A look at a typical restore CD provided by Gateway systems of the era. Unlike recovery discs provided by other OEM’s, Gateway requires you to have the Windows 98, or 95 install disc. This was also bundled with the system.
The latest release of 86Box (Version 4.1.1) has added a load of Gateway systems for us to look at, here I am using the Lucas motherboard which is a modified MSI MS-5185
The recovery disc is bootable and can initialize a blank hard drive using the built in FDISK tool. When booted, you are given the option to use either a Windows 98 or 95 install CD. No mention of Windows NT, which might have been out of the scope of Gateway since they commonly shipped PC’s for the home consumer market.
Selecting an CD-ROM driver, you have a list of IDE drives to choose from which would have been the drives that Gateway had actually shipped from the factory, or you can select a generic IDE driver.
Selecting the install option, which will reboot and will prompt you to reboot your PC and will then prompt you to insert the Windows install disk. This actually boots from the HDD and will go through an automated Windows install. You don’t need to navigate or answer any questions for the installer.
Once completed, the system will reboot and will boot into Windows. Here you will go through the regular OOBE where you will need to provide your name, and the Windows OEM serial key.
Were not done yet, since additional software provided by Gateway will need to be installed. This is done automatically and the Windows will reboot several times here.
DirectX6 is automatically installed, of which 5.1 came with Windows 98.
Microsoft IntelliPoint is also installed, as Gateway typically bundled Microsoft Mice with their systems.
McAffee VirusScan also comes included.
The Chips Technology driver also starts to install here, since I’m using the B69000 video card. This also indicates drivers are also installed if supported hardware can be found.
The keyboard utility in the Windows Control Panel
IntelliPoint comes with additional features for the mouse. You don’t actually need as Microsoft Mouse to use most of these features, and some like the scroll wheel will work on all models of mice.
And a look at the system properties, strangely there is no OEM logo or information. Just the Registered To fields are prepopulated.
A non-model specific restore/OEM Install, this looks like it was intended to be used across various models of Acer’s Aspire line, as it prompts for a reference number during recovery. Aspire is Acer’s brand for desktop and laptop computers for domestic users, similar to Dell’s Dimension or IBM’s Aptiva line of systems.
The default desktop, post recovery
Running the recovery program, interesting menu layout you see here which gives you options to restore the drive, perform a few diagnostics or to go straght to the MS-DOS Prompt.
Following through with a full recovery, which will initalise the hard drive
The Acer BIOS, here we are using the V35 motherboard that is emulated in 86Box.
The boot screen, with Acer branding. Here we have Windows 95B, with the USB supplement already installed.
It’s a shame than the bootscreen gets overwritten when installing the 95 Plus! pack. If you wish to preserve it, copy the LOGO.SYS file on the root of your C: drive before installing the Plus! Pack.
Uh-Oh, not sure what happened here but a quick reboot fixed it. My guess is that setup reinstalled or updated the IDE drivers, and lost access to the CD drive as a result. Acer possibly used various different IDE controllers or chipsets across their motherboard, and this was their way of ensuring the correct drivers were installed for that specific chipset.
Thankfully after a reboot we were able to proceed with the setup and registration wizard
Installing graphics drivers for the Matrox graphics card, which 86Box now supports.
Running the registration utility
The Acer Software Librarian which is used to install the software that shipped with your machine. You need to enter an identifier provided so the software knows which software and drivers to install for the correct model
Some of the software requires additional CD’s to install from
The installers are automated, but can go AWOL if the installer throws up a message that wasn’t expected. This will result in the message informing that the install script failed and will give you the famous Abort, Retry or Fail Ignore. Choosing the retry option to restart the installer. I believe the install script tries to mimic the user’s keypresses, during this it’s best not to touch the keyboard or mouse whilst the script is running.
ACE Acer Computer Explorer provide a child friendly interface, like Packard Bell Navigator. There isn’t any software installed that takes advantage of this so we can’t fully demonstrate it.
Acer Service Center which providers support information and details about your computer. I kinda dig the aesthetic with the dithered stock photograph of a typical 90s office, almost like an episode of Friends.
The default screensaver which shows a collage of aspiring photographs (Acer Aspire, geddit?)
Concentric Network Communications, appears to be an internet provided for SME businesses, it’s since been absorbed into Verizon, according to the XO Communications wiki page.
