PTE, XP & other OS

[LumenLux]

A few versions back, Igor made a major point of giving PTE the XP "look and feel" (I think)

Not having ever used XP at that time, I did not focus on it. There is now an XP machine in this house, and I have run into a couple of issues with XP doing or not doing what I expect or want it to do. PTE itself, seems flawless in the use I have given it on XP. On the other side of the spectrum - I have an MP3 player that can not be used with the XP machine, because the software for the Rave MP3 player (Sensory Science) will not even load onto an XP machine. The MP3 manufacturer does not support the player with a new driver for XP.

Does anyone know where I can find "generic" driver or software to allow me to download mp3's from the XP machine to the Rave MP3 player?

On a more basic level, and more related to PTE, is it feasable to now set up a partition on the XP machine to run Windows 98SE? How much trouble to set up? How much trouble - ongoing - operating a PC on two OS's? If I did this, would PTE and my MP3 software function in the chosen OS, without conflicts?

[alrobin]

MS knew about the problems with older previously-supported software when they introduced XP, so they designed a "fix" to be able to configure the system to emulate Windows ME, 98, etc. and supposedly run these older programs. It's available under "Properties" for the program file you are trying to run. However, this doesn't work very well, at least not with some older programs. Any program depending on DOS is particularly affected.

I just today downloaded some special software from the following MS site to try to get one of my old MIDI programs working under XP, but haven't had a chance to try it yet. It might work for you.

MS Compatibility Toolkit

I haven't heard of anyone partitioning XP, but it may be the way to go if the previous doesn't work. Let us know if you find something that works.

Ciao,

Al

[LumenLux]

Thank you Al for the response. I did dl the MS "compatibility" kit. Unfortunately it appears to be beyond the reach of my knowledge to use it. I think it is what the manufacturer of my MP3 device should be using to make their original software work under XP. If you happen to be more into that level of software development, maybe you can steer me back into it if you think there is any hope there. I have not yet pursued the partition idea. There may be plenty of (even free) software to partition so it would work with a boot-up choice of OS. The commercial product that first comes to mind is Partition Magic. But I am hoping some other PTE user will know exactly what we both need to solve are current detour.

[quietstorm]

Sir LumenLux...

Try this link

http://www.sermoncast.net/mp3devices.asp

Hope this helps

Bart

[LumenLux]

Thank you Bart. But alas, the only device listed by the Sensory Science manufacturer is quite a different product. So as best I can tell, it doesn't help. But thank you for your help.

[Ken Cox]

with my install of xp home there were a pile of things that wouldn't work --too old - a popup would come up telling you to read the compatiblity report that was generated when xp was installed -

source for report is

C:\WINDOWS\upgrade.htm

- it also -- and i kinda vague on this -- would give you the option of making it work by clicking another button -- this was w95 software --

- i still have software from win 3.1 days that is still working -- and still have win 3.1 in a folder on a partition for oldtimes sake

ken

[LumenLux]

The good news is - anthrodoc put me onto a solution for my particular problem. Thank you very much. I had done some web-searching myself, but had not found the one specific that you did which solved it. Apparently the "successor" (product clone) company has made some effort to revise the driver to work with XP - and it does - with some limitations - now work. Thank you again.

The other question about XP is still of interest if anyone has further input. Does it make sense to add XP and make it dual bootable with Windows98? Are there useful enough features of XP for audio visual work or is everything added by XP essentially covered by other software such as PTE, and other audio video stuff that many of us already use?

[alrobin]

The only applications I have had trouble with on my Win XP are an old Cubase MIDI sequencer (version 3.1), a projector controller ("Magician"), and I'm now having a devil of a time getting it to communicate through a D-Link hub to my other pc's.

This latter is particularly inconvenient, (and annoying), because it's on my laptop, and I'm constantly having to copy slideshows, music, and other files from my desktop to the laptop and vice versa.

I had it working once, (sort of, anyway), but I seem to have lost the secret, and nothing I try seems to work any more. I know networking can be very tricky, but this seems to be the worst.

Everything else works just fine (Cool Edit, Photoshop, PTE, MS Office, Publisher, etc.) I have fewer crashes with XP, too, than with Win ME on my desktop.

Ciao,

Al

[LumenLux]

Al, I hear you. My networking experience is very light. And it was always a trial. Except for the XP machine that brought about my latest network effort. The network setup, starting with the XP machine was almost painless. For what help it might be: My network consists of 3 wired desktops and a 4th desktop on a temporary basis. A cable modem & router is the "hub" of my network. As the XP machine was a replacement in what had been only a two- pc (no router) network, I started by just running the XP network setup wizard. I think the wizard then instructed me to make a floppy disk from the XP and run the floppy on each of the other machines to setup the network. I think on each of the other machines, I first removed any remnants of any prior network or attempt. Then when I ran the XP-made floppy on each machine - immediate success! I was astounded. When the third pc (Win98SE) was recently added, I simply installed the netword card and it's software and then ran that XP-made floppy and we were part of the network no problem. Now, I know so little about this, I have no idea if this can help you, but let's hope it might.

[alrobin]

Thanks, LumenLux,

That's pretty much the way I set it up the first time, and after a bit of fiddling, it worked.

However, now, I seem to have lost it (story of my life! ), and I can only connect to the DSL internet line, but not communicate with the other pc's, except for when I play an "Age of Empires" game with my son-in-law, the two pc's then seem to agree to "talk' to each other???? (go figger!) It's probably just a matter of having a consistent setup on all machines.

I think you have the right idea - if I wipe out the existing setup on the two older pc's, and re-install from the setup diskette, things might work again.

Thanks for your help.

Ciao,

Al