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Win2000/98SE Dual Boot (Reply to this comment)
by KnightRT
I've been running the 2K/98 dual boot in question for about 6 months. No problems at all with installation, which was rather suprising given that I installed 98 after 2K. If you do dual boot these two operating systems, I strongly suggest installing Win98 first.
These days, however, the issue is rapidly becoming a moot point. If not for CD-burning, I would never use Win98. (By some fluke, the Intel ATA storage driver that lets my hard drives work in ATA-100 mode also prevents my burner from working in 2K.)
With the exceptions of Viper Racing and Theme Hospital, every game I have works within Windows 2000. All office and utility applications start just fine. The stability of Win98 has long been in question; with Win2K, the reasons to deal with it are quickly disappearing.
David I
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Jul 26 '01
4:21 am PDT
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"Oh my god! He's alive!" (Reply to this comment)
by Wolf_Knight
That's probably what you're saying right now as you're reading this comment. It's been a while since I last visited here, but I couldn't resist sooner or later. :-)
This goes without saying, but your Q&A columns are always informative and a pleasure to read. I was kinda hoping you unlocked the mystery to why @#$%*&@ Netscape Navigator crashes randomly and at the worst possible times, but to no avail. Seems to get along with Norton Personal Firewall, though...
I may very well just delete Navigator and use only IE. Ain't no way I'm DLing Netscape 6.0 until they offer a standalone browser version! :-p
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Jun 12 '01
11:20 pm PDT
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Glad to... (Reply to this comment)
by tipu
... find you continuing with this column, and to see non-members asking questions. Nice work Vic! ...t-žoo
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Apr 20 '01
5:18 pm PDT
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Such a nice person. (Reply to this comment)
by bluehawq
It is nice to know that there is someone such as yourself out here in EP land, if you will that is so willing to help the computer inept! A great idea too. Nice writing and you write with a style that is easy for the layman to understand. Thanks.
Audrey
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Mar 29 '01
9:46 pm PST
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Re: Additional Answers (Reply to this comment)
by puter
"2. Install 2000 first(Drives must be FAT formatted not NTFS), then install 98 in a separate directory. More painful since both OS's will try to install everything into the same Program Files directory. However it will work, just a few toys that are in common with both OS's will kill each other."
The issue regarding the Program Files directory is also present in case 1, but I haven't had any problems with one OS clobbering the other. I haven't tried case 2, but for several months I ran Windows 98 and 2000 in a dual-boot configuration with both OSes sharing a Program Files directory. The main advantage to this is that you can save a ton of disk space if you have lots of large software packages. Another less obvious advantage is that any data files located in the Program Files directory will always remain current, regardless of which OS a given program ran under last.
In my case, I just had to install Office 2000 Premium, Visual Studio, QuickBooks Pro, and all my other software separately under each OS. If you install each OS to a different partition, you still have to install your programs twice anyway.
Basically, I think dual-booting is a pain in the neck unless you dedicate Windows 98 only for games that don't run under Win2k and dedicate Windows 2000 for everything else. I've tried that a couple of times, but the hassle of having to reboot every time I wanted to take a break and play Drakan or NHL 99 for just a little while was too annoying.
Triple-booting Win98, Win2k, and Linux was even more annoying. If you actually can get Linux to like all of your hardware (and if you like Linux), you should try running Windows 98 and 2000 under VMWare on Linux. I haven't used VMWare because it's kind of expensive, but I've heard it works great on fast computers.
In case anyone reading this doesn't know, VMWare does for Linux what VirtualPC does for the Mac--that is, it allows you to run a different operating system within your main operating system. I haven't checked lately, but I'm pretty sure you can also get a version of VMWare that lets you run Linux from within Windows NT or 2000.
If you install each OS and separate copies of your programs to different partitions, you'll continually have to copy data files back and forth between each partition. If you install everything to the same partition, you have to be very careful to install software and patches under both OSes.
Unfortunately, the hard drive that I was running my dual-boot setup under started to die, so I ditched Windows 98 and did a clean Windows 2000 install and data restore onto a different drive. I'm starting to miss a few of my Win98 games, but I'm working on building a computer out of older parts to run those.
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Feb 27 '01
12:36 am PST
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3dfx Support (Reply to this comment)
by vicwang
Well although it hasn't been announced officially yet, according to a internal memo received by Electronics Boutique stores 3dfx HAS outsourced tech and warranty support for another year. Here's the article at Maximum PC:
http://www.maximumpc.com/content/2001/02/06/12573
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Feb 24 '01
6:40 pm PST
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Additional Answers (Reply to this comment)
by Kisai
Question "Should I Dual-Boot With Windows 2000 and Windows 98?"
There are 3 ways to handle this, each have their own trade-offs.
