Purchase XP, where and which version?

[dk_]

I have an old IBM laptop A20m running a Celeron 500MHz with 512 MB RAM,
running Windows 98SE.

The laptop is a hand-me-down and it is not actually registered to me in any
way. I do have the original IBM disks.

I would like to upgrade to XP.

Here comes the dumb questions...

Do I purchase an upgrade, or a stand alone XP full version? And what about
which service pack#? And Home Edition or Pro?

Where is the best legitimate place for making the purchase? What should I
expect to have to pay?

Many thanks.

-Dennis

 

[Patrick Keenan]

I have an old IBM laptop A20m running a Celeron 500MHz with 512 MB RAM,
running Windows 98SE.

The laptop is a hand-me-down and it is not actually registered to me in
any
way. I do have the original IBM disks.

I would like to upgrade to XP.

That particular machine won't really do that well with it. And before you
start, you need to determine if XP drivers are available from IBM/Lenovo.
If they aren't, you'll likely disable parts of the machine.

You should exercise caution here.

Here comes the dumb questions...

Do I purchase an upgrade, or a stand alone XP full version? And what about
which service pack#? And Home Edition or Pro?

If you have the Win98SE install CD, you can use the upgrade. Get XP Home;
you likely don't need the features specific to Pro, and it will be
significantly cheaper. The last time I bought XP Home upgrade packs, they
were around CDN$130. I bought them at a local big-box store.

Be very careful in buying such things on eBay or the like, as you cannot
know if the package is already activated - if so, it's useless to you.

As perhaps a better plan, look at newer, but used, Thinkpads that come with
XP installed. You won't pay a lot more than getting the upgrade license,
you'll get a faster machine, and you can be sure it will all work with XP.

HTH
-pk

 

[Xandros]

XP will run fine on a 500MHz system with 512MB of Ram. Turn off the eye
candy and indexing services and install antivirus/spyware programs that are
not a resource hog and it will be fine. The people who gripe about older
systems being "glacial" have no idea how to tweak a system. I've run XP in
many systems that are 400Mhz and up. 256MB of Ram is pretty light but if you
are using the system for simple task then XP is good to go. Heck you can run
Windows 2000 on that system. XP will run just as well.

Grab the XP drivers you need from here http://preview.tinyurl.com/2ucc92

If you have a qualifying product like a windows 98 CD then you can purchase
a Windows XP Upgrade version. If you have no qualifying product then you
need a full version.

 

[Daave]

Good post, Xandros.

And where to buy? See:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16837116194

You may be able to shave off a few bucks if you shop around, but beware
of unscrupulous dealers!

Oh, and you may want to wait for the Upgrade w/ SP3... ;-)

 

[Rick]

Great responses: Daave, when is the SP3 coming out and will it be available
for those with SP2? Thanks, Rick

 

[Thee Chicago Wolf]

I have an old IBM laptop A20m running a Celeron 500MHz with 512 MB RAM,

running Windows 98SE.

The laptop is a hand-me-down and it is not actually registered to me in any
way. I do have the original IBM disks.

I would like to upgrade to XP.

Here comes the dumb questions...

Do I purchase an upgrade, or a stand alone XP full version? And what about
which service pack#? And Home Edition or Pro?

Where is the best legitimate place for making the purchase? What should I
expect to have to pay?

That's plenty more than enough to run Win XP but only for very simple
thing like Internet browsing and typing up documents. RAM is more
important that CPU speed to running XP well in my experience. My next
door neighbors have an old 700Mhz Celeron PC that used to have 128MB
PC100 RAM with XP home and ran like a dog. I upgraded their RAM to
512MB PC133 and the difference was night and day. For them at least.
XP Home SP2 Upgrade should suffice in terms of what you would want to
invest in an old laptop like that. $109 from CDW
http://www.cdw.com/shop/products/default.aspx?EDC=676008

Since you do have Win98SE on there and the media, it's a much cheaper
option. SP3 will be released for XP soon and it will give the system a
little bit of a shot in the arm and last you a bit longer. A laptop
that old should have all it's devices found by XP SP2 I would think.
Or, you could always install Kubuntu Linux with Open Office. Those are
both free.

Good luck.

(I'll give this post a few hours before someone from Microsoft tell
you your should not install Linux. ha ha ha.)

