xp pro upgrade

[Guest]

I have been looking at upgrading my pc with the xp pro upgrade with sp2 as
its cheaply available here. Is it possible to upgrade to this if my computer
is running xp home and win98 (yes I know I do need two of the upgrades)
cheers

 

[Bruce Chambers]

I have been looking at upgrading my pc with the xp pro upgrade with sp2 as
its cheaply available here. Is it possible to upgrade to this if my computer
is running xp home and win98 (yes I know I do need two of the upgrades)
cheers

Certainly. WinXP is designed to install and upgrade the existing
operating system while simultaneously preserving your applications and
data, and translating as many personalized settings as possible. The
process is designed to be, and normally is, quite painless. That said,
things can go wrong, in a small number of cases. If your data is at all
important to you, back it up before proceeding.

The upgrade from WinXP Home to WinXP Pro, in particular, almost
always goes smoothly, as both operating systems use the same kernel.

However, do you really need to upgrade? The WinXP Home and WinXP
Pro versions 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

Have you verified that all of your Win98 PC's hardware components
are capable of supporting WinXP? This information will be found at the
PC's manufacturer's web site, and on Microsoft's Windows Catalog:
(http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/hcl/default.mspx)

You should also take a few minutes to ensure that there are
WinXP-specific device drivers available for all of the machine's
components. There may not be, if the PC was specifically designed for
Win98/Me. Also bear in mind that PCs designed for, sold and run fine
with Win9x/Me very often do not meet WinXP's much more stringent
hardware quality requirements. This is particularly true of many models
in Compaq's consumer-class Presario product line or HP's consumer-class
Pavilion product line. WinXP, like WinNT and Win2K before it, is quite
sensitive to borderline defective or substandard hardware (particularly
motherboards, RAM and hard drives) that will still support Win9x.

HOW TO Prepare to Upgrade Win98 or WinMe
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q316639

Upgrading to Windows XP
http://aumha.org/win5/a/xpupgrad.htm


--

Bruce Chambers

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[Guest]

This "Scalable Processor support" is not supported as per the Comparison
link. "Core Duo" as in T2400 as well as hyperthreading P4 are seen as TWO CPU
by an OS. I would like to know clearly and definitively that both CPU's
within chip are fully supported by XP HOME w/SP2. It is almost imposible to
get the notebook hardware configuration & XP Pro from HP or Toshiba's
notebooks. I purchased a Toshiba and the configuration was not available in
the Pro lineup so I settled for the hardware I wanted with HOME version of XP
knowing that I could replace it if necessary. OEM don't provide a upgrade
path option so driver package implementation is very time consuming.

 

[John John]

XP Home supports multi-core processors, such as the Core Duo. It does
not support multiple processors on multiple sockets.

John

 

[Guest]

Hey, are you saying that Tosiba laptops don't come with XP Pro, and you have
to upgrade from Home Edition?

Is a Core 2 Duo two separate Processors each with two lines of information,
effectively making four lines of information? And why are there different
speeds on the same chip?

 

[John John]

What? I'm saying that Windows XP Home supports Multicore processors
such as the Intel Core 2 Duo or its AMD counterparts on a single socket.
These processors include two processing cores per chip, that is, one
die (socket) with two CPU cores. Windows XP Home supports these
processors. They will be shown as 2 cpu's in the operating system tools
but they are seated on one processor socket on the motherboard.

Windows XP Home does NOT however support multiple processors on
multi-socket motherboards. Generally speaking these board are reserved
for high end workstations and servers. An example of a 2 processor
mother board is shown here:
http://www.tyan.com/products/html/thunderh2000m.html As I said, Windows
XP Home does not support these board/processor configurations. Windows
XP Professional supports 2 processor motherboards. Here is an example
of a 4 processor board:
http://www.supermicro.com/Aplus/motherboard/Opteron/nForce/H8QC8.cfm
Windows XP Professional does NOT support more than 2 processor sockets,
to run such a board you would need a Server Operating System or an *nix.

Needless to say that most average home users have little need for
multiple processor motherboards. A 2 processor motherboard equipped
with 2 dual core processors would in effect be a 4 processor system.

As for your question about different speeds on the same chip I don't
know what you are referring to but I can guarantee you that both cores
on dual cores have the same clock speed and that multi-socket
motherboards must be equipped with matched chips.

John