I know stupid question right. Then many would say " WHY ? I own a couple older CNC machines and their software requires the older system to communicate and my older version of auto cad. I cant even tell you if its the fast cam/rs 3000 with the machine or if it is the auto cad (not too savvy with this side of things) , the fast cam is actually a dos based program and 100% key stokes ? I was told the older auto cad also wont like vista. My issue is that I have a few computers and the last one I purchased that was pre loaded with XP pro was a refurbished and I had a lot of issues with it. I can buy a new Dell or other over the next month (black friday or holiday sales) much cheaper then buying a refurbished with XP. Cost effective would be to buy a new computer then buy XP PRO and wipe the new and install pro. Not sure if it can be done and honestly have no clue as to how to do it, but one bridge at a time. feel free to PM me as this is probably not a topic of public interest
it'd be a good idea to check out that model on dell's support site. you can use that to find out what drivers are required; make sure there are drivers available for what you're trying to do. When the vista switch occurred I ordered a bunch of dells for the school i work at. vista was no good so we tried to roll back to XP, but the motherboard had no XP drivers. We wound up going HP instead due to a more general build with no proprietary drivers required - just make sure whatever you buy has drivers available!
Easy as long as you have drivers available. Find that out FIRST and then put them on a flash drive so the computer isn't "stuck" when it doesn't know how to use the network card. edit: re-reading your post, I think you would have better luck buying an xp computer from a local computer shop - they'd be far more willing to help you out than Dell/HP/etc.
What issues did you have? Did it crash a lot or what? The XP Pro system should work just fine. My old Dell from 2000 still runs and works perfectly for the kid watching Youtube and stuff. Tigerdirect.com has refurb XP Pro systems for $90. Might be worth it to save yourself time and just buy another refurb?
Don't forget about virtualization. Your Vista system can host a full-blown XP installation in a virtual machine. It'll share/capture serial and USB ports, so anything you connect to the host should be accessible by XP.
I do this very often. There is a local aluminum extrusion factory that uses PCs to control all their various machines etc. Because they are running on propriety software they must have XP on them. I just order a generic Dell and then wipe em out and put XP Pro on it. So far Ive YET to come across a PC (Vista or Windows 7) that I couldnt put XP on. Some of the drivers are easier to find then others....but it can be done and Id guess with the age of your PC quite easily.
Well I'll be damned, turns out Macs don't have any sort of grammar check. Amazing machines! They let you show the world how stupid you really are.
Don't see how getting a Mac will help with the OPs CNC machine since it appears to require XP. Go refurb, save yourself time.
You're lucky, at work we have a bunch of machines that need win98 to run the control software! All the CPU's have been dying on us lately, hard to find the old stuff. I'm kicking myself thinking of all the 386/486/early pentimum stuff I've thrown out over the years. When we order some new regular work PC's we were able to 'downgrade' to XP, they came preinstalled with vista but came with a XP install disk, I don't think they charged anything for it.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...&N=100019095 4016&IsNodeId=1&name=Desktop PCs You can get refurb boxes with XP for under $100 from these guys.
