I'm starting to realize how much of a problem not having all that much RAM can produce. It's quite a bit harder to multi-task in Vista, just because I don't have the resources. I suppose that I could dial down the GUI back to the classic Windows theme. "But doesn't that defeat the whole reason to go to Vista?" I hear you ask. Not really, Vista does manage the system resources much better than XP, and has the bonus of naturally scaling back it's consumption of said resources based on your hardware configuration. At least that's what I've been told by the man, and I believe him.
Also, you know how you can change your folder options by simply going to "Tools>Options" anytime you want? From any open folder? Well, now the folder options are nestled safely in the Control Panel along with lots of new items that I've never heard of before Vista.
I can make it work. I'll live.
Sunday, September 2, 2007
Saturday, September 1, 2007
Country Vista Road
It's a pun; I'll explain later.
So late last night, about halfway through the second beer, I got Vista installed. So, twenty-four hours in, how do I feel? Good. I like it. Microsoft finally built the OS that they meant to; the OS that Apple's been selling for years.
Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not an Apple Freak, I work for a living, I can't afford that kind of money. However, the look and feel of Vista is smooth and reminds me in way of an Apple. The edges are smoother, the transitions are nicely animated. Graphically, it is a very nice looking operating system. But, I'm getting ahead of myself.
For this little experiment I was using my good machine (which doesn't technically meet the minimum system requirements). I do have an Intel Pentium D 2.8GHz CPU, however this is offset by my meager 756MB of DDR RAM. Sad, I know. When I told Brandon that I was installing Vista, but didn't think I had enough RAM, he said that it shouldn't be a problem, the minimum required is only 1GB, and by now everyone should have a gig. (This, kiddies, is exactly how to emasculate a geek) We are doing this anyway, despite my, um, shortcomings.
I didn't want to install an upgrade on top of my XP (what if it sucks?), so I unplugged my hard drive and put in a 120 GB hard drive that I got from . . . somewhere (I hope there wasn't anything on that) and I used that as my primary. Remember kids, SATA is the new standard, and Vista will access a SATA drive a lot faster than it will an IDE drive.
Installation was fairly painless, the GUI for the installer is nicer and easier to use, and asks much better questions than any other Windows installation process thats gone before.
As I said, Vista looks great, any automatic updates were quick and easy. The only real issue that I came across was my drivers. Vista seemed to load most of them on it's own, as we all expect to, but when I put in my driver disc, Vista refused to autorun. When I ran the setup.exe file myself, it still refused. Now that's the thing that Vista does; it asks you about everything. The first time that I opened just about any program, even the ones that came bundled in Vista, Windows still had to stop everything and ask me if I was sure that I wanted to run it. It did this with just about everything. You can turn it off, but the problem is that there is a dialog box that opens up about every two minutes that reminds you that you disabled the security warning. It's almost easier to ht "Continue" every time.
Despite hitting "Continue" in said box, there was no installing of any drivers. So, I'll keep you posted on weather that works out. But, I can access the interwebs, I can play music, I can run most files. So I like. I just need more RAM.
Also, there is this optional download available from Update called DreamScene. It's content that is used in conjunction with your desktop settings. Basically, this content is a video file that you can run as your desktop background. Cool, but still in Beta. So, not working for dual monitors yet. Oh well, I like the bamboo desktop anyway.
As for the title of this post, it's a pun because Country Vista Road(s) take me home. Actually, Country Vista Road is the road I take on the way home from work. And Vista is what we are talking about. Yay, some form of continuity!
Get some sleep kiddies, it's late, and you need your rest.
So late last night, about halfway through the second beer, I got Vista installed. So, twenty-four hours in, how do I feel? Good. I like it. Microsoft finally built the OS that they meant to; the OS that Apple's been selling for years.
Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not an Apple Freak, I work for a living, I can't afford that kind of money. However, the look and feel of Vista is smooth and reminds me in way of an Apple. The edges are smoother, the transitions are nicely animated. Graphically, it is a very nice looking operating system. But, I'm getting ahead of myself.
For this little experiment I was using my good machine (which doesn't technically meet the minimum system requirements). I do have an Intel Pentium D 2.8GHz CPU, however this is offset by my meager 756MB of DDR RAM. Sad, I know. When I told Brandon that I was installing Vista, but didn't think I had enough RAM, he said that it shouldn't be a problem, the minimum required is only 1GB, and by now everyone should have a gig. (This, kiddies, is exactly how to emasculate a geek) We are doing this anyway, despite my, um, shortcomings.
I didn't want to install an upgrade on top of my XP (what if it sucks?), so I unplugged my hard drive and put in a 120 GB hard drive that I got from . . . somewhere (I hope there wasn't anything on that) and I used that as my primary. Remember kids, SATA is the new standard, and Vista will access a SATA drive a lot faster than it will an IDE drive.
Installation was fairly painless, the GUI for the installer is nicer and easier to use, and asks much better questions than any other Windows installation process thats gone before.
As I said, Vista looks great, any automatic updates were quick and easy. The only real issue that I came across was my drivers. Vista seemed to load most of them on it's own, as we all expect to, but when I put in my driver disc, Vista refused to autorun. When I ran the setup.exe file myself, it still refused. Now that's the thing that Vista does; it asks you about everything. The first time that I opened just about any program, even the ones that came bundled in Vista, Windows still had to stop everything and ask me if I was sure that I wanted to run it. It did this with just about everything. You can turn it off, but the problem is that there is a dialog box that opens up about every two minutes that reminds you that you disabled the security warning. It's almost easier to ht "Continue" every time.
Despite hitting "Continue" in said box, there was no installing of any drivers. So, I'll keep you posted on weather that works out. But, I can access the interwebs, I can play music, I can run most files. So I like. I just need more RAM.
Also, there is this optional download available from Update called DreamScene. It's content that is used in conjunction with your desktop settings. Basically, this content is a video file that you can run as your desktop background. Cool, but still in Beta. So, not working for dual monitors yet. Oh well, I like the bamboo desktop anyway.
As for the title of this post, it's a pun because Country Vista Road(s) take me home. Actually, Country Vista Road is the road I take on the way home from work. And Vista is what we are talking about. Yay, some form of continuity!
Get some sleep kiddies, it's late, and you need your rest.
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