Re: Xy on New PCs; icon; path

["Robert Holmgren" holmgren@xxxxxxxx]

** Reply to message from michael.norman@xxxxxxxx on Fri, 08 Nov 2002 16:04:50
-0500


> 2. Partition an XP machine and install W98SE

Sounds easy, but might not be. Scenario:

You buy a machine. XP is pre-installed on C: Now, XP can be installed on any
logical drive (D: E: etc) but Win98SE *must* go on C: So, OK, you're gonna put
W98 on C: and reinstall XP on D:, using vendor-supplied "system restore" CD for
reinstalling the XP Operating System. But guess what: the CD won't actually
"install" anything, it just recreates an image of the pre-installed system on
C: (wiping out everything else on the hard disk in the process, BTW). How do
you *move* an existing XP install from C: to D:, or else do a fresh install
using the "free" copy of XP that came with your machine, so that you can free
up C: and put W98 on it? Answer: you can't move it (no program out there can
readjust an entire NT Registry, including all the program entries, many of
which are not plain text, and some of which are obscurely or cryptographically
coded, not to mention third-party INItialization files, and etc etc), and you
might not be able -- using the supplied disk -- to install XP anywhere except
to C:. So what do you do, go out and buy a real copy of XP "full", for
installation on D: on *one* machine? (Remember: you have to phone in the XP
registration to activate it, and you can only do that on one machine!)

Anyway, plan carefully, before you plunge -- otherwise it could be frustrating,
time-consuming, and costly. Make sure that you are supplied with a genuine,
full XP installation disk -- not just a mirror image of the pre-installation.
Make sure you plan for interoperability (each OS can read the other's file
systems), which generally means FAT32 across the board.

Frankly, I'd try to fix XP first. I presume you're doing all this to get rid
of the intolerable jerkiness, right? There may be other solutions besides TAME
-- have you spent any time looking? Tame was just the first thing I saw, and I
happened to know the author; but I also don't happen to be distressed by this
problem, so I didn't invest any effort. Keyboard handlers? Screen refresh
utilities? Poke around. There's also no guarantee that an OS emulator is
going to solve this problem, which may have a large hardware component. Even
if you emulate W98, no way will NT permit 9X to directly manipulate the
hardware. Don't they make a 30-day trial?

-----------------------------
Robert Holmgren
holmgren@xxxxxxxx
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