Now What's The Better Choice, W2K SP3 or WXP SP1?

[adamvjackson 0]

I am genuinely surprised how close the poll has been running.

[adamvjackson 0]

Quote:

I'm falling for Linux, I'm a sick man...

So, Clutch, which disto are you using?

[adamvjackson 0]

Ahh I answered my own question. Mandrake 8.2, as noted on linuxcompatible.org... So, 9.0 is coming out in a few days... I think I'll give that a go again, and also Red Hat 8.0, in a month or so.

[clutch 1]

Actually, I am running RH 7.3. I haven't used Mandrake since 6.x. This version is pretty nice, and I am just trying to get used to the differences in getting around (amending my PATH in BASH was fun, as I was trying to include my java installation). However, after going back to command line mgmt I am starting to catch myself performing *nix commands in Windows every now and again (like ls -a and things like that)...

 

[adamvjackson 0]

Totally off-topic, sorry, but I just noticed how the ICQ icon in one's profile changes color to reflect if they're online or not... Cool.

[Admiral LSD 0]

Quote:

However, after going back to command line mgmt I am starting to catch myself performing *nix commands in Windows every now and again (like ls -a and things like that)...

I hear ya there... Apparently there are DOS (and hopefully Win32 console) versions of those same GNU tools about but I wouldn't have a clue where to find them.

[clutch 1]

We have the MKS Toolkit, which is a Unix command interpretor/shell for NT at work. We got it for our EDI program, as it was initially developed for Unix and they have been too damn lazy to write one natively for NT (and because of this, it has many odd problems). Honestly, I'm not so sure I would want to install many of those utils on my system, but I have thought about looking for a version of EMACS and vi for Windows since I will be using those in school.

 

Oh, after a quick check on Google, I found this link that you might, in turn, find interesting...

 

http://worldwidemart.com/mattw/software/WindowsNT/miscutil/

[Immortal 0]

I must say ive had a hellova lot more BSODS on XP than 2K, but thats prob becuase i added my ADSL modem when i got XP!

Anyway ive had no other problems with winXP apart from the occasional BSOD relating to my ADSL modem, and power consuption (my old chipset doesnt like to give over 500ma to the USB, but this modem sometimes needs more).

XP SP1 adds some good features, like any SP should do!

[Admiral LSD 0]

Quote:

Probably ALL you need, I have these here myself & put them into my %Windir%\System32 once installed & extracted... not only the stuff here but extra stuff as I find it:

http://gnuwin32.sourceforge.net/links.html

(This one's LOADED, there are others too out there)

I believe this one below is on that URL above, but it zeros in on some...

http://unxutils.sourceforge.net/

*

APK

P.S.=> Have your "Unix Cake" and eat it too, with Win32 frosting in console terminals DOS Window mode... apk

APK, YOU DA MAN!!!!

Thanks!

[CyberGenX 0]

Status Report:

 

 

So far have not seen one stutter, snort, sniff, stall, crash, BSOD, delay, hang or anything resembling a Windows crash or failure!!! 2000 SP3 going strong. See you when SP2 for XP or SP4 for 2000 comes out. Highly recommend RAID 0, makes everything load so much faster. When XP SP1 was on this same computer I had 3 BSODs, 5 huge delay/hang issues and 1 un-invoked restart.

 

Couldn't see the benefit of XP over 2000. I think I will get at least another 9 months to a year out of this OS before switching to XP SP2(when avail.). I didn't like having to disable all the crap after the fresh install either. The list of running services in XP over 2K is insane!!! As far as games go, all the games I play run fine out of the box on either OS. I noticed though, that XP has trouble with beta NVidia drivers compared to 2K.

[Admiral LSD 0]

heh, there probably isn't going to be an SP4 for 2000. Not that I care, like I said earlier, I gave up on 2000 a year ago and am never going back. I only got SP3 because it came on a magzine cover disc.

 

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There is many others & they add them over time, so you may wish to keep an eye on those pages & others like "CygWin" as well... and if you are into PERL as many Unix fiends are?

 

Keep your eyes peeled at www.activestate.com !

