Really old versions of Windows

[deh-cheesekake]

Annoyingly I am to young to have been there in the old days of the PC (I am referring to the time when all PC cases were that plasticity cream colour and speed was measured in MHz). So the reason I am making this post is because I am wanting to see what it was like to run the old operating systems, does anyone know of a place I am able to obtain old copies LEGALLY of Windows versions?

 

[steaky360]

I would be surprised if its still 'illegal' do simply download a hacked version. Or if anyone would care enough to try to prosecute.

You can still get copies from Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk but they are pretty expensive.

You might be able to find a copy on eBay

 

[Music Guy123]

I considered doing this a little while ago but unfortunately ran out of time. What do you guys think is the oldest OS version (windows or not) that one could install onto a pc?

 

[vanthus]

I considered doing this a little while ago but unfortunately ran out of time. What do you guys think is the oldest OS version (windows or not) that one could install onto a pc?

Probably windows XP,but even then you could have problems with drivers.

 

[Wozza63]

You could try a Virtual Machine, which will give the effect of it being laggy like an old PC, not sure why you'd wanna play with an old OS anyway, they always crash :/

 

[Music Guy123]

I don't know why I'd want to try it, I don't think there would be any particular reason, just out of curiosity! I probably would try running it in virtualbox or something. And yeh, xp isn't exactly old to me lol! I still use it daily! I was just wondering how old one could go, could you get an OS from the 90s on a (relatively modern) pc?

 

[vanthus]

I tried it once with windows 98 second edition but couldn't even get the necessary drivers to load for installation.As mentioned I've heard of people doing it on a virtual machine.

 

[Wozza63]

heres a way to get an outdated OS, buy a Mac XD

 

[Frank100]

Hi,

I'm showing my age now but i've worked in IT since Compaq had its own DOS version 3.31. So a long time before Windows was around. In terms of getting hold of some old OSs and maybe a crappy old beige machine to try them on, make friends with some sellers at your local computer fairs. Many of them will have small specialist shops and might have hung on to stuff like that.

 

[Music Guy123]

Hi,

I'm showing my age now but i've worked in IT since Compaq had its own DOS version 3.31. So a long time before Windows was around. In terms of getting hold of some old OSs and maybe a crappy old beige machine to try them on, make friends with some sellers at your local computer fairs. Many of them will have small specialist shops and might have hung on to stuff like that.

Oh, don't worry, I've got my sources !! I'm about to pick up a 20 year old ex cambridge university pc! I'm rather excited, get some linux on it, and we could restore it to it's beastly status ...or there about anyway!