Building a Pentium 4 Windows 2000 rig for kicks... Need some advice

[blackwingcat]

http://blog.livedoor.jp/blackwingcat/archives/1897706.html

http://blog.livedoor.jp/blackwingcat/archives/1897484.html

 

We can use almost Firefox addons on Palemoon as I can know.

Plz check Palemoon v25 compatibility article on Official site.

 

 

I'll check that out when I get the chance... Does palemoon support Firefox extensions? Will it support Unity Web Player?

 

Anways, I just ordered parts. As follows;

 

Intel D945GTP Motherboard, Micro ATX

Pentium 4 HT 672 Prescott @ 3.8GHz

4GB (4x1GB) PC5300 DDR2 667MHz

EVGA nvidia GeForce 7950 GT, 512MB GDDR3

SATA Seagate Barracuda 500GB HDD, year of manufacture 2013

Windows 2000 Professional SP4 New/Sealed CD + License

Antec VSK-3000E Mini Tower

Intel Inside Pentium 4 HT case badge

Designed for Windows 2000 professional / Windows 98 case badge

 

I'm sure I have a functional SATA DVD writer lying around, and I might pull a 3.5" floppy drive from one of the older computers to put into this one.

 

 

 

The board I won on eBay comes with 4GB of DDR2 444Mhz (4x1GB) that I'm replacing with 667MHz DDR2, and also comes with a Pentium 4 541 @ 3.20GHz that I'm replacing with the pentium 4 HT I mentioned above, if anyone is interested.

[blackwingcat]

The dXJun2010w2kb.exe is created by me.

http://blog.livedoor.jp/blackwingcat/archives/1009908.html

Here is original.

 

You need an archive manager. WinRAR and 7zip both work. Once you get the files extracted into a new folder, go into the "Update" folder and run "Update.exe" to start installation. For the January 3rd release, it will complain about shell32.dll being in use. You'll need to open Task Manager and stop the explorer.exe process, then click retry, and installation should continue as normal.

 

Download the full version of the Firefox setup.exe file. Don't download the "stub" that downloads the rest of the setup files when you run it. That won't work on Windows 2000.

 

When you get Unofficial Update Rollup installed, you'll notice a new programme in the start menu under accessories. "Application Compatibility Launcher". You'll use it to run setup.exe files, basically fooling them into thinking they're running on Windows XP, allowing you to install the software, that otherwise would refuse to install. You'll open the Application Compatibility Launcher programme (which will be a command prompt window), then you'll drag and drop the setup.exe file for any given programme (say Firefox) into the window and press Return/Enter on the keyboard. Then setup should run as normal. When finished you can choose whether or not to save the compatibility settings for that particular file. "Yes" or "no". I usually choose no.

 

Unofficial 2010 release of DirectX 9.0c ported from Windows XP. Windows 2000's version of DirectX 9.0c is apparently outdated, and fellow forum user BlackWingCat decided to port the 2010 release of DirectX for Windows XP to Windows 2000, to enable Windows 2000 to play some games that require the newer version of DirectX. One example game being Rigs of Rods.

 

You can download it here. Install it after Unofficial Update Rollup: http://www.mediafire.com/download/x2yeb075t1a42oa/dxJun2010w2kb.exe

 

I hope that all made sense. If you have any more questions, leave them here and I'll answer them in the morning. For now, I'm going to sleep.

[JesseJH]

I've just downloaded the DX9 to my flash drive. Thanks.

 

Now exploring pale moon and trying to find some information on iTunes.

[MrMaguire]

http://i62.tinypic.com/33w9ohl.png

 

This is wall I have on my USB drive for the machine at the moment. 7z920 installation is on there as well... 

 

Let me know what you think thus far. I got the full firefox setup as well.

 

Downloading the DirectX now,.

Lookin' good so far. I don't know what you prefer for a media player and codecs. I use K-Lite Codec Pack. I've discovered that anything newer than version 10.6.0 will not work properly. And even with version 10.6.0 I have to use Media Player Classic Home Cinema version 1.7.3.45. Anything newer than that will just crash when opened. I haven't experimented with VLC. Maybe somebody could chime in on the subject.

