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Windows XP? ME2? 7? What's your flavor?

In case you wonder about the affection for XP:

Last Friday we had the traffic computer fail--hard drive. Shop able to save data and re-install on new hard drive--but using Windows 7.

Now much gnashing of teeth and wailing as Windows 7 will not play nice with the network, will not recognize printers, etc. etc.

IT guy looking for an Al Qaeda cell on the west coast to visit Redmond.
 
TomT said:
In case you wonder about the affection for XP:

Last Friday we had the traffic computer fail--hard drive. Shop able to save data and re-install on new hard drive--but using Windows 7.

Now much gnashing of teeth and wailing as Windows 7 will not play nice with the network, will not recognize printers, etc. etc.

IT guy looking for an Al Qaeda cell on the west coast to visit Redmond.
Click to expand...

IT guy should have used one of many FREE disk imaging problems to have a spare hard drive on the shelf. Or at least have a disk image that could be quickly restored to a hard drive which could be bought at the local office supply store.

And IT guy should also be looking for a new job.
 
I can't complain because he's asked me to buy either a portable drive or server-type computer for multiple backups. Too many projects, not enough money.

Actually, he's got most everything back working, except for networking. Windows 7 does not like to let you do things easily. (The Windows 7 machine can talk to the network, but other machines are locked out from this machine).
 
Clonezilla is your friend. It's free, creates a bootable CD, and lets you create drive images on external or network drives quickly and painlessly.

http://clonezilla.org/

Windows 7 has known printer driver issues - particularly with HP printers. HP hasn't exactly been in a hurry to solve the problem for older printers. Gee, it's almost like they want you to replace that old LaserJet 4000 that's been cranking out paper for a decade.

Another option for at-risk computers is virtualization. Microsoft's Virtual PC, and XP mode for Windows 7 may give you an option for keeping older software alive:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/

I've even been able to keep some old DOS apps alive with DOSBox:

http://www.dosbox.com/
 
SirRoxalot said:
...creates a bootable CD...
Click to expand...

Roxy, you are my hero. I've been looking for that. Instant DIY restore discs. w00t!

SirRoxalot said:
Another option for at-risk computers is virtualization. Microsoft's Virtual PC...may give you an option...
Click to expand...

There is also Sun Microsystems VirtualBox. It's free, open source, runs 100 flavors of guest-systems on 100 flavors of host-systems. Those of you not familiar with Virualzation, it creates a "virtual disk file" on your hard disk. When you boot it, a window pops up that's basically the BIOS boot screen of a virtual motherboard. In that you can install any x86 compatible operating system that you want. It looks a bit like an RDP screen, with a "pinned" toolbar and so forth.

It's Fan-*******-tastic for testing operating system setups, networking setups, and all kinds of stuff.

http://www.virtualpc.org
 
I've used Ghost, and it works well, but the problem is that you need to keep upgrading it as operating systems change. That means you have to fork over more dollars to Symantec every couple of years. Clonezilla is linux based, stable, and simple. Upgrades are free, and you can create scripts to automate the process. There's plenty of support on the site.
 
In the last week or so I've setup 3 Windows 7 Pro machines on a domain. They've been more than happy to interact with the network. We DON'T do any folder /file sharing on workstations.

It is perfectly OK to load XP-Pro on a Windows 7 Pro licensed machine. "Pro" is probably the minimum you should be using in a business application.

Did the I.T. person select "Public" networking on install?
 
Thanks for the Clonezilla link. I've been looking for something better than Ghost. Ghost takes up a huge amount of processor time when it first starts creating an image, which is not great if you are backing up mission critical machines.

For anyone running Mediatouch 2.X, it runs fine under Wine with Ubuntu 10.10... believe it or not!
 
Not to hijack this thread, but you're actually running iMT under WINE! :eek: I didn't realize that WINE was that capable, although I know little about Linux.
 
WINE? Is there a VODKA?

