Ping: Glen Ventura and Franc Zabkar

"J. P. Gilliver (John)" wrote in
:

In message
, Bill in
Co writes:
thanatoid wrote:
philo wrote in
:

Almost makes me want to run win98 again

I love it. The LITE version. Active Desktop etc. are
unbearable.

I never ran Active Desktop with Win98SE - you don't need
the Lite version for that. What other "etc" you're
talking about, who knows. Win98SE is, in itself, pretty
light.


Well, essentials like graded-colour title bars, and other
eye-candy ...

The DisplaySet utility from PC Magazine - no longer available,
but I can post it if anyone wants it - works under lite, and it
works under XP as well.

You can have blended title bars and whatever the hell you want.
I like my title bars solid, but (YEARS ago) I used this utility
to make everything shades of grey. I used to play with colors a
lot, to the astonishment of my idiot co-workers who didn't know
icons could be moved on the desktop let alone colors changed.,
but it gets a little tiring after a while.

All shades of gray is nice and peaceful.

I /DO/ have different colors for text and background in the
various text editors I use. Black and white works foe books but
not for computer screens - for me, anyway.

"thanatoid" wrote in message
...
thanatoid wrote in
:

"Bill in Co" wrote in
news
I was under the impression that Win98SE improved the
(albeit already limited) USB support.

Supposedly, but it only works on my circa 2003 Compaq, not on
the 1997 PCChips.

And also large disk
support, but I'm not sure on the latter - it's been awhile.

I can't remember how or when, but I put in an 80GB drive in
addition to the 8.4 one, and while the BIOS sees them both as
8,4, Windows 98SEL sees the whole
thing.

I forgot to finish the sentence. It's been a rough day.

What I can't remember how or when I did is HOW I made that 1997
MB see a drive larger than 8.4 GB. I DO remember /physically/
putting in the drive, since I just did it a couple of days ago.

Sigh.

snip

Drive Modes:
CHS - cylinder, head, sector
Auto - BIOS check if the drive
Supports Logical Block Addressing
(LBA) mode. If so, LBA mode
is enabled and used, Otherwise CHS
mode is used.


in the BIOS
Setup
@
Primary IDE Drives Configure

Drive Type Auto
Drive Modes: CHS
Cylinder: ?
Head: 16
Sector: 64

You have too go your HHD website to get how manly Cylinder
you have to put it in to get and Old PCU to read it!

on that MB there is a Model # we need it to help you out!

--
http://hot-text.ath.cx

In message , Bill in Co
writes:
J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:
[]
I'm actually running XP on what is probably my main machine (this
Samsung 12" netbook, an NC-20); I feel XP has sort of reached the
position '9x had a few years ago (though I still don't like a lot about
it - much to do with NTFS rather than XP itself, I suspect).

I think so too, although unlike you, I don't mind NTFS. I think XP and
NTFS together helped to contribute to WinXPs MUCH improved reliability (e.g:

Oh, the XP/NTFS combo seems to work fine - I just liked being able to
boot from floppy and still get at my files (using an interface - DOS - I
understand; I'm sure there will be people bursting to tell me that they
have something floppy-bootable that can get at NTFS files).

like seeing few, if any, blue screens; or running out of resources; or

I can't think the resources aspect can be NTFS-related.

having to reboot a couple of times to get something to install or uninstall
properly; or to even restart some programs properly after some "hiccups",
etc, etc.. I am not looking forward to the day when I may have to get a
new computer that doesn't have XP (or XP capability due to driver issues).
And WinXP is big enough as it is for an operating system! It's gone far
enough. :-)

Me neither )-:.

I'm using WinXP on my main desktop computer (my other older backup computer
uses Win98SE). But there are some programs I can't even run on Win98SE,
such as SoundForge (except for the very oldest versions), and several other

(I use GoldWave; not sure whether the very latest versions run on '98,
but certainly it did until recently. Don't know for video editing
though.)

audio and video editing programs. But then again, I'm still using Office
2000, however, which is fine by me. I don't need all the bells and
whistles (and ribbons) in the newer versions.

I'm using Office 2003, but Office '97 would do me for most things (I
like the tables additions, but could live without them). (My employer
still uses '03 so far.)

