The official Vista Operating System thread

[Caslon]

Here we can share questions, answers, hardware/software conflicts, workarounds, rants and raves and other issues regarding Microsoft's Vista Operating System.

[TitanSound]

I'll probably buy it in about 6 months....after the first service pack is released to fix all the holes

[mrhahn]

Just a heads up, if you're doing a Computing/Electronics-based course (Comp Sci, Systems Engineering, etc.), it's worth checking to see if your school is part of the MSDNAA scheme. If it is (and you're in one of the relevant depts.), you can get Vista Business Edition for £0.00.

[grim reaper]

I'll probably put it on a partition sometime soon to have another mess around since the beta. But I can't for see me running it as my main operating system for some time. There just isn't any reason too.

[NavalLord]

I only just sort of got XP running, it then prmptly died, but it's taken my 4 years to get all my shit working. No way am I switching to Vista now.

[Caslon]

I'm waiting for the R600 to buy Vista and its DX10 qualities.
Crysis and Alan Wake are among the few games so far that will utilize both.

Vista still has growing pains, and as of now, so do many companies driver makers.
I just found that as of now, HP says that they don't have a Vista driver for my not that old HP Photosmart 1100 ("please choose one of our newer products").
What a crock. I'll probably be able to use some other HP model driver or even
a generic Vista one. The reason that some older printers are Vista supported is because back then, printers had more self-contained components. Mine and other printers depend mostly on the drivers...the printer itself is little more than an ink squirter.

[Cøyøte]

I figure by the time SP2 for Vista comes out Ill -have- to get a new PC regardless. So, no hurries on Vista here.

[Caslon]

Nvidia forums are up in arms about the lackluster drivers for Vista.

Actually...it must be quite a challenge.

Nvidia is reported to have spent something like 200 days (24/7) just to get their current crop of product drivers to work with Vista.
There's still a lot of grief from Nvidia card owners.

Damn...ATI's R600 DX10 and their upcoming Vista utilized drivers aren't even out yet.

Growing pains.

[Deathmaker]

I have a feeling that by the time I'm ready to upgrade my pc's to Vista Vienna will be just around the corner.

[Jaberwokie_jones67]

M$ will have to work out the Digital Rights Management issues

With vista set to remove "questionable" software without user interference M$ gets to determine what exactly is "questionable" I have to say I'm not quite comfortable letting Bill and his Kids decide what I put on my PC.

I live in Canada so we are still "The true north strong and Free" at least as far as downloads go. I will not allow my computer to impose the laws of the US on me. Thanks any way Bill Later

[grim reaper]

Originally Posted by Caslon

Nvidia forums are up in arms about the lackluster drivers for Vista.

Actually...it must be quite a challenge.

Nvidia is reported to have spent something like 200 days (24/7) just to get their current crop of product drivers to work with Vista.
There's still a lot of grief from Nvidia card owners.

Damn...ATI's R600 DX10 and their upcoming Vista utilized drivers aren't even out yet.

Growing pains.

What people don't seem to understand is that alot of the driver problems with Vista arn't MSs fault. Its driver teams taking time to adapt to a fundamentally new way of doing things.

In XP the drivers talk directly to the kernel, if a driver crashes so does the whole PC. With Vista there is a layer above the kernel for non essential drivers to communicate with, if the drivers crash the rest of the PC will be fine. Only drivers that need kernel access like the mobo have it.

[hsimah]

I just installed it this morning on my laptop, aside from it overwriting my MBR (as all Windows's do) and a bit of trouble reinstalling Lilo (I lost my slack DVD and had to dled it again), everything is fine. I don't think I am running Aero, my laptop has similar specs to hahns, and I haven't noticed any lag. I need to install some drivers and then I'll toss on a DVD or something.

Good news it networking is much more pimp, and wireless actually stays connected, something which XP Pro couldn't do (though slackware does).

[Cøyøte]

Originally Posted by hsimah

which XP Pro couldn't do

?Really? Not to jack the thread, but what were the circumstance? My GF runs a dual boot "XP pro/Whatever version of 'nix has caught her eye" on a sony vaio, and not had an issue,.. was all Linksys network hardware as I recall, for what thats worth.

[hsimah]

I have the IPW2200 wireless system in my Vaio. It came with XP Pro installed. I have a wireless router, but nothing wireless, except my PSP, which I used to play online sometimes.

Of course, being a nerd I stuck my Slackware 10.2 CD's in there and made it a leet dual boot.

I turn the fucker on, and it connects in linux nicely etc. Windows XP just would NOT stay connected. WEP, WPA, unencrypted nothing I could do would keep it connected.

It would say signal strength 100% but would then say "signal lost" then not reconnect at all. Happened at uni too. So I stopped using windows. All I use it for is browsing and coding while out of home, and maybe a few videos in lectures, so linux was fine.

So yeah, I never really looked at it in depth, it was easier to just use linux I guess, but XP could not do it, whereas Vista has everything working for me right away. People have told me Vista is crap (nerdy dickheads at uni). I think they are wrong. Its NEW, not SHIT. XP had teething issues too with things not working for it, and I think XP is one of the best OS's around even with its flaws.

[Caslon]

I've not had to work with setting up routers and os systems.
I'm kinda clueless, as having not needed or used them.

One of Vista's supposedly strong points is it's ease of setting up
router/OS scenarios (better than XP).

If I read your reply right...you're saying Vista does pretty good for the common user at setting up a router. Maybe even better than XP does. MS has been promoting that aspect of Vista.

[hsimah]

Yeah, to get it running from install to use is a breeze. So long as you have compatible hardware (which I do - I have heard horror stories).

The networking is also MUCH better. Like, I can never go back to networking in XP. I have it set up on this machine, but getting it all working was a nightmare, Vista even sees my linux server ON ITS OWN. I didn't have to go find it or anything.

All in all, I am impressed, things can only get better from here I guess

[ian60]

i red in the latest issue of maximum pc where they did some test on vista with XP is vista really that bad or were the test bias like XP won the contest it took vistat ultimate out in everything