Windows XP mode

As you are aware from my previous post, my laptop OS had been upgraded from Vista to Windows 7 (64 bit)t. Windows 7 (64 bit) supports both 64 bit and 32 bit apps. I was able to load all my needed apps in my laptop. Currently, it is may main productive machine. This laptop communicates with my desktop through wireless router. I am able to print documents from laptop through the printer attached to the desktop. My laptop has built-in webcam, speaker, microphone and wireless adaptor and this makes my laptop clutter free. I wish that it also had inbuilt Bluetooth adapter.

I wanted to sync my Palmtop (my old gadget) Tungsten T with my laptop. Unfortunately, Palm desktop (plus sync) software for Tungsten T  is not suitable to work in Windows 7. Palm stopped development of software for this product long time ago. As I explored the ways for making Tungsten T to communicate with my laptop, I found that Windows XP mode in Windows 7 would be a perfect solution..

There are some conditions to be met before downloading XP mode software:

1. It goes without saying that your Windows 7 should be genuine. Microsoft site would check before allowing you to download Windows XP mode software in your PC.
2. Your Windows 7 edition can not be Home edition. It has to be enterprise edition. It should be either Professional, Ultimate or Enterprise.
3. XP Mode required a processor with hardware virtualization support when it was introduced which meant that my laptop could not make use of it. Now, Microsoft has introduced a patch (update) that eliminates this requirement

My laptop has a genuine software, its edition is Professional and though my processor does not support virtualization, it is not a requirement now. My laptop got qualified. Three downloads in sequence were necessary. First, XP mode was downloaded and installed. Then, Windows virtual PC was downloaded and installed. Lastly, XP mode update was downloaded and installed. The total download size was around 500 Mb. The installation and start up went smooth.

I installed Palm desktop app in XP mode. Now, my palmtop gadget is happily synchronizing and communicating with my laptop. Having succeeded in this endeavor, I am looking through my old CD stacks to find out whether I require any old app to work in my new laptop. XP mode is mostly meant for enterprises that can not or do not have the resources to convert their old software to work in Windows 7. I used this idea to my little personal need

Technorati Tags: XP mode,Windows 7,Windows virtual PC,Tungsten T,Palm

A Notebook landed on my lap

My desktop is more than six years old, and was calling my attention for upgrade/replacement. My desktop is still a real work horse. I call it a horse, since it is kept up to perform most of my works effectively and speedily. I have only two  issues with my desktop.

1. The processor fan makes hell of a noise when processor heats up. This happens when the processor is made to work above 50% performance and the ambient temperature in my place is above 35 deg C. We experience this ambience 2/3 of the days in Chennai.
2. The monitor is a CRT monitor and is more than ten years old. The adjustment buttons are sticky and refuse to take my commands. However, the present contrast and brightness settings are good enough.

To my relief, my younger daughter, who visited India from USA, gifted me a new laptop. My daughter is doing her PhD and managing her expenses without my support. Though it is not a top-end one, it is a very good value item in terms of money and performance. I started loving it.

I am giving below the link to technical specification of laptop.
HP Pavilion dv5t-1000 CTO Entertainment Notebook PC
I have done some changes to software (not hardware) as given below:

1. Originally, the notebook had Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium (64 bit). I changed OS to Microsoft Windows 7 Professional (64bit). I could not upgrade and I had to do a clean install. I already tested beta version of Windows 7 and had some experience on this. I loved its robustness and performance enhancement. I have posted my opinions about this in my early blogs. Please click here and here to see my postings
2. Windows 7 did not install proper drivers of graphics card and webcam. I went to HP support site and got the proper drivers, Installations were one-click affairs.
3. I also installed HP assistant software, which takes care of performance problems. Though, Windows 7 takes care of most of the performance problems, I just installed HP assistant as an additional tool.
4. I loaded all my required apps and it is a productive machine now.

I tested the performance of my laptop using Windows 7. The results are given in the picture below.

The performance ratings mean that my laptop is good for most of the multimedia presentations as well as most of the games. It may not perform well in case of intensive 3D graphics programs and games. I  tested with some media files and games. the performance is more than satisfactory. This laptop connects to even very weak wi-fi networks effortlessly.
My honeymoon with my new laptop is still continuing. I may one day load Linux also in this laptop. Time has not arrived yet.
Technorati Tags: HP,Pavilion,dv5tm Windows 7,HP assistant

Exploring Windows 7 – Part I

There have been quite a good review about to be released Microsoft Windows 7 in internet. It was told that Windows has the stability of Windows XP with features of Vista. I was curious to try it. It is a beta version to be released in the market as a commercial version in July 2009. Some web sites claimed that the trial period may expire in June 2010. If the trial period is that long a period, it is worth trying it. I will have ample period to decide on upgrade from Windows XP to Windows 7. A decision has been made to try Windows 7.

Then the question came up “how”?”. The following options were considered:

1. Install Windows 7 replacing Windows XP.
2. Having only one machine, why not have a new machine? That would have better configuration to try all the features of Windows 7. The only machine I own now is six years old with old video card.
3. Try on a virtual machine.

The first option is risky, since it is the only one machine I have, whether production or test purpose. There is a risk of losing some of applications and data I use now. It was ruled out. The second option is also out of the question, since I am a non-performing guy, I mean non earning guy. I chose the third option which is practical.

I decided to use VirtualBox, the virtual machine application after seeing good review of it. I installed it in my machine. The following link provided me the necessary instructions.

installing-windows-7-on-virtualbox/

I followed the instructions and I had only only glitch which is not in these instructions. I was trying to install the Windows 7 virtual machine on a FAT32 file system partition. This action allowed me to go only up to 85% of extraction of installation files. I had to search in the web and found a solution. I converted the partition from FAT32 file system to NTFS file system. The installation went smooth.

CAUTION: The installation file of Windows 7 is 2.36GB size. It took me three days to download (non-continuously) with my broadband speed of 256 kb/sec.

The first impression is positive. The look and feel is good. My video card did not allow me to try desktop effects. I will write more about it in my second part.