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motorhead6 · Posts: 193

This question is for anybody who has used or had knowledge of both Window XP and Windows 2000. Which do you prefer (for audio purposes) and why?

For those who will want to know why I am asking :
I have Windows XP and there are things I dont like about it. The only alternative to XP, if you want to use more than 512 Mbytes of RAM or properly manage more than 256 Mbytes, is Windows 2000 which I know nothing about.

jonrose · Location: USA Posts: 2901

Just one warning - W2K is limited to 10 devices. Perhaps that's not an issue for your studio, but keep it in mind, just in case you ever expand your hardware. We went back to the W9x OSs after trying W2K (back when it came out) because we needed to support 42 devices at the time. ;)

Best... -Jon

hishopper · Posts: 20

1) Win2k pro is a slightly better performer in the benchmarks as far as software goes, but that will have little effect with audio software (like CEP) as most of the actual work gets placed into the "background processes" arena.

2) MOST IMPORTANTLY if it is an issue for you (and completely irrelevant if it is not) is that XP Pro does not allow you to access to IRQ's. If you have any digital "artifacts" resultant from the industry practice of sharing IRQ's (usually 11 or 16) by means of "bridging" you will have no recourse to troubleshoot with XP Pro. Even completely removing all related system devices (USB Hub, 1394, video, pcmcia, etc, etc) and allowing the system to auto assign IRQ's doesn't work, it always chooses the same assignments!

3) XP Pro is (in IMHO) a little more user friendly in that it doesn't lay all of the technicalities of it's configurations out before you, without really digging... conversly that can also be a problem as above.

I would recommend Win2k pro, though I have not yet worked with pro audio with it myself..

MusicConductor · Location: USA Posts: 1524

I have done audio with both. XP is now at this point in time considered by many to be the higher quality OS, and for me it is more reliable and the audio functions glitch-free (it didn't in Win2K). Your mileage may vary, of course.

It is possible to install XP with ACPI management disabled. It must be invoked as setup is beginning, as a "standard PC" computer instead of an "ACPI" computer. I did change this once after the OS was installed -- messy but also possible (much better to do from a clean install, though). Clothesburner is another forum member who has been grappling with this very recently. The thing we both have in common is trying to use M-Audio Delta series cards under XP, which I tend to think is not a good idea. I gave up and have it under Win98SE now.

motorhead6 · Posts: 193

Thanks a lot guys. This has truly helped me. I should have said I have XP pro actually. I think I can rule out going back to 98 because I have 3 Gbytes of DDR RAM. I dont like the lack of control in XP pro. Its allways doing stuff on its own. Maybe when I learn the OS better I will be able to deal with it. I have been trying to figure out how to assign an IRQ to my soundcard so know I know I can just stop trying. Thanks again. I still havent made a final decision. Does anybody else have anything to add?

jester700 · Posts: 546

motorhead6 · Posts: 193

Thanks for the advice and the links.