Wow, this brings back memories. I'm actually the creator of the XP-version. As it was my first programming experience, don't expect too much from it, but for sure it was nice to do back in the day. It would be great to see a video on my version too ;-). Anyway, from what I remember: Calmira was originally called Calypso and was released early 1997. This version was written by Li-Hsin Huang (as you can see in the About-box). Another name had to be chosen because the name was already in use (an email client) and so it became Calmira. In 1998 a Dutch-guy (E. Dokter) took over and released V3.0. From that time it's called Calmira II. Later, in 2002 I created Calmira XP which was based on Calmira V3.3. Tip: you can load Calmira as default shell, instead of Program Manager, then you can run Calmira without running Program Manager.
You called? :) I was the main developer from V3.0 to V3.11. It taught me a lot about the windows API. Someone already mentioned, but the setup program was indeed a custom version (by me) of the last 16-bit version of Inno Setup. I myself skipped Windows 95 and went straight to Windows 2000.
Thank you, luckily this program runs on Windows 8, now my laptop speed is 👍. Now I can have the classic theme :) and Windows 95 (my favourite Windows) experience. Thank you soooooo much!
WHOA Calmira still exists!!?? I used that about 10 years ago with a really old monochrome 3.1-running laptop my father passed down to me when he no longer needed it. Glad to see it's still getting some very slight attention!!
Thanks for the video. I had forgotten about this gem. I had installed this years ago on my step dad's old 386 that he didn't have the money to get Windows 95 on, and so I converted him to windows 3.11 and Calmira ii for the look of 95. I think he used it for another 4 years just like that.
I miss the simplicity of old Windows. Brings back memories that tile background. I look at the icons and it feels like looking into the past through pixel windows.
I used it on a 486DX, back in the day, it was pretty responsive. I seem to recall that you can actually set it as the actual shell by editing system.ini, avoiding the program manager being there permanently in your taskbar.
It would make sense for that functionality to be present way back then, I suppose. I know in Windows 95 you could definitely change shells, something I kept doing all the way up until Windows XP personally. I mean, it's just an executable that automatically starts when Windows launches, after all.
@@UltimatePerfection with which Windows 3.11 graphics driver? I have 3.11 for workgroups but can't get more than 16 colors. Tried other drivers. In the 90s my videocard had at least 256 colors.
DOSBOX runs pretty nicely on 64bit Windows. I actually have Windows 3.1 + Calmira on Windows 7 64 bit, for science. Thanks to DOSBOX. Better than VM since files are directly accessible to the host OS.
Give me some time and I can get it working on Windows 10 64-bit Its written in Delphi. Edit: I scanned thru the source-code; modern versions of Delphi do not take kindly to the ancient coding methods used in this project. To get anything useful will need a near rewrite.
@Hanro50 Yep, it may be possible to port to a slightly newer version for Windows. Of course we would also have to get the old version of Delphi tools. I am programmer but I not use Delphi, although I know people who have.
Physical Computing Older versions of Delphi will not compile to 32 bit Windows. It requires you to essentially use the first release of the IDE. I might get it to work with maybe the 2005 version of the IDE, but that'll need some extensive digging. Some of the problems are spawned by missing "uses" files, uncommitted code and unicode weirdness. Honestly it seems like this project was started in turbo pascal and then ported to Delphi as the devs didn't make use of nearly any form units which complicates things since everything kinda goes low level at that point. Might have some luck with Lazarus as well. Edit: A rewrite using a modern version of the IDE should be possible. Provided I would need to lookup how some of the advance features where pulled off.
This would be definitely on a vintage computer if I were to get one. And also VMs with Windows 3.1 giving errors upgrading to 95 from a clean 3.1 install..
Calmira had very active user community until early 2000s. Used to had it installed on my computer as well as it gave my ancient hardware more modern feel.
Also, to be pedantic, double-clicking the system menu button _is_ clicking twice. If you _really_ only want to press the button once then hold the button when opening the menu, then release after dragging the cursor to the close option. But of course that's silly, double-clicking is the way to go.
Me too! Cool little piece of Windows history that I thought no one remembered! There was also an OS/2 looking shell for Win 3.x developed by some IBM employees. Win 3.x was fun to tweak.
