For several years I have enjoyed a peer-to-peer network with 2 W2K PCs.
I'm now planning to go to a 64bit, super ready, Vista Intel Quad PC.
I've read that Vista (by design) will not talk to an OS older than XP.

Has anyone found a workaround to defeat that unfortunate design?
(I'm ready to abandon my oldest W2K Dell Pentium PC (that originally came
with Win98) that years ago Dell had erroneously claimed was not W2K capable.
I easily disproved Dell's misinformation that probably was designed to
stimulate sales.)

What say you out there? Should I entertain any hope? The new Intel Quad
would net with a 5 year old W2K (SP4) Athlon XP 1700+ maxed with over 500 MB
(DDR SDRAM) - Motherboard Name - Gigabyte GA-7VTXE

Thanks for either your optimistic, suggested options - or doleful regrets.

Blithe

Where do you get "I've read that Vista (by design) will not talk to an OS
older than XP"? Vista does have more features and different security
settings. However, they should talk to each other if we have correct
settings.

Vista How toFrom: Date: 11 Nov 2006 Comments: There are 5 versions of
Windows Vista: 1. ... Windows Vista Enterprise 5. Windows Vista Ultimate The
home versions of . ...
www.howtonetworking.com/vista/vista.htm


--
Bob Lin, MS-MVP, MCSE & CNE
Networking, Internet, Routing, VPN Troubleshooting on
http://www.ChicagoTech.net
How to Setup Windows, Network, VPN & Remote Access on
http://www.HowToNetworking.com


"Blithe" wrote in message
...
For several years I have enjoyed a peer-to-peer network with 2 W2K PCs.
I'm now planning to go to a 64bit, super ready, Vista Intel Quad PC.
I've read that Vista (by design) will not talk to an OS older than XP.

Has anyone found a workaround to defeat that unfortunate design?
(I'm ready to abandon my oldest W2K Dell Pentium PC (that originally came
with Win98) that years ago Dell had erroneously claimed was not W2K
capable.
I easily disproved Dell's misinformation that probably was designed to
stimulate sales.)

What say you out there? Should I entertain any hope? The new Intel Quad
would net with a 5 year old W2K (SP4) Athlon XP 1700+ maxed with over 500
MB
(DDR SDRAM) - Motherboard Name - Gigabyte GA-7VTXE

Thanks for either your optimistic, suggested options - or doleful
regrets.

Blithe

"Blithe" wrote in message
...
For several years I have enjoyed a peer-to-peer network with 2 W2K PCs.
I'm now planning to go to a 64bit, super ready, Vista Intel Quad PC.
I've read that Vista (by design) will not talk to an OS older than XP.

Interesting. 32 bit Vista is talking here, with XP SP1, 2K SP4 (two of them),
and
2 W98SE boxes. I didn't do anything at all other than the proper network setup
stuff on the Vista machine.

Connection is via Atheros 802.11 a/b/g through a Netgear WGR614v6.
Maybe the problems you relate are when you use a wired network?

I would say go ahead and try it.


Has anyone found a workaround to defeat that unfortunate design?
(I'm ready to abandon my oldest W2K Dell Pentium PC (that originally came
with Win98) that years ago Dell had erroneously claimed was not W2K capable.
I easily disproved Dell's misinformation that probably was designed to
stimulate sales.)

What say you out there? Should I entertain any hope? The new Intel Quad
would net with a 5 year old W2K (SP4) Athlon XP 1700+ maxed with over 500 MB
(DDR SDRAM) - Motherboard Name - Gigabyte GA-7VTXE

Thanks for either your optimistic, suggested options - or doleful regrets.

Blithe

On Tue, 25 Dec 2007 07:36:56 -0600, "Blithe" wrote:

For several years I have enjoyed a peer-to-peer network with 2 W2K PCs.
I'm now planning to go to a 64bit, super ready, Vista Intel Quad PC.
I've read that Vista (by design) will not talk to an OS older than XP.

