OT: Windows 7 (XP with a new look!)

[RJK]

What a heap of crap, ...not just Windows 7 but, also the Asus X5DIJ laptop
that I just bought for my Aunty !!!

Having just finished a late shift at work, I thought I'd run the Asus
"Recovery Disc Creation" procedure, (Laptop arrived this morning, just
before I had to go to work), so that it gets done. ....ready for when I
take it in to her tommorrow morning. The supplied "AI Recovery" has been
running for over 45 minutes, first creating a backup image, then ISO files,
....then it finally burnt the 1st ISO image to DVD+r ...or they may be -r'
discs btw, not sure now, (good wuality ones btw), ....and then the f*****g
thing decided to verify the first DVD+r that had been burnt.

Over 45 minutes !!!!!, ...it's 00:55am, I would really like to go to bed and
sleep !!!, ...and it was still verifying that 1st DVD+r when I came out to
my office here to have a rant.
I'm 54 years old and have been using PC's since they were invented, and with
all the hardware and software "development" across the past THIRTY years
there appears to be NO decrease in the time it takes the b****y things to
b****y well get on and do something !!!

During recent months, I've been used to Norton Ghost 14.0 backing up my main
PC hard-drive in less than 6 minutes (internal SATAII hd to SATAII hd's).
So quite what this heap of crap is up to - goodness only knows !

best regards,

Richard

 

[PA Bear [MS MVP]]

WTF are you polluting Vista & WinXP newsgroups with this rant, Richard?

<re-plonk>

 

[RJK]

So you started in 1976?
By the way, Asus is not a bad brand, it's favored by techies,
do-it-yourselves, etc., it's not a "cozy" brand like Apple. Their
specialty is bare-bone motherboards for desktops, and sleek laptops with
more substance, than appearance.
Despite that I'll still buy an HP again, when it's time, for political
reasons (too long to explain why).

Second, Windows7's been perfect here, as well.

I think you were having a bad day/bad luck, and no reason to blame either
Asus or Windows7.
When you write optical disks e.g. DVDR, be sure to select most
conservative settings, without bells & whistles of "life file system", UDF
and other invitations for trouble.
Choose Mastering, Disk-at-Once, maximum compatibility and don't let it run
too clos eot capacity limit, AND make sure long filenames are not nested
too deeply inside filetrees., AND make sure your DVD writing software is
set up to "verify" disk after writing.
It takes a long time even on most pwerful computers, but if you write
critical data, time is not the priority. Quality is.

hi ...can't really remember year - 1st PC was 8086 8mhz with
512kb+128kb=640kb ...oh those wonderful days when one fought with
Quarterdeck to get everything stuffed into that high memory area !
...and manually configuring DOS 3.2's himem.sys and emm386.exe etc !
(extended mem. manager and expanded memory manager etc. !)
DOS 2.1 and another OS was shipped with it ...until MSDOS won the day !

Asus x5DIJ looks and feels lovely, and Windows 7 is responsive and lovely
but, why on earth I'm here at 1:30am still waiting for this "AI Recovery"
software to produce 4 x DVD's is somewhat disappointing to say the least !

regards, Richard

 

[Shenan Stanley]

What a heap of crap, ...not just Windows 7 but, also the Asus X5DIJ
laptop that I just bought for my Aunty !!!

Having just finished a late shift at work, I thought I'd run the
Asus "Recovery Disc Creation" procedure, (Laptop arrived this
morning, just before I had to go to work), so that it gets done. ....ready
for when I take it in to her tommorrow morning. The supplied "AI
Recovery" has been running for over 45 minutes, first
creating a backup image, then ISO files, ...then it finally burnt
the 1st ISO image to DVD+r ...or they may be -r' discs btw, not
sure now, (good wuality ones btw), ....and then the f*****g thing
decided to verify the first DVD+r that had been burnt.
Over 45 minutes !!!!!, ...it's 00:55am, I would really like to go
to bed and sleep !!!, ...and it was still verifying that 1st DVD+r
when I came out to my office here to have a rant.
I'm 54 years old and have been using PC's since they were invented,
and with all the hardware and software "development" across the
past THIRTY years there appears to be NO decrease in the time it
takes the b****y things to b****y well get on and do something !!!