Back in 1994 I was thinking that somebody should make "Chicago for Windows", ie. a Windows Chicago (yet unreleased 95) interface for Windows 3.1. I guess this was essentially it, but probably was released later.
Nour T. I remember trying to get The Sims working from a w95 image on DOSPad, the damn thing couldn’t handle having a direct x 7 processor though, the OS just wouldn’t start 😢
This brings back so many memories.... Our first family computer was an Apple llgs and it was replaced by a AMD DX 40 running Windows 3.11 . I remember downloading Calmira from a big shareware repository. Calmira gave the computer a more modern feel. I never did really use Windows 95 as our next family computer was. a Windows 98 machine ....
Calmira II can also work on Windows NT 3.1-3.51 too. Yet, if you ever used the "NewShell" add on that was exclusively for Windows NT 3.51 (which this shell was an early Alpha-test shell that Microsoft released a year before Windows NT 4.0's original release) and then later installed Calmira II along with the "NewShell" add-on, you would get two taskbars and the Calmira II "desktop icons" on the Windows NT 3.51 "NewShell" taskbar. I actually tried this on Virtual PC 2007 before a few years ago. Toastytech previously mentioned more about the "NewShell" here: toastytech.com/guis/misc4.html
I tried Calmira, DeskQ, and Workplace For Windows Shell on my Windows For Workgroups 3.11 many years ago. But frankly, I was pretty happy with the standard Program Manager, and not so thrilled about the Windows 95 interface when I first encountered it. But what was really interesting was running 3 different shells at the same time!
I used to use it in OS/2. And if you want a better experience edit the ini file and swap the shell property to Calmira. It will use it as the primary shell instead of Program Manager. IE you won't have the Program Manager task running.
I used to run Calmira on Windows for workgroups 3.11 - this must have been around 1995, on old 386/486 machines that didn't quite have the grunt to manage a Windows 95 install smoothly but needed the superior UI. We used to be able to run modern'ish 32-bit software with Win32's * en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Win32s * Retro seeing this revive, Calmira used to be on calmira.org but some fans of the project decided to re-host the site on calmira.de - check archive.org for calmira.org and you may find an actual creation time.
You can change progman.exe to calmira.exe in system.ini to change the shell and not minimize the program manager. To use the ms-dos prompt in a window you have to press alt-enter and it will change between fullscreen mode and window mode.
This is an older version of calmira. The newest version has more features, better start menu and also allows you to close program manager (albeit a bit tricky)
Yep! I used it in 2001, since I couldn't afford a computer that was modern. Combine it with LFN4DOS, and install Win32s, and you'll have a 95esque , even funcionality wise. With LFN4DOS, you even get Windows LFN support. You can also change the shell in win.ini, change "shell=progman.exe" to "shell=calmira.exe". Close and restart Windows, and it will launch with Calmira as the default desktop environment. :) It was fully usable even in the 2000's You could even get "NewButtons" and replace the Win31 window icons with 95 style. If you do everything with this post, you'll really see no diference between 95, and Calmira II on Windows 3x
I used Calmira for a while in '97 and '98, on a Compaq 486 laptop. For giggles, I even modified the windows loading screen similar to the Windows 95 type, though mine said Windows 94. It actually fooled a few people.... "Windows 94? Never heard of it....." Beyond that, it was mostly just an aesthetic exercise. The only real new feature it brought to Win3.1 was the recycle bin, which was certainly welcome, though obviously not critical.
I had actually used this back in the day as my lowly 486 66mhz with 4MB RAM was incapable of running win 95. If I recall, I had even changed the start menu calmira branding using a resource editor
I used Calmira on a Compaq 486 at high school in 2002-2003. Really enjoyed it :) There was a patch you could run to literally patch the video drivers so that the close/min/max icons in the window titlebars would change to Win95. I might have those patches still at home on my fileserver...
Have you ever thought about doing a colab with Druaga1? I feel like you 2 could come up with something interesting with the type of content you guys release
I remember Calmira. It’s possible to replace Program Manager with Calmira changing the WIN.INI config file. I recommend you to check another shell for Windows 3.1: Wayfarer. More original, superb help file, very customisable too and also includes an optional taskbar.
i recall there was another interface mod called mask98, i think, that would change the window decorator to have the windows 95 minimize, maximize, and close buttons.
