Window 98 and Windows ME can’t launch the last Blender version anymore

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jms wrote:
Users of Window 98 and Windows ME can’t launch the last Blender version anymore because of the new management profile which only exists in Window NT operating system (Win 2k and Win xp).

Fortunately, I found how to make a compilation that works correctly on these old systems. It is available here.

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    • tyy

      why in the world would you use win98 (i consider junk0)lol man i feel for ya hey but cool lol at least u recycle

    • James

      Thank you! I’m far from an expert modeler, but I really enjoy using Blender and the latest features are always a treat. :)

    • http://th3w-san.deviantart.com Th3w-san

      I wonder if this is related to msvcr71.dll?
      2.46 requires msvcr71.dll to run in Windows, and at least to my knowledge the earlier releases did not.

      I had to download it and add it to my wow64 folder to get Blender 2.46 running in Vista 64-bit, but the older versions worked fine without it. I wonder if it’s the same problem with 98 and ME…

    • http://www.ubuntu.com Socceroos

      Anyone still using windows 98 or ME should immediately switch to Linux – that old OS is enough to make me jump off a bridge these days.

    • RNS

      Move on thats part o f life.

    • ccherrett

      Even MS does not support these OSs :)

    • LetterRip

      There are people from countries where a modern computer is a lot of money. Just because you are lucky enough to live in a place where a modern computer is readily available, not all people are that fortunate.

      JMS thanks for providing a build that works with win98, even though I personally don’t need it, I’m sure there are many artists and aspiring artists who will find it useful.

      LetterRip

    • Easton

      LetterRip- do those countries not have access to free Ubuntu cds?

    • Mat!

      Easton, do you think ubuntu’ll run on a PII machine? and in those contries the bandwith is too low to download a iso (even 54mb)

    • Gwenouille

      Hmmm, Ubuntu is not always the perfect solution neither. I’ve spent more than a day getting Gutsy to work on my recent computer and now it freezes while trying to upgrade to Hardy. Some people feel comfortable with, or are stuck with Me and JMS provides them with the newest blender. What is there here to laugh at ?

    • Thomas

      Well, Windows 98 and NT weren’t that bad, it just had slightly less user friendliness.
      I don’t understand that people still use Windows at all.

      They think: It’s commercial, so it should be better than free.
      NOT.
      Vista, bah,
      The only reason I might use Vista is because of DirectX 10, nothing more.

    • Jens

      Ubuntu (or any other desktop linux) uses *substantial* more resources than Win98. I had Win98 running quite well on a 486 with 8MB RAM. (But then, I wouldn’t run Blender there.)

      But I am glad that the devs don’t put resources into getting the software run on a completely outdated system.

    • http://www.anicator.com AniCator

      I am using Windows XP. It works fine for me. It supports more games than other platforms. I am an animator and gamer. Also the software I use to make my music with is a Windows application. Windows works fine. Linux works fine. Mac works fine. They all have their pros and cons.
      The only thing that sucked recently was nTune. My PC froze after it started up. Weird jagged lines resembling the background image were all over. But I fixed it. And it now works fine, again.

    • Höhrer

      I use a simple Debian install on a 650MHz computer with 512MB RAM and a TNT2 graphics card …. yup, that still works great.
      Anything _below_ this configuration was more or less unusable with Blender … either in terms of sluggish feedback when doing some things (you get used to that though) or in terms of missing RAM.
      That doesn’t mean it could not work for others – this was just the experience I got from the computers I tried it on.

      I wish anybody good luck using Blender with an older (and/or relatively unknown and/or uncommon) OS – this can only help Blender. I really don’t want to see People saying: “But it can’t be used with XXX.” … that would just not be Blender ;)

      Anyway – happy blendering,
      Werner

    • Dusty

      OMG! Windows 98 don’t work!!! Oh no!!!
      Does that mean my 3.1 won’t work now either! :p

      but seriously it’s understandable.
      Blenders support for 98 went on longer that MS’s own support did!

    • http://www.steam-train.de/ Haunt_House

      well, I still use win98. Why? because I’m used to it, because my ‘workstation’ has 256 mb ram. It’s easy to use, supports all of my needed hardware. The search function is several times faster than winxp.

      Until I switch to a small linux, with all the weeks of learning of how to do simple things (like building a network, connecting to the internet etc.). I will continue to use win98.