The Quicken, this popped up once I install the sound drivers
Another look at the desktop with the System Properties
The included wallpapers, which are small Acer logo’s which are intended to be tiled
Download link if you’re interested in trying this yourself. I’ve not tested it on any other motherboard in 86Box apart from the Acer V35, so I’m not sure if it performs a hardware check or if it just relies on the code you enter being correct to perform the restore.
A racing & combat game, developed by Reflections (Who went on to produce Driver) that was released in 1995, at the begriming of the 3D gaming revolution. In Destruction Derby, players compete in demolition derby-style events where the objective is to crash into opponents’ cars to damage them while trying to survive and be the last car running. The game features both racing and demolition derby modes:
Destruction Derby Mode: In this mode, players compete in arenas specifically designed for vehicular combat. The last car that remains operational wins the match. Players can earn points by inflicting damage on opponents’ vehicles. Wreckin’ Racing Mode: This mode combines racing and demolition derby elements. Players race around circuits while attempting to wreck opponents’ cars. The winner is determined by a combination of finishing position and damage inflicted. Stock Car Racing: Traditional racing mode where you finish a race of multiple laps Time Trials: Similar to Stock Car Racing, but you have to aim to get the fastest lap time. Getting the quickest time will allow you to enter your name as a high score.
Each mode can be played in practice, championship, dual or multiplayer mode.
Five tracks are available at the start of the game, Speedway, CrossOver, Ocean Drive, Catus Creek, and City Heat. Each track is set in it’s own environment and have their own unique track design. Some feature a loop design which require you to dodge and avoid opposing cards, otherwise it easy to lose which direction you’re supposed to go. Pileups are also fairly common on these type of tracks.
A look at the main menu of the PC relase, which features 3D tiles that function as menu items. Similar to the save screen on Mario 64 or on the SGI demos of the era.
Windows
The Windows version had support for S3D acceleration, with was supported on S3 graphics cards which were common of the time. This required the use of a specific OEM copy of the game that shipped with a computer that featured the S3 ViRGE video card. Other PC releases would make use of MS-DOS and software rendering instead, which was inferior to the S3D and console releases. One issue with the S3 version is it’s limited to Diamond Stealth 3D 2000 cards, and will refuse to function on even the 3000 model. This can be bypassed with a patch that removes this check. There I also an option to enable texture filtering that gives the textures a smoother look, but at the expense of framerate. It can be togged on the settings menu of the game.
86Box is able to play this version of this game by using the emulated Diamond Stealth 3D card, paired with a Pentium MMX. Windows 95 lacks built in drivers for this card but they can be obtained here.
Trying to run the game without using a Diamond graphics card, using a generic S3 ViRGE card instead. A patch exists to remove this check.
Using the Stealth 3000 caused a crash, with the AYAPI.DLL causing the issue despite using the Diamond drivers and the fixed EXE.
If you’re wondering about the colour scheme, its the RE-MAN theme from the Windows 95 Plus! pack.
PlayStation
The game was also ported to the PlayStation, This release is a lot more polished, and features thumbnails of the rival characters after the race, showcasing their overall position. The framerate is also a lot more smoother compared to the PC but misses out on the potential of texture filtering unless an emulator is used. DuckStation is the emulator used here, with the stock graphic settings (no enhancements)
For analogue control the NeGcon controller can be used for more precise turns, as this game predates the release of the dual-analogue controller. The menu controls are awkward to control compared to traditional PlayStation games, as you have to press the start button to confirm/enter menus rather than using the X button that most other games use.
Multiplayer is also a better experience in this version of the game because it supports the use of the PlayStation link cable. For this, two consoles and copies of the game are required, as split screen is not supported.
It’s also a lot more easily accessible, since it can be brought from the PSN store and played on the PS3.
Sega Saturn
There was also a Saturn version, released in 1996 in Europe. Like other third-party ports it suffers from a poorer framerate compared to the PlayStation version. Still the game is playable and defiantly worth checking out if you’re interested in Saturn racing games. The Mednafen emulator is used for the screenshots below.
The game supports saving to the internal memory, or though the backup cartridge
The game does not appear to support the 3D controller, which means the game lacks analogue control support.
A futuristic racing game developed and published by Ubisoft in 1997, exclusively on the Microsoft Windows platform. A showcase of Intel’s MMX technology and a standard futuristic racing game. There are no weapons, just your opponents and the track with a few hazards in the way. Unusually despite being a 3D textured racing game, there was no port for a home console, I guess the developers were busy supporting the different 3D graphics cards of the day.
