Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie

Windows 8 Preview.

  • 13-09-2011 07:50PM
    #1
    chin_grin
    Closed Accounts Posts: 10,808 ✭✭✭✭


    Looks a lot like Windows mobile. A tad childish to be honest!

    http://lifehacker.com/5839819/windows-8-preview-available-for-download-tonight
    Windows 8 Preview Available for Download Tonight
    Windows: If you're eager to give Windows 8 a spin, you'll get your chance starting at 8 pm Pacific time tonight, when Microsoft will make the Windows 8 preview available as an ISO download on their developer website. You can opt for a 32-bit or 64-bit x86 build; developer tools will be optional.

    PCWorld reports that because this is a prerelease code, not a beta release, a clean install is required.

    Here's what Windows 8 looks like so far. Will you be giving it an early try?

    Windows Dev Center | via PCWorld


«134

Comments

  • #2
    G-Money
    Closed Accounts Posts: 8,199 ✭✭✭G-Money


    For those of you who are feeling adventurous, a buggy and not very stable developer preview of Windows 8 will be released by Microsoft later today. I think its 8pm PST it will be available to download.

    http://dev.windows.com

    From the reports on the Windows Supersite, it's definitely buggy and far from polished and not as good a quality as Windows 7 beta's and RC's publicly released, but I guess some people will want to try it out anyway.


  • #3
    yoyo
    Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 11,017 Mod ✭✭✭✭yoyo


    I can see "Classic Mode" being the most popular option :P I wonder is the Metro style GUI optional and you must go into it, surely its not a reflection of the actual OS :S

    Nick

    My Beer Glass collection site 🍺

    My Irish Callcards site



  • #4
    aidan_walsh
    Closed Accounts Posts: 17,208 ✭✭✭✭aidan_walsh


    You have to remember that Windows 8 is their "everything but the phone" OS. So it'll be desktop, laptop, server and tablet. The Metro UI is, to the best of my knowledge, primarily aimed at the tablet side where a multitouch panel would be the way you are working with things.

    The everywhere approach is a little worrying, IMO. It hasn't worked for Windows tablets in the past, and it'll be interesting to see if they'll be able to get it working well on the kind of low power hardware with the battery life that tablets demand. That said, they're talking about releasing over a year away so plenty of time for things to change hardware and software side.


  • #5
    Plowman
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,630 ✭✭✭Plowman


    This post has been deleted.


  • #6
    DjFlin
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,089 ✭✭✭DjFlin


    The WP7 look can be turned off. I'm downloading the preview now. Cant wait to try it out.


  • Advertisement
  • #7
    AlmightyCushion
    Moderators, Education Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 35,212 Mod ✭✭✭✭AlmightyCushion


    aidan_walsh wrote: »
    The everywhere approach is a little worrying, IMO. It hasn't worked for Windows tablets in the past, and it'll be interesting to see if they'll be able to get it working well on the kind of low power hardware with the battery life that tablets demand. That said, they're talking about releasing over a year away so plenty of time for things to change hardware and software side.

    It was always just a tacked on feature before though. They just lumped an on screen keyboard into the OS and that was pretty much it. They really seem to be focused on it this time though and the review on anandtech is very positive about the touch screen aspect of the preview.

    As for the hardware, they did show a video of it running on a few different current gen arm processors before and it seemed to work very well. Saying that, they didn't do very much with it, just opened a few applications and messed about with word or powerpoint but everything ran very smoothly and better than I thought it would especially at such an early point. Also, the tablet that anandtech received was running very well although that's using a ULV core i5 and not an ARM processor. I'm cautiously optimistic about how it will work on tablets but I impressed so far to say the least.

    I'm more worried they'll forget about desktop/laptop side of things or at least lose focus on that somewhat. The metro UI at this point is painful to use with a keyboard and mouse according to the anandtech article.

    The live/skydrive integration is good and xbox live integration has great potential (hopefully it's not just a rebadged games for windows live). Also, 8 second boot is awesome. I won't expect that for every computer but even getting close is pretty damn sweet.


