I'm thinking of putting Windows 2000 on T61

What are the losses?
What are the gains?

I've used Windows 2000 for 5 years now on my Compaq Presario and see that the lenovo webiste has all the drivers needed for a Win 2000 install.

I'm getting fed up with all the Lenovo bloat.

 

Why not XP?

 

Lenovo "bloat" tends to not be all that bad... Its mostly security options, and business options.
You're probably better off staying with XP sp2.
Gain wise, you'd gain some lighter ram usage and CPU usage...
Loss- All software that needs XP would be out of your reach, latest drivers would be unavailable to you, etc.

 

Lenovo site has all the drivers. All my software works on 2k or XP. I can't get a thin install of XP on my new T61. I don't need help with security or business that ThinkVantage offers.

 

Why not just uninstall the Lenovo stuff? I see NO gains in downgrading to W2k and in fact, I seriously doubt that any W2k drivers would take advantage of all the functionality of the newer hardware.

Also keep in mind that Microsoft's mainstream support for W2k Pro ended almost 3 years ago.

 

I highly (emphasis on highly) recommend you stick with XP. Why Windows 2000? Why? Far more disadvantages outweigh the advantages of using that OS.

 

Microsoft has pretty much discontinued support for Windows 2000. You're better off, security wise, by sticking with XP Pro.

 

Which is pretty lame since they're basically the same operating system. I guess I should expect this stuff from M$.

I looked into this when I got my R60 and I think though not 100% sure, Lenovo recommended you disable one of the cores when running 2K.

 

Thanks guys. I really do want XP, just frustrated and this is cutting into my sking time.
As we speak I am using Windows Updates to bring my brand new super thin install of XP pro + sp2. whew, what a journey and it's not over yet.

After many failed attempts (my bad, not being really careful) I used nLite to slipstream I386 and sp2 and some crucial drivers into an install CD. I found it referenced here, the same page I used for directions:
http://kylefarnung.com/index.php/2007/02/22/thinkpad_t60_how_to_make_a_custom_oem_wi

I use this item:siw.exe to get all the system info off of T61 before I built the install disk. I'm going to actually buy it or donate some money to their cause:
http://www.snapfiles.com/get/siw.html

I found the crucial driver and controller name(from the purchase order) so that the install could install on the SATA hard drive, keeping "AHCI" set in the BIOS (this driver has to be installed first, otherwise you have to set the BIOS to "Compatible").

I started out here and this thread is where I got all the other links and the most support:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=188992

So, now I have XP running on my new T61 and it is lightning fast (for now, until I put every piece of software I own on it)

Thanks for memories, Windows 2000, you were good to me.

 

jdavis,

Did you purchase XP Pro license when you ordered your ThinkPad? If you did, you can just do a custom install with the Recovery Disks. You can also purchase a set of XP Pro Recovery Disks from Lenovo if your system didn't come pre-installed with XP Pro.

Personally, doing a clean install of XP and then having to install all the drivers manually is a pain on a laptop. On a desktop, however, I prefer to do the clean install myself, since desktops usually don't require as many proprietary drivers compared t laptops.

 

Good points. I will contact Lenovo and get some recovery disks for the XP Pro license that I purchased when I ordered my ThinkPad. However, I didn't want to wait x number of days for them to arrive. Also, Lenovo System Updates after my skinny install allowed me to restore all the correct drivers in one fell swoop and leave out whatever I didn't want. I doubt the recovery disks give you a chance to take off the bloatware so we are back were we started. Of course, there are probably a couple drivers from doing it my way that still need tweaking.
thanks

 

Make sure to call Tech Support and not Cust Support. Tell them that you're unable to burn the recovery discs for whatever reason and they should ship you the discs for free.

 

If your system already came with XP Pro, then you don't have to order the Recovery Disks from Lenovo. Your laptop came with 2 partitions, one for recovery, and the other for the OS. Assuming you haven't wiped the recovery partition yet, you can just press the blue ThinkVantage button upon bootup, and you can do a full recovery through ThinkVantage Rescue and Recovery program.

Also, you should have created a set of Recovery Disks prior to wiping the hard disk. Those Recovery Disks are the same disks that Lenovo will ship to you. Good luck.

Edit: In order to access Rescue and Recovery, you must have the program installed. Here's the link to download the program.

