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Post by mikkh on May 5, 2009 23:54:40 GMT
The beta has been available for a while (and due to expire this Autumn) but now the RC is available and doesn't expire till Spring next year.
The beta was surprisingly stable, so it'll be interesting to see what improvements have been made
For those who don't mind reformatting their hard drives, it's a good chance to see what Vista should have been - if they hadn't rushed it!
I'm downloading it now (just for curiosity value) but I doubt if I'll use it much. I was quietly impressed with the beta though, and it is an improvement on Vista - which wasn't that hard to do, to be honest 
www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/
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Post by mikkh on May 6, 2009 0:06:36 GMT
...... and I'm also impressed by Microsofts generosity in letting everyone have an extended trial of it. Nearly a year of use for free - whatever next !
No doubt the final retail price will be quite obscene, but you either have to applaud their subtle brainwashing technique or hope they have also learned lessons about over-charging.
I'm not holding my breath.... you can die from doing silly things like that!
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Post by ken on May 6, 2009 0:16:25 GMT
RC is running like a dream Mikk. It loaded all the drivers straight away and Windows gave me an ATI update for the chipset, with the first updates.
KC
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Post by mikkh on May 6, 2009 0:29:47 GMT
Yes it's one of the things I noticed about the beta - the hardware support is very good compared to XP or even Vista
It picked up my Canon printer immediately, which was a pleasant surprise.
It downloaded the 2.3 GB ISO in about half an hour, but I'll wait till tomorrow before installing it
Not that you'll notice on your monster machine, but it's also not as greedy as Vista with resources
Looks like Vista will be left to die of natural causes once '7' is released
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Post by ken on May 6, 2009 1:16:18 GMT
I think anyone who buys a computer with Vista on it now, is just wasting their money. With all the poke that this machine has got, I wouldn't put Vista anywhere near it. I'm running 46 processes now with Win 7 x 64 RC, but they dont eat very much and thats a lot more than I would run on XP x 64. I still find XP is easier to use, but its not any faster than Win 7. This really greases along, its a remarkable OS. I was dual booting the BETA with XP x 64, but I took XP off a few weeks ago and speeded the boot time up.
KC
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Post by buzzy on May 6, 2009 7:03:36 GMT
Sounds interesting guys, I shall watch developments with interest - thank you.
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Post by ken on May 7, 2009 21:44:45 GMT
Everything has been working great, but I'm downloading the latest graphics drivers as I type. Everything seemed to be great with the drivers that Windows provided. When I run the assessment on the system just now, I only scored 6.8 for my gaming graphics. They should score the full 7.9 like they did with the BETA, so I need to change that. Its 129 Mb download and Palit website has bloody slow servers, I'm only getting 50 Kbs download speed. So although Windows drivers are very good, they are far from perfect. Its still best to get the latest Vista drivers and use the compatibility wizard to install them.
KC
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Post by mikkh on May 7, 2009 22:02:28 GMT
Why are you going to the 'Palit' site? It's an AMD/ATI card you have isn't it, so surely the latest one from them is the same thing, as I can't see a major manufacturer giving access to their drivers.
I could be wrong though - it does happen occasionally (1995 was not a good year for instance !!)
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Post by ken on May 8, 2009 17:31:12 GMT
I've got the Sonic Dual Edition and I thought the drivers might be a little different Mikk. Although its a Radeon card, I think its only Palit that make that particular model.
KC
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Post by mikkh on May 8, 2009 19:10:32 GMT
Slightly overclocked and better cooling are the main differences I believe?
I'm intrigued as to what you actually do with that beast of a machine though. Do I remember you once saying you liked flight sims?
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Post by ken on May 9, 2009 0:49:36 GMT
Yeah Mikk, I like to stunt old planes without acually killing myself. It's a pity our 18 year old pilots didn't get the same oppitunity to do that during the Battle of Britain. As for actual gaming I dont go in for it. I'm not very good when it comes to working a computer, but I wouldn't be any use to man or beast if I still had a PIII. I build and devlope computers, coz that what I like doing. Dont you like doing anything except fishing and telling everybody how good Linux is?? If Linux is that good, why dont anyone develope one good OS and stick with it?? I put my money with AMD; when everyone else was betting on Intel, and you Linux users can't even remember what OS you used yesterday. Maybe I'm just a crazy bugger; but I dont have to have a reason to do what I do, any more than you like to play with Linux. Little bit more expensive than playing with Linux, but it keeps me a bloody sight more up to date with whats going on. I might be getting on a bit; but I want to know a bit more than can be got off an OS, that will run on a pen drive.
