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Win2000 Still Performs on 8-year-old Hardware
Daniel Iversen writes "Still 95% compatible with Windows XP, The Windows 2000 OS still runs very well on very old hardware - hardware with low specs it was never even meant to run on (tech setup guide - not a review). The broad question is, does the fact that you can remain compatible with today's applications and data on hardware that is almost a decade old, impede PC sales?"
I don't think today's typical applications would run too well on 8-year-old hardware. It may be possible, but I think it would be generally more cost-efficient to just upgrade just a little bit. It would be more efficient in time and power consumption, not to mention better at preserving your sanity.
Windows 2000 is amazing-- blazing fast and solid as a rock. I tried XP for a couple months and quickly switched back to 2000. Unfortunately, as Microsoft slowly discontinues updates, patches, and support for Windows 2000, you will eventually have to migrate to XP, 2k3, or Longhorn.
I installed Windows Server 2003 a year or two ago and haven't looked back. It has all of the stability and speed of 2000, except with the improved compatibility and features of XP. Subjectively, I can tell you that it doesn't "deteriorate" like XP does. (Your mileage may vary.) And did I mention it was blazing fast on my dated hardware?
It uses a newer kernel than XP, for the record. One of the major differences I've noticed is that windows redraw more smoothly with less flickering, especially in Explorer. It includes XP's WiFi connectivity features, too.
There's an excellent site dedicated to using Server 2003 as a workstation, including instructions on how to disable unnecessary services and processes.
Users doing the occassional word-processing, checking email, and web surfing will be perfectly happy with an 8 year old PC.
:-)
Actually, you know what's funny? I keep a win98 box around for a ham radio program I want to use occasionally, and for casual browsing in the shed: it's connected to the net, and it's almost never impacted by viruses and winnukes anymore. I have a feeling that, now that win95/98/ME aren't the most common Windows revisions anymore, virus and worm writers focus their attention on more modern Windows and as a result, my silly old Windows box is left alone now
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
I'd just say:
Nlite, nuff said.
But then you wouldn't see how this measures up to the article in question. So I'll say it like this:
Windows XP SP2 running on a Pentium 166 mhz with 32 meg RAM, only possible with Nlite.
I ran this along with Xampp to provide myself with a nice little development box that could still use Firefox/Thunderbird so roommates could read the web, play web games, and check their email.
I didn't hear any complaining except during playback of certain XviD and DivX files in BSplayer.
What was that turbo button for? IIRC, it didn't do... anything. At all. On any operating system.
IIRC, many games and other software written for the original IBM PC used software timing loops for delays (assuming the watch to be at 4.77 MHz). As faster 286 and 386 machines started showing up, the software that depended on those loops became unusable. So manufacturers added a "slow" mode, for compatibility. The turbo button remained a feature on cases for a long time after; many builders didn't connect it to anything.
On a lot of old machines it actually changed the clock multiplier. Back when there wasn't a new, faster processor stepping every 5 minutes people wrote games that used loops for timing. When you bought your new 286 to replace the 8086, all your games ran too fast. Hence the turbo button. Turn it off and halve your clock speed.
Why?
Turning it off on some OLD computers would actually downclock it to 4.77MHz to run programs that assumed timing of the original XT. Newer computers (486, early pentium) BIOSes ignored the hardware turbo pin and left the CPU at full speed at all time, except some had hard-coded shortcut keys such as my 486DX4-100 machine which had CTRL+ALT+PGDN to disable turbo, and CTRL+ALT+PGUP to re-enable it. You sure could notice if you where playing Doom and turned turbo off: Super slow mode!
Morphing Software
What performance hit from Win98 -> XP were you expecting? Could you post the quantitative speed analysis numbers, please?
/ evaluation/sysreqs/default.asp
/ sysreqs.mspx
http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/professional
64MB RAM Minimum, 133MHz CPU Minimum.
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/evaluation
128MB RAM Minimum (Though it'll install on 64) and 300MHz CPU.
So if 2000 needs less to function, that leaves more for the rest of our software. And stop with the Weasel Words.
-Pope Peter Porker, S.O.W., K.M.K.R., U.G.O.A., F.S.G.S.D.