Any have any thoughts on it?
I just installed it and have playing around with it for like 10 min. So far the only bad thing is my computer's integrated graphics card is too old to find drivers for.
Has anyone else downloaded it and installed it yet?
ID:181948
 May 13 2009, 6:53 am
|
|
|
May 14 2009, 7:40 pm
|
|
8BitGeek
 |
Nothing at all? Wow, maybe an admin should just delete this topic to save room...
|
My friend downloaded it and immediately had to spend about nine hours installing drivers, [messing with stuff], reading on Google, etc just to get his basic programs working, then did more work to get some video games to run.
That's great, I love hacking on stupid software too -- but if you're going to spend that kinda time, why not do it with a GNU/Linux operating system that makes those kinds of hack jobs easier? Clearly Windows 7 is designed to work with machines that will come with it pre-installed with all the correct drivers, settings, etc. Basically, if you're into cutting edge software, use GNU/Linux; if you want something guaranteed by the manufacturer to work with your hardware, buy a Windows or Apple machine. (Or check out ZaReason, System 76, Dell, etc -- those folks offer Ubuntu pre-installed with all the right drivers and so no as well. Best of both worlds much?) | |
Not sure what kind of weird hardware your friend was running.
When I installed 7, it autodetected everything, installed the NVIDIA driver, everything worked great OOTB. By the way, I love Linux as more as the next guy, but that was a little... over-the-top advertising? (You still have't AIM'd me PirateHead.) | |
I've been running it for a while now and haven't had trouble with drivers for my desktop or laptop. However, I did need to get drivers for my desktops video card (as you should expect) and my laptops trackpad (so I could turn off the annoying tap to click feature).
I can't think of any issues so far. The taskbar is nice and will be a lot better once programs start using it properly. I see lots of people talking about how much faster it is than XP and Vista but I haven't felt any speed increase so it can't really be that significant. | |
PirateHead wrote:
That's great, I love hacking on stupid software too -- but if you're going to spend that kinda time, why not do it with a GNU/Linux operating system that makes those kinds of hack jobs easier? Clearly Windows 7 is designed to work with machines that will come with it pre-installed with all the correct drivers, settings, etc. Where do you get off spewing this sort of dribble? This entire paragraph is one giant lie; and I say that as an avid Linux user. Every single sentence in this paragraph of yours is wrong. | |
PirateHead wrote:
My friend downloaded it and immediately had to spend about nine hours installing drivers, [messing with stuff], reading on Google, etc just to get his basic programs working, then did more work to get some video games to run. Let's not have a double standard here, Linux is prone to that as well, but generally, like with Linux, it mostly works out of the box. I run Linux full time at home(still dual boot for games from time to time), and I love it, but I'm not going to go around bashing Windows the same way the Windows lovers bash Linux. Fair, perhaps, but not a good way to represent Linux. I've downloaded my copy of Windows 7, but have not yet installed it. My partition table is a little too fragmented, and for some reason GParted refuses to read it, so I need to repartition from scratch, which means backing up everything, and I just haven't bothered(I will finally be able to install 9.04 32bit). | |
Calm down PirateHead... I'm just playing around with it. One of my friends swears by linux and he suggested I check out Windows 7, so I figured why not?
ugh....I miss Linux...some day when I can finally buy my computer it will be reinstalled! | |
My boss and one of my coworkers have been using Windows 7 since beta came out, and they are quite pleased with it and haven't had any problems as far as I know.
I can't speak from personal experience though, as I was using nothing but XP (as far as Windows goes anyway) until last month when I got a computer with Vista. | |
Coming from what exactly?
Put the wrong drivers on a windows computer and it will suck, I ran nix from a flash drive once or twice, and the one time my fan ran quieter. Computers are like cars, Put the wrong stuff in them and they will break regardless of what you use, and in that same respect, they also can be designed for different purposes, Windows is not the do all system, Web servers generally use nix because 1. no server license required and 2. LAMP | |
download the zip of the xp(or whatever) version of the driver and extract it. go into the device manager, and update the integrated finding files in the folder you extracted the files to (worked for me on Vista :D)
| |
Odd. I've installed Windows 7 on a variety of machines ranging from netbooks to older desktops to brand-name laptops. I would say about 9 out of 10 worked "out-of-the-box" and required no additional driver software of configuration to work. If they did require additional drivers, it was usually for something off-beat like Synaptic touchpad drivers or proprietary integrated webcams. Also, I have yet to encounter any problems installed games or applications.
~Kujila | |
I don't like it because it doesn't support drivers for anything. I installed it on one of my computers and I avoid that computer now. I can't even install my printer.
| |
It doesn't support old drivers, that is. Any drivers that work with Vista should work with Windows 7. Driver support was the biggest problem with Vista, and Windows 7 isn't any better, just 3 years removed from it. Any new hardware will support it, but if you have a 10 year old printer you will certainly have issues.
| |
I appreciate that you said this Alathon, because I agree completely and would have had to write the exact same reply had you not beat me to it.
| |
Way to pile on there.
I'll admit that I may be entirely wrong about Windows 7. However, my experience is based on both a decade of experience with previous versions of Windows which were designed to be bundled with computers and pre-configured with the right settings and drivers, and an afternoon spent trying to get Windows 7 working on various laptops and desktop machines we have sitting around, none of which worked particularly great. I bet that now, with GNU/Linux and even the Hackintosh folks doing such a good job covering most hardware by default, Microsoft's history of poor device compatibility has become embarrassing enough that they're working to fix it. It may be that that work hasn't yet touched the machines I've tried it on, and thus my experience with Windows 7 so far isn't consistent with what most folks are seeing. But I doubt it. Microsoft knows that the vast majority of computer users are introduced to their new operating systems when they or their workplace upgrades to new machines which are certified and pre-installed with the latest Windows. That is the market they're serving, so I don't see how you can blithely say that my experience with Windows installation up is "wrong". | |
Windows 7 is designed to function on newer hardware, it's just the way it is. If you are installing it on a laptop from 2005, you are very likely to have issues. It does, however, work just fine on my modern self-built PC. And it requires less time for driver setup than XP.
As for a side-by-side with Ubuntu, I'd say they both do an equally good job of detecting my basic hardware. Neither comes with native support for my mouse and keyboard's special features(which includes about a million buttons, an LCD screen, and a mouse wheel with some crazy mechanics in it). Windows 7 needs me to go out and get my driver from NVidia for full support of graphics features, while Ubuntu walks me through installing the driver automatically. The package manager speeds up the installation of my old standards like Firefox, OpenOffice, the G15 keyboard software(but customization is limited on the G15), and Miro. I have to go to the website, download the executable, and run through the install wizard for each one on Win7, which is quite a pain. But for the special features of my hardware, can't beat the manufacturer's drivers, most of the specially features with Ubuntu have to be controlled by CLI, so Win7 really wins there, even if it's not Microsoft's fault. All together, the setup and installation isn't bad for either. Ubuntu is undoubtedly easier, quicker, and friendlier, but Windows 7 is way better than XP, so I'll give them some credit there. If someone came to me and said "I need to install an OS on my computer, but I know nothing about computers" I would hand them an Ubuntu disc, because it is by a large margin easier. | |