Dual boot Win98 / XP

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John said:
Can I install a dual boot


If you ever had to re-install XP the recovery CD would wipe the drive
including W98, assuming you manage to get it installed on a computer
that most likely will only have one NTFS partition which W98 can't read.
The W98 installer would just want to format the drive because it can't
read it.

Honestly, XP is *way* better than W98, its not even close. Give XP an
honest try and I think you will see a major difference in quality and
stability.

John
Click to expand...

XP is not a better choice in my opinion. For one thing, users have to
deal with WGA. In addition, remember that XP has much higher system
requirements and Microsoft components always want to access the
Internet. Further, hackers are targeting XP since it is what most
people use. Also, according to Chris Quirke, MVP, XP does not have a
maintenance operating system like 98SE has. Finally, according to
secunia.com XP has many more and higher rated current vulnerabilities
than 98SE. If you have a good bi-directional firewall, antivirus
program and an anti-spyware program in place then you should be fine
with 98SE for a while.
 
As is to be expected, XP is a lot more stable - for programs that are
designed to work with XP. For older programs that came out before XP was set
loose on the populace, this is very often not the case. It gets even worse
if you want to use your XP machine in anything other than admin user mode
(ie. not limited user).

About half of my older games and a good quarter of my older applications
have had either minor problems, ranging up to just not working at all - even
with compatability mode set to Win98/ME. I have yet to get the compatability
mode to do anything other than get me to send a debug report to Microsoft.

There are ways that you can get round some of the games problems (the
biggest culprits for not working on XP), like reinstalling them under each
user you have on the PC, but after fighting it for a while, you will
probably end up letting each user have admin priviliges just to stop the
whinging from the kids that the games don't work properly due to lack of
registry access required by some games etc.

By all means, try things out in XP first (that is what I have been doing),
but the list of older apps or games that don't behave well under XP is
growing all the time as I reinstall them onto my new PC.

I am sure that eventually I will have to get a Win98 secondary boot disc so
that I can run some of the old games I love so much. Some of the older ones,
although the eye candy is not as good, have much better game play.

The choice is yours - I have made mine.

Martin
 
Hi Jonny. Thanks for your reply!
I meant I have a Win98 retail CD.

Ric
Click to expand...

As noted on another's reply, the XP recovery CD will wipe out the contents
of the hard drive, including 98 if this form of recovery is used.

I use an expensive boot manager, System Commander. It comes with tools for
shrinking, moving, and hiding partitions. That's what you will need as an
example in your case to implement your desire. A boot manager and tools for
manipulating partitions.

Any OS installation will wipe out the onboard boot manager, it has to be
recovered afterwards.
 
Jonny said:
As noted on another's reply, the XP recovery CD will wipe out the contents
of the hard drive, including 98 if this form of recovery is used.

I use an expensive boot manager, System Commander. It comes with tools for
shrinking, moving, and hiding partitions. That's what you will need as an
example in your case to implement your desire. A boot manager and tools for
manipulating partitions.

Any OS installation will wipe out the onboard boot manager, it has to be
recovered afterwards.
Click to expand...

The OP does not necessarily need an expensive boot manager
such as System Commander. He can achieve his aim either with
a cheap second hand hard disk (2..4 GBytes) or with a free
boot manager such as XOSL.
 
Thanks Dan and Martin for your candid replies.
Most of the XP world would have you believe that all is rosy with the
XP operating system.

Although I'm not a gamer, all of my apps are non-XP apps (not written
for XP) and so they won't be more stable in XP as was already noted.

I had always read that XP is a more stable operating system than Win98
but it was never explained to me that the greater stability will only
be realised if you used WinXP software.

Perhaps I should stick with Win98 exclusively until I need any XP
software?

Ric
 
Thanks Dan and Martin for your candid replies.
Most of the XP world would have you believe that all is rosy with the
XP operating system.

Although I'm not a gamer, all of my apps are non-XP apps (not written
for XP) and so they won't be more stable in XP as was already noted.

I had always read that XP is a more stable operating system than Win98
but it was never explained to me that the greater stability will only
be realised if you used WinXP software.

