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SilentUnicorn

SilentUnicorn

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I was bored so i thought i would give it a try- so far i am kinda impressed. It is snappy, and seems to be rather stable. If i can't crash it, then most likely most wont. I tend to play around with stuff i shouldn't. So far i have loaded my most common apps, mail, browser, and some system tools. It is still most definitely Vista with some more eye candy. I notice it doesn't start half as many services in the background, in fact i have looked but have not needed to shutdown anything, like i normally would.

Installation went pretty smoothly, i did have a moment or two looking for a vid driver, but other than that it gave me a clean tree at install.

Memory usage is down some from my vista install.

The only other hitch was that 7 didnt see my vista drive but that was easily remedied. I needed to assign a drive letter, took 15 seconds.

for the record i am dual booting an HP9000 series laptop.


anyone else loaded up this os?



mark
 
I've got it, just haven't had time to play yet - your post makes it sound promising though. See if you can't get Doc to try it :wink:
 
Though I've had Windows since 3.0 and NT since 3.5, I'm not first in line to buy Microsoft. I still have a copy of Vista I haven't installed.
 
Even tho' Win7 beta is free, I'm afraid to get into it. Don't want to overlay my operating XP system, find there's a problem, then be stuck.

Is there a way to "return to square one"? Totally remove Win7 once it's installed?

Those of you who have tried Win7 - other than the "eye candy" and possible resource efficiency, is there any real reason to move to it?

Thanks.
Tom
 
Tom,

A dual boot will take care of that. You can install of the programs on a separate partition and then when it's stable and the way that you want it to be, you can switch over to the new one.

Mark, do you have a link for the Beta download?
 
Thanks Paul. Forgot about dual boot option.

Here's a download link:

https://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/beta-download.aspx

I don't have a DVD burner, so doubt I can do it; you need to "save" the huge installer file on the DVD.

Tom
Edit: come to think of it ... I wonder if I could save it to a 2G USB stick, and install from there. Won't work if I need to boot from it (USB doesn't boot if I recall), but if you just *run* the installer from the source and don't have to boot from it ... hmmmm ....
 
the d/l link

https://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/beta-download.aspx

you will need to sign in to access the d/l. I managed to get it last Saturday morning, early, then got a key a bit later. It appears to me that they may still be having minor problems with the server. Even if you don't get a key it is still good for 30 days. And according to what i have read it will terminate itself on 1 Aug 09.

I have been using vista, and 7 side by side for a couple of days now, and i have to say 7 is quite a bit quicker. That right there is reason to use it in my book. Some of the eye candy is turning out to be nicely productive. I cant say i care for the task bar just yet... it may take a little getting used to. The icons are a little bit too large, i tend to run a fair amount of open windows and any given time, there may be a way to shrink them some. I will have to check that out. The window dragging to max and minimize is real nice as well as the ability to split screen two windows just by dragging to sides of the screen. And then ther is the Aero shake, grab the window you would like to work with and give it a left to right shake and all others minimize, pretty cool!

Overall i would have to give it a good score, so far...



mark
 
Mark - can I save the installer to a USB stick instead of DVD? can I *run* the full installation from the stick?

(wondered if you need to boot from the source during installation ... far as I remember USB won't serve as a boot device)

Thanks.
Tom
 
Tom i did try to boot to a usb drive but it said "unsupported". The installer file is around 2.5 gb. take the d/l and burn an iso image(bootable). I have read the some have installed the os from the desktop by mounting the image using drive software.

Installing from a stick? i dont know, but if you try i would like to know if it works.

this article say it can be done!

https://www.pcpro.co.uk/blogs/2009/01/12/installing-the-windows-7-beta-on-a-netbook/
 
Thanks Mark. I may put this project on hold ...

Went to that pcpro.co.uk link and it sounded good. Said I'd need an "optical device" emulator to replace the DVD with a USB. Suggested using "Daemon Tools" and gave a link.

I clicked the link and it was a minimal website with some dubious looking text description of the utility. I noticed the internet domain was ".cc". Cocos (Keeling) Islands, which are a few specks of land between Indonesia and Australia.

