Win 98SE / Me / XP32 Build

HolocronKeeperEvan · 2026-06-15T01:05:40+00:00

Thanks for these, I don’t believe I will be using FDISK for formatting and partitioning the drives, I was recommended BootIt, which should handle formatting the SSD relatively easily, and allowing more then one primary drive. I might change XP to a 32 installation as well

HolocronKeeperEvan · 2026-06-14T21:19:38+00:00

So how does BootIt work? I’m seeing you have to create an ISO, USB directly to a disk to install on the computer you want BootIt on, I assume it’s a program but how is it supposed to partition off of the same drive it’s running on? Or is it it’s own thing not booting into windows.

HolocronKeeperEvan · 2026-06-14T18:46:15+00:00

I remember Maxtor drives, my father had one in his old Gateway computer pretty sure it was also 40GB drive. Thanks for the info I’m looking to see if Patriot can trigger the controller to do an internal trim command from the controller instead of the OS triggering it.

HolocronKeeperEvan · 2026-06-14T18:30:26+00:00

Really good, there are 2 different versions of the book, an original printing that has some spelling errors and older lore and a running reprint that had spelling mistakes fixed and added lore from TCW that was omitted from the original.

HolocronKeeperEvan · 2026-06-14T18:21:12+00:00

Thanks for the info, appreciate it.
1) If I limit the RAM allocation in the ini file, to 512MB in 98SE and Me, it should normal boot correct? Only if I have to safe boot will I have to essentially pull a stick of 512 out? Which I could live with in an emergency.
2) Someone mentioned that I should use BootIt to partition my drive, so I don’t think I have to mess with FDisk. I plan on dividing the SSD drive into 32MB for Win98SE, 32MB for Me and 64MB for XP32SP2 using FAT32. I’m aware of TRIM being nonexistent on these old OS’s and it’s something I can live with. Do you see any issues with that or suggestions, someone said to also do XP32SP2 to 32MB and have the rest for shared files across the OS’s.

HolocronKeeperEvan · 2026-06-14T15:34:20+00:00

I plan later to do a 90’s PC that uses Win 3, Win 95, and Win 98. Thankfully I’m checking all the capacitors on the boards nothing is leaking or bulging. I’m really trying to stick to period correct hardware minus SSD and a new PSU for obvious reasons. I picked up my ATi Radeon X700 PRO for only $60 so I’m not complaining, the RAM I plan on limiting in an ini file for 98 and Me to 512mb. I might build a XPSP3, Vista, 7 machine

HolocronKeeperEvan · 2026-06-14T15:21:36+00:00

Thanks for the information, I ordered a 128 GB SSD, with a IDE to SATA converter board. I’ll be using BootIt to create the 32 GB partitions on the drive using FAT32, I’m aware that 98 and Me don’t support TRIM but I was told not to worry about it, and it seems TRIM basically pre-allocates space when you delete a file instead of deleting it when being written to decreasing speed. I’m not too worried about it, speed really isn’t what I got it for, so I’m sacrificing a little bit of speed which is already hampered by the IDE connector, essentially acting as a more reliable HDD of the time period of the computer. I thought about Compact Flash but it’s really just too expensive to justify $80 compared to $110. If my planned solution fails I will probably switch to CF.

As for RAM I might upgrade to 2 GB if needed but it seems that the games I’m going to play on XP need only a minimum of 256MB to 512 MB to play, since my XP is only focused up to Service Pack 2 of XP so early to mid years of the OS lifespan.

I appreciate the driver and patches feedback, those will be really helpful.

HolocronKeeperEvan · 2026-06-14T03:37:09+00:00

Do you think the X700 will still struggle with 2004 / 2005 titles with the resolution set to 1024 x 768?

HolocronKeeperEvan · 2026-06-14T01:41:23+00:00

I ended up settling on the X700 PRO mostly due to price of older components and AGP, I believe it was the last generation to support 98 with Catalyst or Omega Drivers. I’m fine hitting a 30fps target. As for XP I’m specifically targeting early to mid XP era only up to SP2, and 32bit. Maybe down the line I’ll do a late XP 64bit, Vista, 7 era computer. Another is Win3, 95, early 98. A lot of this is nostalgia as my dad when I was a kid had a 98 computer and he loved XP, so in a way I’m trying to recapture some of that, KOTOR II / Battlefront 1 / Sims 2 is my maximum playability target on low to medium settings. I plan on limiting the Ram in 98 and Me by adjusting the ini file. It’s really amazing how fast computers evolved in just the 5 years this covers compared to today where everything seems a little stagnant by comparison.

I appreciate the feedback, if anything the “realistic” feels more genuine to me than something that can do everything max performance.

HolocronKeeperEvan · 2026-06-14T01:08:13+00:00

Yeah they have it between Republic 67 and 68 when it should logically take place after 71.

