Lunac

Zxian, hallucinogenic color themes and LEGO-like shell is the least of it. For more information see my posts in: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=76515 Or the old "Why run 98?" thread (300+ replies): http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=60251 In short, HAL (Hardware Abstraction Layer) found in NT operating systems is seriously flawed and simply inadequate when it comes to what it was designed to do. It was supposed to assist developers in creating drivers much faster by writing less code and letting HAL itself deal with any portability and compatibility issues. One way HAL does this is by emulating hardware and/or hardware features that are not even there to begin with. In theory this was a dream come true. You could write minimal code with maximum results in record time. In theory of course. For basic information on what HAL is and what it does go here: http://www.answers.com/topic/hardware-abstraction-layer

Atmosphere XP, aside from quite obviously misquoting me, your post proves my point better than I could ever.

LLXX you said: "An OS is not a game" You hit the nail on the head. When XP was released, first thing I noticed was all the colors, almost neon in their intensity. The window bars were over sized, all the buttons were huge and illustrated, there was even an animated dog in the search window! My first thought was: how clownish! It looked like a toy OS, something for kids to play with. Then I noticed the bugs, lack of performance, and lack of software and hardware compatibility. It was a toy alright, not even a good one.

You can disable the themes if XP is a bit laggy Oh, brother! Themes are the least of it. if you have a more modern computer, why not run XP? Like I pointed out, over and over again, NT 5.x won't run on lots of modern "computer" hardware. Get it? El no run-o. PC-BSD has as its goal to be an easy to install and use desktop OS Ok, stop right there. PC-BSD has even less hardware compatibility than your average Linux distro. This is the best NT crowd has? Turn off the themes? Get a "modern computer"? (which wont fix anything really) Or switch to PC-BSD? So anything but 98? What in the...

Incredible. I kept repeating this throughout that old wINDOZEE 98 is gARbage thread last year, and I mentioned it in this one as well, few pages back. I repeat again: HAL. Hardware Abstraction Layer that is. For some basic information go here: http://www.answers.com/topic/hardware-abstraction-layer In my opinion, continual development of such architecture (HAL) was a half-assed attempt at pushing NT into the mainstream by attempting to correct the obvious lack of hardware support NT kernel had (and still has), at the expense of speed and performance. Also, it seriously highlighted, in my eyes at least, the lack of imagination and general lack of ability at Microsoft I stay away from NT based operating systems for same reasons I stay away from Linux. It doesn't support hardware from 10 years ago, or hardware released few months ago. I stick with what works, and right now NT ain't it. Much like everything from Apple is a fashion statement for your average metrosexual and/or metrosexual wannabee, NT based operating systems (and Linux as well) are fashion statements too. Only Linux and NT operating systems are directed at different segments of the consumer spectrum. Myself, I am not into fashion statements. I'm into stuff that works. Pure and simple. I leave fashion to those with more money and time than me. I'm no fanboy. I owe allegiance to no corporation or a product. If a random corporation was to come out and offer me an OS that suited my needs I would use it. I don't care if it was TalibanSoft or CommuniSoft. Simple as that.

Somebody asked why Win9x was superior to NT 5.x? Many reasons, but primarily what does it for me is the HAL. NT Hardware Abstraction Layer that is. It was touted as the holy grail of hardware and OS integration. It was (and is) anything but. Interestingly enough, the acronym itself >HAL< is of that infamous psycho computer from 2001: A Space Odyssey. How appropriate. Anyhow, this particular topic was discussed to death in a previous thread. Most of the anti Win9x arguments were something akin to: WiMXPP iZZ TeH BEST!. Which really, in a colorful way, shows the intellectual level of WinXP users, as well as their maturity. Others admitted that Win98 has its purposes, this of course after nearly 50 pages of responses and arguments. Which is for them another way of saying: You got a point! Stop pointing out that XP is a toy OS and that I am a dumbass consumer and the only reason I have XP is because it came preinstalled with my crappy KidCo system from Dell/HP/eMachines or because my friend/cousin/buddy has it! And if my friend/cousin/buddy have it, then I want it too!. Then that thread was promptly locked and "disappeared". Which is really what many of NT fanatics would like to do with this whole Win9x subforum. Which really says a lot, doesn't it?

