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Installing Vista Beta 2 (x86) Right Now!

JoLLyRoGer

JoLLyRoGer

Diamond Member
The Rig:
ADS Built Machine: Virgin, NITB
3.6Ghz P4
Intel D915GEV Mobo
-On board video
-On board sound
Hitachi Deskstar 40 GB HD (7200 RPM ATA-UDMA)
1GB RAM DDR 2700
LG DVD Combo Drive
Intel Pro 1000 NIC (PCI)

The Media:
2 DVD Box Kit ordered from Microsoft. (Installing 32-Bit flavor)

NOTE: All time stamps are in PST

Round 1:
07:00
At least the install screen looks pretty.. HA! In fact I found the first couple of screens and the partition manager to be very Linux-esque.

07:03
1. Copying Windows Files ~ 22 Min

07:25
2. Expanding Files ~ (In Progress - Currently 34%, could be hung... Still 34% after 18 Mins... Rebooting and starting over.)

Round 2 - Ding!
07:43 - Reboot
-Rcvd Msg: BOOTMGR is missing. Press Ctrl + Alt + Del to restart

07:46 - Reboot w/ Three Finger Salute, Rcvd same msg.

07:49 - Boot Device Order got changed in BIOS 😕. Set DVD Drive back to 2nd boot device and another reboot

07:50 - Back to Business - Installer Loaded

07:54 - Elected to format drive this time from the installer menu. Took about 30 Seconds.

07:55 - Begin Copying Windows Files

08:14 - Copying Windows Files Complete / Begin Expanding Files

08:25 - Expanding Files Complete / Begin Installing Features

08:25 - Installing Features Complete / Begin Installing updates

08:26 - Instaling Updates Complete / Auto-Reboot

08:28 - Auto-Reboot complete / Completing Installation

08:31 - Another Auto-Reboot

08:34 - Environmental Settings Complete / Logging in for the 1st Time.

08:35 - All Logged in - The GUI looks SWEET and somewhat Linux-esque! and the feel is pretty XP-ish..

Note: The on board video was autodetected while the on board sound is successfully using a generic driver. The Intel PCI NIC card was also autodetected and installed by windows. So far all systems are GO!

Update for ITguy: - Initial Vital Signs

Totals:
PF Usage: 470MB
Handles: 9615
Threads: 465
Processes: 34

Physical Memory (K)
Total: 1038524
Available: 630224
System Cache: 633648

Commit Charge (K)
Total: 463052
Limit: 2349672
Peak: 540320

Kernel Memory (K)
Total: 63400
Paged: 36828
Nonpaged: 26544

Local Disk (C: )
30.9GB free of 38.3GB

08:48 - And I'm off to smoke a cigarette! Be back in about 15 to check on you guys...

Next up: Installing Office 2007 Pro Plus Beta.

09:57 - Begin Office Install / Extracting Files

09:59 - File extraction complete / Begin Installing Microsoft Office

10:08 - Office 2K7b Successfully Installed

10:08 - Received Error Message! Microsoft Windows has stopped working: Windows is searching for a solution to the problem.

10:09 - Recieved Error Message! Setup has stopped working: A problem caused the probram to stop working correctly. Windows will close the program and notify you if a solution is available [Clicks Close Program Button].

In spite of the error messages, Office seemed to install successfully. Perhaps is was just the installer process terminating that pissed off Vista?

Anyway, launched Word successfully and it looks pretty slick too. There is a new display bar across the top that shows a graphic pictoral of all the differnt font styles.
All the basic office features you would expect are there but the look and feel has changed a bit. Clicking different tabs brings up seveal different menu bars with options available for editing, inserting shapes, etc. I can see right now I'm going to have to get some screenshots uploaded for you guys! This is just too much to explain. It's like the took all the File, Edit, View, etc. functions and placed them all on their own version of a quick-launch toolbar. Pretty nice actually!

Excel, Power Point, and Access all seem so follow suit with the new tabbed menu bars. Outlook is pretty much the same as 2K3 with the addition of a new RSS box that you can use to subscribe to internet RSS feeds.

