windows wont support their sidewinders from 98 to xp

[440BX]

I just built a new comp and changed from 98se to xp.I was so pleased my motherboard came with a midi port that I could plug into the motherboard,so I could keep my very expensive 120&cad sidewinder joystick which is in perfect condition.When I go to install the drivers they wont load because of a diffrent operating system.No problem I thought ,just go to microsoft support and get an xp driver.Well it says there that they arent suppoting their 98 sidewinders to xp.This is outrageous.We have a company that make 2 zillion dollars every day and its still not enough for them.Its an obvious ploy to get us to fork out for another joystick.shame on microsoft,thy need to change that kind of policy or people(their customers) will turn on them....Has anyone tried the next gen xp sidewinder drivers for the old 98 sidewinder with any success?Are their any web sites helping people for their game controllers and games to migrate from 98 to xp?..People should be aware that a whole heap of their hardware and software wont work when they "upgrade" to xp,thanks to money grabbing microbrain.

 

[MedicBob]

I have a force feedback sidewinder kind of working under 2000. Under Control Panel, there should be a gaming controller section. The drivers are built in, but.... force feedback doesn't work. Most buttons are programmable, but it depends on the game.

What game are you trying to get it to work with?

 

[EeyoreX]

Do you happen to have a link to what a "98 Sidewinder" is. I looked at the Sidewinder website and didn't see any such thing. And frankly, Microsoft is hardly the first, last or only company that does not support older hardware. So if that is the case, that it's an old piece of hardware, you'll have to suck it up. According to the Sidewinder site, this is a list of supported and certified Sidewinder products that work under Windows XP. And to address a few other of your points:

Its an obvious ploy to get us to fork out for another joystick.

Unless, of course, you don't buy another Microsoft joystick. That sort of backfires, no?

shame on microsoft,thy need to change that kind of policy or people(their customers) will turn on them

Since Microsoft is no longer creating Sidewinder products, I doubt they are banking on selling these products. Microsoft dominates over 90% of the desktop market. They aren't going anywhere soon. Feel free to "turn" on Microsoft and use Linux. Play your games there... If you can.

People should be aware that a whole heap of their hardware and software wont work when they "upgrade" to xp

I think most people are aware of this possability. However, for the most part Windows XP is the most forward thinking and backward compatable OS ever put out by Microsoft.

\Dan

 

[SpeedFreak03]

I have a Microsoft SideWinder 3D Pro from like 1997-1998 which works fine with XP. Go into Control Panel, then Gaming Options, click add, and choose "Microsoft SideWinder (Auto Detect)". This worked fine for me. Once you install it, click on it in the Game Controllers list, and click properties. Then go to the settings tab, click Calibrate, follow the wizard, then play some games! Good luck!

 

[Thor86]

Originally posted by: SpeedFreak03
I have a Microsoft SideWinder 3D Pro from like 1997-1998 which works fine with XP. Go into Control Panel, then Gaming Options, click add, and choose "Microsoft SideWinder (Auto Detect)". This worked fine for me. Once you install it, click on it in the Game Controllers list, and click properties. Then go to the settings tab, click Calibrate, follow the wizard, then play some games! Good luck!

Seriously, all Sidewinder game controllers should have driver built-in WinXP. Both my first generation gamepad, and second generation ff joystick work automatically in WinXP no problems.

 

[KF]

>.Well it says there that they arent suppoting their 98 sidewinders to xp.This is outrageous.

You are right to be outraged. At the very least, not being able to use the old drivers demonstrates the incompetence of Microsoft programming. Before you get too deeply committed to XP, now is the time to set up a multiboot on your HD. Not much of a problem with the size of HDs nowadays. Then you can have XP, 98, and Linux.