      Hopefully I can now use 2.46 instead of 2.42, which was the last stable version for my win98se.

      A big thank you for making this build ( :

      Haunt

    • http://www.davidrevoy.com David Revoy ( Deevad )

      That’s sound great to hear about retro compatibility solving problem. Good job with it !

    • chlue

      I still consider win95 the best MS-OS when it comes to abilities vs waste of cpu and ram. I would feel extremly unfomfortable going online with it, though.
      So if you want/need to keep your old hardware and your system never sees the internet and all hardware works fine, why should you switch to another MS-OS? I would put Linux on such a system, but that is definate not easy (at least for a lot of user) under the constraint to stay as fast as win95.

      So lets either thank the people who help to keep stuff running on these machines, or just ignore these news and be happy, that our hardware is fast enough for the modern os-variants.

    • Dusty

      I’m sorry that sounded ignorant of me! I understand there are people out there on win 98 and can’t afford Windows Vista or XP.

      In that case I’d switch to Ubuntu Linux. It’s free, rich with features, the most commonly used version of Linux, easy to use, and quick too. A great alternative.

    • Dusty

      Oh and it’s one of the easiest to install too.

    • Dusty

      Arggh Sorry should have said, if you have windows already installed, it will add a partition to your disk and allow you to either book into Windows or Ubuntu.

    • Dusty

      book = boot.
      …
      …
      shutting up now. :)

    • http://e2-productions.com/ Dion Moult

      Wow OS war got sparked.

    • rpgsimmaster

      Windows 3.11 FTW! (Or Windows 1.0, if you like using DOS 5)

      Kidding aside, I honestly am not sure that 9x support is necessary anymore

      Okay, sure, people go on about using 98 because their hardware is unable to handle XP. I know the issue. But if your hardware can barely run NT based OSes, how the heck do you intend to have it run Blender? (if it is being used as a render node, I’d go with Linux anyway)

      After all, keeping support with 9x systems… It’s like worrying if the code will be compatible with Linux Kernel 1.3.x and XFree86 3.3 and…. well you get the idea. (Not that blender would run on those anyway :P)

      If the coders always worried about backwards compatibility, the code begins getting clunky and even dangerous (from a coding perspective), and incredibly annoying to work with.

      That all aside, and rambling been and gone, it is good that someone does think about the smaller userbase that needs the backwards compatibility… And for those of you who ARE running Windows 98 – it might be time to look at upgrading…

      Oh, and please, no OS war. I hate how entire post comment sections get eaten alive by the mere mention of the word Microsoft…

    • rogper

      I have to say this:
      When I had windows 98 it was the same thing that having nothing at all.
      I lost all my first works do to bluescreens, I had to press save every single minute because it would defenetly crash… the only thing I’m sory is that Linux those days was darn ard to put to work, but today, even for that 10 years old computers that may not run Ubunto, for sure they run Xubunto ;) and older computers aren’t usefull for Blender.

    • http://gordallott.wordpress.com gord

      TU ubuntuTU not TO >_<

    • pastorJohn

      *sigh*

      OK, you don’t like MS, you don’t like Windows. Fine.

      Meanwhile, some people are using them. Fine.

      I liked ’98, I like UBUNTU, don’t use either because for where I am and what I do, XP works better. It is MY best solution.

      Instead of trying to argue about OSs, could we please just applaud some of the best coders in the world for their willingness to work on what is now a recognizably vast spectrum of platforms? Blender works in 64-bit modern OSs. It works in Linux, on a Mac, in Vista, XP, 2000, ME – I mean, come on, they got something to work in ME! – and now 98 and maybe 95(?). To me that is an excellent technical achievement.

      So… from me to the guys that keep the code running and keep our pipe-dream wish list turning into reality at blazing speed: THANK YOU FOR TAKING CARE OF EVERYBODY! You ROCK!

      *hugs*

    • http://www.freezingmoon.org Dread Knight

      Linux FTW!

      *buntu distros; http://www.ubuntu.com

    • pastorJohn

      rpgsimmaster:

      I agree with you that rendering on an old PII would be problematic, but I could see someone that doesn’t have the availability of a newer machine still wanting to run Blender for, say, modeling.

      Thanks to the fact that all work can be saved and shared in a .blend file, it is conceivable that someone could collaborate with a group by doing the basic mesh work with an older system, email the file to someone that can skin or render on their system, email THAT to the lighting guy, etc until the final work gets sent to a beefy machine for final render.

