Thread: Did anyone here ever have Windows 3.1

  1. #16
    Rabite SirCrono6's Avatar
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    I have a computer running it in my living room right now actually. Although it doesn't have a mouse...
    I don't remember much about it when we actually used it seriously, because now my brothers and I just make jokes about it. Its interface is pretty different from the later Windows versions; there is no start bar or clock (there's a clock program though). The "desktop" holds the running programs, which always includes progman, which functions more like a modern desktop, except it has one of those omnipresent menu bars. If progman is exited, Windows shuts down. Then you have File Manager, which is sort of like My Computer, only completely different.
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  2. #17
    Registered User VirtualAce's Avatar
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    I had Windows Executive (1.0), Windows 3.0, and Windows 3.1 and I think there was a 3.11 as well.

    All of them royally sucked. Windows 3.0+ crashed and driver availability at that time was next to nil. My Paradise SVGA card would puke on most Windows 3.0+ apps.

  3. #18
    www.entropysink.com
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    >>I think there was a 3.11

    Windows for Workgroups?
    Visit entropysink.com - It's what your PC is made for!

  4. #19
    Registered /usr
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    Here's something some of you might remember... for those who had sound cards at the time, did you ever sometimes find yourself starting Windows 3.1/3.11 after using DOS and finding that the blasted tada.wav that's played at the start would just keep repeating over and over?

  5. #20
    Disrupting the universe Mad_guy's Avatar
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    I had Window 3.1 at one time, when I was pretty young (I'd say like, 5?) We had it because my sister got a laptop with it on it for free and I pretty much took it and played with it a lot. I got it to dump information that looked like debugging output on boot; impressive, no? :p
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  6. #21
    Registered User Tonto's Avatar
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    Totally played 'putt putt goes to the moon' and 'destruction derby' on a 3.1

    Also had an Apple IIe lab at my elementary school, played a lotta dug-dug.

  7. #22
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    I was using 3.1 on a 486 from 94 all the way up until 2000 (no, it wasn't because of Y2K :P). It ran very nicely and I must say I liked the fact that it was started from DOS (whereas today is the other way around, and its not even true DOS anymore, but emulated). I used word a lot and I actually still have all my old Word documents saved and they are still openable in the current version. Of course i also used the machine for more *entertaining* applications i.e. Prince of Persia, SQ4, Wacky Wheels, Commander Keen, and... well.. I could reminisce like this forever :P

  8. #23
    Hurry Slowly vart's Avatar
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    Given the choices at the time of an Apple, DOS, and Windows 3.1
    OS/2 was also a choice... For me - even better, till they dropped full support of Win32 API
    All problems in computer science can be solved by another level of indirection,
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  9. #24
    int x = *((int *) NULL); Cactus_Hugger's Avatar
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    This is rather odd, but I have never had or seen Windows 3.1.
    Gawd, really, I'm not that old...
    The computer behind me is sort of running Win3.1. Truthfully, it runs OS/2, and can more or less do Windows 3.1 because of that. (It's a Compaq Deskpro 386 from '87, <25MHz I do believe (PC World says 16MHz... I do think my calculator runs faster than 16MHz...). Forget the spec on the RAM/harddisk - haven't turned it on since a circuit breaker for the floor blew...)
    The (slightly newer) computer near it runs OS/2 Warp. (The laptop two stories below runs OS/2 Warp as well.)

    Did it have the same sort of features as todays OS like Win XP and Vista?
    Well, let's see... you can play minesweeper in Win3.1. Oh, hey! You can play minesweeper in Vista! Yup, same feature set. ^_^

    OS/2 was also a choice... For me - even better, till they dropped full support of Win32 API
    It's been hard to find decent documentation of OS/2's API... although it bears an uncanny resemblance to Win32 API. Oh, I wonder why...

    EDIT: Not like the one DOS machine we had... 640KB of RAM and what have you. All I know: It had joust! And space invaders. Centipede. You name it, it probably had it. And some chess game with the pieces shooting lasers and magic attacks. Now that was an awesome PC. I don't think there was a single "useful" app on there. All games. Great stuff. Although the OS/2 box had Midwinter, Lightspeed, (both incredible games) and Hack (The Quest for the Amulet of Yendor). And the newer OS/2 box had Doom. I.
    Last edited by Cactus_Hugger; 05-13-2007 at 11:18 PM.
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  10. #25
    Apprentice Swordsman's Avatar
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    I've still got a copy of Windows 3.11 for Workgroups on an old Compaq Laptop!
    I use it for when SEGMENTATION FAULT! and such things give me a headache and I want to play about in QBasic.

    I still remember the first time I made a program that would change the text to pink and play a terrible rendition of "Automatic" by the Pointer Sisters. It wasn't half as good as that sounds

    QBasic was fun, 20 GOTO 20 anyone?

  11. #26
    l'Anziano DavidP's Avatar
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    I used Windows 3.1 for the first few years that we had a computer in the house...from like 93 to 96 or 97. In either 96 or 97 we upgraged to Windows 95.

    We had Windows 95 until about 2000 or 2001, when Windows XP came out, at which time I did a clean install of XP.

    But anyways, now I have copies of: Windows 1.0, Windows 3.1, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows ME, Windows 2000, Windows XP Pro, Windows XP Media Center, Windows Vista Business

    Windows 1.0 is horrible. I have tried installing it on old machines to see if it does anything, and it just seems to stall for me.

    I really enjoyed Windows 3.1 a lot. It worked well. Windows 95 was crap.
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  12. #27
    Mayor of Awesometown Govtcheez's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by DavidP View Post
    Windows 1.0 is horrible. I have tried installing it on old machines to see if it does anything, and it just seems to stall for me.
    One of the oldest threads around here that I remember was you trying to find that

  13. #28
    train spotter
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    The first PC I bought was a 286 8MHz with a 10Mb HD and 640Kb RAM and Win 3.1.

    Least it had a HD (not floppies only or a cassette tape drive)......

    The diff between 3.1 and 3.11 was the removal of DoubleSpace. A drive compression utility MS 'stole', included in 3.1 and had to remove, releasing 3.11.
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  14. #29
    &TH of undefined behavior Fordy's Avatar
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    I didnt have the cash to own one in those days, but I used it in School & University

  15. #30
    Cat without Hat CornedBee's Avatar
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    I believe 3.1 and 3.11 also differed in networking capabilities. That's why 3.11 was "for Workgroups".
    All the buzzt!
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