You know how Windows Vista was born, right? You can tell from it's secret code name, which was derived from its three ancestors: Windows CE, Windows ME, and Windows NT... =-)
 
WINE - "WINE is not an emulator"

It runs windows applications natively under Linux flavors using code translation. It's not perfect. If the windows program author didn't follow protocol and accesses hardware directly the windows app will not work or will half-work -- almost like trying to install a lot of XP software under Vista.
 
Laptop is finally showing hardware alzheimer's, never know how long it's going to sleep, or how long it's going to take to wake up,
sometimes I'm sure it's dead, but here it is again today. Sometimes it sees no RAM, sometimes the screen res is way off, and I only see brief flashes of " Insert Smart Card Reader " in a crude DOSboot font.
Sometimes needs removal of battery. Always sees cd drive button and responds, but otherwise dark and in a coma.
Re-seating the RAM, re-seating hard drive....etc. Its day is on the horizon.
I'll open it up after I get the new one, and if I find some other internal issue like a mylar flat ribbon needing reseating, I'll
donate this computer to a friend who could really use it.

Just ordered a lightly-used HP 8430/ XP Pro to replace this-here HEAVILY used HP 8230 / XP Pro.
I like the design so much, I'll have another go-around with prices so good.

An HP 8430 runs the Part 15 AM Zara / Breakaway, which I set up to be on network but "off-internet" etc.

Will Clonezilla permit my migrating all my existing data, purchased applications, libraries, etc, registries from this machine to a new
one that is starting blank? Hard drives are considerably larger on the new one. What about XP service packs, etc?
I use this one with admin priv set up to run remote desktop on the part 15 AM which is 35 feet from where I am now.

I think it's a good idea to have them match, as there's an aspect ratio mismatch where no existing choices of
screen X x Y matches both so the remote desktop is always partial unless sized down on the remote view slightly...

Sounds like this is what I need. Will it keep purchased items of MS apps too? I doubt the new machine has Office, and I
kinda think that as I'm officially decomissioning this machine, I ought to be entitled to migrate all purchased data/apps.
If I donate this laptop, can I keep MS Word, and scrub the copy off here, if the new owner would rather have the space than Word?
 
FWIW, I've been installing Win7 on some old XP boxes and it's like someone dipped them in the fountain of youth. It's especially noticeable when I wipe out a Vista box and rework it with 7. It may not be perfect, but it's pretty damn good.

-- Doc
 
Jasonce66 said:
I use a PC I built from a FoxConn barebones Atom 1.66Ghz dual core I got at Newegg... spent less than $220 for the whole thing and Ubuntu is very zippy on it. With Hyperthreading, shows up as a quad core CPU. Amazing technology is easier to buy than ever... I can buy 4 of these for every Dell they buy me at work, and I'd put this Atom based CPU with Ubuntu up against a clunky Optiplex 745 with bloated Windows any day.
Click to expand...

I've built several systems on this mobo, two of which are running Station Playlist Creator and Studio Pro. It runs amazingly well on these Atom systems...no heat...very little noise...rock solid (with one exception, below.)

SP is sort of a super advanced hobby type automation (although it compares VERY nicely to the big guys.) It's also one of the only currently available automation systems I'm aware of which is specified to run well in Windows 7, and that's my experience. The exception: Windows 7's sort of locked down, default sound settings occasionally return unexpectedly.
 
FWIW,

Windows 7 installed well will accelerate many a PC, especially Vista boxes but some XP machines excel running it as well. I am a little leery about installing it on automation and live assist PC hardware yet, but Windows 7 is an improvement over Vista in speed and stability under fire providing the hardware is good.
 
Wise to be leery. Sound card drivers may not be available under Windows 7; some automation software may not work right on anything newer than XP.
 
To get rid of most windows sounds just delete (or move it somewhere else) everything in the "C:\Windows|Media\" folder. Works untill something installs its own sounds there.
 
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