Decided to Move on From Windows 98SE

[loblo]

Do you know guys, there is a Win XP subforum for discussing XP tweaks and the like... I just thought I'd let you know in case you weren't aware...

[Multibooter]

Do you know guys, there is a Win XP subforum for discussing XP tweaks and the like...

Hi loblo,

The discussion here about WinXP Search, for example, is not just about a WinXP tweak, but about issues faced when migrating from Win9x to WinXP.

I think that the Win98-forum is a forum for Win98-guys, and anything reasonable which concerns Win98-guys has a place here, whether it's migrating to Linux, or installing a CP/M co-processor under DOS. Instead of being strictly subject-orientated, I would rather define the Win9x forum in a people-orientated way, as a group of people with some common interest in Win9x, who look at WinXP, Windows 7 etc from a common background. Maybe I would call it an Alumni Club of Win9x graduates .

Edited May 12, 2012 by Multibooter

[loblo]

Looking foward to reading your post-doctorate thesis on the topology of internet forums multibooter.

[rloew]

Info about the chipset inside is at http://www.jmicron.com/Product_JM20329.htm No idea what the "Support 4K sectors HDD command" claim there would mean under Win98SE.

USB bridges that support 4K Sector HDD Commands switch to a 4KB Logical Sector simulation mode when a Hard Drive between 2TiB and 16TiB is attached.

The 3TB and 4TB USB Drives currently out use this. This allows non-UEFI Systems to support these Drives.

Windows 9X needs a Patch to support this mode. It is included in my Terabyte Plus Package.

[Multibooter]

USB bridges that support 4K Sector HDD Commands switch to a 4KB Logical Sector simulation mode when a Hard Drive between 2TiB and 16TiB is attached.

The 3TB and 4TB USB Drives currently out use this. This allows non-UEFI Systems to support these Drives.

Windows 9X needs a Patch to support this mode. It is included in my Terabyte Plus Package.

Hi rloew,

Does this mean that a 4TB HDD inside this enclosure would be recognized under Win98 with your patch?

How much of the 4TB would be accessible under Win98? Should nusb or the manufacturer-provided driver be used under Win98SE?

Edited May 13, 2012 by Multibooter

[rloew]

USB bridges that support 4K Sector HDD Commands switch to a 4KB Logical Sector simulation mode when a Hard Drive between 2TiB and 16TiB is attached.

The 3TB and 4TB USB Drives currently out use this. This allows non-UEFI Systems to support these Drives.

Windows 9X needs a Patch to support this mode. It is included in my Terabyte Plus Package.

Hi rloew,

Does this mean that a 4TB HDD inside this enclosure would be recognized under Win98 with your patch?

How much of the 4TB would be accessible under Win98? Should nusb or the manufacturer-provided driver be used under Win98SE?

Yes, it should if it works as promised. The USB 2 GoFlex Base I have does as does an External 3TB Drive I have.

All 4TB would be available under Windows 9x. The limit is 16TiB.

NUSB is fine. I doubt you will find a Manufacturer Driver for any of these enclosures.

[Multibooter]

Yes, it should if it works as promised. The USB 2 GoFlex Base I have does as does an External 3TB Drive I have.

All 4TB would be available under Windows 9x. The limit is 16TiB.

NUSB is fine. I doubt you will find a Manufacturer Driver for any of these enclosures.

Wow, a 4TB ext.HDD working under Win98! My full respect! How should such a drive be partitioned/formatted, for access under Win98?

I have a special Win98 opsys without nusb, for testing manufacturer-provided drivers under Win98. The enclosure does work fine under Win98 with the Win98 driver v1.04 by JMicron, with a Pioneer BD-R 203 SATA blu-ray burner inside, so a SATA HDD should work fine also. The exe installer file of the JMicron driver v1.04 has a time-stamp of 8-Dec-2006, so I am a little skeptical about its ability to "Support 4K sectors HDD command". Does nusb require an update to handle HDDs >2TB?

Edited May 13, 2012 by Multibooter

[jaclaz]

The empty sfcfiles.dll is one of the files I recommended. It's precisely the same file creatd by Damian Bakowski & fdv,

...really ?

Try guessing WHO originally pointed fdv to the work by Damian Bakowski?

Point was simply that you can have the SFC runnning (but checking an empty file list) OR disable the checking, and it makes no difference (once the checking is disabled) to have it NOT check a "populated" or an empty list.

And, if you can forfait a drive letter, there is an even cleaner (IMHO) trick:

http://www.vorck.com/windows/xpsp4.html

Shutting off WFP using only two Registry keys

This was an "oops." I set these keys in fileset 8 (now obsolete) and couldn't figure out why WFP stopped working.

