Perfect Laptop Layout

picklesrules (Nicholas) · #1 14-11-2009, 10:37 PM

Hey Guys
Just Want your input im about to rebuild my laptop
can you guys tell me what operatign systems you use
along with software for AP,Mount,Guiding etc.

Thanks Guys
Nick

marki · #2 15-11-2009, 01:01 AM

Nicholas you will be best using a 32bit OS no matter which flavour. I say this because many drivers for astro hardware do not get on well with 64bit programs (software developers need to move more quickly on this). I use Vista 32 on my laptop as that is what it came with and it gets on with all the stuff I use. Guiding, capture and grunt work is done in MaximDL. I use starrynight pro 6 for planetarium duties and about half a dozen other programs including CCDStack, CCD inspector, Pempro, Maxpoint, CS4, AIP4win and the list goes on. Your laptop does not need to be a hotrod, just capable of handling the capture and guide duties. Helps if it is easy on the batteries as well unless you have access to mains power or other sources. Best to do processing on a PC as they are far better at this then laptops so if you are going to hot anything up make it your PC. If you go with the synta EQ mounts you may want to look into EQMOD (http://eq-mod.sourceforge.net/imgindex.html). I have not used it myself but folks around here swear by it. Oh you will also need to download and install the latest ASCOM platform (5.5 I believe).

Mark

Ian Robinson · #3 15-11-2009, 10:49 AM

With Harvey Norman claiming that they having one of their "Never ever again , not to be missed sales" with (up to) 50% discount on Vista notebooks, it might be cheaper to buy a whole new machine than do a rebuild / upgrade of an existing notebook .

Jen · #4 17-11-2009, 07:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ian Robinson

With Harvey Norman claiming that they having one of their "Never ever again , not to be missed sales" with (up to) 50% discount on Vista notebooks, it might be cheaper to buy a whole new machine than do a rebuild / upgrade of an existing notebook .

I dont wanna hear that i bought my lappy with Vista just over a month ago LOL
And so far im not liking the Vista, the programs i mostly use wont work grrrrrr
dam it i always miss out on the bargins

White Rabbit · #5 18-11-2009, 09:24 AM

Be very carful with the vista notebooks as I've heard some of them are not able to take XP if you want roll back and up grade

supernova1965 (Warren) · #6 18-11-2009, 09:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jen

I dont wanna hear that i bought my lappy with Vista just over a month ago LOL
And so far im not liking the Vista, the programs i mostly use wont work grrrrrr
dam it i always miss out on the bargins

If you just bought your Lappy a month ago you should have a free upgrade to Win7 it should have been in the paperwork somewhere and I have found that Win7 will run software that Vista won't run

supernova1965 (Warren) · #7 18-11-2009, 10:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by White Rabbit

Be very carful with the vista notebooks as I've heard some of them are not able to take XP if you want roll back and up grade

I know that Dell did a deal with Microsoft and added something to the BIOS that stopped going to XP from Vista I had it happen to me when I tried to upgrade from Vista to XP

bobson (Bob) · #8 18-11-2009, 01:47 PM

Quote:

I know that Dell did a deal with Microsoft and added something to the BIOS that stopped going to XP from Vista I had it happen to me when I tried to upgrade from Vista to XP

No mate, it's simply that XP does not support SATA Hard Drives without driver. In other words, XP doesnt see/recognise your SATA hard drive, so you can not start installation if there is no hard drive

You have couple of options to go around the problem, all of them covered extensively on the net.

My laptop came with Vista, I installed XP as well so I can choose which one to run. I slipstreamed the SATA driver into installation XP CD. Or you can buy external floppy drive just for that, or cheat in BIOS if possible and so on. There is a solution for everything

But first thing first, get all drivers for your laptop before you start doing it. (Like video card, network card, chipset sound card and so on) MOst of the times you can download all of them from laptop manufacturer for your particular laptop model.

cheers

tlgerdes (Trevor) · #9 18-11-2009, 02:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by picklesrules

Hey Guys
Just Want your input im about to rebuild my laptop

My standard build.

WinXP 32
C: partition 15-20Gig
D: partition - almost whatever is left
E: 4Gig for swap file

You may want to swap D: and E: in order

Put all your apps source files and data on the D partition, that way you can blow away your C partition and re-install Windows without losing all the valuable stuff.

Jen · #10 18-11-2009, 03:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by supernova1965

If you just bought your Lappy a month ago you should have a free upgrade to Win7 it should have been in the paperwork somewhere and I have found that Win7 will run software that Vista won't run

hey Warren i love your Edit reason

mithrandir (Andrew) · #11 18-11-2009, 06:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tlgerdes

My standard build.

WinXP 32
C: partition 15-20Gig
D: partition - almost whatever is left
E: 4Gig for swap file

You may want to swap D: and E: in order

Put all your apps source files and data on the D partition, that way you can blow away your C partition and re-install Windows without losing all the valuable stuff.

The normal rule for locating a swap file is to put it in the busiest partition on your least used drive.

I would put it on C: with the size fixed at 4GB (or 8GB if you have 64 bit Windows), and install SysInternals' pagedfrg.exe running at every boot to tidy up all the files that can't be defraged with Windows running.

Installing apps on D: won't save you much when it comes to doing the regular 6 monthly Windows rebuild. They all install bits and pieces in %SystemRoot% or %windir% or %SystemDrive% and in your layout that's C:

supernova1965 (Warren) · #12 18-11-2009, 06:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jen

hey Warren i love your Edit reason

We aim to please

supernova1965 (Warren) · #13 18-11-2009, 06:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bobson

No mate, it's simply that XP does not support SATA Hard Drives without driver. In other words, XP doesnt see/recognise your SATA hard drive, so you can not start installation if there is no hard drive

You have couple of options to go around the problem, all of them covered extensively on the net.

My laptop came with Vista, I installed XP as well so I can choose which one to run. I slipstreamed the SATA driver into installation XP CD. Or you can buy external floppy drive just for that, or cheat in BIOS if possible and so on. There is a solution for everything

But first thing first, get all drivers for your laptop before you start doing it. (Like video card, network card, chipset sound card and so on) MOst of the times you can download all of them from laptop manufacturer for your particular laptop model.

cheers

I am running XP on My wife's computer and didn't have any trouble with sata drives it just worked with out special drivers or anything just worked and my laptop came with Vista and it has a Sata drive and didn't need to have drivers to install XP on it. Its only on the older mainboards where this may be a problem and I looked up about XP support for SATA drives and its only for some drives that don't have support. It was actually a DEll technician that told me about the BIOS Deal with Microsoft after I was trying to trouble shoot why I couldn't install XP on the Laptop and I could see his SATA HDD no problem.

supernova1965 (Warren) · #14 19-11-2009, 07:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mithrandir

The normal rule for locating a swap file is to put it in the busiest partition on your least used drive.

I would put it on C: with the size fixed at 4GB (or 8GB if you have 64 bit Windows), and install SysInternals' pagedfrg.exe running at every boot to tidy up all the files that can't be defraged with Windows running.

Installing apps on D: won't save you much when it comes to doing the regular 6 monthly Windows rebuild. They all install bits and pieces in %SystemRoot% or %windir% or %SystemDrive% and in your layout that's C:

I personally can't wait untill windows start using the ROOT partition and HOME partition and SWAP partition like LINUX do.

mithrandir (Andrew) · #15 19-11-2009, 08:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by supernova1965

I personally can't wait untill windows start using the ROOT partition and HOME partition and SWAP partition like LINUX do.

With M$'s inability to do anything not first approved by marketing and the bean counters, hell will freeze over first.