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Win4LinPro & Win2000/XP


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***Update***

Anyone interested in new Win4Lin developments might want to check the last message in this thread from time to time. I'll post anything significant happening there.

 

For those who might want to know...word from the Netraverse developers is that volunteer outside beta testers for the new Win4Lin/Win2k will soon be recruited, with testing to start in early to mid Janurary.

 

But maybe the best thing is, not only is Win2k support (and soon after that WinXP) getting close, but the new version will no longer require Win4Lin-patched kernels. Should just install and run on stock kernels.

 

Who-hoo!! :headbang:

Edited by Crashdamage
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I don't think the licensing terms are a problem, the terms MS has used have always stated one license for one computer. It's XPee's product activation thing that could cause trouble, but they don't seem too worried about it so they must have a handle on it. Of course bootleg XP copies less the activation scheme will no doubt be as popular with Win4lin as they are in general.

 

For now, Netraverse is focusing on Win2k because since XP is to Win2k kinda like WinME is to 98SE, i.e. the same basic OS but all f*scked up, they figure most users will want to opt for Win2k. I've got both Win2k Pro and XP Pro and I know which I'll be installing. XP support will come a little later, for those unfortunate enough to have a copy of XP but no Win2k. It would be a good guess to say that Netraverse would just as soon not have to fool with XP at all, but they realize a lot of people are stuck with it. They had the same problem with 98SE/ME. They didn't want to put valuable development time into ME support but too many potential users were stuck with ME-only.

 

At any rate, the no-kernel-mods thing is certainly great news and should make installing so easy any click-click MS refugee can install Win4lin and go. That should in turn really help the popularity of Win4Lin and, hopefully, Linux in general. Hey, maybe the new version will even include things like full DirectX and and USB support so I'll finally be able to start switching over all my office workstations to Linux. Or maybe I'm being a little TOO optimistic...

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  • 3 weeks later...

An update for those who care...

Netraverse has put out the call for beta testers, with testing to begin in 2 weeks. Win2000 will be fully supported 1st, but XP (at least some of the many versions out there) is supposed to be working pretty well already, and will also be fully supported soon.

 

NO MORE PATCHED KERNELS NEEDED! This will run on the stock kernels as suppled by your distro of choice. Just install and go...

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  • 1 month later...

Just to update this thread...it got moved to 'Everything Linux' and much additional info is posted there:

 

http://mandrakeusers.org/index.php?showtopic=23073

 

I have the 1st public 1.0 release of Win4lLin Pro installed with Win2000 Pro SP4 but I haven't had time to tweak or play with it much yet. Running the trial version right now and it acts like a 1.0 release, but it shows enough promise that I'm buying a license and will keep up with it as it improves. A newer version has already been promised for early April. No slick GUI installer like Win4Lin 5 for Win9x yet, CLI only install, but the Win4LinPro rpm installed and loaded Win2k with no problems.

 

If anyone shows an interest, I'll keep updating this thread as noteable new features are added to Win4LinPro and maybe give my impressions of it as it develops.

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Just to update this thread...it got moved to 'Everything Linux' and much additional info is posted there:

 

http://mandrakeusers.org/index.php?showtopic=23073

 

I have the 1st public 1.0 release of Win4lLin Pro installed with Win2000 Pro SP4 but I haven't had time to tweak or play with it much yet.  Running the trial version right now and it acts like a 1.0 release, but it shows enough promise that I'm buying a license and will keep up with it as it improves.  A newer version has already been promised for early April.  No slick GUI installer like Win4Lin 5 for Win9x yet, CLI only install, but the Win4LinPro rpm installed and loaded Win2k with no problems.

 

If anyone shows an interest, I'll keep updating this thread as noteable new features are added to Win4LinPro and maybe give my impressions of it as it develops.

 

I'm interested in when they'll support WinXP(Home) with Service Pack 2. I have a licensed copy, but when I try to install the demo, it says:

Checking CDROM...

loadwinproCD: not a supported Windows CDROM

 

So I guess tis is not supported yet. And perhaps never may be... ? Any chance you could ask for this information? Also, I think the 256MB Ram I have is a bit low for running this, but I was thinking about upgrading my memory (and maybe 3D-card) anyways.