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/MIGR-4Q2QAK.html

 

Although I agree that the two are similar, I still don't think you can call the move lame. Windows 2000 was two operating systems ago, for crying out loud. It wa the right move to pull support for it. Sometime in the next year or so, don't be surprised if they pull support for XP as well.

 

Windows 2000 and XP are still currently supported by Microsoft. They have to because majority of the businesses are still using those operating systems.

Microsoft have discontinued adding features into Windows 2000 but will continue to provide security updates. The same will happen to XP when Microsoft decides to stop adding features into XP. If I remember correctly, XP Pro support will remain until 2014.

 

They came out a little over a year apart. XP is based on 2K. Most drivers for XP and 2K are interchangeable. It would take little effort for them to continue to update 2K, especially in light of the kind of profits they make in their Windows group, but they'd prefer you go out and spend more money on XP or now Vista. They are still supporting 2K anyway until 2010 they're just not adding any new features.

 

Again, I understood your point. I never said I completely disagreed with it. I just think that Windows 2000 was ages ago. I doubt most companies are still using 2000. I know that most are still using XP, but I think those using 2000 are in the minority. Also, it's being reported that the different versions of XP and Windows 2000 will be supported for some time longer, but how many of you really believe this will be the case if Windows 7 is a huge commercial success? Afterall, that is what M$ is hoping for with the release of the new OS.

Honestly, I'm quite satisfied with both Vista and XP, as I have one of each on two different desktop computers. I really don't care which way M$ decides to go on the issue. My experience with Vista has not been so poor that I would lose it if they did decide to pull support for XP tomorrow. Zaz, I was merely responding to you calling the move lame. I really wouldn't think it lame at all; no disrespect intended.

To the OP, as many have said, it would be a bit of a mistake to go back to 2000. I think I read in an earlier post that you decided against the idea. Good choice.

 

Pray tell what does Vista offer? Can you do business any better?

 

Due to the differences in how XP loads services though (Win2K loads almost all at startup, vs. XP loading many services as an "on-demand" type of thing), I think XP is a better choice. Windows XP also has far better support for Group Policies when integrated with current server operating systems (Server 2003 and 2008), and is at a point where it is stable, has plenty of device drivers, and better support for newer technologies (i.e., wireless networking, just to name one).

Windows 2000 is now eight years old, and supporting it loses them money. I don't always agree with Microsoft, but I think their choice to stop supporting it when they have two generations of newer operating systems makes sense. I currently support Windows 2000 and XP at work; the one reason for it is that we have a few older programs that require Win2k or they don't work. I have found that XP, in the vast majority of cases, is actually faster; if not out of the box, then it can be tweaked to be at the very least equal in speed. Also, hopefully when SP3 is shortly released, slipstreaming it into an XP CD will allow us native SATA support at the time of install, among other new device drivers that should be integrated.

What with Service Pack 3 just around the corner, rumored to improve Windows XP's speed further (based on tests of its betas), I ask this question, with no disrespect intended: Why would you run 2000 vs., say, XP in Classic mode?

 

That's what I was getting at.

 

What's lame? According to Microsoft's product lifecycle page, Windows 2000 Professional will continue to get security fixes and paid support for another 2 years. Sounds like a pretty good deal to me.

www.microsoft.com/lifecycle

I'd be interested to see the product lifecycle info for Apple and the various flavors of Linux.

 

Getting security fixes and the the major overhaul that was service pack 2 are not the same thing. You get no IE7. This is for an OS the is underneath very similar to XP, on which XP was based since they came so close together.

 

I just put Windows 2000 Professional SP4 on my T61. It runs very well. Since I do not have time to figure out how to enable the native firewall, I used Kaspersky Internet Security which includes AV and a Firewall. Lenovo has pretty good driver support for WIN2K so it is very smooth.

The machine came with Vista and I find it to be (performance wise) a step back from XP. I did not get an XP downgrade and purchasing XP would be quite expensive.

So I bought a copy of WIN2K from one of these Russian OEM download sites for $34. Do not have to activate WIN2K and vital security patches for WIN2K will be issued until July 13, 2010. And I can easily purchase in the future an upgrade version of XP Pro and run that until April 8, 2014 (though I am sure the successor to Vista will be out by then).

 

Russian OEM download site? They sound as credible as The Pirate Bay.

 

Does not matter to me. If someone wants to burn MS, fine with me.