HKLM,"SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon","SFCDllCacheDir",,"z:"

HKLM,"SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\Windows File Protection","SFCDllCacheDir",,"z:"

These keys are optional in 2000, XP, and 2003. Windows already knows where to find the dllcache, you don't need to tell it. But Microsoft created these two keys to let you tell it. And if you give Windows an inavlid path, it won't find the dllcache, a WFP error will show one time in the error log, and WFP will be off. UNC paths don't work (in 2000 anyway). If UNC paths worked, wouldn't it be great to keep all of your files for all of the users in a domain on one server? Nah, that would make too much sense, so Microsoft would never do it.

@Multibooter

You can mount .iso's to virtual folders (different from the "usual" virtual drives that will need a drive letter):

http://www.pismotechnic.com/pfm/ap/

Or you could use isoinfo or similar to index the contents.

jaclaz

[Monroe]

Like where this post has gone over the last few days ... thought I would just make my announcement and fade away but a pretty "lively" discussion has been going on. It's just fine with me, learning more and getting some new ideas for Windows 98SE and XP ... maybe others are also. If the Moderators are OK with everything, so am I.

Now to why I am posting .... Update: I fired up the T41 with XP complete ... this notebook has no internal WiFi adapter so I use a newer Netgear card with it. When I had Windows 98SE installed and the Netgear 98SE drivers the card would usually take 2 to 3 minutes to get connected and then sometimes the whole process would freeze up and I'd have to reboot, so it could be another 5 minutes (8 +/- minutes total) till I actually was online. Having XP installed with the Netgear drivers and I am up an running (online) in less that 30 seconds. It's totally amazing the difference in speed between 98SE and XP and no glitches.

One more notebook to go, sometime next week ... the second T42 which is very much like the other T42 except this once is a little faster ... 1.6Ghz over 1.5Ghz but I don't foresee any problems since the drivers and setup are the same, so I probably won't post anything more on the subject.

thanks ...

[Multibooter]

You can mount .iso's to virtual folders (different from the "usual" virtual drives that will need a drive letter): http://www.pismotechnic.com/pfm/ap/

Interesting to know, drive letters are the scarcest resource on my computer, under WinXP even more so than under Win98SE, because Win98SE doesn't assign drive letters to NTFS partitions. I have both under Win98 and under WinXP 2 virtual drives, V: and W:, (V: is Alcohol, W: is UltraISO) so that I can compare the content of 2 mounted .iso/.nrg/.img/.bin etc. files with Beyond Compare, with 2 different virtual drive programs.

Or you could use isoinfo or similar to index the contents.

I am not yet into Linux http://pwet.fr/man/linux/administration_systeme/isoinfo I assume that your mentioning of isoinfo implies that there is no utility under Windows which can search .iso files in a folder. If jaclaz can't find it, it probably doesn't exist

Manually indexing 100+ iso files, and then searching the combined index, implies that this index has to be constantly updated for new .isos. So just having a 192GB partition on an external HDD with the extracted isos, and searching this EXTRACTED partition with Win98 Find still looks like the easiest approach to find stuff in my .isos, and also serves as an additional backup.

[rloew]

Yes, it should if it works as promised. The USB 2 GoFlex Base I have does as does an External 3TB Drive I have.

All 4TB would be available under Windows 9x. The limit is 16TiB.

NUSB is fine. I doubt you will find a Manufacturer Driver for any of these enclosures.

Wow, a 4TB ext.HDD working under Win98! My full respect! How should such a drive be partitioned/formatted, for access under Win98?

I have a special Win98 opsys without nusb, for testing manufacturer-provided drivers under Win98. The enclosure does work fine under Win98 with the Win98 driver v1.04 by JMicron, with a Pioneer BD-R 203 SATA blu-ray burner inside, so a SATA HDD should work fine also. The exe installer file of the JMicron driver v1.04 has a time-stamp of 8-Dec-2006, so I am a little skeptical about its ability to "Support 4K sectors HDD command". Does nusb require an update to handle HDDs >2TB?

I supply Partitioning and Formatting tools as part of the TBPlus Package. Single Partitions up to 8TiB are fully compatable.

I can't say if a particular Driver will work without actually testing them. The Lexar based drivers, I offer free on my website, work. The USBSTOR files from Windows ME work fine. I use only part of nusb but I don't think it needs any updates.

The TBPLUS Package patches Kernel files to add the support.

[Multibooter]

Having XP installed with the Netgear drivers and I am up an running (online) in less that 30 seconds. It's totally amazing the difference in speed between 98SE and XP and no glitches.

Hi duffy98,

There are issues with Win98 and hotspots and WLAN. I have the additional problem that I have assigned fixed IPs to the WLAN cards in my desktops and laptops, and hotspots seem to require an automatic assignment of IP numbers to the WLAN card. With fixed IPs I can have shortcuts on the computer screen on all computers in the network, eMule etc requires the opening of ports on specific IPs, I have installed an HP2605n Color LaseJet network printer attached to my WLAN router via a fixed IP, and everything works fine for me with fixed IPs under both Win98SE and WinXP. I am currently thinking about setting up a network scanner.

