Microstudio version dilemma

[Retro Man]

I'm currently running Microstudio 2.314. It works fine on an older Win 98 system with an HP CD Writer. I was planning to upgrade to the latest Microstudio (Ver. 2.516), but was dissuaded by warnings about new Microstudio versions not working with my "older" HP CD-Writer.

Meanwhile, I installed Ver. 2.314 on a new laptop running Win XP Home, intending only to use the "play-from-hard-drive" feature for the time being, since the integrated CD writer, of course, doesn't do CDGs. Although the installation went smoothly, upon executing the application, I got the error message about my video card not supporting 320x240 w/256 color resolution. My Intel 82852/82855 GM/GME Graphics Controller apparently only supports down to 640x480/256.

So ...

1) Am I stuck with using two different versions of Microstudio on my two PCs?

2) Will MTU's new drivers support the use of Ver. 2.516 with my HP CD Writer?

3) Can I make my Intel video card run with Ver 2.314?

Thanks!
Retro Man

[Retro Man]

It may not be "proper" to answer one's own post, but today's release of Ver. 2.517 may have addressed at least one-half of my dilemma.

It appears that, as of Ver. 2.506, the resolution problem with newer graphics adapters has gone away. Therefore, I assume that Ver. 2.517, unlike Ver. 2.314, will play-from-hard-drive on my laptop running Win XP.

I'm less clear about the second half of my question, that is, will Ver. 2.517 write tracks to my HP CD-Writer+ 9300 on a Win 98 desktop machine. Based on previous compatibility warnings, I'm guessing that I should stay with Ver. 2.314 for burning tracks via HP.

Suggestions?

Thanks.

Retro Man

[mlepine]

Retro Man,

I don't believe that any new version after Micro 2.4 will support your drive?

Here's a suggestion for your Laptop:
Just in case space might be an issue in your hard Drive with all your Wave files, you might want to pick & choose your songs from your desktop and burn it on a CDR-W disk. Don't burn a cdg disk because you won't be able to read after on your laptop but burn the files (20-24) depending on their sizes using any burner software like Nero, Easy Creator...

All you'll need to do is to select Hard Drive in Microstudio and go read your cd player not the HD!!
A file saved on a cdr-w is just like saved in the Hard Drive.

Have Fun

[Retro Man]

Dear mlepine:

Thanks for your ideas! I'll find out soon enough about the compatibility of my HP 9300 drive with new Microstudio, as I ordered Ver. 2.517 to use on my new Win XP laptop. If it doesn't work on my older Win 98 system using the HP drive, I'll just stick with Ver. 2.314 on that unit.

As for disk space on the laptop, I do have 60G available, but I've already archived dozens of CDGs on CDRW disks for just that purpose. They work great -- not to play directly on a karaoke machine, of course, but to store them for future transfer to a hard drive and use in Microstudio. It saves HDD space and digging through my library of originals.

I've also picked up a USB thumb drive which should hold a half-dozen or so songs for my laptop.

Thanks.

Retro Man