Microsoft Windows 98 Hardware Improvements Michael Hayman
Windows Driver Model (WDM). This new technology will come into play over the next year, as the release of the much-anticipated NT 5.0 becomes near. It allows hardware manufacturers to create one set of driver code that can be used on both Windows 98 and Windows NT. It’s a shame this kind of functionality wasn’t thought of sooner. WDM enables new classes of devices and busses to have a single driver for both operating systems. Examples are USB, HID, IEEE 1394, Digital Audio and DVD players.
FAT32 With In-place Converter. A replacement to the archaic FAT16 File System, FAT32 stores files much more efficiently and features support for larger hard drives. Windows 98 also ships with a converter that can move a drive over to FAT32 in-place without a reformat.
Multiple Monitors. Long available on the Macintosh, Windows 98 finally supports display of up to four monitors at a time, each hooked up to its own graphics card. This feature could prove useful to a high-end workstation user – which is ironic, seeing as that category of user best fits Windows NT 4 Workstation. Oh well.
Enhanced Plug and Play Support. They've really done it with this one. Now, when you plug a device into your computer, there's a better chance it'll automatically detect it and install drivers. The parade of innovation is longer than we first thought!
ACPI Power Management. Advanced Power Management control at last comes to Windows.
