I'll start:

1. Can't find the system properties in the control panel. Doesn't look like a good O/S to look, learn and experiment with.

Feel free to add!...

2.

2. If you're not going to be changing much; no reason to go. I've heard, but I haven't verified that Win XP is hell on old software; some works, some doesn't...so if you're happy with your current Quicken, Word Perfect, etc. then leave it be. 95/98/ME are fine. Just my .02

If that's your only complaint then right click "my computer" and choose properties or you can use the "windows" key along with the "pause/break" key and bring up system properties anytime you like.

And just for your info you can get it in control panel as well but it's just called "system".

3. It doesn't crash as much as WinMe or Win98

4. It makes way better use of RAM than its predecessors

Oh wait those are good points }>

You know, I hear people complaining all the time about win98 crashing and all that.
Mostly, if one is too lame and unable to keep win98 running smooth then none of the rest of this stuff is going to work very well for you either.
If you are looking for a failsafe environment that you can blindly plow through without any concern then good luck!

I NEVER have any trouble with Win98SE.....And XP is a 32 bit environment that still needs tweaking and TLC....It's a refinement, a step up, a nicer environment...still needs TLC...

>You know, I hear people complaining all the time about win98
>crashing and all that.
> Mostly, if one is too lame and unable to keep win98 running
>smooth then none of the rest of this stuff is going to work
>very well for you either.

Old Dude I Didn't say I was having trouble with it but I can sure lead you to quite a few that have and do still fight with it.

>If you are looking for a failsafe environment that you can
>blindly plow through without any concern then good luck!

The point was and still is that many users most of whom are way more capable than myself have mentioned hundreds of times here on the forum that Win2K was more stable and a better operating system than Win98. How that affects people will no doubt vary and simply surfing the forum and playing a few games will hardly tax your computers abilities so the fact that you don't have many problems doesn't mean that someone else won't either. XP is based on the Win2K kernel ergo more stable.

The initial post here is attempting to start a thread bashing XP with the fact being that the first complaint is user error not operating system error.

Spezi,

I wasn't refering to your post. You made some very good points about XP anyway. I have XP and use it. It just seems that many people are looking for something magic to come along that won't crash for them.
If more people would make an effort to learn about this stuff as you have then they wouldn't always be having trouble.

Sorry, No problem Old Dude You hit reply to message #2 so I figured you meant me.

Right on, Spezi! It's interesting how so many people find someone, or something, else to blame when they have problems. Over the years, I have made peace with all versions of Windows since, and including, 95. Of all of them, XP is the hands-down winner. No contest! End of story.

.
Onward & Upward !
Sid

WINDOWS 10
ASUS P8Z77-V Pro MB
Intel i5 3750K CPU
8g Corsair Vengeance DDR3 RAM
Corsair Neutron 250g SSD

im still debating on the dos 6.22 idea myself....all that isa non pnp stuff i got..

Vitalt

Useful Team Info

im still debating on the dos 6.22 idea myself....all that isa non pnp stuff i got...

Snap out of it! Donate the ISA stuff to charity and mount the DOS under glass for display purposes only.

That's normal. I'm always thinking about how Windows 3.11 has so reliable. Why did they have to move on with 32-bit . Oh well, I'm currently devlopping an Os myself and it never crashed yet. I'm trying to make it crash some way using purposely memory leaks but I can't! It's too reliable. Of course, this is just for expirementing. I won't leave it that way at realease time . It's dos based though. If I knew more about assembly I'd go towards programming a boot sector program first, from scratch.
Ryan








Merry Christmas and a happy new year!

>You know, I hear people complaining all the time about win98
>crashing and all that.
> Mostly, if one is too lame and unable to keep win98 running
>smooth then none of the rest of this stuff is going to work
>very well for you either.
>If you are looking for a failsafe environment that you can
>blindly plow through without any concern then good luck!
>
>I NEVER have any trouble with Win98SE.....And XP is a 32 bit
>environment that still needs tweaking and TLC....It's a
>refinement, a step up, a nicer environment...still needs
>TLC...

Old Dude,

I gave my old Win98 OS about as much TLC as a person could. I subscribed to various newsletters-Langa, Finnie, Pirillo-and followed their advice on the care and feeding of ones PC. It would actually run quite well for about 12 hrs straight and then if I didn't take it upon myself to do a restart, something would always happen to force the issue.

There must be more to it than the OS one uses, such as the type PC or configuration the OS is installed on. I've talked to people who claim to go weeks w/o a restart but my PC would last nary a day. Tried 98SE for a week, crashed my 'puter at least twice a day

XP,thus far(2 weeks)has been a gem of an OS. I agree with Shelly about its attractive appearance and its numerous new features were a nice surprise since I had heard that his was suppose to be the OS for Dummies. The Help system is much improved but there is still a lot of discovering to be done on ones own.

