---
title: "Modern development on Windows 98 using PuTTY and SSH"
language: en
topics: ["MacBook", "SSH", "ThinkPad", "Windows", "cloud", "experiment", "hacking", "laptop", "linux", "networking", "programming", "repair", "retro", "vim", "webdesign"]
full_article_url: https://willem.com/en/2016-06-23_building-the-blog-in-style/
---
# Modern development on Windows 98 using PuTTY and SSH

*SSH into a cloud Linux machine turns old hardware into a terminal.*

> 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.

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.