W2k vs Xp

[tommyp]

A while back I ran some tests with variations of xp and 2k. Today I added to my list. This is just a barebones OS (no applications installed). All the favors that XP does for me don't work. I'm slowly getting my way down to FDV levels whilst maintaining the IE core.

HFSLIP'd OS		 Handles Threads Processes  Commit OS Footpnt  I386 Size
================================================================================
XPSP1/dx9/codecs	 2702	 182	  12	  57meg   377 meg	153 meg
XPSP2/codecs		 2750	 180	  14	  55meg   376 meg	150 meg
2k/IE6/dx9/codecs	1713	 120	  11	  55meg   299 meg	125 meg
2K/FDV/dx9/codecs*   1944	 149	  12	  49meg   379 meg	228 meg 
2K/FDV/dx9/codecs**  1765	 139	  12	  46meg   279 meg	138 meg

2KFDVIE6			 1446	 120	  11	  33MEG

2K/ie6/dx9/codecs*   1737	 126	  11	  50meg   289 meg	228 meg <-hfslip red. 1/27/06
2K/ie6/dx9/codecs*   1700	 130	  12	  35meg   245 meg	100 meg <-hfslip red. 1/27/06

* FDV fileset with DX9C/codecs, not NLITE'd.

** FDV's fileset with DX9/codecs, not NLITEd. It was reduced with a reduction fileset that Oleg2 and I were putting together.

Edited April 8, 2006 by tommyp

[Squeeto]

Is it time yet for hfslip to go mainstream. Could a good, short tutorial with no choices (ie less to screw up) be written for the general masses? I find that my system is less vulnerable to attacks with the FDV fileset and the latest fixes. What a way to combat viruses by cleaning up Windows.

Provide a generic system with replacements (dirms, win32pad, myuninst, mpui, etc) and the latest hotfixes.

No codecs, reductions or drivers. Drivers, codecs can be installed after like most people do.

Just a thought.

[tain]

Licensing issues.

[Super-Magician]

Plus, people who just NEVER read directions.

[Squeeto]

Plus, people who just NEVER read directions

Ok, hfslip with fdv fileset already in - no windows explorer, a few most common tweaks, sp4 and a (hehe) frontend gui with a few buttons to search for the original Windows CD location for i386 and the directory where the individual has downloaded the recommended replacement apps.

Just a thought

[tain]

...like nlite? hehe

I guess an open source gui could be cool and probably would appeal to more users.

[Bilou_Gateux]

2K is great. Very lightweight and no "favors" are done for you that compromise your system. I get a kick out of the NLITE die-hards who strip enough out their XP so it looks like 2K. Why not just start with a lightweight OS to begin with? Honestly, the only thing I like about XP is the "cleartext" for the LCD monitors. Other than that, it's not my cup of tea.

A little prob I have with XP is that when doing serious multitasking, and if you want to delete a folder, the OS won't let you. So you close each application one at a time until nothing is running at all. Even after doing that, you still can't delete that folder. Only after rebooting can you delete it. This isn't a one time occurance. It happens quite frequently for me. Well, another issue I have is the crashing shell. It starts up again, but all my systray stuff is gone. I don't know about the rest of the computing community, but I kind of like having a shell that doesn't crash. The only time I had 2k BSOD me was when my hard drive bit the dust. I had more BSODs with XP, even with functional hard drives.

My 2 cents to solve this issue:

explorer.inf

[Version]Signature = "$Windows NT$"

[DefaultInstall]

AddReg = AddReg

DelReg = DelReg

UpdateInis = UpdateInis

[AddReg]

;Q240130 Disable the "Getting Started with Windows 2000" Dialog Box

HKCU,"Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\tips","Show",0x00010001,0x0

HKCU,"Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced","ClassicViewState",0x00010001,0x0

HKCU,"Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced","ShowSuperHidden",0x00010001,0x0

HKCU,"Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced","Hidden",0x00010001,0x1

HKCU,"Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced","HideFileExt",0x00010001,0x0

HKCU,"Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced","SeparateProcess",0x00010001,0x1

HKCU,"Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced","ShowCompColor",0x00010001,0x1

;Clear the Page File at System Shutdown

HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management","ClearPageFileAtShutdown",0x00010001,0x1

[DelReg]

[updateInis]

cmdlines.txt

[Commands]
"rundll32 setupapi,InstallHinfSection DefaultInstall 128 .\explorer.INF"

[fdv]

Some new measurements by me, FWIW.

This is really FDV fileset stuff, meant to supplement TommyP's figures above this post.

http://www.vorck.com/memorysavings.html

[Bugs Bunny]

I'm an XP hater and avoided it in every way. But now it seems that I will have to use XP on one PC.

I am building myself a media center / HT PC. Started this little project because the local cable tv provider is beginning to reduce analogue channels and putting in more and more digital ones (DVB-C). Capturing TV with some digital settop boxes is not so good because with most of them you'd have to grab an analogue out signal from the box and then re digitize it - not quite good (exception are some boxes with harddisk where you can grab the files from the hd afterwards). So I thought build yourself a HTPC.

Now from the hardware side I got everything more or less running. Software I was pretending to use w2k as system. I evaluated some htpc software (sceneo tvcentral...). Windows mce I really don't want to use. Then I found Media Portal (MP) - an open source HTPC software that I tried and like a lot.

Got MP running under w2k fine except the DVB-C television. Well got it running after registering some XP files but running in a way that's not quite usable.

So now I'm playing around with XP - where the TV runs OK. But I find XP really lame. I hate it when XP always tries to tell me what I should do (PostBootReminders and so on) - I'm a power user and I know what I want to do... XP maybe is fine for a newbie or normal user, but for a power user it's an insult. I'm not wondering why power users switch to linux since ms is really neglecting power users.

For things where I needed two clicks under w2k now I need 4 under XP - really great!

Now I'm investigating how to get rid of most of the useless stuff right on install - at least a lot can be done by registry settings, that can be included in hfslip (turning off some useless services, use classic desktop/start menu from the first start and so on). Yea and finally this PC will run only one software - Media Portal - so I will survive it.

This little project now is coming to it's final stages and I have to say that a well configured HTPC is realy a great thing for the living room.

[tommyp]

Cough cough cough knoppmyth cough cough cough.

[Aluminum]

Yeah, even if you can't EVER give up gaming on windoze like me, building a htpc is a great start to really dig into linux as long everything has drivers. (I lurk around a good bit at the AVS forums)

FDVs no ie stuff has made formerly too slow and old pieces of crap very usable computers. I finally have a laptop I risk using pretty much *anywhere*.

Edited May 1, 2006 by Aluminum

[Dels]

1 other vote for win2k

cheap, fast and a minimum requirement for old pc

[dirtwarrior]

I vote for windows 2k It is a great a few small tweaks and a super OS.