There are a few FMV’s in the game that make use of Intel’s Indeo technology which is installed by default. Content-wise there’s a lot of tracks included, with the ability to download and install further more tracks. Many of the tracks follow their own unique style and are varied in their environment. Some of the tracks feature multiple routes which offer shortcuts where others can increase the difficulty of the race. Making a wrong turn can cause you to lose the race, which requires you to memorise the tracks and their routes.
A championship mode is included, here you earn points depending on your finishing position. Each race has eight opponents, which you can reduce if desired.
Multiplayer is supported, either by using a split screen mode which is done through the keyboard which both plays will need to share. Multiplayer over a network is also supported over IPX or via the serial cable.
The game was only released on Microsoft Windows, making it one of the few PC exclusive games. As it was released in the mid 90s, it supports a wide range of 3D API’s including the industry standard DirectX.
The installer will detect and will load the appropriate version the game that matched your 3D hardware. Some later games support additional API’s and Intel MMX.
So many exe files for different configurations
S3 S3D
This version is playable on 86box using a virtual machine with an S3 ViRGE video card and the Windows 95 operating system. You may have to install updated drivers from S3, as the stock drivers that ship with Windows 98 will lack S3D support.
The graphics settings screen for the S3D version of the game
ATI CIF
Supported on most ATI RAGE cards with pre-2000 drivers, this version has texture warping on the outer walls of the track. Screens here were captured off a Dell OptiPlex GX1 with the ATi RAGE PRO TURBO onboard graphics.
Other graphics API’s supported are 3DFX’s Glide, and PowerVR. POD fails to run on Windows NT 4 with either an S3 or a 3DFX voodoo card., it only appears to run on the Windows 9x series of operating systems.
Windows Theme
A custom desktop theme comes bundled with the game which gives a wallpaper, colour scheme and sound from the game onto your desktop. For Windows 95 you will need the Plus/1 pack as themes are not supported by default. For 98 and ME you can use the Desktop Themes applet that comes with those operating systems. To install you have to open the installer that’s at the root of the CD-ROM, and then run the WinZip self-extractor and extract to the Themes folder. You can also replace the bootup and shutdown screens that appear when Windows starts up.
The Windows bootscreen
The shutdown screen which appears and disappears quicky, preventing a full screenshot from being taken
The Apple TV for the most part is pretty much a regular Mac, but cut down and intended for use in streaming content from iTunes. Spec wise it features an Intel Pentium M, and an Nvidia GoForce 7300. In a way it’s kinda similar to the original Xbox with its Pentium P3 based CPU and Nvidia graphics. Whilst it was once the forefront of Apple’s contribution to your living room, nowadays it’s a doorstop with only the iTunes sync counterpart being the only working feature. Thanks to the modding communities it’s possible to run OS X on the unit itself, turning it into a mini Mac mini, or a thin client Mac if you prefer.
Mac OS X can be installed, either Tiger or Leopard onto either the internal hard disk or an external USB drive. To install to a USB drive, you will need to issue some terminal commands as the Apple TV firmware expects a specific partition layout for it to boot from an external drive. Here’s the full tutorial that I used.
OS X Leopard is quite heavy to be running on the 256MB Apple TV, given that Apple required you to have 512 MB of RAM minimum. So running it with 256MB is not going to be a good experience, with a lot of disk swapping going on as OS X tries to find scraps of RAM to use. As the memory is fixed onto the mother LogicBoard, it’s difficult (but not impossible) to upgrade the memory. Tiger would be a much better fit and it is possible to run and install Tiger, After all the Apple TV’s stock firmware was actually based on the Tiger kernel, but all of the tutorial’s found online involve stripping out the Nvidia kexts (device drivers) from the system folder, leaving you with no graphics acceleration and leaving the poor Pentium M having to do all the work and limits the software you can run.
So it’s either choose between an OS that gives you not much memory for multitasking, or an OS without any graphics acceleration.
Install was pretty simple when you follow this guide, Really you just need a lot of patience if you go down the USB flash drive route, since this is very slow to boot and run from. Also given the limited RAM it’s going to be page filing a lot, making it even more slow. Alternatively you can take out the internal hard drive and connect into a more modern Mac, which should allow you to restore directly to the drive by using an IDE adaptor.
Once the restore is completed we can boot into our new operating system,. Here it continues like any other Mac would where the opening welcome movie plays, followed by the registration assistant.
