Windows XP Pro on a Dell PowerEdge 600SC

[Z Man]

Dell has this system on sale for $349. We currently use a home built
computer as our peer to peer server and it works pretty well, but I'd like
to upgrade to a 'real' server, and this deal seems pretty good. (2.4GHz CPU,
256MB ram, I would add our 15k hd and u/160 controller card).

What concerns me is that when I check their system specs, the supported
operating systems include Windows 2003 Server, Red Hat Linux, etc. There is
no mention of Windows XP. We have a small office with about five users (our
current 'server' runs ME) and I have no desire to absorb a big learning
curve and pay for a server operating system. So, my question is, can I
install XP on this hardware? Are there any 'gotchas' that I should be aware
of? Is there something inherently different about this Dell system compared
to 'regular' PC's? I've never bought a server, so I am somewhat ignorant.

BTW, this system has some 64bit PCI slots and some 32bit PCI slots. Since
the nic is embedded, the only card I would need would be the SCSI host
controller. What type of slot would this card take? Could someone help me
understand the 64bit vs 32bit situation? Many thanks.

 

[Yves Leclerc]

Windows XP is NOT a server OS. Microsoft server operating systems (OS)
were/are Windows NT Server, Windows 2000 Server and Windows 2003.

If the server PC is rated for Microsoft 2003, then it should be able to run
XP.

Also, the learning curve for Windows 2003 should not be that great! You
already know most of it, since you are familiar with XP.

Windows NT --> Windows 2000 (Pro and Server) --> XP --> 2003.

SCSI cards for the server should be using the newer 64Bit PCI-X slot.
Adaptec 29160 cards should work. But, if this is a server motherboard, doe
it not have SCSI built-in????


As for the "gotchas", the other components on the server motherboard may not
have XP drivers.


Y.