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Should I upgrade to Windows ME from 98 SE on a pentium 1?


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It's really a matter of preference. How fast is your Pentium 1? 150MHz is the minimum it calls for and unless you use a switch to install it, it actually will not install on anything less than it which is surprising because XP would install on a 100MHz processor. I tried it once and it took almost 4 hours to install. lol

 

But either way, I was never a fan of Me just because it didn't treat me too well. But as I said, it's a preference thing. If it's more stable on your computer, by all means, run Windows Me. I just felt like Windows Me was a bit of a crap shoot because sometimes it would work alright and then on other machines it would be just horrific.

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:hello: I don't recommend to install Win ME on a pentium 1 machine.

Minimum hardware requirements: 

 

Pentium 150MHz, 32 MB Ram, 320 MB HDD

 

Recommended:

 

Pentium 2, 64 MB Ram, 2 GB HDD

 

I think you'll have no fun. Probably your machine will be unbearably slow! Not to mention you intend to install programs like OpenOffice 3.x, Opera 11.xx or Firefox 9 ... 

 

Ten maybe fifteen years back I had a Pentium 1 (200MHz). Win 95 ran well on it, but not 98SE. It was much to slow. Leave your 98SE on your pentium 1, if it runs fine.

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In my opinion, on such machine 98SE would be preferrable, mainly due to access to plain DOS mode for either playing old DOS games or repairing the system should anything bad happen that prevents a normal boot.

 

A 98SE machine can be updated to improve stability through either Auto-Patcher for Windows 98 (old project) or Unofficial Service Pack 3.x (ongoing project). It would be best if the CPU had the MMX extensions, such as a 200 MMX or 233 MMX. I used to work on a 200 MMX myself ten years ago and was very happy with it (for those times, of course). Still have that machine.

 

One other factor to consider is the BIOS, mainly the usual HDD capacity limitations of the time, which could vary from 8 GB to 64 GB. There have been unofficial patches that raised/eliminated that limit, over at Wim's BIOS boards but only for a small number of motherboards.

 

Thing is, at least theoretically a newer version of the operating system may take up more space than an older version and may also grow a lot in time. My 98SE's Windows folder is now at 1.8GB after nine years of usage (while Program Files is 4.5GB) so for a long term usage one must take these into consideration too.

 

Old Pentium boards are also severely limited in RAM capacity - usually 128MB or 256MB at most and finding compatible modules nowadays for an upgrade would be a major challenge. This would drastically limit the ability to run newer software such as Firefox 9, for example, which is a memory hog any may not even accept the CPU. Other newer software may complain about the RAM and CPU too. So it all boils down to what exactly one intends to use that machine for. Either way, good luck! :)

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I agree, in essence, with schwups' and Drugwash's opinions.  

But there's another potential option -- if you have the WinME installation disk (which i assume you do if you're asking this question) -- 98SE-To-ME:

  http://www.mdgx.com/9s2m/

It updates Win98SE with core files from WinME without installing the whole of ME.  I've been using it successfully for years, despite some minor installation glitches -- see end of this thread:

  http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/46349-98se2me-killer-replacements-me-98-se/

In my experience, 98SE2ME has increased the speed and stability of my systems (but my systems have been P3 and P4, not P1).  And it leaves 98SE's DOS intact (the primary reason i would never use pure WinME).  

One of the things that bogs down WinME is all the extra baggage that Ms added (PC Health, System Restore, etc) -- 98SE2ME just updates the core stuff and leaves that bloat behind.  

If you do try it on your P1 system, make sure to do the 98SE backup option.  (And make sure you have enough disk space for the backup -- it can always be deleted later.)  

- Doug B.

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I'm running Win98SE on a P200MMX right now, with 98SE2ME. It's pretty rock solid. I've never liked ME, it was sluggish and buggy on my parent's first computer, and that was a 1.4GHz P4 with 256MB RDRAM. I especially wouldn't run ME on a P5 machine with the 64MB RAM cache limit (Any Intel Triton chipset other than the HX), while you can put more than 64MB of memory in one of these, it slows the entire machine down. Of course, with 64MB there's more paging (even more with ME), but system performance when not paging is much better.

 

I would only put ME on a machine that doesn't have the 64MB RAM cache limit. Not personally, but you're going to have a lot of time to beat your head on your desk while things load and crash. This is more important than clock speed in my opinion.

 

If you want stability just put NT5 (2000) on it. Would probably run better than ME.

 

Edit: You don't need a patch or BIOS update to use large HDDs, just get a cheap UltraATA66/100/133 PCI card. Problem solved, and you get a faster interface as well.

Edited by cpucollector
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Wasn't dead earlier today... and that's no laughing matter, that site is great.

 

 

Still available through Vetusware, and I'm sure other places as well...

 

http://vetusware.com/download/98se2me/?id=10560

 

and the original guide is here...

 

https://web.archive.org/web/20150602051927/http://www.mdgx.com/98-5.htm#KRM9S

 

More edit: It's up again:

 

http://www.mdgx.com/98-5.htm#KRM9S

Edited by cpucollector
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Yes, i just tried the MDGx link, and got this message (for the entire site):

  This site is temporarily unavailable

  If you manage this site and have a question about why the site is
  not available, please contact us directly.


Hopefully, it *will* be just temporary.  (I remember the site having a few temporary glitches in the past.)  

Agreed that it is a great resource.  Reminds us again of how important it is to have Win9x materials mirrored.  The natural tendency of the universe is for things to entropy over time... especially on the web, stuff will disappear....  

- Doug B.

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It's really a matter of preference. How fast is your Pentium 1? 150MHz is the minimum it calls for and unless you use a switch to install it, it actually will not install on anything less than it which is surprising because XP would install on a 100MHz processor. I tried it once and it took almost 4 hours to install. lol

 

But either way, I was never a fan of Me just because it didn't treat me too well. But as I said, it's a preference thing. If it's more stable on your computer, by all means, run Windows Me. I just felt like Windows Me was a bit of a crap shoot because sometimes it would work alright and then on other machines it would be just horrific.

the pentium 1 is 133 mhz

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:hello: I don't recommend to install Win ME on a pentium 1 machine.

Minimum hardware requirements: 

 

Pentium 150MHz, 32 MB Ram, 320 MB HDD

 

Recommended:

 

Pentium 2, 64 MB Ram, 2 GB HDD

 

I think you'll have no fun. Probably your machine will be unbearably slow! Not to mention you intend to install programs like OpenOffice 3.x, Opera 11.xx or Firefox 9 ... 

 

Ten maybe fifteen years back I had a Pentium 1 (200MHz). Win 95 ran well on it, but not 98SE. It was much to slow. Leave your 98SE on your pentium 1, if it runs fine.

my ME disk is hacked to run on a 133mhz

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