During recent months, I've been used to Norton Ghost 14.0 backing
up my main PC hard-drive in less than 6 minutes (internal SATAII hd
to SATAII hd's). So quite what this heap of crap is up to -
goodness only knows !

What does the OEM's restoration/recovery disc creation methodology have to
do with your subject?

Windows 7 is not the reason for your issue. The poor decision not to insist
on actual installation media for the software installed on the system and
not just some procedure to make the media/restore from disk is closer to the
reason.

Windows 7 is far from "XP with a new look" IMHO. Maybe Vista with all the
issues fixed.

 

[thanatoid]

What a heap of crap, ...not just Windows 7 but, also the
Asus X5DIJ laptop that I just bought for my Aunty !!!

<SNIP>

It's a lot harder with laptops (is your Aunty very "mobile" or
does she just like Mickey Mouse keyboards?), but IMO the only
reasonable way to buy a computer is to have a friendly
neighborhood computer shop build one to your /exact/ specs,
without all the shit you don't need or want, and WITH the stuff
you need or want but will either not get at all, or get the
cheapest/worst quality (that's what goes into name brand
computers in case you didn't know), all for a lower price than a
name brand and with service a few blocks away instead of weeks
or months of emails and charged LD phone calls.

AND you insist on the ORIGINAL OEM discs.

 

[Peter Foldes]

Richard

Why this rant and why here in the XP and Vista groups. You should have made sure
that you got the correct install media beforehand

 

[Bill in Co.]

I am today 37, born/raised in Europe
I'd agree 8086 was one of the early "practical" PC's. Can never tell
who/what was "precisely" first. - often there're multiple events, people
or
products. There were people before Einstein with similar equations but he
got his Theory officially presented.

But strictly speaking earliest PC's were long before 8086. First off, the
number "80" appearing in immense number of IC chips of that era simply
indicates the decade - 1980's.
But before that - even I remember using it, we had 8080, truly the first
practical Microprocessor - by Intel, piror to that we had all kinds of "do
it yourself" kits including venerable Apple in 1976, base don Motorola MP.
It is therefore a custom to specify the birth of PC's as 1976 Apple. THAT
I
obviously can't remember (was 4 year sold!).

But IBM quickly seized initiative from "hobbyist" Apple, and produced an
industrial/business version called simply IBM PC, that's when I'd like to
put a mark because they were first to market the term "PC" as opposed to
mainframes of previous era (even if Apple used the term, it wasn't a TM).
1980 was a crucial year

Some years later, I remember reading "Life & Science" magazine in that
country where I was born, by which time USA already had IBM PC XT & RT,
and
even a hardisk called "winchester" then with a whopping 1MB size!! It
cost
like a medium car, and breaking down as a habit. But we couldn't have
even
that.
In my country we had to use crap, but we had best programmers - the irony!
SO the flow started - brains flew to America, hardware flew to that
country.
As soon as we got here (a few of my relatives been living in North America
for at least a century, but we were late), I grabbed a free gift from my
father's former wife's new husband. he was a radiologist (medical), and
he
was about to throw out 8086-based PC AT (?), its memory was cutting off at
some small number and stopped self test w/failure.
Well I took it apart and fixed memory by moving banks around until I hit
the
bad one, and removed it; maxiumum was 640KB. That was a huge number, as
prior to that our High School "gang' built Z80 gaming machines where 32Kb
was considered an achievement, more often it was 16KB memory.

It sounds ridiculous now, but... people really had to use brains to
program
it.
Every byte was precious. I did some insane tricks, like resuing the same
memory byte for both instruction, brnach jump address or data - when they
coincided, things which would be illegal in progrmaming today.

