I installed it on a spare PC with 1gb and whilst appreciating it’s still a Beta version I cannot really see any day to day benefits over XP at this stage.

So I stand to be educated on this point.

[quote author=“mart4494”]I installed it on a spare PC with 1gb and whilst appreciating it’s still a Beta version I cannot really see any day to day benefits over XP at this stage.

So I stand to be educated on this point.

Ribbons

Erik

I’ve just installed Vista Beta 2 today and it’s great so far. 
Most things seem to work and im pretty impressed.  Only driver i’m having trouble with is my ATI 9700.  It works as it is though, without installing the drivers but i’d like to install the Catalyst so I may need the ATI drivers in there first.

so how pokey does it seem on your S170 (assuming that’s where you put it)...i’ve tossed around the idea of putting on my S260, but haven’t had the time yet…

how much memory is the base install taking after startup and everything settles down, and how long does that puppy take to boot up..

chris

[quote author=“PL212”]Beta 2 is up and running on my TR1A.  Seems pretty nice so far—although no luck gettin the Motion Eye driver to work…

Were you able to use the recovery disk to get all the drivers? (well except for the Motion Eye)

jc

Another question, what are you using for anti-virus? My Zone Alarm won’t install. So, I looked for a free alternative and AVG won’t work either.

JC

Ok, I’ve installed Vista Beta 2 on my S170P. Basically, all of my drivers installed except for the “upgraded” Bluetooth (trying to use the Toshiba drivers). I suspect my original Bluetooth device might work but it’s ok for now.

A few thoughts…

In general, performance is pretty decent. Sometimes it feels faster than XP and other times it doesn’t. Considering all the debug code is still in I’m not surprised the performance varies. Still, considering the “old” hardware I’m running, it feels good. The Aero interface runs fine on my 64MB ATI Radeon 9700. The Flip3D feature is soooooo lame. ALT-TAB has been improved but they’ll have to do something about Flip3D since it looks bad, and isn’t usable. It’s more of a tech demonstration.

The UI is better overall. You need to get used to a few quirky things which really aren’t that quirky. It’s just that 2K/XP made you do quirky things in the first place. I like the new copy/move dialog box. It’s more informative and you can see what the copy speed is and a more accurate estimate of completion time. Transitions are much nicer and it feels more polished than XP. Full screen drags are super fast.

Of course, it’s not without its weirdness. Overall, while the UI is improved, it’s a little hodge-podge. If they were going to change things, they may as well started almost from scratch and hired a UI expert/design team to create a fully consistent interface. The comparisons between Aero and Mac OS X will be abound but let’s just say they’re good at copying each other. I think most people (especially new users) will feel more comfortable using Vista than XP.

For anti-virus, CA has a free antivirus program you can try. Check out CA’s eTrust suite.

More thoughts and screenshots soon…

[quote author=“caseyatbt”]Another question, what are you using for anti-virus? My Zone Alarm won’t install. So, I looked for a free alternative and AVG won’t work either.

JC

I just found that TrendMicro is offering a Beta version that is good through October:
https://www.trendbeta.com/index.php?get=80

jc

Minor update:

Sony’s Hotkey software sort of works. I can now control the brightness but the volume controls don’t work. I suspect it’s because they’ve reworked the audio subsystem in Vista. Anyways, it’s pretty neat now the system is more usable and i can actually test battery life with different screen brightness.

[quote author=“gr00vy0ne”]Minor update:

Sony’s Hotkey software sort of works. I can now control the brightness but the volume controls don’t work. I suspect it’s because they’ve reworked the audio subsystem in Vista. Anyways, it’s pretty neat now the system is more usable and i can actually test battery life with different screen brightness.

I’m having the same problem, I cannot control the brightness nor volume?  Which program did you use for the Hotkey to work?

So far i’ve installed:
-Sony Shared Library
-Sony Programmable IO control device
-Sony notebook control

[quote author=“spartanman”][quote author=“gr00vy0ne”]Minor update:

Sony’s Hotkey software sort of works. I can now control the brightness but the volume controls don’t work. I suspect it’s because they’ve reworked the audio subsystem in Vista. Anyways, it’s pretty neat now the system is more usable and i can actually test battery life with different screen brightness.

Where did you get the software from… Sony website?

Yeah, just the regular software they have at http://esupport.sony.com for my model S170P. It installs just fine.

Does anybody know if this version has Media Center abilities built in?

MS has a seperate beta for Media Center.

Erik

MS has a seperate beta for Media Center.

Erik

Actually, the CTP version that you get from Microsoft is the Ultimate Version of Windows Vista which means it does indeed include the Media Center interface.  :wink:

MS has a seperate beta for Media Center.

Erik

Actually, the CTP version that you get from Microsoft is the Ultimate Version of Windows Vista which means it does indeed include the Media Center interface.  :wink:

Ah, thanks for the correction. Being MSDN I pull whichever and I know there are Media Editions…didn’t realize which edition this beta is. Nice that they are giving out the ultimate.

Erik