Скачать или смотреть Hardcore Windows 98 Ending (Direct Capture)

The ending scene for the Hardcore Windows 98 series first appeared in a Razorback exclusive segment in 2022, comprising of a single computer which operates itself from bootup to shutdown. This clip was simultaneously recorded with a camera and a VGA capture device; this upload shows the direct video output. The camera recording as it was meant to be seen can be found here:    • The Other eXtreme End of Windows 98  

Unfortunately, there is a constant humming noise throughout the video. I used to not get this so much, which suggests two things: one, there's something wrong with the sound card on the computer being captured, or two, the motherboards I've used lately have bad line inputs compared to what I had previously.

The first half of the video with Windows 98 running loads a VBScript program I wrote, which inputs keystrokes on its own. Internet Explorer 6 is necessary to have more functions available. The second half returns to DOS to run another program I wrote in assembly. These programs were very spontaneously written in the rush to get the resulting video's intended vision laid out, so they have some significant bugs.

Due to an odd condition for how Windows 98 was started here, it is possible to return to a DOS prompt even after Windows 98 shuts down. Normally, reaching LOGOS.SYS would result in the system effectively halting completely, but if Windows is loaded manually from an MS-DOS prompt, the prompt will be restored after shutting it down. The prompt is not clearly visible if a graphical splash is loaded, but text mode can be restored by typing the command MODE CO80. Deleting LOGOS.SYS causes Windows to fall back to a generic text message, and under all these conditions, the DOS prompt is immediately visible again. It's just like how things were in the days of Windows 3.1.

MSDOS.SYS, which has been a plain text configuration file since Windows 95, can be edited to not automatically load Windows. Windows can then be loaded via AUTOEXEC.BAT as if it was being run manually by typing WIN, but this has the side effect of Windows being loaded even when "Command prompt only" is selected from the boot options menu.

There are some additional conditions required to get this to work: for one, you must be using any version of Windows 95, or Windows 98 Second Edition. Windows 98 Gold and Windows ME implement new shutdown methods which make it impossible to return to a real mode DOS prompt when they are shut down. You must also not be using ACPI, as that, too, shuts down Windows differently, even on AT motherboards. You can force Windows 98 to install using APM and PnP instead of ACPI by running the setup program with the /PI switch; this is the default used in all BIOS versions before December 1st, 1999. You can optionally disable ACPI in the BIOS setup utility if it is available.

Even with APM active, ATX motherboards or laptops capable of a full APM power off call will normally do so, making it impossible to reach the DOS prompt. The obvious solution would be to use an AT power supply if at all possible, or you may be able to tell the system to assume an AT power supply is being used in the BIOS setup program or via a jumper (the latter seems prevalent in some FIC boards, but I don't know if there's risks associated with that). Should neither of these be available in your computer, Windows 95D includes a tiny DOS program called APMTOGL that modifies WIN.COM on the fly to overwrite the APM BIOS interrupt call with NOP instructions, effectively forcing the classic AT behavior no matter what system is being used. This can easily be reversed with the same program. It should work on any version of Windows 9x, and has some additional features available. https://drevonor.com/win95d.php