windows xp 64bit, downsides?

theTinker

Hey guys

I'm currentily stuck on a Win xp 32bit machine in work due to some network issues upgrading to windows 7 64-bit. Something about a network domain controller.

I'm looking into going 64-bit hardware with windows xp 64bit.

All the information Im seeing on the interweb is mostly discussing xp 64bit on intel ithanium processors.

Is windows xp 64bit limited to a certain hardware profile or something?
Is it not just generic to 64bit hardware or was the intel ithanium simply the main 64bit chipset family when xp64 came out?

Is there any downside to this approach? Will i be limited in any way or can we simply continue as normal and upgrade to windows 7 when we're ready?

Thanks for the advice.

ShadowHearth

I think biggest downside: only directx 9.0.

Not sure about CPUs thought.

theTinker

ShadowHearth wrote: »

I think biggest downside: only directx 9.0.

Not sure about CPUs thought.

If thats its only downside, i'd jump in with both feet. Its a development machine, I need power, and my IDE+ webdomain take most of my memory.

Duo processor...3,1Gb ram...im dying.

Does anyone know if its limited by hardware it can use, or is it like all OS's and supported by pretty much every piece of hardware that comes after its release date?

Burgo

Could you be a bit more specific on the networking issue?
Off the top of my head I can't think of a reason there would be an issue.

No xp64 isn't limited to a certain hardware profile, I was running it on my old q6600 pc without much hassle.

theTinker

Burgo wrote: »

Could you be a bit more specific on the networking issue?
Off the top of my head I can't think of a reason there would be an issue.

No xp64 isn't limited to a certain hardware profile, I was running it on my old q6600 pc without much hassle.

I don't know the specifics. Our infastructure team are reluctant to upgrade us because of a 'sizeable' piece of work needed to upgrade our "Domain Controller" to support windows 7.
I don't know what a domain controller, and my knowledge of hardware support and infastructure is lacking im afraid.
They could be talking absolute ****. None of this sounds right to you?

So all the specs for Windows XP 64 being on the Intel Ithanium chipset family is just because it was out then, All the processors and motherboards out now would allow windows xp 64bit to be run ok. I never imagined a board or chipset not allowing a piece of software to operate. Am I missing something?

It seems fairly straight forward to me, sure my xbox talks to windows 7 which talks to my windows xp laptop.

Am i limited us in any way by upgrading to windows 64bit now? Like am i constraining myself to any hardware limitations in doing so?

theTinker

After spending the last few hours edumacating myself on the interweb. It seems like other than the cost of purchasing some xp64bit licences, there should be no problem at all, and allow us to upgrade our equipment regardless of other dependancies. This is quite handy.


Im delighted about the this.

As an aside, Ive been learning about domain controllers n such.
They're basically just security/resource authenticators/providers. As we use Active Directory, I believe the domain crontroller is simply the backend system behind Active directory that is story the data, managing connections based on Connection type/subnet.

Is this correct?

Monotype

There shouldn't be any problem with CPU compatibility as long as you've got a 64-bit CPU - that's nearly all CPUs released for the past couple of years, not older Pentium 4s, Core duos, some Atoms and older Semprons.

The key issue here is drivers. Regardless of whether it's older or newer hardware, you might have problems with finding the correct drivers for all of your components. XP 64-bit was never a very popular OS, therefore not well supported, so you could have some difficulty finding everything you need.

Serephucus

What Mono said.

XP-64 was largely regarded as a failure. It had terrible driver support for a long time - it's still below-average - and just didn't "take off" as it were. It's actually where the big compatibility stigma originated with 64-bit.

If you're spending the time and money to upgrade to a 64-bit OS, I'd tell your IT department to take its collective finger out and upgrade the damn domain controller (whatever that means, I'm not network-savvy).

Nothingbetter2d

xp 64 bit has little or no support from hardware vendors making it hard to get drivers and compatable software.... why don't ya just use windows 7 64bit instead?

theTinker

Nothingbetter2d wrote: »

xp 64 bit has little or no support from hardware vendors making it hard to get drivers and compatable software.... why don't ya just use windows 7 64bit instead?

I wish we could. But our network guys wont give the go ahead for it so we're stuck for the moment.

I may suggest that we upgrade to windows 7 on new dev boxes, and use our old ones for network access etc if thats an issue.

Monotype

Why not dual boot and see how you get along. Or even just install windows without a key a trial for 30 days, extendible to 120 days if you don't want to be wasting money on something that doesn't work out.

partyatmygaff

Couldn't you run Windows XP as a small virtual machine in Windows 7 64 bit and have it reroute all network traffic to Windows 7?

theTinker

partyatmygaff wrote: »

Couldn't you run Windows XP as a small virtual machine in Windows 7 64 bit and have it reroute all network traffic to Windows 7?

I don't know. Can I? I have very little experience in this type of area. Give me a java and notepad, ill build u a cloud, but dont ask me to know what the blinking light on the ethernet port means!

The infastructure guys say they cant connect a windows 7 box to the network, so how can this work?


Edit: Do you mean reroute all traffic FROM the windows 7 through the XP virtual OS?

partyatmygaff

theTinker wrote: »

I don't know. Can I? I have very little experience in this type of area. Give me a java and notepad, ill build u a cloud, but dont ask me to know what the blinking light on the ethernet port means!

The infastructure guys say they cant connect a windows 7 box to the network, so how can this work?


Edit: Do you mean reroute all traffic FROM the windows 7 through the XP virtual OS?

No, have the Windows XP virtual machine connect to your network and then reroute all traffic to Windows 7.

theTinker

partyatmygaff wrote: »

No, have the Windows XP virtual machine connect to your network and then reroute all traffic to Windows 7.

hmmm, that sounds like one smart bleeding idea.

I'll definitely look into it and propose it if i cant find any issues with it.

So the xp virtual will run as a network gatekeeper taking all traffic in from the network and direct it to my Windows 7. and then my windows 7 will direct traffic going to the network to the xp for outgoing comms?

Would this be hard to set up or is it standard enough?

Auvers

just wondering, what OS is the DC using?

theTinker

Auvers wrote: »

just wondering, what OS is the DC using?

Ill check this up first thing Monday morning. We'll be sitting down to discuss ideas and issues tomorrow.

Seems like a ridiculous blocker of progress.

mickoneill30

theTinker wrote: »

Ill check this up first thing Monday morning. We'll be sitting down to discuss ideas and issues tomorrow.

Seems like a ridiculous blocker of progress.

A DC shouldn't be the cause of your problem. We've got Windows 2003 DCs and they're it's working fine with Windows 7 Professional X64.

If they're using Windows 2000 I don't know. But your network guys shouldn't be using one that old.