Anyway, 8086 is too powerful to call "first".
Try i8080, Zilog Z80, Motorola 68000.

You mean 6800.
And don't forget the 6502 (used in Apple II).

 

[Bill in Co.]

What a heap of crap, ...not just Windows 7 but, also the Asus X5DIJ laptop
that I just bought for my Aunty !!!

Having just finished a late shift at work, I thought I'd run the Asus
"Recovery Disc Creation" procedure, (Laptop arrived this morning, just
before I had to go to work), so that it gets done. ....ready for when I
take it in to her tommorrow morning. The supplied "AI Recovery" has been
running for over 45 minutes, first creating a backup image, then ISO
files,
...then it finally burnt the 1st ISO image to DVD+r ...or they may be -r'
discs btw, not sure now, (good wuality ones btw), ....and then the f*****g
thing decided to verify the first DVD+r that had been burnt.

Over 45 minutes !!!!!, ...it's 00:55am, I would really like to go to bed
and
sleep !!!, ...and it was still verifying that 1st DVD+r when I came out
to
my office here to have a rant.
I'm 54 years old and have been using PC's since they were invented, and
with
all the hardware and software "development" across the past THIRTY years
there appears to be NO decrease in the time it takes the b****y things to
b****y well get on and do something !!!

During recent months, I've been used to Norton Ghost 14.0 backing up my
main
PC hard-drive in less than 6 minutes (internal SATAII hd to SATAII hd's).
So quite what this heap of crap is up to - goodness only knows !

best regards,

Richard

Obviously one should use a disk cloning or disk imaging program. This has
nothing to do with Windows 7.

 

[Ian D]

I am today 37, born/raised in Europe
I'd agree 8086 was one of the early "practical" PC's. Can never tell
who/what was "precisely" first. - often there're multiple events, people
or products. There were people before Einstein with similar equations but
he got his Theory officially presented.

But strictly speaking earliest PC's were long before 8086. First off, the
number "80" appearing in immense number of IC chips of that era simply
indicates the decade - 1980's.
But before that - even I remember using it, we had 8080, truly the first
practical Microprocessor - by Intel, piror to that we had all kinds of "do
it yourself" kits including venerable Apple in 1976, base don Motorola MP.
It is therefore a custom to specify the birth of PC's as 1976 Apple. THAT
I obviously can't remember (was 4 year sold!).

But IBM quickly seized initiative from "hobbyist" Apple, and produced an
industrial/business version called simply IBM PC, that's when I'd like to
put a mark because they were first to market the term "PC" as opposed to
mainframes of previous era (even if Apple used the term, it wasn't a TM).
1980 was a crucial year

Some years later, I remember reading "Life & Science" magazine in that
country where I was born, by which time USA already had IBM PC XT & RT,
and even a hardisk called "winchester" then with a whopping 1MB size!! It
cost like a medium car, and breaking down as a habit. But we couldn't
have even that.
In my country we had to use crap, but we had best programmers - the irony!
SO the flow started - brains flew to America, hardware flew to that
country.
As soon as we got here (a few of my relatives been living in North America
for at least a century, but we were late), I grabbed a free gift from my
father's former wife's new husband. he was a radiologist (medical), and
he was about to throw out 8086-based PC AT (?), its memory was cutting off
at some small number and stopped self test w/failure.
Well I took it apart and fixed memory by moving banks around until I hit
the bad one, and removed it; maxiumum was 640KB. That was a huge number,
as prior to that our High School "gang' built Z80 gaming machines where
32Kb was considered an achievement, more often it was 16KB memory.

It sounds ridiculous now, but... people really had to use brains to
program it.
Every byte was precious. I did some insane tricks, like resuing the same
memory byte for both instruction, brnach jump address or data - when they
coincided, things which would be illegal in progrmaming today.

Anyway, 8086 is too powerful to call "first".
Try i8080, Zilog Z80, Motorola 68000.

