Hi,

I have an old box sitting around that needs an OS on it... Originally came with Windows 98SE.

Specifications:

AMD K6-3 500mhz
128mb ram
One or two 20gb hard drives
Some sort of on board graphics

Oh and about the on board graphics... they would be s*** so what sort of graphics card would you suggest for this system? I can only use old pci ones because there is no AGP slot on this motherboard. I don't want to get anything like a Geforce 8400 pci (yes they are available) because it would bottleneck from my cpu.

What tweaking etc. and applications would you recommend for the OS you have chosen for this machine?

Thanks!

Win95Guy

What USE is that machine aimed to?

That is the main thing you have to ask yourself when choosing an OS.

jaclaz

Windows Me... As it only needs one unofficial service pack, KernelEx, and optionally UberSkin. 98SE2ME on 98 is sometimes unstable, Me runs better.

Tweaking... Just remove the PCHealth startup item (there was another one too you had to remove but i don't remember) and disable System File Protection right after you install Me, pretty much everything else is done by the unofficial service pack.

Video i'd say a Riva TNT2 PCI, or a GF4 MX4000.

The usage of "Me" in the same sentence with the verb "to run" is usually considered a (minor) offence, using also the attribute "better" could be judged as a felony.


jaclaz

I'll use it for anything it's powerful enough to run

Riva TNT2 or MX4000 are different league aren't they? Oh wait... isnt MX like the Geforce 2 MX basically? maybe i was thinking GF4TI lol...

Basically i'm looking at a 9X os for this machine as i think it would be most suited. I'm guessing 98SE/ME are my best options? But i wouldn't know where to start when it comes to tweaking these or what sort of software i should use with them.

Win95Guy

EDIT: Actually i think i would like ME better than 98 [AFTER] being tweaked as it's just newer in general and has native USB drive support etc. I know 98 can but it would just be more of a pain having to add these things to 98. There is also high/true (i forget which) color tray icon support in ME like XP which isn't native in 98 or even 2000. Then there is disk tools and so on... Have i just turned this thread into a 'help me tweak ME' thread? lol

The GF4 MX4000 is a bit better than the TNT2 and supports a few more tricks, however on that system it wouldn't make too much of a difference. See if you can find a Radeon 9250 PCI, that supports DX 8.1 and is pretty much the best you can get on PCI for that rig.

Windows Me has native high-color systray icons indeed. As for the disk tools, i don't know as i never used any of them. But what i know is that it's much more stable than 98SE on my laptop, it's very close to XP in stability. A few quirks appear here and there, but it's probably because of the way i like to use the start menu. It has rarely forced me to reset the machine.

As an idea, here's what i do with my start menu. After having used it for about half an year, i think that Me is the most underrated Windoze version ever. I remember keeping my 98SE till XP SP1 came out, it seems i missed something nice in Me.

With 20gb/hdd you can use either 98SE/ME/W2K2000(also:W2K-AdvSrv)-as this what i use on this size hdd(*500mhz is enough for any of these O.S.'s) *128mb/Ram may have problems with W2K,though it should not be serious. If you have 2-20gb/hdd's ,then try 2 O.S.'s-then keep what you like to use best

If it was my PC, I'd choose 98FE or SE over WinME or an NT system any time, but I'm very prejudiced. You're going to have to tweak and update things no matter which you choose. Which one you choose really depends on what's important to you. You really need to decide just what this PCs primary usage will be before making any choices. How important are graphics to you? Will you be gaming or working a lot with video or imaging software? Will it be a general purpose PC, a "daily driver" type of unit? Office duties? Test unit?

Each OS has its strengths. On older hardware, FE will be the lightest, and probably the fastest. It will also need the most updating and will have the most compatibility issues.

SE has fewer compatibility issues, software and hardware. Many of the member projects are specifically for SE.

ME has the most features of the three. IMO it also has the most problems and will need the most work to make it stable and reliable. Some people like it. For me, it's been nothing but problems.

Don't be in too big of a hurry to give up on the built in graphics. Check the PC vendors website and see if they offer updated drivers for the on-board graphics. If your planned usage for this PC doesn't require the power of a separate graphics card, you may be pleasantly surprised. The number of PCI slots you have available and the cards you need to use might make that decision for you.

If you do have 2 hard drives installed and if your BIOS lets you choose which hard drive the PC will boot from, you could easily install 2 9X systems and choose which you use from the BIOS. I have both 98FE and SE installed. Both work well. If you decide to install 2 separate 9X systems, disconnect the hard drive the first OS is installed on before installing the second one.
Rick

BZZT! That price goes to Windows 95 OSR2, which barely needs tweaking, and only a couple updates.

I had ME running on a PIII 500 with all the updates as the above posters said. I would recommend at least 256 or even better 384 mb of ram with ME. 384 mb with the system.ini tweaks found on this site made it very smooth.

I used a computer like that for close to 10 years and the best Operating System I found that worked just as fast as Windows 98 FE with no crashes was Windows 2000.

Applications are usually the older version to whatever is considered up to date today.

BTW, if it's a Compaq, you can add more memory beyond the recomended specs providing you have the available slots. Mine offered three, with a 384 maximum capacity when it came with Windows 98FE. I actually have 768 MB of RAM and the motherboard does not reject it.

A clean install of Windows 2000 will only need anywhere from 40 - 64 MB of RAM to function with no problems.