I appreciate the assistance. I already accomplished this yesterday. Much easier than I expected. Third party boot manager was the key.

Anyone know how I could get two versions of Win98SE to work side by side, dual boot and all?

Hi. I don't need complete wipe. Just removal of peronsal data. XP needs to stay.

Hi. I am selling my laptop on ebay and I was wondering how can I remove all traces of personal data and personlization. I already removed all the installed programs. Are there any tools that can do that? You know, clean the registry, wipe the disk, etc? I would appreciate any assistance. Title edited -- Please, use [TAGS] in your topic's title. --Sonic

Ahead of ya nitroshift. I have both Bochs and QEMU. As far as I know, QEMU does not support CD Burn emulation. I am pretty sure same goes for Bochs. Unless you had something else in mind. I just finished defragmenting all my drives. After few test burns nothing's changed.

Clean install of Windows? I would leave that as a last and most extreme measure. I've had this install (Win98SE) since summer of 1999 (cloned several times and has gone through 4 systems so far). I have too many customized apps in place, (80+ GB), it would take days, or even weeks to get everything back to previous condition. Is there a smaller/free OS that has CDR-CDRW burn capabilities that I could install and test my burner? Linux is not an option since it doesn't detect or support my specific VIA SATA/PATA chipset (VT6421L) Any ideas?

I tried several new IDE cables, round and non-round, no improvement. I tested the RAM for errors with MemTest86 and several other utilities, and after many hours they found no problems. I also tried new PSUs (actually I tried this yesterday). I replaced my current X-Connect modular PSU with a plain no-name 500watt PSU and after that I tried another newer 450watt PSU since the no-name was in the basement for years. I had to be sure. No improvement. I've also tried different versions of drivers for my motherboard, video card, rest of the system components. After updating to latest drivers I saw no change, so I tried really old drivers. No improvement. I scanned my system with several AV apps and they found nothing. I scanned my registry and my hard disks for errors, no errors and no improvement. My motherboard, CDRW drive, and Video card already have the latest BIOS/Firmware updates. I am pretty much running out of stuff to do. I am defragmenting my disk drives right now.

I just tried two more old CDRW drives. (An old 2x6x8 BCE drive, and old 8x4x20 HP drive) Guess what? Same problem. Both are burning coasters. Apparently it is something in my system, any ideas? Anyone?

I just finished cleaning. I cleaned the lense with 70% Isopropyl Alcohol (its not the first time, I cleaned the lense on this drive 2 years ago, when it didn't want to read any CDs at all, and it fixed it). I also cleaned out all the dust that was inside the unit. I made sure all cables, power and IDE, were properly seated. I recored a new CDR, and I did a readability test on that CDR. Results are the same: 6 files out 9 (701MB total), were unreadable. Recording seesion was without errors, but CDR in question was quite unreadable.

I have a pretty standard LG CDRW drive, and recently I have been having some serious problems with it. All the CDRs I record with this drive have errors. Recording phase goes just fine, but if I try reading that same CDR there are lot of errors. (I've checked the integrity of CDRs both with Easy CD Creator Integrity tool, and CDCheck) I've tried 5 burning apps so far, with same results, including Easy CD Creator, CDRDAO, Nero Express, Burn4Free. and DOSRecord (a pure DOS app). I've also tried lot of CDR media from different manufacturers. (3 so far). I've tried different burning speeds and burning methods. Results are always the same: recording phase finishes without errors, but CDs are completely unreadable, or most of the files on said CDRs are. (Some files are readable in case of Data CDs) I've tried CDRW discs. Interestingly enough, some of the CDRW burns were without errors, but in some 8 CDRW disc recording sessions, only 2 were without errors. Compared to some 20+ CDR burns, which all came out bad. Any ideas? Anyone?