To me Z80 has the most meaning, I was 16.... that microprocessor was
ceated by geniuses in California (?), it was too good for its time. It
was so cheap, robust, reliable that BELIEVE it or not, still used in
appliances, home automation, etc. Smaller, expanded versions, but same
core architecture.
That is not related to Intel i80xx series or Motorola.

The first microprocessor was the Intel 4004. It consisted of two 4
bit chips. These were combined into the 8008, the first 8 bit CPU.
That's where the 80 designation started. The first practical CPU,
the 8080, capable of running BASIC, was introduced in 1974.
The first hobbyist 8080 kit was the 1975 MITS Altair 8800, which
also used the S-100 bus, which was the defacto standard until
the introduction of the IBM PC with the ISA bus.

The first mass produced systems were the Apple II, and the
Radio Shack TRS-80, both introduced in 1977. The Apple II
was the first to use color graphics.

 

[Bill in Co.]

6800, not 68000.

The first microprocessor was the Intel 4004.

Thanks for bringing that up. - I couldn't remember the 4xxx number!!

It consisted of two 4
bit chips. These were combined into the 8008, the first 8 bit CPU.
That's where the 80 designation started. The first practical CPU,
the 8080, capable of running BASIC, was introduced in 1974.
The first hobbyist 8080 kit was the 1975 MITS Altair 8800, which
also used the S-100 bus, which was the defacto standard until
the introduction of the IBM PC with the ISA bus.

The first mass produced systems were the Apple II, and the

With the 6502.

Radio Shack TRS-80, both introduced in 1977.

Don't remember what up the Trash 80 used, but think it was one of the Intel
8xxx series, not Motorola. Or maybe the Z-80??? Yeah, I think it was
the Z-80.

The Apple II was the first to use color graphics.

I guess Atari and Commodore followed soon afterward, but my memory is
fading.

 

[Russ SBITS.Biz [SBS-MVP]]

Timex Sinclair 1000 Z80 CPU
1K Memory with a 16K expanstion Memory Module.
Chicklet keyboard and it hooked to a TV
Yup I had one!

Also remember Osborne Computers?
One of the first Portables
(I think it was 50lbs?)
No battery of course.

Russ
--
Russell Grover - SBITS.Biz [SBS-MVP]
Microsoft Gold Certified Partner
Microsoft Certified Small Business Specialist
World Wide 24hr SBS Remote Support - http://www.SBITS.Biz
Microsoft Online Services - http://www.microsoft-online-services.com

 

[Russ SBITS.Biz [SBS-MVP]]

I actually would not want to go back to shoving everything under 512k and
trying to get
Logitec Mouse
Banyan, Novell, and OpenNET Drivers loaded.
(386 MAX was the only tool to do it.)
And IRQ's OH Boy Fun!

And even worse was hard Drives, You had to LOW level Format them
and if you didn't have a COMPU$ERVE Accout for $50 bucks a month (YES $50
Bucks for a BBS)
You couldn't get any information on the hard drive sectors cylinders etc.

So going back? No thanks
I'll take PNP Image backups and the Internet any day!

However this shouldn't have taken this long

Russ

--
Russell Grover - SBITS.Biz [SBS-MVP]
Microsoft Gold Certified Partner
Microsoft Certified Small Business Specialist
World Wide 24hr SBS Remote Support - http://www.SBITS.Biz
Microsoft Online Services - http://www.microsoft-online-services.com

 

[RJK]

You mean 6800.
And don't forget the 6502 (used in Apple II).

I'd forgotten that I had a Sinclair ZX81 (with the proper tactile
keynoard - not the rubber keys !!!!)

regards, Richard

 

[RJK]

I actually would not want to go back to shoving everything under 512k and
trying to get
Logitec Mouse
Banyan, Novell, and OpenNET Drivers loaded.
(386 MAX was the only tool to do it.)
And IRQ's OH Boy Fun!

And even worse was hard Drives, You had to LOW level Format them
and if you didn't have a COMPU$ERVE Accout for $50 bucks a month (YES $50
Bucks for a BBS)
You couldn't get any information on the hard drive sectors cylinders etc.

