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I need advice from the Windows XP users.

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Hey Gang!I currently run FS2002 in Windows ME and I hate this piece of crap operating system - it's too unstable. I am thinking of moving my two computers at home to Windows XP but I am a little skeptical considering what I have and whether XP will run it. I need some input please. Here's my rig:Intel P4 1.7 GHZ256MB of RDRAM PC800 (Getting ready to put another 256 in soon)Nvidia GeForce-2 Ultra 64 (Running the 12.41 drivers)40GB Hard drive (About 19GB free)SoundBlaster Live! Platinum soundBoston Acoustics Premium sound system22" Flat Super VGA Gateway VX-1120 monitorLogitech cordless keyboard and optical mouseCH USB Yoke (3 lever) and PedalsPlantronics USB headset3.5" Disk drive / DVD-ROM / CD-RW5 cooling fansLinksys router that connects 2 computers in the networkDSL Modem for high speed access.Here are my questions:1. Should I get the XP Home or Professional edition? What's the difference between the two besides the price?2. Would either version of XP run the above mentioned rig and accesories?3. What are the best drivers for the GeForce Ultra running on XP?4. Does XP run the CH USB yoke and pedals?5. What are the little idiosyncrancies / issues identified with FS2002 running on XP? Is it faster, slower, etc.? Thanks for any input folks!Sincerely,Dennis D. Mullert


Sincerely,

Dennis D. Müllert

System Specs: Motherboard:  Gygabyte Aorus Z390 Master.  CPU: Intel 9th Gen Core i9 9900kf Eight-Core 3.6Mhz overclocked to 5Mhz.  Memory:  64GB Corsair DDR4 SDRAM 3200MHZ RGB.  GPU: 11GB GeForce RTX 2080Ti FTW3 Hybrid.  Monitor: Viotek 34" curved GNV34DBE.  Power Supply: 1000 Watt Power supply. HD 1: 1TB Samsung 9780 EVO Plus NVMe SSD.  HD 2: 2TB Samsung 860 EVO SATA SSD

Flight Sim Hardware:  Joystick: Thrustmaster T16000M.  Rudder Pedals: Thrustmaster TPR Pendular Pedals.  Yoke: Honeycomb Alpha.  Throttles: Honeycomb Bravo.

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Hi,I cannot talk about your specific setup. On mine, I had a problem with my video card driver which produced a severe error (blue screen and restart with disk errors) every time I tried to switch tasks while FS was on full screen mode. Was solved with latest drivers (y video card is a hercules 4500).I found Windows XP (home)to be much more stable, and surprisingly faster in framerates than 98. The problem... is when you hit a problem :-) . I have a USB Wacom tablet apart form the usual PS2 mouse. It will never wake up after a suspend; need to switch off the PC, unplug the power cord, plug it again and start again in order to get the tablet recognized again. This is however not the worse problem:When I first upgraded to XP from 98, I was contimously having an error message everytime I right clicked on some elements. E-mailed MS support and they sent me some instructions i should follow to try to identify the problem. I followed them step by step (and Im not and unexperienced user, I've been system administrator in my office and have setup lots of systems in all Windows flavours since 3.1 through NT4.0, linux etc.) and the result was that my WXP installation would not boot up again. Tried to repair from CD, nada. Had to do a full re-install.I won't tell the whole story here, but finally I managed to recover my installation (almost completely, I lost some programs which I still need to reinstall) after FOUR re-installs of WXP, this time I didn't dare to call MS. Now I have a nice working XP that runs everything much better than my old 98 (except for the suspend problem on the tablet), but the process has been quite painful. Not for the novice. I will also mention that the VPP Pro and pedals that I have gave me also quite a few problems, but they are the gameport version.Paco

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Guest Toni Rauch

I can't answer all your queries, but here's a very important tip (in case you don't already know it):DO NOT MOVE OVER TO XP USING THE 'UPGRADE' ROUTE.I know of many instances where this was tried and completely screwed up systems, didn't recognise peripherals, etc.Buy and install the full XP pack. All your gear should work fine with it. I use XP Pro and it's completely stable.Best of luck,Toni.

