Quote:
Originally Posted by GeoffC
Bootable DOS ! Sacre Bleu !!!! - but at least in those days you had control ....
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I multi-boot DOS on my old notebook - Win2K Pro, Ubuntu Linux, Puppy Linux, and FreeDOS. Yes, it
does offer control. (Getting FreeDOS to boot from Grub 2 was an interesting experience, but once it did, it worked fine.)
I'd actually
like to replace Win2K with Win98SE, since most of what I need Windows for at all on the box could be handled by Win98 with the addition of
KernelEX. But Win98 insists on taking over the box, and provides no way I've found to tell it "Install to
this partition." I'd have to wipe the box, install Win98, then repartition to put the other stuff back. I'm not
quite ready to invest that level of effort.
I'm considering it at all because the box has an 867mhz Crusoe processor, and 256MB RAM (which the CPU grabs 16MB of off the top for code morphing.) It came from Fujitsu with WinXP Pro SP2, which wants 512MB minimum to think about running adequately. Performance was better imagined than described. Win2K seemed like a better fit, but while it technically runs, you grow old and gray waiting for anything to happen. It takes a full 8 minutes to simply boot.
The machine was a gift from a friend who had upgraded, and wanted to see it go to a good home. She loved it, but said it was "slow slow slow", and it took about 5 minutes after getting it to see why. WinXP Pro SP2. 256MB RAM. Right.
I put Linux on it as a better fit for older hardware, and it is, though hardly a speed demon. Win98SE is quite happy in 256MB RAM, and would probably have been a better option going in.
Meanwhile, I have pretty good control of XP on the desktop, where I trinpe boot Win2K, WinXP, and Ubuntu 9.10. The only area where control is really lacking is the ability to specify the order in which stuff run on start up is loaded.
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Dennis