KC
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Post by mikkh on May 9, 2009 10:32:03 GMT
Whoa there big boy, I said I was intrigued, not questioning your right to own a decent machine.
Whatever floats your boat kiddo, I don't really care, it was just polite conversation and I was expecting a slightly more polite reply
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Post by Lynnrose on May 9, 2009 11:19:06 GMT
Hey Boys, group hug!
KC's probably got a hangover and read the message wrongly
Kiss and make-up now, that's an order!
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Post by nike on May 10, 2009 3:55:51 GMT
I read it right myself. Unfortunately, KC must have read it a little wrong, as I have never known him to get upset with anyone.
KC has a beast of a machine and pointed out my folly of going with Intel when I should have stuck with AMD. Al least between the both of us, we can find the good and bad points of both.
Mikkh does has a thing for Linux, and by using all the differing distro's available has a good knowledge of the OS and all it's varieties, and is an overwhelming advocate of the OS with a very good, broad knowledge of it. Myself, i've tried a couple of distro's, couldn't come to grips with it, and have decided to stick with the OS brand I know best.
Windows, in it's all encompassing flavours, has just been totally redesigned into an OS worthy of being used on anyones computer, now called Windows 7 in this RC version. I am running W7 in both forms, 32 bit and 64 bit, on two of my computers, and like KC, absolutely love it. It has to be the best one yet. Vista was a major mistake from M$, and now they have done it right. It might be worth noting that W7,or "Blackcomb" as it was known then, was in the development stage long BEFORE Vista was even released.
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Post by ken on May 10, 2009 10:40:37 GMT
Sorry about that Mikk, I was a little bit uptight and had just ruined a perfectly good kebab. Someone had tried to borrow all my money at knife-point, a little spell in hospital should teach him the error of his ways. I don't wear bover boots as a fashion statement.
I have the greatest respect for your software knowledge. I was just trying to point out that I try to do with hardware what you do with software. I'm not very good with software and often have to sort things out the hard way. Hardware is easy and I can get my head round that, if technology would slow up for a minute. Intel was getting all the praise and I set out to prove that AMD were still in the running and they are. Your not going to do it with a cheap machine, but it can still be done a lot cheaper than going the Intel route. Even an Intel machine needs AMD to get it to its best potential. ATI have got the graphics firmly in their grips now and ATI are AMD.
Linux is too flakey for me. Some distros seem to work with some hardware and not others. If its so good, users wouldn't be changing distos all the time. If thats your thing, all well and good. Myself I prefer to have a system that I know will do all I want it to, when I want it to. Windows 7 x 64 seems to fit the bill now. I'm a bit disappointed with the RC1, as in some ways the BETA was better. I had initial trouble with drivers for AMD hardware, but this was quickly overcome. I should have held off installing it for a week or so. BETA was working faultlessly when RC came out. Now I am having trouble with the gaming graphics. It installs good drivers, but doesn't want to take the proper drivers to get the extra speed. I've only got a 6.8 rating on gaming graphics, the same as normal graphics and gaming should be 7.9. I had the 7.9 with the BETA version, as there wasn't any problem putting the ATI drivers in. I think I must be missing something, but I just haven't worked it out yet. Going through the trouble shooting list, I'm not short of anything and I know I must be somewhere. I will tell ya all what it is when I find it, but its been a few days and I'm still not there yet.
I did manage to take my boot sector out, uninstalling drivers, thank gawd for backups. I still don't know how it happened, but it did. Win7 makes regular backups of your system, which works very well. Although I still use Paragon 10 to make my own, just in case. Paragon 10 also works a bit different to earlier versions, which done my head in for a little while. I nearly had to read the manual, but I hadn't printed a copy and machine wouldn't boot. Win7 also will make a restore disk for you, which is a very good idea, in case of hard disk failure. So you dont need to buy additional software now. You do need to have at least one extra partition, beside your C: drive.
