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Windows XP best version for mac pro?

Cromas

Cromas

macrumors member
Original poster
Feb 21, 2008
91
0
hi I think on install windows xp on my mac pro? what version its better?

windos xp pro, x64 edition pro... bla bla bla bla fuccck microshit with the a lot editions! I dont know! whats better?

thanks

wikipedia say: Windows XP Professional x64 Edition is not to be confused with Windows XP 64-bit Edition, as the latter was designed for Intel Itanium processors :eek::confused::eek::mad:
 
Don't get the 64 bit edition of XP, it isn't really supported by Apple with Bootcamp or other software generally. Either get the 32bit edition, which may limit your RAM to 4GB or go straight to Vista 64 bit editions.
 
Cromas said:
hi I think on install windows xp on my mac pro? what version its better?

windos xp pro, x64 edition pro... bla bla bla bla fuccck microshit with the a lot editions! I dont know! whats better?

thanks

wikipedia say: Windows XP Professional x64 Edition is not to be confused with Windows XP 64-bit Edition, as the latter was designed for Intel Itanium processors :eek::confused::eek::mad:
Click to expand...

Yeah, F**K Microsoft and it's Windows S**T. I've been using Windows since 3.0 (3.1, 3.11 for WG, 95, 98, Me, 2000, XP, Vista Beta 1,2 RC1,2 and both Ultimate 32 and 64 bit - they all suck) Do yourself a favor and stick with XP Professional and you'll save yourself a lot of headaches. I first installed Vista 64 bit (all in VM Ware) and had lots of issues (mainly USB "not recognize" after it was) so I stepped down to 32 bit - same crap. Now I have to go back to XP which is much faster, no problems and have all the drivers I need. (I still keep both Vistas though - just for experimenting). Still need Windows for Quicken and Stamps.com and some other phone tools.

I think wiki didn't do a good job of differentiating versions for Itanium and x86. That's why you were confused.
 
With XP Pro you'll also be able to utilise all of your processores and their cores. Home only sees one processor, and can only utilise two cores.

I wish XP Pro could see more than 2 GIG of Ram, though... Alas, you'll need Vista for that :(

--Erwin
 
Eraserhead said:
Don't get the 64 bit edition of XP, it isn't really supported by Apple with Bootcamp or other software generally. Either get the 32bit edition, which may limit your RAM to 4GB or go straight to Vista 64 bit editions.
Click to expand...

The limit on what the Mac Pro can see is 2GB under XP 32 bit.

Also, Vista 64 bit is supported by Apple under bootcamp. Cheers.
 
technically yes, i bought a vista crap oem for my MBP, it installed well activated well too.
however, it is resting in peace. i am using the less worse xp pro now.

anyway, M$ thinks you should be buying the retail version.
 
Erwin-Br said:
With XP Pro you'll also be able to utilise all of your processores and their cores. Home only sees one processor, and can only utilise two cores.

I wish XP Pro could see more than 2 GIG of Ram, though... Alas, you'll need Vista for that :(

--Erwin
Click to expand...

Just to confirm in a 2008 Mac Pro:

WinXP Home - 1 processor / 2 cores / 2GB RAM
WinXP Pro - 2 processor / 4 cores / 2GB RAM

Where is the officially documented or how can you tell this while running windows? I really do not want to spend the $200+ for a licensed WinXP Pro while I already have the Home edition laying around.
 
junior77 said:
Just to confirm in a 2008 Mac Pro:

WinXP Home - 1 processor / 2 cores / 2GB RAM
WinXP Pro - 2 processor / 4 cores / 2GB RAM

Where is the officially documented or how can you tell this while running windows? I really do not want to spend the $200+ for a licensed WinXP Pro while I already have the Home edition laying around.
Click to expand...

Well, the quickest way is to press [ctrl] [alt] [del] to open the task manager, and click on the "performance" tab. In my window, I would see 8 CPU monitors doing their thing, conforming that I have, indeed, 8 cores available.

Right-click on "My Computer" and "Properties" to open the System Properties window. In the "General" tab, look at the information at the bottom of the window to check the amount of RAM. In my case, it's 1.99 GB.

To have more detailed information available you can open the System Information application found in Start --> All programs, Accessories --> System tools --> System information

--Erwin
 
Thanks, will need to confirm the operation of only 1proc/2 cores tonight on XP home edition. Then I will need to understand what apps take advantage of having multiple processors/cores and see if that is worth the XP pro license or not. Sounds like it might be justified...
 
i actually went out and bought XP Pro SP2 for $200 - other than the RAM issue (which may be resolved in SP3) - i have had no problems, crashes, need to hit my monitor, etc. I also have XP home edition (not an OEM) from the last laptop I upgraded (from Win98) - but it seemed that everyone was suggesting XP Pro, and it seems to be the way to go.

