#284375 - 12/07/2006 14:36
Anyone beta testing Windows Vista?
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old hand
Registered: 14/01/2002
Posts: 931
Loc: Minnetonka, MN
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I got the disk, but haven't installed it yet.... has anyone tried it yet?
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#284376 - 12/07/2006 14:45
Re: Anyone beta testing Windows Vista?
[Re: burdell1]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 18/01/2000
Posts: 5683
Loc: London, UK
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Quote: I got the disk, but haven't installed it yet.... has anyone tried it yet?
I tried installing it on my new Windows PC, but it didn't have drivers for my video card at the time (GeForce 7900 GTX), so I uninstalled it.
I was quite pleased that it (finally) supports loading extra mass storage drivers from USB key, meaning that you should no longer need a floppy disk drive. I used this to install the relevant RAID drivers for my motherboard.
But, as I say, it didn't have drivers for my video card (at that point), so I installed XP x64 on it. Then I decided that that sucked, so I installed XP x86, instead.
One of the guys in the office has been running Vista and Office 2007 for a couple of months now, on his laptop, for day-to-day use, and seems to be getting on OK with it.
_________________________
-- roger
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#284377 - 12/07/2006 18:05
Re: Anyone beta testing Windows Vista?
[Re: burdell1]
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veteran
Registered: 25/04/2000
Posts: 1525
Loc: Arizona
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I wasn't able to get it installed on my home machine. One thing that disappointed me was not having the SATA drivers on the install disk yet, but being able to load drivers from the USB flash drives rocks. At least it let me get further on the install than I was able to get without them.
I did install it on one of my laptops. It is usable for most things, just takes a while to get use to. It seems slower than XP on that laptop. I kept it around for maybe two weeks before wiping the machine and installing Linux back on it... If the next build is faster I might go back and try to do some development on it.
I do have Office 2007 installed on one laptop and my home machine. It was kind of culture shock getting used to it, but once I sat down and put some effort into it, the interface makes sense. I now use it for everything that I don't do on my desktop machine at work.
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#284378 - 12/07/2006 18:28
Re: Anyone beta testing Windows Vista?
[Re: Roger]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31597
Loc: Seattle, WA
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Quote: it didn't have drivers for my video card at the time
Does Vista require a new driver model?
(In other words, XP/2000 drivers don't work under Vista?)
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#284379 - 12/07/2006 20:00
Re: Anyone beta testing Windows Vista?
[Re: tfabris]
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enthusiast
Registered: 17/08/2000
Posts: 334
Loc: Seattle, WA. USA
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I installed Vista on my laptop and was very pleased with it. Until I realized that the one piece of software I needed didn't work. (3dsMax... damn you cdilla/flexlm whatever it is now.)
...and I did install a lot of WinXP drivers for things. I also had to "hack" the nvidia driver to recognize my video card as vista capable for aero effects.
_________________________
Brian H. Johnson MK2 36GB Blue, currently on life support "RIP RCR..."
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#284380 - 12/07/2006 20:18
Re: Anyone beta testing Windows Vista?
[Re: tfabris]
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veteran
Registered: 25/04/2000
Posts: 1525
Loc: Arizona
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Quote:
Quote: it didn't have drivers for my video card at the time
Does Vista require a new driver model?
(In other words, XP/2000 drivers don't work under Vista?)
Not sure, but NVidia has a special Vista driver now on their driver download page.
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#284381 - 12/07/2006 20:23
Re: Anyone beta testing Windows Vista?
[Re: burdell1]
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addict
Registered: 23/01/2002
Posts: 506
Loc: The Great Pacific NorthWest
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I've been running it on a test laptop for about a month. I too loaded nvidia xp drivers which seem to work OK. I also loaded the Dell xp drivers for most everything else without a hitch. It is SLOW, way slower than XP. Beyond that, for the simple task of internet surfing, it has worked fine.
_________________________
No matter where you might be, there you are.
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#284382 - 12/07/2006 20:43
Re: Anyone beta testing Windows Vista?
[Re: Tim]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 18/01/2000
Posts: 5683
Loc: London, UK
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Quote: It seems slower than XP on that laptop.
It's a beta. There'll still be some optimisation work to do on it, I guess.
_________________________
-- roger
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#284383 - 12/07/2006 20:47
Re: Anyone beta testing Windows Vista?
[Re: tfabris]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 18/01/2000
Posts: 5683
Loc: London, UK
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Quote: Does Vista require a new driver model?
It has a new driver model -- WDDM -- but it does support XP/2000 drivers as well. My problem was that it (for some reason) didn't want to recognise the XP drivers for my card as suitable for Vista, probably because the drivers (at that point) were unsigned, if I recall correctly.
_________________________
-- roger
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#284384 - 13/07/2006 03:46
Re: Anyone beta testing Windows Vista?
[Re: Roger]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 08/06/1999
Posts: 7868
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I believe the display drivers are something that do need to be the new WDDM format, but other devices will work with XP/2000 drivers.
My impressions of Beta 2 weren't so great. The new security model is implemented in a way that every experienced user will turn it off negating any advantage it has, and casual users will waste much time with it, to the point of clicking yes to everything and still having malware problems. Things are clearly being done with no thought process. I was investigating how to add an entry to the Games Explorer, and found it to be horribly complex. It starts off as having to create a series of files with a tool in the DirectX SDK, ok so far. Next, those files get compiled into a dll, odd, but ok. Next you have to code the game to make calls to that newly created dll to have it register the game, and ensure the dll is distributed with the game. Annoying to say the least instead of just making a call to something to put an entry there.
My experience with previous betas and this one have reminded me that I will switch to Vista only when forced. Sadly with the whole Direct X 10 hype, the switch may be soon after release. I guess I should start learning now how to strip it down enough to turn it into a Wintendo OS for the MacBook.
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#284385 - 13/07/2006 13:12
Re: Anyone beta testing Windows Vista?
[Re: drakino]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 18/01/2000
Posts: 5683
Loc: London, UK
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Quote: The new security model is implemented
The new security model sucks. I'm going to carry on doing what I do in XP -- separate admin and user accounts, using fast-user-switching if I need to do something as admin. Or I'll use RunAs, or I'll use Remote Desktop to log back in as Admin.
_________________________
-- roger
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#284386 - 09/10/2006 11:27
Re: Anyone beta testing Windows Vista?
[Re: Roger]
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old hand
Registered: 14/01/2002
Posts: 931
Loc: Minnetonka, MN
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this might be a dumb question, but can I partition the hard drive without wiping out everything that is on it? I would like to put Vista on my extra hard drive, but there is a lot of stuff on it already.
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#284387 - 09/10/2006 14:51
Re: Anyone beta testing Windows Vista?
[Re: burdell1]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 24/12/2001
Posts: 5528
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Partition Magic should be able to do it. You should take a backup anyway and by that point, you might as well just wipe it clean...
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#284388 - 10/10/2006 11:58
Re: Anyone beta testing Windows Vista?
[Re: tman]
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veteran
Registered: 25/04/2000
Posts: 1525
Loc: Arizona
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I've used BootIT NG everytime I need to repartition a drive to install a new OS on it without losing information and never had a problem.
Edited by Tim (10/10/2006 11:59)
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