Not sure I feel comfortable using that software, and that makes me less than positive about using the pcpro suggestion.

Onward through the fog!
Tom
 
SilentUnicorn said:
the d/l link

https://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/beta-download.aspx

you will need to sign in to access the d/l. I managed to get it last Saturday morning, early, then got a key a bit later. It appears to me that they may still be having minor problems with the server. Even if you don't get a key it is still good for 30 days. And according to what i have read it will terminate itself on 1 Aug 09.
Click to expand...

I have it in my lap top and it's ok. I wouldn't buy it. Not that much different than Vista. A little quicker, I agree with that. The task bar, I don't care for it, but, to each his or her own. I think their talking about an upgrade before Aug. 1st, if you want to keep it. Probably cost something. They took Windows Mail out of it and you need to install your own mail program. That's ok with me as I don't use it anyway. I really have to play with it some more to judge.
confused0009.gif
 
Paul - congrats on taking the leap.

Just out of curiosity, what will you do when it stops working in August? One of the reasons I'm not yet going for it.

Thanks.
Tom
 
I have no plans to purchase it . When it stops working i will wipe the drive and reclaim the space.


mark
 
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:]When it stops working i will wipe the drive and reclaim the space.[/QUOTE]

As I have done with about 20 different Linux installations over the years.
 
meh... I've not sucked it outta th' ether yet. I do intend to, and it seems the keys are getting sucked up fast now so mebbe t'morrow. Their servers are being HAMMERED. I forget my KB ID and p'word, but that's no biggie.

I expect it to be a BIG improvement over Vista. Some of my hacker pals have stuffed it onto stand-alone boxes (32 and 64 bit versions) and so far they're impressed. I take their word for it. Best part to my mind is: this is still the beta release but the buzz is really positive so far.

...and has anyone noticed how M$ has lefthandedly (and likely grudgingly) accepted some slightly "open source" distribution methodology? hmmm? :smirk:
 
NutmegCT said:
Paul - congrats on taking the leap.

Just out of curiosity, what will you do when it stops working in August? One of the reasons I'm not yet going for it.

Thanks.
Tom
Click to expand...

I'll throw in my restore disks and start over. Actually I have Nortons in the machine with full back up disks, plus two Windows Vista disks.
So far, I don't like the task bar, to fat and the icons are almost as large as the ones on the desk top. I can't shrink them. For a desk top with a large screen that's ok, but for a lap top it eats up more of your screen. Most important,It won't let my wireless stay on! I have to hold the button down continuesly to keep my wireless connection. As soon as I release the button, it shuts off my Internet connection. No fault of my computer, it's a bug in the program.
I don't think it's going to be with me very long. I will write M-Soft and let them know about these two issues and see if there's a cure. I know it's a beta program and that's what it's all about, curing the bugs.
 
OK, I just worked out the wireless problem and it's staying connected, but, my computer has a wireless button that turns blue when it's connected. The button still indicates that the wireless is off. Also, I have to manually connect between programs. Works perfect with Vista!
Personally, for what it's worth, I would not pay for this program, even if all the issues are fixed. I don't like the start menu as they've taken some things out. The control panel looks like something out of windows 95. Some of the graphics are nice, especially the win logo on the start up screen, it runs a tiny bit faster than Vista, but that's as far as I will go. Before the day is out, it'll probably be gone.
fighting0019.gif


I'm certainly not against change or testing new waters. I have Linux in my other lap top and like it. It's a challenge learning their format.

Well, another issue just poped up. I use Trend Micro internet security. It just informed me that it's not compatible with windows 7.
remoteImage.gif
 
OK, back again! Task bar issue resolved by choosing small icons.
 
Paul - thanks for the updates. I was going to suggest you just change screen resolution if the icons were too large. Always works for me, but if you can now choose "small" icons, I guess that works too.

I'm so used to my Mac OSX gui I bought ($9.95) a WindowBlinds app which gives my WinXP Dell an OSX appearance and gui. Really like it.

Good luck on the Trend Micro compatibility problem. But that's what MS wants to hear about. If you get a chance, let us know other compatibility issues you run in to.

Thanks.
Tom
 
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