Dual Boot Vista 32/64 bit?

[Russell]

I am a 35year veteran pro-photographer who's used a PC to run Photoshop for many
years (v2.5). My 1st PC was a DOS--8088 and I've resisted the temptation to
switch to a Mac. Digital imaging has matured about as fast as OS's have (mac or
pc) so today there's really not much difference between the two (imo) for
Photoshop users.

Vista 64bit will offer a significant improvement over a 32bit OS when Photoshop
CS3 is released next April if, as I predict, it will be 64bit optimised . But
the problem with a 64bit OS is the lack of manufacturer's motivation to create
drivers. Apple has been ruthless with its OS/hardware evolution in not offering
options to its customers to run old hardware and software: If they did not
provide drivers and/or updates then they were no longer be part of Apple's
world. Microsoft, on the other hand, has always tried to NOT orphan a clients
existing hardware/software. Windows XP with its ‘compatibility' mode is as
friendly as one could ever wish for. Vista 32 will also promote the status-quo
so why should companies create 64bit drivers?

So... can I dual-boot Vista 32 and 64 bit now, or will it be possible? I have
Vista 32bit RC2 and never downloaded the 64bit version to see if dual-booting
32/64bit was/is an option. Will the licensing agreement of the final release
allow me to use both?

Russell

 

[Frank]

I am a 35year veteran pro-photographer who's used a PC to run Photoshop for many
years (v2.5). My 1st PC was a DOS--8088 and I've resisted the temptation to
switch to a Mac. Digital imaging has matured about as fast as OS's have (mac or
pc) so today there's really not much difference between the two (imo) for
Photoshop users.

Vista 64bit will offer a significant improvement over a 32bit OS when Photoshop
CS3 is released next April if, as I predict, it will be 64bit optimised . But
the problem with a 64bit OS is the lack of manufacturer's motivation to create
drivers. Apple has been ruthless with its OS/hardware evolution in not offering
options to its customers to run old hardware and software: If they did not
provide drivers and/or updates then they were no longer be part of Apple's
world. Microsoft, on the other hand, has always tried to NOT orphan a clients
existing hardware/software. Windows XP with its ‘compatibility' mode is as
friendly as one could ever wish for. Vista 32 will also promote the status-quo
so why should companies create 64bit drivers?

So... can I dual-boot Vista 32 and 64 bit now, or will it be possible? I have
Vista 32bit RC2 and never downloaded the 64bit version to see if dual-booting
32/64bit was/is an option. Will the licensing agreement of the final release
allow me to use both?

Russell

Sure you can. I'm doing it right now. I fact I'm triple booting that
machine with
1) xp pro x64 edition
2) vista 5744 x64
3) vista 5840 x86 (32bit)

Frank

 

[churin]

You can IF your machine uses 64bits CPU.

 

[NewsHound]

So... can I dual-boot Vista 32 and 64 bit now, or will it be possible? I have
Vista 32bit RC2 and never downloaded the 64bit version to see if dual-booting
32/64bit was/is an option. Will the licensing agreement of the final release
allow me to use both?

Yes, you can install both the 32bit and 64bit version of Vista on the same
machine if your processor is 64bit capable. I ran that scenario for a
while to take a look at 64bit Vista. All you need is a separate partition
or hard drive for the Vista 64bit install.

Your last question is the important one. The Vista license agreement will
allow you to install either the 32bit or 64bit version on one device
(hardware configuration) and activate. However, its unclear right now (at
least to me) whether a dual install/activate on the same hardware will be
allowed.

It would be nice if you could. I would like to keep the Vista 64bit
version around for testing purposes as new software/hardware support
becomes available.

 

[Russell]

Your last question is the important one. The Vista license agreement will
allow you to install either the 32bit or 64bit version on one device
(hardware configuration) and activate. However, its unclear right now (at
least to me) whether a dual install/activate on the same hardware will be
allowed.

It would be nice if you could. I would like to keep the Vista 64bit
version around for testing purposes as new software/hardware support
becomes available.

For Photoshop users the issue may be very important when CS3 is released as I
suspect it will be optimized for 64bit OS's which will improve performance as
well as allow it to use more RAM. The 64bit advantage might be too important to
ignore.

But problems will arise with other hardware that I use regularly - my Palm, an
older flatbed scanner that lacks a 64bit driver, and other 'yet to be
discovered' hardware/software issues.

A dual boot solution might be the way to go. But at what cost? And if I buy an
upgrade version of Vista 64, can I still run XP or does the upgrade license
oblige one to stop using the previous OS version on the same computer?

It would seem that if MS wants people to move to 64bit computing they should
allow customers to dual boot 32/64bit. This would increase demand on hardware /
software companies to offer 64bit solutions. Otherwise I fear too many will
choose not to do the 64bit leap because it would be too expensive to replace all
their hardware. Even Apple offered a dual-boot solution when OS-X was 1st
released (OS9/OSX) to lessen the impact on the transition.

Russell

 

[John Barnes]

It would be nice if they allowed both to be run with the license. XP
license is gone when you upgrade. I spent a good deal of $ moving to XP
X-64 and still never was able to find good replacements for all the
programs. Sometimes it took 2-4 new programs to replace functions from one
old program and some functions I have never been able to replace. I also
replaced a good amount of hardware, some of the old hardware now works with
Vista64.

 

[Russell]

Yes, you can install both the 32bit and 64bit version of Vista on the same
machine if your processor is 64bit capable.

I was able to download Vista 64bit and I installed it on another partition on
the same drive that the 32bit version's on. Just fyi I use a Lian Li plug-in
removable HD tray with a spare 120 GB IDA drive I had available. I disconnect
my main SATA drive before doing this so that everything I do with Vista is
completely separate from my important stuff. Anyway.. it's working fine and
gives be a good insight into the problems I'll have when/if I move to the 64bit
version.

Already I cannot use my monitor inf file (Mitsubishi 2040u) to tell the OS what
it is. At least the vid card, audio, network, and the SCSI controller are all
recognized as are my external USB drives. My Epson R200 inkjet printer's drivers
are built into Vista64.

It seems to run fine. I used BCDEDIT to edit the boot menu so the 2 choices were
not identical. On the hardware front I've got an Intel Core2Duo with a E6600
processor and 4 GB RAM so it's a good system to see what Vista 64 can do.
Unfortunately I've not yet been able to install Photoshop. I'm going to try with
their 30-day 'trial version' as the problem may be an activation issue.


Thanks to everyone for letting me know that this was an option

Russell