- Thee Chicago Wolf

 

[Daave]

That was a tongue-in-cheek remark. I believe SP3 (the finished product,
that is) should be available within a few months, but I really have no
idea if Microsoft plans on pressing and selling new XP installation CDs
which would include SP3. Would be nice, though...

 

[Daave]

(I'll give this post a few hours before someone from Microsoft tell
you your should not install Linux. ha ha ha.)

Do people from Microsoft ever post here? I've never seen any such posts.

 

[Bob I]

Thee Chicago Wolf wrote:




Do people from Microsoft ever post here? I've never seen any such posts.

Occasionally, on their own time.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I have an old IBM laptop A20m running a Celeron 500MHz with 512 MB RAM,
running Windows 98SE.

The laptop is a hand-me-down and it is not actually registered to me in any
way. I do have the original IBM disks.

I would like to upgrade to XP.

Three points here:

1. Why do you want to upgrade? I'm not trying to talk you out of
anything, but I think it's important for you to have a clear idea of
what you want to accomplish. It will help you (and any of us trying to
help you) answer other questions about what to do.

2. Depending on what apps you run, 512MB is probably good, but you
need to recognize that a 500MHz will be a poor performer. You may find
it adequate, again depending on what you use it for, but don't expect
very good performance. In general, every new operating system requires
more and faster hardware than its predecessor.

3. You didn't mention the size of the hard drive. How big is it, and
how much of it is free?

Here comes the dumb questions...

Not dumb at all.

Do I purchase an upgrade, or a stand alone XP full version?

You *can* buy either. Since the Upgrade is cheaper, and since you
qualify to use it, you should clearly buy the Upgrade; buying the Full
version would just be wasting money. Note that both of these will do
either a clean installation or an upgrade installation, although to do
a clean installation with the Upgrade version requires that you have
your Windows 98 CD available to insert as proof of ownership when
Setup prompts you to do so.

Although many people will tell you that formatting and installing
cleanly is the best way to go, I disagree. Unlike with previous
versions of Windows, an upgrade to XP replaces almost everything, and
usually works very well.

My recommendation is to at least try the upgrade, since it's much
easier than a clean installation. You can always change your mind and
reinstall cleanly if problems develop.

However, don't assume that doing an upgrade relieves you of the need
to backup your data, etc. before beginning. Before starting to
upgrade, it's always prudent to recognize that things like a sudden
power loss can occur in the middle of it and cause the loss of
everything. For that reason you should make sure you have backups and
anything else you need to reinstall if the worst happens.

Also note that there is a third type of CD, an OEM version. But it has
the following disadvantages as compared with the retail version:

1. Its license ties it permanently to the first computer it's
installed on. It can never legally be moved to another computer, sold,
or given away without the computer.

2. It can only do a clean installation, not an upgrade.

3. Microsoft provides no support for OEM versions. You can't call them
with a problem, but instead have to get any needed support from your
OEM; that support may range anywhere between good and non-existent. Or
you can get support elsewhere, such as in these newsgroups.

It's disadvantage number 1 above that's the deal-breaker
for a generic OEM version, as far as I'm concerned. An OEM version
usually costs only slightly less than a retail Upgrade version, and I
think the Upgrade is worth that slight additional cost to get rid of
that restriction.

And what about
which service pack#?

Anything you buy today (unless it's bought used) will come with SP2,
and that's fine. If you somehow got one without it, you'd have to
download it, but that's not a big problem (unless you have a dial-up
connection).

Also note that SP3 will probably be out soon, so you'll want to
download that when it's released.

And Home Edition or Pro?

That depends entirely on your intended use. Based on what you've said
so far, almost certainly Home will be just fine, and Professional
would be overkill--but you, not us, have to make that determination.

XP Home and Professional are identical except that Professional
includes a few features (mostly related to security and networking)
missing from Home? Most home users don't need and would never use
these extra features and will see no benefits by upgrading.

For details go to

http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/windowsxp_home_pro.asp

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/whichxp.asp>

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/home/howtobuy/choosing2.asp

Also note another point, not included in any of the above:
Professional allows ten concurrent network connections, and Home only
five.

Where is the best legitimate place for making the purchase? What should I
expect to have to pay?

Google and look around on the Internet. As a starting place, an XP
Home Edition Upgrade (which is probably what you should buy) is $94.99
US at Amazon.com. You can probably find it a little cheaper if you
hunt around.

