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Any browser compatible with windows 98? Any OS able to upgrade windows 98 on a system with 6.4 GB HD and 64 MB ram?

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Ancient computer specs 64 MB ram & 6.4 GB Hard drive 75% free. Wanting to keep it running but can no longer access internet. Running windows 98 (old version) Any firefox browser I can install that will work with windows 98? Any OS I can upgrade the windows 98 that will work with the computer specs? Dialup access only - backup computer with lotsa old documents. Hate to trash it. Me - computer not so literate. Any advice - thanks. Much appreciated

Ancient computer specs 64 MB ram & 6.4 GB Hard drive 75% free. Wanting to keep it running but can no longer access internet. Running windows 98 (old version) Any firefox browser I can install that will work with windows 98? Any OS I can upgrade the windows 98 that will work with the computer specs? Dialup access only - backup computer with lotsa old documents. Hate to trash it. Me - computer not so literate. Any advice - thanks. Much appreciated

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Firefox 2.0.0.20 is the last ever version of Firefox for Win98 / SE / ME.
Get it from here:
ftp://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/2.0.0.20/win32/en-US/

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Chosen Solution

Firefox 2.0.0.20 is the last ever version of Firefox for Win98 / SE / ME.
Get it from here:
ftp://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/2.0.0.20/win32/en-US/

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Thank you. I'll try downloading and installing firefox 2.0. Any updated OS that will work with those computer specs - probably a pentium processor? Linux? Wish Mozilla created an OS too.

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The 100's of Linux distros which are available are tracked here. It is a good place to start looking for a Linux distro suitable to your hardware and your needs.
http://distrowatch.com/

You can ask about which distro would be best suited to that old PC here.
http://ubuntuforums.org/

You would lose all your old documents when installing Linux. With not being able to copy those documents to a USB Flash device (Win98 doesn't support Flash drives) and no networks card, you really have no way of saving that data.

I have 3 old PC's similar to that myself, but over the years that I actively used them I upgraded the RAM to the max the mainboard would use and installed larger hard drives as I ran out of space on the drives. At one time all those older PC's were part of my local area network, so I could transfer files and print to printers connected to my main PC. Even with those upgrades I eventually had to park them for daily use because they just weren't strong enough to run modern programs. IMO, let that old PC die gracefully.

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Windows 98 supported CD drives. One could burn CDs with the data files.

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^ Yes it did, but does the user have a CD-burner installed?? Doubtful with only 64 MB of RAM.

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Thanks. I don't know why I'm so attached to this computer but I am. It does have a lot of old docs, jokes, writing clips etc.. No rewritable CD drive (although it does HAVE both a CD & a Floppy drive). I tried attaching an HP external rewritable CD drive to download all my docs but it couldn't download a compatible driver. I did put alot of things already on floppy discs & bought an external floppy drive which does work with my windows 7 laptop, but I don't want to give up on this Emachine entirely yet. Frankly it still works pretty good - is pretty safe from viruses and still has 75% free. I will try and figure out what Linux I can upgrade too - hopefully it will allow higher level browsers & drivers then. Hoping I can figure out how to use it though - been using windows only for awhile now.

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Just one more thought though - if I do upgrade to Linux - I am worried the old versions of MS office might not work anymore. Another road block is all of the MS office programs are too big for the computer's storage - currently its running Office 97 still & has older versions of Corel wordperfect too. It wouldn't accept an adapter for WIFI usage either. Maybe my poor baby might wind up a donation to a more techie person who wants a new toy yet. :(

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Just checked the installation guide for Ubuntu 11 https://help.ubuntu.com/11.04/installation-guide/i386/minimum-hardware-reqts.html and it says the minimal RAM requirement is 64 MB (but it may be very slow performance), so it would be worth it to try running Ubuntu from a Live CD/DVD and see if it will work with the old computer. When you run/try it out "Live" it does not write to the hard drive so you don't have to worry about losing old documents, and if it does run ok you could then use USB drives to copy off any data you wanted, or take your old data & email it to yourself, or upload to a site like dropbox, etc... Also, Ubutnu (& some other Linuxes) can install to a hard drive and keep all the old data on the drive, they don't have to delete everything.

Other Linux versions might work better on that old computer, but they may be harder to try out Live or install, Ubuntu seems to be a good one for just putting in the disk and it just works. Most Linux also use Libre Office (Open Office) that can read/write old MS Office formats (new formats too) but they're free & great for Linux.

I think I remember using USB drives on Windows 98, had to download & install a software driver from the usb drive manufacturer first but it might work.

However, maybe most important & easiest, you could just remove the old Hard Drive from the computer & put it in a newer computer (as a "slave drive" alongside the newer computer's current hard drive), then you can read & use all the files & data on the old hard drive, nothing would be lost & would be a great way to backup/copy all the data onto a DVD or two (as long as the newer computer has a dvd burner).

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Thanks so much for your help. I have to absorb all that & figure it out but maybe I will try to install the ubantu myself then if it just installs via a disk & grab the word processing software you mentioned just incase. I also tried saving onto a USB but it couldn't recognize it - I forget exactly what the message was. I never thought of trying to swap the HD into a newer computer but I guess that would defeat the purpose. I wish I could just upgrade this one - emachines were supposed to be cheap versions of the IBM when they came out but this tower would go on forever if only I could add memory and enlarge the HD.

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And yes - I still have an analogue TV too - the original Toshiba Blackstripe!