What Operating System Do You Use?

[Mozgus]

XPSP2, XPSP1, Windows 95B (usb version), and windows 3.11, tho I use the SP2 for the most part.

Win95 Usb Version? Do you mean it's running off a USB flash drive, or that it's simply updated to support USB ports? I'd like to have a backup Windows OS running off my 1GB flash drive....

[metaleggman]

It's the version that includes the limited usb drivers, tho flash drives unfortunately do not work on it. I know it would fit on a 1 gig flash drive, but ya still got complications. :\

[kryptonick]

Im downloading ISOs for media centre edition of XP. I have linux (SUSE 10.2) ready to be installed but I don't want to install it until I know I have a fool proof way of going back to MCE, and frankly I dont trust restore discs.

[lordofduct]

XPSP2, XPSP1, Windows 95B (usb version), and windows 3.11, tho I use the SP2 for the most part.

Win95 Usb Version? Do you mean it's running off a USB flash drive, or that it's simply updated to support USB ports? I'd like to have a backup Windows OS running off my 1GB flash drive....

With some tweaking it is 'doable'

But I would NOT advise it. The problem is flash drives can only survive so many rewrites before they die. Some where in the multi thousands. (2-10 thousand... some high quality ones might last you longer). Now that may sound like a descent amount if you are storing small files on it for carrying around.

But when it comes to an OS it is a very bad thing. Your OS writes to it's root constantly, probably 100's of times a minute. As time progresses more and more sectors will corrupt shrinking your drive until it was no more.

Linux goes around this by utilizing large RAM capacities. Instead of placing the root on the flash drive, it instead places an image on the Flash Drive in a logical partition along with a boot sector and small ext3 partition. It then boots off the boot sector which directs to the logical partition with the image. From there any modules or custom settings are loaded off the ext3 partition and mounted into a virtual drive in RAM. The entire time you run the OS you are actually in an emulated root on the RAM, the small ext3 partition is mounted as a home directory and you can make changes to the OS through that. When you end your session it writes all changes back to the logical partition before closing.

This makes for amazing speeds while in the OS. But it makes for slow boot up and shut down.

I believe there is some one out there working on a mod for Win95/98 to run like this (sort of like DOS can off a floppy). I remember reading about it somewhere, no further details are known about it by me though.


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Now there is high fidelity flash memory. Otherwise known as 'Solid State Firm Memory', 'Solid State Storage' or 'SSD'. This stuff is EXPENSIVE and hard to come across in large drive sizes. It's used in fields with a high vibration. A magnetic disk HDD can not handle large vibrations as it is mechanical with moving parts, it gets pushed out of whack and will corrupt merely because the mechanical parts aren't in tune anymore. (i.e. the actuall disks tilt, the reading arm moves bends or moves out of range). Military equipment, cars, and other intelligent machines in high hazard areas use it. SSM can survive massive shock as it contains no moving parts and survives multi-billion rewrites.

[SnowKitty]

I'm using XP Pro and don't plan on upgrading my hardware just to run Vista at a tolerable speed.
I'd love to give OSX a whirl, but I don't want to buy new hardware (even though it looks tasty)

come on join us! macs have the new intel CPUs and can dualboot with windows XP so you don't have to give up your precious windows stuff lol i have both a mac and a PC

[metaleggman]

I'm using XP Pro and don't plan on upgrading my hardware just to run Vista at a tolerable speed.
I'd love to give OSX a whirl, but I don't want to buy new hardware (even though it looks tasty)

come on join us! macs have the new intel CPUs and can dualboot with windows XP so you don't have to give up your precious windows stuff lol i have both a mac and a PC

except that it boots windows XP worse than ever, and I thought the point of having a mac was so you didn't have the "inferior" Windows touch your machine. Dual booting with OSX on a windows machine is a much better option I've heard, tho sometimes the hardware compatabilities are all finicky.

[Zork]

I'm using XP Pro Service Pack 2. I'll probably stay that way for quite a while. I don't have the patience or willpower to fiddle with Linux at all, I've grown up with DOS all the way to XP excluding ME because it was terrible, and I'm simply used to Windows and all that. I would be willing to try out a Mac sometime, not sure when that'll happen though.

[kingbuzzo]

OpenSuSE 10.2 under KDE

I have a windows partition on my pc, but it's only there for a few games that wont run on linux

[vbt]

W2000 for me, it's still good and fast.

[rattboi]

I'm using XP Pro and don't plan on upgrading my hardware just to run Vista at a tolerable speed.
I'd love to give OSX a whirl, but I don't want to buy new hardware (even though it looks tasty)

come on join us! macs have the new intel CPUs and can dualboot with windows XP so you don't have to give up your precious windows stuff lol i have both a mac and a PC

except that it boots windows XP worse than ever, and I thought the point of having a mac was so you didn't have the "inferior" Windows touch your machine. Dual booting with OSX on a windows machine is a much better option I've heard, tho sometimes the hardware compatabilities are all finicky.

You're the first person I heard say that XP runs bad on a mac. I don't have an intel-based mac yet, but I play with my friend's macbook in Chemistry all the time. I installed Parallels on it w/ XP and it's awesome. I can hide the XP desktop and just use the windows programs on my OSX desktop. It's not perfect, but it's getting there... Damn, I need to find some money towards my own MB or MBP.