 

Another thing: I haven't gotten Adobe Reader to install. I've tried a few versions including the latest, and they all refuse to install on Windows 2000 with the unofficial updates. I even tried extracting the setup.exe to reveal the actual programme setup file, and running that in Application Compatibility Launcher had the same effect. They all complain about not being supported on Windows 2000 32-bit with Service Pack 4. I suppose something like Foxit Reader will work, I haven't tried it. I actually use a really old version of Adobe Acrobat, which is natively supported on Windows 2000.

 

In case you don't know already, Pale Moon is basically a modified distribution of Firefox made by Moonchild Productions instead of Mozilla. It's based on the various Extended Support Releases of Firefox, but it has the older user interface. All (if not most) of Firefox's add-ons work with Pale Moon. For some reason certain add-ons like Adblock Plus will require being reinstalled if you move your application data from Firefox to Pale Moon.

 

Just FYI: The latest version of Malwarebytes works on Windows 2000. If you plan on using SpeedFan, version 4.51 (latest) does not recognise any temperature sensors or fans on Windows 2000. I'm using 4.49 at the moment which does work perfectly. 4.50 may work, I haven't tried it. This problem exists with the January 3rd, 2014 release of Unofficial Update Rollup.

[JesseJH]

Cool, as this is a fresh build, there will be no moving of data, programs or files from other drives or computers involved, so I imagine that leaves less of a headache.

 

A solid media player would be nice, so hopefully someone chimes in on that. I usually just use whatever comes with Windows, like windows media player, but obviously that isn't a thing in W2K.

 

Does your old version of adobe acrobat suffice?

 

 

If it's not too much to ask, can you look at the picture I sent of the USB drive's contents and let me know exactly what order that stuff should be installed in? I assume drivers are going to be #1.

[jaclaz]

A solid media player would be nice, so hopefully someone chimes in on that. I usually just use whatever comes with Windows, like windows media player, but obviously that isn't a thing in W2K.

 

 

http://www.oldapps.com/VLC_Player.php?system=Windows_2000

 

jaclaz

[MrMaguire]

You can update Windows 2000 to Media Player 9. I think BlackWingCat managed to get Media Player 10 to work, and has a custom installer for it. At any rate, Windows Media Player is pretty useless for most formats. The 4 year old version of VLC that Jaclaz linked may or may not work for your needs. If you find that you're having problems with that version, you might try installing some newer versions through the Application Compatibility Launcher. But with that you may have similar issues to what I had with K-Lite Codec Pack.

 

I'm using Adobe Acrobat 7.0 Professional. It views PDFs just fine, and that's all I need it to do.

 

1. Drivers

2. Service Pack 5.1

3. Windows Update fixes

4. Update Rollup 2

5. Unofficial Update Rollup

6. DirectX

7. WIC

 

Then the rest in any order, but for no particular reason I would do:

 

8. IrfanView

9. Firefox

10. Flash player

11. Java

12. OpenOffice

13. 7zip

14. UnityWebPlayer

Edited July 9, 2015 by MrMaguire

[Tommy]

So, it's time for me to join in on the fun! But there's one big question I have before I start. Where in the world did you order a Windows 2000/Windows 98 case badge from? I'd be sooo interested in getting one/some myself!

 

What I usually do even if it's a moot point by now, when it comes to installing Windows 2000 on my machine, since I have a copy of XP lying around I just pop that in and wait for things to load up, and then I'll use the format tool with it and once it finishes formating and goes to checking the disk, I quickly pop the disk out and eventually it'll complain about the disk being missing and if you can't put it back in then you just hit F3 to reboot. It's a lot quicker than having to move your hard drive to another machine. Of course if you don't have an XP disk to do this with, then I guess you really can't do that.

 

I have Windows Media Player 11 working with Windows 2000, although very slightly broken. As long as you don't care about burning music CDs with it and having just a slightly broken library format (it won't show information when you enter the album), otherwise it works very well! You still see the album covers and names of the album from the main page so at least you know what you're playing. I also compliment it with K-Lite 7.1 codec package which even with trying to fool the newer ones, this is the last one that I can get installed on 2000, but it plays everything I need it to, so you're covered there. I've personally never like VLC unless it was absolutely necessary.

