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Re: Vista

Harry Binswanger wrote:
In Best Buy, I looked at a computer running Vista. I found DOS in the
same place as in XP (All programs/Accessories/Command Prompt).


Has anyone actually run Xy on Vista?

I will faint from shock (never fainted in my life) if it can. There
are 32-bit Windows programs that cannot run on Vista. And recall that
the thing Microsludge has most rewritten appears to be the screen
handling--precisely Xy's most vulnerable point. Sure it's got a
command prompt and a VDM, but that doesn't prove anything. I cannot
run dBase 5/DOS on W2K--precisely because of screen issues.

But if anyone knows anyone with a Vista box, there's an easy way to
check. Load Carl's or Robert's (slightly different) portable versions
of Xy on a flash drive and try running it. (They'll not let you do
that in a store.)


And if anyone expects to be buying a new PC soon, be aware that the
name brands (with, I understand, the honorable exception of Lenovo)
are bound and determined to ram Vista down home users' throats. You
can get a box with XP (don't know about W2K) in the Business divisions
(some of them even offer a couple of Linux distros, and I believe
Compaq even offers bare iron--no opsys at all) and in the clearance
bin, but not for home use. I'm assuming you can still get XP or bare
iron from Three Geeks and a Goat. And such places do give you a driver
disk, though you should always check the component manufacturer's Web
site for later versions.

I also hear that M$'s listed estimates for RAM are woefully short
(it's happened before): anything beyond the basic version will need 2
G. And a 32-bit CPU can only access 4 G. So if you expect to do, say,
CAD or video editing on Vista, you'd need a 64-bit CPU, which can go
up to 16G of RAM. M$ is the hardware manufacturers' best friend.

Somewhat surprisingly, the cover story on one of the mags that cater
to modders and home builders of gaming rigs was on the lines of "32
reasons NOT to get Vista."


--
Patricia M. Godfrey
PriscaMG@xxxxxxxx