Infopath and Publisher I'm not too familiar with to begin with but if I were guessing, the only updates they received were a change in color scheme, although there is probably more to it than that.

Some Screeshot Updates!
Windows Vista Start Menu
IE7 Beta and Explorer in action
Outlook and Word 2K7b on Vista
Power Point and Excel 2K7b on Vista
Vista Media Center 1
Vista Media Center 2

Well that's it for now. Time to go do some actual work today!! 😀

Enjoy!
JR..

 
Originally posted by: ITguy
Let us know how much ram it uses up and how much paging file usage it has on a clean install. Also, how much diskspace.
Click to expand...

You've got it. If anyone else has any special requests, let me know and I'll be happy to accommodate you.
 
I have absolutely no idea how you could possibly say it looks linux-esque!

Other than that, bear in mind your processes and ram usage should drop a little once the indexing is done, but not much.

How is the built in vid card handling the aero? I have had vista installed for 6 months or so on a few boxes, 2 of them have nice gfx cards (7800GTX and a 6600GT) but one (my work box) has the shittiest built in graphics I have ever had the displeasure to be lumbered with 🙂 I need to justify in my new purchase order at work why I need a nice gfx card 😛 and would be easier to get away with a mobo spec that included a good enough built in gfx
 
That has to be the ugliest UI I've seen in a long time. I think its a step backwards in usablity. Thank god they let you turn it off right?
 
Originally posted by: Seeruk
I have absolutely no idea how you could possibly say it looks linux-esque!

Other than that, bear in mind your processes and ram usage should drop a little once the indexing is done, but not much.

How is the built in vid card handling the aero? I have had vista installed for 6 months or so on a few boxes, 2 of them have nice gfx cards (7800GTX and a 6600GT) but one (my work box) has the shittiest built in graphics I have ever had the displeasure to be lumbered with 🙂 I need to justify in my new purchase order at work why I need a nice gfx card 😛 and would be easier to get away with a mobo spec that included a good enough built in gfx
Click to expand...

RE: The Linux-esque comment, I was basically referring to to the installer and so me some of the screen icons plus the side-bar look like something I'd expect to see in KDE.

Now about the Aero theme. I don't believe this PC is Aero-capable with it's Intel 910GL video chipset. Intel recommends the 945G video chipset as a minimum. I've been looking for the Windows Aero theme and it's not available in the display or theme options... (See Screenshot). Maybe I'm missing something, but if someone else running Vista knows how to get Aero going, I'm all ears....

As far as over all graphics goes, the onboard video seems to be handling things just fine in Vista Basic mode. Again, the video chipset beloings to the Intel 910GL Express family and is using Microsoft's default video driver. It has 128MB of video memory.
 
Originally posted by: sourceninja
That has to be the ugliest UI I've seen in a long time. I think its a step backwards in usablity. Thank god they let you turn it off right?
Click to expand...

I actually found the interfact to be pretty intuitive and its not much of a departure from the current WinXP setup. The file explorer is especially nice with the way it displays your entire path in the address bar and allows you to navigate that path by clicking on any part of it. It really beats the hell out of the 'up one directory' button.

And as far as office 2K7 goes, I'm impressed with the move to tabed menus vs. the old drop down style.
 
The file explorer is especially nice with the way it displays your entire path in the address bar and allows you to navigate that path by clicking on any part of it. It really beats the hell out of the 'up one directory' button.
Click to expand...

Yea, too bad Nautilus has been doing that for several major revisions already.
 
I dont have to, its ugly. I've seen guys in the office testing it, and they agree its ugly. Ugly trumps any advantages it may have. Plus just looking at the office screenshots tells me it will confuse every single person in my office (non-tech person). That means support calls are going to triple when we switch. Thank god I dont do support.

But I'm a mininalist, so you have to take that for what it's worth.
 
