The WinBlind skins looks spectacular & delightful. :) The only thing I´m raving about is the friggin taskbar.
chickie
Member
4 1/2 years old. LOL I tested my comp to see if it´s ready for XP. It isn´t ready yet.
travelian
Member
Actually XP runs games faster than 98 plus they run smoother. I´ve seen this in benchmarks and personal tests. (a stable os goes a long way) My Quake 3 fps rose by 6 after upgrading to xpfrom 98. Becides if you do graphic design you surely as hell don´t wanna use 98 since any ram over 256 is useless (yes 98 and its crappy ram usage). Whereas xp has great memory usage. (no more BSOD!!) <br /> <br />Back on the topic at hand, Chickie if your comp is a p1 and has only a 2 gig hard drive don´t get xp or 2k. 1 you don´t have the hardware to run either OS and 2 you should just save your money and buy a newer comp with xp pre loaded. For about 500 dollars you should be able to get a 1.5 ghz p4 with 256 megs of RAM 15 gig hard drive and xp home pre loaded. Whereas if you buy xp professional it will run you about 400 dollars in iteself.
Edited
chickie
Member
Flamme, I dunno if it is patched or something. :o 98 is still kicking. :) <br /> <br />I emailed Stardock. Somehow, WinBlinds & ObjectBar clashes. :( It´s bugging me. }:| Haven´t gotten a respose yet. <br />
flamme
Member
<It´s also a security nightmare. > <br />No wonder, NT was one too... All doors wide open ! And if XP uses a lot of RAM it must be a real problem with most graphic and 3D programs (they´re usually very greedy too...) <br /> <br />Chickie, you´re real lucky to have a stable 98 !!! Was it patched or something :o ? <br />Even the oldest programs works properly on it though. If yours is OK, keep it ;) !
cuttheredwire
Member
It´s also a security nightmare. I´m still reading up on it. >:{ I´ll give details when I´ve got things down a little better.
frogboy
Member
XP all the way. It´s much more stable and just more convenient to use. The real negative is that it uses a lot of RAM.
chickie
Member
Red, I read about XP. It seems there´s alot of XP stuff. Tweaks, Visual Styles, & etc. My comp won´t hack it. I am very comfy with 98. :) It is stable & combatible. I don´t want to spend $200 to get XP. That´s crazy. :o I´m obsessed with Stardock products. I can get WinBlinds & Iconpackager. I have to email Stardock & see what causes WinBlinds & ObjectBar to clash. That´s bugging me now. :( <br /> <br />I looked at LiteStep. It´s ok. LOL It´s not what I want. Maybe later in the future. ;) <br /> <br />Astonshell is my next choice. I´m downloaded & deleted it again. I´m thinking to buy Aston. Not right now. :D
cuttheredwire
Member
Chicke: It eats up a huge amout of space. About a gig by default I hear. Your computer is a p1 with a 2 gig hard drive, isn´t it? I think it may be to harsh for your computer. Fact is that it´s slower than 98, and takes up more space. It is more stable though, and has some other eyecandy perks. From what I recall about your system, I really would not recomend up-grading. Fact is you would end up spending money on computer parts and the os. Take a good look into it before you do anything is my main point. 8) Look before you leap is always good advice. =^.~=
chickie
Member
I didn´t buy XP Home Editon yet. Too expensive. When the price goes down - cheaper, I´ll get it. ;) <br /> <br />
snowman
Member
Chickie* ;)
Gregor Klevže
Member
Chichi: when you insert windows xp cd into cd it should ask you if you wanna upgrade or new install. <br />choose new install and dont reformat your C: and I suggest you to install win XP on D: if you have more than one partition. That should be all win xp will automaticly create menu where you will choose which OS should be loaded.
craeonics
Member
Resource usage can be tweaked. Mine uses about 60M RAM after a fresh boot. <br /> <br />Last time I tried to install Linux (Slackware), it claimed I didn´t have a hard disk. Okay, so that had something to do with my special hardware.
flamme
Member
But the best and most skinable OS (and it´s been for a long time) is Linux :-D (VERY big success down there)... XP is obviously copying some of his graphic capacities. Great free programs too (Blender, Gimp...)
