After a week without internets this is my first post.
I installed Vista ultimate last night. I have an Averatec laptop with a 1.8 Turion which is a 64 cpu. My brother sent me 2 install discs, a 32 and a 64 bit. My plan was to put 64 bit on the laptop and 32 bit on the desktop when it arrives.
The 64 bit didn't install correctly. It crashed twice during the install and upon examination of the disc I saw several scuffs and a dime sized section that is severely scratched. I switched to the 32 bit disc and was on my way.
And by on my way I mean it didn't have device drivers for my wifi card, video card and another "PCI Simple Communications Controller." I don't know what that is and neither does windows update. The Averatec website says that the Vista video driver for this model would be available in March which was last month. It's still not out. Averatec doesn't allow much communication without the serial number and the sticker on the bottom has rubbed out and is completely white. When I called they said I'd either need the s/n or the original reciept that shows when I bought it to tell whether it's still under warranty. They will be getting a letter as soon as I can find a way to write to them that doesn't require entering my serial number
Now's a good chance to encourage any readers I have to backup all their serial numbers, window/game CD keys and any other annoying and rarely used but incredibly important information in a Google Docs file. You don't have to remember to back it up, it's always available and linked with your gmail account.
Back to the wonders of Vista:
It looses my wifi card every once in a while. I've had it installed for about 24 hours now and it's lost it 4 times so far the fix is to restart.
The Microsoft USB mouse I use gets lost as well after about 20 minutes of use. Plugging it in to a different USB port does nothing. The fix is to restart.
Videos don't play properly. The video is choppy and lags behind the sound. When I play it in VLC it still is a little bit choppy but at least in sync. The fix. I don't have one yet.
I've been playing Diablo II for the last 2 weeks becaus it's the only game that'll run on my laptop. Well after Vista, it doesn't play because it can't run Direct3d or DirectDraw. Vista was supposed to be great for games. The fix is to run the game in Windowed mode.
The scroll bar on touch pad has been extended to about 3/5ths of the entire touchpad. It means that while I'm navigating the computer I end up scrolling up and down incredibly fast highlighting and deleting anything that I was working on. The fix? Reinstall XP.
I really wanted to end this post with "Reinstall XP" but i couldnt' figure out where to put this bit. The security features in Vista are pretty annoying. When I download an .exe from the web, I open it from Firefox's browser.
1st Firefox asks me if I want to run an .exe
2nd Windows asks me if I want to run an .exe
3rd Vista asks me if i want to run and .exe
When my desktop arrives it may be time to give the old open source community another chance at my laptop.
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