I am starting this thread for all the wanna be guinea pigs....

Since this is (un)Official... some information should be listed of the machine(s) you are offering up for testing....
If more info on anything is needed, please post the requirements! I just took a stab at it...

So, as an example, I have this laptop I've mentioned a lot lately for use as a tester...

Pentium MMX 166Mhz
Intel 430TX PCI Chipset (Gateway Solo 2300A)
64.2Megs RAM (65788 KB)
VGA NeoMagic MagicGraph NM2160
3.2Gig Hard disk
"SB Pro" (yamaha op3sax OEM driver used)
Windows 98SE (unique OEM release 4.90.3000ish)

I used Dr.Hardware SysInfo V 9.0e SHAREWARE to pull the above information...
Link is -> http://www.dr-hardware.com/pghpload.htm (650kish)
The proggie runs from real DOS (the top download link is for the Windowsish version), and *can* run from a boot floppy. I just unzipped it to C:\DrHW

I am currently in the process of trying to figure out a multi-boot config for this little lappy... email me if you can assist.

Why use shareware when you can use similar [if not better] free(ware) DOS [or even Windows based] tools:
http://www.mdgx.com/speed.htm#SPE

HTH

Thanks for the link... I honestly had forgotten what kind of info your site had... I thought it was just Windows stuff... thanks!

I noticed quite a few people have looked at this thread... so how's come nobody else volunteered? OR let it be known they would like a free tester...

What this thread is about, is individuals that are willing to dedicate a portion of their time to helping these projects further advance...

I noticed a LOT of the people doing these packages make comments wishing people would attach logs or similar things... well, this thread is where those people can find others to attach logs and whatnot...

I assumed others would like to help them out, so I opted for a public thread for communications hoping others would step up...

They just need a few peeps to *actually* post logs files and errors...

I also noticed a similar thing happening with my offer to host bittorrent files (seed for free)...
(I know peeps already do this, but why not get an actual group organized somehow?)


If nobody *wants* this type of offer, then just remove the threads please...
Sorry for wasting time and space...

I guess this place is going to hell in a handbasket.....

?Why was someone in particular banned?
?Would I get banned if I create an AWESOME fix for something **greatly** needed?
?How's come you keep their FILES and LINKS alive after you killed them?

I don't agree with hearing these things... and since it was forbidden to speak of it...

I guess I have no choice but to have conflicted feeling about MSFN.org now....

All that was ever said is inappropriate conduct.... like what??? They wrote a freakin' driver!

Way to go and help kill off a much needed niche OS...

I am totally renigging this offer to everyone that accesses this site. I am *not* going to contribute to something that won't justify banning an extremely valuable member. And publicly forbidding conversation on this is ludacris.

Reading about the ban... and seeing this thread I started.... everyone here is a bunch of cynics....

I don't think anyone here actually wants to help anyone, or even help to keep Windows 98 alive... methinks this is a place for old guys to congregate and talk about the 'good times'. Yeah, you help out a little bit... and yeah, you even put together a package to install all the updates....

Guess what?

We have more than 2 update packages on this site....
We have updates that are the same between these 'packages'.
AND We got improper file versions between these packages.

Does anyone give a sh!t? hell no, I wanna do my *own* stupid mindless bullsh!t.

I enjoy the update packages, and I **greatly** appreciate the help I recieved during that time... I am *not* referring to anyone in particular... I am mainly commenting on the invisible oppressive hand that is affecting us all here. Just exactly how far in M$ pocket **IS** MSFN.ORG???

And since when is it WRONG to ask what happened to a valuable comrade?

I might as well just stop visiting this site.... there comes a point in time when you have to just admit something is fooked up.

Yeah, we wanna get our broken pieces of software running... but, na... we are happy b!tching about nobody sending in log files.... too busy to notice someone posted to volunteer... can't be bothered, either....

This thread is at least a week old. Screw it. If the admins believe that my mispelt swearing to avoid filters is a bannable offense, then I guess I'll finally know where the line is drawn...

since I AIN'T ALLOWED TO ASK.


((DISCLAIMER:: I am having a bad day, and just found out **** was banned for no known reason. Then I found the thread that says DO NOT ASK WHY. Ok? Do you know where I'm comming from now?))

Methinks this whole site is just a misinformation campaign of sorts.... so many people claim to be wanting to help, but many many more just b!tch and get in the way. And out of those that are actually helping, most of them are honestly too busy to see anything to completion (as far as helping someone else out goes).

I've tried to assist in creating some order out of this chaos.... No one gives a sh!t. So, neither do I now.