So going back? No thanks
I'll take PNP Image backups and the Internet any day!

However this shouldn't have taken this long

Russ

--
Russell Grover - SBITS.Biz [SBS-MVP]
Microsoft Gold Certified Partner
Microsoft Certified Small Business Specialist
World Wide 24hr SBS Remote Support - http://www.SBITS.Biz
Microsoft Online Services - http://www.microsoft-online-services.com

On my old Amstrad 1512, I had to buy the extra 128k memory module and plug
it in - to get to 640k

I notice earlier on this thread that I used the word "manager" twice, 2nd
time when referring to emm386.exe, I should have said "expanded memory
emulator"

I often think that software performance (Windows GUI and apps.), on recent
Pc hardware, in some ways is not much faster than my first PC, 25? years ago
!

As an example, many years ago I used to use DOS based "Masterfile PC"
(daisychain type database program), which could sort 4,000 records in 10 or
20 seconds, on an old 8086 8mhz based machine, ...mainly of course because
the whole program was written in Microsoft Macro Assembler

regards, Richard

 

[C.Joseph Drayton]

The first microprocessor was the Intel 4004. It consisted of two 4
bit chips. These were combined into the 8008, the first 8 bit CPU.
That's where the 80 designation started. The first practical CPU,
the 8080, capable of running BASIC, was introduced in 1974.
The first hobbyist 8080 kit was the 1975 MITS Altair 8800, which
also used the S-100 bus, which was the defacto standard until
the introduction of the IBM PC with the ISA bus.

The first mass produced systems were the Apple II, and the
Radio Shack TRS-80, both introduced in 1977. The Apple II
was the first to use color graphics.

Hi IanD,

I think you chronology is slightly off.

The Apple (Motorola 6502) and TRS-80 (Zilog Z80) were introduced in
1976. In 1977, Commodore introduced the Pet (Motorola 6502).

In early 1978 Zilog introduced the Z80a. This was a major innovation
because in allowed for direct inp/out.

Then in late 1979 (possibly early 1980), Commodore introduced the Vic-20
which was a very dressed down Pet and considerably cheaper.

Between 1980 and 1982 Atari, Texas Instruments, Acorn, Sinclair and a
number of other companies were developing home PC. That was also the
year that Commodore introduced the Commodore 64 (Motorola 6510) with
'sprite' graphics.

During this time, their were also PC cropping up in offices . . . the
one that comes to mind for me is the Morrow MicroDecision which was
running CP/M there were of course other like Compaq and Kaypro.

We now think of the PC as Intel (or AMD), but there were real PCs in the
home and office way before the IBM (and PC clones). The variety and
choices were staggering and the prices for the home ones so cheap that
it was a very crazy time. The last Commodore I bought (a Plus4), I
actually got a a Toys-r-Us and if I remember right it was only $249.

And just as an aside, if IBM had not gotten greedy and decided to
over-charge on the MCA (micro-channel architecture) bus, things in the
computer industry might have gone in a very different direction. The
'gang of nine' came together because of that . . . they are in a lot of
ways responsible for the level of standardization that we have become
use to in the desktop PC arena.

Sincerely,
C.Joseph Drayton, Ph.D. AS&T

CSD Computer Services

Web site: http://csdcs.site90.net/
E-mail: (e-mail address removed)90.net

 

[Russ SBITS.Biz [SBS-MVP]]

WOW Impressive!

You had the Next Generation version!
Mine was Chicklet keys.

I sold it and got a Commodore 64
with a Tape Drive, then a Single Sided 5.25 floppy (was it 170k?)

Major Flaw wit the Commodore64
Where the Power supply wasn't designed to be on 10hrs a day
Which I would do.

I returned about 4 of them at Toys R Us before I got one that worked long
enough.
(WOW I was addicted to computers way back then even.)

