[Ham-Computers] need Windoze software upgrade info

[Rick Adams]

	Phil wrote:

> So is Windows 2000 the same thing as Windows ME or are they 
> different critters? 

	Totally different. ME is buggy, slow, and prone to crashes. 2000
is the successor to Windows XT (the commercial operating system), comes
in two flavors--a work station and a server--and is much more similar to
Windows 98se than to ME. 

> I never really planned on going beyond 
> Win98 but now that Log-EQF has a Windoze version there are 
> only a couple dos programs left on my machine (a 
> Latitude/longitude program and an RF toolbox program).  I may 
> look for a Win98se disk (since I've already paid for a Win98 
> package).

	You should be able to pick up a Windows 98se upgrade CD-ROM
pretty cheap on the Internet--try using a shopping search engine (i.e.,
Copernic Shopper). I've seen ads as low as $29.95 for the upgrade
version since XP came out. At one time you could buy a Windows 98 ONLY
upgrade through Microsoft for a _very_ low price--check their web site
(http://www.microsoft.com) to see if they still have it available. It
really IS worth the upgrade from Windows 98 first edition--and, of
course, 100% compatible with any software that runs under the first
edition (the reverse is NOT true).

	Incidentally, whoever commented that XP won't run dos programs
was incorrect. While it's fussy about the ones it DOES run (it won't
allow a program to take control of critical system hooks or to directly
address the hardware), you should be able to run nearly all well behaved
ham software under it w/o problem. I just tried a few old programs (a cw
tutor, a dos sstv interface, and a log book program) under XP Pro and
all ran (simultaneously, of course) in dos boxes--in fact it was easy to
cut and paste from the old logging program to my current (Windows 9x
based) one to add some qsos I'd neglected to add to my database before.

> Ya gotta watch these software upgrades, they can 
> break the bank.  I kinda lost track of all the different 
> versions of Windoze after I got Win98.

	Huh?

	The only releases after Win98 were Win98se (an incremental
upgrade, not a major one), Windows ME (an interim "filler" until XP was
ready), and, of course Windows XP. So far there have only been a limited
number of Windows upgrades (ver. 1.0, 3.0, 3.1, 3.11, Windows 95, Win98,
Win98se, Windows ME, and Windows XP--or in the commercial line; Windows
XT, Windows XT 4.0, Windows XP Corporate). I've used every version of
Windows since the first one (I started in PCs in the late seventies with
an Altair kit), and very definitely the last couple--ME ignored--have
been the best by far.

> At one time I considered trying a Linux system but I'm too 
> deep into Windoze and don't really have the interest in 
> changing everything, the 'pooter is just a tool for my radio work.

	Linux is nice (I have SuSE Linux on one of my machines), but
it's pretty limited. Very few people are writing software for it, and
those who do tend to write programs much more suited to computer
hobbyists than to hams who use the computer as part of their shacks (I
sort of "fall between the cracks" since I have a strong computer
background, as do most hams who DO use Linux). Right now, hams who are
software authors are only beginning to recognize that their programs
should take advantage of Win98 and later features instead of writing for
a rather out-of-date Win95 (or earlier!) platform. It's going to be
quite a while before a real range of user friendly Linux software is
available to the amateur community, unfortunately.

	Hope this helps a bit.

	73 de ke8hh, Rick