 

[dk_]

Ken and all (so far),

Thank you very much for the information!

It sounds like the Home Upgrade version is what I should go for.

The one remaining question is:

....Will the 'Home Upgrade Edition' doing a clean install be able to verify a
previous Windows installation (onto a newly formatted hard drive in this
machine) by using the IBM disks that came with the computer??? (These disks
are not stand alone Windows 98 install disks AFSIK.)

The reason for upgrading is mainly because I have had very poor luck using
Wireless PC cards. I have tried several, and have had a difficult time
getting an IP address from a router. The cards see the available networks,
the sofware shows I make a connection to the wireless network, but I can
almost never get an IP assigned. ...No difference if using WEP or not. The
same senario with any available access point.

I have two of these old machines and they both behave the same with the
wireless connections.

I am hoping that the Wireless connections will work well with XP.

I have been able to use wireless, but only rarely on these machines. It has
nothing to do with signal strength or encryption.

The hard drive I will use will be 120 GB, so plenty 'o room.

It's a spare computer used mainly when traveling. I'm not expecting high
speed, but if I can use the wireless connection when traveling it will be
much, much faster than the painfully slow-speed dial-up connections I've
been using.

I will have to do a clean install, because the current hard drive in the
computer is small and is of course formatted to FAT32. I will install a
larger drive.

I will have a Ghost backup of the current drive. Not worried about data loss.


I'm also curious about the option to move the 'Upgrade version' to a
different machine in the future. How is that done legally?

Info greatly appreciated!!!

Thank you.

-Dennis

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Ken and all (so far),

Thank you very much for the information!

You're welcome. Glad to help.

It sounds like the Home Upgrade version is what I should go for.

Yes, that's what I thought.

The one remaining question is:

...Will the 'Home Upgrade Edition' doing a clean install be able to verify a
previous Windows installation (onto a newly formatted hard drive in this
machine) by using the IBM disks that came with the computer??? (These disks
are not stand alone Windows 98 install disks AFSIK.)

Do you mean that you have a Windows 98 restore CD, rather than an
installation CD? If so, it's a little more complicated, but it *can*
be done. First restore from the Restore CD. Then run the XP upgrade CD
from within that restored system, and change from Upgrade to New
Install. When it asks where, press Esc to delete the partition and
start over.

The reason for upgrading is mainly because I have had very poor luck using
Wireless PC cards. I have tried several, and have had a difficult time
getting an IP address from a router. The cards see the available networks,
the sofware shows I make a connection to the wireless network, but I can
almost never get an IP assigned. ...No difference if using WEP or not. The
same senario with any available access point.

I'm not an expert on wireless connections by any means, but I'm not so
sure that changing operating systems will fix that problem. Somebody
else here may be able to address your specific situation better than I
can.

I have two of these old machines and they both behave the same with the
wireless connections.

I am hoping that the Wireless connections will work well with XP.

I have been able to use wireless, but only rarely on these machines. It has
nothing to do with signal strength or encryption.

The hard drive I will use will be 120 GB, so plenty 'o room.

It's a spare computer used mainly when traveling. I'm not expecting high
speed, but if I can use the wireless connection when traveling it will be
much, much faster than the painfully slow-speed dial-up connections I've
been using.

I will have to do a clean install, because the current hard drive in the
computer is small and is of course formatted to FAT32.

The fact that it's FAT32 is not relevant. Windows XP supports FAT32
without a problem. Or, after installing XP, you can convert from FAT32
to NTFS.

I will install a
larger drive.

If you replace the drive, you *can* do a clean installation, or you
could clone the old drive to the new one (using software such as
Acronis True Image or Ghost) and do an upgrade.

I will have a Ghost backup of the current drive. Not worried about data loss.

OK, then there may be little downside to a clean installation for you.

I'm also curious about the option to move the 'Upgrade version' to a
different machine in the future. How is that done legally?

Same as a Full version. There's no prohibition about moving to a new
computer, except for OEM versions.

 

[Thee Chicago Wolf]

Ken and all (so far),

Thank you very much for the information!

It sounds like the Home Upgrade version is what I should go for.

The one remaining question is:

...Will the 'Home Upgrade Edition' doing a clean install be able to verify a
previous Windows installation (onto a newly formatted hard drive in this
machine) by using the IBM disks that came with the computer??? (These disks
are not stand alone Windows 98 install disks AFSIK.)