 

As for PDF, I still use FoxIt Reader and the newest version works but may be a bit buggy at times but it's not enough to bring your entire system down if it starts. I also use FastStone image viewer to view pictures because if set correctly, it'll operate a lot like Windows Image Viewer. I tried porting it over before but I couldn't get it to work properly. FireFox 39 works just fine with Windows 2000 and I have it paired with Palemoon 25.

 

Wireless can be slightly iffy but I've used wireless on this main computer for years without much effort. I bought a Netgear WN111 off ebay and it works great. It's only N speed but I've never had much issues with it and it works out of the box on Windows 2000, no mods needed.

 

Anyway, I really don't see Pentium 4 being that legacy. I love this project but as far as legacy goes, I think Pentium 4 still have MANY great uses even up to this day. Just because it probably won't play HD very well or the newest and most graphics intense games...doesn't mean that it's useless. If I didn't do video recording and editing, Pentium 4 would more than serve my needs of today.

[MrMaguire]

I wouldn't mind one of those Windows 2000 case badges either.

Edited July 9, 2015 by MrMaguire

[jaclaz]

I also compliment it with K-Lite 7.1 codec package which even with trying to fool the newer ones, this is the last one that I can get installed on 2000, but it plays everything I need it to, so you're covered there. I've personally never like VLC unless it was absolutely necessary.

Well, that's the good thing about exchanging ideas/opinions , personally I would not even think of running anything else but VLC exactly because it needs not (or however manages much better) codecs, as in my experience the number of machines with "botched" or conflicting codecs is comparable to that of stars in the sky.

 

I never took the time to actually analyze why exactly the codec packs invariably manage to be messed up (incompetence of the user, some "rogue" codec pack, sheer stupidity of the mechanism, whatever) but the usual phone call goes more or less:

 

Friend: Hi, I cannot view <put here name of some video file>/I cannot play <put here name of some audio file>, I have tried installing <put here the name of a codec pack> and <put here name of another codec pack>

jaclaz: Do yourself a favour, get VLC and try using it instead: https://www.videolan.org/vlc/

Friend (after a few minutes): Hey, it works with VLC, thanks!

 

It is very possible that people that are so crazy as to ask help with video/audio to me are also on average more demented than the ordinary, of course.

 

jaclaz

[JesseJH]

I've got you guys on the case badges. This place has them all. I had a pain of a time locating them, I was wrong for assuming eBay had them. 

 

http://www.vath.co/index.php?cPath=1_8They also have badges from different manufacturers like Intel, nvidia, amd, etc. Some of them they don't have but I've found Pentium III badges and older on ebay for cheap. As far as I know all of the different variations of Microsoft Windows badges are here.

 

I ordered this one. http://www.vath.co/product_info.php?cPath=1_8&products_id=713

[JesseJH]

So, it's time for me to join in on the fun! But there's one big question I have before I start. Where in the world did you order a Windows 2000/Windows 98 case badge from? I'd be sooo interested in getting one/some myself!

 

What I usually do even if it's a moot point by now, when it comes to installing Windows 2000 on my machine, since I have a copy of XP lying around I just pop that in and wait for things to load up, and then I'll use the format tool with it and once it finishes formating and goes to checking the disk, I quickly pop the disk out and eventually it'll complain about the disk being missing and if you can't put it back in then you just hit F3 to reboot. It's a lot quicker than having to move your hard drive to another machine. Of course if you don't have an XP disk to do this with, then I guess you really can't do that.

 

I have Windows Media Player 11 working with Windows 2000, although very slightly broken. As long as you don't care about burning music CDs with it and having just a slightly broken library format (it won't show information when you enter the album), otherwise it works very well! You still see the album covers and names of the album from the main page so at least you know what you're playing. I also compliment it with K-Lite 7.1 codec package which even with trying to fool the newer ones, this is the last one that I can get installed on 2000, but it plays everything I need it to, so you're covered there. I've personally never like VLC unless it was absolutely necessary.

 

As for PDF, I still use FoxIt Reader and the newest version works but may be a bit buggy at times but it's not enough to bring your entire system down if it starts. I also use FastStone image viewer to view pictures because if set correctly, it'll operate a lot like Windows Image Viewer. I tried porting it over before but I couldn't get it to work properly. FireFox 39 works just fine with Windows 2000 and I have it paired with Palemoon 25.

