I finally installed Windows Me ( Millennium Edition ), and deal with repairing a system for a second time.
Let's get right into Windows Me and discuss my two installation stories. First up was an IBM PC 300GL system with an 810 chipset; a six month old system with new components and BIOS. This is my multimedia machine and as such has quite a few PCI cards installed; let me give you a breakdown for the sake of what's what. A RealMagic Hollywood Plus MPEG decoder card for playing DVD movies, which I have hooked to my surround sound received via video and audio. A Sound Blaster Live! MP3 sound card for MP3 and WMA playback, again hooked to my receiver. A Diamond Fireport 40 SCSI card connected to my 2x DVD drive, again for DVD movie playback. Finally a Linksys 100TX 10/100 network card connects me to the rest of the house. All in all a mix of cards that can throw a loop into the installation. I use this machine to listen to music and watch DVD movies, as well as show the JAM! TV online guide. I like to leave the machine on at all times so I can easily access it by waking it from sleep mode, just like any piece of home entertainment electronics.
I formatted the hard drive and performed a clean install; I had a fully working install of Windows 98 SE but wanted to see Windows Me do it's thing. I copied the contents of the Win9x folder from the CD to the hard drive to speed everything up, then ran the setup and followed along. After about 30 minutes I was up and running. On start up an annoying intro video plays extolling the virtues of Windows Me; try as I might I couldn't can the stupid thing. Finally it ended and the operating system was up.
My second installation was on an older custom machine with a Celeron 300MHz processor and an Acer BX motherboard. I was concerned about the HomePNA card I had installed but drivers were loaded automatically for me. The installation went smoothly, except for the peripherals. Attached to this machine was a Lexmark 2050 colour printer and a Umax 2000U USB scanner. I admit that no Microsoft operating system has had drivers for the Lexmark 2050, but it would be nice just once. I installed the Windows 9x drivers and was up and running. The scanner was recognized through Windows Me's WIA or Windows Imaging Architecture. This let's USB and some legacy scanners and cameras to operate within Windows Me without extra drivers or software. Since the Umax scanner was recognized automatically I started the wizard and scanned a photo with ease. Quick and easy; the same holds true for newer cameras which I got to play with at the Windows Me launch.
Playing around with Windows Me led me to the realization that there wasn't a whole lot of new features. There is the video editing program, but I don't have a video camera so I didn't get to try that out. I downloaded Media Player 7 when it hit the web a few weeks ago so that was old hat.
So what was there to grab my attention? I've become used to the Windows 2000 interface which has been brought over, along with it's networking architecture. Windows Me keeps a list of files that are deemed critical to the system and automatically recovers them should they be deleted. Definitely handy for the adventurous new user. As well the system can be set to automatically get updates and install them, which is nice if you're always connected to the internet and completely trust Microsoft's judgment. A networking wizard guides you through the process of setup and sharing, the stumbling blocks of networking for the new use. All in all a nice package, but best purchased on a new PC where the features can be used to the fullest.
The real world held some news this week, but nothing worth repeating. I started this section in the hopes of discussing what's going on in the world of computing, but since then little news has struck me as worth discussing. Good sources of general computing news are ZDNet and PC World. Gaming and hardware news sites that stand out are Cool Info and Anandtech. Take a look for yourself and see what's what.
by Scott VanderPloeg
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