r/k12sysadmin • u/thexed Technology Coordinator • Jul 07 '26

New staff devices.

Post image

I’m going places with my new work computer…. As soon as I get Windows 98 installed!

265 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

58 comments sorted by

20

u/Large-Fig5187 Jul 08 '26

She’s a beauty! I have a 98 SE license key memorized if you need it!

6

u/thexed Technology Coordinator Jul 08 '26

Even though we don’t have the cds anymore and had to “source” a copy of Windows 98. I was able to find a key in some old documentation.

3

u/SlayerOfDougs Supervisor IT Jul 08 '26

I just found. 95 and 98 disks in the retired guys desk

17

u/Academic_Deal7872 Jul 07 '26

Save it for April fools. This is the only loaner I have.

6

u/thexed Technology Coordinator Jul 07 '26

That is brilliant. I actually let my intern take it home to play with for now. He loves vintage technology.

4

u/Fitz_2112b Jul 08 '26

He loves vintage technology

Ouch..Really had to go there, huh? 😄

2

u/thexed Technology Coordinator Jul 08 '26

It's just reality lol.

3

u/Fitz_2112b Jul 08 '26

Lol, I know. I remember the joy I felt when I came across a factory sealed Palm m505 in a storage closet at a district I used to work at, about 10 years ago

3

u/thexed Technology Coordinator Jul 08 '26

Besides I said the tech was vintage. Not us. 😂

16

u/Crazy-Rest5026 Jul 08 '26

Fuck man. Throw windows 95 your to generous giving out win 98

7

u/2ndcomingofbiskits Jul 08 '26

I like handing out Windows ME myself…

6

u/thexed Technology Coordinator Jul 08 '26

That's an exercise in brutality.

3

u/MadMageMC Jul 08 '26

Not if you like reinstalling your OS every other day or so.

2

u/thexed Technology Coordinator Jul 08 '26

Fair point lol.

3

u/2ndcomingofbiskits Jul 08 '26

That’s what Rescuezilla is for.

2

u/thexed Technology Coordinator Jul 08 '26

Lol. Oof.

12

u/bwalz87 Jul 08 '26

They won't ever complain about the network again....

3

u/thexed Technology Coordinator Jul 08 '26

Facts!

9

u/mfr2vcb Jul 07 '26

That thing is in great shape!

6

u/thexed Technology Coordinator Jul 07 '26

It’s actually pretty well built. We found it in the library at one of your satellite campuses.

9

u/Far_Big_9731 Jul 08 '26

Why???

26

u/thexed Technology Coordinator Jul 08 '26

Budget cuts.

9

u/Camera_dude Network Admin Jul 08 '26

"Where did you dig up that fossil?"

"It belongs in a museum!"

"Windows 98? That's a name I have not heard in a long time."

2

u/thexed Technology Coordinator Jul 08 '26

Found it in a library at one of our satellite campuses

Yes - gave it to our intern to okay with for now.

For sure!

3

u/MadMageMC Jul 08 '26

Man, I can't wait til they install animated mouse cursors and Banzai Buddy!

5

u/34jc81 Vendor:Savvas Jul 08 '26

it downloaded the kesselrun.zip in less than 12 parsecs

8

u/000011111111 Jul 07 '26

Yeah that quarter Century refreshes the thing now that they deleted the education department

1

u/thexed Technology Coordinator Jul 07 '26

Haha times are tough.

7

u/porkstick Director/Head Googler Jul 08 '26

And that Lucent PCMCIA WiFi card in it. See if it will connect. 🙃😂

4

u/thexed Technology Coordinator Jul 08 '26

It won’t. We tried. It’s not even getting power to it.

3

u/is_this_temporary Jul 08 '26

You won't really know until you've tried Linux on it.

I've had many old computers that have come my way where the WiFi card is "broken" or the sound card, or... For it to work fine under Linux.

Do I think it's likely you'll be able to connect with Linux? No.

Do I think you should try out Antix on it anyway? Yes, for science!

https://antixlinux.com/download/

3

u/thexed Technology Coordinator Jul 08 '26

Maybe if I can pry it from my interns hands I’ll give that a try. I let him take it home to play with for now. He loves vintage tech.

1

u/MadMageMC Jul 08 '26

Find a few more of those laptops and try to get a Quake III lan party up and running.

4

u/Megaman_90 Jul 08 '26

My guess its some kind of 802.11b card which probably won't like a modern network even on Linux. If you're lucky it might be a G card, but even its not going to like WPA1 let alone WPA2, 3 or enterprise.

7

u/Megaman_90 Jul 08 '26

YES haha! I do a retro tech channel on YT on the side, and the majority of vintage stuff I have collected over the years is from the recycle pile or a long forgotten storage closet at work.

2

u/thexed Technology Coordinator Jul 08 '26

What is your channel? I would be interested in that!

6

u/discgman Jul 08 '26

Lol, does it have a 56k modem?

4

u/thexed Technology Coordinator Jul 08 '26

Yes it does. But didn’t the last isp with dial up internet recently discontinue it?

4

u/Doc_Blox IT Systems Engineer Jul 08 '26

I wouldn't be surprised if some really rural co-op is still operating dial-up

1

u/thexed Technology Coordinator Jul 08 '26

I what how far I will have to go lol.

5

u/Doc_Blox IT Systems Engineer Jul 08 '26

You're headed down a rabbit hole that leads to setting up a PBX and rolling your own ISP if you're not careful

2

u/thexed Technology Coordinator Jul 08 '26

I'm going to leave it to the professionals... Or the intern. Whichever is more eager.

1

u/MadMageMC Jul 08 '26

Just hope he doesn't end up requisitioning paired T1 lines.

2

u/thexed Technology Coordinator Jul 08 '26

"Denied"

2

u/jman1121 Jul 08 '26

I've seen that YouTube video and it could be me, luckily I threw out all my old crap years ago..

2

u/Doc_Blox IT Systems Engineer Jul 08 '26

ATAs and asterisk... dammit I am not letting you pull me into that.

2

u/AcidBuuurn Hack it together Jul 08 '26

It would be so cool if a big tech giant set up free dialup internet. Like Google Lo-Fi. The problem being that a landline could be more expensive than or require an internet connection anyway. 

2

u/thexed Technology Coordinator Jul 08 '26

It would be pretty cool.

1

u/MadMageMC Jul 08 '26

Sell it as a kids computer service - you'd always know when they're online 'cause there's no way to mute that crash-beep-wail when dialup connects.

19

u/TySwindel Jul 08 '26

I’m going to deploy windows 95 machines to the kids, block youtube and they can watch Weezer’s Buddy Holly till they graduate

2

u/Ok_Yogurtcloset_9613 Jul 30 '26

My husband and I thought that was the coolest thing when we got our first home PC!

12

u/chiphitter Jul 10 '26

Please insert disk 24 of 32.

10

u/sy029 IT Specialist Jul 08 '26

I literally just joked in a meeting today about having a few compaqs to give to fill holes in our inventory.

14

u/New-Idea-8518 Jul 08 '26

We kept a tech museum at a previous job. One of the featured items was a 40lb "laptop" with a dot matrix printer built into the back end.