I sold my uncle's old Dell system on ebay, together with WinXP COA and upgrade CD. Guy didn't like the system and returned it. I am pretty sure he stole the COA, because when I tried to reinstall WinXP (for security purposes, since it was used by the buyer for who knows what) I got a message telling me that the key was used too many times. That is weird because my uncle used the CD/Key only once, and I did only once, (both on the same Dell machine), this leads me to believe that the guy who bought the system must have installed it plenty of times. Any ideas how I can report the key as stolen, and maybe get a new key? on edit: I did contact MS support by phone and I was given a long (very long) key that helped me validate the OS (this was not a new product key), but where do I report the key as stolen? and get a new key?

Win9x has that too. Also, I have lot of experience with system hardware upgrades on systems with Win2k/XP, and they require lot of restarting as well. In fact the other day I helped a family member install a SATA PCI Controller card under XP. Two restarts were prompted/necessary. HAL is garbage by the way. Hardware Abstraction Layer that is. There was a thread similar to this one month or so ago. I described my experiences with NT 5.x systems and hardware upgrades. Getting these OSs to detect and boot with your new hardware is a pain in the a**. Amount of reboots is the least of your worries. Trust me.

Dels, you said: "remember restart each time you attach a new hardware?" I am confused. You don't shut down your system when you add new hardware? How about when you replace the CPU? You keep the system running while you pop it in? Wait, how about a new power supply? How do you do that one? Quickly switch the power cables?! (Sorry guys, this is too easy. ) USB works just fine with Win9x, if that's what you are aiming at. If fact every USB device I used over the past 9 years worked just fine, both under Win95 OSR 2.1 and Win98. No reboots needed. Did you mean new software? If so, that's untrue. NT systems have to be restarted after every major system update/upgrade as much as Win9x based ones do.

LLXX, from an economic and budget standpoint, AMD is a sure winner. You can get a decent nForce2 motherboard (rebranded Epox, if they still got them in stock @ Geeks.com) with a socket A Sempron 3300+ CPU (which is really a rare Athlon XP 3200+ Barton CPU intended for asian OEM market), all for $110 with s&h. There is no Intel platform that can beat that performance at that price. No way. Thermal properties, LLXX? I think TomsHardware started it all. They released a video few years ago that showed what happens to an Intel and AMD CPUs running without any colling. Heatsink or fan. AMD CPU got hot real fast. That video generated lot of publicity. I put that video in the same category as I would a video of a man eating fifteen live chickens. Pure shock entertainment. Didn't seem to harm AMD any, and rightfully so. I mean, who runs their CPU without any cooling? No really, who? I never owned a AMD CPU until 2003. After purchasing my Athlon XP I was amazed at the performance.

eidenk, I never mentioned anything about "unbranded" RAM. I had a unique chance last year to have a chat with two Mushkin employees and what they told me surprised me quite a bit. (Well I was not that surprised. Micron was fined $84 million dollars for price fixing schemes just a few weeks ago. Samsung was fined $300 million back in 2004 as was Hynix, which was fined $185 million. Google it. News articles all over the place. It's a dirty industry.) Anyways, they flat out admitted that there wasn't much difference between their value and performance product lines. It all really depended on who they contracted that quarter to supply them with ICs. If they could get a good price from Elixir for several 100k units, then Elixir ICs is what Muskin RAM was going to feature that year. I got a similar story from a Corsair tech. It opened my eyes. I am not saying go out and buy any RAM. Before I bought my Buffalo kit, I downloaded the white papers on that particular product from Buffalo(Melco) corporate website, as well as contacted their tech support to confirm some specs. Although, I doubt your average consumer will bother to do that. And that's what "quality" brand names such as Mushkin and Corsair are counting on. Socket A is still a viable platform. No doubt. I prefer nVidia, as I mentioned in another thread, I have owned 3 (now 4) nVidia video cards. Never had any complaints. (I owned GeForce3 Ti 500, GeForce4 MX 420, GeForce4 Ti 4600, and now GeForce 6600GT.)

