exact scenario with an old flatbed scanner. No win10 drivers and it never had mac drivers. Ran without issue in up to date Mint.
Can I install this 20yo software?
user is not in the sudoers file. This incident will be reportedSUDO Can I install this 20yo software?
Is already installed.You guys are awesome!
I know it’s a même but Linux isn’t that good for running old app that have a user interface. Old command line interface works perfectly but that’s mostly for developer.
windows make it available to everyone.
It’s one of the few things windows does better, might as well recognize it.
Old command line interface works perfectly but that’s mostly for developer.
No. I’m comfortable with command line tools, and I’m far from being a developer. People used DOS etc. as well without being developers.
Well, unfortunately there are sw inside windows that are even older
Windows is def better than Mac for backwards compatibility, but nah dude it’s not even close to perfect. Ive had better luck using wine for old windows programs
Removed by mod
it got so extreme i installed wine on wsl to run a few old programs because windows 11 dropped support for some libraries
That’s absolutely hilarious and I don’t doubt it for a second.
Wine is the most stable ABI on Linux 😂
I hear a lot about Windows backwards compatibilyty, but i don’t think it has ever actualy worked for me. Every time i tried to install a program meant for anything older then win7/win10 i get some cryptic error and end up using a VM.
What a fuckin lie. Can’t play some Windows 7 games on Windows 10 or above but on Linux it works.
I will always remember Battle For Middle Earth working first try on Linux after spending hours fighting with it on Windows
That game is a classic.
I tried to install Civilization 2 from a CD on Windows 10. It didn’t work.
there’s workaround but it’s a pain in the ass… https://www.myabandonware.com/game/sid-meier-s-civilization-ii-453
basically
- the game use old
.bindisk file, you must convert it to.iso - mount the
.iso - run the
setup.exeto install Civilization II
I’m unsure if this is doable with Windows, but when using wine there’s a simple workaround for this:
https://appdb.winehq.org/objectManager.php?sClass=version&iId=4849Mostly it boils down to copy the whole civ2 directory as-is.
- the game use old
Linux gang has entered the chat
Most people will need internet connection to Google specific commands to run or install the most trivial things, and it won’t always work depending on what distro you’re using. Oh you’re using MX Linux? Goodluck downloading a Plex client installer and just clicking it to install. Maybe use Snap but then good luck creating a shortcut with just a right click.
Limux won’t replace Windows anytime soon, not if even enthusiasts need to Google almost everything.
Bold of you to think I’d install a Plex client when I can just stream video in my terminal with mplayer in glorious ASCII.
And why would you search the internet when there’s a manual built right in?
Tfw compatibility for some old Windows programs and games is better in Wine than in modern Windows
Linux:
User: Can you install this 50 year old program?
Linux: it’s already installed
Grep is from 1973 so yeah.
No you can’t because the dependency doesn’t exit anymore.
Then compile it from the sources
Yes because that is more user friendly than running an executable through a built in compatibility layer… suure
Who tf wants usability when shit just has a solution no matter what. Additionally its an old program that a normal person wouldn’t even try.
On windows shit just doesn’t work and the solutions are most of the time not even existing.
Have you heard to Good Word of our Lord and Savior, AppImage?
User: Linux can you install this software from this ancient obscure operating system?
My dosbox and multiple attempts to build VMs of windows 3.1 say this isn’t completely true
Man, I hate to break it to you, but the Windows version from 25 years ago is… Windows 98.
I know, I know. I’m so sorry. I felt like that when I noticed, too.
Buddy. Buddy, please shut the hell up :')
Win98 software also do not work reliably on modern Windows. Microsoft abandoned that kind of compatibility a while ago for a mix of both good and bad reasons.
You will have better odds of running it on ReactOS or Linux.
What did I ever do to you for you to hurt me in this way?
- “Can you run on this 20 y/o piece of hardware?”
- Linux: “hold my beer!”
Only if you use 15 years old distribution. Linux actually drops support of older hardware faster than Windows, it just doesn’t happen consistently. Old drivers are maintained by volunteers so if someone wants to spend their free time on a driver for 25 years old hardware then it will work. But the moment that single developer disappears or stops caring then this driver is booted from the kernel fast. Supporting old hardware isn’t the goal of Linux unless someone make it their goal (and core developers don’t care either way as long as it’s not their job).
Ah, jeez, it was just a joke.
That’s never been my experience in the slightest.
I mean, tons of old drivers are on the repositories of major distros, you just have to install them. Just because it’s not in the kernel as pre-configured doesn’t mean you can’t just add it.
also the reason you can still find a dialogue window from like Win95 lol, people often whine how Windows doesn’t look as pretty as MacOS, but I think that’s just the price for crazy backwards compatibility.
if they remove those old elements, I’d bet people are gonna rage about how their old games or software no longer work.
Actually, a lot of games arent really working that great on Windows either, Windows 7 games tend to not work at all sometimes.
A lot of companies still use Windows XP and 7 for their programs. Seems like Windows is really backward compatible (it isn’t)
Gonna be honest, this isn’t my experience, a lot of stuff just doesn’t work on Windows anymore
I can get those same programs to work fairly easily on linux though using Wine/Proton
Do current Windows versions even start anything that was compiled for pre-Vista? I thought they don’t?
Yes. It’s 16bit app support for win3.1/95 stuff that ran in the DOS layer that’s depreciated, but even then they’ll sometimes run.
We still have some ridiculous genetics algorithm running inside dosbox, of all things, in an App-V virtual environment deployed across a farm of hundreds of Citrix servers running inside various VMware hosts and published up to some geneticist freaks at the hospital I look after.
It’s absolutely insane…
Yes, you can start almost all 32 bit software in Windows 11.
