CF-27 best Windows OS?

Hi all,
I'm a newbie on this forum. I just bought a CF-27 configuerd as follows:
- Windows 98SE OS
- 300 MHz pentium CPU
- 128 + 246 MB RAM
- 6.5 GB HDD
- CD/DVD drive
- Internal GSM modem
- Standard LCD display (no touch-screen).
I want to use this PC mainly for controlling my ham radio equipment (several DOS programs available), managing data on excel, GPS navigation, and internet.
Of course, I don't expect top performance from this old PC, but ...
- could have I any real advantages by upgrading the OS?
- if positive, should I go for W2000 or XP?

Thanks!
Ugo
Torino, Italy

 

Stick to w98 for compatibility with dos programs



Alex

 

I have XP on my CF27 - the same spec as yours and its ok

 

Good news it's ok, but: how does it comapre to w98? (faster - slower - more compatible to web browsers - whatever else)?

Thanks!
Ugo

 

With XP it wont be as responsive as 98SE but as Tomcat suggested if you are running DOS programs it might be better, Although I have no experience with Windows 2000 it might be a good alternative because it is stable and not bloated like XP.

 

+ one vote for W2K!
CAP

 

I have a 27 500mhz on W2K... + 1 more vote

 

I would try to put OS Snow Leopard on it... 10.6.2 is the most current version of that...

 

The telecommunications department where I work maintains a couple old 27s just for some DOS based programs (radio diagnostic and programming) that they cannot replace and never could get them to work correctly under compatibility mode of XP or 98. If your programs are anything like that, you may need DOS in addition to another OS.

So my suggestion would be to get a second hard drive and set one up with a skinny, reduced footprint version of XP (use XPlite or do it yourself with any number of internet tutorials) and one with DOS. Or upgrade to a larger hard drive (if necessary) and set it up with two partitions with either a dual boot setup or a floppy boot disk for DOS accessing the programs on the second partition. Either way, the DOS partition would have to be formatted with regular old FAT. It's a little more hassle this way but worth it if you want to do it all with this machine.

 

I've tried all the Windows varients - my vote goes to Win 2K

 

One more vote for Windows 2K !
Reliable, USB support, best OS for this toughbook generation , no doubt about that.

 

I say 98se and slim xp/ win 2k. Depending on your HDD size you can either upgrade or use stock and create 2 partitions and dual boot. Use windows 98se for work, and xp/2k for testing or fun. I would say win 2k but since i slimmed xp down to 200mb it works extremely well probably better than anything else.

Before changing os i would upgrade with hard drive and ram. Those will provide more benefit than anything.

 

Thanks for all answers you posted, guys!
Just two more things to mention:
- I can't upgrade the RAM (the CF-27 won't see more than 128+256 as far as I know)
- I may have access to a Windows FLP licence. I've been told it's light, still supported and relatively safe (it has been released in 2006 specifically for old systems). Would it be a viable option?

 

Windows FLP is a thin client server, but we are all about experimenting so let's experiment and see what happens.

 

Win2K is not bad, and there are at least two free Anti-Viruses left out there that will run on it. However, if you go past SP2, expect to see a big slowdown. If you decide to sick with W98 consider using the Unofficial Windows 98 SE Service Pack 2.1 Final.

 

Here's my rundown of the operating systems you can put on a CF-27 again since the search function on this forum doesn't seem to work.

So far, having tested "a few" of them:

1. Windows 95 works flawlessly but you won't be able to use a wireless card for the internet.

2. Windows 98 (first edition) will do everything you want as long as you download the unofficial service pack 2 and all the USB device drivers. It may give you a few "blue screens of death" from time to time though.

3. Windows 98 SE works best on the CF-27s with the built-in modems. You'll get shutdown problems with any other especially if you've upgraded the BIOS to handle Windows 2000. It's all to do with the power management. The MS patches do not work. I tried.

4. Windows ME. This much maligned OS works well apart from the mouse pointer staying on screen during the screensaver. It's probably a clash with the touchscreen drivers (you need to use the Windows 2000 one not Windows 98).

5. Windows 2000. It works but you need to max out the RAM (usually to 192mb) and it's very slow booting up. Once up, things work quite nicely but I wouldn't go beyond Office XP on there.

6. Windows XP SP 1. Nice and quick as long as you turn all the fancy graphics off and set it to "Windows Classic". The graphics cards in these things is pitiful to be honest even for the time they first came out.

7. Windows XP SP 2. Slow in starting and you'll probably see a Windows 2000 style progress bar before the main boot sequence starts. A bit too bloated for a CF-27 but still usable with a few tweaks as mentioned above.

8. Windows XP SP 3. Forget about it! It's not going to happen for you. Too slow for anything.

9. Vista or Windows 7. Hahahahaha no.

10. Linux. Zenwalk will work but good luck with a wireless internet card. Puppy will do the wi-fi but it looks awful and is difficult to understand. Xubuntu, no, too slow. Ubuntu - only 6.06 will work if you are lucky but it's no longer supported so you have to go to the archived repositories for programs. Forget having any touchscreen support on any of these linux operating systems either. I know it exists but the processor can't keep up.

Finally you can use MSDOS, FreeDOS, Windows 3.11 or even BeOS if you have apps for any of those. All the DOS programs run extremely fast but you'll never have the touchscreen, internet or USB socket working with DOS.

I hope that satisfies your curiosity. I use Windows 2000 on mine btw.

 

I agree with the good doctor about the linux varients, as I have tried them all. Windows XP works fine on the Mk IV models as that is what I have.

 

Thank you Dr. Blood.
I will try Windoes FLP and let the forum know.

 

You might ,depending on you radio programing software have to duel boot to include w98
I have a commercial customer that purchases cf-28's from me that has 3 units setup that way
XP sp2 for occasional internet, and w98 for kenwood programing software


Alex