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It does not seem to make any difference. SRDISK: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=109574 http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=109574&st=13 http://sourceforge.net/projects/srdisk/ jaclaz I did not have much time to read through all the provided links, but the outcome is significally different in this particular case. I mean, I'm getting a following error message: "VFAT Device Initialization Failed A device or resource required by VFAT is not present or is unavailable. VFAT cannot continue loading." I had an opportunity to play the same video on two computers with the same single core P4 2.4GHz CPU. One was running Windows 98, the other a standard installation of Windows XP. As expected, the quality of output video on the Windows 98 was significantly higher. The output from the XP was quite a choppy one, while on Windows 98 video was freezing only during complicated scenes with both moving text and images blurring one to another. Apparently, CPU has to work much more during such scenes. As for all DOS based ram drives. In theory, they would require the CPU to switch between 16bit and 32bit modes in order to function. The construction of the single core P4 CPU should make every such a change to be a significantly long one. So, it is quite possible, loading the whole file in the windows file cache, could give better results, as the CPU mode switching would not be necesary. However, I was not able to prove the point, as I was unable to run Windows 98 with large enough ramdrive, so far.

Finally I've found some time to get back to this issue. The HIMEMX.EXE changed nothing, I'm afraid. Other time consuming tests will have to wait.

The ram drive is working and VOL command works correctly, all right. But the Windows stops on IOS device initialization (Bootlog.txt). ASD reports problem with reading ESCD data from PnP BIOS. I'm experimenting with Dell Optiplex GX260. I was unable to get Ati All In Wonder 9000 working with ACPI in this particular computer. So, I had to fall back to APM to get the grahics card working. The same problem happend with NVidia GPU, so it seems there are some BIOS related problems here. The problem with GUI booting along with the ram drive does not seem to be related to a specific GPU, as the same story happens with the onboard Intel 845 graphics controller. I'm using XMSDSK.EXE 1.9I I've noticed my MaxFileCache setting was a bit below 400000. So, less than a half of memory was used for file caching. I understand, why I had doubts in large file caching efficiency, now.

In my particular case the gui does not start, after loading XMSDSK.EXE 512000 from the AUTOEXEC.BAT. The CONFIG.SYS does contain just the FILES=240 statement and code page related settings. The AUTOEXEC.BAT contains just the XMSDSK,exe and some code page related entries, as well. The Microsoft ramdrive.sys is unusable, as it is unable to manage ram drives exceeding 32MB.

I want to do a few experiments related to CPU demanding video playback. I would like to compare the results while playing from ram drive and HDD. To be more specific, I would like to test the efficiency of the Windows 98 disk caching system. I'm curious if the ramdrive will be faster than the disk cache. Or rather which way saves more of the CPU power. The task demands to create a large ramdrive (512MB or so). I've tried XMSDSK.EXE so far, but I was not able to start GUI along with it. Are there any other suitable ramdrive solutions available? I do understand different ramdrive drivers can work with different efficiency. So, the DOS based ones do not seem to be a good choice, probably. The test computer does have Windows 98 SE SP 2.1 with 1GB of RAM. It works fine without any ramdrive for the time being.

It seems Google Picasa 3.6 works better, now. But, still, there are some problems left. The settings dialog works in general. There are no error messages, and the options are displayed, at last. But for some reason drop down lists are not working. Luckily it is possible to change values with keyboard up and down arrow keys. - the default KernelEX compatibility mode Everything seems to be working fine, except for the language selection option. For some reason this drop down list is disabled. The language is always set to english. - Windows 2000 and XP KernelEX compatibility mode The language selection drop down list is active, so it is possible to change the language. Also the default setting is "system default language". On the other hand, it is necesary to walk through initial settings dialogs (search folder selection and extension selection) every time the Picasa starts. Also there are some problems with built in Picasa folder exploration.

Nope. In my case it is Universal Vesa/VBE driver.

GOM Player works fine on Windows 98 without Kernel EX installed.

Looks like I have the same problem. When icons are set to 32 bit mode, some of them do have addidtional black edges. When set to 16bit or 4 bit mode, the edges are gone, but the icons are pale, instead. The best example seems to be the standard text/notepad explorer file icon.

I've installed the Picasa 3.6 in the Windows XP SP2 compatibility mode. The first run in the same mode worked correctly with the proper (Polish) language. But, then I tried to change the options. After that the Picasa returned to English, and the file exploration stopped working. I can change the language back to Polish, but exploration stopped working for good. There is some problems with the configuration changes of the Picasa 3.6 in Windows XP compatibility mode. Just change Options once and the settings are getting messed up. Reinstallation is required, to make file exploration work again.

Google Picasa 3.6 does work with KernelEX 4.5 RC1 in general. But there are some problems. One of them is invisible Tools - Options - General tab. - default compatibility mode - the language is forced to English, and it is not possible to change it since the Options - General tab is not visible. But, everything else seems to be working fine. While accessing Options an error message dialog appears with "Improper Access" message (the message is always in my local Polish language, I had to translate it from "Niewłaściwe dojście"). - Windows 2000 or newer compatibility mode - the language is automaticaly set to the local one. There are no error message when accessing Options dialog. The initial settings are not remembered. So, Picasa asks for them at every run. The file exploration does not work. It seems the Picasa 3 is the only completely free application (all others are just free for noncommercial use), able to print large bitmaps (over 16MB in size) in Windows 98, with Polish language support. The only problem is I can not turn the Polish language on, without sacrificing other functions.

