Windows XP is about 5% and still going strong on the game machine. Really, if I didn’t need RvS and SWAT 4, I wouldn’t even have XP on that machine lol…. My only dependency on Micro$oft is an OS that supports games –> I generally dislike console games.
0/ My current plan of action is to conduct the reformat/reinstall of XP.
1/ Verify that the S.O.B. boots… Install core drivers (GPU, Wifi)
2/ Strip her naked — remove the “pre-installed” software and trial-ware, e.t.c.
3/ Boot into Knoppix Linux (LiveCD) and sort the partitions according to plan
4/ Install FreeBSD 7.0-Release and boot into it
5/ NFS mount the setup data from the file server (Vectra) and copy it to a shared FAT32 partition on SAL1600 (games machine).
6/ Boot into Windows XP MCE and install SP3
7/ Reboot and configure core system elements (e.g. get her on the network, behind a firewall, and setup the environment)
8/ Install software in the predefined order into the predefined locations, making adjustments as needed.
10/ Restore data from backups
11/ Customize her to the hilt: full command line environment; development tools, dual-monitors, desktop layout, etc.
XP is almost up to 40% already,so hopefully I can get started on the real work soon. Reinstall is easy, getting a working PC is a diff’rent story. So far everything is going smooth, and is probably planned out as good as a NASA mission ;-). Hehe, I’ve even got many of the firewall settings already prepaired. Hmm, I guess it is just fun to rip stuff apart and put it back together a better way at times.
I hope to have SAL1600 back online before morning, and with luck time to post a advance notice of training ops on TG#1… I’d like to reserve the server for a change if I can lol.