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Thread ID: 50984 2004-11-08 01:49:00 OE and IE to IBM 486 running Windows 3.11 Morse (4575) Press F1
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289246 2004-11-08 01:49:00 Is this possible?

QUESTION 1.
I have resurrected an old IBM 486 and I want to set it up for email and net surfing for my daughter. I have copied all the OE files via floppy from my working computer running WIN 98 OE V 5.50 to a folder on the 486. I have selected "Setup50.EXE" which I assume is the installation file, clicked "Run" which caused a minor disturbance to the window but nothing else. I tried running this on DOS (PC DOS v 6.3) - no joy - bad command.

QUESTION 2.
The 486 does not have a CD ROM drive and the transfer of Internet Explorer files by floppy is not feasible (about 13 MB). Can IE be transferred by data cable as this is the only way I can think may be possible?

Can someone come to the rescue please and say "YES" and supply the necessary details?

Finally, am I reaching for the moon?
Morse (4575)
289247 2004-11-08 01:59:00 Question 1 is a statment not a question, so I'm not sure what you want to know.

Question2. You can link the 2 using what was commonly called a laplink cable. This should be available from Dick Smiths. If I remember correctly Win98 contains files to do this.

However, the 486 should be capable of running Win98, though you'd need 500mb hard drive space and 16mb RAM as a minimum. Again, you should be able to at least transfer the required files using the laplink data cable.
POTUS (5276)
289248 2004-11-08 01:59:00 I very strongly doubt that OE would run under W3 . 11 even if you could install it .

You could call it a generation gap . :D

Arachne is a very nice simple DOS based browser which will handle email well . The download is less than 1 MB the last time I looked . http://browser . arachne . cz is what I very vaguely remember . . . if that doen't work, Google will . ;-)
Graham L (2)
289249 2004-11-08 02:02:00 I think what you are try to do wont work, for one win 3.11 doesnt have a registry it uses sys files ie win.ini sys.ini etc.
secound why not just install a cdrom or maybe even try a linux distro (you'll need a cdrom for this also) I think under win3.11 you need drivers for cdroms win3.11 is a totally different animal to Win9x. Win3.11 is a gui wrapper for DOS more so than Win95 and dare I say it 98 and ME.
lastly I also think that win3.11 is 16 bit and those applications you are trying to install are 32bit and therefore are not backwardly compatible (will not run on a 16 bit system)
good luck though
beama (111)
289250 2004-11-08 02:08:00 There is a 32-bit extension package for 3.1x, but even with that I think OE would be unlikely to go. Graham L (2)
289251 2004-11-08 02:18:00 Many thanks guys for prompt replies. I think I'll flag that idea altogether. I have Windows 98SE disk. Being a novice I suppose the path would be format the hard drive and install WIN 98 assuming I get a CD ROM drive? How does that sound? Morse (4575)
289252 2004-11-08 02:21:00 How big is the hard drive on the Win3.1 pc? POTUS (5276)
289253 2004-11-08 02:27:00 >>How does that sound?
No, a 486, and you dont say what spec it is wouldn't be any good at all with win98, it just wouldnt hack it .

I have a good Dos 6 . 22/ Win3 . 11 set up .

You can still download Internet Explorer 3 for Win3 . 11, it comes complete with a tcp/ip stack and dialler, though there is an update to tcp that can also be downloaded .

You can use Foxmail 1 . 6 for email, it is free and a 16 bit program written for W3 . 11 . That is also free and can still be downloaded if you do a Google search .
Terry Porritt (14)
289254 2004-11-08 05:11:00 98 runs fine on a 486, although I would suggest only 66mhz or higher. george12 (7)
289255 2004-11-08 07:04:00 >>98 runs fine on a 486

Well, I wouldn't say fine :), struggling more like, and you preferably want at least a later version DX/100 or higher with a PCI motherboard, and PCI video card, and plenty of ram.

A DX/66 with Vesa or ISA video card and 30 pin ram probably only 8 or 16MB as originally fitted is struggling even with win95.

Now the AMD 586/133 MHz cpus were pretty good, about equal to a Pentium 75/90.

Then there is all the subsequent update bloat for IE and OE as compared with the original installed versions.

It's horses for courses.

Graham mentioned Arachne, I used to run that when on dial-up, it's a good dos browser. But my WFWG 3.11 is networked to my other machines, and I didnt find a way of using Arachne with ADSL.
The problem with earlier 486's is getting hold of any spares like I/O cards if they go kaput as they were prone to do.
Terry Porritt (14)
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