I dont have to, its ugly. I've seen guys in the office testing it, and they agree its ugly.
Click to expand...
First, ugly is a subjective term and has nothing to do with usability. Second, yes, you do need to actually use it if you are going to make claims on usability. Third, what UI are you talking about? Office, Vista or both?

Plus just looking at the office screenshots tells me it will confuse every single person in my office (non-tech person).
Click to expand...
There were extensive usability tests that led to the Office UI design. Thousands of users tested it, so it was not developed in a vacuum. And the feedback from both private and public beta testers has been overwhelmingly positive. There hasn't been this kind of excitment about an Office suite in well...ever, I would say.
 
Originally posted by: JoLLyRoGer
Originally posted by: Seeruk
I have absolutely no idea how you could possibly say it looks linux-esque!

Other than that, bear in mind your processes and ram usage should drop a little once the indexing is done, but not much.

How is the built in vid card handling the aero? I have had vista installed for 6 months or so on a few boxes, 2 of them have nice gfx cards (7800GTX and a 6600GT) but one (my work box) has the shittiest built in graphics I have ever had the displeasure to be lumbered with 🙂 I need to justify in my new purchase order at work why I need a nice gfx card 😛 and would be easier to get away with a mobo spec that included a good enough built in gfx
Click to expand...

RE: The Linux-esque comment, I was basically referring to to the installer and so me some of the screen icons plus the side-bar look like something I'd expect to see in KDE.

Now about the Aero theme. I don't believe this PC is Aero-capable with it's Intel 910GL video chipset. Intel recommends the 945G video chipset as a minimum. I've been looking for the Windows Aero theme and it's not available in the display or theme options... (See Screenshot). Maybe I'm missing something, but if someone else running Vista knows how to get Aero going, I'm all ears....

As far as over all graphics goes, the onboard video seems to be handling things just fine in Vista Basic mode. Again, the video chipset beloings to the Intel 910GL Express family and is using Microsoft's default video driver. It has 128MB of video memory.
Click to expand...

I see (sorta) on the looks front... I suppose it resembles some of the widget bars but then as it is a widget bar it would be hard not to look similar 🙂

As for your vid card.... you can force it to use aero though of course performance might be terrible!!

If you want to give it a try then look Here
 
Originally posted by: sourceninja
I dont have to, its ugly. I've seen guys in the office testing it, and they agree its ugly. Ugly trumps any advantages it may have. Plus just looking at the office screenshots tells me it will confuse every single person in my office (non-tech person). That means support calls are going to triple when we switch. Thank god I dont do support.

But I'm a mininalist, so you have to take that for what it's worth.
Click to expand...

Subjective indeed...

Tbh on the Office side I don't think you have a leg to stand on seeing as just about the whole of thar intarweb is currently in a state of mutual masturbation over the interface... yes even some noted mac / nix zealots 😉

As for the Vista interface... its barely different from the XP interface with the exception of the sidebar (switch on or off as you please) and the start menu's search box. TBH I see no difference in the level of 'cleanliness' between Vista's start_button+taskbar, KDE's Start_Button+taskbar and Gnome's Start_Button+taskbar.... go figure!

Here's Mine & I'm Loving it!

Now the only interface I like more is E17 and even then it's a close thing 😉

 
Tbh on the Office side I don't think you have a leg to stand on seeing as just about the whole of thar intarweb is currently in a state of mutual masturbation over the interface... yes even some noted mac / nix zealots
Click to expand...

Thats nice because their opinions don't matter any more then the other person's does.

It's certainly better looking then Openoffice.org, I'll give it that. To bad it's just a office applications otherwise it may have mattered what it looks like.
 
Originally posted by: drag
Tbh on the Office side I don't think you have a leg to stand on seeing as just about the whole of thar intarweb is currently in a state of mutual masturbation over the interface... yes even some noted mac / nix zealots
Click to expand...

Thats nice because their opinions don't matter any more then the other person's does.
Click to expand...

Certainly not the impression you get from some of the nutjobs on these boards *cough B____n cough* 😀
 
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