Re: Do we actually need XP support?

[Harry Binswanger hb@xxxxxxxx]

Why is W2K superior to Win7 32-bit (which runs Xy with NTVDM just as XP does).

Regards,
Harry
> > I'm very much looking forward to your step-by-step instructions for VMWare.
> I hope to get that done in the next few days, but there isn't any rocket
> science. It's all very easy and quick.
> > If I decide to go that route, using Win 7 or Win 8.1 as my main OS,
> > what's the advantage of using W2K as the virtual OS rather than XP, which
> > has the benefit of long familiarity?
> Lynn, I too would have been more comfortable selecting XP, but I blindly
> took Kari's advice on this, and haven't regretted it. Some of his reasons
> are that it is lighter, faster, less of a memory hog. An enormous thing I
> love about W2K is that it doesn't require activation, so can never get
> egregiously unactivated. To be free of that detestable XP and post-XP
> activation mechanism is a great blessing for me. I hate activation.
> One of the major problems with running older operating systems natively is
> lack of modern video driver support. VMs counter this by providing their
> own up-to-the-minute video drivers. So, for example, with VMware, W2K
> operates perfectly with my 3200x1800 screen, even though that resolution
> was scarcely available on even the most high end systems when W2K came
> out. That is one of the reasons I prefer VMware to VirtualBox. With
> VirtualBox, setting up screen resolution, especially for high-resolution
> screens, is much more fiddly.
> I was looking for a solution that would get me to stable XyWrite with the
> minimum of fuss. That's what I found with VMware and W2K. Please note that
> the way I set it up, W2K does not communicate with the internet. That's
> what I wanted: it saves me having to worry about attacks, viruses, etc.
> The host operating system (Win 7 or 8.1) provides all the internet access
> I need, and as I pointed out to Henry, all you have to do to cut and paste
> is press Ctrl-C in your Win7/8 program, then alt-tab to XyWrite, and
> right-click to paste. It's as simple as that, with the proviso that, as we
> all painfully know, pasting an upper ascii character (like a true
> apostrophe or an em-dash) from Windows to the DOS program drives XyWrite
> mad with grief. Manuel on this list has documented his system for dealing
> with that (getting XyWrite onto a Windows codepage) but I have yet to
> implement this, though it's on my to-do list.
> I am sure Kari has a lot of other reasons for boosting W2K in this context
> - - I felt there was no point in not taking advantage of his considerable
> experience, and I really didn't have to know the details. Lack of
> activation and semi-official-retired-and-therefore-free status is enough
> for me. Add to that, convenient ISOs are available (I will be providing
> links) so no worries about messy CD media.
> Above all, it's known that it works, period, with XyWrite, and that counts
> for a lot.