Beta 2 Which Platform are using x86 or x64?

[Andre Da Costa [Extended64]]

Hello everyone,

I would like to know who here is running Windows Vista beta 2 x86 and x64 or
both, which Editions, Home Basic, Home Premium, Business or Ulitmate.

What has prevented you from giving either platform the thumbs up, what you
do like or don't like about either platform, what is missing from the x64
version that has always been the 32-bit version.

I am going to include 5381 and 5365 x64, since a lot of persons might still
not have obtained BETA 2 yet.
--
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Andre
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[Fox]

Hi Andre,

Running Vista beta 2 x86 (no x64 hardware !) Ultimate. Trying to run MCE,
but not having any luck - as Vista cannot pick-up any TV stations
My USB-TV box works fine on XP, but nothing at all on Vista.

Ah well - good job I got it for free!! lol

 

[Zack Whittaker]

Vista x64 - Ultimate
Vista x86 - Home Premium
Vista x86 - Business

Why on earth dya want to know anyway? It's not going to any thinktank or
anything S

--
Zack Whittaker
» ZackNET Enterprises: www.zacknet.co.uk
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» This mailing is provided "as is" with no warranties, and confers no
rights. All opinions expressed are those of myself unless stated so, and not
of my employer, best friend, Ghandi, my mother or my cat. Glad we cleared
that up!

--: Original message follows :--

 

[Jeff Warren]

Hi Andre,

Here is a summary of some of the machines I am testing, all using Beta 2.

System 1:
Pentium 4 1.8GHz
2.0GB RAM
ATI Radeon 9700 Pro 128MB AGP 1600x1200x32
x86 Business
ATI Beta 2 drivers from their website
Dual booting from Bootable DVD install with Windows XP Professional SP2
(production OS)

Performance is much worse that Windows XP. Cisco VPN Client is a big
showstopper keeping it from daily use. Just navigating around is slower and
I much prefer things to be snappy rather than pretty, although both would be
great. Disabled UAP on this one to make QuickBooks 2006 run.

System 2:
Pentium D 3.0 EM64T
2.0GB RAM
ATI X600 PCI-X 256MB 1920x1200x32
x64 and x86 Business
ATI Beta 2 drivers from their website
Dual booting from Bootable DVD install with Windows XP Professional SP2

Overall performance is better on this machine compared to the one above, but
not as good as Windows XP. QuickBooks print to PDF feature doesn't work in
x64 for Windows XP or Windows Vista x64, so at is one main reason I use x86
on this machine more often. All drivers install and work OK. Video
performance on Windows Energy screensaver is not as good as the system above
for some reason. Haven't got to test many apps on this one, but will next
week. Also, I plan on running x64 a little more despite the QuickBooks
issue.

System 3:
Pentium 4 3.0 HT
512MB RAM
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro AGP 1024x768
x86 Ultimate
ATI Beta 2 drivers from their website
ATI 550 Tuners (x2)

This one really chokes with 512MB of RAM, but is used as a Media Center PC
and Microsoft wants it to say at 512MB for testing. It does OK and is
actually usable. Records fine, however playback is still jumpy.

How about posting what you are using? Why are you using the SKUs you are?

Jeff Warren

 

[Andre Da Costa [Extended64]]

Why are you having a problem with it? I am writing a preview of Windows
Vista BETA 2 for ActiveWin.com of which I am staff, ActiveWin is one of the
top Windows Vista community sites, so I need this information for
statistical purposes. Also, its for discussion and assistance. I can sense
you have a problem with me starting this post, but seriously, I don't care.
--
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Andre
Windows Connected | http://www.windowsconnected.com
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[Frank]

Hello everyone,

I would like to know who here is running Windows Vista beta 2 x86 and x64 or
both, which Editions, Home Basic, Home Premium, Business or Ulitmate.

What has prevented you from giving either platform the thumbs up, what you
do like or don't like about either platform, what is missing from the x64
version that has always been the 32-bit version.

I am going to include 5381 and 5365 x64, since a lot of persons might still
not have obtained BETA 2 yet.

