SplaTT's Blog

Vista Rocks :)

So it took a while to get Vista installed...but now that i have it up and running and have been using for about a day...man...it pretty cool...

Just in case you purchase a new ASUS laptop like my AJ8c here are some points about my install:

• Needed to update bios for the install to work...this was after 5 screwed up install attempts...grrr
• The clean install picked up the NVIDIA GeForce Go 7300 card straight away with its "built-in" drivers...the beta driver from the NVIDIA site won't load for some reason...but i have full aero and glass UI working (nice) and the second monitor fired up instantly
• 10/100/1000 LAN card just worked...:)
• Had to disable the HD audio driver and install the drivers from the ASUS support site for my laptop model under compatability mode...worked fine after that
• My Microsoft Wireless Desktop and mouse worked straight away
• Vista detected the HP Officejet printer and installed the driver itself...works fine
• DVD / CDROM works like a dream
• My new Microsoft Lifecam VX-6000 needed its driver (v1.0) loaded from the packaged CDROM after it was auto-detected by Vista. Trying to install it by running the application of the CDROM or by using the v1.2 software downloaded from the MS Hardware site was a no go...it just didn't want to work. Either way all i have is the driver and not the software package that allows you to kick the camera into doing video at HD (1.3MP) or photos at 5MP...bugger. Note to Microsoft: c'mon guys...brand new "VISTA READY" hardware and the latest driver and software package don't work properly...not a good look
• The Office 2007 beta 2 tech refresh installed like a dream
• Windows Live Messenger 8.1 (new beta program with some great additions to it) that i was running on my TabletPC just fine kept crashing when i installed it on VISTA..back to Messenger 8.0 :(
• Windows Live Mail beta worked fine but is now crashing...i'm sure i saw that a new update was available today so i need to try that one and see if it fixes the problem...not that urgent as i'm really testing this for an upcoming side project
• Adobe Photoshop and the Vista Acrobat beta work fine
• Quicktime 7 Pro...works fine
• Microsoft Expression Web Designer works ok...though i am still getting used to it
• CuteFTP v8 (new release today) works but has crashed a few times...I've been using this as my FTP program of choice for about 5 years now and have always been happy enough with it to pay for an upgrade whenever one is released
• SUPER (Simplified Universal Player Encoder & Renderer) which is one of my current video tools seems to work ok though have not tested it much yet
• AVG anti-virus software installed smoothly, integrated with Outlook 2007 straight away and is working like a dream...its been the easiest and most trouble free install of 3rd party software ont Vista so far..two thumbs up to the AVG team at Grisoft)
• Microsoft MAX doesn't work at all on VISTA...hmmm

It hasn't been too bad an experience so i'm pretty happy...i'm even happier now that i have played with Vista for a day...

The UI is very prrrty...and functional of course (just takes a bit of getting used to) :)

The new Media Center is just brilliant...so much so that i'm going to install a copy onto my "real" Media Center box at home:)

Most of the apps that i have played with are pretty cool...including the new solitaire ;)

Well done to the Vista team and the other teams that have been invovled in this build and the whole Vista process...I can't wait to load up the real thing with all of the real drivers in a few months.

Posted by Mick (SplaTT) Stanic at September 20, 2006 11:24 PM | TrackBack