Just read TommyP's thread on Nuking the Hard (today's post) and another post regarding W2k's hyperthreading overheating problem.
It kind of promps me to ask before too many migrate to Linux, which is preferred?
I mean between W2k and Xp. I have both and don't intend to buy any more MS (2k3, Vista).

I have been using W2k because it is supposedly easier to hack. Xp's hyperthreading works? Does all the reg fixes that FDV provide also work in Xp? Does TommyP's reduction set work as well for Xp? Is Xp still too bloated to bother with?

Except for the fact that under W2k my computer may spontaneously combust, is there any real advantage to Xp? BTW, I tried a half dozen cpu monitor apps and none could read the temp, yet. Computer is 6 months old.

Thanks.

I like that one...

The hyperthreading problem is worked around by USP5 and HFSLIP (and possibly by other slipstreaming programs too but I don't know for sure). The only remaining problem -- as some people have reported -- is that the fix doesn't kick in after the computer wakes up from hybernation. Hybernation is one of the buggiest features of Windows so I'm not really sure if the fix is to blame or even Windows itself. Also, there are other programs that "don't work as expected" after Windows returns from hybernation. I always disable the hybernation and standby features so everything works great for me in this regard.

The fix though is turning off a function that my computer can do, yes? A function that increases performance. Also the latest versions of hfslip no longer fixes this anyway ... at least so it sounds. I remember some were against it for their older, none hyperthreading cpu's.

Tomcat76, weren't you working on an Xp system? Still think Win2k is the way to go?

HFSLIP still supports it. There wasn't even a period in which it was temporarily removed, to my knowledge.

I love 2K too much. The looks, the icons, the speed at which folder content displays, Windows not automatically removing backslashes when copy/pasting a URL as a folder name...

I only use XP for video editing.

I hate Windows 2000 both as a workstation and as a server. Windows Server 2003 runs circles around what Windows 2000 is capable of and I use it for that reason. I would NEVER install Windows 2000 on the main server without a hardware firewall anymore. It's just an invitation to all kinds of problems. I'll probably be using Vista if something critical goes wrong with the NT 5 platform to the point where networking is a bigger disaster than 2000.

This is from today. Still not sure if I am going to flame or not.


You know I did try Linux way back when Slack was still a 7.

I still have this nasty wireless notification problem that I still can't track down (FDV files). And every time I reboot, I lose keyboard and touchpad (stock for W2k but not Xp). Now Mac. is changing their cpu. It won't be long until our 'wipe the harddrive is the only fix' viruses will mutate and jump ship. Ranting.

If there is anything one can do to screw an operating system, I have accidently done it. But that simple Slack system just kept going no matter what I did or removed. I think I have a few disks around.

Squeeto, the statement I made is accurate, the Post SP4 hotfix has the problem.
You don't need to wonder if you have it, however, because as Tomcat noted, it is fixed when using HFSLIP.

I've been using XP as my main OS since 2001 and I'm seriously thinking about going back to 2000. Of all the extra features XP has over 2000, the only one I use is the built in firewall so its pointless using XP as far as im conserved. I use 2000 at work and its so much lighter and sleeker.

2K is great. Very lightweight and no "favors" are done for you that compromise your system. I get a kick out of the NLITE die-hards who strip enough out their XP so it looks like 2K. Why not just start with a lightweight OS to begin with? Honestly, the only thing I like about XP is the "cleartext" for the LCD monitors. Other than that, it's not my cup of tea.

A little prob I have with XP is that when doing serious multitasking, and if you want to delete a folder, the OS won't let you. So you close each application one at a time until nothing is running at all. Even after doing that, you still can't delete that folder. Only after rebooting can you delete it. This isn't a one time occurance. It happens quite frequently for me. Well, another issue I have is the crashing shell. It starts up again, but all my systray stuff is gone. I don't know about the rest of the computing community, but I kind of like having a shell that doesn't crash. The only time I had 2k BSOD me was when my hard drive bit the dust. I had more BSODs with XP, even with functional hard drives.

Thanks guys.

I'll keep working at the last 2 probs. Maybe I'll sell Xp and buy myself a nice new toothbrush or something.

Couple days ago I removed Window 2000's ability to recognize Left and Right mouse clicks through a totally unrelated tweaks program. Ironically, the mouse wheel still worked, but I had to use the keyboard briefly for everything else. All control panel options were set fine, so I'm positive this program caused it.

2000 is so much quicker than XP - even a heavily reduced XP. For 32bit, Windows 2000 is probably the best workstation NT OS.

tommyp: I've only had a couple BSODs before. One time I tried to change my FSB from 166(333)mhz to 66mhz, which did it, and another time I unplugged my HD to see what would happen.

For Windows XP, I managed to get a BSOD during installation, and later after trying to install AVG Antivirus. XP didn't like it AT ALL, and would no longer boot, so I had to use Win2k to delete AVG. A few days later I discovered I disliked the interface and games ran significantly slower, so I wiped out XP and went back to Win2k.

ROFLMAO

If you're into this sort of stuff, you might wanna try hooking up a 4-pin molex to 3-pin male converter for a case fan to the same power cable the hard drive is connected to, and then bring the three pins in touch with the computer case while it's running. Fireworks guaranteed!

