#$@%!^* Windows'98

So I reformated my HD yesterday and today (yup I had to do it twice) to escape from the mountain of shit that had become my OS. It had been teetering on the edge of self oblideration for over a month now, under the weight of all the shit that had been done to it (read: inept girlfriend.) Anyhow I had lost my drivers disk for my network card and decided to see if there was a set of generics that would be compatible, and after installing these useless drivers I found myself unable to install the proper ones after I later got them. Hence the second reformatting. For whatever reason Windows refused to acknowledge that the drivers that I needed off the Win'98 disc were even there. I kept getting a message stating that they couln't be found until I reformated again and started with the proper driver set then It found everything I needed. Does anyone here know what the fuck that was all about?

Just get Windows 2003. Don't mess with that Windows 98 crap.

2003? :confused: XP?

It released in April, its a hell of a lot faster than XP. It's a server os thats based off of XP.

"Longhorn," aka Windows Server 2003.

This is a server OS. You may want to just get XP, as it will probably solve all problems you have with 98 (especially driver problems, it's very good at that). XP is the current Windows edition geared toward consumers. Server may not do certain things as well as XP, like playing games or some such.

If you want to do normal stuff, go with XP. If you need a more stable OS for a server, go with 2003.

If you or someone you know is in college, try to buy windows through the IT department. Only cost me $45 for XP Pro.

That's all fine and good. I figured I'd go the XP route when I get a new PC but none of this helps me answer why Windows refused to aknowledge that the proper drivers were on the disk the first time arround. I was just curious why it couldn't find the stuff until I reformated the second time.

Just get XP, or at least 2000. I still running 98 on my older PC, and its not very happy with it lately.

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Originally posted by Lhadatt
"Longhorn," aka Windows Server 2003.

This is a server OS. You may want to just get XP, as it will probably solve all problems you have with 98 (especially driver problems, it's very good at that). XP is the current Windows edition geared toward consumers. Server may not do certain things as well as XP, like playing games or some such.

If you want to do normal stuff, go with XP. If you need a more stable OS for a server, go with 2003.

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i thought longhorn was the one thats going into the 3-d desktop realm...the next "official" consumer release that looks a lot like os x. isnt 2003 just the stopgap release between xp and longhorn?

regedit is your friend and would have fixed that problem, that or going into safe mode and removing drivers works wonders on win98

My general rule of thumb is to put a copy of all functioning (read: not always latest) drivers on a cd and keep it with your OS cd, net card, video card, sound card, and modem drivers if you still suffer with one.

When time comes to crash and burn the OS, you have everything you need to at least get running to get on the net and get the latest drivers.

98 has really weird behavoir sometimes, I remember my last system running 98SE would always warn me the reference drivers for my Voodoo3 "were not writen for this hardware and may casue all sorts of nasty demons to emerge from your computer" or somthing like that.

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Originally posted by Dragonmaster Dyne
i thought longhorn was the one thats going into the 3-d desktop realm...the next "official" consumer release that looks a lot like os x. isnt 2003 just the stopgap release between xp and longhorn?

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Hrm... well, I saw "longhorn" on some Windows 2003 server bit torrents... :sweat:

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Originally posted by JMET
regedit is your friend and would have fixed that problem, that or going into safe mode and removing drivers works wonders on win98

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I refuse to go playing arround with my registry knowing nothing about what I'd be doing in there. I took me over a week to get comfortable with msconfig.

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Originally posted by ShineAqua
I refuse to go playing arround with my registry knowing nothing about what I'd be doing in there. I took me over a week to get comfortable with msconfig.

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:lol:

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Originally posted by Dragonmaster Dyne
i thought longhorn was the one thats going into the 3-d desktop realm...the next "official" consumer release that looks a lot like os x. isnt 2003 just the stopgap release between xp and longhorn?

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I don't know about this "3D desktop realm"... not sure where you're getting that... but yes, indeed, Longhorn is the next release of Windows consumer, so it isn't the tag for any currently released Windows OS.

Why is the most up to date Windows person in here the Mac guy?! *heh*

Bleh.

Just get Windows 2000 or XP. Trust me, it'll make your life a LOT easier. :)

My gf's laptop produces some type of exception handling error when she tries to run IE. Of course, she's running Win98... I thought it might be a problem with Windows resources so I told her to restart her laptop but it's still producing that problem. Reformatting is probably the last option, do you guys know what might be the problem? Maybe I should tell her to get a copy of Mozilla. :)

Windows will run fine if the person running it doesnt jack it up, yes even 98...

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Originally posted by slystaff
Windows will run fine if the person running it doesnt jack it up, yes even 98...

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By "jack it up" what do you mean? By its very nature, Windows 98 is like a time bomb, the fact that you use it causes it to get bogged down... XP and 2000 are not like this.

