I have joined the Dark Side - I have upgraded my workstation to WinXP

Post by **FlyingPenguin** » Sat Dec 07, 2002 7:11 pm

Well now that I've had plenty of experience "de-XPing" the XP desktop on my LAN party system and my new laptop (I like the look and feel of the classic Win2K desktop thank you - you can keep the "XP look") I bit the bullet and upgraded my workstation from 2K Pro to XP Pro.

Needless to say I made a Ghost image of the Win2K partition first in case I do need to go back.

So far I'm happy. It's resolved a couple of IRQ channel sharing issues I had (my PCI devices are no long "stacked" on one IRQ as they were in Win2K).

It even fixed a problem I had with my CompactFlash reader. I have one of those Lead Data "Soda-can" card readers that they're selling at Walmart for $45 (reads just about every kind of media card there is). 2K and XP both have native card reader capabilty (no need for drivers) but it never worked right under 2K. I'd have to insert the card and then eject it and then insert it again to get it to be recognized. Works great under XP (and I admit I do like having Explorer open the smart card automatically on insert).

First 2K to XP upgrade I've done. Very smooth. Since all my installed drivers were already XP compliant there wasn't the driver hassles to worry about that you go through with a 98 to XP upgrade.

Sigh.... so long Win2K, you were a good OS.

marscheese · Post by **marscheese** » Sat Dec 07, 2002 8:17 pm

well, (at least from what I hear)...XP is pretty solid, so long you do a full installation. I've heard horror stories (including experiences of my own) of problems that one encounters when they upgrade. Hope it stays solid...keep us updated.

Post by **FlyingPenguin** » Sat Dec 07, 2002 9:29 pm

Actually I've now done dozens of upgrades for clients - mostly from 98 - and they've all gone remarkably well. XP definately handles upgrades very well but it's important to have Internet access so XP's installer can download the latest update of the installer.

LoneWolfX1X · Post by **LoneWolfX1X** » Sat Dec 07, 2002 11:40 pm

I like XP but imho 2k was the better os all around

mostly it boils down to the fact that XP just doesnt utilize scsi well

my 15k drive feels for all intents and purposes like a 7200 ide

something about incorrect use of the cache....I gave up trying to follow all the conspiracy theories at storage review but as soon as I get up the energy to modify all my game registries I'll be reinstalling 2k

Busby · Post by **Busby** » Sun Dec 08, 2002 11:09 am

Is XP really too different? I've used it before but always went back to Win2k. I don't use ACPI so IRQ stacking isn't an issue, I hate the new GUI, and play games. Is there any benefit to me switching over to WinXP? Is it really a big performance difference between the two?

Post by **FlyingPenguin** » Tue Dec 10, 2002 12:43 am

No real performance difference. XP will be better supported from now on and also seems to have better native support for certain hardware (like my problem with the CompactCard reader).

Win2K is a leaner and less bloated OS but sooner or later MS will force us all to upgrade anyway. They just won't support newer features in 2K.

XP does some things a bit more elegantly. Mostly minor things, but when you're on a computer most of the day it's appreciated. One of my favorites is a lockable taskbar on the desktop and lockable toolbar in IE. No more accidently messing up my taskbar or toolbar when dragging files around.

I also like the WinME style image thumbnail view in explorer.

You can make the XP desktop look and function EXACTLY like Win2K (which is what I did - I don't like the new GUI either). I describe that here: http://www.pcabusers.net/forums/showthr ... adid=23477

Schwartz · Post by **Schwartz** » Wed Dec 11, 2002 7:06 am

SCSI in XP sucks ass. I stuck a WD 120 GB SE drive in as my main drive instead of the X-15 and it was like going from IDE to SCSI.

I couldn't believe it. I benched before and after and there was a big diff. I don't have it on the pc but I printed the results out and have them somewhere.

Post by **FlyingPenguin** » Wed Dec 11, 2002 9:35 am

You sure it's not a SCSI driver issue? Seems to me that if SCSI was that broken in XP, IT departments would be howling like mad dogs.

smb · Post by **smb** » Wed Dec 11, 2002 12:15 pm

it's a microsoft issue. They are suppose to be putting out a fix for it.

Post by **FlyingPenguin** » Wed Dec 11, 2002 3:47 pm

I should hope so before the server verison of XP is released

Gand1 · Post by **Gand1** » Wed Dec 11, 2002 5:28 pm

I actually didn't notice too much of a difference when I went to XP. I currently use two U160 Quantum Atlas 10KII's. What I did notice, is when I put a third one on the channel my performance shot down quite a bit.