SOL-37 / BUILD 2222

A functioning cross-era desktop

Windows 98,meet 2026.

Native Win32 chat. The original Microsoft Agent Clippy. Server-pushed balloons and animation. Live guest diagnostics. A transparent, interactive XFCE overlay. No miniature third chat window.

Download complete kit See it running
Sol Chat 98 + Clippy - Seamless Mode
Sol Chat 98, Clippy, Office toolbar and Windows taskbar layered over an XFCE desktop
WIN 98Build 2222 guest
43asset-derived animations
1600 × 900headless guest display
LIVEhost + guest control

One system.
Four layers.

Clippy is neither a screenshot nor a web recreation. The Windows 98 guest runs the real Microsoft Agent character and native applications, while the Linux host handles modern networking, push control, and desktop composition.

Sol Chat 98Native Win32 conversation UI with persisted history, context inspection, system diagnostics, menus, status text, and bridge transport.
Sol ClippyIndependent Microsoft Agent controller with direct dialog chat, click reactions, status balloons, paging, and all installed animation states.
Host BridgeAuthenticated HTTP transport for modern TLS, server-side balloon pushes, diagnostics function calls, and full-chat launch control.
Seamless XFCEA shaped, click-through-aware X11 overlay keys out the guest desktop while retaining guest windows, taskbar, Office toolbar, and Clippy.

Two desktops.
One surface.

The guest remains a maintainable Windows 98 installation, but its useful surfaces can be composed alongside ordinary host windows. Clippy stays visible when Sol Chat is minimized or sent to the tray.

Host composition
Seamless XFCE composition with Sol Chat and Clippy beside host applications
Windows stay with windows; icons stay with icons. Guest taskbar below, Office toolbar above, Clippy wherever he pleases.
Windows 98 guest
Windows 98 guest showing Sol Chat 98 and Clippy with a balloon
The native guest view: Sol Chat 98, the actual Office 2000 Clippy asset, persisted conversation, and balloon output.
Direct Clippy chat
Standalone Clippy beside his transient direct-chat dialog on the Windows 98 desktop
Clippy works independently: double-click the character, ask in a transient dialog, and receive the answer in the native Agent balloon.
Native conversation
Sol Chat 98 displaying a long native conversation and guest diagnostics
The full chat remains a real ANSI Win32 program, with persisted history, styled roles, diagnostics context, menus, and configuration inspection.
Host control surface
XFCE Sol Clippy status menu showing animation choices alongside Windows 98 diagnostics
The XFCE indicator exposes every installed animation, balloon controls, queue state, VM actions, and seamless-mode controls beside live guest diagnostics.
HTTPS translation verified
Internet Explorer 5.01 on Windows 98 successfully displaying the HTTPS Example Domain page
A literal https:// request succeeds through the isolated legacy-TLS frontend and modern validating upstream proxy.

Period correct.
Not period limited.

The deliberately boring compatibility choices are the feature: ANSI Win32, WinINet, Microsoft Agent 2.0, file IPC, and a host bridge keep the guest authentic without asking 1998 TLS to survive 2026.

01

Independent Clippy

Chat directly through Agent input, react to mouse clicks, animate, speak in paged balloons, or accept commands from the full chat window.

02

Server push

Host endpoints can show, hide, move, animate, speak, set balloon content, clear only balloon text, and launch full Sol Chat.

03

Useful context

Optional function calls expose the guest process tree, memory, display, network state, computer identity, and other diagnostics to the model.

04

Visible status

Connecting, gathering context, waiting on the bridge, and thinking are shown in Clippy’s balloon before answer text replaces the status.

05

Host controls

An XFCE status indicator provides every animation, balloon and VM controls, plus an LLM-driven idle puppeteer using thermal data, live diagnostics, and a bounded host process tree.

06

Recoverable install

Separate host and guest installers, uninstallers, backup-on-replace behavior, a CD image, source, documentation, and SHA-256 manifests.

Choose your disk.

Every artifact is public-safe and independently checksummed. The complete kit is the easiest route; the split archives support maintenance and inspection.

Recommended195 KB
HOST + GUEST + DOCS

Complete public installer

Linux host installer, Windows 98 ISO, bridge, XFCE indicator, seamless overlay, source, docs, uninstallers, and internal manifest.

SHA-256 c4c9e074d2ad2f90e333ddd1819cc2eea788319a51a175edda27bf849319caac
Download complete ZIP
Windows 98 media482 KB
GUEST ONLY

Guest installer ISO

Attach directly to the VM and run D:\INSTALL.BAT. Installs Sol Chat, Sol Clippy, shortcuts, IPC storage, docs, and the seamless Active Desktop page.

SHA-256 4d79c8061d27fb05d023329ef204be0e1b9f3e5f500c4bcd622fab3221d1296b
Download guest ISO
Linux integration26 KB
HOST ONLY

Host tools

Bridge, system-aware idle daemon, Clippy controls, all-animation XFCE indicator, seamless overlay, desktop entries, icons, and installer scripts.

SHA-256 77422f770777ecaca0a9a312e098a5c446e18098f739d2271a93e3917b593e04
Download host tools
Build it yourself64 KB
SOURCE

Guest + host source

ANSI C Win32 applications, Python bridge, idle daemon and overlay, public configuration, templates, icons, and current operating documents.

SHA-256 ba2b55e958a48e630d5fc85ad2637a8520152faa3325116c21406e309c840e27
Download source ZIP
Field manual21 KB
DOCUMENTATION

Docs + maintenance skill

Full path inventory, architecture, API surfaces, idle-puppeteer schedule, bridge and seamless operations, troubleshooting, and the Codex maintenance skill.

SHA-256 60b7aa8336b492f77556869e5b4b87a8f5b34ca3a8fc21eb4e0f2c3449dfe25c
Download documentation
Integrity509 bytes
SHA-256

Release checksums

One plain-text verification list covering every downloadable artifact in this release set.

sha256sum -c SHA256SUMS.txt
Download checksums
Licensing and security boundary: these downloads do not contain Windows 98, Office 2000, Microsoft Agent, CLIPPIT.ACS, VM disks, snapshots, or upstream API credentials. The public build uses the documented distribution key sol98-public-package-20260715; keep the bridge firewalled to the VM boundary or rebuild both sides with a unique key.

Two sides.
Three commands.

The host installer registers the bridge and XFCE surfaces. The guest installer handles native applications and shortcuts. Existing host configuration is preserved rather than silently overwritten.

Linux host
$ unzip sol98-complete-installer-public-2026-07-15.zip
$ cd sol98-complete-installer-public-2026-07-15
$ ./INSTALL-HOST.sh
$ ./INSTALL-HOST.sh check

# Requires VirtualBox, Python 3, GTK 3,
# PyQt5, Pillow, NumPy and vboxapi.
Windows 98 guest
C:\> D:
D:\> INSTALL.BAT

If mounted under another letter:

C:\> E:\INSTALL.BAT E:

Installed under C:\SOLCHAT98
with Start Menu + desktop shortcuts.