  • #8
    DjFlin
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,089 ✭✭✭DjFlin


    Been running the Developer build for about half an hour now, and am quite impressed. Running it on an Atom netbook with 1GB RAM, and its much more responsive than Windows 7. The Metro UI is nice and elegant, and the classic windows stuff is still there too, with slight changes, but nothing radically different. Will post in more detail after playing around some more


  • #9
    thelikelylad
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 369 ✭✭thelikelylad


    Wow the lock screen looks great!

    lockscreen.jpg

    Can't wait to give it a go. Read somewhere about native ISO mounting? Anyone try that out yet?


  • #10
    heebusjeebus
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,783 ✭✭✭heebusjeebus


    I'm just installing it on Virtual Box now. Not sure if the Metro UI is something I'd ever use (definately not for my main home pc) but it is piquing my interest.


  • #11
    yoyo
    Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 11,017 Mod ✭✭✭✭yoyo


    heebusjeebus wrote: »
    I'm just installing it on Virtual Box now. Not sure if the Metro UI is something I'd ever use (definately not for my main home pc) but it is piquing my interest.

    If people want to install the windows 8 Dev Preview in VirtualBox, you will need to use the settings specified here :) , you can download the developer preview here :)

    Nick

    My Beer Glass collection site 🍺

    My Irish Callcards site



  • Advertisement
  • #12
    thelikelylad
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 369 ✭✭thelikelylad


    yoyo wrote: »
    If people want to install the windows 8 Dev Preview in VirtualBox, you will need to use the settings specified here :) , you can download the developer preview here :)

    Nick

    Do you need the 32-bit version to run on VirtualBox? :confused:


  • #13
    DjFlin
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,089 ✭✭✭DjFlin


    All I can say is. Windows 8 is fast. Like, really fast. Its much faster on my netbook than Windows 7 ever was. And its pretty stable too.


  • #14
    G-Money
    Closed Accounts Posts: 8,199 ✭✭✭G-Money


    Will be installing this tonight, all being well.


  • #15
    Voodu Child
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,706 ✭✭✭Voodu Child


    Not going to bother trying it until a beta or RC but it looks promising.


  • #16
    Zascar
    Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators, Music Moderators Posts: 12,616 Mod ✭✭✭✭Zascar


    http://mashable.com/2011/09/14/windows-8-download/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Mashable+%28Mashable%29&utm_content=Google+International#view_as_one_page-gallery_box2357
    http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2011/09/hands-on-with-windows-8-a-tablet-operating-system-for-the-pc-age.ars?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+arstechnica%2Findex+%28Ars+Technica+-+Featured+Content%29&utm_content=Google+International
    http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/home/

    Has anyone given it a try yet? I might try to download it and do an install this weekend. Looks interesting but I'm not convinced on this new flashy thing they have, its like they are trying to port the (awful) Windows phone experience onto a PC. Hopefully I'm wrong but I can't see it being any good. Maybe the normal windows experience will be nice!


    Apparently you can only do a clean install on this. However one articles suggests using VirtualBox to do a virtual install. I have never tried this is it difficult? What's the easiest way of doing it?


  • #17
    Villain
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 15,959 ✭✭✭✭Villain


    Installs on VirtualBox but at first glance Networking doesn't work and Video graphics are just basic.


  • #18
    yoyo
    Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 11,017 Mod ✭✭✭✭yoyo


    Don't like the Metro UI at all, maybe it will grow on me? I don't know though. It runs really fast and the explorer tweaks are pritty nice, very Office 2010ish. You can see its an OS for tablets alrite from its out of the box expierience, only checked it briefly will look again in more detail later.
    The new task manager is very handy, it also shows which apps use the most CPU time which is handy troubleshooting dodgy apps slowing everything down. Is it a new version of IE in it, or still IE9? Looks different but thats the Metro UI.
    Do you need the 32-bit version to run on VirtualBox?
    I used the 32bit version, don't see why you'd run a virtualised 64bit OS, unless you have gigabytes of RAM, I gave it about 2 gig ram and it seemed zippy enough
    BTW: what works in VirtualBox:
    * Sound
    * Internet Connectivity
    - Resolution change
    - Guest addtions-will need to be rewritten
    - Video - All guest additions must be remade
    Also I would not install this and use it as a primary OS, it isn't even at Release Candidate stage, just wait a bit longer...