Marie

Montana, yes you certainly hit that one on the head. I've also had XP running now for nearly two months without a need to shut down. And it's true, I shut down W98 often, every night and whenever I wasn't using it.....
You're statements are well put and I agree with you completly. I never felt the reluctance of pushing the reset button though I was never involved with an ongoing program running for a length of time with a lot of data up.
I appreciate you're presenting a side of computing that I'm not familier with.........

Marie,
I also subscribe to Fred Langa, Scott Finnie, and Chris Perillo.
Other than our talented regulars on 911, I consider those three to be the best around when it comes to Windows. (Also, Dave Methvin.)
Their main complaint was the WPA. I have installed XP on 17 customers systems and, other than a little familiarization, (WHEW), have not had any real complaints. My customers are all your average owners, some do web design, some small businesses, and they love XP.
Pete

Well, it HAS moved on away from a casual, home use OS. I find Win98SE to be more user friendly to the individual, single user who will turn the machine on, to look around the web, to play Solitaire, to download and print Pix, to do casual, single user things, play whatever games one wants to play, in my case it would be non violent adventures like Myst and Riven and Exile.
I don't want to kill aliens, or kill animals in the jungle, or shoot somebody coming down the street over there who has found himself in the wrong neighborhood or wearing the wrong colors.

I found myself barred from my own machine because I didn't have permission!!!!!Now THAT I could kill for....I don't care how or why this happened and it blows away my anti violence position, which isn't real actually...I would happily totally destroy my computer, all it's software and everything connected with it in an insane display of stupid anger.

I HATE the idea that I wouldn't have ...(&%^$&$#&$# PERMISSION to access this ...gotta cool down now, take some pills and watch the war over seas to quiet my fury

Glad to hear that you are having a good day, Old Dude . Other than that I really enjoy the XP operating system. The advantages, IMHO, outway any minor inconveniences. I like 98SE. This is just the next step.

Norm

Norm

OK, Folks,
I love my 98SE but love XP even more.
In fact, I just bought a second HD and hope to put (*SE on one with my rarely used files and XP on the new one if someone points me in the right direction on how to do this.
Pete
PS, anyone with a problem finding apps can always use the Classic Mode. Me, I like the XP look and feel.

I used one of the late XP beta versions and I just didnt like it. W2k pro is my OS and I just couldnt find any reason why I would want to leave w2k pro for XP. Just isnt any better in my opinion...at least not for me, 2 each his own. They added some things, but not things that I need or even want. In fact I think some things they changed are actually downslopes in comparison to w2k pro. Product activation sux, media player 7 sux, the MS firewall sux, the MS burner support I have no use for, MS messsenger no use for, and a lot of other fancy stuff that just seemed to do nothing but waste resources and disk space. Also the new look and setup is just nothing but annoying to me. I felt like I was useing an OS for children. They added all these little short cut kind of menus and stuff like that just seemed to clutter up everything. All the little animated drop down menus and stuff are just more uneeded stuff. The remote access thing is nothing I need and seems like it's just another thing that hackers will make use of....I wouldnt be surprised if MS makes use of the remote access architecture to pry its nose in places too. Also some programs I like just didnt agreee with XP. SOme things I like ahbout XP....updated driver archive(No big deal), a sharper viewing enhancement, the ability to lock the taskbar(no big deal). Not an upgrade from w2k in my opinion. Maybe for somebody in 9x or Me could I maybe consider it an upgrade....but w2k pro is still out in front in my opinion. Its faster and has just what is needed...no extra garbage, no fancy crap and no annoying activation and cheesy looking interface. W2k is direct, stable and streamlined and easier to get around in. XP seemed overbloated, over priced and comes along with much stuff that I just shouldnt have to deal with and wont. Id go back to 98SE before XP. Just my 2 cents....2 each his own OS


Garbru

C'mon garbru, don't hold back - tell us how you really feel about XP.

Win2K Pro is what they based XP on and a few times now when some third party software was trying to identify my operating system it chose Win2K Pro because it hasn't been updated to recognize XP yet.

After having used XP for several weeks, I find it rock solid, It works with more existing software than any other OS ever written. It is the easiest OS in history to install, it is the first OS smart enough to overcome the stupidity of some of the people that will be using it.

It is different from W9X, and takes a little time to learn your way around it. I'm still discovering new things about it every day, that's fine, I'm not an idiot... I can learn something new.

Every day I go into work and use W98SE, an OS that I know intimately, and is as comfortable as old shoes, and I find myself missing my XP its its more attractive appearance (I use the silver theme that comes with XP), and its new features.