      OR, some people are just patient and can let their machine run for several days on one rendering solution. The beauty is, the end user gets to decide for themselves how Blender is going to work for them. To me, that is the wonderful root thought of open source.

      It seems that backward compatibility and code clunkiness issues are more of the management of the project than internal code issues. If you branch off coding for each OS, why can’t older OSs have a branch in the tree that doesn’t negatively affect the rest?

      Just my thoughts. Happy Blending. Toodles.

    • http://www.nuegua.ca Zinc Chameleon

      Puppy Linux to the rescue!

      I’ve got a Pentium III with 640MRam running Windows ME, because the IBM PCCamera software runs so well on it. Oh, and Aliens Vs. Predator, my favorite FPS.

      And…I’ve got Puppy Linux 3.01 running on top, which handles Blender 1.46 just fine, if you use the Python 2.4 and static link version.

      So..all I need to do is reboot when I need Blender, and boot back for whatever WinME apps and games I need. Works great, and cheap like Borscht.

    • Blend3d

      Thanks Tim for providing this to the community. It is a positive deed despite some of the comments. After all it’s about the art and access!
      Blend3D

    • http://www.pyrosever.com pyrosever

      My sega mastersystem won’t play halo 3. Whats the deal?

      ….. sorry, couldn’t resist. Seriouosly though, it’s interesting how even with the apparent speed at which software is progressing, a ten year old os is still not completely obsolete. And I didn’t hate win98.

    • Dusty

      Sorry guys! I wasn’t trying to argue OS! Honestly!

      I have XP and get along with it well. One day I am going to get a new PC and that will no doubt have Vista.

      I’m even looking forward to that!

      The angle I was approaching was in places around the world where people can’t afford new PC’s with XP, vista or the like, and these people suddenly find they can’t get Blender 2.46 on Win 98, they could try a free alternative. As I use Ubuntu as well as XP I recommended it.

      It wasn’t intended as an slating of MS. I personally think MS have changed the world for the better and they do a good job considering the scale they deal with.

      So I’m sorry if it came across wrong. Windows is great, Ubuntu is great.

      Sorry.

    • Peppe

      Wonderfull ! I need that (and can explain why to those who joke with win98 users) but cannot find it in the french site. At least i cannot find something like “version for win98or ME”
      some help avalaible?
      thanks
      Peppe Cirotti – Costa Rica

    • Johan

      This is cool. Have been in situations where the only PC available to me was a P1 with Win98. Don’t knock this effort!

    • EagleWing

      Why I can safely say that I use Ubuntu and Vista, I’m glad to see that blender remains lightweight enough to run on me. Sometimes your in a situation where every computer in the house is being used except for that old one in the corner! Blender still works.

    • http://twoday.tuwien.ac.at/pub panzi

      The biggest dependency blender has is to OpenGL. This is available under such old operating systems so I guess blender will run on them for a long time. It could be that some fancy features might not be available under those platforms and maybe special builds would be needed in which certain features are turned off. But the main app will be usable for a long time to come under Win9x/Me. But given the memory (and other) limitations of those operating systems such an old PC might run better/faster with a recent Linux distribution (not using KDE/GNOME but fluxbox or something similar).

    • http://jmsoler.free.fr jms

      Hi,

      the Blender SVN has been updated so now all the compilations for Window available on graphicsall or zoo-logique.org since last thursday can be used on Windows 98.

    • ruhroh

      I still miss the good ol’ MS-DOS days…. Any chance of getting an MS-DOS build of Blender????

    • http://www.dnapixels.com AnyMation

      I agree with you LetterRip: there was one guy on the course that I presented in Nigeria that brought aWin98 laptop. We used Blender 2.45, but in the end the problem was that the laptop was too slow to be usable.

