Windows 9x Subsystem for Linux

The only reason to touch it is for a dedicated retro gaming setup or (completely airgapped) for some industrial tool with drivers/software provided by a company that has been defunct for 25+ years.

setopt3• 2 months ago

Are there even still sufficiently large populations of win9x-compatible viruses online to make it a security issue anymore?

qsort• 2 months ago

Could the be a good "mom and pop" OS

Hate to be that guy, but if that's your problem just hand them an iPad or a Chromebook. Unsatisfying, I know, but it's not like my mom is Mrs. Roberts.

A WSL-like for Win9x is mostly just for the lulz.

copperx3• 2 months ago

And most "moms and pops" are around Bill Gates age, which means they grew with technology and are quite proficient.

gitowiec• 2 months ago

And writing "Proudly written without AI." in README.md now is new black?

dataflow• 2 months ago

My question is, if they did decide to use AI someday, would they remember to update README.md in the same commit? I would probably forget.

drxzcl• 2 months ago

The agent will happily fix that for them. They are through like that.

jessetemp• 2 months ago

It’s a craft like anything else. Some people enjoy building a table and feel a sense of accomplishment telling their friends “I built this.” Other people just want a table and buy one from Ikea

copperx3• 2 months ago

And some people just click around in Fusion and have the table printed by a CNC and say "I made this", which is not true.

sph• 2 months ago

It's like those labels of protected origin they put on high-quality artisan foods from the EU.

setopt3• 2 months ago

It’s more like a low-background label: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low-background_steel

swetland4• 2 months ago

It's useful indicator in these days of useless slop coded shit. Few things are a bigger waste of my time than reading about someone's proudly "ai"-generated pile of garbage.

someperson4• 2 months ago

I'm heartened that recent Linux kernels in 2026 can still target i386 systems!

Between i486, i586 and i686 there's been a steady drumbeat of Linux distros and kernel itself deprecating support

setopt3• 2 months ago

I’m curious, are you running i386 devices or more philosophically opposed to deprecation?

someperson4• 2 months ago

Philosophically opposed.

I'd like to see indefinite support powered through emulation under a modern CI server hardware with rigorous automated test-suites, with maintenance potentially supported in part with AI.

But someone else should do this, of course.

drzaiusx11• 2 months ago

Didn't mainline Linux drop i386 in like 2012? Wild it still functions tbh

ranger_danger2• 2 months ago

Linux kernels in 2026 can still target i386 systems!

No, they cannot. 386 support was dropped in 2012 and 486 was dropped in 2026, including some third-party 586/686 vendors as well.

https://pcper.com/2026/05/first-i486-support-now-linux-aband...

someperson4• 2 months ago

Can you explain what the featured article is talking about when it talks about i386-linux-musl and Linux kernel v6.19

rahen• 2 months ago

Previous: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47861270

johnea2• 2 months ago

Windows fans, like being a Mustang or Corvette fan, represent arrested development in last centuries technology...

isityettime• 2 months ago

Windows as a product feels that way, but I think if you're a kernel hacker, that's not really true for you. Monolithic kernels for Unix-like operating systems like GNU/Linux aren't fundamentally that innovative either. (There's innovation within Linux, of course.)

I also don't really think computing advances in such a linear way. Lots of cool new tech is about digging up underappreciated insights from computing's distant past and applying it in a new context, or even just propagating it more widely.

I'm not saying Windows 9x in particular had anything super interesting going on. But all of the viable desktop and server operating systems are based on really old tech, and at the same time computing's distant past is full of hidden treasures.

EvanAnderson• 2 months ago

I'm not saying Windows 9x in particular had anything super interesting going on.

Win9X and the VxD layer was a neat virtualization system running in a very resource-constrained environment with a lot of backwards compatibility requirements.

haileys2• 2 months ago

I'm not saying Windows 9x in particular had anything super interesting going on.

Oh it did though, it is a very interesting OS. Much more interesting than it usually gets credit for.

It's a proper 32 bit OS with pre-emptive multitasking and demand paging that is enough of a chimera with DOS that it still supports DOS programs, 16 bit Windows apps, and even your old DOS drivers - side-by-side with all the new 32 bit stuff.

the__alchemist• 2 months ago

Windows is closer to a "Just works" for my use cases. I think if you are more into running applications on a PC or writing software not related to the OS, it can be a good choice. Where I would choose linux for servers, multi-user IT style systems etc.

cpursley• 2 months ago

Please don’t put Mustang and Corvette into the same sentence, they are entirely different classes. Mustang is more comparable to Camaro. While not my cup of tea, the latest mid engine Corvette is a true bargain vs other mid engine performance cars. Speaking of tech, I think the Corvette already 20 years ago had heads up display (projection onto the windshield of current speed).

johnea2• 2 months ago

Their both internal combustion engine based cars, therefore, last centuries technology.

micw• 2 months ago

For a second I thought github has updated to a clean and usable user interface. Then I realized that it's codeberg / forgejo ^^

shevy-java2• 2 months ago

Perhaps codeberg replaces github one day. Microsoft really should take things more seriously than they do right now. AI slop made them very lazy.

b112• 2 months ago

It happened with Oracle over and over. Bought MySQL, messed it up, mariaDB is king now. Bought openoffice, messed it up, now libreoffice is king. Created OEL, acted like complete asshats, messed it up, it just goes on and on.

And that doesn't even touch the Sun purchase, Solaris was impressive in its day, it could have had a stronger holding even today.

Microsoft's monopoly is a little like Oracle's was. Luck. Being ready at the right time. There was effective use of that luck, but that time has passed now.

