Which OS to use on homebuilt machine?

[shecky981]

( I think this is the most appropriate place to post this comment...if not..let me know....)

I am in the process of building a home PC. It will be a PIII 550, 512MB PC133 RAM, and a 7200RPM 40GB HD, all the standard peripherals (CD-RW, NIC, etc..)

My question to all of you (who are doubtlessly WAY more experinced than i am with this stuff) is what OS to put on? I have access to Win98 SE, Win 2000 Pro Workstation, and Win XP Pro. (all legal copies)

I will be mostly using the machine to house MP3's, burn CD's, run Morpheus, surf the web when my PowerMac G4 is compiling animations, and the like. Nothing too hardcore. Everyone i talk to has a different opinion, and, i was curious as to what all of you feel is the right choice (or choices- dual boot maybe?)

Thanks in advance for all your comments!

-Shecky

[Gintaras]

Win2000

[HAL9000]

It's all going to come down to a personal preference really. If you don't have too much experience, I would suggest Win98 as the easiest to work with. I know everyone is going to have their own opinions, but I find Win2K to run like it's overly bloated, while XP is a hard drive hog, I would use it over Win2K as it doesn't seem to lag as much. I know you can tweak Win2K to perform nicely, I'm just talking from an untweaked, out of the box install.

[aym]

I recommend win 98 se

[LawyerRon]

I like 98SE.

[lpc300]

Definitely Win2K. Compatibility is good and you can't beat it for stability unless you're using Linux.

[dan3223]

Sounds like 2k is the way to go for your needs.

[ZenZen]

Sounds like 98se is the way to go .....

[shecky981]

Thanks for the help everyone!

I am probbly going to do a dual-boot with Win2k and 98SE. XP seems like kind of a hog and there are still tons of missing drivers.

-Shecky

[Floppyman]

Hi,

I know I'm a little late on this opinion, but I hope this helps anyway. I agree with Hal's thoughts. The great thing about win98se is that's it works great when installed and in my opinion is a great beginner's OS that will run great without having to do a lot of tweaking.

Win2k is superstable on the other hand, but sometimes needs to be tweaked a bit so it performas optimally, plus win98se has better gaming support than win2k.

Basically I think win98se is more of a beginners OS, while win2k is more a poweruser's OS, but that's just my opinion. I think it's a good idea that you decided to dual boot the two, that way you'll easily find out which you prefer.

Hope this helps.

[Gintaras]

When I got my first PC it was just beginning of Win98, most used Win95.
If I asked same question way back, I bet I had suggestions for Win95 as for beginners.

With Win98 I learned some stuff unlike with Win2000, because Win98 gets you more often in trouble than Win2000 does. I didn't learn nothing more since I got Win2000, because I have no problems.

Someone here, on PC Mech said very well- "There's no problems, just the learning opportunities".

Well, you'll get much less LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES with Win2000 than with Win98 even if you're a beginner. I consider myself as beginner too.

2nd, I would go with Win98FE since Win98SE has only one good know feature- Internet Sharing. Does it apply to your needs?
I seen more posts with problems regarding Win98SE than Win98FE.

I saw lots of posts: "problems after downloadind SP1, SP@, etc"
I don't remember when I last time visited Windows Update page. Why do I need if I don't have problems?
I update/download software[OS is software] updates when something isn't working. Like my last update was for EZ CD Creator for Win2000.
However, Win2000 update for my HP4100C scanner is a real mess, now I always use just any graphics program for my scanning needs.
I have original Win2000 with original IE5[not 5.5 or 6.0] and I don't have no problems.

Could someone tell me why do I need updating anything without having any problems.

Just some bits from experience and HTH,

[Xayd]

You don't...

Maybe it's just me, but I read through the list of bug fixes with NT service packs. If none apply to me and my uses, I don't download them (my last install I didn't get SP1, waited until SP2 and its fix of the 'creeping ping' issue).

I don't download browser updates unless there's a new feature in the new version that I want. As far as IE goes, if a page works in 5.5 or 6.0 but not 5.0, it's a lazily coded site, and I don't need to see it that badly. Besides, I use Netscape and have no problems with 4.74.

Originally posted by Gintaras: I didn't learn nothing more since I got Win2000, because I have no problems.

I think that answers your question Shecky .

[pcoopers]

Question would be, what are you used to?

If you are building a 'puter, you're probly not scared to get into
MULTIPLE OS's.

My advice would be, install whatever you've been using, so you have a
familiar base to work from. Then, install something like Partition
Commander, about a $25 item Office Max. There are freeware partition
managers, I was afraid of, Partion Magic is comparable, shareware
magagers usually don't have features enabled that you need to evaluate.

Whichever manager you decide on, create your new partition, and install
whatever OS you want to play with.

The machine that the wife and kids let me call "mine" is an AMD k6-2
550, 40 gig HD, 512 meg of RAM, it is adequate for Redhat, Win98, Win3.11
on Dos 6.22, WinME, and I'm playing around with DRDOS 7.3 right now.

If someone were to invest in my education and donate a copy of WinNT of
Win2000, I'd experiment with them.

[morriswindgate]

I personally like Windows98Se, it's been around for a while so all the updates and bug fixes are available to make it very good. Every manufacture of add on cards have virtually bug free drivers for 98. And it works for both Office type work and entertainment. Additionally, since it is long in the tooth there is a lot of user information on the internet if you run into problems with it.

[shecky981]

I guess there is no right answer....

as for me, i have been using computers for 15 years or so (im only 29 now ) tho, i have been using them regularly for only the last 5 or 6 years. I am familair with both Windows and Mac platforms (I use mostly Macs, as i will do my professional design work only on a Mac. period.) But, I am very comfortable with Windows.

In terms of software, I think i may have made myself sound like more of a beginnner than i actually am. In terms of building a PC from scratch, I am a COMPLETE newbie. =) That was where the advice was needed.

But, we all know that a Mac wont do everything a PC will, and vice-versa (yes, its true..PC's cannot do EVERYHING...try finding a better HTML editor than BBEdit, i dare you (and before you say HomeSite, it sucks)), so i decided it was time to get myself a home PC, and what better way than to build it myself.

So, there is my unauthorized computing biography. =)