If you double click on the top left button, it'll close the window. You don't have to mouse down to close :) Also, this still works in Windows 10! There's not button anymore, but it'll work if you click the area.
I played with computers as a kid, but didn't really get in to them until the Windows 3.1 era. I wonder how I would have felt about Calmira if I had known about it at the time. It seems funny now, but I remember loathing the Windows 95 interface when it first came out. I was so used to 3.1 that the change really bothered me. Of course now that seems silly, but I really did struggle with accepting the change. If I actually had any reason to run 3.1 today though I'd absolutely install Calmira. It looks like a pretty awesome 95 interface clone.
As soon as it said "This will install Calmira. Do you wish to continue?" I knew it was InstallShield :) (According to another comment, it's actually "Inno", but I don't know about that.)
Around the time Windows 95 came out I tried to write a Start Menu "shell" for 16 bit Windows in Visual Basic. Of course, being 11 at the time, it didn't come out very well. And when Windows 8 came out, people started writing Start Menu shells once again
Delphi!? I can see to recompiling this for Win32 since I have some experience in that programming language edit: nvm: The IDE has changed alot in the last 2 decades and getting anything usable will need a rewrite
I wish I had known about Calmira when I was still using Windows For Workgroups 3.11 back in late 1995-early 1996 (if it was around then) before I upgraded to a new PC and Win95. I never did like the Win 3.x GUI (I always thought it was crude and clunky compared to other GUIs), and was wondering back then if there was a shell/Program Manager substitute for Win 3.x that could give it that Win95 GUI, which I thought was superior and better-looking. I was looking around back then for such to no avail--Calmira slipped under my radar until now! 😟
Hi Michael. Did you try to change the default shell by editing system.ini ? Like in the good'ol'times of Win3.1 where one could choose between program manager or file manager ?
This is very nice shell I used it on many PCs with Win 3.1/3.11 and NT 3.x :) in the newer calmira there are more fetures like long name file support, 95 style title bars butons (only in the shell) and there is an option for graphics on dialog botons. BTW there is an separate program called mask95/98 it is win 9x skin for Windows 3.x but not run on NT 3.x if someone is interested i will post a download link :)
Show Desktop & quick launch actually shipped with IE4 & were available on W95 & NT4 as a result if selected when IE4 was installed. My OEM copy of W95 (OSR2) automated installing IE4 that way & came with those.
@@beardyface8492 Aw, man. You might be right now that you refreshed my memory. That sucks, because I really dislike the IE4 integration, bloat and change of file explorer UI it added :( Time to hunt for some sort of "show desktop" standalone applet!
You are incorrect about the installer, it is not InstallShield, it is actually a custom build of Inno Setup created specifically for Calmira. If you go to the application menu and select "About Setup" you can see this for yourself.
I saw this in win winworldpc yesterday. Ps do you want a virtual box machine which has Windows 3.11 which has Sound Drivers And Display Drivers (800x600 and 1024x768). And Network and Internet Explorer 5.01
Wow, this brings back memories.
I'm actually the creator of the XP-version. As it was my first programming experience, don't expect too much from it, but for sure it was nice to do back in the day. It would be great to see a video on my version too ;-).
Anyway, from what I remember: Calmira was originally called Calypso and was released early 1997. This version was written by Li-Hsin Huang (as you can see in the About-box). Another name had to be chosen because the name was already in use (an email client) and so it became Calmira.
In 1998 a Dutch-guy (E. Dokter) took over and released V3.0. From that time it's called Calmira II.
Later, in 2002 I created Calmira XP which was based on Calmira V3.3.
Tip: you can load Calmira as default shell, instead of Program Manager, then you can run Calmira without running Program Manager.
i386DX I take a look at that thanks anyway
You called? :)
I was the main developer from V3.0 to V3.11. It taught me a lot about the windows API. Someone already mentioned, but the setup program was indeed a custom version (by me) of the last 16-bit version of Inno Setup. I myself skipped Windows 95 and went straight to Windows 2000.
@@windekind27 Thank you guys. I've used CALMIRA in a 486 laptop years ago. Thanks a lot.
Thank you guys. I've used CALMIRA in a 486 laptop years ago. Thanks a lot.