I understand nothing about networks. Wireless routers and and wireless networks are my bogeyman and cause horror in me. Whenever there is a wireless issue I get into a bad mood. When I stay at a hotel, I take a long Ethernet cable with me and go with my old laptop to the computer room to connect to the internet, via cable. 3 wireless routers have died on me during the past 4 years, their quality was just not made for continuous usage. When I was in Europe for several months, my 17-year-old called me in the middle of the night from the US: "The [wireless] router doesn't work anymore, I have to do some work for school on the internet and use the printer [connected to the wireless network]." The solution was to go to the public library and use the computer, internet and printer there, for a month until I came back.

Maybe routers die when there is an automatic firmware update, with who knows what is added. I don't like government spyware, I have recently read that US spy agencies have spyware even built into the firmware of refrigerators, and a few days ago the driver on a highway was stopped by police equipped with special gear measuring the radioactivity of passing cars; the guy, a fireman, had just received a radioactive diagnostic injection for a heart problem. Big Brother is watching everywhere. The last wireless router died on me about a month ago, and I am currently using an ancient spare router, with no wireless part, where the firmware can probably not be updated automatically (the firmware version still displays Dec.2005), and with lots of long Ethernet cables to trip over. I'll never touch wireless Netgear routers again, any suggestions for a top-quality wireless router, which was not designed in the US [the label "designed in US" might perhaps be misinterpreted, in a fit of paranoia, to mean "designed to the specifications of FBxI, CIxA, NSxA & Co] ?

One more notebook to go, sometime next week

Cloning a HDD is so much faster than re-installing operating systems and applications on several computers. Also, to support 3 laptops with different configurations and installations is already quite some task. The comment at the bottom of posting #11 might be interesting. With your approach you may have to activate for example your virus scanning software several times. Edited May 13, 2012 by Multibooter

[rloew]

Having XP installed with the Netgear drivers and I am up an running (online) in less that 30 seconds. It's totally amazing the difference in speed between 98SE and XP and no glitches.

Hi duffy98,

There are issues with Win98 and hotspots and WLAN. I have the additional problem that I have assigned fixed IPs to the WLAN cards in my desktops and laptops, and hotspots seem to require an automatic assignment of IP numbers to the WLAN card. With fixed IPs I can have shortcuts on the computer screen on all computers in the network, eMule etc requires the opening of ports on specific IPs, I have installed an HP2605n Color LaseJet network printer attached to my WLAN router via a fixed IP, and everything works fine for me with fixed IPs under both Win98SE and WinXP. I am currently thinking about setting up a network scanner.

You may want to consider a Router with Static DHCP capability. You can set specific IP numbers in the Router for each Computer when connected to your network without having to set fixed IPs in the Computers themselves.

[submix8c]

You may want to consider a Router with Static DHCP capability. You can set specific IP numbers in the Router for each Computer then connected to your network without having to set fixed IPs in the Computers themselves.

DUH (comment to self - slaps forehead...)! I do that with my Web Server. Router has IP->MAC so the IP is always the same assigned. Chances are you may be able to do that with yours router. I don't have Wireless, so one might 'assume" this can be done for that too (I'm "wired"...).

edit - also note the quoted text (prev post) seems to indicate that it's been done(?).

Edited May 13, 2012 by submix8c

[Multibooter]

You may want to consider a Router with Static DHCP capability. You can set specific IP numbers in the Router for each Computer when connected to your network without having to set fixed IPs in the Computers themselves.

Thanks rloew. I will look into it when I eventually have to get a replacement for my broken wireless router in the next couple of weeks, my wife complains already about those Ethernet cables lying around all over. I have been putting off the purchase of a new wireless router always to the next week, maybe I am suffering from router-phobia.

What complicates matters is that the computers have to work in the home networks in 3 countries, with 3 different ISPs, with ADSL and cable modem connections, and with routers of different makes/country settings/voltages, and with a different digit in the third field of the IP number. I probably will have to buy 3 identical routers. Any advice is appreciated, thanks again rloew.

During a recent garage sale I bought a good shrink-wrapped Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition, with 25 Client Access Licenses, for $3, and 3 thick books about Windows 2003 Server by Jerry Honeycutt, at the used book store of the public library, for $5. Would there be any benefit to migrate from Win98 to Windows 2003, instead of WinXP? Is there any use of installing Win2003 as an additional operating system selection, besides WinXP? Could one expect the support of Win2003 to go beyond that of WinXP? In other words, if one decides to move on from Win98SE, would it be better to move on to WinXP or to Win2003?

Edited May 13, 2012 by Multibooter