Windows 7 for use in astrophotography

[gregbradley]

After the very unpleasant experience with Vista and nothing in my astro collection of software working with it virtually (except Photoshop) I ask about Windows 7.

I recently got another laptop and it came standard with Windows 7.

I tried loading Photoshop CS2 in it and when I try to use it it comes up with an error message saying no serial number found (although you load that in right at the start of the install process).

I suspect Photoshop CS2 will not work with Windows 7 ultimate.

Any suggestions?

Is it a matter of loading it in XP mode?

Greg.

[h0ughy]

Greg i suspect that CS2 wont really work in win7 but you could try to run the program in a WinXP mode (in admin settings on the executable). i will be trialling some canon software and Pentax capture software in win 7 very soon as i have a laptop i rebuilt with win7ultimate. if it works i will be using in the observatory.

[Hagar]

Hi Greg, I am using w7 Home premium 32 bit and also w7 Ult 64 bit in the observatory and on the laptop and the only thing I can't get to work is the star rounder plugin for PShop. I am running CS3 and haven't had a problem with it to date. XP compatability mode may be required as CS2 is getting a bit old now but is still a very usable program.
Good luck.

[Doomsayer]

I'll be interested to see how this goes as well. I'm still cliniging to XP Pro for all of the miany programs I run in the observatory.

However, I'm about to set up a new graphics PC with Win7 64bit (perhaps with a dual boot with XP) to trial with CCDstack and AdobeSuite CS4. I also want to use this for a music application that requires 8GB+ ram to run properly. 4GB Ram sticks are a bit pricey still, so I'll try 4x2GB first up.

I've skipped on Vista so far.

guy

[Mighty_oz]

CS4 works ok on my 64bit win 7 so u should be good there, anyone know if win 7 suffers from the dreaded usb fault that xp does, ie continues to add usb numbers to hardware if u use a diff usb port ?

[gregbradley]

I tried running XP mode but it won't go. It needs virtual pc and that requires a chip that has virtualisation feature in it. Perhaps mine does not but it is a brand new duo core lappie Sony Vaio latest model I got in the states at Christmas.

Perhaps something needs to be turned on. If so - gee they make it hard.

Greg.

[acropolite]

I found with Vista that right clicking on the setup and selecting "Run as Administrator" would often get the app to install correctly, the same seems to apply to installation of some apps on Win7, it would be worth deinstalling (if anything installed) and try running the setup file as administrator. I remember Starry Night Pro as one of the apps I had that wouldn't install correctly unless done in that manner.

[TheDecepticon]

Hi Greg,
I think you will have to go to a different version. My CS2 will not work properly on either of my machines running Win7 Ultimate. It will let me put in my serial numbers ok and all that is fine, but keeps asking me to register, and it doesn't matter how many times I do it, it still comes back, even after all the tricks have been tried. I'm running a trial of CS3 with no problems, so I guess my pocket will get lighter shortly.

[rally]

CS2 does work on Vista for me.

[gregbradley]

Thanks for that.

I bought the Ultimate upgrade because I was assured it had XP mode so you could run your software.

I tried to run it yesterday.

It require pc virtualisation to run. I downloaded that software and it says it can't run as it needs a chip that has pc virtualisation hardware. Not sure mine does even though its the latest Sony Vaio duo core pentium.

Hmmm. Microsoft screws me again.

Greg.

[multiweb]

Is there any particular reason you used win7? I know the laptop came with it but you can get an XP OEM licence from the supplier and run all your standard stuff.

[mithrandir]

You have to configure it in the BIOS. I don't have a Sony, but if it is supported you should find it by hunting through the BIOS screens. It will be probably be called "VT"

Joint the crowd.

[hatman]

Greg,

Mate if you are having problems with Vista then it is not the program. I have Vista on three seperate machines (one a 64 bit system) and have never had any issues at all!! I run all types of astronomy and imaging programs.

The problem is not with Vista at all but with people who load a program that requires a lot of memory and system resource onto inferior pc's or laptops that simply do not have the juice to run the program. Simple.

I hear people continually blaming Vista but ignorance is the problem!

When you ask the question about the hardware that they run it on you either get no response or after pressing the subject, you find out that the laptop or pc is several generations old and simply is not powerful enough to run a quality program but they don't want to hear the simple truth.

I have run all versions of CS, Maxim and various other programs with no problem because I invested some money up front to pimp up the hardware, namely a current motherboard, bigger processor (Core Duo 2), bigger video ram (4GB) and have also upgraded to 4 GB of RAM. Oh yeah it has a pretty blue lights on it too.

A note to all whingers of Vista out there, stop whinging and spend some money on decent hardware to start with.

If you haven't got the hardware you can't run it, simple. Don't blame the program.

Windows 7 is a dumbed down version made for simpletons.