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What often happens going the updrade route is the file cluster size is some how set at 64K....this slows down the HD accessing significantly (and there is no easy way to recitify it). It's much better to install on a clean drive. I dont remember all the differences between Home and Pro...go to the MS site and research, your spending the money. Do the homework. I run Pro and love it. You'll need the 512MB...256MB will cut it. XP needs more on it initial load, though it handles 1000% better then those Win9X OS's ever did. I run the NVidia 29.42WHQL drivers on my Gainward GF2-Ti450 64MB, works great. I know CH products were a problem but I think they put out drivers some time ago. Again, research! Go to their site. Take some time and learn.....

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Guest

I'm using XP for a wehile and never had problems with it, FS2002 works perectly although it takes all the RAM (I got 256 Mb) but sometimes I run FS2002 and other programs like Kazaa quite well with no lock ups or other problems. Just one thing, if you change from Me to XP don't update! Backups your important stuff and format you hard drive... XP makes such a mess in updates...Cheers!

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Guest

WinXP should be fine on that system Dennis. But you will need the extra RAM as XP is a little (lot!) more memory-intensive than ME. WinXP Home and WinXP Pro are identical as far as the kernal goes. You'll have the same processing and stability advantages with either. The primary advantage to the Pro version is the networking capabilites that it comes with. But if you're just going to use it on a typical 1-4 system home LAN the Home edition is fine. I had a GF4 Ultra installed when I converted to WinXP and I just kept on using the 12.41's (but you need to get the Win2000 version) as they still seem, to me, to be the best bet with the Ultra. My experience on the faster vs. slower with XP and Win98 has been that FS2002 ran about 10% slower on XP on my P3/600, about 5% slower on my P3/1000 and no difference at all on the surrent 2.7Ghz. Most of what I've read would say that if indeed there is a difference, it isn't going to be noticeable on anything over 1.4Ghz. But, as with real life, all mileage is variable.TripNorthwood 2.2a at 2.72Ghz Abit TH7II-R512MB Samsung 40ns PC800Gainward 64MB GF4 Ti4200 300/57040.41's DX8.1 WinXP ProInwin case / Enermax 431W PSU3DMark2001SE = 13089http://service.madonion.com/compare?2k1=4330740

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Guest

A little tip for you. You do'nt have to buy the full version to do a full install. So long as you have your original ME or 98 CD, you can do a full install from the Upgrade version of the program. Saves a lot of money.

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Guest

And I agree with the others, DON'T try an upgrade to your ME OS. Bite the bullet and do a clean install of XP. It'll pay great dividends down the road.Trip

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1) professional. you will be able to do some wireless tablet computing from any room in the house with pro on your desktop. home won't have this capability.2) yes3) the latest and greatest, of course ;-)4) yes5) your machine will be 100 times more stable, which in the end will make everything more enjoyable, not just fs200x

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Thanks JD!Ohhhh! One more thing!!! Would XP run Sqwawkbox Version 3????He He He!!!!!!!Sincerely,Dennis D. Mullert


Sincerely,

Dennis D. Müllert

System Specs: Motherboard:  Gygabyte Aorus Z390 Master.  CPU: Intel 9th Gen Core i9 9900kf Eight-Core 3.6Mhz overclocked to 5Mhz.  Memory:  64GB Corsair DDR4 SDRAM 3200MHZ RGB.  GPU: 11GB GeForce RTX 2080Ti FTW3 Hybrid.  Monitor: Viotek 34" curved GNV34DBE.  Power Supply: 1000 Watt Power supply. HD 1: 1TB Samsung 9780 EVO Plus NVMe SSD.  HD 2: 2TB Samsung 860 EVO SATA SSD

Flight Sim Hardware:  Joystick: Thrustmaster T16000M.  Rudder Pedals: Thrustmaster TPR Pendular Pedals.  Yoke: Honeycomb Alpha.  Throttles: Honeycomb Bravo.

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Guest

Hi Dennis,Along with all the great advice already given here, let me also point out that you don't necessarily have to re-format your system and start from complete scratch while moving to the new OS. Installing a fully fresh version of XP is highly recommended, but there's no need to format first.Here's a guide to removing your existing Windows and installing another version in its place. While this gives you a completely clean Windows and retains everything else on your system, you would still need to reinstall your applications and the like - they can be reinstall directly on top of where they already exist however.http://ftp.avsim.com/cgi-bin/dcforum/dcboa...rum=DCForumID56Good luck,http://members.rogers.com/eelvish/Boycott-RIAA.gif]"A musician without the RIAA, is like a fish without a bicycle."[/font://http://members.rogers.com/eelvish/B...cle."[/b][/font

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