Windows 98SE VS. Windows Media Center

[Randella]

All,

I am restructuring my home computer. Originally when it was built at
Gateway, they loaded the system with Windows 98se. I have since
upgraded many components and loaded other operating systems. Now I am
considering going back to a clean load of the original Windows 98se.
Also on a separate hard drive I am going to load Windows Media Center
2005 edition. Does anyone know of any problems that I may run into or
situations to watch out for?


Another thing that I am worried about is my spare 100GB western digital

drive... Is it possible to load Windows 98se on a 100GB drive? I know
that I can in fact format the whole drive as FAT 32. But loading 98 on

it may cause problems.Thanks!!!


My Home system looks like this:


AMD Athlon 750MHz T-Bird processor


768MB SDRAM system memory


C: 15GB Quantum - Windows 98SE
D: 160GB Western Digital - Windows Media Center


Spare 100GB Western Digital HD


Nvidia Geforce 5500 256MB video card


Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-150 tv-capture card


Sound Blaster PCI-audio card, 128-bit audio...


Various other components are installed, but will not affect either
install.


Any thoughts would be helpful and yes Media Center has run on this
set-up before. I know the requirements for media center state that it
will not work but it does.


-Randy

 

[John Doe]

I am restructuring my home computer. Originally when it was built
at Gateway, they loaded the system with Windows 98se. I have
since upgraded many components and loaded other operating systems.
Now I am considering going back to a clean load of the original
Windows 98se. Also on a separate hard drive I am going to load
Windows Media Center 2005 edition. Does anyone know of any
problems that I may run into or situations to watch out for?

Too many complications for too little benefit IMO. I would use Windows
XP, forget about Windows 98, and get on with doing things.

Have fun.

 

[Randella]

Well I would still like the ability to use DOS commands and programs
for testing. Being a college student, we use some of the old and some
of the new in almost all our classes.

-Randy

 

[John Doe]

The Command Prompt from within Windows XP?

Start -- Run?

A boot disk? A USB flash drive might be very good for that if your
mainboard BIOS supports it.

 

[John Doe]

....

By the way. While you're here, would you please post in context (after
quoted text) instead of top posting. It helps a lot especially when
discussing technical things.

I'm sure Google Groups has instructions for proper posting here on
USENET.

It might take a little effort for you to learn, but posting in context
is one thing that makes USENET the best place for discussion.

Thanks.

 

[Randella]

Are you suggesting that Windows XP uses DOS understructure? (Gasp!)

A boot disk and USB drive while great ideas will not allow me
save(bootdisk) and or load a DOS program while DOS is accessing the
drive. Not to mention USB support in DOS is shady at best.

I just want to know if this configuration presents a problem logically
or in the real world. I am well aware that Windows XP is not entirely
DOS free. No Windows operating system is. Even Server 2003 standard
edition uses DOS.

My boss got me good on that one... "What the h*ll just happend to my
server?" "Oh I bypassed the password, we used to do it in DOS all the
time..."

Needless to say he knows DOS pretty well. I was caught sleeping on
that one. I had no idea you could even do that.

-Randy

 

[Randella]

Sorry I didn't realize that I was posting out of context... I shall
look for the directions for a proper post...

-Randy

 

[John Doe]

Are you suggesting that Windows XP uses DOS understructure?
(Gasp!)

That's the second time in USENET history the term "DOS
understructure" has been used (trivia).

A boot disk and USB drive while great ideas will not allow me
save(bootdisk) and or load a DOS program while DOS is accessing
the drive. Not to mention USB support in DOS is shady at best.

I think a modern BIOS can make the USB drive look like a floppy.

I just want to know if this configuration presents a problem
logically or in the real world.

Try it and then post about it. We can always use more real-world
experiences here.

 

[mayayana]

There's no problem with Win98 on a 100 GB drive.
(Personally I make a C-drive partition of
about 2.5 GB and set the rest for data partitions.
But you don't have to do that.)

