erfg12 / AOL_4.0_Emu

Emulating AOL 4.0
https://aolemu.com
103 stars 8 forks source link

Screenshots or Video of Windows/Functions #10

Open erfg12 opened 5 years ago

erfg12 commented 5 years ago

I'm unsure of what certain windows looked like or did when they were open. If anyone has video or screenshots of these, that would help tremendously!

erfg12 commented 4 years ago

Here's a book with lots of windows:

https://archive.org/details/yourofficialamer00peal

"Your official America Online Internet guide"

Here are some menus I found in the first revision of the book. https://imgur.com/a/vwy2wIs

Some more menus from revision 5 of the same book. https://imgur.com/a/TF4OF5K

erfg12 commented 4 years ago

There is a method for opening old forms.

Install MAOL or SAOL from https://web.archive.org/web/20200729050823/http://www.koin.org/files/aol.aim/aol/mAOL/

Using DBViewer from https://web.archive.org/web/20200729050808/http://koin.org/files/aol.aim/aol/dbview/ open the main.idx file in /idb/ folder.

Open AOL 4.0, click star in the upper left corner, click Database... > Invoke Database Record and type in the database record showin in DBViewer to open the form.

erfg12 commented 4 years ago

Some database entries:

New Mail from Inbox: 41-5271 Forum Reading: 32-4607 Address Book: 41-6139 (blank, requires mod to view signed off) File Cabinet: 32-4621 (won't open) File has been added prompt: 32-236 Preferences: 32-278

Atticus156 commented 4 years ago

Here's a book with lots of windows:

https://archive.org/details/yourofficialamer00peal

"Your official America Online Internet guide"

Here are some menus I found in the first revision of the book. https://imgur.com/a/vwy2wIs

Some more menus from revision 5 of the same book. https://imgur.com/a/TF4OF5K

American Online pics and other important things http://justinakapaste.com/ Lots of company documentation https://mattmazur.com/projects/aol-files-com/ archived files more links and files work here than above. https://web.archive.org/web/20010302120336/http://www.aol-files.com/ applications for old aols.. and aims. and documentation http://aciddr0p.net/organizedaol.html

InvisibleUp commented 4 years ago

I made a screenshot tour of AOL 4 for Mac a few years back at https://invisibleup.com/articles/5/

There's also a backup of all the raw AOL forms at https://archive.org/search.php?query=creator%3A%22AOL+Files%22, although I'm not sure off hand how to decode them.

erfg12 commented 4 years ago

The raw AOL forms you stated are actually downloaded media files (videos and images). I don't see any actual forms in there. Can you show me some of the form files please?

PajamaFrix commented 4 years ago

Using the AOL Database Viewer (as mentioned two 5 comments above me), I looked through some databases, specifically the "MAIN.IDX" file in the AOL 4 directory and "ART5.IDX", found on some AOL 4 install discs (thanks Internet Archive users!) and I managed to find various graphics and buttons within, most of which I believe use a .art extension.

Unfortunately, despite my research for looking for a program that could look and extract these from the database files, and Dragon UnPACKer's HyperRipper (tools mostly used for video game file formats, with HyperRipper being integrated into DUP) can only rip the .BMP and .GIF files contained within these databases, I could not find a way to get these out of the initial files.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks,

-F

erfg12 commented 4 years ago

I use SnippingTool.

PajamaFrix commented 4 years ago

image

I know, but there's a ton of pictures in there. Using Snipping Tool to capture each and every one of them would definitely be a time-consuming process.

-F

Kronos197-tech commented 4 years ago

Screenshot_15 This is a BMP file maximized in a Windows 95 virtual machine in AOL 3, and it seems like the window options are on the menu. Yours maximizes at the top of the gray area.

erfg12 commented 4 years ago

AOL 3.0 is not even close to AOL 4.0 layout.

Kronos197-tech commented 4 years ago

Screenshot_16