If the Nokia 3310 reboot has left you feeling a tad nostalgic, then you’ll undoubtedly appreciate this tech blast from the past in the form of a Windows 98 smartwatch.
As you may have guessed from the photo, this is not an official Microsoft product, but the work of an amateur inventor who has created a retro tribute to the much-loved operating system.
Forget the Apple Watch 2; having a smartwatch featuring the classic Windows 98 is a sure-fire way to impress any millennial old enough to remember not being able to use the internet and house phone at the same time.
“I have always had somewhat of a soft-spot for Windows 98, despite it driving me insane back in the day on my old Pentium II system with 64mb RAM and using some god awful on-board graphics,” the designer explained.
“But these days I don’t HAVE to suffer it as my only source of computing; which, somehow makes me want to go back and use it – I’ve built my own dream Windows 98 PC that I like to fire up every now and then and I love it.
“I also love emulation, the idea of running an operating system on virtual hardware? That’s awesome. It’s like the Matrix, or something. On top of this I love wearable/small tech and nowadays I have the ability to make things like this. So I thought, wouldn’t it be ridiculous and awesome to have Windows 98 on my wrist?”
Windows 98 Wrist Watch made with a Raspberry Pi!https://t.co/ulKhaX7TYj@sugru @Raspberry_Pi @adafruit @pimoroni pic.twitter.com/qgVQNOgImD
— Michael Darby (@The_Mikey_D) March 1, 2017
.@The_Mikey_D's @Raspberry_Pi-powered watch puts Windows 98 on your wrist: https://t.co/CxxUHKbIhN pic.twitter.com/tShPhwgOm4
— Hackster.io (@Hacksterio) March 2, 2017
The Redditor shared details of his Windows 98 Wrist Watch Project online, using his Raspberry Pi Model A+ to build the DIY timepiece which features a 2.4-inch touchscreen.
He then used virtual machine software QEMU to get Window 98 running on the Pi, posting the results on Reddit with the caption: “Nostalgia overload!”
There have been a few teething problems, however, with the Redditor admitting that opening a menu on it currently “takes ages”.
The retro tech fan has managed to get Minesweeper and the Flying Windows screensaver working so far and hopes to have legendary 1993 shooter Doom up and running soon.
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