windows "98 or NT

  • Thread starter Thread starter beezelbubba
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beezelbubba

beezelbubba

Shitty Buddhist
Looking for an OS for a new comp I'm building.Thinking that win'NT sounds promising(probably running N-track),but know little about it.Looked it up on "pricewatch.com".IS this the right version?crosoft
Windows NT
Workstation 4.0 w/
SP6, this is the
FULL OEM Version
This is the FULL
VERSION of OEM NT
Workstation w/
service pack 6.
Includes manual,
CD, Reg card, COA.
$ 84
Again,Know almost nothing about NT.Is it a lot more difficult than 98?Any input would help!!!!
 
It's easiest to see NT as a more business oriented operating system. NT is geared toward networking, stability, and resource management, wheras 98 is geared toward multimedia for the home user.
The two Os's look similar but there are a few big differences. One is that NT is not plug and play. All devices are added and managed manually. But it is also much more efficient in managing those resources. Another difference is the fact that many multimedia apps will not work on NT. N-Track will, but you will have to make sure you load the newest directX from Microsoft so your plug ins work. As a result, NT won't run about 50% of the games on the market now.
Hope this gives you some idea.
Oh one more thing...make sure the hardware you are using is compatible with NT. There are a few soundcards (pro and consumer) that have issues with running on NT.
 
Go NT and hardly ever crash!!!

I run NT for my mastering software. It is very stable, and things run very smooth.

I don't think that with any Service Pack after 4 that you need to worry about finding any DirectX drivers or any of that because usually the Service Packs provide these kinds of upgrades. SP 6 as I recall is a decent Service Pack. 5 was a whole other story.....:) I am running SP 5 on my NT install and I can run most any audio application and/or DirectX and VST plugin's with no problems at all.

Don't worry about getting audio software that will run on NT, most of it does.

You should be worrying about a soundcard though. You will find that it is very hard to find the more popular 8 in 8 out soundcards that have NT device drivers. Even when I was just looking for a 24 bit 2 in 2 out soundcard, there was only really two on the market that were any good that have NT drivers, the Card Deluxe, and the Lynx One card. I went with the Lynx One card.

I actually prefer the non-Plug and Play feature in NT 4. Plug and PRAY doesn't always work so damn well, and it is a pain in the ass to have the OS wanting to install device drivers after booting up. It is very easy to install hardware in NT, you just run the setup program that usually comes with the hardware. Very straight ahead, and actually, NT seems to assign it the proper IRQ's and all that quite well. I have far less issues installing hard ware on NT then I even do on 2000.

Do yourself a favor. Get NT. So what, you can't play games on it. But, you can record all day without your OS freezing up on you or just crashing hard every 10 mins! :)

Good luck.

Ed
 
Get both and record on NT and play games on 98. Do a search for "dual boot" and you'll find lots of info. If you're getting only one OS, get W2000. It really is that much better than the other Windows flavours. I've been running it for over a year now and it still hasn't crashed unless I done something stupid to it.

/Ola
 
Thank all of you for helping a most frightened and ignorant man.I'm giving serious consideration to this subject.
As far as gaming goes,I'll just use the comp I'm typing on now for that low priority consideration.I just sold my vs
840 and philips cdr to make this jump,so audio recording is the only consideration.
What about low end consumer cards.Is it unlikely that NT
will support say,an ess solo I have laying around?A better quality prosumer card is still a couple months down the road.
thanx.
 
Who knows.....

You can always check their website for updated drivers. Usually, they will say what OS the drivers will work on.

Ed
 
Ed-
Thanks for expanding on that. I agree that the non plug-and-play seems to be alot better. I am having an IRQ issue right now on w2000. My AGP card and my Delta44 are sharing IRQ11 and I think it's causing me problems. Especially with the ASIO bit of the Delta44. I don't even really know what that is. Any words of advice?
 
hmm...

That is weird that your Delta card in on IRQ 11. Most soundcards go for 9 or 5. 5 being the more reliable.

Don't worry about sharing IRQ's with system resources. Just make sure that no two hardware devices are sharing the same one, especially a video and sound card!

Ed
 
I know I should know this but...
Can I MAKE it use IRQ5 in Win2000?
I feel like an idiot, please don't let it out that I'm a systems admin. :)
 
Hell...I don't know....

I am no computer expert (like Slackmaster demostrates to me in his many "lessons" about computers to me....:))

Try it! You can always undo it I suppose or try another IRQ.

Also, check to make sure the video and sound card aren't sharing memory. As Slack pointed out to me earlier, this may have a bigger bearing then the IRQ's.

Just what kind of problems are you having?

Ed
 
A couple of short answers:

1) If you would like some more info on this subject check out thread "How is WinME vs. Win2000?" dated 9-21-00. That will save me from a lot of re-typing!

2) Yes you can use IRQ5. That was the most commonly used IRQ for the original Sound Blaster card, so a lot of new sound cards use that IRQ for "Sound Blaster Compatability mode".

3) If you decide on NT check out Gadget Labs hardware, I think they have NT drivers for every product they make. I am a happy owner of a GL-824, although I am using Windows 98 SE - and I have only had 1 crash since I installed the 824 several months ago.

Best of luck to you whatever you decide...
 
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