Hey blenderers, I’m wondering if its possible to download Blender 2.5 on Windows M.E. the one right before 2000, if not is it possible to download Windows 2000 or 2003 for free or anything like that, because I would like to get it for our old computer.
Thanks
Inferno
is this a late first april fool? I can’t believe there are still Win98/ME users around Ô.o
My suggestion is that you look into something like Ubuntu Linux (which is free). You can download it and try it out by booting from a CD and not making any changes to your computer. It might breath new life to that old machine! Once you get onto Linux, then you would most certainly be able to run Blender.
Well, actually, we have a windows vista, but its the family computer, and I would like to fix that one up so I could use in my free time, to learn 2.5 a little better. Its our old computer, so I was fixing it up, thought it would be a good thing to put the most awesome 3D software on it.
Thanks though, but I’m not sure if i want to download linux, I’m not sure if it would be to great compared to Windows
A modern version of Ubuntu cannot be worse than Windows ME. It’s just not possible.
But is there a big difference between the two, like format, and will the things that work for windows work for for Linux?
If you mean “can i run all my windows apps in Linux” the answer is: not really. (There’s a way to do it, but it’s not what I’d recommend for people who just want things to work). If you mean “will Blender run on Linux just like on Windows” the answer is: no. It will probably run better (i.e. faster, fewer crashes).
Seriously, there’s no reason NOT to try a Linux Live CD in an older machine like that. Might work. Might not. But there’s absolutely no harm in trying. That said, why not download Blender and try it on your ME machine? Might work. Again – there’s no cost or consequence to trying.
iirc offical 95/98/Me support was dropped a couple of versions ago. It take up to much time for the devs to maintain OS that hardly anyone use anymore…
If you get Ubuntu 9.10 running properly it’s very good - I find it a much more pleasant experience than Vista
try a live CD - it won’t harm your computer
I’m actually more worried about the hardware spec of a computer from that long ago. While harkyman is correct that Linux handles well, running as a LiveCD is pretty heavy with fairly frequent disk lookups (spinning) and may give an impression that Linux is slower than it is once properly installed. Certainly, the nvidia etc drivers would then need to be added for the full effect. I would go the Linux route myself, but then that’s because I’m familiar with it already.
With a machine of that age, Ubuntu Live CD will probably fail or install will fail due to shortage of memory compared to newer machines.
If you want to give Ubuntu a go, download the ‘alternative’ install CD available from Ubuntu site that will give you a text based install rather than a graphical one. You get a graphical desktop just the install is text based. You may also have a smaller hard drive than modern machines so in the install you can choose what to install and what not to to save you disk space.
There are also lightweight Linux distros like Damn Small Linux, Puppy Linux, CruchBang which may not give you all the bells and whistles, (well as many bells and whistles as you can get with Linux) but will perform faster. Something like a Fluxbox, Blackbox or Openbox instead of Gnome or KDE window manager will probably perform better.
Give Crunchbang LITE a go. 
You may need to post here queries if you get stuck and there are many here who can help you through the install. Have your old machine sat next to your new one (with web access) to make things easier.
Good Luck.
I’ve tested it on my laptop with Win2000 and it runs fine. Haven’t tested it on ME though.
By “Live CD” do you mean I have it downloaded on a CD instead, and whenever its running on the computer its linux, and whenever its out it goes back to windows?
Pretty much. Though remember that CDs are pretty slow to read from so it will be pretty slow to boot. Once it is in RAM though, it is in most cases faster than Windows. If you decide you like the Live CD, then you can eventually use it to install Linux to your hard drive.
How would I download something like that on a CD, I don’t really have a clue how to do that
Well you would need an ISO burner, I recommend Infrarecorder. Just make sure you burn it as an ISO, and not as an audio cd or anything.
As for Linux itself, I am not sure what you would want. I would recommend Ubuntu http://www.ubuntu.com/ though if you have an older computer (which you do), it may be better to go for something lighter, like Xubuntu http://www.xubuntu.org/.
Don’t fear trying out linux and how to deal with a different OS even when it could become tricky… Ubuntu really can be worth trying out, at least when you’re still using a DOS based Windows version. Anyway, good luck.
WINDOWS ME??? This is one exception where all human rights don’t apply! If your insane enough to be considering using Windows ME, I won’t be respecting your opinion. Even if you use the most expensive computer parts and you cool you PC with liquid nitrogen, it WILL crash within minutes after start up or if you open notepad or something.
Yeah … with a great OS like Windows ME, who would want Linux?
:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D
Smart Alec.
But really for its age its not that bad of a computer, I’ve had to fix it a few times, but that was just fun. Anyway, I’m more just doing this for fun then anything else, I’ll get back to you guys if I have anymore questions that I need answered.