 

Wireless can be slightly iffy but I've used wireless on this main computer for years without much effort. I bought a Netgear WN111 off ebay and it works great. It's only N speed but I've never had much issues with it and it works out of the box on Windows 2000, no mods needed.

 

Anyway, I really don't see Pentium 4 being that legacy. I love this project but as far as legacy goes, I think Pentium 4 still have MANY great uses even up to this day. Just because it probably won't play HD very well or the newest and most graphics intense games...doesn't mean that it's useless. If I didn't do video recording and editing, Pentium 4 would more than serve my needs of today.

 

I agree, the Pentium 4 has a lot of potential as a single core CPU to this day, especially the hyperthreaded prescott models. My goal with this project is to pair 2005 hardware with a 2000 OS in order to have the cool/nostalgic factor of W2K while avoiding the inefficiencies of sub 2000 hardware. That being said, I didn't just want to have an old OS on newer hardware, so I decided to meet in the middle with the Pentium 4.

 

it's only a matter of time before the beloved Pentium 4 meets legacy. )

[JesseJH]

One thing I would have done outside of P4 would be to get a motherboard with dual socket Tualatin Pentium III 1.4GHz capability... 9Or even single tualatin) But I would need an AGP slot on such a board, which is tough to find. I know they're out there and I've seen them for sale, though. If anyone knows anything about that stuff lemme know.

[MrMaguire]

I've got you guys on the case badges. This place has them all. I had a pain of a time locating them, I was wrong for assuming eBay had them. 

 

http://www.vath.co/index.php?cPath=1_8They also have badges from different manufacturers like Intel, nvidia, amd, etc. Some of them they don't have but I've found Pentium III badges and older on ebay for cheap. As far as I know all of the different variations of Microsoft Windows badges are here.

 

I ordered this one. http://www.vath.co/product_info.php?cPath=1_8&products_id=713

x4, add to cart.

 

I'm gonna put one of those stickers on the bottom of my Windows 2000 laptop, a la Windows 95 laptops.

 

I agree with the choice of hardware. I'm running Windows 2000 on a Dell Latitude D610, which has a 2.13GHz Pentium M, 2GB of DDR2 and a 10GB IDE hard drive (!). It's a 2005 era laptop, and I think it's a good demonstration of the perfect balance between modern capability with that old computer feel. It really does look like something from 1998/99 (Not a computer, per se) and that's all that matters to me.

 

If the system was a generation older and had DDR instead of DDR2, then it'd be more of a hassle for me to stuff as much memory into it as it'll take. Because DDR is more expensive than DDR2.

 

I think the later model Pentium 4 is a good choice for this project.

Edited July 9, 2015 by MrMaguire

[JesseJH]

 

I've got you guys on the case badges. This place has them all. I had a pain of a time locating them, I was wrong for assuming eBay had them. 

 

http://www.vath.co/index.php?cPath=1_8They also have badges from different manufacturers like Intel, nvidia, amd, etc. Some of them they don't have but I've found Pentium III badges and older on ebay for cheap. As far as I know all of the different variations of Microsoft Windows badges are here.

 

I ordered this one. http://www.vath.co/product_info.php?cPath=1_8&products_id=713

x4, add to cart.

 

I'm gonna put one of those stickers on the bottom of my Windows 2000 laptop, a la Windows 95 laptops.

 

I agree with the choice of hardware. I'm running Windows 2000 on a Dell Latitude D610, which has a 2.13GHz Pentium M, 2GB of DDR2 and a 10GB IDE hard drive (!). It's a 2005 era laptop, and I think it's a good demonstration of the perfect balance between modern capability with that old computer feel. It really does look like something from 1998/99 (Not a computer, per se) and that's all that matters to me.

 

If the system was a generation older and had DDR instead of DDR2, then it'd be more of a hassle for me to stuff as much memory into it as it'll take. Because DDR is more expensive than DDR2.

 

I think the later model Pentium 4 is a good choice for this project.

 

 

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/intel-pentium4-662-672,1709.html

 

I also read somewhere that the 672 supports hardware acceleration... I can't find the article.