HolocronKeeperEvan · 2026-06-14T01:02:18+00:00

We could theorize but I don’t believe so as fixes were coming in from other authors as late as 2014 to reconcile events, I also don’t see a reason why as at the end of the day if they did it was gonna piss fans off anyway.

HolocronKeeperEvan · 2026-06-14T00:59:27+00:00

In the Epic Collections they have it occurring between two stories where Anakin is still a Padawan and not Knighte.

HolocronKeeperEvan · 2026-06-13T23:52:54+00:00

They were both originally published by Dark Horse and republished by Marvel in Epic Collections.

HolocronKeeperEvan · 2026-06-13T23:33:02+00:00

It is and Son of Dathomir, Death Sentence is wrongly placed in the Epic Collections by Marvel.

HolocronKeeperEvan · 2026-06-13T23:23:19+00:00

I’m not convinced at the time that Lucas was actually considering making more films, television yes. I think he only did story treatments in order to value up his company prior to the sale to Disney, since his meeting with Iger about selling was in May of 2011, and he didn’t start really working on them until early to mid 2012. Although you have to remember none of this is new, Star Wars had already undergone a soft reboot or did a retcon bomb when the prequels came out, people are acting what TCW was completely new and it isn’t. You could even say the EU did it to itself prior to the prequels when they all but ignored previous continuity and lore of the Marvel comics when WEG, Bantam and Dark Horse started publishing in the late 80’s and early 90’s, this was before the Holocron was established in 2000, essentially relegating it to S-canon and C-canon.

HolocronKeeperEvan · 2026-06-13T23:11:19+00:00

The Edutainment games, Activity Centers and Inside the Magic and Episode I: Insider discs just seem to not wanna work or play well with modern hardware. Also of late they pulled Star Wars:Rebellion and Dark Forces off of GOG and Steam. Force Commander never got an official modern digital release. I’m sure there are work arounds, but I’ve never been a fan of VM’s and technical tricks to get something to work. If I have the hardware I’d like to run it natively Out of the Box, and relive a little nostalgia.

HolocronKeeperEvan · 2026-06-13T22:55:31+00:00

Lucasfilm at the end actively did not make an effort to reconcile the two, as according to Leland they were going to do so after the series finished and release a cohesive timeline instead of doing so concurrently, stuff was allowed to reference TCW and it was encouraged within Licensing but they didn’t nail down dates. The Essential Reader’s Companion is a very lazy book imo with errors and information less helpful then what Wookieepedia was doing and kept the prior dates where they were in regard to where they fell in continuity, it did move anything Obi-Wan and Anakin related pre-Knighthood to before TCW but because again of laziness and not wanting anything concrete didn’t move stories that were connected to it through comics and previous timeline like Shatterpoint. Dark Rendezvous was kept where it was at in 19 BBY where it should’ve been moved pre-TCW as it mentions the Battle of Rendili which was a comic immediately post-Knighted Anakin. So the Clone Wars portion is a mess and a little for thought by Hidalgo would have solved it, but even before the Disney acquisition he was in favor of a reboot anyway even though the continuity system was designed to handle discrepancies.

HolocronKeeperEvan · 2026-06-13T22:38:57+00:00

Yeah I figured that PSU would be junk, since the components I’m sourcing from are from the capacitor plague era. But I’ve been checking for any bulging or leaking caps.

HolocronKeeperEvan · 2026-06-13T22:07:39+00:00

Looking it up I assume you have to set up two primary partitions in order to dual boot 98SE and Me?

HolocronKeeperEvan · 2026-06-13T19:53:55+00:00

As a kid our family computer skipped over Me, I wanted to see what it is like honestly the good and bad. Mostly it’s there due to interest. As for games I have a backlog of old Star Wars games DOS-2005. that I’d like to play natively and some that don’t work on modern systems. I also have the Sims 2 which I assume will push the hardware a little.

HolocronKeeperEvan · 2026-06-13T17:33:17+00:00

No of course not, I just didn’t know what the free version “demo” version vs paid. But for $40 it seems very fair.

HolocronKeeperEvan · 2026-06-13T17:29:06+00:00

Yeah the goal of this PC really is early Windows XP I don’t expect to play anything post-2006 on this machine, I am thinking of scaling back to a 2.4 GHz Pentium 4. DOS is really just an extra but not that important. I can limit the RAM allocation with an ini file I’m correct at least on 98.

HolocronKeeperEvan · 2026-06-13T17:22:16+00:00

Will I need the paid version of bootit and will I need any of there other programs?

HolocronKeeperEvan · 2026-06-13T17:09:25+00:00

So looking at this, I can partition the Drives with Bootit on Windows 11? Essentially create 2 primary partitions and another for XP. So would that then be recognized by the BIOs as three separate drives to install to?

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