[marki]

Greg I never had any problems running any program on Vista. The only glich was drivers for my cameras being designed for 32 bit operating systems so I could not run the 64 bit version on my laptop. Now that QHY have released 64 bit drivers all my machines are running on 64 bit OS. I recently upgraded everything to Win 7 as I had a crash which destroyed my PC. Curently I am running CS4 (64 and 32bit versions) with noise ninja and carbone actions V1.6 (64 bit), star rounder (on 32 bit won't run on 64 bit CS4), Fits liberator (works on both versions) , ALP4win V2, Registar 1.0, Maxim DL ver 5, Pempro V2, CCD stack, CCD inspector V2.2.1, Starrynight pro 6, the sky V6, latest ascom platform etc. The only problem I have had with Win 7 was loading CCD inspector V1 which I thought I needed to do to load the Ver 2 upgrade I bought. The program would not load so the upgrade could be installed using the original licence key to validate it. This turned out to be false as CCDWare have provided an option to work around this. As has been stated before you need a grunty machine to run these operating systems well (dual core OK but quad core is much better as is a lot of RAM, I use 8GB of DDR3 1333). Is win 7 better then Vista? I am still undecided on that one but both are a whole lot better then XP which is dead and buried. I doubt XP could fully support modern hardware properly.

Mark

[Octane]

Windows 7 dumbed down version for simpletons? Wow, what a statement.

Windows 7 is the best thing Microsoft has ever done (apart from Office).

If you had read Greg's initial post, in full, as well as his subsequent reply, you would have noted that he is running a brand new Sony Vaio. Most all new machines are capable of running pretty much anything you throw at them, within reason.

H

[mithrandir]

The best things M$ ever did was buy Visio and SysInternals.

Win7 might be their best OS, except maybe for Server 2008.

[OzRob]

I downloaded the XP mode software last night and found something that may help you. MS has a tool to test if your computer will run the software. You can find a link to the tool on this page (http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/download.aspx). The link is in step 2.

[Marke]

No sony screwed you , even my 4yr old pc supports it and my cheap
toshiba netbook.

[TrevorW]

Hardware virtualization technology or VT is built-in natively by CPU processors. In Intel chip, the VT is called Intel VT, while AMD calls it AMD-V. The VT capability in the processor on the computer is built onto the the tiny piece of chip, and cannot be added or removed using any manual process and even if the CPU features VT, it must be enabled in BIOS.

Most newer CPU includes VT operation by default.

[mithrandir]

Most PCs/laptops are delivered with VT turned off in the BIOS. I know every one of mine came that way.

[AstroJunk]

Too right Marke, well put.

[Tandum]

Exactly what needs to be run in a virtual machine? I've been running win7 32bit on the astro PC for a year or more without issue with anything, except really old hardware and poorly written software. Exactly what is the problem, what won't go for you?

[gregbradley]

Yes I guess Sony did mess me up there. I checked on the net and the dual core Intel T4300 1.6ghz does not support virtualization. Worth checking to find that out before you buy.

I am running Windows 7 64bit ultimate. Photoshop CS2 and other Adobe software in the suite do not boot up but get an error message saying
invalid number so it seems like it did not register the serial number or something but as pointed out by an earlier poster redoing it does not help.

I tried running it in XP Mode one of the big selling points of Windows 7 but you need a chip that will do virtual machine and some don't.
Mine doesn't despite being the latest model Sony Vaio dual core Pentium. So there's a big catch there.

I tried a year or so ago to run my astro software in Vista and almost nothing worked despite all the fixes and suggestions. So my observatory computer runs XP and everything runs and installs effortlessly. Newest and latest isn't necessarily better.
Greg.

[marki]

Greg, have you tried "running the program as Administrator"? It helps to turn off the user account control as well as this is just pseudo security and can get in the way of some installations. I have Abobe Illustrator ver 9 running on mine (same OS as yours) and that predates anything with CS attached to the name (about 1998). It runs fine with the above settings.

Mark

[Tandum]

http://dispo.se/2009/06/02/adobe-creative-suite-2-and-windows-7-64bit/

This guy got it to work in win7 64bit, something to do with the install path. You may also have to run it as Administrator. Right click on the icon for PS and select run as administrator from the menu. Google is your friend.

Virualisation is for running virtual machines, you shouldn't need that. You may have trouble getting 64bit drivers for some gear, most notably meade dsi, lpi etc, but most other stuff should be covered by now.

The next windows will not have a 32bit version.

[AstroJunk]

A little bit of research suggests Adobe haven't supported CS2 for years. It doesn't even work 'fully' in xp SP3, so the fact you got it working in Vista should be thought of as bonus. The chances of it working on a 64 bit machine are ... (insert low number here) [I stand corrected Robin :)]

Upgrade my friend, nothing lasts forever - especially Adobe software!

[Tandum]

I ran into a similar problem last week installing an autocad application to run a cutting machine at a cabinet makers. 64 bit Windows installs 32bit stuff into (drive):\Program Files (x86)\ but a lot of applications are hard coded internally to look for stuff in c:\program files\ and the application doesn't need to be that old to do that. That particular autocad decendant I was dealing with is new to market in .au and costs $30K for the cut down version :rolleyes: