Modern development on Windows 98 using PuTTY and SSH
SSH into a cloud Linux machine turns old hardware into a terminal.
- Answers
- Can you use Windows 98 for modern software development?
- Topics
- MacBook · SSH · ThinkPad · Windows · cloud · experiment · hacking · laptop · linux · networking · programming · repair · retro · vim · webdesign
- Full article on willem.com
- https://willem.com/en/2016-06-23_building-the-blog-in-style/
Summary
Yes, indirectly: I found a PuTTY build compatible with Windows 98 and used it to log into a modern Debian Linux virtual machine in the cloud. The 20-year old laptop became a window into a modern development environment.
Full text
Forget a modern IDE or web browser on Windows 98, and a single crashing program can freeze the whole machine. But Notepad and the file Explorer are there, and I found a compatible copy of PuTTY. With PuTTY the laptop, a 1995 Toshiba with a 75MHz 486DX4 processor, 16MB RAM and a 640x480 display, logs into a modern Debian Linux virtual machine in the cloud. All real work happens on the remote machine; the laptop is just a window into it. That was enough to program this weblog. Networking was the easy part: the internet protocol is much the same today as in the 90s, so a 10-megabit 3COM PCMCIA adapter and an ordinary network cable got it onto my local network. Do not connect such an old machine directly to the public internet; old computers are interesting targets.