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Last post Author Topic: Windows XP Pro x64 (64-bit) Edition - Favorite Software Compatibility Thread  (Read 49594 times)

mouser

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I've been experimenting with installing Windows XP Pro x64 edition.

This is a native 64 bit version of windows that allows the operating system programs which are specially compiled for the platform to access larger amounts of memory.  A 64-bit version of Vista exsits as well.

You can read a few discussions about the pros and cons of 64bit versions on DC threads here.

I'm not sure at this point that there is really much reason to try installing the x64 version.. It doesn't magically give you improved performance and there are still some incompatibility issues.

But there may be a few occasions when you would want to try this version, such as when working on some heavy computational software which can use more than 2gb of memory.

I installed it half out of curiosity, and half because I do occasionally do some work on machine learning stuff that can use as much memory as it can grab, and half because on a new computer I have the 32bit version of windows refuses to see my 2nd stick of ram, leaving me with less than 2gb accessible memory instead of the 4gb I have installed.  Apparently this is a known problem having to do with memory addresses and a "conflict" of sorts with the graphics card.  The hardware issues are beyond me and in my opinion all motherboard manufacturers should be locked up in a mental health clinic for the insane things they do.

As an aside -- I actually had to figure out how to slipstream the WinXp x64 installation cd with the service pack#2 before I could even get it to install on my computer because the motherboard (Asus P5WDH) uses a hard drive controller that the winxp 64 installation cd bluescreened on every time.  The SP2 slipstream solved that problem.

Anyway, back to the issue at hand.. I thought we could use this thread to talk about any software compatibility issues, workarounds or alternate software replacements for programs we like for win 64bit.

I'll start with one software replacement report:

I'm a big fan of putting the date in the bottom right of the system tray.  I've always used the free program tclockex for this.  It's old but it gets the job done simply and effectively.

However, it does not work on x64 versions of windows.  So began my quest to find a replacement that did.  There are many replacement tray clocks (clock tray skins, alfaclock, etc).  But I only found one that works well on x64 (it comes with special x64 drivers): 1st Clock.

1st clock is quite good -- it looks nice, it's customizable, it has alarms, can show some extra stuff, etc.  Worked perfectly with xp native skin, and with some customization of the font it looks perfect in classic skin too, which i prefer for the simplicity of it.

clock-tb-vista.gif

Not free (at $29 i'd say it's on the bit on pricey side for these utils), but.. still if you are using x64 and you need the date in the tray like I do, this may be just what the doctor ordered.  Unless someone knows of a free equivalent for x64 or wants to try coding one?

Anyone else want to share some x64 software recommendations (or horror stories)?

Darwin

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1st Clock looks nice but $30 is pretty steep considering the free alternatives. I'm not sure what other functionality you're looking for, but have you tried Superboyac's favourite Betaclock? I'm not sure if it runs on 64 bit XP or not...

f0dder

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x64 drivers for putting a clock in the tray? O_o - sounds extremely expensive, and shouldn't be that durn hard to do.

I haven't had much problems with XP64 myself, the only things that can be very troublesome is stuff that depends on drivers. If there isn't a 64bit version of the driver, you're game over, 64bit can't use 32bit drivers. Unfortunately this applies to a whole bunch of games, forcing you to use cracked executables even for your legitimately purchased games - but that's not as bad as it sounds, really, since the stuff tends to run better without the protection crap anyway :)

Also, some stuff cannot be ported to 64bit, because of Microsoft's PatchGuard. Especially after a hotfix that introduced Vista-style aggressitivity to XP64 PatchGuard. SandBoxIE isn't supported for x64 because of that, and that's a bloody shame - and shame on Microsoft.

Personally I haven't had any bad experiences with XP64, it runs very well, although on a whole it's about the same as XP32, when you're not using specially written software. And as mouser said, it's not magic, and even apps compiled for x64 mode won't magically be faster either, unless they're CPU-hungry and can use the extra registers or large memory space x64 offers.

Also worth nothing: XP64 is actually based on the win2003 server codebase more than the 32bit XP codebase.
- carpe noctem

Darwin

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Superboyac's post about betaclock is here: https://www.donation...27.msg90768#msg90768

I've installed it an really like it on 32-bit XP  :Thmbsup:

mouser

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betaclock does not work on x64.  Also not working sarbyx trayclock.

f0dder

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Mouser, can you tell us which features exactly you need from the clock? And does it have to sit in the tray, or could it be located elsewhere?
- carpe noctem

Darwin

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betaclock does not work on x64.  Also not working sarbyx trayclock.

