What OS for Sage - XP Pro or Win7?

[wayner]

I am building a new Sage server and I am wondering whether I am better off using XP Pro or Win7HP? My existing server is on WHS and I am having problems (for the second time) that are hard to troubleshoot so I want to move away from WHS. I want to use firewire to change channels which means that 64 bit OSes are out of the question.

This box will not really be used for playback although it would be nice if I could palyback files when troubleshooting, etc. So having smooth playuuback does not matter to me. One of the advantages of XP Pro is that it includes RDP server which is not the case with Win7HP.

[bialio]

Looking back at this type of conversation from the past few years on this forum I don't think I've ever seen anyone that had an issue with XP Pro and Sage. For playback maybe, but as a server OS XP Pro is rock solid.

I use Pro myself.

btl.

[Fuzzy]

While XP does work, I think there are some features in 7 that are of good use. The power management is much improved, meaning a better chance your server will safely sleep inbetween bouts of use. The memory management is also much better, though you're still limited to Sage's use of JVM.

Also, while win7HP doens't include RDP out of the box, it is easily added with some very fine 'tweaks' available. (RDP IS in there - used for the 'remote assistance' feature, just disabled for general use).

[nyplayer]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

While XP does work, I think there are some features in 7 that are of good use. The power management is much improved, meaning a better chance your server will safely sleep inbetween bouts of use. The memory management is also much better, though you're still limited to Sage's use of JVM.

Also, while win7HP doens't include RDP out of the box, it is easily added with some very fine 'tweaks' available. (RDP IS in there - used for the 'remote assistance' feature, just disabled for general use).

Fuzzy,

Under windows 7 did you do anything with autotuning etc... I found the network at times crawled and cause stuttering. In windows xp pro I get full network throttle. I know windows 7 does some sort of throttling in networks... and i have yet to get good results.

[Fuzzy]

I don't have much network traffic at all to begin with (just streaming to an MVP in the bedroom, and recording OTA from an HDHomeRun). Regardless, I've got a Gigabit switch, which can EASILY handle any traffic my home can generate.

[Zippster]

Originally Posted by bialio

but as a server OS XP Pro is rock solid.

I use Pro myself.

btl.

I do too and always rock solid.

[wayner]

My memory could be failing me but I vaguely remember issues with Sage and XP SP3 - for those of you using XP - Is there any reason not to install SP3? Or is this just an issue if you upgrade to SP3 - if you start with it is it an issue?

[Suntan]

Originally Posted by wayner

My memory could be failing me but I vaguely remember issues with Sage and XP SP3 - for those of you using XP - Is there any reason not to install SP3? Or is this just an issue if you upgrade to SP3 - if you start with it is it an issue?

My Sage server runs XP SP3. No issues that I can see. You’re bigger concern is from issues that may crop up depending on which version of JAVA you install (have had memory leak issues with that in the past, although it seems to have settled down recently.)

Personally, I wouldn’t go out and buy win7 if I had a copy of XP available. But I wouldn’t necessarily pass up using win 7 if that is available either.

Do check to make sure your tuners have driver support in win 7. I’ve read some about people having problems with my particular tuners (VBox 3560 USB tuners) but when I tested them on my Win7 64bit computer (when I tried out S7 beta) MS auto-loaded drivers for it that worked fine.

-Suntan