VISTA and a new set of problems

[Scorpius (Dave)]

I have recently bought a new laptop to replace my snail driven Toshiba 1900 and it has come with Vista Basic installed.
Apparently Registax and RTGUI is working OK on it but NexImage and DSLR focuser flatly refuses to interface with the scope/camera/Etc. The problem is the drivers.
From what I can gather Celestron will not be bringing out new drivers until July (maybe) And there no mention of DSLRF thinking about the subject yet.

Vista also flatly refuses to acknowledge the existance of the NexImage camera when plugged in the USB nor will device manager find it.

Was wondering if running a dual operating system would work? I have external Notebook HDD on USB and even thinking of running Linux on it.

Anyone else entering the new hate world of MS Vista??? and have any solutions?

Cheers.

[Ric]

Hi Dave, I have Vista on my new laptop as well.
So far I can run Meade's Envisage and Image Processing, Registax V4, MaximDL and PixInsightLE.
Also Star Atlas Pro and the ASCOM drivers all run fine and the scope and DSI II Pro run without a hitch.
The only one that got upset was IRIS.
So at the moment it hasn't annoyed me too much.

Cheers

[Scorpius (Dave)]

Hi Ric
Out of interest I just plugged in a Logitec QC Express I modified and Vista found that and downloaded drivers. Also the NexImage software can look thru the camera. I modified the webcam ages ago but have never used it. This could be a stop gap until drivers appear

TC

[33South (Chris)]

Originally Posted by Scorpius

Was wondering if running a dual operating system would work? I have external Notebook HDD on USB and even thinking of running Linux on it.

Anyone else entering the new hate world of MS Vista??? and have any solutions?
Cheers.

Solved all my problems, uninstalled Vista.

But couldnt resist the call of new technology so decided to create 2 partitions on the drive reinstalled XP and then Vista as a dual boot. Should have done that in the first place.

Might even use it one day.....

[rogerg (Roger)]

If I were buying a new laptop I think I'd have to get it with XP installed, and possibly upgrade to Vista in a year or something. I don't like the idea because it's only postponing the inevitable, but at least it'd be usable for that year.

I hope you manage to get it all running soon Dave, must be a real pain.

[Gama]

Have you tried to run the software in compatability mode ?.

[Scorpius (Dave)]

Not yet Gama .. Its not so much a software problem, but a driver issue.

Story of my life Roger !! Its a Compaq F503AU 2G/512. No bells and whistles but meets my needs (hopefully).

The problem now is that There are no drivers for the installed hardware available to run under XP, which has "officially" died. I was thinking of doing an install of XP or 2000 on a separate drive and running Virtual Network. Luckily the USB supports external drives for HDD and DVD. Looks like MS has coerced all the hardware people not to issue XP drivers for the new hardware new laptops are using... Anyway Paul my son is going to see what can be done

Talking with a sales guy and he was saying that only old stock laptops will carry XP. All new ones from 2007 will be Vista only, so its a case of lump it or leave it. Also to prevent unauthorised use of software all new equipment are now having a recovery system installed on a separate partition, altho you can make a recovery disk it will only work on the computer it came from. No more CD/DVD's and serial numbers.
Apparently the Vista DVD install packs are all identical. Its only the registration key that unlocks it to basic or premium or whatever..

Bit of a false advertising when they say, all these wonderful programs installed free. Yeh... But its all shareware with a life expectancy of 30 or 60 days. I have dumped all that rubbish and freed up 50% of the used space Dont need it anyway, cannot see myself playing "cubes" or "waterworld" And the Roxio CD software is not my first choice. .

Vista is extremely paranoid. But once you find the switches to turn off all the nag panels it becomes a reasonably tamed beast.

Not only does it ask "Do you really want to stop?", it follows it up with another panel saying "You have started an operation if you wish to continue etc..."
Got rid of that quick smart !!

Anyway have got the scope running on EQ using RTGUI and drove it around the kitchen and my modified Logitec webcam works with NexImage, but the Neximage camera is not supported...Yet.
Haven't got round to trying out the Canon EOS software yet But Registax 4 appears to like Vista as mention above.

I think I will give my mate Percy Vearance a call

The latest technology is often not the best

[bojan]

I will never understand you guys... Why go and change to something new just because it is new?
I run W'2000 on all my machines and have no intention to change unless I am forced to (by lack of applications, for example).
BTW, the company I work for (NEC Australia) always waits couple of years for OS change. Very reasonable policy, saves a lot of trouble.