KC
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Post by mikkh on May 10, 2009 13:04:07 GMT
Sorry to hear about your ruined kebab, but I'm all for instant justice - good on yer
In today's perverted law system, you could possibly find yourself in trouble though, which is scandalous
I wouldn't worry too much about Windows performance index, it's a very basic benchmark that means little in the real world
Try a more industry standard test like the 3DMark ones
www.futuremark.com/
the trial versions are perfectly adequate
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Post by ken on May 11, 2009 1:48:00 GMT
Thanks for the link, but I already had it. I hadn't used it since I was using XP x 64. I'm still not entirely satisfied, but I'm still up there with the big boys.   KC |
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Post by ken on May 11, 2009 1:51:19 GMT
I dont worry too much about them junkies, he will probably say someone stole a tram and run him down making their get away through St Anns.
KC
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Post by mikkh on May 11, 2009 10:05:47 GMT
Yes very impressive numbers indeed, I think the best I managed was 16000 with my dual core machine. You should try some of the later ones too, like the 2003 and 2005 versions which use more of the advanced features in modern graphics cards - and have prettier demos !
Windows performance measured that dual core at around 4 or something pathetic like that btw, which was meaningless as I was quite happily running the latest games at full speed at the time
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Post by ken on May 13, 2009 2:28:24 GMT
I'm not that keen on RC. I've been busy the last couple of days trying to tune it up. I even reinstalled BETA yesterday and it rocks with all the latest Asus and ITA Win 7 drivers. You can upgrade Vista, but you cant upgrade BETA. I put in all the new drivers, tuned it right up and noted all the settings. Then I put in a fresh installation of RC and installed the drivers, tuned to to the same settings as BETA. Its good, but not a patch on BETA. ATI Overdrive, doesn't seem to get into gear with it and the graphics are way down. I'm thinking of keeping BETA and giving up on RC. It doesn't update anymore, but I don't worry about updates anyway. Everything works and at full capacity, which is more than I can say about RC. It all worked too good and I was sure that Microsoft would bugger it up before it was released. At least they gave us a copy of the real thing before they ruined it. I have got images of it; so I can restore to it any time I like, all tuned up and ready to rock and roll.
KC
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Post by mikkh on May 13, 2009 9:14:43 GMT
I haven't used it enough to notice, but it happens in the Linux world too. I'll be mightily impressed with a beta and end up disappointed with a final release - go figure as our American friends sometimes say.
I'm pretty sure the beta picked up my sound but the RC didn't, which I thought was quite strange, but I do tend to swap parts in and out of my main machine quite often, so I could be mistaken
The problem solver suggested I might like to fit a new device to cure it!
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Post by Lynnrose on May 14, 2009 16:28:30 GMT
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Post by ken on May 14, 2009 19:34:18 GMT
I love fish and chips, pork chops, sausages and all things greasy. I cant think of a better excuse to keep my hands well away from my monitor screen. Perhaps HP will bring out a laptop with a Swarfega dispenser attached to one side and a wipe dispenser on the other.
KC
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Post by buzzy on May 14, 2009 19:57:54 GMT
Ken - HP may just add a stylus like they do on my PDA, but make it about a foot long ;D
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Post by ken on May 14, 2009 20:36:14 GMT
A pointer wouldn't work Buzz, it would have to be chopsticks. The Orientals that make this stuff, forget that a lot of people use knives, forks and spoons. Or in my case, just pick it and stuff it in.
KC
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Post by Deleted on May 15, 2009 17:09:37 GMT
I can see the screen getting dirty a lot from touching it.
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Post by ken on May 15, 2009 19:21:20 GMT
I use the keyboard and mouse with one hand, as the other one don't work. Although I have a finger on the left hand to push Del while pushing Ctrl, Alt with the right. Watching that clip, I don't think its a lot of use to me at all. I have built up a routine over the years and I think I work easier with a 7 button mouse, than I could with a touchscreen.
I watch my friends with touchscreen mobiles and they are great going through their pictures. I haven't got any pictures on my phone I have got 7 cameras. I only make phone calls and send a few texts. I can do that just as quick as them and never touch my screen. To me its an expensive novelty, not of any real value at all. Also I wonder what the life span of one of these things is. An ordinary good size flat wide-screen monitor is cheap these days and they seem to last forever. I know my friends get a lot of trouble with their touchscreen mobiles, I have just got a new LG mobile, but my old Motorola is still going strong at 4 years old and I'm keeping it as a spare.
KC
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