Calibre in Windows 98se

[Robbie447]

Hi everyone.. This is my first time here as a registered user. I was looking for some info and didn't see what I needed so I figured I'd ask directly. I wanted to try out Calibre on a computer running a much updated version of Windows 98se. Unless I was misinformed elsewhere I *believe* that Calibre version 0.7.14 should run on it, so I downloaded a copy from archives. The problem is that the MSI installer version the program uses requires a newer version of Microsoft Installer than Windows 98 can install so there was no way to install the package to test it. A further complication by the fact that I'm on dial-up so huge downloads take some serious time so two questions.. Will Calibre run on Win98se, and if so what is the newest version that will.. and is there anywhere to get the installer in another format that would work with Win98? I grabbed the MSI installer but haven't tried the other tar.gz archive. Does that just contain another MSI file or is it a different install system once you open the archive? Thanks for any help..

[theducks]

Originally Posted by Robbie447

Hi everyone.. This is my first time here as a registered user. I was looking for some info and didn't see what I needed so I figured I'd ask directly. I wanted to try out Calibre on a computer running a much updated version of Windows 98se. Unless I was misinformed elsewhere I *believe* that Calibre version 0.7.14 should run on it, so I downloaded a copy from archives. The problem is that the MSI installer version the program uses requires a newer version of Microsoft Installer than Windows 98 can install so there was no way to install the package to test it. A further complication by the fact that I'm on dial-up so huge downloads take some serious time so two questions.. Will Calibre run on Win98se, and if so what is the newest version that will.. and is there anywhere to get the installer in another format that would work with Win98? I grabbed the MSI installer but haven't tried the other tar.gz archive. Does that just contain another MSI file or is it a different install system once you open the archive? Thanks for any help..

At the top of the Windows download Page: XP appears to be minimum

W98 was the last DOS based kernel. XP is the NT based kernal.

If your hardware is really old as 98SE (ie P3), I would run Linux (dual boot if you have lots of free HD space).
Linux has way less overhead than XP and Calibre will use the rest
BTW if you go the Linux route, forget the Distribution version... Waaaaay stale. Use the command line on the Linux page.

[Robbie447]

Originally Posted by theducks

At the top of the Windows download Page: XP appears to be minimum

W98 was the last DOS based kernel. XP is the NT based kernal.

If your hardware is really old as 98SE (ie P3), I would run Linux (dual boot if you have lots of free HD space).
Linux has way less overhead than XP and Calibre will use the rest
BTW if you go the Linux route, forget the Distribution version... Waaaaay stale. Use the command line on the Linux page.

Thanks for the reply.. As I mentioned before I thought the earlier versions of Calibre did run on Windows versions prior to XP which is why I was attempting to try out an archive rather than the new release. I've been giving Linux some thought but the new versions of it seem to be multi-gig monsters almost as bad as Windows and I've heard most new releases they don't allow too much for old hardware so getting things like a dial-up connection going can be difficult. My actual hardware could run much newer software but I'm not a big fan of newer Windows versions either.
(3GHz Pentium 4 currently with 512 meg ram but I can do 1gig without having to buy more)

[ilovejedd]

There are plenty of Linux distributions available. Ubuntu tends to be quite fat so might want to steer clear of that but there are plenty others that are pretty easy on older hardware.

[PeterT]

Might also use an older distro; those are likely to have lesser h/w requirements.

[jgaiser]

What ilovejed said...

Lot's of small Linux distributions and nearly all can be obtained through Snailmail. I'm primarily on dialup here and I understand the pain of large downloads, but Linux works fine with a modem. PM me and I can give you a list of websites where you can purchase distribution CD/DVD.

[Robbie447]

Originally Posted by ilovejedd

There are plenty of Linux distributions available. Ubuntu tends to be quite fat so might want to steer clear of that but there are plenty others that are pretty easy on older hardware.