84.4 u32bit. Can't get 64bit ide card drivers (promise 133xt2) to run
the 64 bit edition.
Frank

 

[Andre Da Costa [Extended64]]

Hi Jeff,

Good news on on Cisco VPN client, Cisco is working on it and you can expect
an update just after Vista is released. As for the Print to PDF feature in
x64, this is in the realm of Adobe I guess, since PDF drive needs to also be
64-bit native.

As for me and my setup:

System 1: (Desktop)
Pentium 4 HT 3.2 GHz x86 processor
Windows Vista Ultimate x86
2.5 GBs of RAM
nVidia Geforce FX 5200 128 MB AGP 1024 by 768 32-bit
Dual booting with XP Pro x86

System 2: (Laptop)
Pentium 4 M 2.0 Ghz x86 processor
Windows Vista Business x86
768 MBs of RAM
nVidia Geforce 4 Go 32 MB
Dual booting with XP Pro x86, Vista Home Premium (5308), Longhorn Server
(5308)

System 3: (Desktop)
AMD Sempron 2600 1.6 GHz x86-x64
Windows Vista Ultimate x64
512 MBs of RAM
nVidia Geforce FX 5200 128 MB AGP 1024 by 768 32-bit
Dual booting with XP Pro x86, XP Pro x64, Server 2003 x86, Server 2003 x64

I have seen tremendous improvements in areas of performance, such as the
install time, 5381 took 75 mins, 5384, 35 mins. MCE is still shaky, I still
see bugs from 5308 that have not been fixed, but were promised to be fixed
after build 5335, 5346 and 5355. AutoCAD 2006 fails horribly, lots of apps
still not working, I am hoping for a miracle.
--
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Andre
Windows Connected | http://www.windowsconnected.com
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Blog | http://www.extended64.com/blogs/andre
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[Colin Barnhorst]

Beta 2 x86 and x64 Ultimate on a 64-bit box. x86 is a slow performer. x64
is OK. 5384 is a far better distro for my box than any of the earlier
builds with the possible exception of 5231. There has a been a particularly
good improvement in hardware detection and driver availablility with Beta 2.

 

[Andre Da Costa [Extended64]]

I notice on my laptop there has been a step back in driver detection. I
builds prior to 5381, Vista x86 automatically installed my 3com ethernet
adapter, ever since 5381, it stop doing so. The XP drivers work just fine
though. I must also note, all systems except the laptop have AERO Glass. I
agree though, its the best build since 5231. Every build since 5270 to 5365
BSOD on me, because of the lack of a half duplex modem driver, this was
resolved just before 5381 was released.
--
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Andre
Windows Connected | http://www.windowsconnected.com
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Blog | http://www.extended64.com/blogs/andre
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[Tony]

So far all is well but dont have Admin acount. Cant seem to get one or to
get into it.
Some slow downs and Glass turns off with some programs running then when
exit program glass turns on.
I am using Vista 5365 Ulitmate.
On a emachine laptop with an AMD Athlon 64,512Mem 80gig drive,ATI 9600 pro.

 

[Andre Da Costa [Extended64]]

Hi Tony, you can only access the Administrator account in Vista in safe
mode. There is a work around though to get into in real mode.
Check out the work around by Jerry Hame (Windows Connected)
http://windowsconnected.com/blogs/jerry/archive/2006/02/22/1028.aspx

Glass turns off in some applications I guess because they are not updated to
support certain features of the API or they are using proprietary API's that
are compatible with Windows. Java based applications are one example,
download the BETA 2 Java Mustang update from Sun's website and should
resolve this. Itunes and Quicktime also disable Glass, but the recent 6.04
update resolved this. Also certain ActiveX controls will do this.
--
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Andre
Windows Connected | http://www.windowsconnected.com
Extended64 | http://www.extended64.com
Blog | http://www.extended64.com/blogs/andre
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[Jeff Warren]

QuickBooks uses a third party PDF engine -from Amyuni. If one buys the
current version of Amyuni PDF converter, installs it, and renames it to
"QuickBooks PDF Converter" then it will work, but I don't want to spend more
money on an application I just spent $399.00USD on.