 

[440BX]

Thanks for your help guys.I tried the controll panel and found the add hardware and got the sidewinder working there.Right on,as I am totaly broke putting together a great new machine..As far as multiple operating systems go I am thinking about it,just not sure how big you would make the partitions.I have a 10 giger for xp and a sata raid 160gig for gaming.I have an old 40 gig from my old computer with 98 se on it.But if I added that I would have to go into bois and set the boot to that drive,to get 98 and change it again for xp...How does one set up partitions and what size do you choose in format to put on xp ,98se and linux on one hard drive and how would you then be able to choose which os to boot from?..Thanks for the sidewinder tips.

 

[KF]

I'm not sure how fast the 10G and 40G are, but I guess you don't care since you have a 160G SATA. I don't think you'd want to go any lower than 10G for XP. 5G is plenty for 98, provided it can access the 160G (in other words the 160G is FAT32). I'd think you'd want at least 10G for Linux if you are going to put significant things besides the Linux OS on that partition. If you can repartition the 160G and add another 5G linux partition, 5G for the Linux OS is plenty.

Personally, I have a commercial boot manager that makes multiple boots fairly straight forward. I understand there are freeware boot managers that do the job. Linux has a few. How you do more than two boots with the linux loaders (two is what the Linux setup programs will do for you), I don't know.

If you do things in the right order, you don't actually need a further stand-alone boot loader.

I hope I have this straight, because I have never done it this way.

Install 98 first. I suppose you'd want it on a partition other than C:, so you will have XP on C: (Of course XP willl reside on any partition you like too, if you prefer.) Then install XP. XP has its own boot manager built in, and will automatically set it up so you can boot 98 or XP. Just have the two OSes on separate partitions. Actually both XP and 98 have a couple of startup files on the C drive, but neither have to have their "system" files there. As I say, the XP install recognizes this and takes care of it. You can add as many more version of XP as you like. I have three. The XP loader lets me select any of those and 98.

Then install Linux. Linux has its own boot manager, and I believe it will set it up so you can choose XP or Linux. To get to 98, choose XP. That will get you to XPs boot manager. Then XPs boot manager will allow you to select 98.

The upshot of this is that it is easiest when you are doing all fresh installs.

You can accomplish the same thing while installing in the wrong order, but it gets to be quite a bit more tricky and detailed and more work and more error prone. Just to avoid that kind of hassle, that's basically why I stick with a stand-alone boot manager. I am also free to dump any OS at any time (which I do!)

If the SATA controller is a secondary controller, not built into the chipset, you have the problem that it will need a driver to install any of the OSes on HDs connected to it (I believe), and each OS has its own method for getting that driver while installing. SATA in itself is supposed to be transparent, it doesn't need a driver. But secondary controllers on another chip do need a driver.

If the OS is not being installed on a HD on a secondary controller, you can add the driver for it later, and then get access to the drives attached to it. I'd still have the installer load the driver if possible.

You can install 98 after you install XP, but the 98 installer will wipe out the boot sector that XP needs, and put its own there. Then you can't get to XP. Although there may be other ways to fix that, reinstalling XP over itself is easy, and the least error prone, although time consuming. That type of installation will retain your settings. The installer will look for versions of XP and ask if you want to repair one, and that is what you choose.

(Don't choose repair console. That is a command line version of XP that you can use to repair some things, if you know what to do.)

A free boot manager. Looks good!

 

[440BX]

Thanks KF for that detailed info.It definitly makes the prossess clearer to me.My sata driver should be built in as its asuses flagship p4c800-e mobo.I reckon with all the old games people have this could be the way to go to keep everything running.Thanks.

 

[mikeford]

Why not just stick with W98?

 

[xSauronx]

Originally posted by: SpeedFreak03
I have a Microsoft SideWinder 3D Pro from like 1997-1998 which works fine with XP. Go into Control Panel, then Gaming Options, click add, and choose "Microsoft SideWinder (Auto Detect)". This worked fine for me. Once you install it, click on it in the Game Controllers list, and click properties. Then go to the settings tab, click Calibrate, follow the wizard, then play some games! Good luck!

i did the same, works perfectly

actually, work better than it did when i used the driver disk in 98, bah

 

[Smilin]

*cough* bullsh1t *cough*
Working fine here.