flamme
Member
Yes, Pro´s better, that´s true... but it has the same inherent problems of ressource eating and older programs banning. <br /> <br />That´s true for 2000 too (PRO´s better I mean, my 2000 is PRO, and it´s vastly different from Home). <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />
xenu
Member
hehe travel you are right... its ... just ... well .. P R O >:-)
travelian
Member
Pro is vastly superior to home. I´m speaking as a pro user :)
flamme
Member
winME... Isn´t it a bugged version of 98 ? :p <br /> <br /><Running 98 & XP? Hmmmm. Is it possible? > <br /> <br />I think you´ll have to partition (hum nor sure of the word...) your harddisk first. <br /> <br />There is another solution if you want to use two different OS : to have two harddisks in amovible racks... ;) Might sound unpractical at first, but it can come very useful.
hobnobber
Member
Chickie how old is your computer??? If you have any specs on the CPU... maybe, just maybe.... you could upgrade to XP. ;)
flamme
Member
Don´t be so sad Chickie ! <br />According to most of my computer programmer friends (and my computer programmer man too) XP´s a nightmare ! <br />The rare times I had to use it I found it mightmarish too (all in the looks, nothing in the ... whatsoever !) If I could afford it I´m not sure I´d use it ! <br />But I must say that 98 is a nighmare too... :-D An VERY unstable version of my old and robust 95, bugged to the eyes... Yuk ! <br /> <br />If I had any choice I´d stick with 2000 wich is VERY good but it´s almost confidential, a lot of programs don´t launch on it, there´s almost nothing made for it... <br />Life´s unfair ! ;) <br /> <br />
chickie
Member
Well, I am comfortable with 98. I rather have 98. My sister have XP. Lucky her! LOL :D <br /> <br />I´m excited when WinBlinds 4 comes out for 98. It gives me goose bumps.
travelian
Member
I´ve used windows xp for about a year and i have no clue how i ever was able to deal with crappy old windows 98. The xp visual styles rock...alpha blending is awsome. The os is stable and reliable (moreso than windows 2k) and the system restore is a lifesaver. I´d highly reccomend upgrading to xp if your cpu and RAM meet the specs. But if you can´t get XP go with 2k as a runner up...but you´ll be much happier with xp. <br /> <br />
koasati
Member
XP is a nightmare? NOT! <br />Chickie, you can emulate the XP taskbar, and startmenu with Objectbar, on your 98 system.
craeonics
Member
First thing I did after installing XP, was switching off those damn ugly visual styles. Those things are truly ghastly. <br /> <br />Anyhow, Chickie, don´t worry about it. The only thing your missing out on, is alpha blending (including the icons).
flamme
Member
XP´s nothing more than a relooked NT6... }:( <br />It threw everything in looks, I´m sorry but it´s true... And furthermore a lot of old programs don´t work on it (far worse than 2k...), on purpose ! It eats a lot of memory, it´s a virtual monster (how do you think these looks are possible ?) Buy another computer, some other programs, or die, I hate it ! <br /> <br />For my part I´ll stick with 98 on my AMD-K6 net machine (my Ethernet modem requires it and it can´t support XP anyway), and 2000 on my biprocessor computer (the third one is my old 90 MHz pentium, still working with dos and Windows 3.x... and proud of it ! :P ). If I had a fourth machine it would be a Linux station ! <br /> <br />No, I´m not building a computer museum !!! LOL
cuttheredwire
Member
Chickie: I´m on 98 too. 8) What is it you want to have? I may be able to help. ^.~
chickie
Member
ObjectBar is piece of shit. It looks aweful with WinBlind skins. The FULL WinBlinds natural taskbar & etc looks awesome. Am I making sense? :, When I go to Wincustomize.com, I´m jealous at the XP users. Their desktops looks sensational. <br /> <br />I´m looking for a cheap or free XP taskbar. ObjectBar is shit & worthless. I purchased & downloaded it. I didn´t like it on my desktop. <br /> <br />The Visual Styles looks good too. The colors are spectacular. Kind of like Crayola crayons. ;) It doesn´t turn me on. LOL <br /> <br />The XP desktop themes are too unreal. LOL I searched & downloaded them. <br /> <br />I feel comfy with 98, like I said. :D My comp ain´t ready for it. <br /> <br />
cuttheredwire
Member
Alright, I might be able to get you a few steps closer. <br /> <br />Taskbar: Stardock has an app that does exactly that: turn 98´s taskbar into xp´s. It´s $15 tho. <br /> <br />Cursors: I think we can port them. Then we can adjust them to 98. <br /> <br />XpSkins: Window blinds does that, doesn´t it? You can port XP skins to wb too. <br /> <br />I still think you would really enjoy an alernative shell like LiteStep, but I knoe that isn´t what you want. That is drastic, and you want subtle. 8) <br /> <br /> <br />Anyway, pass me a few links here, and I´ll see what I can do. ^.^ <br />Btw, ever try out t-clock or eppie? Just curious.