[ving (David)]

what? you upgraded from '98se? '98se was tops!

[rmcpb (Rob)]

98se was great Dave, if you did not want to be able to shut down

I agree with the lag in upgrading a system, wait till the bugs are removed by some other poor sucker.

[DobDobDob (Ron)]

Like I have said on numerous other threads, wait until the 2nd Service Pack, it's the golden rule

[bojan]

Originally Posted by ving

what? you upgraded from '98se? '98se was tops!

Yes, I did and it was because of applications I wanted to run did not work on '98SE
BTW, even US government decided to stay away from Vista, at least for a while.. (until Bil pulls some new trick and force them to use it).

[davidpretorius]

vista = new set of problems

[bird (Anthony Wesley)]

vista = install linux

[Scorpius (Dave)]

Originally Posted by bojan

I will never understand you guys... Why go and change to something new just because it is new?

Its not a case of "updating because its new" If I took that attitude I would still be using my TRS80, when I used to write programs in edit assembly back in the 80's Its a case of buying equipment that meets today's standards of efficiency and speed.
If you are not into Astro Photography then your old NEC 286 is still good (for some things). I still run a Commodore 64 for ham radio programs. Because they run better than PC offerings.

A lot of today's software is CPU and Ram intensive hence the need for faster equipment. ...But.... The Vista OS is the main issue here. Trying running Registax 4 on a 486 with windows 3.1 ....

Vista has been out some time now and a lot of software manufacturers just have not got round to writing up drivers to make their programs compatible. Celestron will have nothing available until at least July this year.

I dont like Vista because it is too paranoid, buggy and graphic intensive. On my main computer I will be running XP for a long time yet. Once MS have got their act together with Vista in about 2 years time, then might be the time to change.

But as pointed out above New laptops now come only with Vista OS. (Except old stock) Its not a case of removing Vista and replacing it with XP or what have you, because a many of the Audio/Video/Etc drivers available for XP are not compatible with the new hardware. Its like trying to fit an Austin 7 engine to run a Holden HSV.

Computers are breaking new ground every day, with dual core CPUs and new technology architecture. Eventually plug in modules will be a thing of the past with everything on one board. Maybe one day we may even see that 256K memory base that Bill Gates claimed would never be exceeded go!

OK Dave off your soapbox....

[DobDobDob (Ron)]

Originally Posted by Scorpius

TRS8

Commodore 64

Hmmmmmnnnn showing your age a tad there mate I had the Commodore Vic 20, so I guess I predate you by a whisker

[AstroJunk (Jonathan)]

Originally Posted by Scorpius

But as pointed out above New laptops now come only with Vista OS. (Except old stock) Its not a case of removing Vista and replacing it with XP or what have you, because a many of the Audio/Video/Etc drivers available for XP are not compatible with the new hardware.

Acer/dell etc will happilly sell you an XP machine.

And yeah, it's microsofts fault that those companies didn't bother to write drivers for Vista - I mean, it was a TOTAL suprise that it was coming out wasn't it!!!!!

[snowyskiesau]

Originally Posted by tailwag

Hmmmmmnnnn showing your age a tad there mate I had the Commodore Vic 20, so I guess I predate you by a whisker

The first model TRS-80 came out before the Vic 20, by a couple of years.
Ah the good old days - well old days anyway.

[Scorpius (Dave)]

Originally Posted by snowyskiesau

The first model TRS-80 came out before the Vic 20, by a couple of years.
Ah the good old days - well old days anyway.

I reckon they were good days, but thats a different thread as is the old TRS80, which you are right about it came B4 the Commodores. For what it is worth (very little) prior to the TRS80 I played around with an old WANG mainframe office computer with 10 inch floppy disks No HDD
My very first "PC" was the bottom of the heap Olivetti 8080 with a 50M hdd Wow .....

BTW. I checked the HDD in the Compaq and note that its a Serial AT drive (SATA) worth noting when buying additional or alternative drives.
my external USB caddy and drive is IDE version.

[DobDobDob (Ron)]

Then I stand corrected with my chronology, all I can remember is pushing a forward or backward button of a tape cassette device to find where the file I had just written was stored