win98 or win2k

[dchip]

I have stuck with Win98SE for some time now.
It's very stable and seems to be compatible with everything on the shelf. Win 2000 and especially WinME seem to be hit-or-miss when it comes to being able to fully implement in a new or existing system. As for filesize limits, that has not been a problem for me because my Canopus editing package is capable of making Win98SE work with any size file.

[Dr Mordrid]

I'm largely sticking with Win98SE as well. I do have a couple of Win2K partitions on the rig but they are only used for betatesting for now.

Maybe when everything I use is Win2K ready I'll transfer my email and other stuff, but not now....

Dr. Mordrid


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Asus P3B-F 6 PCI
PIII/850
Gigabyte GA-6R7+ slotkey
Matrox G400/Flex3D
Matrox RT-2000
256 megs RAM
Promise SuperTrak100 (4 x 60g IBM 75GXP: 240g RAID0)
AWE64 Gold

[Jonathan Beilin]

I'd choose Win2K. I betatested Win2k and ran it ever since. Yeah, it had some major problems at first, but now Win2k +SP1 and DX8 runs all my apps just fine. Office 2K, Adobe Photoshop, After Effects, Ulead MSP6, and various games. It's a bit finicky, but I now have unlimited file sizes, more stability and speed. It all depends on how good you are with computers, or possibly your config (I hear AMD users don't like Win2k as much as I do ;-)

------------------
-Jonathan Beilin
http://www.unrealtournament.org
Abit BX6R2@133 Mhz FSB, P2-400@533, 128MB PC133 SDRAM, G400 MAX, Hansol 19", MX300, Altec Lansing ACS56, Zen 52X CDROM, and 1746 MP3s. 2046 3DMarks (3DMark2K).

[jeffw]

Jonathon, you use Win2k with MSP6.
Do you use a firewire card successfully?
If so, which card?
To which camera(s)?
Can you send DV both directions?
Does it control your camera properly?

I'm using Win98 original right now, and it works fine for everything
except writing DV back to the camcorder over the firewire card.
I'm planning on upgrading to 98SE, but if I can confirm that everything
will work with W2K I'd rather go that route.

I have a Pyro Firewire card and an Canon Optura Pi.
MB is Abit BH6 with a Celeron OC'ed to 707MHz.

jeffw


[This message has been edited by jeffw (edited 17 December 2000).]

[rchapoteau]

win98 or win2k

Hey. I am putting together a new pc, and I was wondering which operating system should I go with, and why? I am thinking about putting either 98 or 2k, but I'm not sure which I want to go with. If I do 2k I will put on NTFS just for the ability to go over 4GB on a file. It may not be a neccessity though. I think 98 will be more compatible with certain pieces of software though. Just wanted to know your oppinions. Thanx.

[Jonathan Beilin]

For my firewire card, I use the $49.95 house brand compusa card. It works
like a dream with my JVC DVL-9800U. It goes in, and back out. No problem, automated,etc. Your hardware sounds fine, but what software are you using?
Premiere 5 is a bit of a pain to get working, but 6.0 is a good deal better.
In terms of Win2k compatibility, Ulead works best for me.

And you've got some sweet hardware there!
Best luck,

------------------
-Jonathan Beilin
http://www.unrealtournament.org
Abit BX6R2@133 Mhz FSB, P2-400@533, 128MB PC133 SDRAM, G400 MAX, Hansol 19", MX300, Altec Lansing ACS56, Zen 52X CDROM, and 1746 MP3s. 2046 3DMarks (3DMark2K).

[wkulecz]

Obviously I recommend w2k. I've bannished w9x from every computer I support.

IMHO, the only two reasons to stick with w9x are if you're stuck needing to use hardware from lamers that can't produce working w2k drivers -- weed 'em out now, why suffer later when "whistler" is crammed down your throat; or your motherboard has a VIA chipset.

W2k is definitely more miss than hit on VIA chipset motherboards right now.

I've had great success with w2k on Atheleon with Gigabyte and ASUS motherboards that have AMD750 chipsets. Even the ASUS P5A Ali aladin supersocket7 with AMD K6-3 simply installed and worked without hassles of any kind.

I've tried two Athelon and one PIII installs on VIA chipset motherboards have all been dismal failures.

My advice is don't buy anything new that lacks working w2k drivers 'cause if you do there is a high probability it'll be an orphan when "whistler" replaces WinMe next year.

W2k definetly sucks less that any previous MS offering!

If you insist on staying with win9x I'd avoid winMe -- I've seen far too many broken systems from installing win98 or win95 drivers on it.

If you need firewire, I think its 98se or nogo. But w2k is well worth the hassle if DV and firewire is your editing choice. Ulead MSP6.0 works great in w2k with cheap OHCI firewire cards, but only after you download and install the DVpatchII (much like MSP5.0 was worhtless until you applied the 5.2 update patch).

--wally.

[wkulecz]

MSI is not one I've tried, but are you running PC133 RAM at work?

I've tried installing w2k on three different motherboards with VIA chipsets that are supposed to be PC133 RAM. None worked well enough to install any application software. Two were Athelon, one was PIII.

That was a few months ago, I'd like to find out that VIA has fixed the problems.

If you are using PC133 RAM at work, what chipsets are on your dual CPU MSI board???
WHad drivers did you install that weren't on the w2k CD.

Wait a minute! Isn't dual PIII Intel BX chipset only?