The reason for upgrading is mainly because I have had very poor luck using
Wireless PC cards. I have tried several, and have had a difficult time
getting an IP address from a router. The cards see the available networks,
the sofware shows I make a connection to the wireless network, but I can
almost never get an IP assigned. ...No difference if using WEP or not. The
same senario with any available access point.

Sure, you should be able to boot from the XP CD. When it loads the XP
setup install it will see there is some kind of Windows installed and
give the option to upgrade or to wipe the drive and install clean.
Obviously so the clean wipe and install. You don't want to upgrade
98SE and all the stuff on the drive which is referred to as an
in-place upgrade. Good luck.

- Thee Chicago Wolf

 

[Bruce Chambers]

I have an old IBM laptop A20m running a Celeron 500MHz with 512 MB RAM,
running Windows 98SE.

The laptop is a hand-me-down and it is not actually registered to me in any
way. I do have the original IBM disks.

I would like to upgrade to XP.

I'm afraid, given those specifications, that the the word "glacial"
comes to mind, and you'll want to upgrade to at least 512Mb of Ram and
probably a larger hard drive if you're planning on installing many
applications. The CPU will be the bottle-neck, I'm afraid. Frankly, I
wouldn't put any OS more demanding then Win2K on that old a platform;
you may also have problems finding WinXP-compatible device drivers for
the laptop's components.

Acceptable performance is, of course, a matter of personal opinion
and depends entirely upon what *you* expect to do with your computer. If
all you want to do is play WinXP's built-in games, send and receive
simple emails, browse the Internet (while avoiding the more "ornamental"
web sites) etc., such a machine may well meet your needs. If, however,
you plan to take advantage of WinXP's multimedia capabilities, play
graphic-intensive games, or do advanced word or data processing, such a
machine would probably be woefully inadequate.

Here comes the dumb questions...

Do I purchase an upgrade, or a stand alone XP full version?

Your choice. The Upgrade license would cost less.

And what about
which service pack#?

The latest Service Pack (2) should be already be built into any
installations CDs available on the retail market. If you buy an older,
used copy, you may need to install SP2 separately.

And Home Edition or Pro?

Again, that's up to you. Which OS best suits *your* needs?

The WinXP Home and WinXP Pro editions are _identical_ when it comes
to performance, stability, and device driver and software application
compatibility, but are intended to meet different functionality,
networking, security, and ease-of-use needs, in different environments.
The most significant differences are that WinXP Pro allows up to 10
simultaneous inbound network connections while WinXP Home only allows
only 5, WinXP Pro is designed to join a Microsoft domain while WinXP
Home cannot, and only WinXP Pro supports file encryption and IIS. (Oh,
and WinXP Pro usually costs roughly $100 USD more than WinXP Home.)

Windows XP Comparison Guide
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/home/howtobuy/choosing2.asp

Which Edition Is Right for You
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/whichxp.asp

Windows XP Home Edition vs. Professional Edition
http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/windowsxp_home_pro.asp

Where is the best legitimate place for making the purchase? What should I
expect to have to pay?

The best place would be your local software retailer. Several on-line
businesses, such as NewEgg or Amazon are also trustworthy sources.

If at all possible, avoid any on-line "auction" sites, such as eBay.
Getting a legitimate software license of any kind from an auction web
site is something of a crap shoot, as they generally make no prior
effort to ensure that such sales are legitimate. The problems stem from
two completely different sources, but have the same results: the buyer
gets ripped off. First of all, a great many people don't fully
understand the terms of the license they own, and don't understand that
they cannot legitimately resell it. Secondly, and - worse still - there
are a great many sellers who do know that they're selling bogus
licenses. Auction web sites react only when someone files a complaint,
and then all that really happens, especially in the case of the many
deliberate fraudsters, is the seller of the pirated software returns
using a different alias, to continue selling illegitimate licenses.


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:


They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. ~Benjamin Franklin

Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. ~Bertrand Russell

The philosopher has never killed any priests, whereas the priest has
killed a great many philosophers.
~ Denis Diderot

 

[dk_]

Do you mean that you have a Windows 98 restore CD, rather than an
installation CD? If so, it's a little more complicated, but it *can*
be done. First restore from the Restore CD. Then run the XP upgrade CD
from within that restored system, and change from Upgrade to New
Install. When it asks where, press Esc to delete the partition and
start over.

