February 1, 2026
Raiders of the Lost Dongle
Defeating a 40-year-old copy protection dongle
Accountants still on Windows 98, internet fights over the “donle”
TLDR: Someone cracked a 40-year-old hardware dongle protecting a DOS-era accounting tool on Windows 98. Comments split between nostalgia, “that was easy,” and debates on why dongles never ruled—cost and headaches vs stronger protection—while many cheer the reminder that boring old tech quietly keeps real businesses running.
A tech archaeologist just pried open a 40-year-old hardware dongle guarding an ancient accounting setup running on Windows 98—yes, in 2026—and the comments turned into a time‑travel mixtape of nostalgia, flexing, and pure chaos. The software was built in RPG (Report Program Generator), once used on IBM’s midrange machines like the AS/400, later ported to MS‑DOS—and protected by a parallel‑port trinket from a long‑forgotten vendor rumored at SIGGRAPH.
Fans of retro office tech showed up first: one user fondly remembered their accountant dad’s “horrible donle,” while others gasped that the compiler baked copy checks into every program. Then came the spicy crowd: skeptics called the protection “just a number,” while old‑school crackers bragged they’d simply flip one jump and walk away like movie hackers. Cue the debate: if dongles were so good, why didn’t they win? The adoption vs. annoyance war raged—cost, lost dongles, and angry customers versus the “more effective than a CD key” camp.
Meanwhile, the meta commentary stole the show: people were gleefully stunned that Windows 95/98 still keeps businesses alive, dunking on today’s AI hype with “boring tech never dies.” Jokes flew about parallel‑port therapy sessions and “Dongle vs AI: choose your fighter.” Nostalgia, practicality, and office‑IT PTSD—all in one thread.
Key Points
- •A legacy accounting system built in RPG was still running on a Windows 98 PC in 2026.
- •The software required a parallel-port hardware copy-protection dongle to operate.
- •A disk image and emulator were used to inspect the system, revealing an RPG II compiler from Software West Inc.
- •The RPG compiler itself required the dongle and embedded the same protection into generated executables.
- •SEU.EXE attempts parallel port communication and exits without the dongle, providing a debugging opportunity.