98 will run fine as long as your not doing destructive shit to it, by its nature you cant leave it running 24/7 without it getting bogged down.

However if you dont install allot of garbage or get in the habbit of massive installing/uninstalling its fine.

Keep it clean, turn off all the animated garbage, keep the crap out of the start up folder and clean within msconfig and everything is gravy.

Or just use a up to date version, and stop trying to be l33t.

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Originally posted by slystaff
98 will run fine as long as your not doing destructive shit to it, by its nature you cant leave it running 24/7 without it getting bogged down.

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Usually this isn't the problem. The problem is long term use of Win98, not leaving the machine on.

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Keep it clean, turn off all the animated garbage, keep the crap out of the start up folder and clean within msconfig and everything is gravy.

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I always kept my computer clean, however, Win98 would just get bogged down from the fact that I have too many files on my hard drive. This is what I meant by Win98 being a timebomb. Unless you use a computer only to browse the web and check e-mail, Win98 will eventually choke from being unable to manage all your files and applications.

Upgrade allready...

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Originally posted by 88mph
Or just use a up to date version, and stop trying to be l33t.

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Using a newer version of windows would be the better idea, particularly for those that cant maintain there OS.

What the fuck are you talking about, trying to be l33t?

Using old technology for the sake of using it.

Me calling someone "l33t" (or 1337, or what have you) is the same thing as calling them a stupid asshole.

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Originally posted by JMET
Upgrade allready...

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If you are referring to me, I've updated to XP for 2 years already. This is about my prior experiences with Windows 98. Lord, I'd go crazy if I still had 98 now...

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Originally posted by 88mph
Using old technology for the sake of using it.

Me calling someone "l33t" (or 1337, or what have you) is the same thing as calling them a stupid asshole.

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I know what leet means, just wasnt sure if you were directing it at me and if so why.

I dont run it anymore myself but for those who's machine specs wont handle xp or 2k they need to take certain steps to keep things running smoothly and it will if you know whats up..

My old computer was on '98 and was fucked up royally, like you wouldn't believe (probably from all those pr0n sites).

I installed XP, and it found and installed EVERY SINGLE component in my comp. Even my COM port, which had long ago mysteriously conked out, is working again (hello, DexDrive!).

XP is like a miracle. And it's running pretty damn well on my old ass P2 400. I was shocked and amazed, let me tell you.

I've been using Mandrake Linux for a few weeks now. I would say its even a little more stable than XP, it hasn't crashed once since I installed it. I am quite impressed :)

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Originally posted by 88mph
Or just use a up to date version, and stop trying to be l33t.

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What's up man, you haven't made with the newbie pic yet. Are you okay?

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Originally posted by FPM
I've been using Mandrake Linux for a few weeks now. I would say its even a little more stable than XP, it hasn't crashed once since I installed it. I am quite impressed :)

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I'd go Linux...

But 90% of the stuff I need either isn't available, or won't run in Linux. Then when you factor in possibily difficulties (even if it's a learning barrier), right now, Linux just isn't worth my time. :(

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Linux just isn't worth my time.

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Originally posted by shidoshi
I don't know about this "3D desktop realm"... not sure where you're getting that... but yes, indeed, Longhorn is the next release of Windows consumer, so it isn't the tag for any currently released Windows OS.

Why is the most up to date Windows person in here the Mac guy?! *heh*

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Us guys who know a lot about Macs are just moving on. We're all MCSE/Cisco/etc. certified techs who already know everything about Windows (because it's easy) and now we're moving on to Mac (which is hard underneath the surface).

Man, it was tough to type that. :lol:

I love Linux, personally, but I'm not sure I could call it quite there yet as far as the desktop goes. Granted, I haven't used Mandrake, which is one of those touted as the most user-friendly Linux, but in my experience it's still a little... off, if you will. Still, last time I used it as a desktop OS it did a hell of a lot better job recognizing the hardware than Windows did. ;)

One area I KNOW Linux isn't that good for right now, though, is laptops. Well, let me rephrase... if they're using recent ACPI-based power management, then it's not there yet. My old laptop had ACPI power management and RH Linux 9, and the battery died after about forty minutes. I gave up on running Linux on my laptop shortly afterwards. My Powerbook is now my UNIX desktop machine of choice. :)

Just my $.02...

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Originally posted by shidoshi
I don't know about this "3D desktop realm"... not sure where you're getting that... but yes, indeed, Longhorn is the next release of Windows consumer, so it isn't the tag for any currently released Windows OS.

Why is the most up to date Windows person in here the Mac guy?! *heh*

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because a friend of mine has a buddy that works in the .net department for MS. he just went to seattle last month to visit and he showed him "longhorn". apparently the minimum video card needed to run it will be a Radeon 9700 (which by the time the OS ships a year or 2 from now will be dirt cheap). he also said it looks a lot like mac os 10 and that the desktop is "3-d". i didnt press any more since we were at work and really busy.