W9x will rapidly fade from the scene. It's the past, the future is XP. In a few years every other windows OS will be history like W3.1. You might as well jump in now, sooner or later you will be dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century.

Shelly

I don't think it could be explained any better than that.

The packaging is real UGLY. Hows that? Don't know much about it as it is going on my new PC and we are trying as of now to get that running to finally destroy it with XP.. I am sure it might be a very short lived computer.

Stranger than life

Product Activation... in the past year I've put in a new network card, 3 different video cards, a TV tuner card, new hard drive and a CD burner. I don't have XP, so I don't exactly know how product activation would affect all these changes? Would I be hampered or run into red tape? There should be no effect as far as I'm concerned. But I have heard otherwise.
I'm still using Win98 FE myself and am happy with it! 3 years ago it was THE system... since then we've seen Win 98 SE, ME, 2000 and now XP. Too much I say! I'm staying pat.... well; I might try 2000 one of these years but XP smells like a rat right now.

WPA checks ten components in a computer. You can change any six of them within any 120 day period and it would not affect your activation.

Shelly

If you're happy with what you have then by all means stay with it but as Shelly states we can't stop change and just as Win95 is history and no longer supported so will Win98 go whether we like it or not. Change can be resisted but never stopped so might as well go with the flow and stay current is my feeling. The good part is you seem to like Win2K which XP is modelled after. Some items like the look can be changed to the "Classic" style anyway. I first set it up that way and you couldn't really tell the difference between XP and WinMe but I decided to give the new look a fair chance and have settled on the silver option with a few subtle changes to suit my taste.

I think XP is too flashy!To me,choosing between XP or Win2K, I will choose Win2K! XP simply have too much things & all the things in XP is hidden.





PCExpert

PC Specs in my profile

To put the thing in perspective - We've spent several years learning & tuning Win 98SE. Why would you expect that in a week or two (month or two) you would know how to do everything? While it is frustrating periodically to solve a problem you don't/didn't have in SE, think of how good it will be when you've got it all figured out.

OS's have lifetimes to them, like all things. I find XP Pro fine. As for Activation, it hasn't been a problem, but I object to the principle.

Does anyone know what XP sales have been? How does it compare to other Microsoft OS's when they became available?

Fred

Hello
Last word was 650,000 units--W98 same period 950,000 units
XP lagging somewhat behind. This is not counting installed units
on new computers. Same w/98
John C Appel
appeljon1@netscape.net

Id like it more if i could run it.

And in 5 yrs, all the pc's that are hummin along on XP will be as obsolete as mine is now, and everybody will be out contributing to the "Bill Gates Rules The World" fund by replacing thier 1.5 gig pc's and loading them up with Windows 2007.


t_bare

spezi pointed out that xp is built off W2k technology. I know that and its a good thing, but when It comes to a newer version of software I just dont jump into it because its the "latest" nor do I go along with the "jump in now or youll be left behind scheme" thats a marketing technique used by the corporate world to make people feel like they have to upgrade and shell out more bucks to ,"get with the times." What I care about when it comes to my computer is a system that suits MY needs. Im not going ot jump to a system that has taken my system and added some things that I dont need. Not every release of every windows platform has something that everybody needs. XP may be a fine OS for some people but its not for me simply because the "enhancements" and add ons they put in there I have no use for. If I owned an 1999 ABC pickup truck that ran well, was reliable and got me around doing the things I need I would continue to drive it untill It no longer works for me. I wouldnt just go out and buy the 2001 ABC pickup truck because everybody else is if it was the same truck only they added a snow plow, trailer hitch, roll bars and a new pinstripe; because: 1: I live in Florida, there is no snow here I dont need a snow plow. 2: I dont have a trailer and dont intend to get one anytime soon. 3: I dont do any off roading so I dont need roll bars and the new pinstripe just dosnt apeal to me in anyway. I have things that I need to do with my PC, haveing a system where I can accoplish those things is all I care about...jumping in with the crowd or sucumbing to marketing schemes are not things I care about. If and when MS releases an operating system that offers things that I need that I dont currently have I will go for it. Right Now XP dosnt do that for me. but thats just me.


Garbru

, hit it right on the head !
Exactly why I am staying with WinME - 1. can't afford to 'upgrade'; 2. I don't do pix or music 3. WinME suits me perfectly - not completely setup the way it should be for me, but slowly getting there; and 4. was never the 'keeping-up-with-the-jonses'-type of person.
People here say get rid of WinME, but I do my own thing and am not technically minded/gifted, so WinME and me are like twins - plodding along

Lonnie

Lonnie
Vista Home Basic
Compaq Presario SR2163WM
160GB SATA 3G
1536 MB
RoadRunner HSI
MSE,CCleaner,SWB,Irfanview

kicking and screaming.......