Software
iTunes works OK here, and is a lot more functional compared to the stock software. Here you can store music onto the unit itself, m or use an external USB HDD if you prefer to have your media directly connected. Playback from iTunes servers are also supported, which the stock software didn’t appear to support. Most NAS drives have support for this and allows you to share your music over LAN.
A look at the iTunes visualisations, which run flawlessly.
Also the Front Row experience itself, you can continue to use your existing Media Remote to control and navigate the menu’s.
DVD playback did run into some issues. So the stock software for the Apple TV does not support DVD playback since the unit has no optical drive and despite the presence of a USB port, you cannot connect an external DVD drive. Apple fully intended you to purchase and watch your movies though the iTunes Store.
Leopard comes with a DVD player built in, and by connecting an external USB DVD drive we have the ability to play back DVD’s. Although for some reason it failed to detect my Dell external drive, even though it was connected to a powered USB hub port. The LG drive worked perfectly and OS X recognised a DVD movie was in the drive but refused to play it back with there error message below:
Not sure why this was the case, even Front Row had issues playing back a DVD
Well where OS X lets you down, VLC has your back. Version 1.1.10 appears to be the latest for Leopard, and it works perfect for playing back DVD’s. I’m not sure if this is using the MPEG2 acceleration that the GeForce supports, but the playback appears smooth for a PAL DVD.
Honestly I don’t get why this wasn’t a standard feature on the stock software, given they would have wanted customers to transition to the iTunes Store for their content, It would make sense to bundle a DVD player for customers who have an existing DVD collection to eventually migrate their purchases to the iTunes Store, especially with the HD era on the horizon.
Rosetta does not appear to run, which locks us out of PowerPC applications. One theory from this post is due to the Pentium M processor not featuring certain instructions that the later Core/Core 2 processor feature, which Rosetta needs in order to translate the PowerPC instructions.
This does give us a problem with installing and running Universal software, since many would have been released in PowerPC format, with their installer also being written in PowerPC also. Once workaround was to install the software in a Leopard/Tiger VM (A Macintosh VM will work just as well), and then transfer it back to the Apple TV where it would run.
Sometimes you can also inspect the package contents and run the PKG installer instead, which should work regardless of CPU.
Games
Well how well does the AppleTV perform with some Mac games, well with only 256MB of RAM were are going to be limited in what titles we can run, and with the Rosetta issues outlined above we are restricted to games that have universal binaries. Still the AppleTV comes with a Nvidia GoForce 7300, which whilst mostly intended for use with decoding MPEG4 video, can also do a decent job rendering 3D graphics. Quartz and CoreImage are also supported for iWork and iLife applications.
Unreal Tournament 2004 – Works well if you set the graphics settings to their lowest values. At this settings it looks worse than its Xbox counterpart (Unreal Championship) though you do benefit from a higher resolution. Multiplayer also works well, though the master servers were taken down recently. Still LAN multiplayer is possible and given the small footprint of this machines, it would have made for a nice portable LAN party box.
Halo: Combat Evolved – also works well if you run at 800×600 resolution with vertex shaders only. It’s relatively stable if you turn off the AA (Anti-Aliasing) as I managed to play through a couple of hours.
Sample settings for the game
Ford Racing 2 – Works well but after a few minutes some weird graphical glitches appear on screen which remain throughout the game.
Not sure what causes this as it appears regardless of the graphic settings chosen
Postal 1 – Works well considering this was originally a 1997 game
RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 – works well even after playing for a few hours.
Bejewelled 3 – It’s a pretty simple game, so it runs well on the AppleTV
Shrek 2 – Starts up and runs ok for the most part, but it does jitter when moving about due to the RAM limitations
The Sims 2 – Runs Ok on the lowest graphics settings on small lots. Some weird error messages appear in the games cheat console.
So it ain’t exactly a console experience given the mixed results above, but if you don’t mind playing the supported titles on low settings, then it is passable.
Misc Observations
The unit does not appear to shut down, and selecting the shutdown options appears to spin down the hard drive, and you land on a light blue screen. Here you will have to cut power to the AppleTV since it won’t power off in this state (and there’s no power button either)
Restarting works fine
Sleep mode also does not work, it will enter sleep mode but will immediately resume.
No audio on the HDMI, but you can use the optical audio out to a local sounder. There are around four audio outputs in the system preferences and I suppose you could always use USB speakers or a supported sound card instead.
