Windows 8 for free

[XS11E]

I've downloaded the Win 8 Dev Prev and installed it.

Ditto, it's gone now. I'll wait until someone comes along with a
Windows 8 version of Classic Shell before I'll consider it usable.

Thanks to EasyBCD 2.1 for allowing me to fix the bootloader w/o having
to remember how to use the Command Prompt tool, I need to modify the
boot loader so seldom I forget the commands, EasyBCD 2.1 does it for
me! Much appreciated, NeoSmart.net!

 

[Paul]

Well, I've seen the future! But I can't say that I'm very enthusiastic about
it.

However I'm finding my way around Windows 8 a bit better now - having
discovered that if I put the mouse pointer in the bottom left corner of any
window the Start button pops up (together with Settings, Devices, Share and
Search options).
Clicking the Start button allows me to exit the full screen application and
return to the Start Page.

I'm a little slower than you guys

I originally tried to install it in VirtualPC 2007. And then discovered
that wasn't going to work (no ACPI 2.0).

Then I tried VirtualPC for Windows 7 on my laptop, and that didn't work either.
I also got stuck, when the virtual machine grabbed the mouse, and it turned out
the laptop didn't have a working right-alt key to release the mouse (it's not
generating the right keycode). I had to cobble together a hardware solution to
generate a right-alt. Some other testing, shows the VirtualPC for Windows 7
to be thoroughly unusable. (I eventually got a copy of Knoppix to boot in it.)

What eventually worked, was VirtualBox 4.1.2 on the single core laptop. All
I had to do there, was use an alternate network chip emulation, and then I had
a working network connection in Windows 8. I was able to download Firefox within
Windows 8 and install it, and that seemed to work fine. The VirtualBox experience
overall was smoother - not the "system freezing" I was seeing with Windows Virtual
PC for Windows 7.

When I used Task Manager in Windows 8, there were some old friends present in
the Task List. Given time, they can change the name of the tasks and make it
look like a new OS, in time for release.

The big icons were amusing, for a second or two.

It seems they tried to make a 747 cockpit out of the file explorer.

Bits of the interface, were easier on my bad eyesight.

One other peculiar bit, was typing in the password. In the virtual machine,
the keyboard wouldn't work, to type in the password. I had to click the
"accessibility" icon and use the on-screen keyboard to enter the password.
And I don't think that was an accident. That approach will likely be
there for us desktop computer users when they release it. (Operate in tablet
mode, until you can run the Desktop app.) I suppose it could be a security
feature, and the virtual machine emulation of the keyboard was failing in
some way. But other typing tasks later seemed to work fine via keyboard.

I gave the VM 1400MB of memory to work with, and the thing didn't seemed
to be starved at that level. The first time I tried to install Windows 8,
the grumpy installer asked for more memory I haven't tried turning
down the memory knob in the VM (now that it's installed), until Windows 8
cries for mercy Maybe that'll be my next experiment.

Paul

 

[Paul]

I haven't tried turning down the memory knob in the VM (now that it's installed),
until Windows 8 cries for mercy Maybe that'll be my next experiment.

Paul

It's just amazing. I dialed it all the way down to 128MB in the virtual
machine, and Windows 8 can still boot!

The only problem it had, was at shutdown. Explorer threw an error, but
other than that cosmetic blemish, this is amazing compared to the
"rich diet" of Vista/Win7. If it was using the pagefile, there didn't
seem to be the usual side effects. Maybe it has something to do with
the virtual environment I'm using (caching in the host), and it
wouldn't work as well that way, on raw hardware with that little memory.

So in theory, I could try it on my oldest PC.

Paul

 

[Ed Cryer]

It's just amazing. I dialed it all the way down to 128MB in the virtual
machine, and Windows 8 can still boot!

The only problem it had, was at shutdown. Explorer threw an error, but
other than that cosmetic blemish, this is amazing compared to the
"rich diet" of Vista/Win7. If it was using the pagefile, there didn't
seem to be the usual side effects. Maybe it has something to do with
the virtual environment I'm using (caching in the host), and it
wouldn't work as well that way, on raw hardware with that little memory.

So in theory, I could try it on my oldest PC.

Paul

I think I'll do the same when I get time. I've noticed that it closes
down in double-quick time, but seems to take longer to boot in.
That seems to place it, however, as a running competitor for Linux for
the time being.

Ed

 

[Unicorn]

"Peter Foldes" wrote in message

Prev stands for Preview. At present the Win 8 is still in Alpha and has
not moved to

the Beta stage yet. The Preview version is not a complete version by far and
is
intended for a look\see. It has a built in kill switch which will deactivate
the

Preview version after 6 months of use.

JS

One thing is obvious and transparent that this Alfa version
of Windows 8 is the least ready for public view I ever
seen any beta product from Microsoft stable.

 

[SC Tom]

"Peter Foldes" wrote in message
the Beta stage yet. The Preview version is not a complete version by far and
is
intended for a look\see. It has a built in kill switch which will deactivate
the


One thing is obvious and transparent that this Alfa version
of Windows 8 is the least ready for public view I ever
seen any beta product from Microsoft stable.

That's because it's an alpha release, not a beta <wink wink nudge nudge>

 

[Tom Lake]

One thing is obvious and transparent that this Alfa version
of Windows 8 is the least ready for public view I ever
seen any beta product from Microsoft stable.

It's a Developer Preview. That means it's pre-beta.

The beta meant for the general public isn't available yet.

Tom L

 

[Stephen Wolstenholme]

"Peter Foldes" wrote in message
the Beta stage yet. The Preview version is not a complete version by far and
is
intended for a look\see. It has a built in kill switch which will deactivate
the


One thing is obvious and transparent that this Alfa version
of Windows 8 is the least ready for public view I ever
seen any beta product from Microsoft stable.

That's what alpha versions are for. They are released to people who
will contribute their testing and reporting experiences. Beta releases
are for more general distribution.

Steve

--
Neural network software applications, help and support.

Neural Network Software. www.npsl1.com
EasyNN-plus. Neural Networks plus. www.easynn.com
SwingNN. Forecast with Neural Networks. www.swingnn.com
JustNN. Just Neural Networks. www.justnn.com

 

[Paul]

I think I'll do the same when I get time. I've noticed that it closes
down in double-quick time, but seems to take longer to boot in.
That seems to place it, however, as a running competitor for Linux for
the time being.

Ed

Linux can be fast or slow, depending on the distro. Ubuntu only seems
to be getting worse as time goes by. The desktop seems to take a while
to start up, and often there are intervals where the disk light isn't
flashing (so it's not "disk bandwidth" limited).

Gentoo, on the other hand, can be better, because you can chuck out
the bits not needed on your machine. Kernel building there is all part
of the process, so you can go through the kernel menuconfig and
untick the stuff you don't want. And the desktop can be a bit more
minimalist. The only app in my Gentoo desktop menu, is "Terminal"
Everything else is launched from the command line. Maybe some day,
I'll figure out how to populate the menu properly.

Paul