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Originally posted by Dragonmaster Dyne
because a friend of mine has a buddy that works in the .net department for MS. he just went to seattle last month to visit and he showed him "longhorn". apparently the minimum video card needed to run it will be a Radeon 9700 (which by the time the OS ships a year or 2 from now will be dirt cheap). he also said it looks a lot like mac os 10 and that the desktop is "3-d". i didnt press any more since we were at work and really busy.

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Ok, thats bullshit. I have the lastest build of longhorn. Looks like OS X, but nowhere in hell could they make it 3-d. Back when they had Longhorn under wraps they said something along the lines of a "3-d desktop environment", but not now, not ever. All Longhorn is going to be is another version of XP with a new filesystem.

Pwn3d?

No










Fucking Owned..

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Originally posted by Dragonmaster Dyne
because a friend of mine has a buddy that works in the .net department for MS. he just went to seattle last month to visit and he showed him "longhorn". apparently the minimum video card needed to run it will be a Radeon 9700 (which by the time the OS ships a year or 2 from now will be dirt cheap). he also said it looks a lot like mac os 10 and that the desktop is "3-d". i didnt press any more since we were at work and really busy.

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That's either a lie or not true.

Your friend is bullshitting you, man.

BAM!

Ownage disqualified. They've already developed it -- what, you think they'll put this in the ancient builds they give to non-MS-insiders? HA! :p

That 1) looks like XP's graphis just circling around layered on top of each other, and 2) stupid, and not 3D. What application does any of this have? "Not a practical way to watch Star Wars," but YOU CAN DO IT! WHOO!!!

1) You are correct.
2) It's a demo. It even said that on the link. It's not meant to show actual application. And yes, it is 3D -- check the movie with the wavy dialog boxes. That certainly looks 3D and/or vectorized OS X-style to me.

MS is not going to reveal their tricks while Apple is able to issue a patch to OS X that can co-opt any new interface features before MS's product hits the market. That may sound stupid, but we have no solid idea what the next iteration of Windows is going to look like because MS hasn't said anything other than "it will be 3D". Check the previous pages on that article, it clearly goes into what they have planned, even if it doesn't show it in demo form.

That's true.

But why does it have to be 3D? What's the benefit? Virtual desktops are way better than 3D. I can't even think of what 3D would entail for an OS. Panther's fast user switching turns the screen into a cube and rotates, but that's about all I can think of.

Why does OS X need a vector graphics engine? :p

MS's reasoning is on that article. Click on "previous" to get to the other pages of it.

Something is needed to push the sales of newer faster hardware..

Microsoft has always led the pack in pushing this move...

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Originally posted by FPM
I've been using Mandrake Linux for a few weeks now. I would say its even a little more stable than XP, it hasn't crashed once since I installed it. I am quite impressed :)

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I'm considering Mandrake. I know almost nothing about configuring an OS. Can I handle Linux? I basically use my PC for browsing, media and documents.

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Originally posted by burgundy
I'm considering Mandrake. I know almost nothing about configuring an OS. Can I handle Linux? I basically use my PC for browsing, media and documents.

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Mandrake detected all of the hardware. No configuring for the most part. There are linux video players that you can get (I use XINE), and Mandrake comes with an audio player. Linux should have anything that Windows has for documents.

Agreed.

Mandrake should come with OpenOffice, which provides something like 95% compatibility with MS Office documents. If you want to take a look at it beforehand, there is a Windows version available at http://www.openoffice.org/ . I agree as far as Xine goes, as well... I used it for DVD playback on my Compaq laptop running Linux, among other things. Web browsing should be handled by Mozilla and Konqueror (which Apple's Safari is based on), and personally I think they're superior browsers to MSIE. Also, gaming isn't barren either... there are binaries for UT, UT2003, all of id Software's games, among others... not to mention the WineX project at http://www.transgaming.com/ .

To be on the safe side, I'd get a copy of Running Linux by O'Reilly Publishing, as Linux really is a different beast from Windows. Amazon has it for sale here.

Prepare for a rough first couple weeks while you get used to it and get everything tweaked and configured.

Mandrake should include most software you would want and should also install all hardware correctly.

3D graphic card drivers will probally need to be installed manually however if you want 3D performance in games.

The biggest thing is getting used to the look of different browsers and fonts etc....

I received my new PC and had zero trouble installing and configuring Mandrake, although I have to download the drives for my GeForce manually. (I'm not online with it yet.)

I'm also trying to get more comfortable with the command line, although I realized I was using UNIX pretty frequently when I was in school, and didn't realize it.

What do I need to play DVDs with Xine? I can play CDs, but can't activate DVD support.