XP-Be All, End All?

[Emmkaye]

This system is alive like Frankenstein.
I didn't create it,but here it is ,on my machine and I am left struggling to understand the mind of it's maker.
It's obvious my ways of thinking do not even come close to theirs...

BTW, got a "new" printer, a Lexmark M410 ps3- NOW Mama is happy.


:confused: :angel:
Emms

[Techvillage]

Hi Emms - keep cracking at XP it will come to you eventually. :)

Nice printer - fast too :)

[lurch63]

hey emmkaye, hope you don't mind me talking about my own problems, but i have been thinking about xp on the compaq w/ its k6-2 500mhz proc, while some of the people whom i have installed xp on their pcs are happy (faster pcs) xp just makes my compaq more of a dog. i thought that the multi user functionality would be nice but it hasn't been. only the admin can play the video game that my sisters like for some reason. i've upgraded ram and vid card and its just slow now with xp on it. i know we had the whole conversation about the wonders of it, but i have yet to see the light at the end of the tunnel, i shall try to put the old image back on and do an upgrade to xp , but by the time that i have time to do that my family members will already have little tweaks to their own liking that i might miss in the process and then they'll be pissed at me for that. i will continue installing it on people's pcs (who pay for it of coarse :) ) and the like but for me xp has been no happy journey. sinc. lurch

[James]

What is the Min.req,CPU 4 XP?

[lurch63]

i don't know to be honest with you, but it must meet the minimum or it wouldn't run, i'm sure that it aint the recommended. i know i put it on a dell PIII system at 500 mhz but it had 512kb of L2 cache and it ran a bit nicer from what i could tell than this . i love google. here ya go.

CPU 300 MHz (single CPU for Home edition, Single or dual for Professional edition)
RAM 128 MB
Disk Space 1.5 GB free
Video Card Super VGA (800x600)
Media CD-ROM or DVD

it has

CPU 500 MHz (Single for Professional edition)
RAM 256 MB
Disk Space 9.0 GB free at least
Video Card Super VGA (800x600) w/ 32mb ram
Media CD-RW

and runs like shit :P lurch

[KaraK]

lurch, you and XP just dont get on do you ?

My experiences of XP have all been fine so far, I've installed it on a Tbird 800 (512MB) and it is happy as larry, a PIII 650 (started w/ 128MB but upped to 256 later) and it was also happy, did improve when I upped the RAM tho, I've also seen it running on an Athlon Classic 550 (dont know how much ram) and it was also happy there.

I'd say this tho.. if the Compaq is such a dog w/ XP why not just slap 2K back on it ?

[James]

CT,a K-62 is not a P-3 anything:D

[Montana]

Emms, my new computer came with XP pre-installed and I loved it right from the start except for the 2 1/2 minute boot time. That has since been remedied, and the ease of changing ones folder images and other images is a godsend (that Run menu business was interesting but a pain). I'm not much of a tweaker of hardware, but I do love changing the look of XP (or any OS) with themes ETC. And even if you don't change the look, it still looks cooler than Win98! Have patience, read and experiment; computers are much more than forum sites!

[Montana]

Oops, forgot the pic...

[Emmkaye]

Hey and Hello, y'all
Lurch six-three- say anything ya darn well please- I will learn from anything!

Montana- I am like a pit bull with XP-
I can make the system dance the jig when I am creating the graphics that are my trade.(front-end)
It's high time I learned what's inside and how all that stuff works because as I've said before it might as well be filled w/oatmeal.
To me XP is oatmeal w/lumps...but I'm too far gone...and stirrin' like mad!
worra,worra, Emms:rollin::angel:

[Montana]

KaraK, I've been choking (w/laughter) on your avatar ever since I first seen it. Do you have any for Gemini?

[Emmkaye]

Montana, I'll bet KaraK does- I think mine fits for a Scorpio,though.
Gemini? Hmmmmm
Hugs, EMZ:angel:

[Montana]

Thanks, Emms. Are you up late or early in your part of the world? It's 1130pm in St. Louis, MO. I'm too lazy too figure out the times as listed in forum.

[Alakazam]

Lurch, too bad XP isn't working out for you, I really like it. Only thing I can think of is because of the CPU cache on your K6-2. I'm working on an article about XP, it will probably be done for posting on Monday sometime, maybe it will be of some use to ya.

