First post, by Tetrium
- Rank
- l33t++
I branched this off of the Windows ME topic.
It started to get offtopic a bit but lots of interesting opinions were being shared amongst the members here 😉
It would be a shame to let all that interesting discussion go to waste, now wouldn't it 😉
So here it is:On older computers (say, roughly below 500Mhz and 128MB ram and a smallish harddrive) it is usually preferred (I didn't mention "better" on purpose 😉 )to use either 98SE or ME because of it's lower hardware 'footprint'.
However, Windows 2000 and Windows XP undoubtedly have a whole bunch of advantages of their own which would be a shame to put to waste simply because the hardware is deemed too old to contain an XP or 2k install.
Little history: I have worked with a program called "nLite" before, setting up XP on older systems which were given to unemployed people with psychical problems and have 'twiggled' with nLite quite a bit, both on real machines and in Virtual PC (often called VPC).
With nLite and an install cdrom of XP and/or 2k, you can basically tweak the install cdrom.
Things nLite can do include (but are not limited to):
*Slipstreaming complete Service Packs!
*Automate parts of the install process. Why would you want to install XP 20 times and enter your timezone 20 times manually 😉
*Standardize your own XP or 2k: You can set your preferences so when you install an nLited XP/2k, once you reach your desktop, it will have the exact settings that you would otherwise have to do manually (like My Computer on the desktop, open BMP's with Paint, classic Control Panel, Visual tweaks etc.
*Removing parts of the installation:
this is the most interesting option nLite gives to people who often work with older computers, like us here 😉
You can remove parts of 2k and XP to make it require less resources, effectively making it run better on old hardware.
Heres a quite good page describing how nLite works. This page is about XP:
http://wiki.eeeuser.com/howto:nlitexp
I once had a gareat link to a website describing in much detail the services XP and 2k run. Alas, I couldn't find it. The next link is more as an example:
http://www.theeldergeek.com/services_guide.htm
What I would find interesting is is others have used nLite for slimming for older PC's before (yes, I know you do! 😜. please don't remain anonymous 😜), what tweaks they used and any general hints and tricks.
Some people will have other requirements for how they use an nLited OS on an old computer then another person, so if giving your own tweaks, please also add a description as to what your tweaks are about (sorry for my not all too splendid English).
In particular if anyone has (successfully) used nLite with 2k on an older system.
One forum with LOTS of discussion about nLite is this one:
http://www.msfn.org/board/forum/89-nlite/
Alright..discuss! 😉