The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    Dual Boot XP pro and MCE

    Discussion in 'Windows OS and Software' started by Warder45, Nov 9, 2006.

  1. Warder45

    Warder45 Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    35
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    Hi all,

    I got a Dell e1705 back in June with MCE installed on it. However I had a network security class I was using it for so I wiped it and installed XP pro. This has been fine for a while now, and since I plan on setting up domain at my house for networking practice I want to keep XP Pro on the laptop.

    However recently I noticed that all the TV tuner stuff that came with my laptop doesn't really work with XP Pro, and I was looking to hook up my PS2 and use the e1705's screen as a monitor. So I'm assuming that I will need MCE to access the video menu to use the TV tuner which I can have my PS2 plugged into via s-video.

    So my question is can I use partition magic to setup a small 5GB partition that I can install MCE on and boot to it only when I want to use the TV Tuner functions? Will this accomplish what I'm trying to do?

    Thanks - John
     
    Warder45, Nov 9, 2006
    #1
  2. mikeal321

    mikeal321 Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    18
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    Hey, i'm not completly sure if this would work, but you could allways try installing Media Centre Edition in Microsoft Virtual PC, or an equivelant program. I havnt actually tried using a tv tuner etc, but it does run the Media Centre stuff on it so it might work, and its free so its worth a try, then you can run XP Pro, and have media centre whenever you need it :)

    mike
     
    mikeal321, Nov 12, 2006
    #2
  3. olyteddy

    olyteddy Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    468
    Messages:
    1,369
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    55
    What Tuner? You might want to see if you can get the regular Windows stuff that was available for it. Or look over HERE for alternate (probably better than MCE) software that runs with your card.
     
    olyteddy, Nov 16, 2006
    #3
  4. Pitabred

    Pitabred Linux geek con rat flail!

    Reputations:
    3,300
    Messages:
    7,115
    Likes Received:
    3
    Trophy Points:
    206
    I've heard great things about BeyondTV. Might look into that as well. The drivers for your TV card won't change between MCE and XP Pro, so you won't get better hardware performance for any reason.

    That being said, you could always resize the partition. I haven't use Partition Magic in years, but I have both expanded and contracted NTFS partitions with a Kubuntu boot disc and ntfsresize, and it worked perfectly.
     
    Pitabred, Nov 16, 2006
    #4
  5. booger

    booger Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    23
    Messages:
    153
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    You should download VMware server for your studies (It's Free). Then you run a computer(s) within your computer. It is a great program and a must have for a lab.
     
    booger, Nov 17, 2006
    #5