2011 Mini AMD Windows XP Drivers

[maximit]

I got XP running on the AMD 2.5ghz Mini. Took some trial and error and some manually installed drivers from the Win 7 CD that boot camp burns and some drivers from an older 2010 Mini OS CD. I got internet/ethernet working. No sounds, wireless or good graphix driver. I tried the latest AMD Catalyst all-in-one driver but its not running. Can only get slooooow 1600x1200 video on my Cinema HD. Anyone found a driver for the AMD graphix card on Win XP?

PS: A tip for anyone trying to install XP on the new Mini using an External Superdrive: depending on the installation CD you will have, the installer will ask you to locate a few files after rebooting during install. The proper path for all of those files is "H:\I386" might be a different letter for your superdrive but the directory is X:\i386.

 

[tbayrgs]

Not judging, just curious. Why is anyone installing a 10 year old operating system on their mini (or any new computer)? I know Vista is a dog but in general, I've seem pretty positive reviews/user experiences with Windows 7 and don't understand why one wouldn't use that, especially when it's this difficult to install. Is it a situation where the software you need to use is not supported by the newer versions of Windows?

 

[maximit]

I prefer XP for its much smaller footprint, faster booting and also its easier to find a corporate activated version of it. Most Windows 7 version on the internet have a bootloader to bypass the WGA and that slows down the boot process (even with the improved "SLIC Bios / Hidden 2" version installed). I only need windows for two things.... a website that requires IE that I use for work and one program used for live auctions called BidLive that had no Mac version. So I can live with XP with slow video since I only use it once every few months.

 

[maximit]

Just an update. Got sick of the slooooow graphics and removed the boot camp WinXP partiton. Instead installed a virtualized (Fusion) WinXP and everything is super fast at full resolution without requiring any native (non-existent) drivers as they are not needed when running in virtual machine mode. This seems to be the best way to run XP on the new Macs that do not have WinXP driver support.