Quest For The Packard Bell
Chapter I
Some Background, and early attempts to recapture something of the brand that the first computer that I used.
Before we begin today's post, we're going to start by mentioning a few things that I am willing to only cover here once. First, I will explain a little about the background of why I have been attempting to rebuild the setup of the Packard Bell, which was in my Dad's den originally, and why I of all people would want to not be favoring an OS that is not only "up-to-date" like Windows 11, but I would be willing to go back to Windows 95, and 3.11 for Workgroups, and in some cases, even be willing to run systems that have Windows 98 on them.
Some Background
Packard Bell
Although my first two computers were generic IBM 486 clones with no Packard Bell branding, which I kind of honestly deserved back when I didn't know how to properly use a computer, both of those systems running Microsoft's Windows 95 Operating System, which was probably at the time dated and likely incompatible with the majority of the computer games on sale at every Staples and Wal-Mart ever, the first computer that I ever used wasn't really my own personal one, it was one that my dad bought for my eldest sister, Candace, to help her primarily with her schoolwork.
The Packard Bell in the picture at the top of this blog doesn't look too different from the system my father had back in the day, however, it originally was sold to him from Wacky Wheatley's back then with Windows 3.11 for Workgroups, and later upgraded to Windows 95.
When I could use it, I played games primarily on it, which I could, like Math Blaster Ages 6-9, Indycar Racing, and probably trying to figure out how to actually figure my way out through Journeyman Project:Turbo. Now, I could attempt to easily install these titles in a Windows 98 VM in a more modern version of Microsoft Windows, which I have done in the past, but I noticed that the screen real-estate was a little too great for what I was intending to do. Also, I did attempt to install Windows 98 VMs on the "RedEye" (what I call my Acer Nitro 5) and I noticed that many times, none of the VMs I installed were terribly stable at all. They likely just crashed out, and since I'm usually a pretty patient person, I can tend to have my patience tried pretty easily, and my limits of patience can be met.
Of course, one of my problems I realize now; I was attempting to use virtualization to emulate older hardware, which I figured in theory would work magnificiently, as my virtual "hardware's" Motherboard, BIOS, RAM, and hard disk would all be self-contained as files on my computer, and the RAM that I used virtually would be simply taking that much off of my real computer's RAM, and I would not be so worried about having some junky hardware around just for the purposes of running Windows Operating Systems from that era, as I have had a much more difficult time emulating a Macintosh computer trying to get it to run a Mac OS system newer than 8.6.x. I could go on to as why I wanted to emulate the same equipment I used back when I was a student in public academia from 1995-2008, but I believe that is another tale for another day.
My point is, that my Dad's first PC was a Packard Bell Multimedia series tower (I forget which model number) and it was his main PC from 1995-2001, until that computer was replaced by an AOpen Series PC, which would continue to be his main PC for another thirteen years. After those thirteen years were over, he would alternate between an ASUS P5KC generic tower in an Antec case, a generic AMD case which was my system for a while, and most recently a Lenovo ThinkPad after the ThinkCentre he was using suffered mechanical failure and I had decided the ThinkPad I was using was no good for me as a computer, as I had prior used it as a Linux system for a while, which for him, it runs the best OS for his needs in my opinion, at present, Windows 11 Home Edition.
Why do you not like Windows 11?
I never said that I liked it, nor did I say I hated it. However, for someone who has a tough time focusing on stuff most of the time, and often feels that a lot of modern operating systems can be filled with distractions, such as Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8.1, and particularly 8.1 since I do not speak of Windows 8 in this household...EVER! Or Windows 7, Windows Vista, and in some cases --- Windows XP.
Which brings us back to the main point. Why do I not want to use Windows 11 all of the time, which should be a more appropriately rephrased question...
Why do I not want to use Windows 11 all of the time for everything?
As I was saying, I do not wish to use Windows 11 all of the time for everything, since I have officially run out of systems to consider as "sullied."
So...?
Well, in other words, I will be willing to go back to computers that run the OS systems of Windows 3.11, 95, and 98 if I have to do transcription for productivity.
Some may argue that there literally is no point of me doing this, but I don't care
what "some" say. Most of the music I listen to, isn't played on Magic 94.9 in Kentville.
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