Thanks to all for the Linux suggestions. We may be drifting off topic here but I wanted to respond.. I actually belong to a Linux conference elsewhere and try to keep an eye on where it's going. Not too long ago looking for a 'Lite' version I gave Puppy Linux a try. I rather liked it since it's small and quite similar to the Windows environment most of us are used to. (I got my first computer in 1983 so I've gone through a lot of transitions.) I was hoping I'd be able to switch over to some version completely but I'd have to leave so much software behind, decades of collecting programs and games, so dual booting is the more likely solution but trying to find out how to get dialup going on linux, and even finding modem drivers that they don't want to charge you for, can be a challenge.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by Robbie447

Thanks for the reply.. As I mentioned before I thought the earlier versions of Calibre did run on Windows versions prior to XP which is why I was attempting to try out an archive rather than the new release. I've been giving Linux some thought but the new versions of it seem to be multi-gig monsters almost as bad as Windows and I've heard most new releases they don't allow too much for old hardware so getting things like a dial-up connection going can be difficult. My actual hardware could run much newer software but I'm not a big fan of newer Windows versions either.
(3GHz Pentium 4 currently with 512 meg ram but I can do 1gig without having to buy more)

All my Ubuntu versions are running on P4 (and a Celeron 2.0) hardware. (I had Gutsy running on a P2 -400 w 384M, but it was weezing a lot ) True the Ubuntu 11.x versions prefer a hot graphics, but you can select "classic mode" and run on common graphics cards . Prior to the 11.x series, all would run on 512M with little swap size.

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by Robbie447

Thanks for the reply.. As I mentioned before I thought the earlier versions of Calibre did run on Windows versions prior to XP which is why I was attempting to try out an archive rather than the new release.

Before Kovid released calibre on SourceForge, I kept an archive of older versions (at least the ones I was able to download) and uploaded them to my web server for those needing older releases. I'm not sure if any are compatible with Windows 98 but for what it's worth, the link is:

http://utterlyinsane.org/calibre/win/

Last version released with an executable installer is 0.6.16.

[HarryT]

At the risk of straying even further off-topic, Windows 7 Basic runs extremely well on low-spec hardware. If your machine runs Win98se OK then it should run Win7 Basic just fine. I'd urge you to consider upgrading; there's very little modern software that will run under Win98se.

[PeterT]

Do you mean "Windows 7 Starter" or "Windows 7 Home Basic"?

[HarryT]

I think I mean "Home Basic". The one without the "Aero" GUI. It's that GUI that needs quite a powerful machine to work properly.

[Robbie447]

Originally Posted by ilovejedd

Before Kovid released calibre on SourceForge, I kept an archive of older versions (at least the ones I was able to download) and uploaded them to my web server for those needing older releases. I'm not sure if any are compatible with Windows 98 but for what it's worth, the link is:

http://utterlyinsane.org/calibre/win/

Last version released with an executable installer is 0.6.16.

Thanks for that info and for providing a source for it..
I just checked and the link is good so I will likely grab a copy later tonight when I can let the computer chug away for a couple of hours getting it.. If it runs on Win98se I'll post that info here so that anyone else doing the same thing I was attempting will know. Hopefully the older versions are not missing too much other than maybe the latest DRM 'abilities' which, I understand, we don't talk about here... B)

[theducks]

Originally Posted by Robbie447

Thanks for that info and for providing a source for it..
I just checked and the link is good so I will likely grab a copy later tonight when I can let the computer chug away for a couple of hours getting it.. If it runs on Win98se I'll post that info here so that anyone else doing the same thing I was attempting will know. Hopefully the older versions are not missing too much other than maybe the latest DRM 'abilities' which, I understand, we don't talk about here... B)

6.16 is missing TONS and Tones (read the change log on the What's new page)
This includes 2+ years of (New/Updated) Device support alone,

[Robbie447]

Originally Posted by HarryT

At the risk of straying even further off-topic, Windows 7 Basic runs extremely well on low-spec hardware. If your machine runs Win98se OK then it should run Win7 Basic just fine. I'd urge you to consider upgrading; there's very little modern software that will run under Win98se.

Yes, I'm running into 'issues' more and more and am considering a number of alternatives. I may be buying a new Notebook before long which would solve the old OS problems and I could keep this system for other things. I hesitate to fully change this system over since I do things like play Doom II Modem to Modem and the Virtual PC software doesn't work well with that. You need a true DOS based computer that's fairly well updated to handle the new game levels for that. i.e.. Even though the game was designed for a 386 with about 8 meg of ram the new WAD files often require at least a P200 with 32 meg of ram to keep from slowing to a crawl..