Google Picasa 3.6 does support Polish language. It is possible to run it with KernelEX and it prints correctly. However, the language settings in Options - General tab are not visible. So, it is not possible to switch the language. The default language is English. The situation changes when switched KernelEX compatibility mode from default to Windows 2000 (or newer). By just accessing the General tab, and saving the settings language changes to Polish. However, Picasa does not seem to remember initial settings in this kind of KernelEX compatibility mode, and file browsing does not seem to work, as well.

IrfanView is "FREEWARE (for non-commercial use)". Unfortunatelly, this kind of a license will not do in this particular case.

I started to look for a suitable application for picture printing, again. This time, I'm searching for something able to print large bitmaps, or having a simple and easy to use resize or color depth change function (preferably with polish language interface option). In the process I've found two free applications able to print large bitmaps, but without polish language support. Preclick Gold Photo Organizer - it was included in HP Photo Essentials package. Now it is available as freeware. The user interface is somewhat strange, yet effective. Picasa 2 - from Google. (Picasa 3.6 seems to be working with KernelEX to some point, but I've just checked if I can run this version.)

Poor performance of the SATA HDD to PATA adapter could be related to 40 pin connection detection and transfer limited to UDMA2. It is possible to force the detection of 80 pin cable through grounding pin 34 in the IDE interface. After such a modification my adapter outperformed PCI SATA controller. As for the Software HDD LED. It does seem the Rubber Ducky does not work for me. To be more specific, everyting is working, except for the HDD activity detection. ------------------ The pin 11 of the SATA power connector is used to provide HDD LED function in SATA docking stations. With pin 11 grounded drive works as a standard internal drive, in other case it can switch to "deferred spin" or some other features.

Well, both devices PCI SATA card and SATA to ATA converter do not have HDD LED connector. Also, the motherboard controller HDD LED does not work when SATA drive is connected through a converter. Software HDD LED emulation could be not a bad solution, but the software has to be Windows 98 compatible.

I think this is it. I've tried 14MB and 19MB uncompressed bitmaps. The smaller does print, the larger does not.

I made another interesting observation. Some 24 bit images are printing fine, others do not. It could be related to the bitmap size. At first look, problems with printing are related to bigger 24bit bitmaps. The small ones are printing fine. So, the problem could be the overall size of the bitmap, not the color depth itself.

I,ve installed a SATA drive to the ATA motherboard, a while ago. I did tested two solution in the process: 1) SATA to ATA converter At first it was not not a good choice, because the motherboard built in controlled detected the connection as 40pin cable. So, the mode was reduced to just UDMA2. But, I've learned, the 80 pin connection is recognized by the pin 34 of the IDE connector. If it is grounded, the controller complains about 40 wire connection, no longer. After modifying the adapter the UDMA5 mode kicked in, and the overal performance was higher than with the PCI SATA controller. 2) SATA PCI Sil 3512 controller with the built in BIOS. At first I had some difficulties booting the system, but after installing the driver, everything was working fine. The controller driver was placed in the SCSI section, I saw no other problems with it. The performace was a bit worse than the built in motherboard controller with modified SATA to ATA converter. It could be related to slower performance of the PCI bus. Apparently the built in controller on intel 845 chipset can outperform the PCI cards. Unfortunatelly, I've lost the HDD LED, in both cases.

Perhaps it would be easier to backup and restore the whole network configuration, instead.

No, I have not. I have no license for it.

If it would be me, I would not mind using any application for photo printing. But, I have a problem with a client computer. Everything was fine for many years. But, suddenly, he wants to print some photos. I tried many photo printing applications, and they had problems with printing some of the pictures. I took me a lot of trouble to fully understand what is going on. For now, I have to consider, the Windows 98 is not a good enviroment for easy photo printing. Unless, I find a free application able to provide easy photo printing for dummies, I have to recommend migration to a newer system.

Investing in software working under Windows 98 is a nonsense. For the same amount of cash I can buy a whole computer with a Windows 2000 professional OEM sticker on it. The Paint Shop v9.0 price will give me almost two 2.4GHz second hands Compaq with Windows XP professional licenses. There are plenty of free software working correctly on Windows 2000 and XP. I had a big problem with integrated accounting system on Windows 98. The printout background was missing, so there was just a text instead of a form. Luckily the background was kept in separate files, so I was able to replace them with a lower color depth bitmap. In the same time everything was working correclty on Windows 2000 and XP. Now I do understand it was the same issue I do have while trying to print high quality photos. Keeping the Windows 98 usable requires more and more effort. At some point it is simpler and cheaper to replace the whole system. The only advantage of Windows 98 for me, is it's quick crash recovery ability. But, I'm closing to a point where I can do the almost the same with newer operating systems. What's more important, I can do it remotely, now.

According to wikipedia all Jasc Paint Shop versions newer than 4.12 are commercial software. The Windows 98 support ended at version 9.01. One month later the Jasc Software was acquired by Corel, and the Corel Paint Shop Pro 10 was not Windows 98 compatible. It's a good hint, but I would like rather to find some free software.

I did another experimet. Apparently a fresh installation of Windows 98 SE with just the USB drivers added and a Windows supplied Epson Stylus Color printer driver does have the mentioned problem. A printout of the JPG file from IE does have just two bytes. So, the problem is clearly related to the OS. Apparently, some applications do use own bitmap conversion routines. That's why those applications are printing correctly, while others do not. Does anyone know a good Windows 98 compatible application with easy to use picture printing functions and not affected by the bitmap conversion problem?