    Nick

    My Beer Glass collection site 🍺

    My Irish Callcards site



  • #19
    yoyo
    Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 11,017 Mod ✭✭✭✭yoyo


    thelikelylad wrote: »
    Do you need the 32-bit version to run on VirtualBox? :confused:
    Zascar wrote: »
    http://mashable.com/2011/09/14/windows-8-download/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Mashable+%28Mashable%29&utm_content=Google+International#view_as_one_page-gallery_box2357
    http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2011/09/hands-on-with-windows-8-a-tablet-operating-system-for-the-pc-age.ars?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+arstechnica%2Findex+%28Ars+Technica+-+Featured+Content%29&utm_content=Google+International
    http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/home/

    Has anyone given it a try yet? I might try to download it and do an install this weekend. Looks interesting but I'm not convinced on this new flashy thing they have, its like they are trying to port the (awful) Windows phone experience onto a PC. Hopefully I'm wrong but I can't see it being any good. Maybe the normal windows experience will be nice!


    Apparently you can only do a clean install on this. However one articles suggests using VirtualBox to do a virtual install. I have never tried this is it difficult? What's the easiest way of doing it?

    Very easy to install it on VirtualBox, but you will need to follow my instructions here, otherwise it will freeze mid setup!

    Nick

    My Beer Glass collection site 🍺

    My Irish Callcards site



  • #20
    Zascar
    Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators, Music Moderators Posts: 12,616 Mod ✭✭✭✭Zascar


    Thanks. Ok I see the info on that thread:
    General: OS Type: Other/Unknown

    System: Base Memory=1536MB
    Chipset=PIIX3
    [X] Enable IO APIC
    [ ] Enable EFI
    [X] Enable absolute pointing device

    Processor: 1
    [ ] Enable PAE/NX

    Acceleration
    [X] Enable VT-X/AMD-V
    [X] Enable Nested Paging

    Display: Options don't matter - leave them as is

    Storage: Remove SATA Controller
    IDE Controller: Type PIIX2
    IDE Primary Master: HDD 20GB
    IDE Secondary Master: Windows 8 DVD

    Audio: Intel HD Audio

    Network: Leave as is

    Serial Ports: Leave as is (none required)

    USB: Leave as is

    I have never used Virtualbox before but I think I can see where these go in the settings so I'll give it a bash
    Cheers


  • #21
    Zascar
    Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators, Music Moderators Posts: 12,616 Mod ✭✭✭✭Zascar


    Ok I have set up the virtualbox ok but when i click start I get a message saying: "FATAL: No Bootable Medium Found! System Halted"

    Edit: solved using this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8j1Fo2KRZM

    but now I get this error:

    wmeUx.png

    Hmmm

    EDIT 2: Got it! Not sure how but I got the install screen now, hehe :cool:


  • Advertisement
  • #22
    yoyo
    Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 11,017 Mod ✭✭✭✭yoyo


    Zascar wrote: »
    Thanks. Ok I see the info on that thread:



    I have never used Virtualbox before but I think I can see where these go in the settings so I'll give it a bash
    Cheers

    right click on the Virtual Machine (left pane) while its off and click settings, the more awkward bit is the IDE controller bit, simply click the sata controller>Remove it button, add a new IDE controller, and point it to the Windows 8 Virtaul Hard disk (It is a *.vdi file somewhere on the hard disk). Then set controller to type: "IDE Controller: Type PIIX3", I didnt have a PII2 option, it could be a typo on that forum; You should see something like this under storage:
    97DSd.jpg

    Nick

    My Beer Glass collection site 🍺

    My Irish Callcards site



  • #23
    yoyo
    Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 11,017 Mod ✭✭✭✭yoyo


    Zascar wrote: »
    Ok I have set up the virtualbox ok but when i click start I get a message saying: "FATAL: No Bootable Medium Found! System Halted"

    Anyone know how I get past this?