    • http://amdb.blip.tv amdbcg

      @Socceroos: I agree, I found out it didn’t run awhile ago (1 year ago) on my win98, so I got an opensuse and just let it do its thing – I expected it to fully erase my windows part, but instead, it played nice and just split the hd 50/50. Suse runs blender fine :) it also added windows to the grub boot loader :) and can read the ntfs/fat partitions :)

      that’s probably the entire reason I got linux for my win98 machine – to run blender on it :)
      – it worked quite well! (PII, 500Mhz, 10Gb hd, 256 Mb RAM, and it still runs!)

      the only thing I don’t like about the linux builds is lack of quicktime support ( FFMPEG doesn’t count :P – still kindof hard to find a good setup)
      ok, that’s my 2 cents on this mound of pennies :)

    • Paul Siola

      Hey guys,

      Thanks for thinking about everyone else. You guys rock…that’s the one of the best thing about blender and open source, we’re not restricted to one operating system and it still supports earlier versions of windows. Totally Rad stuff! The only downside is rendering on this earlier versions and all that….but you know, whatever, at least we can do that right???

    • http://www.thefilthyspoon.blogspot.com Jeremiah W.

      This is good…however if you can afford XP…you may want to upgrade (I don’t recommend Vista…XP is faster from my experience with XP/Vista). If you can’t afford the upgrade, I understand (but if you are one of those people who thinks Windows 3.1 is better than XP…well I’ll leave that discussion to a later day :-P ) Linux is great too…and free, no RAM limits or anything.

      Nice feature to have though.

    • ccherrett

      YES MS-DOS Build!

      That would be awesome! :)

    • rpgsimmaster

      @pastorJohn: interesting point, but probably countered by the ‘linux’ argument of various people here…

      @ruhroh: lol – I was gonna ask the same thing :P

      @jms: Ah, okay… I was actually going to ask that “if Blender CAN be backward compiled for Windows 98, why does it only support NT5 OSes?”… Good to hear…

      I know from personal experience that Windows 98 is not entirely obsolete – I work in a theatre and we use a *very* old laptop with Windows 98 on it to run scrolling text displays (like a teleprompter)… admittedly it can’t do anything else, and we have attached a label on the back that says “Please Steal Me” :P, but that’s beside the point…

      PS. Spiderman uses Windows 98 http://static.zooomr.com/images/1133263_2849fe9634_o.jpg

    • LOGAN

      I remember the days when I used my 486 trying to do 3D. For one 800×600 simple image it had to render all night. Sometimes I brought the files to a friend who had a high end PII.

      When I finally got my 1.6GHz in 1999 I had to ask for Widows 98SE (else I got that obscure Windows ME, then you can be happier with 98SE). 2000 and XP came a bit later and now the world has moved on to Vista. I’m now struggling to find Windows XP for my new PC.

      Although I love the buntu’s I really want a Windows to play my old and new games and to run some software thats not available on Linux. And I’m not daring to run these windows apps and games under wine, as it would take to much resources. (That’s like running Windows Vista :)

      I don’t want to get myself Windows Vista as it eats more resources and doesn’t make my apps run any better or faster. I almost feel its the Windows ME of today :P

      But I hope Blender will keep supporting OS-es from Windows 98SE and higher because of the people still having to use the OS. If blender is OS independent this should be possible. I don’t know how many people are still using Win98 or lower, but for whatever reason I hope they still be able to use blender.

      The biggest problem I have with upgrading to the next OS is that any new OS seems to consume more RAM and disk space to end up essentially with an OS you use to use your applications. Where’s the gain in that? Even more fancy looking graphics of the OS? 3D rotating screens? It’s that Microsoft NEEDS to fork out another OS just to have the developers keep their jobs… I’m sure XP or whatever OS could have served our needs for a long time to come.

      And support costs of supporting various versions of an OS will make developers move on to the next OS eventually dropping support for older OS’es. Well if all this was free software there isnt sush a problem moving to the newest versions of apps and OS.

      So Blender, good job in supporting legacy versions of Windows! Keep it up!!!

    • Ivan Paulos Tomé

      I am using an older PIII 700 (@933Mhz) with 512MB Ram and a Ge force 2 GTS at my work, It’s a recycled machine I have took out of the waste, I have also changed the empty capacitors of the motherboard and installed better ones. The Machine is so fine with Ubuntu that my coleagues of work stays very impressed with the performance of the machine. This machine works with Win 2000 too, and it’s very stable and very usable with Linux, either Debian or Kubuntu 8.04.

      I am Using Kubuntu, and turned on the effects of Compiz. Never had any problems since the kubuntu installation.

      I have tested a bunch of machines, and discovered a simple thing, Kubuntu needs 512MB of Ram, you can use an older_than_mine with a PII 350 processor and a Riva TNT32 or Vanta LT card (16MB-Vram), If you have 512 of Ram, it will work fine with Blender 2.46 and kubuntu.