Thank you, luckily this program runs on Windows 8, now my laptop speed is 👍.
Now I can have the classic theme :) and Windows 95 (my favourite Windows) experience.
Thank you soooooo much!
I love this side of humanity. Get everything to work on everything it wasn't made for.
I'd like to imagine the people who made calmira, are the same people who got doom running on a gas pump, lol.
Dr Mayday001 lol
I love computer stuff in general
how about getting Crysis to run on a commodore 64
@@ajddavid452 windows 10 on a Mac SE
WHOA Calmira still exists!!?? I used that about 10 years ago with a really old monochrome 3.1-running laptop my father passed down to me when he no longer needed it. Glad to see it's still getting some very slight attention!!
Thanks for the video. I had forgotten about this gem. I had installed this years ago on my step dad's old 386 that he didn't have the money to get Windows 95 on, and so I converted him to windows 3.11 and Calmira ii for the look of 95. I think he used it for another 4 years just like that.
I miss the simplicity of old Windows. Brings back memories that tile background. I look at the icons and it feels like looking into the past through pixel windows.
Ah, so I tried 'pbrush' on Windows 10 and I was surprised to see MS Paint open, the shortcut is still present. Great video!!
Huh, cool. Tried it myself and you're right.
I used it on a 486DX, back in the day, it was pretty responsive. I seem to recall that you can actually set it as the actual shell by editing system.ini, avoiding the program manager being there permanently in your taskbar.
Yes, just replace SHELL= and then assuming calmira is in system environment after the = the name of calmira it's executable.
In virualbox I can't find video drivers for more than 16 colors 🤤
It would make sense for that functionality to be present way back then, I suppose. I know in Windows 95 you could definitely change shells, something I kept doing all the way up until Windows XP personally. I mean, it's just an executable that automatically starts when Windows launches, after all.
@@mrkitty777 You can run win3.1 in plain DOSBox though.
@@UltimatePerfection with which Windows 3.11 graphics driver? I have 3.11 for workgroups but can't get more than 16 colors. Tried other drivers. In the 90s my videocard had at least 256 colors.
Edit system.ini and change the shell from "progman.exe" to calmira.exe and save and relaunch windows. No need now to have progman on the task bar ;)
I'm glad someone pointed this out 😄
That was in the manual even, IIRC.
than it transform windows 3.1 to windows 95 codename chicago calmira II edition lol
Sandra Coric now that I think about it let’s see this program on chicago
was waiting for this while watching. I used calmira for quite a long time actually.
It's the awesome voiced dude who I've been following for a lot now ! :D
Calmira is awesome for Win 3.x.
Thanks for sticking around!
Thanks for the shout out mate. You don't mess around getting these videos up quickly!
Now you have no choice but to run it under Windows 10 32-bit
DOSBOX runs pretty nicely on 64bit Windows. I actually have Windows 3.1 + Calmira on Windows 7 64 bit, for science. Thanks to DOSBOX. Better than VM since files are directly accessible to the host OS.
Give me some time and I can get it working on Windows 10 64-bit
Its written in Delphi.
Edit: I scanned thru the source-code; modern versions of Delphi do not take kindly to the ancient coding methods used in this project. To get anything useful will need a near rewrite.
@Hanro50 Yep, it may be possible to port to a slightly newer version for Windows. Of course we would also have to get the old version of Delphi tools. I am programmer but I not use Delphi, although I know people who have.
Physical Computing
Older versions of Delphi will not compile to 32 bit Windows. It requires you to essentially use the first release of the IDE. I might get it to work with maybe the 2005 version of the IDE, but that'll need some extensive digging. Some of the problems are spawned by missing "uses" files, uncommitted code and unicode weirdness. Honestly it seems like this project was started in turbo pascal and then ported to Delphi as the devs didn't make use of nearly any form units which complicates things since everything kinda goes low level at that point.
Might have some luck with Lazarus as well.
Edit: A rewrite using a modern version of the IDE should be possible. Provided I would need to lookup how some of the advance features where pulled off.
Hanro50 I thought more about how to push the Windows version on Windows 95 or something like that. When I have free time, I can get it out.
used this back in the day when windows 3.1 laptops were basically free. good times
This would be definitely on a vintage computer if I were to get one. And also VMs with Windows 3.1 giving errors upgrading to 95 from a clean 3.1 install..
