NT 4.0 and USB: finally it works !!

[jean-paul]

Not a post that should be on diyaudio.com but I noticed there are quite some diehard NT 4.0 users here.

Today I found out that Dell offers USB 1.x drivers for NT 4.0 with it's newest laptops ( D600 ). I just tested this on a Compaq machine and it works flawlessly ! A breakthrough if you ask me. I tried several USB for NT 4.0 solutions before but they weren't easy to use, gave bluescreens or they missed essential functionality.

It is a *very* strange experience to see NT 4.0 recognizing USB memorykeys, mice and such the first time. Yes ,you can hotplug devices and see them directly detected by Windows NT...

The driver package is called R62200.exe and installs several drivers. I wouldn't check Edgeport drivers as they are intended for that particular device only. Mass storage devices as USB CDRom drives, external USB harddisks and USB cdwriters are supposed to work too, I have not tested this. I truely wonder if CD writing programs support this feature.

I did test with a USB mouse, an external USB floppydrive and a 64 mb USB memory-key ( had to assign a driveletter to it and format it though ) and they worked right after plugging them in. Now only if I would have a NT 4.0 driver for my USB scanner...

Have fun !

[Bricolo]

Originally posted by jean-paul
Now only if I would have a NT 4.0 driver for my USB scanner...

Have fun !

Simply try the Win2K driver, it could work

[UrSv]

Originally posted by Bricolo



Simply try the Win2K driver, it could work

Hacking the inf file I presume?

[jean-paul]

Editing the scanners W2K *.inf file is worth a try.

[karma]

ahh i do miss nt 4.0. but now there is just to manny cracks and hacks out for it. like my old video card was worth 600$ new
but only works with nt 4.0. just now thay came out with a driver
for win2000 advance server. works as good as it did in nt 4.0.
usb is a bonus

[jean-paul]

USB support for NT 4.0 is a welcome bonus indeed.

[jewilson]

jean-paul

You might consider switching to windows 2000 or even XP pro, there are both built from the NT.

I use 2000 very good driver support for second part boards unlike NT4.

[jean-paul]

I know about that, I have XP on my workstation. My server uses NT 4.0 because I like it's simplicity and small size. The latter especially counts when compared to Win XP. Compact, usable on older/slower systems, no bloatware, no built-in Internet Explorer, almost no Wizards and robust when the right drivers are used. IIS that originally came with NT 4.0 should be avoided like the plague though.

With SP6a and the several security patches NT 4.0 is pretty stable. With IE6SP1 installed ( when you like that on a server ) you can even use Windowsupdate and install most security patches with a single reboot.

When used with newer IDE/ATAPI devices the DMAcheck utility should be used to take advantage of the higher transfer rates of modern harddisks.

Still 50 % of the servers ( worldwide ) use NT 4.0 and I think it'll be a tough job for Microsoft to push Windows 2003 as a replacement, certainly in the economic situation of today.

BTW there is a Open Source project going on that focusses on making an OS that is compatible with NT 4.0. It is called ReactOS.

[Bricolo]

Originally posted by jean-paul
I know about that, I have XP on my workstation. My server uses NT 4.0 because I like it's simplicity and small size. The latter especially counts when compared to Win XP. Compact, usable on older/slower systems, no bloatware, no built-in Internet Explorer, almost no Wizards and robust when the right drivers are used. IIS that originally came with NT 4.0 should be avoided like the plague though.

With SP6a and the several security patches NT 4.0 is pretty stable. With IE6SP1 installed ( when you like that on a server ) you can even use Windowsupdate and install most security patches with a single reboot.

When used with newer IDE/ATAPI devices the DMAcheck utility should be used to take advantage of the higher transfer rates of modern harddisks.

Still 50 % of the servers ( worldwide ) use NT 4.0 and I think it'll be a tough job for Microsoft to push Windows 2003 as a replacement, certainly in the economic situation of today.

BTW there is a Open Source project going on that focusses on making an OS that is compatible with NT 4.0. It is called ReactOS.

since you're talking about small size
www.litepc.com has a modified win98 that takes 4Mb (no, not 4Mb RAM, 4Mb HD space!!!)

[jean-paul]

You can't seriously compare W98/W98lite with NT 4.0 but for it's small size !

I'll never forget the presentation of W98 with the scanner that was hot plugged in a USB port causing a blue screen. The expression on the face of Bill Gates was priceless