No problem. It has been my experience that it's the speakers and not the sound card that you should throw your money on. Cheap speakers can turn a $200+ sound card into a $9 sound card.

Now you didn't specify if you wanted a complete system so I can only give you some general hardware Win9x guidelines. For a motherboard I would definitely recommend something with nVidia's nForce chipset (nForce2 based motherboards can be had for $35, nForce3 for $45-$50), and both nForce2 and nForce3 are supported by Win9x. I can vouch for this as I own both nForce2 and nForce3 based motherboards. VIA boards are not bad either, but expect to take a 5-15% performance hit compared to equivalent nForceX based boards, depending on the chipset of course. Also, VIA motherboards are not that good when it comes to power tweaking or overclocking. A decent AMD CPU (Semprons can be gotten cheap and are pretty good overclockers) along with a nice GeForce video card (6600GT, or a aftermarket 6800GT), AGP of course. Hard drives are pretty cheap too. My friend got his retail 200GB IDE Maxtor for $43 plus tax just yesterday @ Staples. After instore discounts and coupons he paid like $50 on the spot and walked away with a 200GB HD. You can get a 320GB HD on Newegg for about $115. You can get 1-2GB of RAM for cheap nowadays, with rebates and some luck. I saw a 2GB (2x1GB dual ddr kit) deal the other day for $110. By good RAM I mean pretty much any RAM. Last November I had a chance to chat both with Mushkin and Corsair reps and what they told me about their QC and marketing techniques would make you think twice about buying "brand" name RAM. Like the fact they buy their ICs from whoever gives them the best price. Many times there is no difference between their value and performance lines except in packaging and branding. No joke. Their words, whoever gives them the best price gets to supply them with ICs. Quality does not even enter into the process. I bought the cheapest 1GB of RAM I could get my hands on, and it surprised the heck out of me. Sound? Unless you are a "professional" (artist, sound engineer, etc), and aren't working on a homebrew media box of some sort, don't have some 12 speaker theater setup, then 4-6 channel built-in sound solutions should be more than fine for ya.

Hougtimo, you say "less than £1700"... for what?! Heart surgery?! I put together a brand new system for myself over the past 3 weeks or so and it didn't cost me anywhere near "£1700". Total cost after rebates and after selling old parts on ebay is $27(US)! That's right, I got new motherboard, CPU (Still waiting for this part), a Thermaltake v7000c case, modular Ultra 500watt titanium PSU, 1GB of Buffalo RAM (running in dual channel @ 2-2-2-6 with my current Athlon XP 2400+, still waiting for the new CPU), EVGA 6600GT video card (used from ebay), bunch a round cables, Aerogate II fan/thermal module, Thermaltake Volcano 11+ heatsink/fan, some silver paste for my CPU, new optical mouse, and Hunter Gaming Keyboard...all this for $27 dollars! (after rebates and selling all my old stuff on ebay) Only thing I didn't upgrade was my hard drives. I didn't need to. I got 1x160GB and 1x30GB HDs I bought over the last few years. NT users prove they are dumbass consumers with every goddamn thing they say. £1700?! I could build a space shuttle for that much dough. Dumb-mother%^#$(#@! PROBLEMCHYLD, how much money you got to work with and how fast do you need this system up and running? Do you intend to sell your old components? Also are you planning a complete upgrade, or just few components (CPU/Mobo/RAM)?

All this talk about a possible performance gap? Gap that might manifest itself under certain uncommon conditions (very uncommon conditions) such as running certain stress-test/bechmarking software dating from mid 90s on a particular OS. (I say might because who knows what configuration of hardware/software dear RJARRRPCGP is running, and that is if RJARRRPCGP is not BS'ing us to begin with)