What Opera can I download and run in Windows 98

[KentB]

KentB last edited by

I have a vintage Compaq LTE 5280 running Windows 98. I've managed to get it to connect to the lan via a PCMCIA card. I can use IE and successfully connect to Google.com. But I can't display anything else. I suspect that the problem is that IE only supports 40 bit encryption. Is there a version of Opera that I can download and install on Windows 98 that can successfully display modern sites.

Thanks in advance.

[sgunhouse]

sgunhouse Moderator Volunteer @KentB last edited by

@kentb Modern sites? Probably not.

On the old FTP site the oldest version appears to be Opera 11 while the latest Presto-based version is Opera 12.18. (I'm linking to the folder with the English version, if you need a different language go to the parent folder and choose the "int" (international) version.)

I'd try the 32-bit version of 12.18 first, as it will have more recent security. It will still be 6 years old and really secure sites like banking or email might not like it. but if it works on '98 it's your best bet. The 11 version is 12 years old, and Google wouldn't accept that.

[KentB]

KentB @sgunhouse last edited by

@sgunhouse Thanks for your reply.

The only way that I have to get anything to my old Compaq is via CD. So this is what I did:

From Windows 11

1. Installed Express Burn software
2. Downloaded Opera_1218_en_Setup.exe like you suggested.
3. Burned the file to CD but renamed it OPERA.EXE since the Windows 98 system doesn't recognize long file names.

From Windows 98

1. Copied OPERA.EXE from the CD to the harddrive
2. Executed OPERA.EXE
3. Received Error Starting Program windows.

The OPERA.EXE file is linked to missing export KERNEL32.DLL:GetUserDefaultUILanguage

4. Located KERNEL32.DLL in C:\WINNEW\SYSTEM directory
5. Copied OPERA.EXE to C:\WINNEW\SYSTEM
6. cd C:\WINNEW\SYSTEM
7. Executed OPERA.EXE from there with the same result

What am I missing? Please help me get Opera to install.

Thank you.

[sgunhouse]

sgunhouse Moderator Volunteer @KentB last edited by

@kentb Since it is a non-Opera website I can't vouch for the security of any files there, but https://www.kyleabaker.com/goodies/opera/download-old-opera-versions/ claims to have versions as far back as 2.0. I remember running Opera 3.51 on my old Windows 98 laptop, though as you're talking about 20+ year old software I can't imagine any site still supporting it.