ghostscript

[Author]

I have ghostscript 8.5 installed on my win95 osr2 computer.
I want to install gs871w32.exe but get an error when I try to run
setupgs.

How can I install ghostscript 8.71?

Thanks for any help

George

[ken]

In article <20120905-1...@Author.News.east.earthlink.net>,
li...@exit7.net says...

>
> I have ghostscript 8.5 installed on my win95 osr2 computer.
> I want to install gs871w32.exe but get an error when I try to run
> setupgs.
>
> How can I install ghostscript 8.71?

1) Don't. Install 9.06, 8.71 is very old.

2) Perhaps if you were to actually quote the error it might be possible
to help.

3) If all else fails you don't need to install Ghostscript, you can sset
it up manually.

4) Windows 95 ? Seriously ?

[tlvp]

On Thu, 6 Sep 2012 07:52:05 +0100, ken wrote:

> 4) Windows 95 ? Seriously ?

Why not? Win 95 doesn't wear out, any more than ghostscript does. Matter of
fact, I still have an ancient ghostscript/ghostview installation on an old
Win 3.1 machine, fully functional (a GRiD-era "Pen Convertible" unit -- a
much touch-friendlier Windows than today's Win 8 :-) ).

Cheers, -- tlvp
--
Avant de repondre, jeter la poubelle, SVP.

[ken]

In article <163j2j9iawwle$.1pxj6pc0...@40tude.net>,
mPiOsUcB...@att.net says...

>
> On Thu, 6 Sep 2012 07:52:05 +0100, ken wrote:
>
> > 4) Windows 95 ? Seriously ?
>
> Why not? Win 95 doesn't wear out, any more than ghostscript does.

True, but the hardware its running on does. And if you want to install
new software (or even updates to existing software) it gets increasingly
hard over time to find something which works on such an old operating
system.

There's the matter of security, but as long as you don't connect such an
ancient machine to any networks, or load any floppy disks, you're
probably safe.

And bug fixes are mostly applied to current versions of software. Of
course, if you don't want to upgrade software, none of this matters, but
then, that's where this thread started....

I *think* current versions of Ghostscript will still work on Windows 95,
but it is a 17 year old operating system, I wouldn't like to be certain.
While I *do* have a VM with Windows 95 installed, I haven't actually run
it in ages.


Ken

[Chris]

On Sat, 08 Sep 2012 07:55:03 +0100, ken wrote:
>
> I *think* current versions of Ghostscript will still work on Windows 95,
> but it is a 17 year old operating system, I wouldn't like to be certain.
> While I *do* have a VM with Windows 95 installed, I haven't actually run
> it in ages.

Recent Windows releases of Ghostscript will not run on Windows 95,
because they are built with Visual Studio 2005 - and VS2005 doesn't
support Win95. We changed to VS2005 in order to support the 64 bit
Windows builds.

Ghostscript itself should run on Win95, if built with a suitable Visual
Studio release - I believe VS2003 still supports Win95.


So, sorry, but the only option is to find a copy a VS2003 and build
Ghostscript yourself - or update to an OS for which support wasn't
dropped by its vendor very nearly ten years ago!

Chris

[tlvp]

On Sat, 8 Sep 2012 07:55:03 +0100, ken wrote:

> In article <163j2j9iawwle$.1pxj6pc0...@40tude.net>,
> mPiOsUcB...@att.net says...
>>
>> On Thu, 6 Sep 2012 07:52:05 +0100, ken wrote:
>>
>>> 4) Windows 95 ? Seriously ?
>>
>> Why not? Win 95 doesn't wear out, any more than ghostscript does.
>
> True, but the hardware its running on does. And if you want to install
> new software (or even updates to existing software) it gets increasingly
> hard over time to find something which works on such an old operating
> system.
>
> There's the matter of security, but as long as you don't connect such an
> ancient machine to any networks, or load any floppy disks, you're
> probably safe.

Absolutely. That MS Windows 3.1 for Pen Computing system (as it was called)
is totally stand-alone, but for a parallel-port-attached ZIP drive :-) .
And I wouldn't have it any other way.

> And bug fixes are mostly applied to current versions of software. Of
> course, if you don't want to upgrade software, none of this matters, but
> then, that's where this thread started....

No. What runs on it just runs on it, and needs no updates or upgrades.

> I *think* current versions of Ghostscript will still work on Windows 95,
> but it is a 17 year old operating system, I wouldn't like to be certain.
> While I *do* have a VM with Windows 95 installed, I haven't actually run
> it in ages.
>
>
> Ken

Sorry, ken. There are just times I tire of hearing everybody and their
uncle repeat the vendors' self-interested claims that we must all keep our
systems updated to the latest and greatest, no matter how much havoc that
plays with older software -- or hardware -- whose creators just aren't here
any longer to keep *their* stuff up-to-date :-) . So I become the voice of
restraint and conservatism :-) . Nothing personal -- quite the contrary: I
marvel, with great gratitude, at how well even truly antique versions of
ghostscript/ghostview pull their weight :-) .