      Using my older PIII until it’s End Of Life will certainly help nature. AND don’t tell me that it is not a good Blender machine, there are a lot of cool things that can be done using an old machines with Blender. Big things are made from small ones.
      :P.

    • free_ality

      Jeez, so many windows haters! If you dont use the OS, thats cool, dont be so nasty to those who do(wether they want to or have no option doesnt matter). This is a great fix for folks who need it, and it doesnt apply to the rest of you, so bug off! I dont understand why any mention of Windows inevitably turns into a linux ‘discussion’(and I use that word in the loosest possible way). WHo really cares which you use, whatever floats your boat right?

      Goodness, the internet seems to bring out the worst in us, people think its cool to say whatever they want to. Try and at least pretend you have some manners.

      Thanks again for the fix JMS, I wont use it personally, but Im sure it’ll help out a ton of people :)

    • BlenderLovingSquirrel2

      Yeah you should just use linux xD

    • Zxayant

      Thanks JMS, appreciate the efforts!

      Still have one comp running W98. Need to buy legal XP, but don’t know which shop still stocks it in Rotterdam region :(

    • Joat

      Personally for basic computing tasks I’d take win98 over any version of linux anyday.

      The reason is simple. I f***n hate configuring linux machines. Not my cup of tea, altough I have had my share of it. And still do.

      You can actually run win98 stable as a rock with less than half the effort averagely put on “finetuning” a linux machine.

      Sorry to all of you Linux-fans here, but I tought this conversation needed a second opinion. If Linux would be superior, there would not be market for commercial alternatives.

      In the real world it’s all about usability, compatibility, support and ease of use. And windows runs circles around linux on all categories. Even win98 does.

    • http://amdb.blip.tv amdbcg

      I’m glad Win98 is still around ! :)
      @Joat – yes, I agree, linux, even though free, is usually a pain with compatibility (didn’t have wireless/ good audio with my PIII Suse)
      I’m much happier in windows (feels like home instead of the wilderness of drivers :P)

      but linux is not the topic here, its Windows 98 :) – I found all the problems with my win98, and found out how to fix them (eg: audio recording/ photo editing – one at a time instead of all at once)
      Win98 machines are also good for making a base blend file and then giving it to someone else (who’s got a faster machine) for rendering out.

    • http://www.qso.com/carlautta/colin/Beta/ Tynach

      Ok, I heard someone say that you couldn’t get Linux to work faster than Windows 95.

      Problem with Win 95: If you put it on a modern computer, it would work just as fast as an older computer.

      Awesomeness of Ubuntu: It would work faster than Windows XP on the modern computer, and faster than 95 on the older computer.

      Without any extra configuring besides installing graphics drivers, Blender works up to four or five times faster on Ubuntu than XP Pro. And I have and use both OSs often under the same hardware.

      But, great to see them work on Blender for 98. There are still some 98 computers at school, and I do some Blending on the school computers. Most are now XP computers, but a few are 98. And now its good to know that I can run Blender on all of them now.

    • ethana2

      I’d like to thank all the people running blender on PII’s with Windows 98 for helping out nature with their efficient and totally rad Flop/Watt ratios!

      ….dude. Recycle it already. That silicon and gold could put to much better use.

    • Bill

      Can’t afford another OS and would be lost with linux.So am stuck with Me.The thing that bugs me,myself is that it still says runs on Me and while waiting for the download on dial up u get excited only to find out it doesnt work.So someone should please update that page and save others from disappointment.
      Still proud of the developers.

    • kit89

      I thought Microsoft stopped support for win98 ages ago? Surprised people are still running it. Mind you I was talking to someone & they said that some companies still run under 98 as they run extremely important systems, In short it’s not because 98 is good but because they cant have the system swapped out with a newer one without problems arising. And that’s something they don’t want.

      I managed to get Kubuntu running on a 330MHz machine with a whole 90MB RAM(taking up all 4 slots), ran surprisingly, though it did take it’s sweet time to load applications. Not surprising really ;).

    • http://www.nuegua.ca Zinc Chameleon

      That’s why I mentioned Puppy. I love my webcam, and I live to hunt and kill the Bugs in AVP.
      Win2K has AVP problems; forget XP and Vista.
      Puppy is the *easiest* Linux to load, and uses the least resources.
      And far and away the best hardware wizards.

