Windows 2000 RC2 on Alphastation 200

[chrispl1974]

Hi, I got 2 questions. I installed Windows 2000 RC2 on my Alphastation 200 -166mhz with 64mb Ram. It works ok, but I probably need more Ram. I got 2 questions though :

a) Windows says RC2 is an evaluation copy and will expire. Any way to prevent that ? (hack etc.)
b) When I use Arcinst, it always formats the partition in FAT and Windows 2000 as well as NT 4.0 somehow do not install or format a NTFS partition. Thoughts ?

Thanks for your help.

Chris

 

[Chuck(G)]

a) Get a real copy of Win2K for Alpha--there were even a couple of service packs for it.
b) I haven't looked at 2K RCs since the real thing came out.

 

[g4ugm]

Not sure if the Alpha can boot NTFS but I seem to remember with NT4 you had to use "CONVERT" to get to NTFS.

 

[g4ugm]

a) Get a real copy of Win2K for Alpha--there were even a couple of service packs for it.
b) I haven't looked at 2K RCs since the real thing came out.

Chuck,
Are you sure. I was working in Compaq at the time and I don't ever remember a production Windows/2000 for alpha.
Dave

 

[Chuck(G)]

I'll dig back in my stash of Win2K CDs and check today. If Alpha didn't make it past the release candidate, it's probably better to retreat to NT4. RCs have been notorious for bugs.

 

[Unknown_K]

Pretty sure they ditched anything non x86 for release.

 

[Chuck(G)]

My recollection, however faulty, is that MS discontinued non x86 right in the middle of Win2K lifetime--but I'll have to check. I could be confusing NT4 with W2K, but then, the Alpha wouldn't have been included in the 2K RC, would it?

 

[krebizfan]

There was an Alpha version of RC1 in wide release and apparently a very limited release of an RC2 and MS continued Alpha development turning the planned 64-bit Windows 2000 into an internal prototype of XP for Alpha. After Compaq decided to not support Windows 2000, the Alpha project was continued in preparation for Itanium development.

 

[chrispl1974]

Thanks for your replies and interesting insights. I am pretty sure RC2 was the last Win2k Alpha version before Compaq pulled the plug and fired over 100 developers. Any idea if the RC install expires after a while ? For now it runs very stable, although it seems I need to add Ram, since the HD is working 24/7.

 

[red-ray]

Any idea if the RC install expires after a while ?

As I recall it expires after 444 days so what I did was advance the date by 50 years, install RC2 then revert the date. I did this back in 2009 on my PWS 600a and it's still running great as is my DS20 which I did in in 2015