New processors and Windows(2K)

I have a model 170 at home and I know it won't go past V5R3. I'm only slightly 
irritated because ILE CL is suddenly getting some useful updates and V5R4 might 
have more; otherwise, V5R3 has more stuff than I'm going to get around to in 
the near future. But along that line in parallel --

I also use a variety of old PCs. This one here is about as good as my PCs get 
(except I did buy a decent one a couple years ago that got pressed into service 
when I had to replace my wife's system.) Anyway, ~my~ PCs are fairly obsolete. 
This one is some 7 years old, a 266MHz/512MB/8GB system that was far more 
advanced when I bought it than it is today.

Mostly I don't need much. This one generally works fine for my patterns. 
ClientAccess 5250 via VPN over dialup is the first critical need. Basic e-mail 
and web browsing pretty much covers everything else.

But it's time to go the next step and that brings a question...

What is the limit for Win2K?

That is, there's a batch of new 64-bit processors, etc., out that might be 
interesting; but can Win2K run on any of them? I have absolutely zero intention 
of buying any further Windows licenses and about as much interest in WinXP. 
I'll eventually buy some "overstocked liquidation" PC or some kit I put 
together and load Win2K on it, so I don't want to buy a PC with a processor 
that does me no good.

So, what's the deal with PC processors and Win2K?

I'm probably going to leave Win98 running on one PC because of a couple minor 
apps/hardware that never got drivers for Win2K. I'll keep Win2K on two of my 
laptops and put Win2K on the new PC.

I expect that everything else that currently has some form of Windows will be 
reloaded with one form of Linux or another. If I can help it, I'll never own 
WinXP (even if the license allows me to replace it with Win2K.)

So where do I set my sights for the upper limit? I won't be surprised if 
whatever I go to will still be my primary system 5-7 years from now and I don't 
foresee my needs getting much more complex.

Thanks for any discussion.

Tom Liotta


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