Right now I'm on my laptop, watching the Science channel.
And I can't wait till "CHUCK" on NBC Premiers tonight

I may need to go to Internet Addiction Classes
http://www.icaservices.com/

Naw, too expensive.
Later!
Russ


--
Russell Grover - SBITS.Biz [SBS-MVP]
Microsoft Gold Certified Partner
Microsoft Certified Small Business Specialist
World Wide 24hr SBS Remote Support - http://www.SBITS.Biz
Microsoft Online Services - http://www.microsoft-online-services.com

 

[Russ SBITS.Biz [SBS-MVP]]

Stop it,
you are making me feel old!
LOL
Russ

--
Russell Grover - SBITS.Biz [SBS-MVP]
Microsoft Gold Certified Partner
Microsoft Certified Small Business Specialist
World Wide 24hr SBS Remote Support - http://www.SBITS.Biz
Microsoft Online Services - http://www.microsoft-online-services.com

 

[Russ SBITS.Biz [SBS-MVP]]

is that with the additional 8087 Math coprocessor or without
for only $120-130 more (If I remember) LOL
I worked at Intel so we got a employee discount.

Russ

--
Russell Grover - SBITS.Biz [SBS-MVP]
Microsoft Gold Certified Partner
Microsoft Certified Small Business Specialist
World Wide 24hr SBS Remote Support - http://www.SBITS.Biz
Microsoft Online Services - http://www.microsoft-online-services.com

I actually would not want to go back to shoving everything under 512k and
trying to get
Logitec Mouse
Banyan, Novell, and OpenNET Drivers loaded.
(386 MAX was the only tool to do it.)
And IRQ's OH Boy Fun!

And even worse was hard Drives, You had to LOW level Format them
and if you didn't have a COMPU$ERVE Accout for $50 bucks a month (YES $50
Bucks for a BBS)
You couldn't get any information on the hard drive sectors cylinders etc.

So going back? No thanks
I'll take PNP Image backups and the Internet any day!

However this shouldn't have taken this long

Russ

--
Russell Grover - SBITS.Biz [SBS-MVP]
Microsoft Gold Certified Partner
Microsoft Certified Small Business Specialist
World Wide 24hr SBS Remote Support - http://www.SBITS.Biz
Microsoft Online Services - http://www.microsoft-online-services.com

On my old Amstrad 1512, I had to buy the extra 128k memory module and plug
it in - to get to 640k

I notice earlier on this thread that I used the word "manager" twice, 2nd
time when referring to emm386.exe, I should have said "expanded memory
emulator"

I often think that software performance (Windows GUI and apps.), on recent
Pc hardware, in some ways is not much faster than my first PC, 25? years
ago !

As an example, many years ago I used to use DOS based "Masterfile PC"
(daisychain type database program), which could sort 4,000 records in 10
or 20 seconds, on an old 8086 8mhz based machine, ...mainly of course
because the whole program was written in Microsoft Macro Assembler

regards, Richard

 

[C.Joseph Drayton]

Stop it,
you are making me feel old!
LOL
Russ

I hate to tell you this Russ but, if you remember all of that stuff . . .

YOU ARE OLD!!!!!!

Me of course, I am still a kid so I guess I must have read all that
stuff somewhere <LOL>.

Sincerely,
C.Joseph Drayton, Ph.D. AS&T

CSD Computer Services

Web site: http://csdcs.site90.net/
E-mail: (e-mail address removed)90.net

 

[Russ SBITS.Biz [SBS-MVP]]

LOL
Thanks a lot!
I'm not old, I'm well seasoned

Watch the Movie War Games With the IMSAI 8080
http://www.digibarn.com/collections/systems/imsai-8080/index.html

My College Professor had one.
I was jealous
Russ
--
Russell Grover - SBITS.Biz [SBS-MVP]
Microsoft Gold Certified Partner
Microsoft Certified Small Business Specialist
World Wide 24hr SBS Remote Support - http://www.SBITS.Biz
Microsoft Online Services - http://www.microsoft-online-services.com