I considered getting a laptop or netbook as a backup computer, but I don't
think I can get used to the idea of not using a mouse, which I guess most

Well, you actually get used to a touchpad very quickly (in fact there
are some things it does _better_ - and some it does less well), but you
can always use a mouse anyway, the touchpad isn't obligatory!

do. I don't travel much, which I assume is why you got a netbook. But I

I don't actually use it while travelling, in fact I very rarely use it
on battery power at all, but it is useful to be able to take it when
visiting others (for genealogical reasons or because I visit others to
help with computer problems and it's useful to have my own PC there).

sometimes think it would be a nice (much smaller, and much more space
efficient) replacement for this old Win98 desktop, except that I don't think
you can find any new WinXP netbooks anymore. Well, maybe I should look
again, just for kicks.

Depends what you mean by "new". I have certainly seen the odd one when
I've looked in the usual high-street stores, but it's usually been an
end-of-line one, and that would be up to a few months ago; you probably
can't get them now. Let me see:

http://www.dabs.com/products/acer-as...q=XP%20netbook
has XP (and Google Android), but that's UK, as is
http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/refurb...-criteria.html

--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G.5AL-IS-P--Ch++(p)Ar@T0H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

Old soldiers never die - only young ones

J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:
In message , Bill in Co
writes:
J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:
[]
I'm actually running XP on what is probably my main machine (this
Samsung 12" netbook, an NC-20); I feel XP has sort of reached the
position '9x had a few years ago (though I still don't like a lot about
it - much to do with NTFS rather than XP itself, I suspect).

I think so too, although unlike you, I don't mind NTFS. I think XP and
NTFS together helped to contribute to WinXPs MUCH improved reliability
(e.g:

Oh, the XP/NTFS combo seems to work fine - I just liked being able to
boot from floppy and still get at my files (using an interface - DOS - I
understand; I'm sure there will be people bursting to tell me that they
have something floppy-bootable that can get at NTFS files).

I liked being able to boot to DOS too in case anything went awry, as I could
on my Win98SE system, but gave that up convenience for the benefits of NTFS.

And yes, there are some read and write utility programs that can access NTFS
vloumes from a bootable flash drive, but I grant you it was easier just
having it being able to boot to DOS directly. But then again, I haven't
had a need to do this, unlike when I was running Windows 95 or 98 and
messing around with the system.

Actually, I can still boot to DOS on a flash drive I created, if I want to
play around with some DOS apps. But again, unless you have one of those
other utility programs on it, you won't be able to read or write to NTFS
volumes. Reading NTFS volumes is pretty easy using NTFS4DOS or whatever,
but writing to NTFS takes a better app.

like seeing few, if any, blue screens; or running out of resources; or

I can't think the resources aspect can be NTFS-related.

No, I think part that was just due to the Win9x limitations.

having to reboot a couple of times to get something to install or
uninstall
properly; or to even restart some programs properly after some "hiccups",
etc, etc.. I am not looking forward to the day when I may have to get a
new computer that doesn't have XP (or XP capability due to driver
issues).
And WinXP is big enough as it is for an operating system! It's gone far
enough. :-)

Me neither )-:.

I'm using WinXP on my main desktop computer (my other older backup
computer
uses Win98SE). But there are some programs I can't even run on Win98SE,
such as SoundForge (except for the very oldest versions), and several
other

(I use GoldWave; not sure whether the very latest versions run on '98,
but certainly it did until recently. Don't know for video editing
though.)

The older versions do, and if you're lucky, you might be able to get the
newer ones to install too, but they just don't "support it". Goldwave is
very good, *especially* for the price. A lot better than Audacity, I
think!

audio and video editing programs. But then again, I'm still using
Office
2000, however, which is fine by me. I don't need all the bells and
whistles (and ribbons) in the newer versions.

I'm using Office 2003, but Office '97 would do me for most things (I
like the tables additions, but could live without them). (My employer
still uses '03 so far.)

I probably could have lived with Office 97 too. But work forced me to
upgrade, so to speak. :-)

I considered getting a laptop or netbook as a backup computer, but I
don't
think I can get used to the idea of not using a mouse, which I guess most

Well, you actually get used to a touchpad very quickly (in fact there
are some things it does _better_ - and some it does less well), but you
can always use a mouse anyway, the touchpad isn't obligatory!