Perhaps I should stick with Win98 exclusively until I need any XP
software?

Ric
Click to expand...
It is your choice. If you want newer software and hardware to run well
then by all means choose XP. If you want to stick with older programs
and do not need modern hardware then 98SE is fine. This is the reason
that I dual-boot so I can have the best of both worlds with one PC. <smile>
 
Although I'm not a gamer, all of my apps are non-XP apps (not written
for XP) and so they won't be more stable in XP as was already noted.
Click to expand...
I had always read that XP is a more stable operating system than Win98
but it was never explained to me that the greater stability will only
be realised if you used WinXP software.
Click to expand...

That's because it's not true. First, there's really no such thing as
"XP software". Programs using the Win32 API have been around since
Win95. Yes, there are more functions in the API set now, because WinXP
has more bells and whistles, but a 32-bit program written with Win95
in mind is likely to run just fine on WinXP. If it malfunctions, it's
a lot less likely to crash the operating system in XP than in Win95.

XP is considerably more stable then the Win9x Operating systems
regardless of what you're running.
 
Tim said:
That's because it's not true. First, there's really no such thing as
"XP software". Programs using the Win32 API have been around since
Win95. Yes, there are more functions in the API set now, because WinXP
has more bells and whistles, but a 32-bit program written with Win95
in mind is likely to run just fine on WinXP. If it malfunctions, it's
a lot less likely to crash the operating system in XP than in Win95.

XP is considerably more stable then the Win9x Operating systems
regardless of what you're running.
Click to expand...
You must remember that some things will not run on XP if they are too
old. For example, King's Quest 4 by Sierra will run fine in 98SE but it
will not fully work in XP PRO's compatibility mode. It will run in XP
PRO. in the compatibility mode but without music. This is on the same
computer in a dual-boot mode with 2 hard drives that use the same
hardware except for the hard drive. Remember, that XP does not have
true MS-DOS (Microsoft Disk Operating System) mode and uses a command
prompt but still must emulate DOS.
 
Dan said:
It is your choice. If you want newer software and hardware to run well
then by all means choose XP. If you want to stick with older programs
and do not need modern hardware then 98SE is fine. This is the reason
that I dual-boot so I can have the best of both worlds with one PC. <smile>
Click to expand...

Well I am very satisfied at the moment with all of my software needs
under Win98.

The whole reason for my post is that I will be buying a new computer in
the coming weeks.
It will require me to ditch several of my perfectly functioning pieces
of hardware:

- My ISA PCMCIA card slot
- Legal size scanner (uses ISA SCSI card)

I will want to buy a DVD burner which likely will want XP in order to
run. :(

Ric
 
Well I am very satisfied at the moment with all of my software needs
under Win98.

The whole reason for my post is that I will be buying a new computer in
the coming weeks.
It will require me to ditch several of my perfectly functioning pieces
of hardware:

- My ISA PCMCIA card slot
- Legal size scanner (uses ISA SCSI card)

I will want to buy a DVD burner which likely will want XP in order to
run. :(

Ric
Click to expand...
You can get a DVD burner that works with 98SE. Here is an example:
http://www.cdfreaks.com/article/121/2
Click to expand...

It may be hard to get really current hardware that works with 98SE but
most older hardware will work with it.
 
I will be purchasing a new desktop system shortly and like 99% of new
systems, WinXP will be pre-installed on it. I learned that only a WinXP
recovery CD will be provided.
Click to expand...

As others have said, once you try XP, you won't want to bother with
98. However, if you can, it would be wise to demand an XP CD with
your order. In fact, I suggest insisting on it.
 
Paul said:
As others have said, once you try XP, you won't want to bother with
98. However, if you can, it would be wise to demand an XP CD with
your order. In fact, I suggest insisting on it.
Click to expand...


Bear in mind, however, that depending on what brand of computer you want to
buy, insisting on it may be useless. There are companies that simply don't
provide them, no matter how much you insist.

If it were me, that would make me rule out that company as a supplier. I
wouldn't buy a computer that didn't come with an XP installation CD. But
others may make their decisions based only on price.
 
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