      If you want to keep your old machine, and still run Blender 2.46, just email me and I’ll
      walk you through it.

      Free!

    • Eelko Gielis

      @Zxayant: Try this:

      http://www.azerty.nl/producten/product_detail/498/21797/windows-xp-home-edition-sp2.html

      (Goeie zaak, stuurt het zo op)

      BTW: Which OS you run depends on your taste, budget and will.
      Be glad that you have choise on what OS you want to run, all that counts is that YOU are happy on your platform.

    • houari

      *the debate will always be free vs commercial,money vs anything else…
      *i use cracked xp because xp costs more than a computer here but i don t make money out of it and every every thing on my pc is free…except the os….
      *looking forward to move to ubuntu or something like this so that i would be able to make honest money with my hardware

    • FromTheDark

      Windows 98?? Come on fellows, upgrade!

    • http://arkavision.co.nr Howitzer

      What shameful replies.

    • Noodlesgc

      Hey does anyone have a blender build working for MSDOS? My DOS box (I really do have one) is having trouble running 3D software.

    • jaco

      I personally don’t find these comments shameful…if a person thinks that ubuntu is better choise than win98 there’s nothing shameful in it…it’s just his personal opinion and nothing more or less…

      But I find it very good that 98 is supported by our community…because there are lots of these old computers that I don’t think would run better with modern Linux os’s..and some of them even lacks sometimes CD-ROM:DD (at least in Lithuania this in schools sometimes happens:DDD)…and by the way: GOOD work JMS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    • http://jmsoler.free.fr jms

      Just to say that the problem has been corrected.
      http://lists.blender.org/pipermail/bf-committers/2008-May/021185.html

    • http://www.onjoFilms.com NeptuneKid

      A good time to switch to Apple.

    • jacques

      Ubuntu (since a lot of people talk about it) is a resource hog. Not as bad as Vista but still. If you’re serious about computational performance, you’d be better off with some other flavour of linux. I used Ubuntu until Hardy came out. It had so many bugs that it pushed me into trying Archlinux, and adopting it. It’s a very good OS.

    • rpgsimmaster

      Now that I think about it, 98 isn’t all THAT uncommon… It’s still used in all sorts of odd places in the commercial industry, partially for the reasons that kit89 mentioned, but also because it is good for dedicated systems which require a balance between ease of GUI programming and speed on very minimal hardware, without going embedded (hence they don’t use linux – X server can be a b…. er, very annoying, on very low spec hardware)…

      In fact, I’m pretty sure I’ve seen an ATM that uses Windows 98 (Goodness only hopes it’s secure for all transactions – I’d hate to find it had a keylogger installed that was “borrowing” pin numbers)

      Still, as a home use system, it’s unfortunately losing momentum as a suitable system for any kind of processor intensive task… Here’s hoping React OS (NT Kernel based, http://www.reactos.org) gets a little more stable sooner, or Wine and Linux get a bit easier to use for newbies (I mean that term in a nice way)

    • joeri

      Blender is FREE !!! This means available to ALL !!! Not only snobs who can afford a mac book pro (like me) But also kids at community centers on Bali, Peru and Siberia.

      Could all u.s.a. idiots please get their heads out of their neighbours ostridge and study google earth for an hour or so? Blender was developed on Irix, got ported to PC in 1998. It can damn well run on pretty good on windows98.
      The NaN content team was using win98 to create all the demos… Really. Sometimes all I read here are a bunch of idiot remarks.

    • http://deeppixel.uw.hu Zsolt Stefan

      Hey, what’s up with all this Windows bashing?
      Sure it had it’s problems, but I’d say Windows 98 was one of the longest lived working OS-es of all time. Which Linux user here uses a build from 1998? Especially one that still works with most programs and most hardware available today?

      btw, afaik Microsoft extended it’s support for 98/ME for several more years.

      (On a side note, I use Linux and XP as well, both work most of the time, but BOTH also crash sometimes.)

      Thank you JMS for the build, I am sure there are people who appreciate it!
      Zsolt

    • BonE

      thnx!

    • free_ality

      @jaco: Of course people can have a personal opinion! Everybody should be entitled to use whatever they want :]. The shameful part is people bashing another person’s choice in OS, and thats definitely shameful.

