T20 and XP

[Rex]

Hi there,

Have a T20 which I only use to watch DVD on. It is currently running under W2k; more often than not, I have problems playing the DVD (using PowerDVD5) and have to reboot, which takes forever.

I am considering in XP as the os.

Can a T20 run with XP? The sticker on the side says optimized for W2k.

Thanks

Rex

[ac12]

XP needs much more memory than Win98.
How much memory do you have in the T20?
The T20 can only go up to 512MB, and on my old XP laptop, that is barely enough. My laptop was pretty bad w only 386MB of RAM, so I took it up to 512MB. And if I keep using it I will max it up to 1GB. Personally, I would would not go with XP on a machine w less than 512MB of RAM.

If you can find Win2k, that might be an option, or stay w Win98-Second Edition.

[Rex]

AC12,

Thanks for you reply; good point and not the reason that I was considering when I posted.

Has the max memory installed so may be I will give it a try. Worst case, I will reinstall either W2k or go back to W98.

As an aside, the kind of thing that is happening. Put in a DVD and fire up PowerDVD. Receive a message that there is not disk. After retrying a few times, I decide to reboot. Now, I cannot turn off PowerDVD, from either the X of from within TaskManager. Get a 'Cannot close the program because it is being debugged' message. What does that mean?

Finally, can get turn off and reboot, which takes almost 5 minutes and usually, the DVD will then play. If I put in another DVD, probably have to go through the process again. So I figure that the OS is up to something and needs reinstalling.

Rex

[RealBlackStuff]

Hunt around for Windows XP-FLP (Fundamentals for Legacy PCs).
It's not officially available, but if you dig deep enough it's there.
It's a lean-and-mean version of XP, ideally suited for such an old yoke as your T20.

[ac12]

Wow thanks for the FLP info.
I have a couple older laptops that could benefit from a leaner XP.
Now to find it.

[Rex]

Would not an nLite version of XP be as good?

Rex

[cadillacmike68]

Wow thanks for the FLP info.
I have a couple older laptops that could benefit from a leaner XP.
Now to find it.

That will be the hard part - finding it...

I'm going to ask my G6 if they have access to this...

[RealBlackStuff]

I always thought G6 was a small Pontiac...
Did you get that from the movie "Cars 2"?

[cadillacmike68]

I always thought G6 was a small Pontiac...
Did you get that from the movie "Cars 2"?

You're joking, right?

This is the shortest description i have:

ACoS/IM

http://www.abbreviations.com/G6

[RealBlackStuff]

I'm serious: http://www.pontiac.com/g6/
Also, I'm not familiar with US Government, Army, etc. abbreviations.

[cadillacmike68]

I know about the now orphaned G6 and the song by Dev & the Cataracs "Like a G6"

I was thinking about getting a Sky or Solstice for my wife before GMs 2009 meltdown...

The original G-staffs were G1 thru G4, then they added more sections so that it goes up to G9 or G10 now.

Still no G14 classified tho!

G1 - Personnel & Administration
G2 - Intelligence
G3 - Operations (& Plans & Training if there is no G5 or G7)
G4 - Logistics
G5 - Plans
G6 - Comms & Computers - Info Mgt
G7 - Training
G8 - Finance
G9 - Civil-Military Operations

So my G6 staff are all the computer technoids (and the radio / comms nerds) And they have some capable staff.

[stevebez]

I'm new to thinkpads, but if all you are doing is watching DVDs, then why not run some form of Linux? You would also get the benefit of a current OS.

[Rex]

Probably a good idea, but never having tried Linux, I am a bit wary. The other side of the coin is that at the moment, I have too many things to do with a new house and reinstalling any OS is somewhat low on the priority list. May be as winter approaches and I have more evening time available, I will give it a try.

Rex

[automobus]

Probably a good idea, but never having tried Linux, I am a bit wary.

Wary Puppy Linux is for you! It does not have all the bloated junk right out of the box, that many of the big and popular distros have.

[Rex]

Thanks for the link. I will give it a try.

BUT (and here is the reason I have never tried Linux) the following is copied from the Puppy page:

Lucid 5.25 is the most leading-edge Lucid ever and a Five Digit Update from Lucid 5.2. It has Bash 4.1.0, an upgrade from Bash 3, Syslinux 4.03, an upgrade from Syslinux 3, and e2fsprogs 1.41.14, the latest from Ubuntu Natty. It now has JWM 500, up from 493. Gnumeric 1.10.13 (up from 1.10.12 in 5.2) is a necessity because our very own yarddog had posted a bug to Gnumeric that is corrected in 1.0.13. Lucid 5.2.1 uses the Woof of FEB 28 replacing the Woof of NOV 28 for 3 months of progress in Woof development.

Every Linux site I have every looked at has stuff like this. It give me the hebbie jebbies; I realize most of this stuff is about up-grades, but what is Syslinux, e2fsorogs, JWM, Gnumeric? Do I need to know about it? Will any of this play a DVD, allow me to pause when I want, display subtitles, run back when I want to review a section, etc, etc? Power DVD does!

Rex

[Temetka]

Every Linux site I have every looked at has stuff like this. It give me the hebbie jebbies; I realize most of this stuff is about up-grades, but what is Syslinux, e2fsorogs, JWM, Gnumeric? Do I need to know about it? Will any of this play a DVD, allow me to pause when I want, display subtitles, run back when I want to review a section, etc, etc? Power DVD does!

Rex

Yes. It will play dvd's just fine. JWM is for java, gnumeric is a spreadsheet program, syslinux is the kernel loader, e2sfprogs is for deal with ext2 filesystems. You might need to install libdvdcss, but as far as I know puppy supports the apt command. I would e-mail them and ask. or see if they have a support or forums area.

[Rex]

Thanks for the confirmation.

[cadillacmike68]

That's just your standard linux technobabble!

You should see the unix folks - it'll make your head spin...