Laptop with XP Home Edition

Hi PLC nuts!

As usual I come for some words of wisdom.

My darn Laptop died on me. Is it the last X-Ray scan at Ohare or my less tahan gentle handling of the case? I will never know but its dead alright.

Now, using my backup, I'm looking for the next one.

I usually purchase the "end-of-the-line" meanning the model that has just been replaced by a new one. So I pay a lot less and anyway I don't use it for games nor for multimedia presentation.

The deals I can have come with the Home Edition of XP. I don't really know the difference for I only have the Pro version in my desktops.

Does it mather?
I recall earing something 'bout serials being different on the Home Edition.
Does it mather?

Would you old farts be so kind as to give me some advices.

Most of the things do run fine on Home edition as well but
if you ask me Home is not worth it. I know Pro costs a bit more
(ca. double) but all the little quirks and glitches are gone
(maybe not all but many). I would recommend to stick with Pro.
Some software for example doesn't even run on Home edition.
I'm not talking about games, it's Rockwell Software (RSViewME
for example just to name one).
We have seen some strange mouse behaviour in RSLogix500 running
on XP Home on some machines. Reinstalling XP or downloading
patches and drivers didn't help but moving to Pro fixed it once
for all. Another way to look at it if you will:
This is tool you use for work. I bet you don't use $4.98
multimeter from Walmart either.

I agree, stick with XP Pro. I use Siemens, and it won't even run on the home edition. It would just be a matter of time before you ran into software that gave you problems.

I agree on Pro. I also suggest you pay a little extra for the high end support. My kids quickly realized that the laptop is their competition for my time. They have thrown it off the bed, jumped on it, and almost drowned it. I have a Dell Latitude C840 (I think) and I paid for the gold support and onsite service. Well, the motherboard recently burned out, the keyboard had been ground into the screen, the clip that holds the battery in place was gone, and a corner of the case would not stay snapped together. Dell sent a technician to my house with a new mother board, a new (and higher resolution) screen and new plastics. WOW! It's like a new laptop and the support only cost me like $300'ish.

Chip

OH NO! I just upgraded to XP Home edition... Now what??

First, go with PRO.

Second, good to hear someone with a good Dell Onsite Support Story (I hadn't heard any bad, I just hadn't heard any one way or the other). As the machine IS my work, I also popped for the onsite service. Sounds like you're glad you did.

I am a bit surprised to hear that some program won't run on XP Home. I thought the only difference is that Home won't connect to a Domain.

Another option is to find a cheap Win2K on eBay or something. Win2K works with all the latest Automation software. NewEgg.com got WinXP OEM edition for $141. Buy a cable or something to qualify for the *must be purchased with hardward* requirement

Actually home will connect to a domain however it has trouble maintaining multiple connection types ie switching from dial up top domain etc. Also it will not save passwords on a domain to connect to internet thru the domain.

XP home user here...

I use am old Dell inspiron 7500. Not the most powerful laptop, thats for sure, but it has a good old fashioned serial port, a God-sent in our world as far as I'm concerned. It came with 98SE, which was more trouble than it was worth. Having a copy of XP home laying around, I installed it. So far, XP home has been almost fine for me.
I run RSLogix 6.something, Tech support told me I needed Pro, but I never had any problems. Keep in mind that I never really do anything fancy, just simple functions that the purchasers of my machines can easily figure out.
I also use Omron's CX programmer 4.something. Also, solid as a rock. I also run Quickdesigner (Quickpanel software) with no problems at all.
I recently purchased Cimplicity, and this is where I started with a few minor problems. Naturally, my vendor didn't make me aware of the system requirements (why would he?) so I spent my $1000 without knowing any better. First, the help files don't work. That really sucks when your programming on a new platform. I worked around it. Secondly, the software is a memory hog (at least on my older laptop), and the software is really overkill for what I need to do. Sure its a powerful software suite, but way more than I need.
Funny that Logix and CX programmer run beautifully, and Cimplicity takes forever to do anything. I guess the cream always rises to the top!
I have a full-version of 2KPro and plan to replace my OS whenever I get a few spare hours. I hear repeatedly that it is, by far, the most stable platform. We'll soon see. I'm hoping that 2Kpro is a little more conservative with memory than XP. This is an older laptop, and I really don't want to replace it.

