How solid is it? any problems? Is it compatable with most software? Thanks in advance.

[ 11-09-2002, 04:38 PM: Message edited by: Arvon ]

I have a copy, but I haven't bothered installing it yet. As long as win98se handles all my gaming needs, I'll be happy with that. All my "serious" work is done with OS/2 and Linux anyways.

XP has serious backwards comptability problems, lots of legacy software will give you problems but if you only care about the latest and greatest, you might be alright.

If you use joysticks or controlpads for certain games, they won't be XP compatible, so you'll have to buy new ones.

Its extremely solid - but the Pro version is preferred. XP home has problems when it comes to networking. Games are fine, but an NT domain logon or VPN logon is beyond it. Not a problem unless you work with such networks, but crippling if you do. Interestingly win98 handles all of that fine. Draw your own conclusions.

Also check out for XP compatible drivers *first*. My banshee card has no official drivers, so I have to use 3rd party ones. It does work very well with those though. Alo my HDD kept crashing until I got XP drivers for my motherboard.

I have had problems with legacy software as well. Anything asking for low-level VGA or SVGA access dosent work very well. Or indeed, at all. Had I the HDD space I would simple run a win98 dualboot, but as it is Im stuck without Discworld and other oldies.

Anything that came out for DOS will have trouble, if it was designed for win95 or later it should run, perhaps needing a compatability mode.

Just after its initial launch XP had a crap load of programs mostly with drivers for older hardware. I had huge issues with my SB Live! and XP Pro, but now I haven't had a crash or blue screen in well over 8 months (Try that with 98). I find XP to be very stable and have no problems running any of my programs or games (some date back to 1996) Just remember XP was designed for new hardware so if you're running anything over 18months old you may have some problems. 256MB RAM should be considered a minimum for XP to run halfway decent as well as at least a 800MHZ proc with a decent amount of L2. You can run XP on slower processors and less ram, but you'll be hog tying the OS.
Why not dual boot with your current OS for a while until you decide for yourself? XP has the ability to set up a dual boot right out of the box, just install your newest (XP) OS first work from there.
As for networking, XP Pro definetly has the manners of 2000 when it comes to networking, where as Home isn't configured right out of the box, but you can still accomplish VPN's and NT domain's but you'll need to download additional software from MS.

I've had it since February and I'm loving it. It crashes a LOT less than 98 and I like the look of it better. I had some problems with older software but on the whole it's pretty good.

I've got XP pro on my good computer and it's great. My sister has Home on her laptop and she says that it is really good as well, but all she uses it for is typing and music, so it hasn't been put to the test. Pro runs all my games, and that's all that matters. [img]tongue.gif[/img]

My computer came with XP. It has been great! Never had a problem! [img]smile.gif[/img] well at least till I just said that