[Emmkaye]

Hi Montana,
I be up at any or all hours of the night or day as dictated by the Muses.

For reasonable folks, the proscribed "time zone " is Central...Texas, ya know...

but, between usn's, we know we just made up that "time" stuff to make us feel better...
Emms
:rollin: :angel:

[muckshifter]

James is right Lurch, a K6-2 500 is just not really enough for XP, yes it works but a "Duron 600" would be a minimum in my books and it will not matter how much ram you throw at a 500.

Microsoft is renowned for its list of minimum requirements instead of quoting a more realistic figure. If they bit the bullet and said what was more realistic, then you would not have even tried XP. On the other hand you now think XP is a little "dog" when it is not. Bad for MS.

I have said this before, and yep, here it is again, XP is NT5 or put it another way Win2k with bells on. Therefore those of you that are using Win2K do not really need to "upgrade", unless you are after a little more compatibility with Games, Video, sound and quite a few other "improvements". :)

There are a growing number of sites around that will help you "tweak XP" it is quite good fun to find out what MS have "hidden" from you and to fix it. Just search Bitbenders for "Mucks' Tips" as I have listed a few of the common "fixes". ;)

Better yet ... try Google. :Tong:

Here are a couple to get you started...
http://www.microsoft.com/hwdev/platform/performance/fastboot/default.asp Click on Downloads

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q310994&ID=310994

http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/windowsxp_tips_ms.asp

Don't want to get your hands dirty? ... try ...
http://www.tweakxp.com/tweakxp/tweak_software.asp

http://www.is-it-true.org/nt/xp/

... and just one more, NOT just XP ...
http://www.aumha.org/

Enjoy! :uk:

[lurch63]

thx to all who posted, emmkaye didn't mean to jack your thread. :) i stay up all hours of the night but i think that i got an alcoholic drug addicted muse when the final product of any of my mods come out. the most common being why did you put the 120mm fans on the outside of your case :P , and i know exactly what your saying guys and gals, i have an old dell 100 mhz that runs wonderfully with windows 95 on it but an absolute dog with 98. barely boots up. the compaq used to have 98 on it, the major thing that beezer and i wanted to put xp on the system for was to stop my two sister siblings from "modding" the os in their experimental creative ways leaving me to fix it the next day. but its been a pain, to get the progies working for all users and stuff , it woud still be a pain if it were moving quickly, like i said, i'm going to throw the origonal image back on , do and upgrade so all the progy's are there and then use some of the sites to strip them down, thanks for links comments and so forth i appreciate them. sinc. lurch

[Emmkaye]

llurch six three, you can add anything you want...
I certainly know we share the frustration of that OS.

I'm going to check out those Tweek sites and see what further damage I can do...
thx, mucks.

And away we go,
Emms:rollin: :rollin: :rollin:

[KaraK]

Montana, Emms

sorry I dont have a Gemini one... the pic comes from a B'day card I once sent to a mate, the full pic is below

[Emmkaye]

We be waffing 'bout wodent
twagedy! Oh, the thought of wee dead wodents strewn about ...

Got a Scorpio?

Emms

[Montana]

Thanks, KaraK. I think I'll just tell folks I'm a Cancer and use that one.:-)

[KaraK]

Originally posted by Emmkaye
We be waffing 'bout wodent
twagedy! Oh, the thought of wee dead wodents strewn about ...

Got a Scorpio?

Emms

sorry Emms.. what you see is all I got :beatsme:

[floppybootstomp]

Hmm.... I be Aries... colour me worried... a clean cage is the sign of a sick mind?

Emms: like any new OS, XP just takes a bit of getting used to, once you get to know it and have set it up to your own liking, I reckon it's very good.

Montana: I love that theme of yours - where'd you get that?

Lurch: The 26 month old Maxtor 20Gb 7200 HDD on my twin daughters' K6-2 300 decided to develop a few bad sectors recently, meaning I couldn't boot WIN98.

I've just installed WIN XP on that and it's running fine. It is a little slower, I'll grant you, but not slow enough to be annoying. I've set it up for twin users.

