I realize that Win98 modifications aren't this boards forte', but I need some advice.

I currently have a system running nothing but XP, which I'm getting ready to blow away in favor of a dual-boot between Win98 and Ubuntu Linux.

I plan to use 98 to play all my games that won't run under Linux, mainly older Windows games. I also want to have the ability to open up FireFox and surf forums in case my Linux install should barf all over itself due to my tinkering. I'd also like the 98 install to have the ability to read/write Linux partitions, if possible. That could come in handy for troubleshooting.

Now we all know how unstable 98 is on its own, but Id like to mitigate that - I'm currently searching for a secondhand copy of 98lite Professional, to gut 98 of all its bloat and feature creep.

After that, I'll need to secure 98 so that it doesn't get taken down by viruses, worms, or ad/malware.

Since MS just EOL'ed 98 today, in theory I should be able to download all of the patches for it, but since I'll be stripping it down, either by hand (advice welcome on that) or with 98lite, I'll want to be selective in what patches I do and do not install. For example, since 98 will not have IE loaded, I'll want to skip those patches. Or am I wrong about that?

I already plan to load AVG Anti-Virus, ZoneAlarm (both Free Editions), Spybot S&D, Ad-Aware, and a shareware app that kills 99% of ads. (I beta'ed the app, so the regged version os free to me, and a lost of nasty stuff gets brought in via ads - Long Live Ad Muncher!)

Also, FireFox will be replacing IE.

I'll also be loading the latest 98 drivers for my hardware along with DirectX to keep the games happy.

Lastly, I have a copy of PartitionMagic that can handle most Linux partitions, so that I can adjust space between OS'es as I need to, which I can install. Should I use that, or is there a better Linux alternative?

Thanks!

Everything sounds good except

Why not dual boot xp and linux?

There may be a prog for xp you would like, it's called gamexp. try it

If i were to recommend a distro of linux, it would be suse. I have been familiar with suse since 9.0 it is like 11.0 right now i think i dunno. Anyway, I really enjoyed suse, even though i dont use it now because my 56k modem is non linux compatible.

Please post in the correct forum.

[ Moved. ]

Hey gamehead you moved the topic while I was answering.

Anyway, this subforum should be really interesting : http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showforum=91

And, SuSe is now OpenSuSe, in 10.1 version.

Now we all know how unstable 98 is on its own, but Id like to mitigate that - I'm currently searching for a secondhand copy of 98lite Professional, to gut 98 of all its bloat and feature creep.

You don't really need the Pro version of 98lite. If you do a clean install of Win98SE using the free version of 98lite you'll end up with a pretty good Win98 system, especially if you select the "sleek" configuration and also get rid of IE and OE. That should be fine for older programs that are compatible with Win95, but some newer programs use functions that are not found in the Win95 shell, and those will not work without some additional hacking. For better compatibility, the "chubby" configuration is a better option, and I recommend it if you want to keep your future 98lite-related hassles to a minimum.

Phil