Quick launch was native for windows 98, it became into 95 with internet explorer 4.0 update.
Didn't all versions of 95 let you create toolbars, though? The quick launch is just a toolbar with a special toggle
Joseph Still, as much as I remember, nope. There was no option like that.
Internet explorer 4.0/5.0 with Desktop Update
4:00 Its actually a customized version of inno setup. Read 2:00
Calmira had very active user community until early 2000s. Used to had it installed on my computer as well as it gave my ancient hardware more modern feel.
You're clicking twice to close windows.
Is it not possible to simply double-click the minus button?
its possible, try it
Double-click the menu button to close a window. Standard Windows knowledge.
Also, to be pedantic, double-clicking the system menu button _is_ clicking twice. If you _really_ only want to press the button once then hold the button when opening the menu, then release after dragging the cursor to the close option. But of course that's silly, double-clicking is the way to go.
I actually used this back in the day , before i upgraded to win95
I was thinking and im pretty sure you could set this as the default desktop with some reg tweaks but im not sure
Me too!
Me too! Cool little piece of Windows history that I thought no one remembered! There was also an OS/2 looking shell for Win 3.x developed by some IBM employees. Win 3.x was fun to tweak.
Back in 1994 I was thinking that somebody should make "Chicago for Windows", ie. a Windows Chicago (yet unreleased 95) interface for Windows 3.1. I guess this was essentially it, but probably was released later.
I remember using it to my jailbroken 3.1 iPad before. Yes, I used DOSBox for that.
Nour T. I remember trying to get The Sims working from a w95 image on DOSPad, the damn thing couldn’t handle having a direct x 7 processor though, the OS just wouldn’t start 😢
This brings back so many memories.... Our first family computer was an Apple llgs and it was replaced by a AMD DX 40 running Windows 3.11 . I remember downloading Calmira from a big shareware repository. Calmira gave the computer a more modern feel. I never did really use Windows 95 as our next family computer was. a Windows 98 machine ....
love the video man! my first video from you was the windows 98 install tutorial
Calmira II can also work on Windows NT 3.1-3.51 too. Yet, if you ever used the "NewShell" add on that was exclusively for Windows NT 3.51 (which this shell was an early Alpha-test shell that Microsoft released a year before Windows NT 4.0's original release) and then later installed Calmira II along with the "NewShell" add-on, you would get two taskbars and the Calmira II "desktop icons" on the Windows NT 3.51 "NewShell" taskbar. I actually tried this on Virtual PC 2007 before a few years ago.
Toastytech previously mentioned more about the "NewShell" here: toastytech.com/guis/misc4.html
WeatherSTARIII i was about to say the same :)
A shareware called Mask98 would give the title bars the close button and 9x look. Good times.
It's a nice piece of software for people that want to give a more modern look to their old computer.
I tried Calmira, DeskQ, and Workplace For Windows Shell on my Windows For Workgroups 3.11 many years ago. But frankly, I was pretty happy with the standard Program Manager, and not so thrilled about the Windows 95 interface when I first encountered it. But what was really interesting was running 3 different shells at the same time!
Great video. Love it
Thanks! Glad you liked it
This is like an operating environment on top of an operating environment on top of an operating system. OpCeption!
I used to use it in OS/2. And if you want a better experience edit the ini file and swap the shell property to Calmira. It will use it as the primary shell instead of Program Manager. IE you won't have the Program Manager task running.
I used to run Calmira on Windows for workgroups 3.11 - this must have been around 1995, on old 386/486 machines that didn't quite have the grunt to manage a Windows 95 install smoothly but needed the superior UI. We used to be able to run modern'ish 32-bit software with Win32's * en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Win32s * Retro seeing this revive, Calmira used to be on calmira.org but some fans of the project decided to re-host the site on calmira.de - check archive.org for calmira.org and you may find an actual creation time.
You can change progman.exe to calmira.exe in system.ini to change the shell and not minimize the program manager. To use the ms-dos prompt in a window you have to press alt-enter and it will change between fullscreen mode and window mode.
I love seeing software for older OS' still being made, gives me a reason to use windows 9x and 3.x VMs
Also try the alternative for Windows NT 3.5(1), Newshell. Also, i think Newshell was the official precursor to the unofficial Calmira.
