185 replies to this topic

[Matri]

Pete, on 10th November 2009, 2:37am, said:

I think MS have been better with drivers this time around - there was no Windows 7 driver for my fancy £300+ colour printer (for business stuff before you ask) and I was anout to get peed off when I read on HP's website something along the lines of "we've not yet released a driver/program suite compatible with Windows 7 yet for this printer, so just use the drivers MS have made on the Windows 7 disc".

Worked like a charm - I literally justentered the IP address in the wizard (it's a network printer) and it found it. Since it's not exactly a mainstream printer and it's a few years old now I was very impressed.

I'm a little more peeved with HP, though. They never released any Vista drivers for my combo-printer, which was only about a year old at the time. Instructions say to use the default Vista drivers, fine. Those work great.

Unfortunately, none of the supporting software work well on Vista. If I want to use the built-in scanner, I have to either pray it will work this time or plug it into the ancient XP laptop.

Not satisfactory at all.

[Space Voyager]

Has anyone checked the 32bit 3GB workaround?

I'm not going to 64bit system unless there is a tangible advantage.

[Kret]

Are you talking about the /3GB switch used in the boot.ini file? If so, what have you understood this will benefit you?

[Matri]

Kret, on 10th November 2009, 7:49pm, said:

Are you talking about the /3GB switch used in the boot.ini file? If so, what have you understood this will benefit you?

Absolutely nothing. The application still needs the 2GB flag set in it's header, and then it still has to be coded to work around the 32-bit addressing limit.

[Azrael Strife]

A workaround? To get from 3GB limit to 4GB limit?

[Kret]

That's why I'm asking if it's that switch? It's not a workaround that will allow windows to access more physical memory, it just divides the virtual memory between user and kernel nothing more. Unless using it for an application that can use that ammount of memory, it is a cause of more trouble more than a solution to anything.

[Space Voyager]

Ah crap. Thanks, Kret. I really wanted someone more knowledgeable to look at it as I didn't understand it... I thought it was supposed to let you use more than 3GB RAM with 32bit system.

[Azrael Strife]

Space Voyager, on 11th November 2009, 3:09pm, said:

Ah crap. Thanks, Kret. I really wanted someone more knowledgeable to look at it as I didn't understand it... I thought it was supposed to let you use more than 3GB RAM with 32bit system.

A 32-bit processor is capable of addressing 2^32 bytes = 4^30 bytes = 4GB of RAM, the 3GB instead of 4GB limit is due to how the OS handles it
A 64-bit processor is capable of 2^64 = 16^60 bytes = 16 Exbibytes of RAM, virtually unlimited bar from Motherboard capabilities

[Pete]

The most RAM I've seen purchaseable with a PC all pre-built is 192GB. That was just on the HP website (under Workstations) so there are likely systems with more, but I didn't browse long as I don't have £5,500, buch as I'd love two XEON processors, all that RAM and the option of something silly like 6 video cards powering a wall of 12 monitors

[Kret]

The 4GB limit is not only limited by the OS, but the motherboard must allow accessing addresses above that limit. Todays motherboards already do this, but some older ones have no possibility in doing so by design. Note that the 4Gb limit is not a memory size limit but an addressing limit and since virtually everything in the machine requires some addressing it reduces the ammount of addressing available to access system memory.

[Space Voyager]

Been reading this thread again... SotS][ is coming and I will definitely not be able to buy a new comp. I wouldn't have a place for it yet anyway.

My laptop does offer a RAM upgrade form 4 to 8 GB and with 32bit system that would be a waste of money, so I'm considering a Win7Pro 64 bit system again...

If you count out older games, is there any other problem? Will my 32bit Office work on a 64 bit system?

[Sunflash]

I've got a 32office running on a 64win7 without any issues.

Also, re older games: I realize you may not be meaning THIS old, but I'm running Master of Orion II(Dos-version) from Dosbox in my 64-bit win7 home premium.

[Sgt. Strike]

I personally would dual boot with XP Pro, and Windows 7 ultimate, both 64-bit. And they are both NTFS based. If you really want a better 64-bit experience, try some of the Linux distributions that are out there. Stay away from Ubuntu, as it's getting to commercialized, IMO.

The reason I say Ultimate with Windows 7, is that you can do a lot of things in there that's not readily available for home premium. Compatibility mode is one feature, and there are more.

[Thorondor]

Extra RAM is always a boon, so go for it, SV.

::

I've got good ol' Office 2007 and it runs just fine on 7 Ultimate 64 bit.

[Sunflash]

I've got Compatibility mode on my Premium, what are you drinking sarge? D:

[Azrael Strife]

Sgt. Strike, on 6th March 2011, 4:27pm, said:

I personally would dual boot with XP Pro, and Windows 7 ultimate, both 64-bit. And they are both NTFS based. If you really want a better 64-bit experience, try some of the Linux distributions that are out there. Stay away from Ubuntu, as it's getting to commercialized, IMO.

Strongly disagree, if anyone is considering trying out Linux, Ubuntu is by far the best choice, it's so far the only distro doing the best to be accessible to all users.

32 bit Office should work ok with 64 bit 7, it does for me at least (though, unfortunately, Half Life 2 and Mass Effect 1 stopped running...)

[Sgt. Strike]

Azrael, I will agree with about Ubuntu being a decent distro, but it is not the best. Because it's popular doesn't make it the best. I prefer either Red Hat, Backtrax, or a couple others.

And Sunflash, how did you get compatibility mode? I've been trying for a while to figure it out myself. And did you find out how to access, also, gpedit.msc? That is one of the best programs for Windows.

[Bomb Bloke]

Home Premium doesn't have XP mode (as in, the ability to run Windows XP within your 7 install), but it does have some other compatibility features.

Edit: Though now I check that page, it seems it WILL allow such an install - interesting! I'm gonna have to give that a try tonight, getting access to XP functionality on my laptop would make my week!

Of course, if it lacks access to the main filesystem I'll be much less impressed, but hey, still worth something...

I believe it's possible to install GPEdit into Home Premium using unofficial non-Microsoft tweaks, but you'll still lack access to many of the features it'd allow you to mess with in the more expensive releases. Eg, the option to disable thumbnail generation specifically when accessing network shares, a feature that's rather broken in 7...

Bah, don't get me started...  

[Sunflash]

I was not aware of this 'XP mode'. By 'compatibility mode' I meant the whole 'right-click->compatibility->run as etc' thing. Which sometimes works and sometimes doesn't.

Then again, I've not found one of my XP games that doesn't work on 7...yet.

[Azrael Strife]

Sgt. Strike, on 7th March 2011, 8:27am, said:

Azrael, I will agree with about Ubuntu being a decent distro, but it is not the best. Because it's popular doesn't make it the best. I prefer either Red Hat, Backtrax, or a couple others.

A distro that is not user friendly, IMO, can not be the best. User friendliness is a vital OS external quality; unless we're talking about a mainframe OS, which we are not in this case.

Just my opinion anyway, I didn't want anyone not trying Ubuntu if they wanted to try Linux, I feel it's simply the only distro for a beginner, and also for advanced users.