Looks like you have the AMD ready for just about anything with all of those
OSs on there!

I have been thinking - I may just create persistent VPN tunnel to the Cisco
Concentrators using a PIX on my end, then I will not need the VPN Client .
That should work in the near term.

How does the AMD do with 512MB or RAM? Have you noticed a lot of swapping?

BTW, all of my systems will run Glass, however I have been using Windows
Classic lately to compare the performance.

Jeff

 

[Robert Rixx]

I an having fun with Vista Build 5384.4. This is the only O/S I've see
continue running with the CPU pegged at 100% with some of my heavy hitting
apps. I think MS has a winner here.

 

[Robert Rixx]

sorry ,
Platform is:
P4 3ghz 800fsb
3gbs DDR ram
233gbs hdd sata's
DVD /RW
dual Lan NIC
Gaphics is an ATI Radeon 9600 /128mb on two ViewSonic Vp920b

 

[Robert Rixx]

You can also get to it within Vista in Control panel/ adminitrative
tools/computer management/localusers and Groups/ users, and rightclick on
the administrator, and make sure there a NOT a check in the in the Disable
this account box.

 

[Andre Da Costa [Extended64]]

LOL, you make me laugh. Vista is still "BETA", and the focus now is to
optimize the code
for performance and fix any bugs that are found. Vista contains a lot of
debug code right now, thats part of the reason why its really so memory
intensive. I am running Vista on a machine with 512 MBs of RAM, yes, its not
as fast as XP but I don't see any loss in productivity really from it. Even
Zack Whittecker has managed to install Vista on a system with 256 MBs of RAM
(don't know the performance) but it sounds like its working ok.

Anyway, don't cast judgment yet, lets wait until the software RTM's before
we do so. Also, we are still not at RC1 yet, and that build will be a true
reflection of what the RTM will be, then we can start to decide if Windows
Vista is right for us.
--
--
Andre
Windows Connected | http://www.windowsconnected.com
Extended64 | http://www.extended64.com
Blog | http://www.extended64.com/blogs/andre
http://spaces.msn.com/members/adacosta

 

[Andre Da Costa [Extended64]]

Too bad, about PDF and QuickBooks, I hope you reported it to Microsoft and
Intuit. Its good to know you have a work around for the VPN issue, VPN just
seems to suck in Vista right now, I hope people are bugging the hell out of
it.

The AMD is ok but, its not a star I would say with Vista on it, regardless I
am getting Glass, it feels laggy and the boot time is still slow, its just
not a performer for Vista. Oh, I forgot, I am also running OS X on it.
--
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Andre
Windows Connected | http://www.windowsconnected.com
Extended64 | http://www.extended64.com
Blog | http://www.extended64.com/blogs/andre
http://spaces.msn.com/members/adacosta

 

[Andre Da Costa [Extended64]]

Great tip, thanks Rob.
--
--
Andre
Windows Connected | http://www.windowsconnected.com
Extended64 | http://www.extended64.com
Blog | http://www.extended64.com/blogs/andre
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[Roy Coorne]

Andre Da Costa [Extended64] let us take part in his eXPerience as
following:
....

The AMD is ok but, its not a star I would say with Vista on it, regardless I
am getting Glass, it feels laggy and the boot time is still slow, its just
not a performer for Vista.

What do you suggest: because of the 1.6 GHz CPU with 128k L2, because
of the 512MB RAM, because of the FX5200... what's the bottleneck?

Oh, I forgot, I am also running OS X on it.

Impressive, indeed! And how is it performing, compared to the various
Windows?


Roy

 

[Zack Whittaker]

Actually guys... it is possible on 128MB RAM... it really is slow, but it
can and has been done ;o)

--
Zack Whittaker
» ZackNET Enterprises: www.zacknet.co.uk
» MSBlog on ResDev: www.msblog.org
» Vista Knowledge Base: www.vistabase.co.uk
» This mailing is provided "as is" with no warranties, and confers no
rights. All opinions expressed are those of myself unless stated so, and not
of my employer, best friend, Ghandi, my mother or my cat. Glad we cleared
that up!

--: Original message follows :--