Windows Vista

DonkeyRhubarb · 23-02-2006 8:45pm #1

Does anyone know if vista will be compatible with current software? For instance, my TV card has an XP driver, but the company is not well known, so I doubt they will release a vista driver for an 'old' card.
Also, Im using an eircom netopia modem through usb for my internet. Knowing the way eircom works, theyll prob just catch on about 6 months - 1 year late and start releasing a vista driver with new sales on a cd. God only know if I could download my drivers off them! (ye, sure, great tech support btw!)
I had a LOT of compatibility issues when I moved to XP. I dont want to have all that hastle again, especially if half the devices in my comp wont have drivers to work at all. I also heard that all drivers need to be digitally signed! Sheesh.
Anywho, if anyone can shine some light, it would be much appreciated. Mike

Judt · 23-02-2006 8:50pm

It's early, but generally Vista will be compatible in a backwards format. I think you might have had some tough luck upgrading to XP, but for the most part when it comes to backwards compatibility Microsoft is very good.

Laguna · 23-02-2006 10:31pm

I wouldn't say you'd have a problem with your XP drivers and Vista, in much the same way you can run age old programs (i.e. Win 95 era) on XP through its built in compatibility mode.

DemonOfTheFall · 23-02-2006 11:32pm

Drivers are very different from programs though.

You can run any piece of software that used to run back in windows 98 days, but you can't run a windows 98 driver.

Personally, I'd say that obscure things like no-name TV cards are gonna be up the creek with Vista.

Laguna · 23-02-2006 11:36pm

Ah yeah I know drivers are a completely different kettle of fish compatibility wise in comparison to programs... actually, yeah, I agree with you, as the card is a no name brand I'd say you won't have much joy as they're unlikely to release a new Vista driver.. Then again, the company may release a generic driver for their old cards that'll make them work on Vista, I guess you'll just have to wait and see

8T8 · 24-02-2006 12:37am

Vista does support a legacy driver mode which is very similar to XP's driver mode so I'd say there is a decent chance it will still work though MS do a pretty good job rounding up hardware and bundling in the driver into the OS so you may get lucky as the TV tuner could be based on a common chip that is used in a lot of OEM products.

art · 24-02-2006 12:08pm

Judt wrote:

It's early, but generally Vista will be compatible in a backwards format. I think you might have had some tough luck upgrading to XP, but for the most part when it comes to backwards compatibility Microsoft is very good.

Seems as though Microsoft are so desparate to force people to upgrade though that they will not be offering the same backwards compatibilty functionality as we've previously always expected. Some of Redmond's recent press statements have been very ambiguous in this regard, so I would not make any assumptions at all.

(Though then again Vista is becoming more and more a "XP SP3" what with all the features they're dropping from the build all the time!!)

Dooom · 24-02-2006 1:08pm

art wrote:

(Though then again Vista is becoming more and more a "XP SP3" what with all the features they're dropping from the build all the time!!)

As long as they don't drop the 3d Alt-tabbing then I'll be happy. It's more or less the sole reason I want Vista.
Minority Report'in like a Mofo.

BopNiblets · 24-02-2006 3:49pm

Spike wrote:

As long as they don't drop the 3d Alt-tabbing then I'll be happy. It's more or less the sole reason I want Vista.
Minority Report'in like a Mofo.

http://www.spheresite.com/screenshots.html

I've never used it, but I remeber it form a while ago, thought it looked cool.

art · 24-02-2006 6:01pm

BopNiblets wrote:

http://www.spheresite.com/screenshots.html

I've never used it, but I remeber it form a while ago, thought it looked cool.

Fascinating idea that. Not sure how practical in real terms it will be but might have a look better over the weekend. (Kind of proves the point too about how lacking in innovation Vista is - more just an attempt to catch up on everyone else!)

Dooom · 24-02-2006 6:37pm

BopNiblets wrote:

http://www.spheresite.com/screenshots.html

I've never used it, but I remeber it form a while ago, thought it looked cool.

Does look pretty cool alright, any idea how it runs? Had a quick check through the site and it doesn't overwrite any desktop settings or whatnot, so if it goes all buggy it's easy enough to banish it to hell.

I'll give it a go over the weekend and see what it's like first-hand.

Dooom · 24-02-2006 10:03pm

Well I'm running SphereXp (sorry for thread hijacking btw!) at the moment.
It's pretty good, it could open up a lot more avenues anyway. As it stands, there's still a good few bugs in it - it doesn't like Winamp for starts, good bunch of other things.
But that aside, it's pretty cool.

Main niggle being that when you add something to the sphere, the window doesn't stay in realtime. Ie: I open up the AH board in this window, and it'll basically stay as it was when I left it (assuming I went off to look in another folder). But if I go back to it again, the page will have gone into AH.

It's small, but it's still annoying. Few more things I want to try out in it.
Apparently the new patch that's coming out should fix a lot of these problems.

thehomeofDob · 24-02-2006 10:27pm

I couldn't stand SphereXP - there's way to much going on in it for my liking. The idea is good, and implemented very well, but just didn't do it for me.

**Timbuk2** · 24-02-2006 11:31pm

I just installed it there, it isn't fabulous... bit annoying.. reminded me of Linux a wee bit. I think I will be uninstalling it now though

Dooom · 25-02-2006 12:04am

**Timbuk2** wrote:

I just installed it there, it isn't fabulous... bit annoying.. reminded me of Linux a wee bit. I think I will be uninstalling it now though

Yeah, same here. Although it is a bit novel, I might keep it installed. Just to play around with when I'm bored.

8T8 · 25-02-2006 10:06am

If you like that sort of expose clone stuff Topdesk is about the best one out there for WinXP even does the Vista flip method as well.

http://www.otakusoftware.com/topdesk/

rogue-entity · 25-02-2006 12:54pm

I dont think your no-name card will be left out in the cold, although you may not be able to use your TV-Viewer application (again not much of a problem).

The majority of TV tuner cards (inc those from Hauppauge and Pinnicle) use the same series of chips. These are usualy BrookTree or Conexant. If you are not sure, you can probably download a program that will identify the chipset for you. You can also take a look at the card and the name of the chipset and model number will often be written on the chip or even on the board itself.

Another way to ID the card is to use a Linux LiveCD such as Knoppix. When the system boots up, it will probe the PCI slots on the computer and return the information for each device which will include the Vendor Name and Model for the chip on your card. This information will be stored in the boot log which will be in the /var/log directory. If you have a Linux Live CD and boot your system, it may detect and load a driver for your card. By viewing the hardware information for your system under linux you can also get the necessary information about your card to download a driver for Vista should the Vendor not be able to provide it.

As for your Netopia modem. Netopia, not eircom, produce the USB drivers. Going to Netopia's website will allow you to obtain the drivers for Vista if and when they are produced. Failing that, you can always connect your modem via the Ethernet port (if there is one on your modem).

Windows Vista

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