Does that mean I have to give up my '56 Ford convertable...? These were sweet running four barrels, very positive 3 speed trani, You could stomp on that sucker and blow away anything around...except the OH V8 monster olds. I had a '51 Olds 88 that would plow itself through the radiator and rip itself right off it's motor mounts. 6 volt system didn't want to crank though. Installed a complete 12 volt system and harness, stayed up all night relieving the intake manifold...that '51 was a bomb....

Father Christmas bought me a removable HD tray two caddies and a new 40gb HD. I just built a 3 o/s multi boot system 98se, Win 2000 and XP Pro to play with, swapping back to my "working system" if I need to do anything safe and serious. I use a second HD for data and program source.
Very little experience but so far I like XP it feels faster - yes parts are not where you are used to finding them but its all there and networking / internet connection seems to be easier to set up. Watch this space -
No I have not broken my test system yet but I will.

Essex

Win 98se used to be my favorite OS. Now XP is.
Both have their good and bad points, as with any OS.

1) Product Activation (Evil with a capital E)

2) Well, for me, there isn't a number 2. I've managed to turn off/get rid of anything that offends me, one way or another. Beyond that, (and a wee bit too much bloat for my PII 266 with 128 Mb of RAM) everything else I have to say about it is good, from a testing point of view. (Main OS will always be Linux for me)

Nicest Microsoft operating system ever. While I really like it, I feel Windows 2000 is a more serious OS for professional use, and if I was in charge of an IT department that's what we'd (still) be using. More conducive to getting work done, and still quite robust and stable. There's too much fun in Windows XP

Grogan

I heard all the same old pissin' amd moanin' when we were all using DOS 1.1, and MS brought out DOS 2.0. Forgive me if I don't pay much attention to such rubbish. I don't know of anyone still using DOS 2.0. Computers and operating systems will continue to evolve, with or without you.

Shelly

Im with you Shelly....It looks to me like some people seem to think one must choose to linger in the past or move ahead....but why not use both. I'll play with the new and use the old when i feel like using the old..any os has its positive and negative sides...depends on what one is doing with it and what hardware or mental limitations one might have as to which one one uses.....One of the things that intrigues me the most about this forum is the readiness of some of the members to take a risk and try something new (os ,tweak of some kind,some other software,etc...)...theres nothing like an open mind if one wants to learn and grow..

Vitalt

Useful Team Info

" Now that's a big double ditto there Vitalt.

Vitalt

Useful Team Info

>I heard all the same old pissin' amd moanin' when we were
>all using DOS 1.1, and MS brought out DOS 2.0. Forgive me
>if I don't pay much attention to such rubbish. I don't know
>of anyone still using DOS 2.0. Computers and operating
>systems will continue to evolve, with or without you.

haha Yep computers will continue to evolve and Im glad that they do, I just dont jump to the next step because its the next step. I only jump to the next step when its appropriate for me. I dont mean to bash XP. There are good things about it, but just not enough viable good things for "me" to make the jump. I will wait and in a couple of years MS will release another OS that will basically be XP refined and more perfected then they might get me. Take for example the Win ME release. A lot of people jumped all over it because it was the latest.....most of those people who jumped on windows ME came out disatified. Not me. I didnt jump into it and Im glad that I didnt. I waited a bit saw how things went and didnt make a leap until win2000 pro came out. Even went w2k came out I waited a while and did a lot of research and got the feel from people who used it what it was all about before I made the jump....and the waiting and the research paid off. I got an OS that I am very happy with. I will be skiping over the XP step because its not for me. I dont think that makes me somebody who is reluctant to change or somebody who is unwilling to accept progress, just somebody who is more selective about the steps I make. Im holding off....watch, the next OS that MS releases WILL be worth the upgrade and I will be glad that I waited. Till then I wish everybody nothing but good things from the OS the choose..but for me W2K pro for now. Yeee haaa!!


Garbru

I will wait and in a couple of years MS will release another OS that will basically be XP refined and more perfected then they might get me.

I have two clients that just invested in 2000 and I aadvised them to wait. The cost to them just cannot be justified. I have a couple of others who are chompin' at the bit to get XP and they need it because their 9X boxes are maxed out. So they will go with new boxes with XP Pro. The "XP refined" as you call it (not bad) will be tentively released in 2003 and is currently going by the name "Longhorn". Who knows what it will be called at release. Then after that in 2005 will come "Blackcomb". It will probably be a totally new "Experience". Mister Bill has to make his money. As for me, I couldn't be happier with XP. It's performed above my expectations.

