eldr.wtf

A Windows XP–themed web desktop — a nostalgic, browser-based recreation of the XP experience, complete with a boot screen, draggable windows, a working Start menu and taskbar, screensavers, and a small arcade of built-in apps.

It ships with its own backend: Eldr Instant Messenger, an MSN-style chat server with accounts and encrypted history, plus a contact form that delivers messages by email.

Features

The desktop

• Authentic XP boot screen, desktop, taskbar, and Start menu
• Draggable, resizable, focus-aware windows (window-manager.js)
• Desktop icons, a volume mixer, and idle screensavers

Built-in apps

• 🎮 Doom — playable in-browser via js-dos
• 🕹️ 3D Pinball: Space Cadet — the WebAssembly port
• 💣 Minesweeper and 🃏 Solitaire
• 🎨 Paint / Oekaki drawing app
• 🎵 Media Player with an XP-style skin
• 🖼️ My Pictures gallery
• 🌐 Internet Explorer & a mock search page
• 📝 About Me, Blog, Recycle Bin, and a Contact form

Eldr Instant Messenger (the backend)

A WebSocket chat server (server.js) styled after MSN Messenger:

• Accounts stored in SQLite with bcrypt-hashed passwords
• Worldwide chat, group chats, and private messages
• Custom display names and presence
• Encrypted message history (AES-256-GCM at rest)
• Per-user history wipe requests

Tech stack

• Frontend: vanilla HTML / CSS / JavaScript (no framework)
• Backend: Node.js
  • ws — WebSocket chat server
  • better-sqlite3 — account & history storage
  • bcryptjs — password hashing
  • nodemailer — contact-form email
  • dotenv — configuration

The same Node process serves the static site and the WebSocket server on a single port.

Configuration

Create a .env file in the project root:

# HTTP + WebSocket port (default: 8765)
PORT=8765

# Persistent key for encrypting chat history (32-byte hex).
# If omitted, a temporary key is generated each run and history won't survive a restart.
CHAT_ENCRYPTION_KEY=<64-hex-characters>

# Contact-form email delivery (nodemailer SMTP)
EMAIL_SERVER=smtp.example.com
EMAIL_ACCOUNT=you@example.com
EMAIL_PASSWORD=your-smtp-password
EMAIL_RECEIVER=where-contact-messages-go@example.com

Tip: generate an encryption key with node -e "console.log(require('crypto').randomBytes(32).toString('hex'))"

Data & persistence

All persistent data lives in the data/ directory (the SQLite database, data/accounts.db). This folder is git-ignored and is the volume that Docker persists across restarts. Override its location with the DATA_DIR environment variable if needed.

Running with Docker (recommended)

With Docker and Docker Compose:

# Make sure a .env file exists first (see Configuration above)
docker compose up -d --build

Then open http://localhost:8765.

• The database is persisted to ./data on the host via a bind mount, so your accounts survive docker compose down and rebuilds.
• To change the published port, edit the ports mapping in docker-compose.yml (e.g. "3000:8765").
• View logs with docker compose logs -f; stop with docker compose down.

Running locally (without Docker)

Prerequisites

• Node.js (v18+ recommended)

npm install
npm start

Then open http://localhost:8765.

Project structure

.
├── index.html          # The desktop shell
├── server.js           # HTTP static server + Eldr Instant Messenger (WebSocket)
├── Dockerfile          # Container image build
├── docker-compose.yml  # One-command run + persistent data volume
├── data/               # Persistent data (accounts.db) — git-ignored
├── css/                # Per-app and per-component XP styling
├── js/
│   ├── window-manager.js   # Window dragging / focus / z-order
│   ├── taskbar.js          # Start menu + taskbar
│   ├── boot-screen.js      # XP boot sequence
│   ├── screensaver.js      # Idle screensavers
│   └── content/            # Individual app logic (msn, paint, doom, …)
├── images/             # Icons, wallpapers, UI sprites
├── sounds/             # System & AOL/MSN sounds
├── gallery/            # My Pictures images
├── doom/               # js-dos Doom bundle
└── pinball/            # Space Cadet Pinball (WASM)

Notes

• data/ (the chat database) and .env are git-ignored — never commit them. Set a stable CHAT_ENCRYPTION_KEY in production so encrypted history persists across restarts.