Win98 can only use up to 500 MB RAM.

NVidia GeForce doesn't support 98 as of v. 4.

I had to deal with this recently because I was
making a new box and want to stay with 98. I
decided to stick with Via chipsets using onboard
graphics (I don't use games) because Via conveniently
has one set of drivers for all systems. Sis also still
has 98 support. With top-of-the-line graphic
cards like you're getting, I don't think there's support
for 9x with any of them.

 

[mayayana]

Sorry I didn't realize that I was posting out of context... I shall
look for the directions for a proper post...

I think you'll find that the more geeky the forum,
the more anal the participants.

In Linux groups arguments about top-posting can go
on for days and get very heated. In Windows programming
groups, on the other hand, no one takes any notice of one's
preferred style.

The anti-top-posters are a strange lot, thoroughly
convinced that they have the *only* proper way to
post.

 

[John Doe]

I think you'll find that the more geeky the forum,
the more anal the participants.

In Linux groups arguments about top-posting can go
on for days and get very heated. In Windows programming
groups, on the other hand, no one takes any notice of one's
preferred style.

This group is primarily Windows oriented and almost everyone posts
in context.

The anti-top-posters are a strange lot, thoroughly
convinced that they have the *only* proper way to
post.

The author graciously accepted the correction. The zealotry is
yours.

There are very few top posting authors in this technical help group,
for good reason.

You might not be sophisticated enough to understand this (or maybe
too much of a troll to acknowledge it), but quoting in context,
being able to see two or more levels of the conversation can greatly
improves communication. With quoting, the authors are able to see
how much is being understood and whether any miscommunication is
occurring along the way. It's not just a preference, it's the way we
do things here on USENET especially in technical help groups.

 

[Larry Roberts]

There's no problem with Win98 on a 100 GB drive.
(Personally I make a C-drive partition of
about 2.5 GB and set the rest for data partitions.
But you don't have to do that.)

Win98 can only use up to 500 MB RAM.

NVidia GeForce doesn't support 98 as of v. 4.

Nvidia's graphics drivers support Win98 upto version 81.98.

 

[mayayana]

quoting in context,

being able to see two or more levels of the conversation can greatly
improves communication. With quoting, the authors are able to see
how much is being understood and whether any miscommunication is
occurring along the way

Yes, that's often true. Other times it makes sense
to respond all of a piece, like a written letter.

In those cases I top-post in the same way that I might
enclose a copy of someone's written letter with my
response - so that they can refer to what they wrote if they
need to.

I'm not saying that one way or the other is better. I'm just
saying that it's a bit rude to gripe about such small issues,
trying to force people to do things your way. You could
be just a little bit flexible.

...But while we're on the formatting topic, I'm curious
why some people here post the entire header in their
response.
Your response includes about 20 lines of accumulated
header lines. Is that just done by some clients? I don't
understand why any usenet client software would append
such useless text to a post.

 

[mayayana]

Nvidia's graphics drivers support Win98 upto version 81.98.

Hmm. Maybe I'm mixing up series
with models. When I had checked into
current cards they were advertising
"GeForce4". As far as I could see
nVidia had no driver downloads for GeForce4
for Win9x, but did have them for GeForce3.

 

[John Doe]

There's no problem with Win98 on a 100 GB drive.
(Personally I make a C-drive partition of
about 2.5 GB and set the rest for data partitions.
But you don't have to do that.)

Win98 can only use up to 500 MB RAM.

NVidia GeForce doesn't support 98 as of v. 4.

I had to deal with this recently because I was
making a new box and want to stay with 98. I
decided to stick with Via chipsets using onboard
graphics (I don't use games) because Via conveniently
has one set of drivers for all systems. Sis also still
has 98 support. With top-of-the-line graphic
cards like you're getting,

He has a Geforce 5500.

What are you doing here? Are you lost?

