Neko x64!

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For no real reason today I remmeber that there used to be this cool program back in the Windows 3.0 days called Neko. I was trying to explain it to my girlfriend about this cat that would chase your mouse!  Click the picture above to play with neko in jdosbox.

I recall that Neko even made it to OS/2 as it was more interesting than the mouse trails alternative from Microsoft.

At any rate, I was wondering if there ever was a 32bit version of Neko… And much to my amazement I found there was a Neko95, and a Neko98! And they even ran on my x64 version of Windows… So after googling around, I found the source code to Neko 98!

So, I did the next best thing, which is download the source, fix a single casting ‘error’ in some square root function and I got it building under Visual C++ 2008. Then I figured, what the hell, added a target for the x64, and built… a 64 bit version of neko!

You can download the x64 binaries, and the source directory that I used here.

You may need some VC runtimes if your system is an old x64… At this moment it can be found here:

Or by searching for Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 SP1 Redistributable Package (x64)

Oh well at any rate, it’s cool to see Neko still kicking!

PS When I get back, I’ll have to see about an i386, MIPS, Dec Alpha and Itanium build… wink wink!

—edit

Neko98’s source code has been rescued, all saved here. and on github.

—years later

I just received this screen shot of Neko x64 rocking it on Windows 8 (Desktop mode)

Neko on Windows 8

55 thoughts on “Neko x64!”

  5. Neko rules! I think I have the latest version but I can't get it to work properly for windows 7. He keeps leaving a trail of clone images or squares… v.v Bye Neko.

    Kuva

  8. I’ve updated this to include a jdosbox version which lets you run the old Windows 3.0 demonstration version, along with neko! Click on the picture of Neko for Windows 3.0 and you can run the real thing!

  9. Uhuh, that’s cool and all, but I get a “Neko10 is not a valid Win32 application” error.

    Using XP SP3, 32bit

    So why not release a 32bit version? I tried to get the Win98 version but that site is down now. Seriously, it would’ve been much better to make a 32bit version because 32bit runs on both 32bit and 64bit systems. Guess I’ll keep the files around on my local drive for when I eventually upgrade to Windows 8.

    • 64bit is cooler because you don’t need the WOW system running Win32 on Win64.. And the larger thing was to bring Neko to the Itanium, and the MIPS/DecAlpha …

      But it is sad the site is down, and the source is … lost. Thankfully I did save a copy and I’ve uploaded it, and built a Win32 i386 version since there isn’t one anymore….

  10. Hi, i just rembered the Neko from years back. I downloaded a couple of different Neko’s but they either do not run or they leave square ghost images behind… i tried the always on top option but it doesnt’ help. I run Windows 7 x64…

    But still, glad to have found them still… πŸ™‚

    There is felix the cat as well, it walks around my desktop… but it is not Neko.

      • I managed to make it run so that there wont be ghosting (by making Neko always on top), AND the ones that aren’t set to be always on top will be able to use the footprints as well. I didn’t know how I did it. Unfortunately, I accidentally pressed the Task View button and the ghosting issues came back again. I have to find out how I did that before. πŸ™

  11. Hello, thank you heaps for fixing the program. πŸ™‚

    I too, downloaded a few different Neko icon libraries but the program keeps saying that they don’t have enough icons and that there needs to be at least 32. However, I know for a fact that there are around 40 icons in the icon library file.

    Why does this happen?

    • Yes I have had this same error in every version that I found on the web that I tried in Windows Vista 64 Ultimate. In my XP machine it doesn’t do this but in Vista it does. If you try to load ANY other .icl it will give this error and these are the same libraries that in Windows XP work perfectly so yes all those libraries are really OK and do have all the required 40 icons.

      I also tried this version (Neko10) in Windows 7 in my niece laptop which is also 64 bit but it also shows this problem. I find it rather interesting that so many people have made versions that work in Vista (and I mean that I have version 4g also running in Vista and I’ve seen 4h that also runs on Vista) but they all have missed this bug and have not fixed it and without this fix a lot of the functionality of the program is unfortunately lost cause you cannot customize the image set at all.

      It is obvious that this is a bug that doesn’t allow it to read any other library in Vista and above and has gone by unnoticed or unhandled for very long by everybody that has ported it, too bad for all the lovers of the nifty program which are a lot.

      • Small correction, not 40 but 32 icons. It is 32 icons not 40, it is just that I had the number 40 in my mind at the moment of writing my post cause I read it in the post I was replying to. They have exactly 32 icons. I uploaded some of them in Axialis Icon Workshop demo and counted them anyway to be sure that they were OK and they had exactly 32 icons as they are supposed to have but the program show that error message every time you try to load any icon library insisting that the libraries do not have the required 32 icons count.

      • It would probably involve re-writing the whole thing… but with everything going metro neko is kind of kaput.

        It may be easier to write one in C#, but it’d be strange needing a 20MB+ runtime for neko but then again I have 1gig internet sooooo… πŸ™‚

    • Hmm Metro Neko… Although there is this web widget that I wonder if it could be converted to one of those HTML5 thingies… Although a Metro Neko would be.. kinda weird. lol

  14. I’m very pleased to see neko running around again: Always was the best part of OS/2. Thank you.

    I must also say I’m disappointed neko can’t cross onto my other monitor(s) …

  15. Just so you know, your link is down. I’ve already got it but was trying to point it to someone else.

    Thought you might want to know. ツ

    • Yes I know, the problem is some idiot sent a letter to my ISP’s data center to get me banned. So I really don’t know what to do from here.

      The guy in question is Gerhard W. Recher who sends out threatening letters when he finds things he doesn’t like or understand. In this case he takes great offense to me having the old game nethack available for Windows CE.

      I wish this was a joke, but he managed to scare my provide enough to wipe my server.

      I’m going to try to setup a redirect to a password protected page for the downloads as I miss them too. It was a super convenient thing to have around.

  17. Pingback: Neko | Abbie's Tree House

  18. Thank you so much for this! It’s finally working. My neko used to leave ghost images too, but making it always on top helped for me. This is awesome πŸ˜€

  19. Hi, thanks for making this and sharing it, too bad the footprints won’t work when set to be always on top, it leaves big black squares instead. And I can’t make it bigger, nor smaller, for that matter, because it gives me an error window and crashes and won’t run again unless I bring it back to the 100% scale. And could anyone please provide working icon libraries, since it won’t take the ones I’ve tried, it tells me the files don’t have the enough icons in them.

  23. Took me for ever but got Neko to work with out having the black boxes. Turn on “always on top” that stopped most of the flickering and boxes. Do not turn on foot prints as they will box out too! Works on Win 10 now! I love my sheep and glad to have Neko back! Now off more to find colors!

  25. That little cat works beautifully on Win7. 😎

    Thanks for taking the time to bring it back to life.
    I used to have it on my X terminal at Olivetti Research 20 years ago.
    Thanks also for keeping the look just the same!

    David Clarke

  32. Win 8.1 and working perf!! I just have an issue with two screens. It won’t move to the other one even after dragging it to the 2nd screen.
    Would there be a way to fix it? :c

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