      Whenever info comes up about windows, we get lots of linux users going on about how windows sucks and we should all just switch to Linux. Whenever Linux info comes up, we get linux users professing either A) they were right all along, Linux is amazing(if the info is positive) or B) Its still better than Micro$oft Windows(if its negative).

      In the long run, I fail to see hows it worth their time to jump on every OS post and turn it into a blankVSblank thing. Cant we just be cool with the fact that everybody isnt the same, and move on? If linux is the best thing that ever happened to you, thats fantastic, Im happy for you. But theres really no need to get preachy/hostile about folks whove chosen a different OS. Just like Blender preaching episodes tend not to make us look good on sites like cgtalk, linux preaching episodes over here certainly dont harbor good feelings on either side of the ‘debate’.

      Anyway, yeah, I know this has gone on for far too long, I just wanted to get that in.
      Peace!

    • Studio Stockwell

      I wonder if the render times are faster? But i guess that depends on what is being rendered and CPU speed. From what i know XP is memory hungry. I was totally unaware that Blender builds for XP ran on 98 and ME. Blender really works wonders sometimes. :)

      Keep up the good work! :)

    • Pixel3D

      As someone who uses both Windows 98 SE and Linux, I’m of the opinion that Blender
      should run on Windows 98/ME as long as possible. When I noticed the problem, I thought
      about posting on the bug tracker. At the time, I figured I would be given the common line
      about MS dropping support for Windows 98. Therefore Windows 98 support would also be dropped from Blender and that would be it.

      Instead, I am very grateful to see the problem is being worked on.

      I’m concerned though that because Windows 98 support may require a slightly older
      version of MSVC++ to compile, it might not be available in official BF releases.

      At least Blender can still be compiled to work with Windows 98.

      OpenGL goes back to before Windows 95, I believe. I’m not sure how much OpenGL support exists in Windows 98, but Blender 2.45 seemed to run without problems.

      (Contrast OpenGL with DirectX – DX10 “requires” Vista, IIRC).

      @joeri: I don’t appreciate being called an idiot because I live in the United States.

      Please don’t assume that because I’m American I’m this wealthy person who is not interested in support for older operating systems. Heck, it would be fine with me if Blender ran on Windows 95, but there are likely few if any Win95 era machines with fast enough hardware to run it.

      I remember trying to run the old NaN Blender on a Pentium 75 running Windows 95.
      Ahh, those were the days.

      Anyway, thanks to those who are working on this problem. Blender devs, if you’re reading this, please try to find a way to offer official releases that work with Windows 98.

    • Studio Stockwell

      I forgot to mention that i have a copy of 98 i will probably give it a try see how it runs. I was wondering what you guys / girls are running 98 & ME?

    • http://jmsoler.free.fr jms

      I’m a bit amazing by all this movement around win98 management.

    • houari

      *hello … just for fun…
      *i had no problem with blender running under xp untill yesterday while shutting down pc i had a “runtime error…” message…;moment before i was having trouble with gimp…trouble that i successfully fixed
      *today no matter what i did blender would not run…untill i checked the compatibility box…and that not only made blender work all over again but made it work even faster than it used under xp especially under windows 2000…
      *strange!!!!

    • houari

      *btw i use blender 2.46

    • http://www.cellphonespec.com sucahyo

      Thanks for this. I really appreciate windows 98 support.

      I still use windows 98 at home. and I wish I can run blender at home too. It is sad if windows 98 support is dropped. I hope the programmer do not decide this just to get more feature easily. If we can do this with older compiler, why do we need to use new compiler?

      If only the rendering part which need new feature, Maybe it’s time it have to be separated from the editor part.

      And I surely hope blender do not migrate to dot net………….

      I administrating some ubuntu computer in office. I had to use ubuntu 6.06 with openoffice 2.4.1 instead of using 8.04, because on 128 computer 6.06 is much faster. But opening some big excel file still force the user to wait a couple of minutes. and some even have to wait seconds on each typing. Those user miss windows 98 and MS excel, thank goodness there is gnumeric.

    • Pingback: Blender Receives Windows 98 Updates, Dogmatism Ensues | Samir Bharadwaj dot Com

    • http://www.wap-tek.tk wap-tek

      ok OK! enough you rabble! ,, give it up
      is Blender 2.45 the last one that works on win-98
      All the older versions are available at
      download dot blender dot org slash release slash