 

[Brian K]

All,

I am restructuring my home computer. Originally when it was built at
Gateway, they loaded the system with Windows 98se. I have since
upgraded many components and loaded other operating systems. Now I am
considering going back to a clean load of the original Windows 98se.
Also on a separate hard drive I am going to load Windows Media Center
2005 edition. Does anyone know of any problems that I may run into or
situations to watch out for?


Another thing that I am worried about is my spare 100GB western digital

drive... Is it possible to load Windows 98se on a 100GB drive? I know
that I can in fact format the whole drive as FAT 32. But loading 98 on

it may cause problems.Thanks!!!


My Home system looks like this:


AMD Athlon 750MHz T-Bird processor


768MB SDRAM system memory


C: 15GB Quantum - Windows 98SE
D: 160GB Western Digital - Windows Media Center


Spare 100GB Western Digital HD


Nvidia Geforce 5500 256MB video card


Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-150 tv-capture card


Sound Blaster PCI-audio card, 128-bit audio...


Various other components are installed, but will not affect either
install.


Any thoughts would be helpful and yes Media Center has run on this
set-up before. I know the requirements for media center state that it
will not work but it does.


-Randy

After July 2006, Microsoft will no longer support Win 98SE or Win 2000.
One of the things this translates into is no more security Windows
Updates. I would guess that there wouldn't be any more patches or
updates for other modules as well.

--
________
To email me, Edit "blog" from my email address.
Brian M. Kochera
"Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once!"
View My Web Page: http://home.earthlink.net/~brian1951

 

[Larry Roberts]

Hmm. Maybe I'm mixing up series
with models. When I had checked into
current cards they were advertising
"GeForce4". As far as I could see
nVidia had no driver downloads for GeForce4
for Win9x, but did have them for GeForce3.

The current Win9x drivers support starts at the GeForce 2 MX,
and goes throught to the 6800Ultra. It however does not support the
GeForce 2 GTS/Utra/Ti series though.

 

[Peter]

All,

I am restructuring my home computer. Originally when it was built at
Gateway, they loaded the system with Windows 98se. I have since
upgraded many components and loaded other operating systems. Now I am
considering going back to a clean load of the original Windows 98se.
Also on a separate hard drive I am going to load Windows Media Center
2005 edition. Does anyone know of any problems that I may run into or
situations to watch out for?


Another thing that I am worried about is my spare 100GB western digital

drive... Is it possible to load Windows 98se on a 100GB drive? I know
that I can in fact format the whole drive as FAT 32. But loading 98 on

it may cause problems.Thanks!!!

I still have win98 as part of a multi-boot system and, although win98
wasn't installed on a large HD partition (only 12Gb) it can deal with my
largest data partition of 43Gb without any problem. So chances are, as
long as the Mobo can see the full HD, hopefully your win98 will do also.

As far as other hardware goes, the computer isn't exactly state-of-the-
art, with most components 2 or more years old, but it does run without
problem.

Radeon 9200
512MB RAM
128Bit PCI C-Media soundcard
DVD & DVD rewriter

 

[Randella]

I still have win98 as part of a multi-boot system and, although win98
wasn't installed on a large HD partition (only 12Gb) it can deal with my
largest data partition of 43Gb without any problem. So chances are, as
long as the Mobo can see the full HD, hopefully your win98 will do also.

As far as other hardware goes, the computer isn't exactly state-of-the-
art, with most components 2 or more years old, but it does run without
problem.

Radeon 9200
512MB RAM
128Bit PCI C-Media soundcard
DVD & DVD rewriter

Cheers all...

I decided on a 15GB HD for my Windows 98SE.

The drivers for my graphics card were on my installation CD that came
with the card, and they work fabulously.

Windows 98 saw and was able to use my 768MB system memory.

The only thing that I have trouble loading is the driver for TV card,
my copy has errors in it, I will have to download a better version from
the web soon.

Other than that it all works and in Windows 98 my computer is blazingly
fast. Media Center is resonably fast.

Thanks all!

-Randy