The 8bit pallette corruption issue for GDI/ddraw games can be fixed by the below:

Either end explorer.exe before starting the game

or another trick is to leave the Windows resolution window open (never works for me)

A better method is this: http://sol.gfxile.net/ddhack/ but may need to be coded for each game.

You can also run the games in an emulator as well.

As for those "not compatible" error messages you should note which games they are and try to find fixes. More often than not the games work fine it's just the installer that is 16bit.

Thanks for the tips, DosFreak!

One problem or another remained last time in my system. True, the individual tinkering may be troublesome, but definitely an easier alternative than installing XP.

Played Interstate 76 in WinXP, and at 1024x768 and all settings set to max, it's very smooth. 😀

Malik wrote:

I have to mention that Ubuntu works right put of the first installation. No additional drivers downloaded. Both graphics and audio work from the first boot. Even the keyboard lighting, on-screen display for brightness controls and volume, etc, work from the start.

But no 3D acceleration, I reckon.

Another reason I wanted XP, is to load many 32-bit apps I have, which will cause "not compatible with this 64-bit windows" messages in my Win7 x64 Ultimate.

I thought those were 16-bit by definition?

Jorpho wrote:

But no 3D acceleration, I reckon.

Haven't tried a 3D game yet, but Ubuntu automatically detected the graphics card and gave me the option to download it automatically - a proprietary driver. Here's the screenshot after installation of the driver :

(Sent this post with the Maverick.)

Just another screenshot of the auto-installed catalyst (proprietary) :

And yet, another screenshot showing ATI functionality in Ubuntu :

Note the fps count at the bottom right. I think the game has a cap of 200fps. I don't see it cross 200. It goes slightly down in certain places while moving.

This is at 1920x1080 resolution, in Ubuntu 10.10. (Graphics card : Mobility Radeon 5870)

The only problem I see while moving is the screen tearing while turning. This is inspite of vsync enabled in both catalyst and assault cube.

Do you also get tearing when watching videos?

I gave Ubuntu a shot recently, but as soon as I saw the tearing in videos I removed it again 🤣

So far I haven't noticed any tearing in movies yet.

you do not need to install XP first then the AHCI drivers to get AHCI mode... you can do this during install with a "F6 disk"
mobility modded catalyst 10.2 legacy drivers works pretty good with older "unsupported" ATI cards

Easier just to include the AHCI drivers with nlite in the install disc. 😀

as long as you don't mind nlite screwing with your windows install files 😉

Malik wrote:

ASUS G73JH-A1 basic specs : i7 720QM intel HM55 Express Chipset 8GB 1333 DDR3 Mobility Radeon 5870 Realtek HD Audio with Audigy […]
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ASUS G73JH-A1 basic specs :

i7 720QM
intel HM55 Express Chipset
8GB 1333 DDR3
Mobility Radeon 5870
Realtek HD Audio with Audigy HD EAX 4.0 Compatibility

Holy hell, that is one beastly laptop!

There are no more screen tearing. It seems that when I set the resolution in Assault Cube to 1920x1080, the game reverts back to 1920x1003. (Don't know how 1003 came into place - maybe the game doesn't support that resolution or there's a conflict with the driver.)

Anyway, I chose another 16:9 compatible resolution and everything is fine. Vsync works well. All movies play without tearing too.

And for those interested, I tried installing Snow Leopard 10.6 on this notebook as well. (I installed to an external hard drive, connected via the USB. The iBoot+MultiBeast (tonymacosx) method works. I ordered the 10.6 retail DVD just for to see if it works.) The sound works right from the beginning of the install. It even installed without removing the additional 4Gigs of RAM.

But right now, I'm just tripple booting to Win7 Ultimate x64, Ubuntu 10.10 x64, and WinXP Pro x86.

As I have previously mentioned, I still maintain the XP 32-bit mainly for it's :

1. MIDI friendliness.
2. Native 3D hardware audio support in games.
3. More compatible with older games.
4. 32-bit apps and games.
5. Patches to run Win9x-only peculiar games are available with established workarounds.

If only Vista/7 didn't drop native DirectSound support....

Till then, for me, WinXP is still the most gamer-friendly and audio (mainly MIDI) friendly OS. 😁