Windows Vista Business or XP Pro SP3 ??

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Originally Posted by Ferret

Probably not an exhaustive software list but you could try here. Whether it goes back to DOS era programmes is another question

Vista Software Compatibility Center

Windows 7 Software Compatibility Center

If you find your DOS programs are not compatable and you can't do without them you can use DOS emulators such as 'DOSBox' (free) directly from within XP, Vista or Win 7. I use it for some old DOS stuff I have which will not even run under XP.

Provided all service packs are applied to Vista I think you will find it is not quite as bad as you might be expecting.

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Thanks Ferret. Seems almost ALL my software may be too old :o ... none of it's listed, and the only one that is, says it's not compatible with Win7 ... our accounting & sales software!! :angel: (MYOB Premier v7)

The DOS idea is good. Thanks! or ... build a dedicated DOS box ... I've got a dozen or more older PII/III boxes stored away that all run OK. Just means I have to work on a dedicated box instead of from the laptop. I can do that.

Might borrow one of the kids Vista laptops over the weekend and see if it works for me. The kids say they prefer it to XP.

Thanks again! Kev..

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Originally Posted by steveG

Whatever you choose make sure its not Vista. Slow, bloated, and most businesses were smart enough to give it a miss.

XP is bullet-proof and been around for a long time now. You should be able to find information on ANY issue you happen to have.

Out of interest, did you have to replace the hard drive at all on your old notebook during the 9 years?
I think that drives were made a lot better back then and seemed to last longer (either that or the old operating systems didn't hammer them so hard).
I've seen numerous hard disk failures on notebooks over the last few years - starting at about 2 years old and quite common when over 3 years old. If we redeploy a notebook thats over 3 years old we usually replace the hard disk as a preventative measure.

Steve

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Steve ... It comments like that, that have me on the back foot about Vista ... Hmmmmmm ?

XP is bullet proof ... just like 98SE is for me ... and I've always been able to solve any issues I struck thank to a quick google search. There's more than enough knowledge available now that everyone else has trodden the narrow paths ... so that's a BIG plus for me in XP's favour.

Yes, the hard drive is the original. I bought the machine 2nd hand, ex corporate lease, 18 months old, 9 years ago. Runs all weekend non-stop, and only gets turned off/on to go to and from work. They don't build them like they used to. So the drive it may be 10.5yrs old.

I've got a couple of portable 8 & 16 track hard disk audio workstations ... they use 2.5" laptop IDE drives. Playback 16 tracks of WAV data at 5MB/Min/Track ... those drives get an absolute thrashing, and are still going OK at 6yrs & 10yrs respectivley ... but at the end of every session I backup to a scsi RAID array ... :cool:

I think the fact that my laptop drive never cools down (very often) and stays running at a reasonably constant temperature has contributed to its long life.

Cheers. Kev..

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Originally Posted by djam1

Vista is evil avoid it at all costs
XP SP3 is pretty good I personally think Windows 7 is the go
Windows 7 is really Vista Sp4 its very stable quite frankly I think its better than XP.
Oh I make my living fixing XP

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Ooo, Ooo, another Vista basher! :D Thank you for your honesty!

Even though it's maybe getting a bit dated, XP SP3 is looking good.

One thing in my favour ... the A10 comes with, and will run Vista Business, comes with and will run XP Pro SP3 ... and after a quick check, it seems I'll qualify for a free upgrade to Win7 from Toshiba !! Wooo Hooo !! :cool:

So maybe I get the free upgrade to Win7, but start with XP and work my way up to Vista Bus' or Win7.

Thanks for the advice!
Kev..

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Originally Posted by incisor

just install 98 as that gives you dos and winblows...

plenty of suitable images around.....

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OK. Thanks for that. I have plenty of Win98SE media :)

Will Win7 work OK in a mixed network environment of XP & Win98SE ??

Will it allow my older 98SE or XP machines to access files on the Win7 machine ?

Kev..

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Originally Posted by Fluids

I am a musician in my spare time (like the last 36yrs), and I remember all the greif we all had trying to get our app's running under XP (to wit, I still run 98SE for most of my stuff) ... it's pretty stable these days and nobody wants to update to Vista (let alone driver issues) ... but that's 'cause XP's had plenty of time to get sorted ... and there was stuff (hardware) that never got XP drivers written which became (VERY) expensive paper weights ... hence my apprehension of going latest/greatest, and why I've choosen to stay with 98SE for my studio PC/App's/Hardware.

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Sounds like you should have bought a Mac, especially as music is your thing...they're the premium machine hands-down. I even run Vista Ultimate on it and never once had an issue. Vista's hated because it's not as nerd-friendly, and was created to be more user friendly. I've got 2 Macs n 2 Toshibas, and I don't trust the pc platform as far as I can throw it. Been burned enough times and not being suckered into the same mistake 4x's in a row. :wasntme:

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Originally Posted by incisor

what browser crashes? and what addons do you have installed in it?

why in hell would you have chrome and ff installed?

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I'm a free-spirit, man. I can't be tied down to just one browser.



On 7 it's Opera and FF, oh and I think IE once or twice. On Vista it was FF and Chrome.

So yeah, just about all of them.

Only Au dictionary and Adblock addons in FF.

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Originally Posted by Fluids

OK. Thanks for that. I have plenty of Win98SE media :)

Will Win7 work OK in a mixed network environment of XP & Win98SE ??

Will it allow my older 98SE or XP machines to access files on the Win7 machine ?

Kev..

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works fine at my place, mac sees it easily as well...

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Originally Posted by El Duderino

Sounds like you should have bought a Mac, especially as music is your thing...they're the premium machine hands-down.

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El Duderino ... today maybe, yes. 10-15 years ago ... no. Win98SE was a good choice for the small footprint back then. Hard drives were small AND expensive. I never used the PC platform to record audio ... I use/d stand alone dedicated audio workstations which were just basically dedicated audio PC's with a dedicated hardware interface .. they don't crash, don't need constant software updates ... and like 98SE, they just keep working.

I used the 98SE PC's for everything else (editing, librarian editors, patch controllers for synths, MIDI, etc, etc) ... Mac's weren't up to the task back then, just like PC's weren't either (imho) ... and they were WAY more expensive.

Vista on a Mac! ? The lines are blurring (Intel Mac's, right ?)

Kev..

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Originally Posted by incisor

works fine at my place, mac sees it easily as well...

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Thanks Incisor ... thats good to know.

UPDATE - Just got off the phone to Toshiba.

The A10 will come with Vista Business installed, and a set of media to do an XP Pro SP3 downgrade.

Because the purchase was made between July 2009 & Jan 2010, I qualify for a FREE upgrade to Win7 Professional (redeemable online with a $29.95 shipping & handling charge). The upgrade/update only works if Vista Business is installed on the hard drive.

The A10 has a routine to allow me to make a full set of Vista Business recovery discs. So I can downgrade to XP if I so desire, after making the Vista Recovery discs, get the free Win7 Pro upgrade, and if I wish to step-up to Win7 all I have to do is re-install Vista Business first (the upgrade won't work/qualify if XP is installed on the hard drive).

So I end up with 3 operating systems for a measley extra $29.95. How good is that! I can start with Vista Business (gulp) as installed and go either way ... gives me a chance to try out Vista & Win7 and if XP ends up being the chosen platform, I can always update later if driver availabilty for my ancilliaries becomes an issue.

... here comes the learning curve :eek:

A very big THANK YOU to all who've weighed in so far. PC support via a Land Rover forum ... gotta love this place! ;)

Kev..