Looks amazing!
I remember actually using this back in the days. Good old time.
Great video. Thumbs-up
Also there's a version of Calmira that makes 3.1 look more like XP too. Nice :D
HassanLechkar watch the video maybe?
Damn, I'm getting a nostalgic feeling, yet I'm not old enough to have experienced win98
lol
This is an older version of calmira. The newest version has more features, better start menu and also allows you to close program manager (albeit a bit tricky)
Yep! I used it in 2001, since I couldn't afford a computer that was modern. Combine it with LFN4DOS, and install Win32s, and you'll have a 95esque , even funcionality wise. With LFN4DOS, you even get Windows LFN support. You can also change the shell in win.ini, change "shell=progman.exe" to "shell=calmira.exe". Close and restart Windows, and it will launch with Calmira as the default desktop environment. :)
It was fully usable even in the 2000's You could even get "NewButtons" and replace the Win31 window icons with 95 style.
If you do everything with this post, you'll really see no diference between 95, and Calmira II on Windows 3x
I used Calmira for a while in '97 and '98, on a Compaq 486 laptop.
For giggles, I even modified the windows loading screen similar to the Windows 95 type, though mine said Windows 94. It actually fooled a few people.... "Windows 94? Never heard of it....."
Beyond that, it was mostly just an aesthetic exercise. The only real new feature it brought to Win3.1 was the recycle bin, which was certainly welcome, though obviously not critical.
I had actually used this back in the day as my lowly 486 66mhz with 4MB RAM was incapable of running win 95. If I recall, I had even changed the start menu calmira branding using a resource editor
I used Calmira on a Compaq 486 at high school in 2002-2003. Really enjoyed it :) There was a patch you could run to literally patch the video drivers so that the close/min/max icons in the window titlebars would change to Win95. I might have those patches still at home on my fileserver...
What's the patch name as I can't seem to find that patch
Have you ever thought about doing a colab with Druaga1? I feel like you 2 could come up with something interesting with the type of content you guys release
nice
I remember Calmira. It’s possible to replace Program Manager with Calmira changing the WIN.INI config file. I recommend you to check another shell for Windows 3.1: Wayfarer. More original, superb help file, very customisable too and also includes an optional taskbar.
i recall there was another interface mod called mask98, i think, that would change the window decorator to have the windows 95 minimize, maximize, and close buttons.
I think you could probably get a Guinness Book record for the longest any human has ever spoken about a TOTD box!
If you double click on the top left button, it'll close the window. You don't have to mouse down to close :)
Also, this still works in Windows 10! There's not button anymore, but it'll work if you click the area.
I played with computers as a kid, but didn't really get in to them until the Windows 3.1 era. I wonder how I would have felt about Calmira if I had known about it at the time. It seems funny now, but I remember loathing the Windows 95 interface when it first came out. I was so used to 3.1 that the change really bothered me. Of course now that seems silly, but I really did struggle with accepting the change. If I actually had any reason to run 3.1 today though I'd absolutely install Calmira. It looks like a pretty awesome 95 interface clone.
Ah, blast from the past. Used it briefly but I believe I replaced it with Workplace Shell.
On win3.1 you can double click on the minus button to close a window instead of selecting "close"
Nice. I still use 3.11 for a "retro" DOS gaming rig. Cheers.
This is pretty neat
As soon as it said "This will install Calmira. Do you wish to continue?" I knew it was InstallShield :) (According to another comment, it's actually "Inno", but I don't know about that.)
Thats really amazing.
Now this is just the coolest !
Oh, memories. I used to use this.
You have the coolest videos I love this kind of shit
I can't believe I've actually used this in the past on a random VM.
Around the time Windows 95 came out I tried to write a Start Menu "shell" for 16 bit Windows in Visual Basic. Of course, being 11 at the time, it didn't come out very well.
And when Windows 8 came out, people started writing Start Menu shells once again
I remember getting that on a pc magazine around 1998
Like an old school Classic Shell.
Xenotiic except backwards lol
You sound like microsoft sam
I love that there's the NT style task manager lol, not at all like windows 95 xD
Back then on Cyrix 486 DLC I used my Windows 3.11 with some shell called Norton Desktop. It looked much better than Windows 95.
