POLL: Which OS? - Page 2

MatrixPC · 08-08-2006, 04:54 PM

If you want cheap setup, pm carpcguy if he has any Dell GX150 left. It a 1GHz machine with 256mb ram. He posted in the for sale section a while back.
Once you got that, take out the dusty Win98 disk and install. If it doesn't meet what you need, you can always upgrade to xp later. If you have current student ID card, go to the university book store and get a copy of XP Pro for around 10 bucks. It comes with a disk and a plastic sleeve with a licence stick on it and nothing else.

On the 98 crash thinggy. My 0.2Ghz, 32MB Ram laptop power by win98 work perfectly with winamp, iG. Haven't try anyother Fron end yet, but I am sure RR will run on it.

RedGTiVR6 · 08-08-2006, 04:57 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by tjsharktank

No problem! I'm used to it. People are always telling my co-workers to call their "computer guy" or have their "IT guy" look at this or that. In fact, once a guy emailed a co-worker asking for the "IT guy" to get back to him with some IP's and I had just had a meeting with that particular guy the week before! I shot back a scarastic email to my co-worker about how I needed to rethink my clothing choices in the morning because apparently I appeared too masculine (even for me). After I sent it I realized the guy who originally wrote the email was copied and I hit reply ALL instead of reply!!

I hide under my desk the next time he came to our office. I've never done that before and won't do it again (since now I check and double check every button I click!!) This is kind of off topic but oh well...

just a word of warning about announcing that you're female on this board...the leg humpers WILL come out of the wood work now...

believe me

mbkowns · 08-08-2006, 05:07 PM

I vote DOS

Rob Withey · 08-08-2006, 05:21 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by mbkowns

I vote DOS

You may joke, but 1 year ago I was running dos 6.2

ODYSSEY · 08-08-2006, 05:29 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by Rob Withey

You may joke, but 1 year ago I was running dos 6.2

What about DOS??

tjsharktank · 08-08-2006, 06:07 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by ODYSSEY

What about DOS??

Color me scared

. I honestly know jack ***** about DOS. I hacked up my first PC when I was 10 and it was running (DOS based) Win 3.0 or 3.1 (can't remember for sure). Of course, I'm not opposed to learning about DOS (self proclaimed knowledge junkie).

I spent most of today (not working) researching the price of building my own pc as compared to buying the intel based mac and running XP or OS X on it.

The result... I'm still deciding. This thread has definetly given me a lot of ideas though. I have "issues" with not getting the top of the line and I'm trying to convince myself to start small in case I really f'ing suck at this "hobby" (although since I believe I'm she-ra reincarnation I doubt that will happen!). A lot to think about.

tjsharktank · 08-08-2006, 06:14 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by Red GTi VR6

just a word of warning about announcing that you're female on this board...the leg humpers WILL come out of the wood work now...

believe me

Oh, I do believe you! I'll keep you (and your giant post count!) in mind for encouragment when they come chasing!

ODYSSEY · 08-08-2006, 06:19 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by Siezmik

I'm almost positive that there was NO support for USB in the original release of 98, and only rudimentary support for it in 98SE. So, instead of going from "sh1te" to "better", it really went from "non-existent" to "sh1te".

Win95 had no USB support, unless you had the later version.

Win98 always had USB support.

ODYSSEY · 08-08-2006, 06:23 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by holybob

I also seem to remember that manufacturers needed to write different drivers to use their USB gear with Win98SE / Millenium and Win2K / XP because 98 and ME were 16 bit and 2K/XP are 32bit (I may be completely muddling up issues here - it's been a long time since I gave 98 the time of day).

Bob

Win9x has always been 32-bit. Win 3.x was 16-bit.

The problem with Win9x is that it is a 32-bit GUI, running on a 16-bit OS. While 2000/XP is all 32-bit.

Rob Withey · 08-08-2006, 06:23 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by ODYSSEY

Win95 had no USB support, unless you had the later version.

Win98 always had USB support.

Win 95 OSR2 had the USB support, I remember it well.

Siezmik · 08-09-2006, 12:26 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by ODYSSEY

Win95 had no USB support, unless you had the later version.

Win98 always had USB support.

I stand corrected. I'd say it's been too long since I played with either 9x OS, but there's no way it could ever be too long. The farther removed from my memory they are, the better.

DarquePervert · 08-09-2006, 07:13 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by Red GTi VR6

just a word of warning about announcing that you're female on this board...the leg humpers WILL come out of the wood work now...

I'm already out... And I clean up after myself, so no worries.

Quote: Originally Posted by tjsharktank

Oh, I do believe you! I'll keep you (and your giant post count!) in mind for encouragment when they come chasing!

Actually she starts shakin' the junk in her trunk (the 15" subwoofer, I mean!) and the boomin' scares most of 'em away.

Quote: Originally Posted by ODYSSEY

Win95 had no USB support, unless you had the later version.

Win98 always had USB support.

Win95b (OEM SR2) had USB support, but barely Most things didn't work correctly. Win98 had decent USB support, but no USB2.0 support. That came in Win2000 and is even better implemented in WinXP.