It’s really quiet, not sure if the fan speed can be adjusted since I don’t trust Apple with cooling. Problem is many software fan controllers run resident in memory, which is a previous commodity on the Apple TV.
A lot of games I had installed to an external Hard drive connected via USB, since the internal HDD is typically busy with the VM pageful. USB2 isn’t very fast compared to the internal IDE, but is the fastest external interface we have for the Apple TV.
Speaking of, the Intel HDD is a Fujitsu 4200RPM IDE (Yes, IDE) drive. Being 4200rpm, the HDD can also become a bottleneck especially with the content swapping. An SDD might bring some improvements and some IDE SSD’s exist but the ones I have found are from unknown Chinese brand’s that have varied reviews. Also many lack DRAM support, though it’s arguable how much benefit this would bring over the IDE inference. Then again it would make a difference for ram access reads. I guess the easiest way is to try one and find out.
OS X isn’t the only OS the AppleTV could run, since it’s an X86 computer at heart you could run a supported Linux distro. Forget about Windows XP, whilst it would be ideal for this XP cannot boot from EFI which is what the AppleTV likely uses. Maybe this might be possible in the future with a mod, but XP SP3 on 256MB is equally painful.
The default desktop post install, some of the desktop icons are animated, a first that i‘ve seen
If you move your mouse cursor over some of the desktop icons, a bubble will show up that gives information on what that icon does.
This appears to be part of the Aptiva Desktop customization software, which was developed by Moon Valley Software for IBM. There is an icon in the tray area that you can click to open various options, and you can turn off the animations if you find the desktop too ‘busy’
Voyeta AudioStation with some IBM branding, this was used to manage the volume mixer controls and to play CD’s MIDI open WAV files within one place, if you didn’t wish to use the built in Windows utilities. Although were not using the same sound card, the software will still work with the emulated soundcard.
The Aptiva installer that lets you quickly install software that came with your Aptiva computer but was shipped on a separate disk. Kind of a good feature since many OEM’s installs have been criticized in the past for shipping with bloatware, though it was understandable in the 90s since the internet wasn’t very common which made downloading and installing software difficult.
Some of the existing software that comes included
There’s also an update connector to keep IBM software up to date
Aptiva Helper that serves as a guide to using the computers features
IBM AntiVirus comes included, and is covered in the Helper application
It also explains how disk fragmentation works and how/when to run the defragmenter utility.
Some misc screenshots
SmartSound Mastro – Lets you create sound effect which sound like something off a 90’s shopping infomercial. Ideally this might have been used in backgrounds for presentations.
Editing the music in more details, here you can choose the different segments and effects
The Kid’s room (7th Level), their version of Microsoft BOB and Packard Bell’s CyberTrio. This is fully animated with voice acting, though they have a tendency to ramble on.
Intended for use by children, it lets them access their Windows programs without using the Windows 95 interface which helps prevent them changing any settings. By default the Windows game come pinned by default (Solitaire, Minesweeper and Hearts) which don’t strike me as games that kids would enjoy. Possibly any additional software that IBM provide who automatically be added. Also it takes around 15 second to launch a program
The calendar, you can save reminders that can be viewed by anyone
Create Writer comes bundled with the install, which was originally part of the Microsoft Kids Plus Pack
A memory game where you have to remember the sequence the light flash up in.
A game of tic tac toe
Another game that should look familiar, yo have to match two of the same to clear the board, which will reveal the background picture.
Setting an alarm, where you can also leave a message. I’m curious if this goes off whilst the computer is running but the program isnt. Maybe there is a background task.
To exit out, simply click on the red STOP sign and you will be returned back to the desktop.
A look at the Logitech MouseWare software that comes included as a Control Panel applet
Windows 98 Upgrade
So that’s pretty much it, you can tell this was designed to be a family PC but the type of software that comes included with the install, as IBM’s Aptiva line was destined for home use and many OEM’s were bundling education software to make their home PC’s more appealing for all members of the family.
The OS post Windows 98 upgrade, a lot of the IBM stuff still remains like the Aptiva desktop.
A sort of expansion pack for the Windows NT 4 operating system, which adds a set of tools and resources. You can consider this to be a mixture of the resource packs that were released for the 9x line of operating system, but with Plus! content included
A new desktop theme and wallpaper that ships with the resource kit, this makes use of additional colours that the regular NT desktop themes lack the use of.