 

* They have a really good and decent port of PERL to Win32 as well, great system scripting tool...

 

 

APK

 

I have CygWin but the problem with that is that it's a self contained environment, you have to "boot it up" when what I want is for the commands to be available from any command prompt window which that package you linked to appears to do quite nicely.

 

As for Perl, I can't say that I'm all that into it, if I wanted to learn something like that I'd probably look at PHP. I tried that ActiveState Perl once, when I was trying out all kinds of forum software but couldn't get it to work properly so I gave up. I have the real thing on my Linux box anyway so I might give it another shot there.

[clutch 1]

The list of services is "insane" eh? I am assuming that you mean XP Pro has many, many more services than 2K Pro does, right? Why don't you list them, and list why they are bad or potentially performance robbing for the new users here. You seem to have an opinion on this, so share your data with the group...

[DosFreak 2]

IIRC, the list of services between 2k/xp are pretty much the same....

 

As for SP4 for 2K there will be one.....hopefully. The hotfix directory is on the MS ftp but so was SP7 for NT4......

[CyberGenX 0]

I am just saying that for a lot of people some of these services (and others) are not needed and run by default.

 

Fast User Switching

Secondary Login

System Restore

Themes

Windows Audio

Automatic Updates

Wireless Zero Config

Smart Card

 

There's a couple more I just don't have access to an XP (fresh install) machine right now, all my machine's run 2K or 2K Server. My woman's machine has XP but I have already disabled all the default stuff. The list is ALMOST twice as long as 2K's default services (fresh install).

[clutch 1]

Quote:

IIRC, the list of services between 2k/xp are pretty much the same....

Yeah, I know. The few differences are mostly additional support for newer devices (like the smartcard reader) that don't have any perceivable impact on system performance anyway. I was just wanting to see what qualified as "insane"...

[DosFreak 2]

If 8 is "insane" then .... 8)

[CyberGenX 0]

I didn't say 8, I just listed 8 of the x that I could remember. Sorry, how about "a bit much" instead of "insane". I think even 8 is more than you need for PRO, maybe on HOME version you want to slow the computer down a little but not in a coporate environment.

[clutch 1]

Ohhhhh, I get it. "x" is insane while "8" is merely "wacky". Gotcha.

 

Now, of the listed services, I can only think of 2 ("Windows Audio" and "Themes") that would not *necessarily* apply to a "corporate" environment. Now, if you can't see how the other services would be used in a professional environment then you probably haven't administered (or at least toured) many networks. The smart card readers are brilliant, and we have thought about using them ourselves on the production floor; wireless zero config is intended to make wireless configuration and administration easier (I use my iPAQ and Intermec handhelds wireless, but not workstations as such); System restore is self evident; etc.

[Four and Twenty 0]

well in a corprate environment the sys admin can config the workstation to work exactly the way that they want so what is the problem

all the random shit in xp is linked to the group policies so it can easily be modified accross the network via AD

whats the problem?

[DosFreak 2]

Automatic Updates is handy too

 

and Faster User Switching is too but not used by me since my computers are connected to the network.

[Admiral LSD 0]

Quote:

Fast User Switching I turn this one off because my system doesn't have enough RAM for it. Might turn it back on when my upgrade is complete though
Secondary Login Dunno what this one does but if its on by default, it's probably still on on my machine
System Restore I have this one turned off too but theres been a couple of times where I could have used it. Again, I may turn it back on when my upgrade is complete and I have a bigger hard drive
Themes This one lets you get rid of the crappy Windows Classic skin right? This one is never getting turned off
Windows Audio see: Secondary Login
Automatic Updates I have this one on but have it set to notify me of new updates but only download and install them when I tell it too
Wireless Zero Config see: Secondary Login
Smart Card see: Secondary Login

[pmistry 0]

Is there anyway to make Windows XP Pro run like Windows XP Home? What I mean is to load only the default services with XP Home and not the extra ones with Pro?

[Four and Twenty 0]

you can just disable whatever services you want in pro

so try to get a list of what is on by default in home and disable everything that is not on that list in pro