Lemme see, FIC VA503+ mobo; K6-2 300 CPU; 128MB 66Mhz SDRAM; 20Gb (damaged) HDD; AGP Voodoo 3 2000; Sonic Vortex 2 soundcard & internal 56K V90 modem, all auto-detected. As was the printer & gamepads.

Yup, I like XP :)

[AmStoned]

Skamp: http://www.themexp.org/ Something's going on though.

I'd just like to say XP Pro's faster than any other MS OS I've tried. Memory management is Excellent. And load time (startup and shutdown) is second to none.

One thing though. When I turn on ClearType, the fonts got all trippy and stuff. It's like everything's in bold. Wow. I'm still trying to get use to this new feature. Just want to make sure my head's clear... wasn't smoking, so...

[Montana]

Originally posted by AmStoned
Skamp: http://www.themexp.org/ Something's going on though.

One thing though. When I turn on ClearType, the fonts got all trippy and stuff. It's like everything's in bold. Wow. I'm still trying to get use to this new feature. Just want to make sure my head's clear... wasn't smoking, so...

Skamp, I've yet to experience any probs w/themes but then my new computer came with XP preinstalled so it had better be optimized to use themes w/o giving me grief.

AS, ClearType did give my LCD a crisper looking font (not bold though), but on some web pages-specifically the pages that won't use your chosen font type-the font was faded just enough to cause me a brief freak-out thinking that my eyesite had somehow degraded so much in just several hrs. Turned off ClearType, and I can see again. :angel:

[KaraK]

ive found cleartype to be a very handy feature if setup right

[AmStoned]

ClearType looks real good in LCD setting, ie, laptop computer. You can always go to MS's ClearType setup page and tweak it. Here's the link. (http://www.microsoft.com/typography/cleartype/cleartypeactivate.htm)

[Emmkaye]

Oh,yes-
cleartype is wonderful for those of us who be a wee bit nearsighted!
emz:)

[Montana]

Woohoo, thanks AS, that tweak made all the difference. I can even read my screen w/o my glasses now. I like bold. Have a smoke on me. :smoke:

[lurch63]

what i want to know is whats up with the pc not being able to shut off on its own, 98 could shut off, why was it in the article that xp couldn't shut off, there is a serious pain in the ass, b/c on the compaq you have to wait an extra 1.5 minutes to then hit the power button when b4 you could just walk away, i know i'm beating a dead horse here, and i know that a big part of it is just the fact that its a compaq, problem right there :) . well i guess i'll take my sob story to someone who will listen, someone whom i can currupt :dev: hehe, lurch

[AmStoned]

Lurch, my guess is power management setting on the Compag. Mostly in the BIOS, S1/POS or S3/STR. I heard a lot about people having trouble with the STR setting. My mobo by default is POS, and everything's running smooth.

What OS is running the Comcrap again...? You might want to turn off everything less "Turn off monitor" in the Power Options menu in Control Panel.

[Montana]

*yawn, stretch* What's that racket in here? Sounds like someone beating a dead horse.

Lurch, I'm not familiar with your dead horse or compaq computers for that matter (are they perchance similar:D?), but since XP does a controlled shut down even if you turn it off from the power button, can't you turn it off using that method and just skip whatever it is you're doing before the 1.5 min wait. Or are compaq's too set in there ways to allow that?

[muckshifter]

To use Windows Power Options, you must have a computer that is set up by the manufacturer to support these features. For more information, see the documentation that came with your computer. Sorry to throw that at you but 98 is NOT XP I know Nettie's old FIC 2013 had the same issue ... it could not handle XP's shutdown. :sorry:

However you may find an "APM" tab in "Power Options" if it exists then tick the box & try it.

http://www.tweakxp.com/tweakxp/display.asp?id=312

:uk:

[lurch63]

thx mucks, i'll try that, sinc. lurch

[whipat]

http://www.themexp.org/

I like XP , still have one machine with 98se, so when it crashes on a regular basis, brings back memories. ;)
Gemini here, Marie. Does that make 4 of us?



Pat

Sorry Marie, answering the door, cooking spaghetti and posting. Didn't see that you had posted the theme link. :cryol:

[Montana]

Originally posted by whipat
Gemini here, Marie. Does that make 4 of us?

LOL, that almost went over my head!

[whipat]

AmStoned: your link is an unbelievable bonus. Thanks :D

Pat