Hmm... that's too bad, sorry it didn't work out  :(

mouser

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f0dder - GO. FOR. IT.

  • yes, it absolutely must be in the tray, replacing the normal clock.
  • i need to be able to set the replacement text (let me specify a standard strftime() format string would be fine), don't need a gui.
  • bonus: let me set font/style.
  • i will be running this in win classic mode not with the normal blue bubble skin mode so either it needs to be "transparent" to the background color or have customizable background color.

f0dder

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So you don't need any fancy calendar options etc.?

Doesn't sound like that should be very hard to code up. Wonder why the other apps don't support x64?
- carpe noctem

mouser

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So you don't need any fancy calendar options etc.?
not at all.
if you want to be nice, make an option so i can configure the program to launch on a double click, then i can configure a 3rd party calendar tool to trigger.

mouser

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just to reiterate, although the screenshot i showed about of 1st clock showed a nice fancy looking clock.. i'd be happy with a tray clock that looks identical to default classic clock, but just with me able to customize the text.

Tyinsar

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Great timing mouser. I just ordered XP64 (yeah I could have got Vista64 but that doesn't support spanning monitors). I used to use tclockex all the time. Currently I run Windows with the taskbar on the left (where it uses less space) and it shows the date if you give it enough space - but like you I miss the simple flexibility of tclockex.
[GridMove Tutorial]
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f0dder

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Great timing mouser. I just ordered XP64 (yeah I could have got Vista64 but that doesn't support spanning monitors). I used to use tclockex all the time. Currently I run Windows with the taskbar on the left (where it uses less space) and it shows the date if you give it enough space - but like you I miss the simple flexibility of tclockex.
Huh, Vista doesn't support spanning monitors? :huh:

Anyway, I've emailed the tClockEx author and am awaiting a reply. If I don't get any, I can probably hack something together that'll work for both Win32 and Win64 (although it might need two sets of EXE+DLL files). If I end up doing something, I don't plan on doing something as comprehensive as tClockEx, but I'll probably release it as opensource.

I hope the tClockEx author replies back with something good, though, as I'd hate to duplicate efforts.
- carpe noctem

Cuffy

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http://tinyurl.com/2bzsqs
64 Bit compatibility list.
I just posted this but got a msg I was typing when another post came in????
It may show up twice?
 :)

f0dder

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Only showed up once.

Please don't use tinyurl links :(
- carpe noctem

Tyinsar

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Huh, Vista doesn't support spanning monitors? :huh:

Anyway, I've emailed the tClockEx author and am awaiting a reply. ...


Nope. (link) >:(

I hope the author helps out (tClockEx almost looks like an abandoned project though). Thanks for the work you're doing on this. :Thmbsup:
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f0dder

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Oh, at least DualView is still available, that's what I use - never been fond of spanning, since apps will then maximize across monitors, bad.
- carpe noctem

Tyinsar

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For some games span mode can be great and I'm using GridMove :-* to get around the maximizing issue. I'm using 2 TripleHead2Go modules in vertical span mode :D. If drivers for Vista can't support that then, for me at least, Vista is broken :( so it's XP 64 for me.
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cmpm

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Don't know if this is 64 compatible but this is what I use on xp pro 32.

http://wincalendartime.sourceforge.net/

It reads like the regular clock and can be formated.
Pops up a calendar-no alarms or extras.

mouser

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fantastic discovery!!!
even if it doesnt work on win64 now out of the box, it's C++ code.. which means we can probably create an x64 version without much trouble.. GREAT GREAT find.  :up: :up:

cmpm

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Glad to help out finally...lol..
it's a free one which I like
if it's not free it's not me...
usually :)

lanux128

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i've always been using TClock2 - abandoned freeware but since the source is available there are several active development. one of which is T-Clock x64 aka TClock3.

also, check out this thread for somewhat similar clock-related discussion..

Please don't use tinyurl links
you can go here to enable previews for tinyurl.


mouser

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lanux, t-clock x 64 works on windows 64!!
wow what a resource this forum has been on this.  incredible.
thanks you guys!

great find lanux.   :up: :up: :up:
you made my day  :up:

big thanks to the guys behind t-clock and http://www.stoicjoker.com/TClock/

f0dder

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So, I'm off the hook? :)

Might still take a look at adding 64bit to WinCalendarTime, though.
- carpe noctem

mouser

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The person maintaining t-clock accepts donations in case you are so inclined.  See the donate button at bottom left of http://www.stoicjoker.com/