Thanks for the info Sonny. See there. You say that the next leg is scheduled in 2003. I will wait for that release, and Im sure that it will be worth the wait. Right now w2k serves me fine. Im happy for those who are running XP and are happy with it. MS seems to keep up a nice pace of an OS every 2 years or so. I dont see the point in jumping on every one automatically. I go for the ones that seem worthwhile to me all things considered. The year 2003 is not that far away and by then some of the newer technology in XP will be perfected. The thing with an OS is that it takes some time to get familiar with it. Once Im familar with and OS I like to get as many years out of it as possible so I can spend more time being productive. A new OS is a new learning experience and that in and of itself is a good thing, but on the flipside haveing to spend lots of time learning the new system takes time away from other prodjects. Also there is the hardware compatability thing that can take time to sort out with a new OS.....so I choose my upgrades carefully. happy computing to all....happy new year!!


Garbru

Well, yes Shelly, the pissing and moaning only points up the things one doesn't like about a thing. If I piss and moan here it's because I thought this was the place to do it and get help fixing what I don't like. So far, it's worked that way. I fix or change things to suit myself.
I would hope that others are doing the same.....Certainly there's no point in just complaining and not trying to do anything about it.
And you, along with a whole bunch of other people, are the ones that respond and make it all go.....
XP is a challenge for me......

Why has Microsoft put in Product Activation in Windows XP? If it is to prevent installing the O/S on more than one computer, surely someone is going to find a way around this (if they haven't already).
Why annoy people with this?

That's a really good question. Only MS really knows the answer. If even they do. }>

Because they can! Probably about all the reason they need.

Might point out though that the product activation does not appear to be as big of a problem as people anticipated. You actually get quite a bit of leeway before you even have to call Microsoft and those that have done it have said it went very smoothly.

The largest target for WPA is small businesses. The home user winds up getting screwed. Most of the copying M$ is after is done by small businesses buying one copy and putting it on all the rest of their PCs. This practice is the hardest to control. Large businesses purchase Licences in large quantities and are more subject to audit than smaller businesses. One thing people overlook is that the majority of home users could care less about giving their copy to a neighbor. That leaves folks like us. Beleive it or not we are a smaller group than we realize and M$ is not concerned. I doubt very much that if everyone on this forum that has the knowledge on how to bypass WPA would do so. So M$ is counting on peoples basic honesty and reaping great rewards. That leaves a small group of pirates. M$ knows this and just doesn't care. They've accomplished their goal. WPA works for their purposes, to maintain a higher profit. I don't see anything wrong with that. I guess when you consider their target, small businesses and home users, there is a method to their madness.

Things I hate:

1) Product Activation (of course)
2) The flashy interface
3) The hand holding
4) firewall sucks
5) the constant join .NET nag

I think the new interface is over kill. BUT, I wouldn't mind having the OS X feel to Windows XP. The OS X feel, although it looks similar to what XP Does, it's just sleeker and more refined. There is a fine line between being cool and being obnoxious and Microsoft has definitely crossed that line with the new interface. I had that interface on for about 3 weeks then I turned it off.

Things I like (that's not in Win2K):

1) The restore points that lets me roll back my system
2) msconfig is back
3) grouping task bar items into a single button
4) The new start menu
5) better device driver support
6) new "DOS" commands (taskkill, tasklist, bootcfg, diskpart, recover, shutdown, driverquery, fsutil, getmac, gpresult, openfiles)
7) ClearType
8) XP Power Toys (The enhanced Alt + Tab task switcher in particular)

Xin Li

i dont like the apperance... but it is easy as sin to change so i cant complain.
i have been using it for over 2 months now and not one crash. when i was using win98se i would crash every 3 or 4 days. and the time would gradualy loose time.
when i reboot it would be back to normal
i tried every thing i could find about and it would not fix.
but i have not lost one minute yet with xp
i can run every thing that i was useing in 98 with xp and so far the compatability wiz has worked great....but i am afraid to use it to much for it will not... then i will have a real complaint for xp

Ability can take you to the top, but it takes character to keep you there

Stability wise,I've found nothing to comlain about XP. Like many of my fellow forum dwellers, I have been running XP for months without a reboot, and I work that thing hard (SQL Server, Web Server, Visual Studio.NET) and it's done superbly. However, I have found some hardware devices not supported. The two that weren't supported for me have been the 3Dfx voodoo 3500 card and the Creative Dxr3 decoder card. The first one is not supported since 3dfx got bought out by Nvidia so we got screwed. And Creative (bastards!!) decided to discontinue their decoder card. I've managed to get 3dfx to work on the Win2K Beta drivers (TV works, but not the 3d Glide stuff for gaming). I've gotten the decoder card to work by using the RealMagic Hollywood plus drivers (same underlying chipset as the Dxr3). I'm sure there are other older devices that won't work well with XP and probably a few programs here and there that will puke. One very prominent example would be the Easy CD Creator. I'm not sure if they came out with a newer version taht works yet. But 4.0 doesn't work onder XP. But I use Nero, so that's not much of an issue.

