Been a bit (Tech post)
久しぶりだな ("It's been a while." - That's the problem with learning a foreign language: unless you're family's really into it, using it in an audible manner just confuses them. Good practice, though.) After spring break, things got sorta busy and I got really tired (some days I wish I didn't hate the taste of coffee so much; though my Drugs and Behavior class gives me a couple reasons to not be too upset about that.) But I'm here now, so...
My dad's laptop was destroyed recently (I know who to blame but I'll resist it here) and he had to order a new one from Dell, the Inspiron 1545. Not a bad model, just comes with Vista if you don't want to pay an extra $300 or so (the warranty itself if already $300, no need for more of that, not when I have his old XP disk). That parenthetical note leads into the purpose of this post: anybody tried dual-booting on a Vista pre-installed computer? I'd looked into it, seeing as how my loathing of Vista knows no bounds, but I knew that unless you bought the more expensive Vista Ultimate a downgrade was not allowed, so says Microsoft (no matter that a good amount of companies were willing to withhold updating their systems till Windows 7 was produced due to the numerous problems with the OS). But, got a perfectly legit copy of XP from the now defunct computer, so why not try it?
Using these instructions: Dual-boot XP and Vista with Vista installed first I created a partition to house XP and went to work installing it. Got it working, except having switched the SATA HD drivers to ATA instead of Vista's default, at the dual boot screen, when I went to start Vista, got the ol' gray-screen, troublemaker. Switch it back the default drivers, it's fine, but XP won't work =/ Tried a few fixes, some cmd line stuff, but in the end, reinstalled Vista on its original partition. Didn't have any important stuff on that drive anyway, the comp being only two days old at that point. So, in the end, after 8 hours, it worked :D
Reason why I'd keep Vista at all: someone shares the comp with Dad, this someone is careless, this someone can destroy Vista and leave XP alone, thank you very much. (When you're the one researching, calling tech support, being hassled, you learn to take precautions.)
The trick really is to install XP first on one partition (which means blanking out your old Vista installation, so backing-up is imperative, of course), then when Vista is installed, the OS settings don't mix. Working in an XP environment was so beautifully nostalgic, especially considering that if I have to see COM Surrogate announce it has stopped working one more time (after I've applied various fixes) I'm gonna hit something. Or have to deal with media problems, or have iTunes - even with it's latest update - attempt to reinstall itself again, or how about Vista's nice little habit of coming out of sleep/stand-by/whatever-its-new-name-is and deciding it doesn't want any new programs to open or restart. >=(
::cleansing breath::
I have a ton of stuff on this computer right now, and it's mostly backed up, but not all the programs are, nor do I have all the disks, so while I think I could install XP on this one without violating any Windows piracy laws (thus negating updates), I'm still hesitant. Not too keen to go hunting down programs again, but I am debating pros and cons. Just can't do it with papers due and exams every other week (for Drugs and Behavior that is the schedule - an interesting course, but exam-heavy).
Quick TV stuff: I like Dollhouse and Castle, 30 Rock rules, Juliet/Sawyer is adorable but then Kate and Jack showed up and I really don't like them together or as characters, but I remember that Sawyer/Kate was cute, too, so...I am confused; and Scrubs is on tonight, finally. :)
My dad's laptop was destroyed recently (I know who to blame but I'll resist it here) and he had to order a new one from Dell, the Inspiron 1545. Not a bad model, just comes with Vista if you don't want to pay an extra $300 or so (the warranty itself if already $300, no need for more of that, not when I have his old XP disk). That parenthetical note leads into the purpose of this post: anybody tried dual-booting on a Vista pre-installed computer? I'd looked into it, seeing as how my loathing of Vista knows no bounds, but I knew that unless you bought the more expensive Vista Ultimate a downgrade was not allowed, so says Microsoft (no matter that a good amount of companies were willing to withhold updating their systems till Windows 7 was produced due to the numerous problems with the OS). But, got a perfectly legit copy of XP from the now defunct computer, so why not try it?
Using these instructions: Dual-boot XP and Vista with Vista installed first I created a partition to house XP and went to work installing it. Got it working, except having switched the SATA HD drivers to ATA instead of Vista's default, at the dual boot screen, when I went to start Vista, got the ol' gray-screen, troublemaker. Switch it back the default drivers, it's fine, but XP won't work =/ Tried a few fixes, some cmd line stuff, but in the end, reinstalled Vista on its original partition. Didn't have any important stuff on that drive anyway, the comp being only two days old at that point. So, in the end, after 8 hours, it worked :D
Reason why I'd keep Vista at all: someone shares the comp with Dad, this someone is careless, this someone can destroy Vista and leave XP alone, thank you very much. (When you're the one researching, calling tech support, being hassled, you learn to take precautions.)
The trick really is to install XP first on one partition (which means blanking out your old Vista installation, so backing-up is imperative, of course), then when Vista is installed, the OS settings don't mix. Working in an XP environment was so beautifully nostalgic, especially considering that if I have to see COM Surrogate announce it has stopped working one more time (after I've applied various fixes) I'm gonna hit something. Or have to deal with media problems, or have iTunes - even with it's latest update - attempt to reinstall itself again, or how about Vista's nice little habit of coming out of sleep/stand-by/whatever-its-new-name-is and deciding it doesn't want any new programs to open or restart. >=(
::cleansing breath::
I have a ton of stuff on this computer right now, and it's mostly backed up, but not all the programs are, nor do I have all the disks, so while I think I could install XP on this one without violating any Windows piracy laws (thus negating updates), I'm still hesitant. Not too keen to go hunting down programs again, but I am debating pros and cons. Just can't do it with papers due and exams every other week (for Drugs and Behavior that is the schedule - an interesting course, but exam-heavy).
Quick TV stuff: I like Dollhouse and Castle, 30 Rock rules, Juliet/Sawyer is adorable but then Kate and Jack showed up and I really don't like them together or as characters, but I remember that Sawyer/Kate was cute, too, so...I am confused; and Scrubs is on tonight, finally. :)