sidewinder precision pro

[Guest]

Hi,I want to upgrade to windows ME but I have a microsoft sidewinder precision pro joystick and I can't find drivers for it anywere, they all only go up to win98. Does anyone have any ideas?Thanks ric

[Guest DaveKDEN]

It should work just fine in WinME. HOWEVER, I'd recommend not upgrading to WinME from Win98 at all. I did the same and can honestly say it WASN'T worth it. Either stick with Win98 (if it's working good for you) or go to WinXP.Dave PS; I like to call WinME short for Windows Mistake. Can you say frequent lockups and re-boots/day.

[Guest]

I could not agree more with your statement. With Win ME I couldn't get my system to run stable if my life depended on it. Every other boot up would hang, BSOD, reboot, etc. With the same system running Win XP Pro I hardly every have a hick up anymore. Don't waste your money on Win ME.Scott...

[Guest]

OK Thanks for the advise,would you know were I could get hold of the XP drivers for this joystick? I can't find them anywere! Thanks

[Guest]

Don't worry about the drivers. I also have a MS Sidewinder Precision Pro which I've used under Win98, Win98 SE, and WinXP without ever installing the drivers (I,ve heard many times that they cause more trouble than they are worth). David

[Guest]

The above is absolutely not true.I run two pc's at home and 7 at work. I get BSOD and locks/freezes on the win98se pc's, but this one which has ME since last september has never even ONCE locked up, never ONCE had a blue screen.Absolutely flawless performance, and with Restore I've been able so experiment as much as I want with drivers/tweaks and simply restore my system if I don't like the results.The only people who have trouble with ME are those who don't have enough RAM (it's a tad hungry in that area!) or those who don't understand what happens when you run legacy hardware on OS's that don't use the same DOS base as win9x. ME still is based on the dos kernal, but has no real-mode.The only operating system I have ever run which gives perfect, i mean perfect performance, has been MEAnd since I'm on a Duron 900 with an old TNT2 and I max everything and get 25fps .... don't let everyone tell you it's crap. You just have to have a system built for it.michael

[Guest DaveKDEN]

>The only people who have trouble with ME are those who don't have enough RAM (it's a tad hungry in that area!)I'd assume that 512MB RAM should be enough for WinME. Still have more problems with it than it's worth. I'll be doing a clean install of WinXP once I get the time.Dave

[Guest]

>The above is absolutely not true.Ah you may want to retract that statement, A better statement may be in my experience I have not had problems. >The only people who have trouble with ME are those who don't have enough RAM (it's a tad hungry in that area!) or those who don't understand what happens when you run legacy hardware on OS's that don't use the same DOS base as win9x. ME still is based on the dos kernal, but has no real-mode.Hmm lets see 512Megs not enough ram. I have had several computers that were problematic with Win ME that were fine with WIN 98 or Win XP. I would feel very comfortable saying that Win ME is the most buggy of the Win 9X, ME, 2000, or XP operating systems. Lets see 18 years of professional computer experience as a tech and an engineer, and we aren't talking MSCE engineer, not enough to understand how softwarehardware works. I don't think so.Scott..

[Guest]

I've been fine with 256, tho I have 512 now. Don't get why some people have constant problems and some have no problems ever. Is it partial to certain chips??? Maybe some drivers out there conflict with it?I don't know ... i just get tired of hearing how it's "crap" when it may be crap on your system, but not everyones.

[Guest DaveKDEN]

I'm glad it works good for you (I really am), but it's "crap" on my system. ;-)Dave

[Guest GabrielR]

I am a current user of Win ME, for me ( and I have to repeat for me)my system has worked flawlessly since the very beggining with all the sliders to the maximum. the option for the restoration of the system to a previous state is very handy when it comes to drivers installation.I am currenty runin my FS2002 in a 1.3, 256 RAM, geforce 2 64Mb. Its a compaq computer.I dont have enough knowledege to build my own system and to give a "qualified advice" but my oppinion is that going form win98 to win me has been a good choice, and I wouldn't say that Win me is crap.

[Guest]

Your last sentence was not even slightly implied by my own post (not intentionally, anyway). My statement about the "above not being true", is actually true, since the statement I'm referring to was not written as opinion -- thus I'm saying the same thing you are: what is or is not crap is a matter of personal experience.Can't say I like this trend, tho, where people seem to react defensively to everything, responding with their "qualifications" when I'm innocently adding my two bits to an oft repeated blanket condemnation that simply is not true absolutely.michaeledit: (this post was a reply to Scott, not Gabriel). Realize in your wording that you prob. mean more upgrading an OS with the same hardware -- this does seem to lead to endless frustration for most. My sys was built with ME in mind, tho, so that's probably the difference between why some hate it and some (okay, two of us!) love it.michael