VIA also makes sound chips and "super I/O" -- these are't the problem, its the VIA AGP and PC133 memory interface chips. I think people often call it the "northbridge". When this function is done with a VIA chipset I've heard of little good and w2k, when its Intel BX, 8x0, or AMD750 I've heard of no real problems.


I too have been running w2k since Feb. I had the OEM CD a week before the retail release and have never looked back.

--wally.

[Fred H]

A lot of reviews and experts explain, if I understand it right, that W2K is best for medium or large networks, offices etc, not for single or home users.
Correct me if I'm wrong.
I'll give my vote for W98SE. (oh nooo, don't use this word, "vote" again... )


Fred H

[wkulecz]

Unless you bought your computer to play games or re-installing win9x is one of your favorite pasttimes, those "experts" are full of it.

Install w2k at home let everyone else use it by logging in as user or poweruser, be amazed at how it doesn't break and they don't overwrite each other's files. Sure you have to learn a little about administrating it, but overall its a big win timewise.

I like multi-tasking but not multi-user so my wife and I have seperate computers, but since setting her up with w2k as "poweruser" I've had to do nothing to her machine ever since! It looks enough like win98 that she hardly noticed the difference -- mostly changes in outlook express gave it away :-) She has noticed that it hasn't crashed or locked up since the change!

--wally.

[Pertti]

Jep, That was what they were aiming at with Windows 2000 "Pro". Providing a safe environment for those who needed it for using MS Office and other "Professional" MS applications, and a platform for those database applications. That was also what was tested on it.

The main idea behind the OS (W2K "Pro") is "Safe", and it does enough backing up, caching and storing to last you a life time, one starts wondering if the files will ever reach the final storage place.

In keeping it safe, they have not given even the "Administrator" enough tools/options to make the OS behave for certain purposes, where being safe is far from the major concerns.

As far as I am concerned, W2K is the MB240Diesel of operating systems, if you are driving 100000km/year, it is worth every penny, but don't expect it to win any races.

Pertti
(Running stable with W95a/W95B/W98SE/W2K)

[Grigory]

Interesting:
We upgraded our company computers to MSI dual CPU motherboards with VIA chipset and PIII 800.
8 machines were successfully installed. We use win2k both for SMP and for stability reasons.
Everything works fine: network, sound,...
WinNT has more problems, for example it cannot shut down.
But with win2k we did not get problems at all. The only one we got: 3 of 10 Fujitsu drives failed to work in several days. Only switching to DMA33 by replacing the cables and running Fujitsu utility helped to solve that problem.
I am using 3 computers - all are running in heavy conditions (100% CPU load and high disk activity on one of them) for three weks and never had troubles.

What are the problems with win2k and VIA chipsets?

I vote for win2k.

Grigory

At home:
Win2K since february
PIII 700(933)
256 MB RAM
ASUS CUBX
DV RAPTOR
ATI rage fury pro 32MB
some IDE hard drives

[electric_android]

I use win2k on a ABit BP6 with 2 500 celerons works fine but does not support Rainbow Runner studio software, and rainbow runner hard ware does not support dual processors - doh.
Instead use two K6-2 500 based systems one with win98se the other with ME to capture and play back to tape, editing is done on the dual processor pc using Premiere 5.1 and the Morgan Multimedia soft codec. Everything so far is ok, but only been using this setup for arround a month now.

Paul

[hapz]

I am using a Supermicro PIIIDR3 mobo which is Intel 840 based. I am running Win98SE, WinME, and Win2000 on that PC, basically to cover all bases
I have been running Win2000 as my main OS since May and never looked back. Not only is it much more stable, it is also much (!) faster in many respects than Win98SE. Despite all the badmouthing, my second choice is WinME. I have had no problems with running Win98 drivers for applications that do not offer separate WinME drivers.

Now, if only all suppliers would take Win2000 more seriously and supply more than just beta software that lacks features found in their Win98 versions, the world would be (almost) perfect. Strangely enough, the ONLY laggarts I have on my system are Matrox and Creative ;(

------------------
Harald

[Jerry Jones]

It's a myth that newer VIA chipsets don't work for NLE.

In fact, Krysalis System Integrators in Vancouver, Washington, USA are doing a booming business building Athlon/Via KT133 chipset combinations using the Asus A7V motherboard.

Here's a quote from their Web site:

>Our AMD Athlon
>processor-based
>systems are built
>around the Asus® A7V™
>mainboard utilizing
>VIA®'s KT133™ chipset.

>The Athlon is a
>generation ahead of
>the Pentium III in
>many ways, and offers
>a rich feature set;
>ATA100, AGP 4X, 4 or
>more USB ports, 200MHz
>Front-Side Bus, PC-133
>and VC-133 memory
>support. AMD has
>announced their 761
>chipset, which offers
>DDR-SDRAM support and
>a 266MHz Front-Side Bus
>supporting new Athlon
>processors. We plan to
>implement the AMD 761™
>as our primary chipset
>for Athlon systems as
>soon as we can certify
>it in our labs.

>All Athlon processors
>in our systems are based
>on the Thunderbird™ core,
>which includes a 256KB
>synchronous Level 1
>cache and comes
>packaged in a Socket
>A form factor.
http://www.krysalisproductions.com/s..._guide.htm#AMD

Mr. Tyler Hawes is a frequent contributor the Canopus DV Raptor forum and his customers often praise him for his work in configuring their systems.

I'm told Via motherboards *can* be problematic if you're not familiar with the bios settings that are necessary.

There's no question in my mind the Athlons
are very fast - great raw power. But I'm
not happy to hear the suggestion the mpEGG
plug-in can't be used on Athlon systems.