Calm Down a little bit. We have this forum because we all like Windows 98. It is really that simple. It is true that I do not think we need an "official guinea pig" thread because we are all guinea pigs. Lots of us test out the patches and updates here. I really do not know what you expect with the last post you made. It accomplished nothing. Also I do not know nor is it any of my business why any msfn member was banned. It has never been ok to discuss such things reguardless of the reason. Just my 2 cents.

There are still a lot of people active for Windows 98.

For example I am working on some Windows 98 from Scratch project, but such a huge project takes time to set up. I am now stumbling with SubVersion to keep track of all files.
I have so far succesfully modularized MDAC and JET. In a few weeks I can publish some more info.

Ok, I have to agree with you about the banning. Why the f*** did they ban her after all she's done for the 98 community and for MSFN in general? I've checked her last posts. Nothing bad there. Now WE're going to pay for that? At least give us real reasons that we can understand!

But for the rest? WTF? People do their best here and time is something limited.
Anyway, maybe it's my limited english skills but I can't understand the title of your thread or even what you expect from people in it so that might one reason why nobody posted. I can understand you've had a bad day but you still can't shoot down everyone's work for no reason...

Take some time to relax, it's always a good thing.

Well, her banning was one of the reasons why i've mainly switched to the W2000 improving.
I've wanted to write insulting posts about that several times but could stop myself from this - coz' it's useless.

Let me start by clearing one thing up...

I didn't intend to offend a single active member of the community...

Not one bit. If I did, I am extremely sorry. You guys have greatly helped the world.

What I was attempting to bring to light was the total misunderstanding of losing a valuable asset to this community.

And as a result of that misunderstanding, some of the rumors I've heard seemed to hold some weight.

Now, I must admit I was out of line... but thankfully at least someone came to my side and proclaimed the need to vent about it...

The "invisible opressive hand" is what kept them from complaining...

This all came to light after realizing that despite people's cries for volunteers in their individual threads, no one had requested a volunteer here... Now, that *really* irks me... (for easier translation for non-English: that was something that made no sense, so I was left feeling really confused about the purposes of this place)... and combined with the rumors of Microsoft stamping out everything older... and mix in the MSFN.*ORG* and the disappearance of a valuable person on the team...

yeah, I yelled and I screamed for a good solid 5 minutes.

Now that I got that off my chest...

Oh yeah, for those that wonder about it... all you need to know is....

Even a genius can be a rude person. I hope I didn't cross anything there...

Perhaps we could make an exception about the "not talking about why peeps are banned"?
I *know* it opens a can... but perhaps a closed, admin-only thread that we can see... showing the offense (or at least listing which # on the list of rules was broken).

Seriously, if an individual can contribute something needed so dearly... and then be snuffed out... I am sorry to proclaim I believe we deserve some sort of an explaination... in a public-type forum...

yeah, I got a bad day... but at least it accomplished something... maybe I could convice y'all to actually regroup as a single unit working together instead of a bunch of little groups re-inventing the wheel over and over again... I don't mean to detract from the MAJOR advancements (yeah, even the supposedly minor advancements are MAJOR with 9x!), it just kills me to see all this potential...

(Please don't take it the wrong way guys... to come so far in this state is nothing short of amazing! I just wish this place would lend itself more to this development... it seems to outright hinder it so often...)

Now that all of that is off my shoulders.... feel free to kill this thread. I understand a little bit more about how this place works.... just wish a little more common sense was used... if I get banned, at least someone heard me- maybe the gears of change could use the lubricant?

I haven't been on the forums lately so I have not witnessed any of the events that led to her ban, but I am not surprised she has been I must say.

Certainly she has been an extremely valuable contributor to this forum (and I am the first to be admirative and grateful for the esdi_506.pdr fix she has done), but this does not allow someone to then, say, use the PM system to distribute links to illegal iso downloads for example, as she was doing, or trying to, two months ago, along with a moot argument that because MS does not sell an OS anymore, she is allowed to do whatever she wants with it on here.

At that time I warned her and also spoke the voice of wisdom but she dismissed it all, saying I was not a moderator or something like that. Then xper closed the thread after a few more posts if I recall correctly.

I am pretty sure that posts such as those she did at the time, would have led to an immediate ban if she had been a new poster.

What has she done exactly to get banned then ? Has anyone round here witnessed it directly ?

After receiving a warning from a young super mod regarding a comment I made about the banning , I feel that other methods should have been made i.e filtering the persons threads etc etc instead of the draconian way this issue has been dealt with. To lose such an important person from this forum should not have been dealt with so lightly, then with some heavy handedness it becomes forbidden to express any views about it. If msfn is being moderated by juveniles I think myself I will move on to pastures new, probably have a look in here now and then, but I do not think I will be posting much anymore
All the best