Ah well.

onli• 2 months ago

Did they recently update the design? I don't remember it looking this good. The dark mode is of the type I like (it's not too black! Unlike Github's) and the light mode is quite close to Github's design and thus familiar, but cleaner, less clutter, I think friendlier. And with nice touches like how the codeberg logo integrates into the header bar. There is a prominent rss feed button! Github doesn't event link one in the head (I think, the head is stuffed, at least my browser does not pick it up). The design not perfect (in dark mode the header should change to a darker color, like their docs page does, and the contrast between the two backgrounds colors is jarringly small, that needs a divider) but still, now I want to switch. It also loads so much faster. Having such a cool project hosted there helps as well.

alberto467• 2 months ago

Somebody has to figure out some sort of css media queries for OLED and similar screens, you can’t really optimize for both and I approve that going too dark doesn’t look good on standard monitors.

user3939382• 2 months ago

Is it just me or do GitHub repos on on the main repo page on mobile not show stars???

DeathArrow• 2 months ago

It seems similar to colinux.

brcmthrowaway• 2 months ago

One of the best software I ever used as a student

andLinux too?

inaprovaline• 2 months ago

Proudly written without AI.

Love it!

mohamedkoubaa• 2 months ago

We need a humans.txt standard

copperx3• 2 months ago

And a HUMAN.md

debugnik• 2 months ago

Already a thing.

https://humanstxt.org/

echelon3• 2 months ago

On the contrary, this is performative.

I've been in the media space, so I've seen artists do this for years now.

It's fucking bullshit. It's like handmade goods (some of which turned out to be sweatshop produced anyway).

At the end of the day all code is ephemeral. It provides value in the here and now. It doesn't doesn't last forever.

Make the thing do the thing and stop worrying about how it was made. None of your code will be around in 200 years.

bigstrat20032• 2 months ago

It's not bullshit to me. I'm interested in seeing what a human made, not what a clanker made.

perching_aix6• 2 months ago

Can't wait for the saga where people will start bikeshedding about whether a manually written bit of code was actually manually written.

I can already envision the contribution guidelines. You must install cameras all around you, like when taking a certification exam, and have them record you typing it all out, eye tracking included.

Only to then still get accused of "cheating" through I don't know, doing it all head of time with AI help, practicing the solution, and then just re-enacting it all.

bigfishrunning• 2 months ago

I hope that everyone performatively produces high quality software without resorting to some statistical model.

slabtickler• 2 months ago

putting aside the lack of quality of most LLM-written code (even the big scary tech demo-y stuff), there is more to life than this pragmatism of "value adds." you can just write code because you want to.

this sentiment is also very funny considering the subject matter is reimplementing coLinux, which no one uses anymore, except as a toy, for an operating system no one uses anymore, except as a toy.

swetland4• 2 months ago

Actually it's quite useful information. As soon as I see another useless "ai coded" project I immediately stop reading/caring about it. Fuck your slop code. Nobody wants that shit.

tannertech• 2 months ago

Purely human created software will be boutique soon vs unusable AI slop :(

machiavellian• 2 months ago

Unfathomably based

shevy-java2• 2 months ago

The idea is quite cool. How practical is it though? Last time I used a Win9x system or Win2k was ... many, many years ago.

thfuran• 2 months ago

It’s about as practical as running doom on a microwave.

olivierestsage• 2 months ago

The perfect OS doesn’t exi-

slicktux• 2 months ago

We’ve been blessed!

dreamlayers• 2 months ago

I cannot imagine why someone would like Windows 9x enough to use it, let alone develop something so complicated for it.

mato• 2 months ago

Because it's a totally awesome and fun challenge? Read the details of the integration!

felooboolooomba• 2 months ago

Hackers gonna hack for the hack of it.

cmrdporcupine• 2 months ago

If this had existed in the mid/late 90s so many things would have turned out differently.

epistasis2• 2 months ago

Whoa, 128MB of RAM on the Pentium, somebody is living LARGE. Almost hard to imagine 128MB of RAM in a Windows 95/98 box.

TimeBearingDown• 2 months ago

I remember using 98SE on a 256MB PII laptop for a good while. ME was less stable and 2000 was a bit difficult for some games or at least h

jonhohle• 2 months ago

I had 192MB in 1999. Coming from my 4MB 486dx, I didn’t know how it could get better! I was running a 1920x1200 true color desktop and could even play half life at 1024x768 high settings with my Rage 128! Now you need GBs just to get into Wayland. All the things we lost along the way :’-(

Ancapistani2• 2 months ago

Shouldn’t this be “Linux Subsystem for Windows 9x”?

skavi• 2 months ago

see Windows Subsystem for Linux and Windows Subsystem for Android.

epistasis2• 2 months ago

It sadly continues the same abuse of English that's present in more modern Windows.

The word order makes it seems that it's a "Windows subsystem," rather than a "subsystem for Linux," that just happens to be in Windows.

If English used more word cases, Microsoft's unusual choice of word order probably would have been acceptable. But probably, some half-wit VP/PM decided that everything Windows must start with the word "Windows," and here me are.

Even "Windows Linux Subsystem" would be far more clear, and one word shorter, even if it is ugly.

IshKebab• 2 months ago

No, we've been through this. The WSL logic is that it's the Windows Subsystem for [running] Linux.

haileys2• 2 months ago

Yes it's a riff on WSL. It wouldn't make sense to flip the naming around - people would then just be confused about the naming in the other direction.

ranger_danger2• 2 months ago

Now run wine inside it to get support for newer programs :)

charonn0• 2 months ago

And run the whole thing in DOSBox.

a1o• 2 months ago

Is there a binary where I can just download this to run directly in a VM? Or even a pre-configured VM!

Windows 9x Subsystem for Linux

Related Stories