 

 

Darkelve

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I'm interested in when they'll support WinXP(Home) with Service Pack 2. I have a licensed copy, but when I try to install the demo, it says:

 

Checking CDROM...

loadwinproCD: not a supported Windows CDROM

 

So I guess this is not supported yet. And perhaps never may be... ? Any chance you could ask for this information?

There is already experimental support for XP Pro w/SP2. I haven't seen anybody even mention XP Home...probably nobody involved at this early stage wants to fool with such a crippled OS. I assume it's the only WinNT version you have?

But I'd be willing to bet Win4LinPro will support XP Home at least at some point. I'll post the question and see what Leo & Co. says.

 

Keep in mind that with Win4LinPro we are now running Win2k/XP, which are both much heavier on resources than Win9x. XP in particular is a real hog, so fast hardware + lotsa memory is a Good Thing. Especially on marginal hardware, disabling as many services a possible will pay real benefits.

 

I have Win4LinPro giving Win2K Pro 256MB and for my purposes (and with a lot of services off) that's probably fine. That's marginal for WinXP but my laptop is only a Pentium II400 w/256MB and it runs Win XP Pro SP2 (natively) fairly well. But I've disabled a LOT of services to get it there.

 

If you can get it installed, you can specify the memory allotted to Windoze by adding this line in $HOME/winxp/settings.local:

 

MRGPRO_WINDOWS_RAMSIZE=256 (or whatever amount you want up to 512)

Edited by Crashdamage
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To answer Darkelve's question...

 

I'm interested in when they'll support WinXP(Home) with Service Pack 2. I have a licensed copy, but when I try to install the demo, it says:

QUOTE

Checking CDROM...

loadwinproCD: not a supported Windows CDROM

There is *experimental* support for XP Home. And the 1st Win4Lin Pro revision has just been released which (among mostly fixes for non-english keyobards) includes...

 

Improved Windows 2000/XP guest CDROM detection and identification in loadwinproCD

...so maybe another try with the newer version will work for you now.

 

My experience so far Win4LinPro is, well, OK. Has it's ups and downs. Might keep in mind the observations below are with an AMD 2500 Barton, 784MB, ordinary Maxtor IDE 7200 rpm HD for system files, Asus nForce2 motherboard and my trusty but by now fossilized 32MB Savage S3 video card:

 

The Ups: No problems at all loading a Win2kPro SP4 disc. Did a few updates, including Internet Exploder from 5.0 > 6.0 with no problems. Sun's Java 1.4.2 installed fine. Firefox installed ok, including several extensions, and works with Java. Printing is working perfectly, even remote printing through pcAnywhere from my office Win2k box through this Linux box at home. VNC viewer works fine, runs pretty quick too. So far, in many hours of use Win4LinPro has been rock-solid stable. And Win4linPro/Win2kPro auto-configured itself and connected to the 'Net without any assistance at all or changes to the host configuration - very nice!

 

The Downs: Boots at about native Windoze speeds. Not bad, but Win4Lin9x takes about 10 sec. Actually runs at about VMware/Win2k speeds and I always thought VMware kinda sucked. After being spoiled by the blazing speed of Win4Lin9x for so long the speed is disappointing, but speed improvements are supposed to be in the works. Windows cannot be auto-updated through Windows Update, gotta download and install updates maually. Loaded a few apps and most went ok, but the brand-new pcAnywhere 11.5 (remote viewer only) failed installation so I had to go back to using 10.5. Firefox runs pretty slow and for some reason installing the Mouse Gestures 1.0 extension broke Firefox, forcing an unistall/reinstall. That was slightly complicated by the fact Add/Remove Programs in Control Panel is broken.

 

I'll be trying TaxCut soon to see if I can do my taxes on this combo. It's that time of year...aarrrgggghhhhh!

Edited by Crashdamage
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