[Coco] Windows 95 help

[Jeff Teunissen]

N8WQ wrote:
> Hi James,
> What does "OSR2.1" mean? If my memory serves me correctly, I bought my 
> copy of Win 95 about one year after it first came out. It is a blast 
> from the past running Win 95 again!

Win95 OSR2.1 means "Windows 95 OEM Service Release 2.1". After Windows 95,
Microsoft released special versions only to those who built computer systems;
these were the OEM Service releases. That said, the definition of OEM was so
wide that it applied to everyone who installed any hardware as simple as a
keyboard, mouse, etc. So as long as you went to your local mom-n-pop computer
store and bought a cable, they could also sell you OSR2.1 for the OEM price.

Many people got OSR2.x for FAT32 support, because you couldn't really get it
any other way.

First there was OSR1 (which added Internet Explorer 2.0 and most of Service
Pack 1), OSR2 (which added FAT32 support to Windows and the DOS 7 included
with Windows 95), and OSR2.1 (which added some limited USB support).

Windows 95 OSR2.1, if you didn't need good USB support, was probably the best
Windows release until Windows 2000. If you did need USB, the best release was
probably Windows 98 Second Edition (98SE) with IE4 removed. :)