Themes
Screenshot
Like the Plus! pack for Windows 95, the resource kit adds desktop theme support and comes bundled with themes, some of which came with the 95 Plus! and some would go on to appear in Windows 98.
Themes exclusive to Windows NT
From L-R, Tropical Interlude, Ancient pathways, and the Windows NT theme pictured at the very top, These were exclusive to the NT resource kit.
Themes from Windows 95 Plus!
Returning themes include The Golden Era, Mystery, Space and Inside Your Computer which were included in Plus! 95 and in Windows 98. Some of these themes differ in the chosen font compared to the 9x counterparts
Configuration
Screenshot
C2 Configuration: This was a tool to ensure your PC workstation was C2 compliant, which was a set of standards by the NSA to ensure integrity and security. Here you can configure certain policies such as logon messages/privacy where the previous username is cleared upon logon. These features are now standard in every corporate domain environment.
Auto Logon: Automatically log on a specific user when the PC is turned on. Useful if this is the only user that will be using the PC or if the PC is intended for specific use like in a factory or automation. This only appears to work once in my case.
Command Scheduler: Like the task scheduler in Windows 98, you can schedule maintenance tasks for disk defragmenter or virus scanners.
Desktop Tools
Screenshot
3D Paint: Not to be confused with the 3D Paint from later versions of Windows 10, this lets you place 3D objects onto the viewport. You can adjust the size, rotation and dimensions of the object, and add any additional shading or texture mapping. It’s not Bryce, but it does let you create some interesting images if you’re willing to spends some time with it. Bitmaps can be applied to the 3D objects themselves, and you can apply different colour hues to the shading and change the direction of light.
Files are saved in the 3DP format.
Advanced Cursor Editor: Open and edit cursor animations, including the ones that come with the operating system. You can edit additional frame, or add new frames in between.
Screenshot
Microsoft Desktops: Lets you have multiple desktops with active windows, like many Linux distros supported.
Image Editor: Bitmap image editor, not much use for JPEG or GIF images. Even with bitmaps you are limited to images no larger than 256×256. Even if you try to open a smaller bitmap, it has to be a valid 3.0 format bitmap file. Because it these limitations, there not much use outside editing icons or clipart. The program dates from 1992 which could explain the limitations.
Text Viewer: Looks like Windows Explorer in tree view, but when you click on a file it appears as if you have opened it in notepad. Useful for HTML developers or programmers, or even gamers if they need to quickly edit an ini file since you can edit and save text file directly.
There are other various utilities such as Disk Probe, Fault Tolerance Editor, Network Watch, Process Viewer and Quick Slice. A lot of these are niche for use to look at as they serve a specific purpose.
Panasonic is another Japanese brand that’s produced notebook computers, Panasonic largely specialise in rugged laptops, hence the name Toughbook. They are mostly used in field engineering which can be rough environments for laptops. They feature reinforced exteriors, spill-resistant keyboards, and enhanced shock absorption to withstand rough handling.
Screenshot
The default Windows 7 desktop, with a custom theme from Panasonic applied. Just a solid white wallpaper.
Screenshot
A view of the system info with details of contacting support.
Screenshot
A look at the reference manual that provides instructions on how to use various features the laptop, including how to make use of the removable drive bays. These can be swapped out for a different device or drive, similar to some models of Dell’s Latitude series.
Dual Express card slots, you don’t see these on laptops now. Typically you can add addition wires, USB 3 expansion cards, 3/4G modems or just plain storage devices through these.
The notebook comes with WinDVD playback software included, but refuses to launch as it performs a BIOS check on startup.
Toshiba Bluetooth Stack: Instead of using the standard Windows 7 Bluetooth utility, it appears to have its own installed. I’ve seen this a few times on Toshiba and Dell laptops so It appears to be common among OEM’s, some users also prefer it over the Windows default stack.
Roxio Creator comes bundled with the laptop, Roxio Creator is a software suite designed for multimedia creation, editing, and management. It allows users to create, edit, convert, and burn CDs, DVDs, and Blu-ray discs, as well as manage digital media files. Audio Cd’s can be ripped or burnt to a disc, if you don’t wish to use Windows Media Player. Data disc images can be managed also, supported formats are iso, go and udi.
It’s a very barebones installation with only a handful of utilities included, as these notebooks were designed to be used in a corporate environment who would install the appropriate software.
