I remember OS/2 by IBM which looked like Windows 3.11, and OS/2 Warp which looked like Windows 95. There were probably others.
What was the Windows 3.0/1 graphical alternative that also ran on DOS?
Submitted 3 weeks ago by evenwicht@lemmy.sdf.org to retrocomputing@lemmy.sdf.org
Comments
aeronmelon@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
bufalo1973@piefed.social 3 weeks ago
ViewMAX or GEM. Both from Digital Research.
mech@feddit.org 3 weeks ago
It looked like this:
ImageIt was pretty similar to modern Windows but without taskbar or Start menu.
Instead, you had a main window called “program manager” with icons in it to start other programs.
Do you have any specific questions about it?evenwicht@lemmy.sdf.org 3 weeks ago
What is that? I don’t think that’s what I had in mind. I think it’s DESQview I was trying to think of. Anyway, not important… it was just driving me nuts I could not remember.
mech@feddit.org 3 weeks ago
Sorry, I think I misunderstood your question.
And I had literally never heard of any Windows 3 alternatives up to now.
sundray@lemmus.org 3 weeks ago
A great resource when looking for older GUI shells/OS’s is Toastytech: toastytech.com/guis/index.html
Lots of info and screenshots to browse through there. And if you don’t find what you’re looking for you might find something else that’s interesting :)
unwillingsomnambulist@midwest.social 3 weeks ago
DOS Shell was something like that. Not much in the way of functionality, but it was graphical…ish.
Malgas@beehaw.org 3 weeks ago
The first computer my dad bought, back in the late '80s, was mostly a DOS machine that also came with a mouse-driven GUI called GEM.
I don’t know if it ran on top of DOS, though. It booted directly from its own set of disks.
teft@piefed.social 3 weeks ago
DOS Shell?
one_old_coder@piefed.social 3 weeks ago
Is there a specific screenshot you’re thinking of?
evenwicht@lemmy.sdf.org 3 weeks ago
No, I figured if I could recall the name I could get a nostalgic fix by searching it. I found this:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DESQview
I recall DESQview was much lighter weight and better performing than Windows, but had limitations. I did not recall that the windows were text only within, but that’s starting to fill some holes in my memory.
SubArcticTundra@lemmy.ml 3 weeks ago
You might be talking about the DOS Shell. A pseudo graphical file managerm shipped with DOS.
originalucifer@moist.catsweat.com 3 weeks ago
q. name one os that sucked donkey balls getting a functional tcp/ip stack runnin'
evenwicht@lemmy.sdf.org 3 weeks ago
In those days, DOS was the OS. Windows and DESQview were just window manager apps that ran other apps.
originalucifer@moist.catsweat.com 3 weeks ago
hence the single quotes
Onomatopoeia@lemmy.cafe 3 weeks ago
Oh Trumpet something… The hell of getting a stack back then
DmMacniel@feddit.org 3 weeks ago
Maybe GeOS/Geoworks?
winworldpc.com/product/geos/geoworks-1x
SharkWeek@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 weeks ago
Geos was great on the C64, but completely useless, lol
I didn’t know there was a PC version!
DmMacniel@feddit.org 3 weeks ago
was it though? I guess it depend on having a mouse, a second floppy drive and a printer. You could thus use it as a desktop publishing platform, or spreadsheet calculator.