"Tim Lamb" wrote in message
...
In message , John Rumm
writes
On 04/06/2012 09:18, Tim Lamb wrote:
In message , The Natural Philosopher
writes
John Rumm wrote:
On 03/06/2012 14:48, Jethro_uk wrote:
On Fri, 01 Jun 2012 22:58:25 +0100, John Rumm wrote:

On 01/06/2012 12:47, Jethro_uk wrote:

Given what you have said, my advice would be get a powerful PC,
install
*nix, install VMBox. Install XP to a virtual machine, and just run
the
virtual machine.

or just install XP on the new machine and cut out the middle man?

(seems to be adding complexity for no gain in functionality)

It's much quicker to roll back a virtual machine than it is revert to
a
saved image. And if you intend using XP as your main OS, you should
be
prepared to revert to original install every 3 months or so.
I was searching for a suitable response to that, but the only thing
that comes to mind is ********!

You are right: its something like 6 weeks

err... why?

I too have no master disc. Had one been supplied with the m/c it would
not have service pack 2 or 3.

The solution to that is to make a "slipstreamed"[1] disc which rolls up
all the updates onto an install image. Saves hours of patching should you
ever need to do a fresh install. (which I had to do for the second time in
about 11 years on one of my machines recently... pah, all these people who
can't keep it up for more than a few weeks at a time eh ;-)


[1] nlite is a very handy package for this - point it at a folder with the
install CD content in it, and another with the required service packs etc
and it will create the new slipstreamed CD for you in one hit.

I have Nero. But what is meant by *slipstreamed*

Puts all the available updates in with the distribution so
it all gets installed in one go from the slipstreamed CD.

I suspect this is likely to stretch my ability:-(

Not if you use one of the utes that does the slipstreaming for you.

Suspect UPS delivery notification today!