Xin Li

Easy CD Creator 5 Platinum has an update patch available for XP and when installed according to instructions works perfectly. I've had no coasters yet since figuring out how to do the install properly.

i work for hp and hardly any of our software for the all in ones works in xp. but xp comes with its "mini drives" so you dont need to software to runt he printer, and if you dont have to load software to use the all in one then that is much better

and so far they work great in xp even with out the software...

Ability can take you to the top, but it takes character to keep you there

Well, given that you work for HP, I do have a HP printer problem that I have yet been able to solve. I have a HP deskjet 695c. XP has drivers for that. Suffice it to say that I've tried that driver, and the 690c, which is what XP suggests in the first place. And neither of them will work. The printer talks to the computer, but what comes out is gibberish. In Windows, if I try to print one line of text--"Testing", it'll come out as a bunch of wierd ASCII characters. I've tried turning the printer off, unplugging it, turning it back on, plug it in reboot the system, etc. No avail. In fact, the strange thing is that if I reboot using a 98 boot disk into DOS and just do something like:

echo Testing > lpt1

The printer will still print gibberish. It's no longer wierd ASCII characters. In the case of "Testing", it prints "thhh...tt" or something like that. So the problem seems to be not driver related. I've tweaked teh BIOS parallel port setitngs too. I"ve tried all of them from SPP all the way through EPP + ECP and whatever else is in the list of possible modes. For each, I've booted into dos and tried to print, nothing. I am guessing there is something wrong with the printer cable. But, the guy that gave me the thing to fix swears that the cable came with his printer and that it used to work. I've tried this printer on my dad's box, and my his box. Same result. Any ideas? Thanks.

Xin Li

xinli1,

No offence, but it would be better to post a new thread for a printer problem.

Anyway, there's a test you can run to see if the printer has an internal problem of it's own.

I don't know the details of how to do it for your 695 but it involves shutting down your computer and printer, disconnecting the printer cable, power on the printer, holding down a sequence of the printer buttons for a period of time and then releasing them.
You can find the exact instructions at HP support.

If the printer is ok it'll print a test page.

NytOwl

try to load the driver for the 550c and see if that prints out girbish...

Ability can take you to the top, but it takes character to keep you there

Xin, I have a 3dfx 4500 VooDoo 4 card, and XP installed a driver for it that has been working better than the original drivers ever did. In Device Manager it's listed as driver version 5.1.2001.0 provided by Microsoft and dated 10/3/2001. Under the details tab it says file version 5.00.3545.0028, provider 3dfxInteactive,inc. 1998 - 2001

I'm surprised to hear you did not have a similar experience with your VooDoo 3 card.

Shelly

XP does have drivers for the Voodoo 3. BUT, that's only for the Voodoo 3000. And I really can't testify as to how well the XP voodoo 3000 drivers work compare to the win2K drivers, as I've never given them a chance. The reason is that the TV Tuner functionality on the 3500 is very important to me, one of the primary reasons for my buying the card. And unless I install the beta 3500 drivers from 3dfx, I can't get the TV tuner to work. In the past, the beta drivers worked great even for video games. But that's not the case in XP, at least not for Unreal Tournament. the entire screen gets freaked out and XP "freezes". IT doesn't actually freeze. The underlying OS is doing fine. But I can't swtich out of that screen so I can't see anything else, which renders the OS functionally useless without a reboot. In fact, come to think of it, the only crashes I've had with both Win2K and XP has been caused by the Voodoo drivers.

Xin Li

I understand that some of the ex-programmers from 3dfx have been publishing "unauthorized" driver updates for the cards. You might want to explore those.

Shelly

Interesting. I have in fact not heard about that. would you happen to know where I could start looking? Thanks.

Xin Li

My daughter in law has one in her machine so I keep links!! I haven't really looked here but it might be a good start
http://www.3dfxfiles.com/

Since being given XP as a gift, I decided to allocate a couple of precious gigabytes and install it. I've been using it for a couple of weeks now, and the experience overall has been really good. I have it installed on a 2 GB partition as a dual boot with 98SE on this WalMart model HP 8533Z computer. The only problem I had during setup was getting the Riptide/Conexant HCF modem to work. I was able to use the W2K driver from HP and after deleting all the other COM ports, managed to get online.