Does everyone you know who tries a laptop really get used to using a
touchpad instead, of a mouse? Or are some of those laptop users almost
always using the mouse? I can't imagine what it does better, unless by
simply pressing on the pad you get something done, vs clicking a mouse.

do. I don't travel much, which I assume is why you got a netbook. But I

I don't actually use it while travelling, in fact I very rarely use it
on battery power at all, but it is useful to be able to take it when
visiting others (for genealogical reasons or because I visit others to
help with computer problems and it's useful to have my own PC there).

sometimes think it would be a nice (much smaller, and much more space
efficient) replacement for this old Win98 desktop, except that I don't
think
you can find any new WinXP netbooks anymore. Well, maybe I should look
again, just for kicks.

Depends what you mean by "new". I have certainly seen the odd one when
I've looked in the usual high-street stores, but it's usually been an
end-of-line one, and that would be up to a few months ago; you probably
can't get them now. Let me see:

http://www.dabs.com/products/acer-as...q=XP%20netbook
has XP (and Google Android), but that's UK, as is
http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/refurb...-criteria.html

Well, I too looked online, and there are some for about $400 or $500 over
here. I saw some advertised on eBay, with a "Buy Now" plan so you don't
have to bid, and from some of the larger sellers (and not just some Joe Blow
in his garage). They were nearly new or refurbished, and had Windows XP
(often Pro) and the Service Packs installed on them by the seller, as a
convenience to the buyer (who knows, they may have originally had Vista).

But I think I'll probably stick with what I've got now.

In message , Bill in Co
writes:
[]
And yes, there are some read and write utility programs that can access NTFS
vloumes from a bootable flash drive, but I grant you it was easier just
having it being able to boot to DOS directly. But then again, I haven't

And none of them can be booted from a floppy, AFAIK!
[]
volumes. Reading NTFS volumes is pretty easy using NTFS4DOS or whatever,
but writing to NTFS takes a better app.

Indeed.
[]
The older versions do, and if you're lucky, you might be able to get the
newer ones to install too, but they just don't "support it". Goldwave is
very good, *especially* for the price. A lot better than Audacity, I
think!

I think so too (well, that it's good; I haven't tried Audacity) - it
seems to be little known though, so I mention it when anyone asks. (Not
sure if the latest versions still run as trialware, though; I actually
bought it, not so much to get rid of the [minor] nagging but because I
thought it worth buying.)
[]
I probably could have lived with Office 97 too. But work forced me to
upgrade, so to speak. :-)

Someone gave me my 2003.
[]
Does everyone you know who tries a laptop really get used to using a
touchpad instead, of a mouse? Or are some of those laptop users almost
always using the mouse? I can't imagine what it does better, unless by
simply pressing on the pad you get something done, vs clicking a mouse.

By no means; I can't say I've done any sort of study, but I'd guess it's
about half and half. I can't remember what it is that it does better
(other than not need desk space - but you can always use a trackerball
which needs less), but I remember thinking after using one for a bit
that that was neat. It obviously wasn't _that_ significant!
[]
efficient) replacement for this old Win98 desktop, except that I don't
think
you can find any new WinXP netbooks anymore. Well, maybe I should look
[]
Well, I too looked online, and there are some for about $400 or $500 over
here. I saw some advertised on eBay, with a "Buy Now" plan so you don't
have to bid, and from some of the larger sellers (and not just some Joe Blow
in his garage). They were nearly new or refurbished, and had Windows XP
(often Pro) and the Service Packs installed on them by the seller, as a
convenience to the buyer (who knows, they may have originally had Vista).

But I think I'll probably stick with what I've got now.

Indeed: in computers, there's rarely any point buying something you
don't need, as it'll be cheaper tomorrow. (Actually, getting something
that's disappearing _sometimes_ counters that, and this may apply to
_new_ XP netbooks, but refurbished ones should remain available for some
years I'd have thought.)

--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G.5AL-IS-P--Ch++(p)Ar@T0H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

Old soldiers never die - only young ones

J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:
In message , Bill in Co
writes:
[]
And yes, there are some read and write utility programs that can access NTFS
vloumes from a bootable flash drive, but I grant you it was easier just
having it being able to boot to DOS directly. But then again, I haven't

And none of them can be booted from a floppy, AFAIK!

Hmmm... remind me to throw a way my working bootfloppy's.......

Franc Zabkar wrote in
:

Microsoft has a UVCView utility that can identify your USB devices and
controllers, even in the absence of drivers:
http://www.users.on.net/~fzabkar/USB...VCView.x86.exe


Very nice. Thankyou.