    Follow my steps above! You need to have the virtual hard disk and Windows 8 ISO under IDE Cntrollers as pictured

    Nick

    My Beer Glass collection site 🍺

    My Irish Callcards site



  • #24
    DjFlin
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,089 ✭✭✭DjFlin


    You can install it on a blank partition on your HDD alongside your main OS. I'm running it alongside Windows 7 and Ubuntu, and they're all fine.


  • #25
    Zascar
    Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators, Music Moderators Posts: 12,616 Mod ✭✭✭✭Zascar


    Thanks! :D


  • #26
    thelikelylad
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 369 ✭✭thelikelylad


    DjFlin wrote: »
    You can install it on a blank partition on your HDD alongside your main OS. I'm running it alongside Windows 7 and Ubuntu, and they're all fine.

    Nice one! I'll be going for that setup too. Has anyone else tried making a USB boot disk with the 64bit ISO? It wouldn't boot for me when I tried :o Guess I'll just burn a DVD boot disk :)


  • #27
    DjFlin
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,089 ✭✭✭DjFlin


    thelikelylad wrote: »
    Nice one! I'll be going for that setup too. Has anyone else tried making a USB boot disk with the 64bit ISO? It wouldn't boot for me when I tried :o Guess I'll just burn a DVD boot disk :)

    I installed the 32bit version from a USB stick. Dont see why the 64bit one would be any different. Just make sure you've got a bit enough USB drive


  • #28
    LaVail
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,619 ✭✭✭LaVail


    Hi Lads, Total virtual PC noob here so hoping you can answer a couple of my questions.
    I'm going to download virtual box and windows 8 later on tonight when I can get 4Mbps download speed but I'm not sure how to set it up?

    I have a partition made on my PC hard drive and use one for norton ghost backups only> could I install on that partition or does it have to be on the same one as my XP OS?

    I only have 1.5GB of RAM total> Even if I allocate 1GB of that to windows 8 will XP crash?

    If for any reason it doesnt install or I want to get rid of it> Is it easy to uninstall windows8 and virtual box from my PC without wrecking the system?

    Can stuff go wrong doing this sort of thing that could cause BSOD on my PC etc?

    Any tips at all are welcome, thanks.

    PS> Is it ok to follow this set-up >> How to Install Windows 8 in VirtualBox


  • #29
    Professey Chin
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 51,054 ✭✭✭✭Professey Chin


    Threw it onto an empty partition.
    This metro start menu is pissing me off. Anyway to go back to a regular start menu?


  • #30
    raxor
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 33 ✭raxor


    Zascar wrote: »
    Ok I have set up the virtualbox ok but when i click start I get a message saying: "FATAL: No Bootable Medium Found! System Halted"

    Edit: solved using this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8j1Fo2KRZM

    but now I get this error:

    wmeUx.png

    Hmmm

    EDIT 2: Got it! Not sure how but I got the install screen now, hehe :cool:


    Hey did ya manage to figure out how ya got past this error? I've done absolutely everything you and Yoyo have said but I still always get this error for some reason. Anyone got any suggestions?


  • Advertisement
  • #31
    Dman001
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,534 ✭✭✭Dman001


    thelikelylad wrote: »
    Nice one! I'll be going for that setup too. Has anyone else tried making a USB boot disk with the 64bit ISO? It wouldn't boot for me when I tried :o Guess I'll just burn a DVD boot disk :)
    I tried the 64bit version too but got an error. I used the Windows 7 USB Tool from Microsoft's Website as I was told it would work.


Advertisement