64-Bit anyone... anyone

[Panda Man]

Originally Posted by Tech Geek Deluxe

My question is this ... will 64 Bit Windows XP be able to run most of my old programs without a hassle [only a handful are 16 bit assembly programs] and question number 2 ... will 64 Bit XP clearly and easily see 4 GB of Ram?

Yes and as far as I know, yes ;)

[screwballl]

I have heard that access to those 16-bit programs will be VERY spotty and there is no way to tell unless you actually try them... I think they have a trial version of XP64....

[Athildja-x64]

Originally Posted by Tech Geek Deluxe

My question is this ... will 64 Bit Windows XP be able to run most of my old programs without a hassle [only a handful are 16 bit assembly programs] and question number 2 ... will 64 Bit XP clearly and easily see 4 GB of Ram?

As Panda mentioned, yes XP x64 will see and use more than 4Gb of RAM. As for the applications, as long as the installer is at least a 32 bit installer you should be ok.
If any of the applications need to isntall drivers you may have an issue.
Some of the Starport protected games would not install due to the Starport driver that had to run. I have only had one or two applications that would not work with XP x64 and those were all due to drivers that the application tried to install not being x64.

[Tech Geek Deluxe]

Well I loaded a clean install of 64 Bit x64 XP Pro ... and played with it. It is snappy and fast and with 64 bit capable programs ... very fast. But ....

Yes ... But .... I have numbers of programs that are incompatible. Some wierd driver issues as well. I have a server and 3 Esata drives and an external NDAS network attached storage. Esatas work fine on and between any OS ... But ... This is where I met a real problem ... x64 drivers with the NDAS simply make it not compatible with the other PC's on the NDAS device that access the device with a different OS ... wierd ... ok ... I'm sure it is fixable ... and the NDAS isn't a high powered device ... however it has worked flawlessly for years and is one of the simplest cheapest and easiest ways to have file sharing over the Wifi and Hardline network in the house.

I could simply upgrade it or actually make better use of my server. But that leads me to another problem ... the remote administrator software I use ... well it isn't compatible with x64.

So ... I really like a x64 ... I like that it is faster and allows for more Ram ... but If I don't move everything to 64 bit compatibility at once ... then it is a hassle.

So I am making a pure 64 bit secondary server machine and testing everything on it and loading all programs that I use and if they don't work ... try finding a replacement program that will ...

The Machine is on order and will be pretty basic
--- Case: Newegg.com - Rosewill Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
--- Mobo: Newegg.com - ABIT AB9 QuadGT Motherboard - Retail
--- Overclocked CPU: ClubIT Pentium Dual Core E2160 Conroe 1.8GHz
--- DVDRW
--- HD: Newegg.com - Western Digital 160GB SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
--- DDR2 Ram: Newegg.com - CORSAIR XMS2 2GB DDR2 800
--- Power Supply: Newegg.com - Thermaltake TR2 W0070RUC 430W Power Supply
--- Video Card: Newegg.com - SAPPHIRE X1650PRO 512MB 128-bit

My question is this ... will programs that are compatible with x64 ... also be assuredly compatible with Vista?

[Athildja-x64]

Unfortunately no,
Vista uses a different Kernel,
some drivers will work others will not.
The good thing is that there is more driver support for Vista x64 than there every was for XP x64.
I run Vista x64 on my laptop, my desktop and even my virtual server host OS.
it is stable and quick.

[screwballl]

just a small update...I am now dual booting XP (32-bit) and Fedora Core 8 x64 and so far it looks great.... finally got a proper driver for my X1950GT... now if I can get the X-fi working I will be good to go.

[RangerXLT8]

I run 64bit Vista Ultimate and love it. I do need 2gb more ram though for the extra speed. I have no driver problems whatsoever.