green g, many thanks for the pointer.

I've now got it installed (32-bit version)...but so far it looks too much like Vista to convert me! I've already started drifting back to XP when I can't find how to do something. I think I'm just getting old and don't like change.

[QUOTEI think I'm just getting old and don't like change.[/QUOTE]

I know the feeling well Spitoon, :( But it's well worth persevering with

It's now on the "other" hard drive in my laptop. I was amazed: it took under half an hour from start to "up and running". That was as a clean install to a brand new 80GB drive. Everything worked straight off.

What amazed me even more was that it found drivers for the "IBM" buttons, and for the fingerprint reader. The only thing it couldn't cope with was the Jeppesen data card writer for the Garmin GNS430. I think that needs a driver from Jepp.

Yes, it looks quite a lot like Vista. The difference is, it works.

Got my fingers crossed here - have been writing a windows service for the contract I am on and guess what under vista home premium which came with the lappy you cant debug as you cannot get trusted authentication (Has been fine at home as have ultimate on this machin) .....

So my options were put the clients xp professional build on or try out windows 7 RC (Ultimate) - or of course pay for upgrade to vista ultimate.....

Well not hard to guess which way I went.

OS is installed, now installing the development tools and hoping I dont come across any huge hurdles.... Will let you know if I find anything intriguingly different between vista and W7...

Having spent five hours yesterday unscrambling a friend's "new" laptop that came with Vista, no: Win7 isn't Vista masquerading. They just look similar ;)
The sillinesses in Vista are mostly gone from Win7.

Her Vista would start up, and then do a BSOD - always 2½ minutes after start. If I waited and didn't log in, it crashed waiting at the login screen. If I logged in quickly, it crashed after her desktop was up. Nothing in the Event Viewer showed what was crashing. Turning off everything in MSCONFIG didn't make any difference. It would start and work OK in Safe Mode, with the limitations that brings.

In the end, we decided to install Win7 over the Vista, on the basis that should fix it. The Win7 DVD started, took a good look at it, and reported that two files on it needed to be "removed or replaced" before Win7 could install. We removed those two files, and Vista is working again. So she doesn't have Win7, which is probably a good thing since she isn't really a "computers" person.

My guess is that something in automatic updates glitched. Those are now OFF.

Ahh, good old auto updates.

I never allow that to happen, I let it tell me what is there and then I decide what goes on, and drivers are NEVER allowed to install.

But which files are you talking about, out of interest?

Although I will, more often than not, install an updated version of a program, I have never allowed a windows update.

I suppose it's a distrust of M$ behind it, but my XP has performed without crashing since the day it came out of the box, so why mess with it?

I just knew someone would ask that!

Longish and meaningless names ending in .exe. I think one had SMS in the middle of it. Not files I'd ever come across or remembered meeting before.
Memory isn't my long suit: I write stuff down.

The page of notes that I made as I was working on it went into its bag, to come back with it if it returns. This is Keef's new policy to avoid having to remember stuff, or remember where I put the notes ;)

Creating a disc
 

Having just taken 12 hours to download the software for '7' then copied at 4X to a DVD I find after selecting a clean install started the installation process. After copying the software the disc got stuck on the installation part so I gave up and now have no operating system. Any ideas and thoughts? Perhaps a dud copy, in which case how do you know the software was downloaded correctly?

Thanks

You check the MD5 hash of the downloaded file.

I do hope that means something to crewmeal. To me it's about as useful as 'Error 1357'.

It's a checksum. If the checksum on the website matches the checksum of the file you downloaded, then the file is identical to the original. An error in a single bit generates a wildly different checksum, so you don't have to look too hard to spot a problem.

"Too many domains on the server", incidentally.

Now I'm totally lost

Have a look on a few windows 7 websites and I guess Microsoft. There you will find the checksum for RC1. This will tell you, if it matches the RC1 download you have, that your copy hasn't been hacked or corrupted. If it's different, avoid.

It will look something like this:

SHA1: 6071184282B2156FF61CDC5260545C078CCA31EEISO/CRC: ABA5A48

Anyway, hold the front page: build 7127 is all over the internet if you feel lucky!:}

I fear I have a dodgy disc as I've tried to copy it all to a folder and after about 10 mins it comes up with an error message. This means it will take at least 36 hours to download a fresh copy. By the time I get it sorted out it Microsoft will stop the evaluation sites and it will be on the shelves in PC World for sale!!!

Using Windows 7 now on a laptop, no problems upgrading from Vista basic, other then the main memory has taken some from the graphic card and running at 1024 x 768 instead of 1280 x 800, will need to upgrade memory to 2GB i think.

Also did a clean install on a XP laptop, installed but coudn't find the realtex ac97 sound or the railink wireless card, so uninstalled and put XP back on, now have both back.

Berliners,

Got my Realtek HD Drivers and Ralink wireless card drivers direct from their respective websites. Both had 64 bit versions too!

Sorry I haven't got a link, but at least you know they're out there!

NMRL

Thanks i will try the websites later.

Worked, downloaded updated driver, now have wireless and sound.

At last I managed to download and with the aid of ISO software I finally downloaded RC and it really works well. However a couple of issues:

It asked for a license key, where can I get one from?

Blu ray discs don't play anymore, even though the cyberlink BD advisor states all is ok. I've tried updating GPU and NDVIA drivers to no avail. Any thoughts?

As part of the dowload process via the Microsoft website.