I too just finished my dual boot with NT/95. My NT is running just fine without any drive letter problems what so ever. Click and continue was all I had to do yet again. 95 istalled just as easy, although I am no fan of plug and play. Just makes the setup that much more complicated. Actually had to finish the 95 install complete with device drivers by installing one device at a time then rebooting. What a bunch of crap! With NT I could just install and go, none of this install the driver first then the device junk.
Anyway, all went well.
Interesting though. 95 has a conflict with the PCI to PCI bus and the video card. No such problem with NT. Also, it seems that the same audio with the same app's in 95 have more problems with handleing the audio the NT. Get some skips here and there with the 95 version of the app's, where in NT everything is running very smooth as always.
Philip, I am no computer tech, or even work in the field except to the extent that I use it in my "for hire" studio. I have researched the hell out of running the different OS's for audio production. I have talked to factory rep's for the devices, salesman, computer tech's, all of them. Without fail, NT is what was recommended for serious audio production. A little research into what the shops that build systems exclucsively for audio production showed that NT was primarily what was used. This ranged from very nice studio, to TV production studios that needed a DAW.
I am not going to say that a 95 or 98 system cannot run stable for this purpose. I cannot even begin to explain why NT is the prefered OS for PC DAW's. I just don't argue with the Pro's in the field. When my studio's technical consultant tells me that I should use NT, I don't argue because when I go against his recommendations I always get burned.
The points about 95 and 98 offering a wider range of products for a DAW is certainly valid and undisputable. And for a casual user of computer production in audio, I am certain that 95 and 98 are just fine. But if we are talking what is going to deliver reliable, full proof crash protection, something I have to consider before I commit a clients music to a PC, NT has performed admirably. It just doens't crash under heavy use. No conflicts that cripple the system. All the things that the Pro's I talked with promised. I talk to few who use the 95/98 OS that can claim such a thing, much less claim it after 6 months of use. It starts out fine, then the problems start. I don't why, and don't really care. I care about my system being reliable for a long time. I care about my system performing well. I care about my audio not getting lost when the computer hangs for some reason. I care about my audio staying pure. NT provides this. So I lose a few snazzy features that I could get in 98, that is the stuff though that seems to cause the problems with the OS anyway, so I can do without. I have not found anything that is not possible in NT the is on 98. Nothing! I can get any of the same plugins, run all the high end app's, and can accomplish complex sessions. All without any troubles. All on a very stable platform that is time proven to provide a stability.
Believe it or not, I even run IE5 on my NT setup, and Office 97, and some pretty impressive graphics app's, and still my system is stable. I did not need to dedicate the system to just music production to keep stability. NT provides it as a default. It allows me to use my PC the way I want within reasonable limits.
I do agree about running a bunch of crap software then uninstalling it. This is not a very friendly thing to do with a PC. Although, in NT, I experience few problems with uninstalling this crap.
Anyway, I still stand behind NT as the best OS for music production. Next to jumping over to a Mac (way too expensive for the broke studio owner right now) it is the prefered choice of professionals, and thus, mine too.....
Ed Rei
Echo Star Studio
www.echostarstudio.com
