just wondering what the post on the main site means:

"
Windows 2000 Service Pack 2 Posted Friday, May 11, 2001
Microsoft has released Service Pack 2 for Windows 2000 to beta testers of its windows update site. Thanks Erik.
"

Does this mean it is finished and they are releasing it but only to beta testers at the moment? or does it mean there is just another build of it?

Tom

WHEN WILL WE GET IT?????????


Tom

Get it THERE (US version only)
http://msvaus.www.conxion.com/download/win2000platform/sp/sp2/nt5/en-us/w2ksp2.exe

just what DOES sp2 do? Is it better for gaming? If so, how? Is it more like XP? or just bug fixes.

Sp2 is mostly bug fixes it will be in no way shape or form as good as XP will be in terms of 3dmarks when it is finished. I know some of the fixes include better application compatability support, the VIA chipset fix the AMD fix, fixed ATA-100 support. Im sure someone will post the list of fixes pretty soon.

The list of fixes with SP2 is big, please nobody post it here, just post a link - I hate scrolling!! :-)
No SP2 does not make Win2k like XP.
XP is 95% Win2k anyway, but as with all Service Packs it fixes bugs and issues missing from the initial release.
Before anybody asks, no you don't need to install SP1 first, SP2 contains all the fixes.
Also, before the usual LINUX people jump in quoting the many thousands of 'bugs' fixed with SP2, the full list of fixes includes such things as:

'Spelling mistakes in help files'
'Missing punctuation in readme files'

Each of those fixes is clased as a single fix by Microsoft.

if anyone already has it installed, perhaps u could give us the heads up on any problems/conflicts? me being my paranoid self hasn't even installed SP1... but i'm thinking about trying 2.

Long overdue...
This service pack adds new OpenGL Libraries. OpenGL performance in Win2K now far exceeds that of 98SE..for me anyways.

I have SP2 installed for about 5 hours now, and my machine is still alive and well.
The ATA100 support is definitley fixed now, and the system feels a bit more responsive than before. However, I havn't been able to test the gaming performance (I use Windows ME for that).

cool if openGL performance is better in SP2 then it will be better in XP 2469 too. XP 2469 looks sweet too. YAY.

Blade Runner, good thing for pointing that out. I hate Linux zealots, because about the raving on how good Linux is. Sure it may be good, but the apps I want to run are always on Windows, and we're lucky if we see the full playable version of it on Linux. Plus, Linux is not going to get very far if it cant penetrate the home market.
End rant.

Okay, back to the topic: So this is the final version of SP2?
Thanx in advance!

Hello !
I 'm using german copy of Win2000 and downloaded SP2. Now I get a Message "This Service Pack is for a different language." Any Idea how to install sp2 on non-us Versions ?

LINUX ZEALOTS ?? 8)

*Eats humble pie*

Hey kaiyin

You said that ATA100 is working now, but how can you tell?

I have an ATA100 Maxtor 30gig on my Abit KT7-A Raid and it still runs slower than my main disk which is UDMA 66.

I tried running HD Tach and Sisoft Sandra and they both reported it being damned slow.

In the RAID Array setup, its selected as UDMA Mode 5.

Funny thing I found tho was that using the VIA IDE driver (Which I have since taken off) caused this particular drive to run even slower.

So, how can one tell if ATA100 is actually working?

Also gonna go check out new drivers for the Hipoint System and RAID array. That might work too.

Specs:

Athlon T/Bird 1.2Ghz
Abit KT7-A RAID
Geforce 2 GTS 32Mb (12.00 Detontors)
SB Live
... and loads of other stuff!

Homer

F#$k Linux


My C64 was stable too, with about the same features

When I talk about Linux Zealots--Im referring to those who like any other OS zealot(Windows, Mac, BeOS) that refuse to see the problems facing that OS, and think that every other OS is totally inferior. Plus, it seems that certain memebers of the Linux community compare Linux to Windows 98 as far as stability. If they would look at all the other WinOS's(Win2k and XP) they would see that the Windows crashing is not as common. I think the OS that is used depends in part on what apps youre running. If all I did was graphics, Id have a mac. I like Linux, but even the mac has been around a bit longer. Unfortunately, there not a whole lot of Linux apps you can get right off the shelves. I think the biggest issue facing Linux is getting onto the home desktop market. If Linux got there that would be sweet.
Linux is cool, but unfortunately, the lack of drivers and apps out for it is a major issue too.
The latest offerings by MS have made me at least consider Linux as an option.

I love the fact that with Linux, you get a ton of apps, which helps to offset the fact that there's not much out there for it. Yes, I use KDE...when I have it installed. I think Im gonna get SuSE 7.0 Professional sometime, because Mandrake isnt good for gaming and stuff. Pluse SuSE is supposed to have excellent driver support.
I wish that with the OS's there could be a variety of files that could be shared without having to have 3rd party software. Like have a hybrid cd for Windows and Linux of the same game. I know theres a file for UT for Linux that you can download and it will install the UT game off the UT disc for Windows. That is good, because it seems that most of the Linux community has had enough of MS, and probably still have their Windows apps discs laying around. Now why cant there be more of that universally?

I could not agree more Brian.

I just had to pull you up on it, I figured some linux lover would sniff it.

I use Linux.
I wish so bad that it didn't suck. But it does. it is stable. More stable then Microsoft could ever imagine. But thats because of the programs written for it, as much as it is for the OS itself.

And the dude who said it did about as much as your c64?

Haha. You're not far off, but then so does windows.

Linux is just to badly organised for my liking. Something is wrong with it, I'm just not sure what.



" Linux is like a semen sandwich. Supposed to be good for you, but it tastes like sh1t "

If it's on your RAID array, it should be using the Highpoint drivers and therefore Windows treats it as SCSI, not IDE. If you are not using the Highpoint drivers, you damn well should be. Since it's SCSI, the ATA100 patch from Microsoft has absolutely zero effect since it will already be running at ATA100

--
Xiven

and i thought i was the only one who felt that about linux (love/hate)
but my real question is how do i tell if sp2 is installed. i think i installed it right ...but it is no where in system info)

right-click "my computer" and go to properties - it should say right there

doh ... that's what I thought ... I must have screwed up somewhere (I knew I should have read those warning messages).

Xiven

I see your point, and yes it makes total sense.

So, leaving the Win2k/ATA100 incompatibility out now, why is this Maxtor drive still slower than my UDMA 66 main drive?

The ATA100 drive (Drive d has an average seek time of 15ms, which is faster than the system disk (c :), but its transfer rate is appalling, somewhere around half that of the system disk.

When I had the same system running under Win XP Beta 2 (Build 2465), it ran quite nicely, but after clean installing Win2k, its all gone a bit pearshaped.

Homer

Sorry, I don't have any hard facts that prove that ATA100 does work, but from what I've read on the net, this is one of the issues SP2 was suppose to fix.

Prior to installing SP2, the HD controller was reporting my HD as running in PIO mode (which the hotfix took care of). Now, they are running in Ultra DMA mode so I assume that the more responsiveness of my system is due to this.

I never bother with the VIA crap either. I have many boards that run ok with ATA100 even without SP2, but this is my first board with a VIA southbridge. I will never touch anything that uses VIA ever again.

"I will never touch anything that uses VIA ever again."

That's gonna be tough if you stick to AMD. VIA & AMD are close. Very close.