I guess it's the IBM Windows 98 restore CD.

Ok great, I now understand how to use that restore CD!


Now another question regarading partitioning and the 'i386 folder'...

Is there a way during installation/uprade (or do I do the following after
installation)... setup a separate partition with the i386 folder and any
other recommended files that might be handy to have available for the future?

The fact that it's FAT32 is not relevant. Windows XP supports FAT32
without a problem. Or, after installing XP, you can convert from FAT32
to NTFS.

Wow. Can the FAT32 to NTFS be done without losing data???

I purchased the XP Home Edition Upgrade package now and am ready to go!

Thank you again.

-Dennis

--
Dennis Kessler
http://www.denniskessler.com/acupuncture

If you replace the drive, you *can* do a clean installation, or you
could clone the old drive to the new one (using software such as
Acronis True Image or Ghost) and do an upgrade.




OK, then there may be little downside to a clean installation for you.




Same as a Full version. There's no prohibition about moving to a new
computer, except for OEM versions.

This is great.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I guess it's the IBM Windows 98 restore CD.

Ok great, I now understand how to use that restore CD!


Now another question regarading partitioning and the 'i386 folder'...

Is there a way during installation/uprade (or do I do the following after
installation)... setup a separate partition with the i386 folder and any
other recommended files that might be handy to have available for the future?

During installation you can create the main partition the size you
want it. Just leave the remainder unallocated and then create the
other partition(s) within Windows afterward.

Wow. Can the FAT32 to NTFS be done without losing data???

Yes, that's what "convert" means.

To convert to NTFS, you use the CONVERT command. But first read
http://www.aumha.org/a/ntfscvt.htm because there's an issue regarding
cluster size that isn't obvious.

Also note that conversion is a big step, affecting everything on your
drive. When you take such a big step, no matter how unlikely, it is
always possible that something could go wrong. For that reason, it's
prudent to make sure you have a backup of anything you can't afford to
lose before beginning.

I purchased the XP Home Edition Upgrade package now and am ready to go!

Thank you again.

You're welcome. Glad to help.

 

[dk_]

Ken and others,

Did it.

The Windows XP Home Edition upgrade package rocks!

With the XP upgrade on my 500 MHz IBM Thinkpad running 500 MB RAM has just
become a modern machine!

The speed is very good, in case people are wondering if it is a good idea to
upgrade an old slow machine. Do it!

Now the wireless connections are just like any modern machine. It's now easy
to connect to any available network. This was very difficult and often
impossible running Windows 98se on this machine.

Also, my USB 2.0/Firewire PC card works perfect. Along with the wireless
card. With Windows 98se, the machine would freeze when the PC card was
'safely removed'. I tried several kinds of PC USB 2.0 cards, and they all
froze Windows 98se. XP fixed that. All the USB drive now mount easily.

Thanks to everyone for the per-upgrade help.

BTW: I did not install a new bigger dirve yet. I just did the upgrade on top
of Windows 98se, 19 MB partition. It went very smooth. Almost all programs
work perfectly. I did have to update some IBM software, but it was all
available from IBM and easy to find and do.

Thanks once again for the help.

-Dennis

 

[Thee Chicago Wolf]

Ken and others,

Did it.

The Windows XP Home Edition upgrade package rocks!

With the XP upgrade on my 500 MHz IBM Thinkpad running 500 MB RAM has just
become a modern machine!

The speed is very good, in case people are wondering if it is a good idea to
upgrade an old slow machine. Do it!

Now the wireless connections are just like any modern machine. It's now easy
to connect to any available network. This was very difficult and often
impossible running Windows 98se on this machine.

Also, my USB 2.0/Firewire PC card works perfect. Along with the wireless
card. With Windows 98se, the machine would freeze when the PC card was
'safely removed'. I tried several kinds of PC USB 2.0 cards, and they all
froze Windows 98se. XP fixed that. All the USB drive now mount easily.

Thanks to everyone for the per-upgrade help.

BTW: I did not install a new bigger dirve yet. I just did the upgrade on top
of Windows 98se, 19 MB partition. It went very smooth. Almost all programs
work perfectly. I did have to update some IBM software, but it was all
available from IBM and easy to find and do.

Thanks once again for the help.

-Dennis

OPA!!!!!!

- Thee Chicago Wolf