Support for Windows XP

[LifePart2]

I am just about to buy myself an old laptop that runs XP. I want it only for navigation on board: it will basically run 4 programs:

1. OpenCPN
2. Outlook express
3. Mailasail's Teleport
4. ZyGrib

It will never be connected to the internet except through a Sat phone to pick up weather reports and send the odd email. All the auto-updating etc will be turned off.



To achieve this, a cheap old laptop is perfect.



BUT, I know that XP is now no longer supported by Microsoft. My fear is that OpenCPN will also abandon support for XP


Can you please reassure me that there are no plans to drop XP support for a long time?


Thanks!


Noel


PS Does O require SP3 to run?

[Opie91]

SP3 is the only version of XP that is supported. Pretty sure it is not going anywhere anytime soon. Quite a few people still use it.

Installing OpenCPN | Official OpenCPN Homepage

There are quite a few relatively cheap Windows 7 laptops out there too if you are committed to Windows.

[nohal]

Noel...
We will definitely not drop XP support until we must. It is not the case in the foreseeable future and basically depends on how long Windows will be backward compatible with itself (MS generally sucks, but has always been pretty good at this, so I would not worry for a couple more years). If it is long enough depends on your definition of "long time"

Pavel

[LifePart2]

Very reassuring! I love O - it is so much better than the commercial alternatives.

Thanks Guys.

[Mollymawk]

In the event that you ever did find yourself having to upgrade from XP, it might be worth bearing in mind that modern versions of most Linux distros work better on old / low-end hardware than modern versions of Windows.

[Reefmagnet]

Originally Posted by Mollymawk

In the event that you ever did find yourself having to upgrade from XP, it might be worth bearing in mind that modern versions of most Linux distros work better on old / low-end hardware than modern versions of Windows.

I have installed Linux Mint on an Older CF-19 Toughbook used for backup navigation and internet / email access and a few other chores on the boat and installed the original licensed XP as a virtual machine for running those programs with no Linux equivalents. All said I think it's better, although I find the "Sleep" and "Hibernation" modes not to work as good as the original XP (more power is consumed under Linux in these modes). For me the main reason for the switch to Linux (aside from XP being no longer supported) is that the best way to turbocharge an older notebook PC is to install an SSD drive, and Windows XP is known to not be kind to SSD hard disks.

[bcn]

Just for information:
The S-63 plug-in does not support XP-Home. The rest of the flavors, yes.

[jonasaberg]

Hubert,
I guess now it may be ok to tweek XP somewhat since it is end of lifed...

It is quite easy to make XP believe it is Pro and not Home. Just google
"change xp home to pro". By changing some registry settings it makes some XP Pro features work, but not all.

If this is enough to make S67 work on a tweaked XP Home -> Pro I don't know...

/J

[bcn]

No, just modifiying the registry is not sufficient.
XP-Home is lacking some libraries we need. One can "transplant" those, but is it worth the effort? Especially as we expect non-expert users with XP-home.

Anyhow: in case there is an urgent need, we will have a solution.
But one should have really, really good reasons.....

[jonasaberg]

Hi Hubert,
Sure, thats cool.

I would definitely run Linux on an old system instead anyhow. Still interesting to know whether it would work, now I know!
Thanks!

/Jonas

[pcmm]

If I were you I would just remove XP from the laptop and install a copy of Navigatrix. It comes with OpenCPn already installed, It also has a host of other useful apps already installed so there is no messing around. It will also run you laptop better. I have an Ancient Dell D610 that I run this on and it runs much better and cooler than when I have Windows OS's on it

[LifePart2]

Navigatrix? Hmm, that looks interesting. I will take a closer look at that!

Thanks

Noel

[petter5]

Originally Posted by LifePart2

Navigatrix? Hmm, that looks interesting. I will take a closer look at that!

Thanks

Noel

Would also recomend to try XINUTOP - a dedicated OpenCpn / navigastion distrubution that is lightweigth and will run blistering fast from RAM disk.