Has anyone found a workaround to defeat that unfortunate design?
(I'm ready to abandon my oldest W2K Dell Pentium PC (that originally came
with Win98) that years ago Dell had erroneously claimed was not W2K capable.
I easily disproved Dell's misinformation that probably was designed to
stimulate sales.)

What say you out there? Should I entertain any hope? The new Intel Quad
would net with a 5 year old W2K (SP4) Athlon XP 1700+ maxed with over 500 MB
(DDR SDRAM) - Motherboard Name - Gigabyte GA-7VTXE

Thanks for either your optimistic, suggested options - or doleful regrets.

Blithe

Blithe,

A computer running Windows Vista will talk with an OS older than Windows XP, if
properly configured. Every new OS brings challenges, and Vista is no exception.
Just know what the challenges are.
http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2006/12/windows-xp-and-vista-on-lan-together.html
http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2006/1...-together.html

--
Cheers,
Chuck, MS-MVP 2005-2007 [Windows - Networking]
http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/
Paranoia is not a problem, when it's a normal response from experience.
My email is AT DOT
actual address pchuck mvps org.

On Tue, 25 Dec 2007 07:36:56 -0600, "Blithe"
wrote:

For several years I have enjoyed a peer-to-peer network with 2 W2K PCs.
I'm now planning to go to a 64bit, super ready, Vista Intel Quad PC.
I've read that Vista (by design) will not talk to an OS older than XP.

This is simply not true. I have 98SE, XP, Win2000, and Vista on an
Ethernet switch. Any PC can share files. The Win2000 PC controls all
Internet activity. The 98SE controls the only printer. Not sure
about Linux and Vista, but suspect this can be done as well. Vista's
communications is very different than XP, but it may need some
tweaking to get it right.

Thanks to all for responding. I forgot to mention that my setup is wired &
operates on a KVM switch. I am surprised that you unanimously agree there
are Vista settings to achieve & maintain my preferred configuration.

I got retail Vista Ultimate delivered yesterday (no OEM for me). Price?
Not too bad. Samsclub online gives a $75 gift card for (see below): under
$320 including delivery/tax after gift card rebate was about the best price
I found.

Merry Christmas - Blithe

Item: Microsoft Windows VistaT Ultimate Full Version
Qty: 1
Item Price: $ 364.86
Item SubTotal: $ 364.86

combined item(s) total $ 364.86
combined shipping $ 2.50
tax $ 26.82
combined order total $ 394.18


"Phisherman" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 25 Dec 2007 07:36:56 -0600, "Blithe"
wrote:

For several years I have enjoyed a peer-to-peer network with 2 W2K PCs.
I'm now planning to go to a 64bit, super ready, Vista Intel Quad PC.
I've read that Vista (by design) will not talk to an OS older than XP.

This is simply not true. I have 98SE, XP, Win2000, and Vista on an
Ethernet switch. Any PC can share files. The Win2000 PC controls all
Internet activity. The 98SE controls the only printer. Not sure
about Linux and Vista, but suspect this can be done as well. Vista's
communications is very different than XP, but it may need some
tweaking to get it right.

"V Green" wrote in message
...

Snip
Interesting. 32 bit Vista is talking here, with XP SP1, 2K SP4 (two of
them),
and
2 W98SE boxes. I didn't do anything at all other than the proper network
setup
stuff on the Vista machine.

Snip

V Green,
Could you give me details of your W98 - Vista networking? I have been
trying for months to network Vista Home Premium with W98SE. All computers
can see each other, and networking setup seems to go successfully. The
Vista computer can access each W98 computer perfectly; it can examine
directories and can read and write files with no problems; it can even print
to a W98 printer. However, there are problems going the other way: W98 can
examine Vista's directories, but has difficulty reading and writing files.
Most times, the file transfer never completes; however, I can routinely
transfer small files (a few KB) very slowly (it takes about 45 seconds). If
W98 tries to print to a Vista printer, it hangs the Vista system. I would
appreciate hearing if your W98 networking was more successful than this.