Virtual OS Museum Software

Tweakfiend · Jul 10, 2026

Anyone interested in old Operating systems from 1948 onwards tried this yet ?

The program has 1700 operating systems, so has a bespoke download to add op systems within Windows 11 window on install or very massive download to include all the installers

I have tried Windows 3.11 and 95.

The op systems are basic generic designs so you cannot add your own programs, as with Win31DosBox setup etc

This is "work in progress" so likely to be updated again from May 26 release.

The op systems are not confined to Linux /Windows
see www.virtualosmuseum.org

MisterEd · Jul 10, 2026

An interesting project. I first downloaded the lite version and then the full one. Even using a torrent it took about 2-1/2 hours to download the full version on my laptop using Wi-Fi. I should have used my desktop to download it because it probably would have been faster.

I may use the Virtual OS Museum to explore operating systems I can't do normally using programs like DOSBox, Hyper-V, Oracle VirtualBox or VMware Workstation Pro.

How long did it take to get Win 3.11 and Win 95 running? I assume faster than it took me to setup Win 3.11 in a VM the usual way.

I have no need to use it for operating systems like that because I already have virtual machines set up. For example, I have a Windows for Workgroups 3.11 VM setup on VMware Workstation Pro. Inside Windows 3.11 I installed Lotus 123.

BTW, I actually have the original floppy disks for DOS 6.22 and Windows for Workgroups 3.11 and created images from the floppy disks. I mounted those to install DOS and Windows in VMware. I also have floppy images for Lotus 1-2-3.

Windows for Workgroups 3.11 VM with Lotus 1-2-3 installed.

Tweakfiend · Jul 11, 2026

MisterEd said:
An interesting project. I first downloaded the lite version and then the full one. Even using a torrent it took about 2-1/2 hours to download the full version on my laptop using Wi-Fi. I should have used my desktop to download it because it probably would have been faster.

I may use the Virtual OS Museum to explore operating systems I can't do normally using programs like DOSBox, Hyper-V, Oracle VirtualBox or VMware Workstation Pro.

How long did it take to get Win 3.11 and Win 95 running? I assume faster than it took me to setup Win 3.11 in a VM the usual way.

I have no need to use it for operating systems like that because I already have virtual machines set up. For example, I have a Windows for Workgroups 3.11 VM setup on VMware Workstation Pro. Inside Windows 3.11 I installed Lotus 123.

BTW, I actually have the original floppy disks for DOS 6.22 and Windows for Workgroups 3.11 and created images from the floppy disks. I mounted those to install DOS and Windows in VMware. I also have floppy images for Lotus 1-2-3.

Windows for Workgroups 3.11 VM with Lotus 1-2-3 installed.

View attachment 176440

It took about 20 minutes to find the operating systems ,after my manual search , as the inbuilt search is not helpful.

The key is to find the "x86"entry !

Installation into its own window for 3.11 and 95 took 2-3 minutes for each . A short cuts should be saved on the main program screen thereafter, but not seen yet .

For Windows 3.11 I find it easier to use Win31DosBox , as you can add additional games folders etc yourself after installation.

jimbo45 · Jul 12, 2026

I have mentioned in another thread on this forum - you can run the old IBM mainframe MVS-SP on your PC or even a modest laptop using the HERCULES emulator. This will run either on Linux, or Windows HOSTS or even on VM's of those OS'es.

Quite amazing to see the equivalent of the old IBM "Big Blue" mainframe OS of the 1970's running very sweetly on a modest laptop today !!!!.

Cheers
jimbo

cereberus · Jul 12, 2026

I rather find it rather amusing that people reminisce over old OSs (particularly mainframe OSs).

Most of these were fine in their day but most were for either specialist scientific apps or commercial use. Most of these used Fortran or Cobol.

Any gaming was very basic.

I seriously doubt vasy majority of users could even remember how to use such OSs. I could probably write a Fortran Program if I had to but I have little inclination to do so.

I think using old OSs like these would be like a cat getting a new toy - they would play with it for 10 minutes and then be more interested in the box the toy came with.

When asked what computer game is most fondly remembered Pong or Space Invaders are popular choices.

In the end, an OS is simply a means to an end i.e. to run programs.

I can understand people reminiscing about things like cars as there was art, fond memories (eapecially of romantic variety) but OSs?

I still have a slide rule but only ever used to demonstrate to youngsters how things were in the olden days.

The problem with nostalgia is thst it ain't the same as it used to be.

Marie SWE · Jul 12, 2026

cereberus said:
The problem with nostalgia is thst it ain't the same as it used to be.

to get the real nostalgia feeling you also want the hardware for the OS...

I collect computers and it is a feeling when you hear the floppy making its sound and you can clearly hear how the HDD is working the heads over the platters.... Also back in the days it was no fan controller to the CPU or to the chassis fans, so it was max speed on the fans, and no noise reduced fan blades..
The old servers from the late 90's is like powering up a jet if you had 7 or more old 10k rpm scsi drives.

But you are right.. its just fun for an hour or so.. then they get to sleep for another year or two.

PhilB · Jul 20, 2026

cereberus said:
Most of these were fine in their day but most were for either specialist scientific apps or commercial use. Most of these used Fortran or Cobol.

Or PL/1.

cereberus said:
I seriously doubt vasy majority of users could even remember how to use such OSs.

Well some of us old-timers started out on various IBM mainframe OS's. But fie to IBM mainframe JCL.

cereberus said:
I could probably write a Fortran Program if I had to but I have little inclination to do so.

I still have a slide rule but only ever used to demonstrate to youngsters how things were in the olden days.

I still have 3 slide rules, including a circular slide rule.

cereberus said:
The problem with nostalgia is thst it ain't the same as it used to be.

And it never really was like you remember it.

cereberus · Jul 21, 2026

PhilB said:
Or PL/1.

Well some of us old-timers started out on various IBM mainframe OS's. But fie to IBM mainframe JCL.

I still have 3 slide rules, including a circular slide rule.

And it never really was like you remember it.

I used mainframes back in late 60s long when pcs were just a pipe dream.

jimbo45 · Jul 27, 2026

A great idea back in those mainframe times was the use of PL/S -- note not PL/1. This actually generated IBM Assembly language which was then ran into the standard IBM Assembly language "compiler" to compile the generated code - used for things like "System Generation / Nucleus (i.e kernel) generation etc. The PL/S code was quite "English like" so could be easily written and therefore the same code could be used across all sorts of machines. This was I suppose at an early version of what would be considered these days as an Interpreter.

Anybody who has ever worked on SAP ERP software and used its ABAP language would have experienced an interpreter as the ABAP code was converted into machine code on the relevent hardware for running the ERP application.

I still have a circular slide rule -- I thought it worked great at the time !!!! and was a lot less fiddly than the conventional "Slip sticks" as I think they were called back then by engineers etc. Certainly a lot easier if you were out in the field in windy conditions than messing around moving 2 bits of wood / plastic around !!!.

Cheers
jimbo

PhilB · Jul 27, 2026

jimbo45 said:
A great idea back in those mainframe times was the use of PL/S -- note not PL/1. This actually generated IBM Assembly language which was then ran into the standard IBM Assembly language "compiler" to compile the generated code - used for things like "System Generation / Nucleus (i.e kernel) generation etc. The PL/S code was quite "English like" so could be easily written and therefore the same code could be used across all sorts of machines. This was I suppose at an early version of what would be considered these days as an Interpreter.

I remember seeing a "systems engineer" at an IBM 370 installation look at PL/S code, which was distributed on punch card sized microfiche.

Maybe the guys in Redmond could use it today.

jimbo45 said:
Cheers
jimbo

jajk · Jul 30, 2026

Why does Windows NT4.0 hardly rate a mention? It was/is the basis of all that came after it - prior to the bloat and enshitification.
I kitted out a students hostel with 4 NT4.0 workstations for doing their assignments on and abusing the internet. They were locked down to the hilt so nothing was saved to them, no settings changed etc. but they could save files to a USB stick and that was it. They never crashed, broke down or got hacked. I also set up a NT4.0 server to perform a single task: to save and serve up disk images so students could load an alternate O.S on a classroom computer, work on it and upload their work in progress. Towards the end of the course I would get the students to attempt to hack each others server or workstation and even allow them to attempt to hack my pet server "GHOST".... nobody could :winkt:

The principal of minimizing the attack surface is often forgotten - this server would drop any packets like pings and any packets from non-listed MAC addresses and give the overall impression that it didn't exist hence the name GHOST (and it served up Norton Ghost images). Only when you booted up on a special floppy could you connect to the server and get your image uploaded or downloaded.

jimbo45 · Aug 1, 2026

jajk said:
Why does Windows NT4.0 hardly rate a mention? It was/is the basis of all that came after it - prior to the bloat and enshitification.
I kitted out a students hostel with 4 NT4.0 workstations for doing their assignments on and abusing the internet. They were locked down to the hilt so nothing was saved to them, no settings changed etc. but they could save files to a USB stick and that was it. They never crashed, broke down or got hacked. I also set up a NT4.0 server to perform a single task: to save and serve up disk images so students could load an alternate O.S on a classroom computer, work on it and upload their work in progress. Towards the end of the course I would get the students to attempt to hack each others server or workstation and even allow them to attempt to hack my pet server "GHOST".... nobody could The principal of minimizing the attack surface is often forgotten - this server would drop any packets like pings and any packets from non-listed MAC addresses and give the overall impression that it didn't exist hence the name GHOST (and it served up Norton Ghost images). Only when you booted up on a special floppy could you connect to the server and get your image uploaded or downloaded.

I think that version of Windows was known as "Windows Neanderthal" or "Windows No Thanks" - as outside admins it was an absolute pain to gert anything done / saved etc - if you think security is a pain now this was hopeless for ordinary users =- nothing wrong with decent security of course but too much and you lose the whole point of it.

Admins probably loved it - it gave them plenty of work !! but ordinary users loathed it -- just try running it as a virtual machine if you want to try it - you can get Win NT via the Internet Archive.

Cheers
jimbo

jajk · Aug 1, 2026

At the time, I was teaching the next generation of would be sysadmins using various server and workstation O.S such as Novell Netware, WinNT4.0 and Win2000 server. Other teachers covered the Unix/Linux side of things and we did do some cross-platform networking. Yes WinNT is a bit caveman and disliked by mainly gamers because it had poor gaming performance but you shouldn't hold that against an O.S intended for commercial use - not for kiddies to play silly games on.
It introduced a true 32bit O.S, not having to sit on top of DOS, it gave us the NTFS file system plus the ability to remain turned on for over a year without crashing due to memory leaks. It implemented a strict HAL which is why it had lousy 3D graphics performance - Win2000 provided a "relaxed" or "compromised" HAL to allow games to directly access hardware. It was like MS used alien tech to jump from the rubbish they were previously creating but then went back to their usual trick of adding crap, backdoors and unreliability all over again. Win7 seemed to have a bit of a clear out again before Win8 put it all back in again.

PhilB · Aug 1, 2026

jajk said:
At the time, I was teaching the next generation of would be sysadmins using various server and workstation O.S such as Novell Netware, WinNT4.0 and Win2000 server. Other teachers covered the Unix/Linux side of things and we did do some cross-platform networking. Yes WinNT is a bit caveman and disliked by mainly gamers because it had poor gaming performance but you shouldn't hold that against an O.S intended for commercial use - not for kiddies to play silly games on.
It introduced a true 32bit O.S, not having to sit on top of DOS, it gave us the NTFS file system plus the ability to remain turned on for over a year without crashing due to memory leaks. It implemented a strict HAL which is why it had lousy 3D graphics performance - Win2000 provided a "relaxed" or "compromised" HAL to allow games to directly access hardware. It was like MS used alien tech to jump from the rubbish they were previously creating but then went back to their usual trick of adding crap, backdoors and unreliability all over again. Win7 seemed to have a bit of a clear out again before Win8 put it all back in again.

Windows NT was a huge improvement over Windows 98. On my work Windows 98 machine, the printer drive (IIRC) would crash while the machine was just idling. ---> pain in the ass reboot needed.

jimbo45 · Aug 2, 2026

PhilB said:
Windows NT was a huge improvement over Windows 98. On my work Windows 98 machine, the printer drive (IIRC) would crash while the machine was just idling. ---> pain in the ass reboot needed.

Actually the best system in the early days was W2K3 - the server version was 100% excellent and robust enough for most things. Windows 2003 for home computers was built on it and you could also get 4 concurrent users on it if you knew a couple of the tweaks. !!!!

Cheers
jimbo

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