Running XP Pro on a PL 3000 / 5500

[pme001]

The following is keeping my mind busy for some time now:

I'm setting up an automatic weatherstation which uploads data to an Internet host. This system should be up and running 24/7 with little attention as possible.

I figured that, considering speed is of no major importance, a PL 3000 or 5500 would be a very stable and reliable piece of hardware, and pretty affordable.

I'm wondering if, and what kind of, problems I'm gonna encounter when I install WIN XP Pro on a PL 3000/5500. I discovered that officially XP Pro isn't supported, but, unofficially, will it install/run without problems?

The PL hasn't any network tasks to perform, exept for an ethernet connection to a switch for FTP uploads.

Installing NT4 of W2K Server is an option, but IMO an overkill in this setup.

I wonder what you think.

Kind regards,
pme001

 

[ntinlin]

Kind of a big box physically just to do that.
I'd have thought you'd be better with a system based round a mini-ITX board or similar.

1850R would also be a good bet.

Anyway

Main problem you might encounter is lack of drivers. I've never tried installing XP or W2K pro on a 3000 but I suspect that the RAID controllers for one might cause you an issue. However you should still have the option to do an F6 when installing the OS and add extra drivers. The W2K server RAID driver MIGHT work.

You may also have trouble getting the Cpq server monitoring agents to install as well. Although I've used versions up to 5.3 I think it was with 2000 Pro on a desktop so it might work.

Actually it might sound strange but what about simply running a copy of NT4 server on it. Cheap enough to buy and while unsupported it is usually pretty damn stable if you are only running one or two apps as long as they don't leak.

Also you don't say where this station is going to live but remember that servers tend to like more stable temperature and climatic conditions than the average desktop.

Neill

 

[pietjebell]

From my experience:

Win XP prof runs fine on a Proliant 3000 with a:
System setup
1 PII 300 Mhz
384 MB RAM
2x smart array 2-DH controllers

All systems were 'recognized' fine, XP used its own drivers.
When u do have the need for a Compaq driver, you might want to try a Win 2003 driver or an old win2k driver.
No guarantee it 'll work tho..

In my case, the server setup utillity managed to install & load some drivers but failed..
System worked fine without them tho.

Video is low res and some clicking needs time to get invoked


g-luck