ssmokee

Huh? I wasnt having any problems with win98...and all my partitions are FAT32. It is probably a better idea to say that win98 cannot natively recognize NTFS, because most people know by now that additional software is available for that functionality.

This might be because zonealarm is writing to its log file when scandisk is running, which would cause scandisk to restart. Can you temporarily disable logging and see if that fixes it?

The setting you mean is "MaxFileCache=524288", which correspondes to 512MB. Could you post your system.ini file so I could take a look at it? It is possible the RAM itself is bad...have you tested in another computer?

Ive cloned 2000 quite a bit on a number of machines and never ran into a problem. I have not done any testing porting to different hardware configs except with 98se, so when Im talking about 2000/XP I mean restoring it to the same computer from which the computer was initially made. I did run into a problem with XP where it would fail shortly after the windows boot process started. I found a thread describing a few weeks ago describing the exact symptoms I ran into and aparently it was the system restore of XP that was causing the problem, and the fix was to disable system restore before imaging the drive.

Well there is Partimage on the linux side, which comes with the SystemRescueCD. I have not tried Partimage yet...its on my to-do list. I actually had no idea partsave even existed on the DOS side...I will check it out.

I wouldnt count on it...adding directx 9.0c would about quadruple the size of the service pack. IE 6 on the otherhand, Ill just leave that alone to avoid starting a browser flame war.

That in itself I would say is a good idea, but the hard part is getting everyone to agree on what links should or should not go in there. As I mentioned this isnt a problem from my tests. Ive tried this on systems with VIA, Intel, and SIS chipsets, different video and network cards, all with good results (except from the two OEM machines). In the next updated version I make Im just going to set a .reg file on the desktop that will delete the "HKLM\Enum" key to speed things up. Personally I wouldnt dream of doing it any other way. A hard disk with two or more partitions just has way too many advantages over the single drive single partition setup. It wouldnt make a difference if you use your win98se cd or someone elses really. If its the product key your worried about...not wanting to hand over your personal 98se product key over to other people, then that I understand and I have found a way around that to using a cdkey finder/changer. What Im going to do in my next version is just plunk it on the desktop so all I have to do after I built a system is just change the key, the delete the key finder executable from the desktop. The tweaks and programs (yup the CAB files are all there to) that I put on my base image and setup are suitable for all computers, and take a significant amount of time setup and cant be accomplished by a script...though it would be nice if installer executables accepted arguments that would let me do that. Any necessary customizations to suit the user after that are quite trivial. The basic idea behind what Ive done is just take out all the crap that MUST be done each and every install, and totally eliminate it. This lets me get right to the stuff that matters (office apps, email client, drivers, etc.).

What OS were you trying to clone and what was the problem you encountered?

I use a method that lets me take one fully setup 98se and install it multiple times, even on other computers with different hardware (atleast thats what I think you asking for). All it essentially involves is 3 main steps. The first step ofcourse being is to setup a new 98se installation and get all the basic patches, software, tweaks/modifications you want (this part takes me 2-3 hours, which is why I have spent considerable time testing it). The second step involves using imaging software (like norton ghost) in order to image the newly setup 98se installation. Once you have the image, copy the image file over onto a secondary PC (I did this by creating a DOS bootable cd with the image file and the ghost.exe executable on it). After you have the image file accessible from the secondary PC, restore the image to its hard drive. The third step is the most important and must be done if the secondary PCs hardware differs from the primary PC. If its the hardware is the same then this step can be ignored. On the secondary PCs first boot after restoring the image, hit F8 and boot into safe mode. Run regedit and delete the "HKLM\Enum" key, then reboot and all hardware will be redected. There are additional steps I do, but those steps just boil down to personal preference and arent needed. Ive tested this on seven different white box/DIY computers and it work perfectly. The only problems I ran into were on OEM machines; one Compaq, one IBM.

Well it definately looks promising, and yes it is free. I will try it out as soon as I can.

After thinking that over a little more, maybe the problem is that after installing the service pack the .txt file extension is no longer associated with metapad, but rather with notepad again? If that is the case then you could easily just shift + right click on a .txt file, then select Open with..., then select metapad from the list of available programs (or browse to the executable if it isnt listed there), make sure the checkbox marked Always use this program to open this type of file is checked off, then hit OK.

The "Drop to DOS" extension might be a good idea. Ive been using it myself for a considerable lenght of time. Another thing Ive found that also helps (since we are on the subject of CLI stuff) is to add "SET DIRCMD=/A/O" to the autoexec.bat file. What that does is automatically append the /a and /o switches to the dir command, saving the user typing. The /a will show all files even if they have the hidden attribute set (I wouldnt think most people would want files hidden from them). The /o switch will sort the directory listing alphabetically with folders first, which I would think most people would prefer this way rather than having it listed in no particular order at all.

It isnt an install issue. Its just the way it is. If you read the Notepad Replacement thread, there is a post by Gape that reads:

Would be nice to get more input from some other people running with 1GB of RAM and see if they get similar problems. I would suggest unstalling the soundcard drivers and physically removing the card from the system to see if this is the sole cause of the problem. As for your [386Enh] settings, I remember seeing references to VGAMonoText=OFF way back in the day of computers running 95/98 with 16MB of RAM. Since you are running 768MB-1GB I seriously doubt saving a couple KiloBytes of RAM is going to do anything for you.

The only freeware task manager I ever managed to find was Win9x/ME TaskManager by Coral Software. Its functionality is somewhat broken, and it does not always display correct CPU usage. TaskInfo2003 is an awesome task manager that blows away anything else Ive seen, but it is not free.

I found using Litepc to partially remove (de-integrate in their words) IE did an amazing job of increasing the stability of win98se.

I much prefer the win2k icons and colour scheme. Im using a Samsung LCD monitor and I find win98 colour scheme to be way too over-bright. I vote to keep it, or atleast make it optional.

I ran into the same problem using the service pack and 98lite.

What if say for instance you had a 160GB drive split up into 2x 80GB partitions...would that work? Or is strictly the physical size of the hard drive (regardless of size and number of partitions) that is the problem?

Sounds good to me!

Ive been using Editpad lite for several months. The "lite" version is totally free, while the Pro version is pay for. Site: http://www.editpadpro.com/editpadlite.html Download: http://download.jgsoft.com/editpad/SetupEditPadLite.exe Pros -tabbed interface -F5 key inserts current date/time (just like regular notepad, and the format is even configurable) -context menu option under the sendto menu -unix/windows text formats -can minimize to tray -can edit file associated file extensions easily in the program itself -in can be run using a .ini file with no registry entries -Unicode and UTF support -optional line numbers display for programmers There is probably a lot more Im forgetting, but that is all I can think of off the top of my head. Im not positive but I think it does support both UTF and unicode formats. Over the months Ive been using it the only thing I miss is syntax highlighting for stuff like html coding. Trying to find a text editor that the majority agrees on is probably going to be tough though. I tried easily over a dozen text editors before I finally found one that had the highest number of features/capabilities I wanted. I did give Notepad++ a try, and I think it would be a good choice. It does have syntax highlighting, but lacks the configurability of Editpad lite.

What I meant was that I didnt want IE upgraded regardless of its currently installed version. Its just that I dont want to bother wasting disk space upgrading software I dont use. I guess there would be some cases that I would still want IE updated due to its intergration into the OS. Im not positive but didnt the IE 6 upgrade also force the user to install Outlook?... which also another program that I do not use. Other than that, does the patch still work ok with a 98lite chubby install?

What IE updates are being bundled in the beta SP2? Im just curious because if the full IE 6.0 update is being included, I would personally prefer that it be optional.