JobbyTheHong's transformation jingle at around 9:30, woohoo!
Delphi!?
I can see to recompiling this for Win32 since I have some experience in that programming language
edit: nvm: The IDE has changed alot in the last 2 decades and getting anything usable will need a rewrite
At 12:31 "Accessories" is spelled "Accessoires".
I wish I had known about Calmira when I was still using Windows For Workgroups 3.11 back in late 1995-early 1996 (if it was around then) before I upgraded to a new PC and Win95. I never did like the Win 3.x GUI (I always thought it was crude and clunky compared to other GUIs), and was wondering back then if there was a shell/Program Manager substitute for Win 3.x that could give it that Win95 GUI, which I thought was superior and better-looking. I was looking around back then for such to no avail--Calmira slipped under my radar until now! 😟
At the point where he explains the recycle bin, I don't think anybody who doesn't know about it would make it to that part of the video.
Ffs! I wish i knew about it back then! It looks awesome! Sadly i didnt have internet that far back and pc shops didnt have it "pirated" on sale
I kinda remember that there was application like this but which also replaced titlebars. Name escapes me tho.
I have a virtual machine with Calmira installed on it. At some point I will create a virtual machine with Calmira XP on it.
Hi Michael. Did you try to change the default shell by editing system.ini ? Like in the good'ol'times of Win3.1 where one could choose between program manager or file manager ?
8:36 "it not gonna show it as a window" * sees a keyboard shortcut to make it a window *
The "Peter Protus' site" for Calmira longhorn no longer works :(. Hope someone uploaded it to The Wayback Machine.
This is what Windows 93 should look like
Nice. Now we just need Microsoft to answer with a Metro interface for Windows 3 and the selection is complete.
Can see "-1" in one menu and a "-2" on the 3.1 Start Menu. Just what do they do?
I tried to create something very similar back in school called 95bar.
I expect I still have the VB3/4 source code somewhere...
Ohh this is pretty cool
Time to dust off the old I486 machine :)
This is very nice shell I used it on many PCs with Win 3.1/3.11 and NT 3.x :) in the newer calmira there are more fetures like long name file support, 95 style title bars butons (only in the shell) and there is an option for graphics on dialog botons. BTW there is an separate program called mask95/98 it is win 9x skin for Windows 3.x but not run on NT 3.x if someone is interested i will post a download link :)
Cool name ;-)
i386DX thanks :) your as well and your's avatar too :)
i did this in 1998 on a 486 thinkpad with 3.1!!!!!
Actually, it seems to copy Windows98, because of that show desktop and quick access menu. I suppose older versions where more W95 alike?
Show Desktop & quick launch actually shipped with IE4 & were available on W95 & NT4 as a result if selected when IE4 was installed. My OEM copy of W95 (OSR2) automated installing IE4 that way & came with those.
@@beardyface8492 Aw, man. You might be right now that you refreshed my memory. That sucks, because I really dislike the IE4 integration, bloat and change of file explorer UI it added :( Time to hunt for some sort of "show desktop" standalone applet!
how do get the exe into the virtual machine?
You are incorrect about the installer, it is not InstallShield, it is actually a custom build of Inno Setup created specifically for Calmira. If you go to the application menu and select "About Setup" you can see this for yourself.
This app was awesome when i had the chance to use it before 3.1 faded from my eyes.
Ooo… what if combined with CTL32.DLL?
Good vid
Thank you!
its a great idea! but in 2018.. you sure anyone has a .3.1 machine?
I saw this in win winworldpc yesterday. Ps do you want a virtual box machine which has Windows 3.11 which has Sound Drivers And Display Drivers (800x600 and 1024x768). And Network and Internet Explorer 5.01
works with windows 10 if you get otvdm
try BackSlash Linux
Nice
Befire virtualbox i used Win3.11 in dosbox. This was closest thing to windows 95 i could use.
Eelis Häkkinen, there is win9x in dosbox as well
@@martinrocket1436 I know, but my it's harder. I have tried it, but failed.
I might sound gay but you should be a radio speaker or narrator/lector or something with a voice like that
Im running this once i get windows 3.11 up and runing on using bochs on playstation 2
Does anyone know how to put the exe in a virtual machine?