Gregor Klevže
Member
Chickie: I was running windows xp on Celeron 300 Mhz with 128 Mb ram and it works pretty ok. Much better when I upgrade to 256mb. <br />And you can also have installed both system XP and 98 on your computer and just choose on the beggining which OS should be started. Maybe you should installed them and test it :) <br />
xenu
Member
/me winME :-) <br /> <br />but i want to have XP sometime because of the skinz :-)
chickie
Member
Grave - I need the link, please. :) Running 98 & XP? Hmmmm. Is it possible? :o
xenu
Member
I´ve seen 3 computers with windows xp home which are working pretty stupid :-) <br /> <br />but with xp pro i have never seen any problems at all - so when i´m going to buy xp it surely will be PRO :)
cuttheredwire
Member
Trave, I´m on 98 using 320 megs of ram. If you really want to know what 98 can do, talk to Wint (aka WinTweaker). The guy is a master not only at hacking the windows interface, but at optimizing 98 to perfection. From what I know it can have up to 512 ram. Possibly more. it uses it fine, and you can even turn off your swap file at that point. Not only has it been done, but there is site that tells you when and how you can do it. So far we haven´t been able to figure out how to do that with XP (and I know creaonics has tried). <br /> <br />I´ve seen 98 then XP on machines and 98 ran faster for us. Not saying what you saw didn´t happen, just it didn´t happen for me, and may not happen you chickie. <br /> <br />I agree with you 100% on the pricing. She would need a new hard drive, lots more ram, and the OS, and that is the same cost as a new computer.
craeonics
Member
XP seems slower because of all the fading and stuff. Switch that off and feels sort off the same. <br /> <br />Speaking of memory usage under XP: hell. I have 640M RAM and rarely ever peak above 300 or so (total), so I figured I could use a small virtual memory size (64M). *errr*. wrong! As soon as memory usage hops above 200 or so, XP starts complaining about "insufficient virtual memory" and what not. <br /> <br />Moral of this story: plenty of memory... unused, damn system prefers messing up the disk. <br /> <br />CacheMan and the ike, by the way, don´t work under XP. Well, they work, but can´t do anything.
cuttheredwire
Member
This would probly crash in a few secs, but I wonder if you could make a virtual ram drive and put the swap in there. If you could have it set to 200-300 megs it would seem like enough space. This is all in theory, so it probly would never really work.
Red: Win98 will read the memory fine. But check out any reliable pc benchmark site/magazine (my favorite is MaximumPC) in windows 98 any memory over 256 will not do much of anything since the diminishing returns are so bad. You could stick a gig of RAM in there and when you right click on "My Computer" it will tell you you have a gig. But your pc will perform like is 280 megs. <br />
chickie
Member
Thanx, Chichi. I´ll check out the taskbar wallpaper. :) <br /> <br />Red, you´re right. 98 runs faster. I heard XP runs slower. WinBlinds is fast with 98. I´ve decided to keep 98. Maybe, an app or program will have something better than ObjectBar. OBar sucks...big time! Not compatible with WinBlinds. Although, Visual Styles looks cool. WinBlinds is like Visual Styles. I´m obsessed with WinBlind skins. <br /> <br />What do ya think of TClock? Looks cool for a little app. ;) <br /> <br />
another_user
Member
Tclock rules! :) you can do great stuff with it,.. <br />i always have Tclock running on my older pc with win98...