Ok so I pick up a bug browsing the internet the other night and couldnt restart Win 98SE. After about 10 hours of wasted time, I went to the local Computer Builders Warehouse and picked up a new hard drive and XP OEM home. I didnt realize that there was a PRO edition until this thread. So I loaded DirectSoft V4, and Office, got back on the network, got DOS printing working (thanks to Mike aka Croakus) etc.. Still have to reload Cimplicity ME. Not an AB guy but may be in the future (under severe duress). So far no problems. YET.

Funny, running it on the same old machine, and things are actually happening faster..

So join the club Pierre. Maybe you can fix that ol laptop with XP and a new drive??

elevmike said:

...Ok so I pick up a bug browsing the internet the other night and couldnt restart Win 98SE...

...So join the club Pierre. Maybe you can fix that ol laptop with XP and a new drive??...

Click to expand...

Funny that you mention this Mike. Here is the real story.

Last friday, sitting at the DTW airport terminal I decided to upload some pictures to my web server and discovered that they actually CHARGE $6.95 for a session with there wireless system.

Soooo! Being wyse (read cheap) I loaded my war driving software from CD and looked around to find a proxy left opened by a carelless fellow.

Did'nt have time to brute force anything I was playing Guess the dumb a$$ guy password for maybee 10 minutes until I got tired and closed everything to read Popular Mechanic or Wired.

Anyway, when I booted up the laptop on monday I got an error. The darn thing wont boot. I still can read the disk with bootable diskette but I beleive I was sent a message.

Get a new unit or die

I have a few W2K OS in stock and there is a place around here where they sell Returns or end-of-the-line from Future Shop and Stapples. They don't include OS so there pretty cheap.

Thank'ya all for the sound advices. Its appreciated.

Chip Hinde ... What the heck is your laptop doing in bed. Is it for lap(top) dances?

Pierre,

My error was: "Explorer caused an invalid page fault in module Explorer.exe at address 0167-XXXXXXXXXXXXXX"

So I tried to boot in safe mode and got the same fault. Too stupid to backup the system files. Tried all the Microsoft suggestions etc.. Finally gave up and got a new HD and XP and did the install on the same machine. After I was done with installing XP on the new drive and all, I re-installed the old drive as a slave and got all my data files back.

So now I burned a CD with the full windows and root directory files. So If I fall victim again, I'll be ready.

Good luck with it. Mike.

Windows

Ya, don't ya love it when windows tries to be helpful and inform you of the actual hex code and memory location of the fault? With only the option to "close" or "cancel"? haha

The IT world must be great....To them it's an "Unhandled exception", to us in the controls world its a machine crash, or and operators arm torn off!

Pierre said:

Chip Hinde ... What the heck is your laptop doing in bed. Is it for lap(top) dances?

Click to expand...

It's the home laptop.

I use a desktop at work.

I feel you pain, Pierre....

My laptop crapped out yesterday, right in the middle of an installation. It turns on for a split-second, then shuts off. I had to borrow my friends laptop, then run back to the shop to get software and files loaded on it. Thankfully, I back up my laptop to my desktop daily, so I had current copies of the programs.

I had bought this laptop, used, a few months back when my previous one died a horrible death. I only purchased it to 'get by' until I purchased a new one, but I never got around to buying a new one...

Now I HAVE TO buy a new laptop ASAP. I have always bought Toshibas, but I'm not impressed with their latest models. I'm considering the HP Compaq NC6000, since it has a REAL serial port. I'm not a fan of touchpads, so I like the fact that this one ALSO has a trackstick (eraser head) for the times I don't feel like dragging out a mouse.

Since the majority of us can't survive without a serial port, I was hoping someone might point me to other brands/models that still offer serial ports on their laptops. Of course, it has to be a currently manufactured model, as I'm looking to buy new.

It's impossible to do a search for "Laptops that HAVE a serial port". The only recourse is to visit each manuafacturer's website and look at the specs for each model...

beerchug

-Eric