OK, class, tomorrow in Windows History, we'll be going over implementation of file systems, so be sure to read chapter nine!

Quote: Originally Posted by Siezmik

I stand corrected. I'd say it's been too long since I played with either 9x OS, but there's no way it could ever be too long. The farther removed from my memory they are, the better.

Upgrade to a current OS and let that POS get smaller in your rearview mirror, I say...

tjsharktank · 08-09-2006, 07:58 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by DarquePervert

Upgrade to a current OS and let that POS get smaller in your rearview mirror, I say...

It's about as far back as it can be in my mind now. Eventually I'll need the space to build the car pc and I'll clean all that old crap out and use the Win 98 cd as a frisbee - the dogs will love it

I stayed up most the night doing research. I put together an excel sheet and totalled the cost of a mac system vs. a pc system (when I say "system", I mean the major pieces, identical for each except for the obvious difference). In the end, the pc system (built using a combination of new and used parts bought off ebay, the for sale forum, retail stores, etc.) was about $600 cheaper than the mac system. Granted, I don't expect any of these numbers to really stick once I get started, they never do. But I want a benchmark, of sorts.

So then I pulled out my handy dandy copy of Geek My Ride and at the exact moment that I was all excited about the possibilities that a dual boot system offered, I read (something to the effect of) DON'T DO THAT. He said its a nightmare because you have to choose which OS you want to boot EVERY time. My immediate reaction: F that. I don't have time to research that point today (work getting in the way again) but that's where I'll head next. If that's the case, I'm going with the pc with XP. I love macs but I can't deny the software just isn't there yet for car pc's.

Thanks everyone for your input. I never thought I'd get so much interaction, I really appreciate it!

DarquePervert · 08-09-2006, 08:22 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by tjsharktank

It's about as far back as it can be in my mind now. Eventually I'll need the space to build the car pc and I'll clean all that old crap out and use the Win 98 cd as a frisbee - the dogs will love it

I keep mine around somewhere for nostalgic purposes. There's always the possibility that I'll need it for working on a client's ancient-assed computer....

Quote:

I stayed up most the night doing research. I put together an excel sheet and totalled the cost of a mac system vs. a pc system (when I say "system", I mean the major pieces, identical for each except for the obvious difference). In the end, the pc system (built using a combination of new and used parts bought off ebay, the for sale forum, retail stores, etc.) was about $600 cheaper than the mac system. Granted, I don't expect any of these numbers to really stick once I get started, they never do. But I want a benchmark, of sorts.

That's sort of how I put mine together. Most of the parts were from Ebay or forum members. Some of it was purchased new. (Link to worklog is in the signature)
Very geeky of you to do the spreadsheet. I did mine in Notepad.

Quote:

So then I pulled out my handy dandy copy of Geek My Ride and at the exact moment that I was all excited about the possibilities that a dual boot system offered, I read (something to the effect of) DON'T DO THAT. He said its a nightmare because you have to choose which OS you want to boot EVERY time. My immediate reaction: F that. I don't have time to research that point today (work getting in the way again) but that's where I'll head next. If that's the case, I'm going with the pc with XP. I love macs but I can't deny the software just isn't there yet for car pc's.

See, I disagree. Every boot loader I've ever seen has the ability to alter the timing of the default OS choice. I figure if you set a default choice for whatever you want to run most of the time, and a short timer on the OS-loader (5sec or so?), it could be managable.
Granted, switching from Mac to PC or vice-versa isn't something you're going to want to do when you're cruising on the highway... But the functionality would be there.

The way I see it... Anything you could do on a desktop/laptop PC, you can do with a carPC. After all, it's just a PC with an unusual operating environment.

tjsharktank · 08-14-2006, 11:41 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by DarquePervert

See, I disagree. Every boot loader I've ever seen has the ability to alter the timing of the default OS choice. I figure if you set a default choice for whatever you want to run most of the time, and a short timer on the OS-loader (5sec or so?), it could be managable.
Granted, switching from Mac to PC or vice-versa isn't something you're going to want to do when you're cruising on the highway... But the functionality would be there.

I'm done being a flip-flopper! I found a great program called Parallels Desktop for Mac
when I was at Micro Center Mall in Cincinnati this weekend. The guy who worked in the mac section had a mini and (for once) was really knowledge. He uses it and had some great suggestions. It totally resolved the whole boot issue. You put me on the right path though (you really are humping my leg, after all, I admitted that I hadn't researched it!!)... but I appreciate it

Here's a snipet about the program from Parallels Desktop for Mac:

Quote:

Unlike dual-boot solutions, in which users must completely shut down Mac OS X and endure a full OS start-up cycle to access a important application, Parallels Desktop for Mac empowers users with the ability to run important Windows programs like Outlook, Access, Internet Explorer and all other applications without having to give up the usability and functionality of their Mac OS X machine even for a few minutes.

I'm excited now that I've made up my mind of the equipment. I'm working on my install diagram currently and keeping an eye on ebay, etc. for good deals on various pieces of the project.