Unlike 98Se and W2K, (which I love both of them,BTW) anything I need to find, I have been able to find through the search feature in "Help". I have also set up separate accounts for each of my family members with myself as "Admin" so junk programs cannot be installed unless I permit. They are able to navigate XP as well in two weeks learning time as they can in SE after 2 years of using it. There's several more points I could comment on, but for the most part, this is a good stable OS. I've had no freezes or "Blue Screens" since firing it up.

Would I buy XP if it hadn't been given to me? Hard to say. In a situation where I absolutely needed the stability and security of an NT based OS, it would be a hard choice between 2K and XP.

I was very resistant when I first installed XP on my new computer two weeks ago. But I've grown to appreciate its conveniences. Like going back to the original drivers in my Geforce3, the system restore etc.

I think the reason I was resistant was that it was a new OS, and by God I wasn't going to accept it regardless.

In my days at University I used a Slide Rule and Logarithm tables. When I think back at the time wasted....................

Guns don't kill people. Husbands who come home early kill people.

I understand for people who really need dependability in their PC the choice is still using Sun computers and software. My son's company (electrical and computer engineering) uses Sun for work and W2000 only for e-mail since W2000 is so unreliable--and this is a company with several thousand workers and many full-time IT people. My son's girlfriend works for a similar company and the situation is the same. He thinks I'm nuts for wanting to have XP to play around with. To each his own.

Your Son's IT people are correct but for you, at home, it's ideal.

Xp is the best MS has come out with so far. Solid as a rock and very pretty. Its still very new and lots of hardware and softwear needs to tailored to it as of yet. Its a combo of winME and win2000. I love it although I would not recomend it unless your system is fairly new (about 1 year). It loves lots of Ram,video and disk space. I would not do it unless your system has at least a 20gig drive, 16 meg video card, 256 ram, and a 600 processor. The more of these the better.
Happy New Year
mike

Glad you mentioned the 20 gig HD. Just went through another thread with Sonny about installing another HD. I've only got 10GB on the old one and it's almost full. I'm putting a larger faster one in, and keeping the old. Other than that, the only problem I had was getting a driver from BellSouth for the DSL USB modem but once I got it, I've been 24/7 since Oct. without a crash or disconnect.
Pete

I'm using it on a 2 year old computer with 256MB RAM, Intel i810 mobo w/integrated video(4MB shared mem)on a 2gig partition. Seems to run just fine.

One of the main reasons I refuse to downgrade to X.P. is its use of
I.E.6 and that bloated media player, I really don't have all day to
wait for the thing to load. It seems like microsoft is really trying
to control not only the market but the user as well. No support for
Netscape plug ins please give me a break. I use N.S.4.76 and Opera
you would think with 80& of the market Bill would be happy. Linux
here I come!!

i'm one of the idiots that shelly refers to. i'm dual booting xp and w2k for about a month and i really like xp because when installing it was so very easy for me as a novice to set up my home network, setting up printers/apps and my internet connection (& i'm glad to have msconfig back). as far as being more stable, i can say that i crash it less than all the others (95/98/2k).

go easy on us idiots shelly. we generate more than 90% of computer sales (yes our employers even buy one for us at work) and we have and continue to create millions of jobs for other idiots and non-idiots alike.





Rookie (aka Lamer)

Rookie

Rookie, please read post #11 again and point out to me where I called anyone an idiot. No need for you to appologise...

Shelly

Only those who think Santa Clause is a real person, think that microsoft xp is a secure operating system.

BobGuyİ
And the band played on.

Your disdain for all things Microsoft has been well documented.
For those who want full functionality and compatibility with the majority of the goodies available to them in cyber space however, linux is not an alternative.

It's hard to exist with a horse and buggy in a world geared toward rapid transit and space travel.

It would appear that the majority rules and by any stretch of the imagination Microsoft is the major player like it or not. I have noticed with some amusement that pretty much most of the Linux followers also all have either a dual boot setup with Microsoft as one option or they have a Microsoft OS on another box. If Linux is that great why would that be necessary? }>
That very action in itself confirms that Linux ain't all that so to speak.

Spezi, you have no clue. None. Why should anyone want to have Windows installed? Because they can. Because, despite what many Linux bigots think, Windows is useful at times. Because Linux is geared to easily coexist with just about any operating system you can think of. The kernel can be configured to support filesystems even as obscure as Amiga. It can also still be configured to support such obscure hardware as XT hard disks. Linux is all about compatibility. There is no need to blind people to the merits of other choices in the Linux world.

The main reason I have Windows installed at all, is so I can help people with their computer problems more effectively, having the operating systems they use at hand in case I need to go look at something. I could ditch every single piece of Microsoft software/OS on my system, with very few regrets. I haven't booted any Windows OS in several days.