1. Install 98 first, then install 2000 preserving the previous installation. This is the easiest, less-painfull method. (You have to make sure you do NOT convert your drives to NTFS)
2. Install 2000 first(Drives must be FAT formatted not NTFS), then install 98 in a separate directory. More painful since both OS's will try to install everything into the same Program Files directory. However it will work, just a few toys that are in common with both OS's will kill each other.
3. Install 2K on one partition, install 98 on another. This is the better method, since neither OS will interfere with each other (especially if you make your 2K drive NTFS), however it has the trade-off of both drives being locked to those sizes. An alternate version is to use two physical drives instead, in which if one drive dies you can switch over to the other with just a BIOS setting.
Question: "Choppy DVD Performance: CPU or RAM?"
Yes the 32MB of ram is pushing it, the processor is barely sufficient ONLY if the video card is a AGP ATI Rage Pro or better. The reason being that ATI's DVD player (Software Cinemaster) will use the hardware 'motion-compensation'(Rage Pro and later) and the 'iDCT(Inverse Discrete Cosine Transform)' (Rage 128 and later.) However the players were designed for Pentium II spec machines. Of which I remember seeing a PII 266 being the minimum for hardware-assisted decoding. Total Software DVD-decoding requires a PII 400 Minimal. So if if you can pick up a hardware decoder for cheap, go for it, otherwise you will have too many pieces to upgrade.
Additional info, Only if you used the ATI DVD player would it use the ATI's dvd assisting features, if you bought a separate piece of software it most likely doesn't make use of any hardware features.
Question "How Can I Tell the Difference Between SIMMS and DIMMS?"
The two easiest ways to identify them is that a SIMM has 72 pins on the edge. A DIMM is longer and has 168 pins with two cut-outs in the contact area. The other way is to look at the thickness of the chips, DIMMS use very flat chips that are less that 1/8th of an inch thick. SIMMS use chips that can be over 1/4" thick.
Question "Should I Get a New Video Card Or New Motherboard and CPU? "
In all honesty, unless you are experiencing very slow 3D, I would hold off upgrading untill the Geforce 3 is released, then the prices will drop on the lower end cards. There isn't much point in upgrading the CPU if it's sufficient for what you use. It depends on what video card you have now. People play Quake 3 with TNT1's and PII 400's so unless you have something older I'd wait a bit. If you do not play games, or rarely do, definitely wait.
As for overclocking, only do it if you know what you are doing, nobody will take a modified or fried processor/motherboard back.
Question "Integrated Video: What Video Card Should I Buy?"
Ouch sounds like you bought an i810-based system, those do not have AGP slots. In all honesty these systems were not designed to be upgraded. (That's why they are so cheap.)
If you want to spend the extra bucks and get a PCI video card, do note that it will not offer the performance of an AGP video card. You can get PCI models of most of the 'value' Video cards, but like Vicwang said, it's not very cost-effective. You could replace the CPU for less money.
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Feb 23 '01
10:28 pm PST
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Re: I HAVE A QUALIFYING QUESTION (Reply to this comment)
by vicwang
"Can you answer questions about Email and precisely on HOTMAIL or any Email systems before I shoot a question or two off to you Vic?"
Sure Ron, give it a shot. I haven't used Hotmail personally but I'll do my best to answer any question you might have.
-vicwang
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Feb 21 '01
5:27 pm PST
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Re: 3dfx Support (Reply to this comment)
by vicwang
"Great article as always man, but I would NOT recommend any 3dfx product anymore, as NVIDIA is DROPPING ALL Support for the tdfx line of products after february"
Hey Turin. I did considering mentioning that (since it appears to be the "official" position taken by 3dfx and nVidia) but I recently heard 3dfx might be subcontracting tech support to a 3rd party before they actually go under. However unexpected that might be, I would rule it out quite yet. I've heard of several bankrupt PC companies doing so right before pulling the plug.
Later,
-vicwang
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Feb 21 '01
5:26 pm PST
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I HAVE A QUALIFYING QUESTION (Reply to this comment)
by JAGUARDOG
Can you answer questions about Email and precisely on HOTMAIL or any Email systems before I shoot a question or two off to you Vic?
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Feb 21 '01
4:37 pm PST
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As Usual (Reply to this comment)
by Caprig
What a wonderful editorial, Vic. You are so good at this. I am thankful to know you.
Capri
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Feb 19 '01
12:05 pm PST
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just one thing vic. (Reply to this comment)
by Turin
Great article as always man, but I would NOT recommend any 3dfx product anymore, as NVIDIA is DROPPING ALL Support for the tdfx line of products after february. While the voodoo3 2k has had a fine history of reliable drivers, that tradition will unfortunately no longer be carried on.
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Feb 13 '01
2:02 pm PST
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Glad to see you resuming this thread . . . (Reply to this comment)
by Sloucho
as it's precisely the kind of thing that sets epinions apart as a place for helpful, talented writers.
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Feb 08 '01
5:24 am PST
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