Downloads Tips Links

16 Bit Floppy Sized Freeware

It's been a long while since anything new had been added to this site. Floppy drives from which the name of this page was derived are now (im)practically obsolete. I have no intentions of changing this to something like flash stuff. Maybe small stuff is a better candidate... Oh well...
These are a few little (old) programs I have written with Visual Basic, although some of the source code are just borrowed. Most of the software in here are compiled with Visual Basic 3.0. You could modify the source code if you have VB. Since these programs were written in VB3 they require vbrun300.dll. The programs here may be freely redistributed and modified.

SCREEN SHOTS

1. Win X. A utility that mimics the "x" button of win 9x window corners. It docks on the active window, enabling you to close the window with a single click. Based on Maxim's Wincorner. winx4.zip 14.5kb

2. Exitwin. Mimics the shutdown dialog of Windows 95. May be able to display a splash shutdown bitmap better than Calmira. Comes with the usual options; exit, restart and reboot. Does not require Calmira. exitwin.zip 65.4kb

3. Quad. A math program that analyzes an equation in the form Ax^2 + Bx + C = 0, a quadratic equation. It computes for the root(s) and vertex. quad.zip 6.6kb

4. DOSIcon. A windows program that runs its DOS stub (the program that prints "This program requires Microsoft Windows" when you run a windows program in the DOS prompt). It should be used with glue.exe and an icon editor/hacker if you want to change the icon. Makes your DOS programs have an icon. dosicon.zip 128.2kb

5. Gauger. A DOS program that mimics the loading gauge seen when booting Windows 2K or XP. It should be run through the AUTOEXEC.BAT. gauger.zip 103.4kb

6. Sequence. A little game I made to teach a youngster arrange numbers in increasing or decreasing sequence. sequence.zip 8kb

7. Gauger2. An update to gauger. A 2 character high gauge is included too. It also might be more stable. gauger2.zip 202kb

8. Splash. A DOS program that loads a gif image that you could dispaly as startup or shutdown splash screens for Win 3.X. It utilizes the loadgif library available at the VBDOS page of DOS solutions (see links below). It has an option to unload the image after a specified time or to remain loaded until the keyboard is pressed. splash.zip 84kb

Here are some tips I figured out on my own. More tips could be found from the links below.

Self Running Screen Savers
This tweak will run your screen saver when you double click it on explorer or file manager. To do this you should associate the *.SCR files with itself and the /S switch. The association would look like this, %1 /S . To simplify things, copy and paste the lines below and save it as a *.REG file (say, ssaver.reg). Double clicking the resulting registry file should place it in the registry.

Begin Copy from here

REGEDIT
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\SCREEN = Screen Saver
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\SCREEN\shell\print =
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\SCREEN\shell\open\command = %1 /s

End of copy

Running Individual Control Panel Applets
Similarly *.CPL files in your system directory can be associated with control.exe. Doing so will run the individual control panel applet instead of the whole control panel with all its configuration applets. The lines below could be pasted into a *.REG text file (say, control.reg) for simplicity.

Begin Copy from here

REGEDIT
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CONTROL = Control Panel Property
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CONTROL\shell\print =
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CONTROL\shell\open\command = control.exe %1

End of copy

Use google efficiently
Learn google hacks. Be amazed on how simple google parameters such as intitle:" key words" , inurl:" key words" or filetype:" key words" can improve your search results. Browse ftp archives for files, narrow down your search...etc. Guaranteed easy to learn! That's how I find some of my inks.

i-hacked.com: Google Hacking
i-hacked.com: How To Find MP3's with Google (applies to other file types)

if the links are gone, they could be eaily searched from www.i-hacked.com

Wikipedia source:
Wikipedia: Google Hacks

The Oldfiles Network

Lightspeed Reference Page (the links of all Links) http://www.oldstuff.myagora.net/Lightspeed/main.html

The Open WIndows Project
A project aiming to make a free functional Windows 3.X replacement. http://openwindows.webhop.net/

Calmira Online http://www.calmira.de/

The Calmira iWarp Program.
http://calmirawebring.vze.com

DOS Solutions (where you can download VBDOS) http://www.dossolutions.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/home.htm

I also used to get vbdos from here.
http://qb4all.com/

Maxim's World of Stuff (includes miscellaneous Delphi Programs with source code) http://mwos.cjb.net/

Programmers Heaven (a lot of programming resources).
http://www.programmersheaven.com

Due to the recent proliferation of one-click upload servers, some old files may actually be obtained for free. Some useful search engines for such servers
Fun Fail - search many servers
Rapid Fox - search rapidshare

Unfortunately, some of these links no longer exist. What you could do is perhaps visit this site.
http://webarchive.org

My Numerical C++ Software page.
http://geocities.com/anzu6banas/sw.html

There are some free 16 bit compilers still available around.

POW Oberon Programmers Open Workbench
A Pascal based compiler around 3 megs in size.
http://www.fim.uni-linz.ac.at/pow/pow.htm
Direct donwload from this site

Open Watcom
A C/C++ cpmpiler available for many host and target platfroms. Around 65 megs in size.
http://www.openwatcom.org/