But I agree with you, there's nothing more tiring than bigoted Linux zealotry.

Grogan

LOL. Had a feeling I'd see a post from you. I have nothing against Linux at all Grogan in fact I have a copy of RedHat 6.0 that I just never got around to using because the PC I wanted to put it on did not want to co-operate so after having some local techs play with it for a bit unsuccessfully I just gave up on it. Someday maybe.
The only point I was trying to make with BobGuy is that we don't always get what we want. I was one of those people that thought Beta's were a lot better idea than VHS so ran out and bought one of the first ones and in short order found myself owning a pink elephant for which I couldn't get any more media due to the industry embracing VHS. I still think Beta was way better but now own a VHS like everyone else because it was rammed down my throat by the masses. I guess really all I'm saying is that I feel at times resistance is futile.

Being as advanced as you are in working with computers and various operating systems you are much better equipped to see the pro's and cons of the various offerings whereas I feel more like one of the sheep. Even though you see Linux as very versatile and a great idea the fact remains the masses are still controlled by Microsoft.

I agree with those points too.

I sure don't tell my customers "get Linux", because I know that it's not what's best for them. (unless of course they happen to be savvy enough and I feel it would be good for them).

Grogan

>>>The only point I was trying to make with BobGuy is that we don't always get what we want.

Spezi, honestly I could care less who ventures forth and tries GNU/Linux.
Come to think of it, I personally am better off with the vast majority using any microsoft products.
So stick with windows, and enjoy the eXPerience

>Ahh Spezi, I don't remember mentioning the word Linux at all
>in that post.
>>>>Only those who think Santa Clause is a real person, think that microsoft xp is a secure operating system.


You didn't have to I've read many BobGuy posts. LOL

Wait just a damn minute here, Santa Claus was the one that GAVE me my first Microsoft product, sold me the 50,000 issues of stock and guaranteed payments per capita......though actually it HAS been a while...Are you saying ...what????

this forum is great. I just made my mind up about XP... until Mr. Bill Gates gives 69 of his 70 billion to charity, I will not contribute any more to his profits.

I come away from this dicussion believing even more deeply that Windows XP is one of the best operating systems that I have had a chance to evaluate. Credit should be given where credit is due. XP might not be the end all, but it is way out a ahead of anything else. And it will only get better. Yeah!

Norm

Norm

I like a man with an opinion of his own.   You're right, Norm.   WinXP is a very, very good operating system.   Win2K is more to my taste, but I will be the first to admit that WinXP has its advantages and does many things extremely well.   I respect the opinions of those as prefer WinXP.

;~* ... Scotterpops

I can't wait for Longhorn,that will be the next one,probably in 2003.

LilJoe

Hey Scotter,I'm just guessin' but that picture of that boy on the left,looks like your Dad. Am I right or wrong??

LilJoe

thats exactly how I feel. W2k is just more my taste but I know that XP has some very good things about it. I only used XP for a short while(2 weeks), long enough to find out that its not for me. Im holding out for the next release. Since I dont need the new things presented in XP right now Im holding out for the next MS OS. I am confident that the next OS to come out in 2003 will really have something for me. Best of luck to everybody whatever OS they choose. My latest adventure has been with Linux a bit. I feel for Linux because it has soooo much potential and really is a good OS, but it has an unfair advantage in the world. And that disadvantage keeps it from becomeing a viable choice for lots of people. I hope that it continues to grow in useage. Its imporant for there to be an alternative to MS


Garbru

Yeah, XP is wonderful, though I can certainly see why some people aren't as impressed with it. But over all, it has won over the heart and mind of one of my colleagues who is a hardcore linux user. He still uses linux a lot (more than windows),but he has been forced to admit that XP is as stable as Linux when I showed him that my computer has been rebooted for 3 months. Speaking of Linux, I hear there is a new OS on the horizon called Lindows that's supposed to run both Windows and Linux programs. http://www.lindows.com/ This could be very interesting. I am certainly looking forward to checking it out. On a side note, I think the name Lindows isn't that great. Winux wouldn't been better I think.

Xin Li

how about linuxp?

Rookie (aka Lamer)

Rookie

My reason's to use WinXP

1. It's just as easy to use as the others. In fact, I found the interface to be quite comfy after a few minutes.

2. The I found no problems with the System settings under the Control panel.

3. It's not a resource-sucker like Win98 (affectionately called a 'Rampire' by a friend at work)


If I have to say anything bad about it, I have to say that it's a mite too cutsey, I guess. All those bright colors. Well, that and I can't use Norton Antivirus unless I go out and buy another one. My current version isn't compatible. Oh well

It took a couple of months to get used to it, I like it a lot!! 98se on one machine, xp on two. Pat