Browsing a couple of preinstalled VMWare OEM images and found an Alienware Windows XP install, I was curious to see what an XP install would have looked like from Alienware since this would have been before the Dell acquision. Since this is a preinstalled VMWare images all I had to do was extract and import it into VmWare Fusion.
A successful boot up, surprisingly we have not triggered the Windows XP activation. The install appears to be a late generation XP install as wee have Service Pack 3 and DirectX 9c included.
A look at the My PC Information file on the desktop, this contains customer name and account information that I’ve blanked out to stop any possible privacy issues. This goes though the configuration of the laptop as it left the production, and shows the results of the various different benchmarks
125fps in Doom 3, that’s good for a laptop from this era. It appears this laptop is based off the Clevo D900T design, who are a common OEM for laptops for uncommon brands like Medion, Advent, Time/Tiny and RM (Research Machines). Acer/Samsung also did this and are such examples of such OEM’S that sell hardware designed to be rebranded.
Dual optical drives? That’s very rare for laptops in 2006. Makes you wonder how often both were utilised.
For a lot of PC’s of this era, it was common to see dual optical drives since one would be the DVD-ROM drive and the second being a CD-RW drive. DVD-R drives that could also write to CD existed for laptops at this point, so I’m unsure why they didn’t go for that approach instead, unless you wanted to burn a CD whilst you watched a DVD movie.
A look at the different checks that Alienware go through before the system is shipped, I wonder if they still do this when Dell took over? (Maybe, since there is no sign of McAfee, or any antivirus for that matter)
CyberLink PowerDVD – Designed for the playback of DVDs but also various video files. Also features a screen-capture feature to save screencaps of content.
Alternatively you could use Windows Media Player 10 instead which came bundled with Windows.
Nero also comes included to copy and burn CD and DVD’s, there is a few components included for multimedia playback.
Nero later developed into full media center software to compete with Windows Xp Media Center Edition.
This can also function as a DLNA media server, to share content with the consoles and set top boxes of the era. This actually still works with modern stuff like smart speakers or smart TV’s. Useful since Windows XP did not have support for DLNA media sharing unless you installed the Windows Media Player 11 Update.
Lastly, A look at the system properties box with the Alienware branding.
Overall it’s a clean install with a few multimedia software packages included. I’m surprised about the lack of game demos since this was designed as a gaming laptop, a few demo’s of games of the era would have been a good way to demo the graphics capabilities of the notebook.
A first time look at a Sharp OEM install. Sharp was a manufacturer of compact laptops that were popular in Japan, but also made a few for the western market. They did have some sort of a retail presence in the UK as you could find their laptops in stores like Curry’s, but they were always sub-notebooks. Like Fujitsu and NEC, Sharp also made computers for the 8/16bit home computer market in Japan.
The recovery utility which seems to want us to split the disk into two partitions. This was common across some OEM’s with the belief that storing user data on the second partition would help with fragmentation whilst leaving the operating system and program files on the main partition. Though your document folder would still be mapped to the main partition also.
Going through the OOBE, theres no logo in the top right corner as we’ve seen with other OEM installs
The desktop, with a custom wallpaper. Resolution is a little but understandable considering this is a netbook class of computer
Windows Help & Support with a touch of Sharp
Network Setup Utility, each icon represents a network settings or profile. It looks a little blank as it was intended for use with the notebooks internal WiFi card.
Here is what it’s supposed to look like. The different icons represent the types of network you can connect to and the profiles can represent the different sharing settings. This isn’t too different to what modern Windows does when it asks you to set either a Home, Work or Public connection which affect the file sharing ability, since you might not want to enable Public file sharing when you’re connected to a public hotspot
Drag’n Drop CD+DVD – disc burning application. This places a sidebar to the bottom right of the screen where you can drag files to be copied to a CD.
This appears to have been developed by Sonic Solutions who also went to develop RecordNow! Seen on other OEM installs.
Here you can rip an audio CD, or burn existing files to disc. It a bit clunky to operate and the UI looks like something you would see out of a Hollywood TV, it’s rare to see a program refer to itself as a window.
And Norton Antivirus 2003 comers included
Lastly we have InterVideo WinDVD4 which serves as the default DDVD player. Amazing this worked within the virtual machine so this must provide some sort of software MPEG2 recorder. At least I thought it worked, it decoded the first frame and was then froze on that frame. The audio was still playing however and when I eventually closed, a quick shot of the last frame came up before closing the program.
Recovery Media Download – From Archive.org, This version is unlocked to function on any machine
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