I am playing COD and modelling in MAX (faster than ever before) - the CPU / Cores issue is a good point to make. Theres not al ot of softare out there right now that takes advantage of more than one or two cores in windows.

but there are some and in those cases it does make a difference.

If i had another drive, i would install XP Home and compare the two - but i need more RAM first...;)
 
crm114 said:
...which may be resolved in SP3...
Click to expand...

What makes you think this will be resolved in SP3? Do you have specific source of information, i.e., list of updates?

crm114 said:
If i had another drive, i would install XP Home and compare the two - but i need more RAM first...;)
Click to expand...

Didn't know you could have multiple Windows Boot drives, for some reason I thought this was unsupported.
 
When y'all mention XP Pro are you saying 32 bit or 64 bit?

I realized my friend give me an OEM copy of XP Pro 64 bit SP2 he purchased for a self built computer he had recently dismantled. He purchased a fully retail built Vista machine (Alienware).

So I guess I was using an unauthorized copy of XP from his own computer. Is that correct? If so, I must decide which version to purchase.

I had problems getting it to load under boot camp as it would not allow me to load the boot camp drivers.
 
Personally, I wouldn't go for the 64 bit version because some of the (older) Windows software doesn't work on it. And then there's the issue with legacy hardware that doesn't work on 64 bit because there are no 64 drivers available.

I haven't heard of any game or application that does not work on 32 bit.

--Erwin
 
concerning SP3 - i have no concrete info - just what i have read here and discussions i have had with IT buddys. I am waiting to install until i back u p XP (and download the pack).

see this thread:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/438879/

I also read something about 4 operating systems on one machine, and figured it wouldn't matter how many you had as long as they each have their own partition:

this is from a thread that i cant find -i only saved the info i was interested in:

"Alright these are the steps I took:

1. I ordered the system with the 320 GB drive but bought 2 1TB Seagate drives so when I got the Mac Pro I setup the 1 TB drives in a RAID 0 set and reloaded OS X onto them. In doing this I moved the 320 GB drive to bay 3.

2. Once reloaded, I used the DiskUtil program in OS X to erase the 320 GB drive. I told told DiskUtil that I just wanted to use MBR on it which is what Windows expects and Linux is used to (though I think Linux can also handle the Mac partitioning method too). I created 3 partitions on the drive of around 100 GB each and created them as FAT32.

3. I did a reboot with the XP install CD and held down "C" when rebooting which made the Mac boot off the CD. I did a basic install of XP to the first 100GB partition telling it to reformat is as NTFS. Didn't really have to do anything special here. When done and the system reboots you need to hold down the Option key to get a list of drives to boot from. Should be one labeled "Windows" and if you boot from this you get into XP.

4. I then did the same thing with Vista 64 Ultimate. Boot from the CD and tell it to install in the second partition on the drive. When done I tested that I could boot off the drive labeled "Windows" again. It put me into the Vista boot loaded which gave the option of booting into an "Older version of Windows" which was the XP or into Vista. Two down, one to go! "

I did not do this, once again its from another thread...
 
i have 32 bit XP pro installed. have had problems with 64-bit XP - mostly its hard to find drivers.

and - btw - my 1998 copy of M1 Tank Platoon II is the only old game or program that doesn't work on this machine - i got some kind of processor error.

if you plan to modify files on the windows partition, format in FAT32 , not NTFS.
 
I don't know about others but I bought an OEM of Vista Business hoping to install it on a second internal drive. After four days of getting the "Windows cannot detect a suitable volume that meets its criteria for installation" error message :mad: I gave up and went to Best Buy and picked up XP Pro which installed flawlessly. Apparently this is a know problem as MS says that Vista wants to be on the primary drive (as an extended or primary partition) but does not like being installed on a second drive. They recommend removing existing drives and putting the destination drive into bay 1 prior to installation.
Go figure! :confused:
Alan
 
Isn't it amazing how many different versions of Windows there are out there. I left that crap because it was crap.

Now, I am going crazy all over again. I think I am out of the Windows business. I am spending way too much time on all of this.

Leopard...thats it!!! Period. No other operating system to confuse things. I just love this Mac
 
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