DVD in win 98 machine?

[budbd]

Bought a DVD burner recently, thinking about putting it in my older computer 333mhz win 98 machine even though right now it is in my new Dell, expecially if I get a 8x dvd burner later.
I notice on the box and instructions, especially for all of them, they claim you need windows 98 Second Edition or better but say that on DOS and windows 3.1 a dvd is not supported as a recorder, and hey, that is not "windows 98".

[diver203_98]

You should read the claim again. It may say that you need Win98 or later, but that isn't all the requirements. Mostly you should also see a system requirement as well, IE: a Pentium II 400 or better as well. So I would read the box again to see if your system meets those minimum requirements. That is what kept me from getting one when I was still using my 486 three years ago before I got the system in my sig.

[budbd]

Sure, there is a claim of needing 500mhz or better too, but also just like my pci video card a geforce2 mx400 that says a PIII or above is recommended, but a PII can be used.

[reboot]

It will most likely work, but I wouldn't attempt a burn at full speed. You might get it to work at half (2x) if lucky.
The idea of burning dvd's on a Win9x box is moot anyhow, unless you encode the mpegs in multiple segments, and your authoring program can spit out multiple vob's, at less than 2gig each.

[TheJackal]

When it comes to hardware such as DVD recorders, if it says you need 98SE or higher, then you NEED 98SE minimum, there is no way you can get around it.

[TheJackal]

Originally posted by reboot It will most likely work, but I wouldn't attempt a burn at full speed. You might get it to work at half (2x) if lucky. The idea of burning dvd's on a Win9x box is moot anyhow, unless you encode the mpegs in multiple segments, and your authoring program can spit out multiple vob's, at less than 2gig each.

You might have trouble using the included burning software on a 333mhz machine.

[budbd]

So what you are saying is that if I burn some personal photos with a dvd(if installed and working) that the photos would not show up when inserted into my windows xp machine?
Also, I wonder if just downloading drivers onto windows 98 would fix any problem.
The only problem I may have is see, if I end up getting a 8x or better dvd burner then I have nowhere else to put the extra burner but into a spare computer, the 98 computer. The cd writer in my dell 4600 is top knotch new, meaning with it and my dvd writer that takes up all available expansion space.

If I just had more than a 6.4 gig hardrive on the old computer then I would try to install windows xp home edition(probably couldn't copy my edition meant for the Dell unfortunately).

[TheJackal]

No, Im saying that because your machine is so slow the burning software that is included with your DVD recorder may not function at all.

While 6.4gb is enough space for a Windows XP install, 1) You wouldn't be able to put much else on the drive, and 2) While it would technically be possible to install the Windows XP that came with your Dell on your old computer, it would be illegal as you would have only paid for one copy of Windows XP.

[budbd]

I should buy a cheap version of Linux and install it, since Microsoft windows is too expensive, even the old windows 98 SE edition on ebay is usually too expensive for a windows operating system over so many years old.

[TheJackal]

Try posting on the 'Trading Post' section of the forum, Im sure someone has an old copy of Windows 98SE that they would trade or sell ya.

[reboot]

You don't need 98 SE.
Your version of 98 will probably work.
What we're trying to get across, is that the software may not work on it (who cares, there's free stuff around that will).
The dvd burner may only operate at half speed or less, because of the limitations of the CPU and RAM.
The filesystem may be a limit, because of the size of the encoded mpegs needed to produce/author a dvd usually exceed 4 gig.
A disk, once burned, is just another disk. It will either work in all operating systems, or it won't. It may, or may not, work in your standalone dvd player.
A 6.4 gig hard drive is useless. It will hold your OS, but there won't be enough room to create a dvd. One dvd holds rougly 4.3 gig of data/video. In order to get a file into the correct format, you are going to have (probably) an original avi, or photos, taking up anywhere from 100 meg to a few thousand.
You are also going to encode the whole thing to put on dvd. This is going to take about 100 meg (or more) of temp space.
The finished encode is then going to be made into the right dvd folders/files, which is going to take either the full size of the project (4.3 gig) or at least half of that for temp during the encode/burn process.
Add it all up

[budbd]

I guess I would have to install a spare hard drive in this old computer, at least ten gigs or above if I decided to do this, but am a little sketchy on just how to do that.

Actually, some kind of computer virus or worm destroyed my Gateway system, basically, and it took me off and on about eight hours to get it right trying to fix the problem before I wiped the system and then had to wipe the system again cause my system restoration cd doesn't exactly take me through the motions of restore.

I am so angry, but the thing that attached itself to my task bar, just couldn't be deleted, "WhenUSearch" fake ad something or another.

Now my system is up and running maybe better than ever, and I finally have a free well known anti-virus program on it cause my new norton antivirus will not install like it did on my new Dell. Funny, eerything else installed back on my Gateway, guess the Norton 2003 isn't compatible with windows 98.

Maybe I will be able to get a used hard drive to erase, don't want to spend all kinds of money anymore on this Gateway.

[reboot]

Any good 10 gig will be enough to do one video at a time.
It's going to take trial and error to find software that will do what you want, on a FAT32 system, but it is available, and some of it is free.
Installing a hard drive is like installing a CD-ROM, not much to it.
Plenty of help here, and if you search threads for things like "hard drive install" you'll get lots of tips.

[budbd]

Yeah, thanks for the advice, and likely all I have to do is format a spare hard drive and refer to it later when saving a project.

Not a big deal right now, and after bills, getting a reliable new Dell computer, new 4x dual format dvd drive on sale rebate for eventually $60 and a few other must haves, and purchasing several items to keep this old machine useble(like a $44 pci geforce 2 video card and $40 worth of 256mb of ram), anti virus program, I can say that truthfully I am just basically tapped out on the ole computer budget for a good while, too bad too, cause I really would like to have at least a ten gig second hard drive.

[TheJackal]

Why are you spending so much on such an old machine, just save up a little more, and you could build yourself a new machine.

[budbd]

Haha, Jackal, I hear that, and like I said, I already own a new month old Dell.
About $75 worth of upgrades and this old machine is ready to get me back online in case of emergency, like computer crash with the new computer, cheap insurance. Besides, this old Gateway cost me too much money initially, and I am gonna squeeze every last dollar of the $1700 it originally cost me in September 1998, haha, every last dollar. In fact, I changed my "signature" to reflect that.

[budbd]

Well, they came up with a great way to force people to purchase new computers or a $100 cd disc with just windows xp on it, cause I tried installing a program for cd-dvd copying and it could not copy due to the system being windows 98.

Of course, it don't matter much considering I already own a new computer sitting right next to it.

[reboot]

What program? I'll bet there are some free or shareware apps that will do the same thing.