What operating system are you running?

[pureevil]

windows 98

[BoringSupreez]

windows 98

Seriously? I tried to hold on to 98, but had to let it go once the internet became too complex for old Windows 98 compatible software and hardware to handle.

[Hatta]

XP backwards compatibility isn't quite perfect, so it can be handy to keep a 9x box around. There's no Doxbox equivalent, and VM support for 9x isn't that great either. I can't see using it as a primary OS though.

[AppleQueso]

yeah there's veyr, very little reason to keep windows 98.

I imagine most win98 machines can handle an xp install.

[samsonlonghair]

I understand the sentiment of those who keep running 98. I was running Windows 2000+SP4 for a very long time because it "just plain works". It was simple, professional, and put resources into running my programs instead of eye candy. I've moved on to 64 bit operating systems since then, but I understand why you keep running old versions of windows.

My macbook pro at work runs OSX snow leopard.
Thoughts- Apple clearly has a knack for intuitive user interfaces. If money was no object, I'd only use OSX. I just can't justify spending that much cash on apple-branded stock hardware when the exact same hardware for a windows setup would cost half as much. I'm considering a hackintosh, but I'm not certain how reliable that would be.

My new XPS Laptop runs Win7 and virtual XP
Thoughts- Win7 is a huge improvement over Vista. Microsoft has clearly worked out most of the bugs and turned off those dumb widgets by default. Win7 is the fastest OS I have; it starts up in a blink. Software compatibility is also much better than vista; I hardly ever have any reason to launch virtual XP at all.

My old Laptop runs Win XP MCE.
Thoughts- Media Center Edition is the most mature and stable version of XP. I keep this laptop next to my couch (It's really not portable anymore) where it functions as an excellent media center. It can play any audio/video format with ease, and it streams HBO GO beautifully. I'm typing this message on this computer right now using an IBM keyboard.

My apple ][e runs ProDOS 8.
Thoughts- ProDOS 8 still lets me run all the BASIC games that ran so well under AppleDOS 3.3, but with the added benefit of the SOS file system from the ill-fated apple ///.

[ZenErik]

I use OS X 10.6 with the 64 bit kernel and Windows 7 Professional 64 bit on my MacBook Pro. Windows works better with HD video playback and allows me to play doujin games.

I use OS X 10.4 on my iMac G4.

[RCBH928]

@Hatta

I didn get you
do you mean you should NOT run XP
and use Win98 or Win7 instead?


actually am not sure what a 9x is :p

[isiolia]

@Hatta

I didn get you
do you mean you should NOT run XP
and use Win98 or Win7 instead?


actually am not sure what a 9x is :p

9X is a way to generically refer to 95/98/ME - that is, the line of Windows based on Windows 95. The underlying structure was still DOS + Windows, but unlike prior versions, you didn't have two separate products. 95/98 could reboot into "DOS mode", and ME could too with some hacking. You might need to tweak things a bit to get DOS programs working, but you still could - not like you didn't need to make custom startup files for games with DOS 5/6/etc sometimes anyway.

There were a number of revisions for each version too, changes are detailed on wikipedia.

XP is different as it was the first version of Windows NT to be marketed for all users. While it might look similar to 98 (at least, when not using the god-awful Fischer-Price scheme), the underlying OS is completely different. Thus, like Hatta mentioned, compatibility isn't 100%.


On-topic...I'm running Windows 7 64-bit on my desktop and HTPC. My Macbook has OS 10.6, maybe still XP on Boot Camp.

Machines I'm not actively using...I have a P4 that has Ubuntu on it atm, and I guess my old Power Computing machine has OS 8.6, maybe 9 on it. Haven't tried to use it since folks borrowing it returned it to me. My Powerbook G4 won't turn on, but had 10.4 on it last I remember. Also have a Japanese Toshiba Pentium laptop that's got 95 on it. Most of my other older machines I've given away.

I wound up sticking with older OSes for a bit years back. When I started college, I was more or less required to use NT 4.0 and FreeBSD, rather than 95 or 98. I occasionally fit 98 into a multi-boot, but tended to use NT mostly. Moved to 2k when drivers got decent (strangely, my card at the time had no OpenGL support in 2k on release, where nearly all the 3D games I had at the time were GL because NT 4 didn't have Direct3D support).
I intended on buying XP when it came out, but Product Activation turned me off to it, so I stuck with Win2k for years - finally caved when things started requiring XP over 2k, and activation was more or less unavoidable anyway.
Similarly, didn't use Vista on primary machines. But, I wound up getting 7 in short order and have been happy with it overall. From what I've seen of 8, that might be hard sell once again. Though, I also think Lion looks like crap thus far, but I'll probably give it a shot anyway.

[flamepanther]

Ubuntu 11.4 64-bit

[Hatta]

@Hatta

I didn get you
do you mean you should NOT run XP
and use Win98 or Win7 instead?


actually am not sure what a 9x is :p

9x is a generic term for Windows 95, 98, and ME. Don't run that on your primary computer. Way too old and crashy. Can't even run firefox after 2.0.0.20 on it.

I do have a box with 98 on it though. It's worth having an old retro box for some games that are hard to get going on XP. For example, I've been playing through the old Star Trek games and I've found that Generations and Klingon Honor Guard aren't easy to get working in XP.

But for the most part, unless you have a specific game or application that you just can't get working on XP, don't waste time with 9x.