Windows 98 Second Edition?

Not legally.  You may be able to find it at some stores of if you go to a computer show.  However, I personally don't think you'll need it.  What kind of CD-RW is it?  If it's internal (something you have to install inside the computer), then it's likely an IDE drive.  ANYTHING will recognize it as a CD-ROM drive.  The software included (Adaptec 5 or Nero 5.5 are the most common) are what is requires to recognize the drive as a burner.  If they install successfully (as I personally believe they should) then you shouldn't have a problem at all.

HOWEVER, unless you go find 98SE someplace (or upgrade to ME, 2000, or XP), if you have any problems, the tech support people likely won't help you because they tend to be idiots who follow a book and if they find out aren't using 98SE or later, they'll just say sorry, you have to have 98SE or we won't help you.

If the drive is a USB drive I THINK it will work but am slightly less optimistic.  USB should be supported completely with 98 - all versions - but there may be some subtle incompatibilities... probably not, but who knows - it's a Micro$oft product.

your duplicate question has been deleted and points refunded

Computer101
E-E Moderator

I deleted 2 more, make sure you do not hit the refresh button on E-E

Thanks

Computer101
E-E Moderator

The drive is internal Sony 32x-10x-40x EIDE, CRX185A1.  The software CD only says "Sony Application Software" on it.

My main concern I guess is will it harm anything to install and try it?

. . . under Windows 98, that is.

Don't know what happened to my previous comment.

It is a Sony internal 32x 10x 40x CRX185A1, EIDE.  The software CD says only "Sony Application Software".

My main concern is whether installing to see if it works under Windows 98 could damage anything?  I can return it or upgrade to XP if necessary.

http://www.roxio.com/en/products/ecdc/ecdcfeatures.jhtml

Sorry, forgot to paste the link in my previous comment.

From the May 1999 press release:

"Windows 98 Second Edition offers consumers a variety of
new and enhanced capabilities related to the Internet, and hardware compatibility:

Internet Explorer 5. Microsoft's popular browsing technologies provide breakthroughs in Web performance, usability and flexibility.

Windows NetMeeting 3. The latest version of NetMeeting®, Microsoft's award-winning Windows-based conferencing software, brings Internet conferencing capability to consumers by offering enhanced usability,
performance, security and support for Internet standards.

Internet Connection Sharing (ICS). ICS is a set of advanced home networking technologies that enable multiple users to share a single connection to the Internet for simultaneous Internet access.

Enhanced hardware support. Windows 98 Second Edition offers improved native support for technologies such as Universal Serial Bus (USB), IEEE 1394 and
ACPI as well as broadband network connections, enabling consumers to connect to and more easily use a wider range of devices.

Windows 98 Service Pack. Windows 98 Service Pack addresses top issues in existing features, such as year 2000 updates. Windows 98 Service Pack is planned to be available to existing users of Windows 98 for free download
from the Microsoft Web site in the coming weeks (connect-time charges may apply)."

In terms of you getting it for free, no.  There was this product that would allow you to go from 98 to 98 SE:

"Current users of the Windows 98 operating system can receive the updated functionality by ordering a CD-ROM called Windows 98 Second Edition Updates, scheduled to be available from the Microsoft Web site in early summer. In
addition to receiving the updated code, users of Windows 98 who order Windows 98 Second Edition Updates will receive "Windows 98 and the Internet," a book detailing the new features and benefits of Windows 98 Second Edition and the Internet. The cost of Windows 98 Second Edition
Updates is $19.95 plus shipping and handling."

It appears that it is still being sold here:
https://order4.microsoft.upgrade.com/scripts/startwin98se1.asp?

...however, I would not recommend wasting $20 on such old software (and not that many ground breaking features any ways).

suobs:
if you really want windows 98 second edition (it is a very good operating system) you can still buy it (for about 1/2 the retail price) in an eom version from the following vendor. i have bought from them, and it is great, complete, it is fully licensed and comes with the microsoft certificate of authenticity. just no pretty box.
best regards
leonard

http://www.buycheapsoftware.com/

I think win98 and win98se are more or less the same thing, that's why they have the same name. win98 and win98se are hardly ever differentiated in technical support websites because they are almost identical.

I believe it is safe to install your cd-rom drive in win98 but win98 may not have the necessary drivers for your cd-rom drive. In any case, your cd-rom drive should come with a driver disk or you can download it from the web.

check these pages:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows98/downloads/default.asp
http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/
I was really hot on getting the student version of Office XP because its better than 97 and its around half price for students/teachers. Thought it required Second Edition as well, until I re-read the info. I probably won't update to SE now. Considering Windows XP is getting good press, I'll probably move to that.

It depends. I stick to Win98se on my pentium 2 and 3. I only use xp on pentium 4. xp tends to be more resource hungry so i prefer not to be slowed down by xp on my older sytems. Never tried win ME though.
Tried win2000, but it's a different class of OS and it's terrible. Anyway, it's phasing out.

If you want better security, move on to XP. There is no real software security in win98. xp uses NTFS file system while win98 uses fat16/32 system. xp will also give you the newer drivers for newer hardware and more functions in some of the new applications.

I want to zero in more on your question of "will it harm anything to try". I used to have lots of problems because I was always downloading and installing stuff from the web.
Then I found a product called "Go Back" by Roxio. This is a great piece of software. During boot up before Windows starts to load Go Back gives a screen with about 10 seconds to hit the space bar. Then you can choose to set your system back to a previous state. How far back you can go depends on how much hard drive space you set aside for Go Back to use. Roxio claims that you can delete your entire Windows directory and still recover, although I have never been brave enough to try it. The new version which I have includes several nice enhancements, one of the best is a screen that comes up after reverting the drive that lists all the files that were changed. You can now recover for instance a word processor file that was deleted by going back.

I found this to be of immense value with Windows 98 which seemed to be so crash prone. I am now running Windows 2000 and rarely crash it.

It's not just about crashing. Sometimes, the system gets cluttered, so you want it to get back to a clean state. Go Back helps in that, without having to manually reformat and reinstall everything one by one.

Points to leew for first responses.

I decided to stick with Windows 98 until I really have to update (which might be the day I install the RW drive), then I will go to XP.  I'll try the Nero software.  I'll also check out GoBack and the Roxio CD software.  

I used to be kind of guy who enjoyed the challenge of getting a new OS working right, but these days I just want to get things done.  I have little interest in spending a day or two trying to get a new OS to work with all of my applications. Frankly I have had so many problems with Office 2000 that I am gunshy about major stuff.

For example, Access 2000 is incompatible with Access 97, so you have to go through conversions if you want to use the same file on machines with 97 and 2000 - on top of which I can't uninstall 2000 and get back to 97, even with the removal software from MS and an attempting to correct all this takes the better part of a weekend). . .