So TommyP the other day was telling me about a dead HD he had, and he got it to work for recovering data after disassembling it and manually mucking with the platters, as opposed to trying to troubleshoot the Integrated Drive Electronics (the little circuit board). (!) This stuff listed by Kramy and Tomcat76 makes me think a lot of you guys try stuff with hardware I simply don't have the guts to try

(And then of course we have the stories about people who don't know better, like a friend of mine in college who hot-swapped a bunch of PCI cards in his system and then as if that weren't bad enough, plugged them back in in different slots hoping to resolve an IRQ conflict... Me: "Mike, you should do that with the power OFF..." Him: "Whatever, dude...")

Stange how so many person dig into Windows and then decide to migrate.
As far as I'm concerned, I love *nux because it is better documented and it does not act in weird ways.
Some things don't work (e.g. my wireless card because of this activate/deactivate wifi button and my driver card 'cause ATI's not providing drivers) but when it doesn't work, it doesn't work and doesn't bug.


Kramy, sometimes my hard driver disappears from Windows because it is failing and overheating.
XP still runs but I can't run anything (ctrl+alt+del doesn't work since it needs taskmgr.exe). However I'm still able to browse the internet with Maxthon.

Ooh, nice! You just confirmed IE is making good use of that system memory.

I've got two CD drives - one is a DVD/CD burner, and the other is just a CD burner. If I make one of them a slave to the other, about 80% of the time windows won't detect it. On the other hand, if I slave one to a HD, it almost always detects just fine. This is only in an nLited windows though - on a normal install they always detect. Apparently the nLite SCSI driver removal issue(CD drives vanishing) only pertains to certain hardware setups. Makes me think windows is doing something wrong, and somehow those drivers cross/double check it.

A while back I ran some tests with variations of xp and 2k. Today I added to my list. This is just a barebones OS (no applications installed). All the favors that XP does for me don't work. I'm slowly getting my way down to FDV levels whilst maintaining the IE core.



* FDV fileset with DX9C/codecs, not NLITE'd.
** FDV's fileset with DX9/codecs, not NLITEd. It was reduced with a reduction fileset that Oleg2 and I were putting together.

Is it time yet for hfslip to go mainstream. Could a good, short tutorial with no choices (ie less to screw up) be written for the general masses? I find that my system is less vulnerable to attacks with the FDV fileset and the latest fixes. What a way to combat viruses by cleaning up Windows.

Provide a generic system with replacements (dirms, win32pad, myuninst, mpui, etc) and the latest hotfixes.
No codecs, reductions or drivers. Drivers, codecs can be installed after like most people do.

Just a thought.

Licensing issues.

Plus, people who just NEVER read directions.

Ok, hfslip with fdv fileset already in - no windows explorer, a few most common tweaks, sp4 and a (hehe) frontend gui with a few buttons to search for the original Windows CD location for i386 and the directory where the individual has downloaded the recommended replacement apps.

Just a thought

...like nlite? hehe

I guess an open source gui could be cool and probably would appeal to more users.

My 2 cents to solve this issue:



explorer.inf





cmdlines.txt

Some new measurements by me, FWIW.
This is really FDV fileset stuff, meant to supplement TommyP's figures above this post.

http://www.vorck.com/memorysavings.html

I'm an XP hater and avoided it in every way. But now it seems that I will have to use XP on one PC.
I am building myself a media center / HT PC. Started this little project because the local cable tv provider is beginning to reduce analogue channels and putting in more and more digital ones (DVB-C). Capturing TV with some digital settop boxes is not so good because with most of them you'd have to grab an analogue out signal from the box and then re digitize it - not quite good (exception are some boxes with harddisk where you can grab the files from the hd afterwards). So I thought build yourself a HTPC.
Now from the hardware side I got everything more or less running. Software I was pretending to use w2k as system. I evaluated some htpc software (sceneo tvcentral...). Windows mce I really don't want to use. Then I found Media Portal (MP) - an open source HTPC software that I tried and like a lot.
Got MP running under w2k fine except the DVB-C television. Well got it running after registering some XP files but running in a way that's not quite usable.
So now I'm playing around with XP - where the TV runs OK. But I find XP really lame. I hate it when XP always tries to tell me what I should do (PostBootReminders and so on) - I'm a power user and I know what I want to do... XP maybe is fine for a newbie or normal user, but for a power user it's an insult. I'm not wondering why power users switch to linux since ms is really neglecting power users.
For things where I needed two clicks under w2k now I need 4 under XP - really great!

Now I'm investigating how to get rid of most of the useless stuff right on install - at least a lot can be done by registry settings, that can be included in hfslip (turning off some useless services, use classic desktop/start menu from the first start and so on). Yea and finally this PC will run only one software - Media Portal - so I will survive it.

This little project now is coming to it's final stages and I have to say that a well configured HTPC is realy a great thing for the living room.

Cough cough cough knoppmyth cough cough cough.

Yeah, even if you can't EVER give up gaming on windoze like me, building a htpc is a great start to really dig into linux as long everything has drivers. (I lurk around a good bit at the AVS forums)

FDVs no ie stuff has made formerly too slow and old pieces of crap very usable computers. I finally have a laptop I risk using pretty much *anywhere*.

1 other vote for win2k

cheap, fast and a minimum requirement for old pc

I vote for windows 2k It is a great a few small tweaks and a super OS.