Some tips for Music PC

[justblair]

Originally Posted by ostripper

Besides the differences(groups) that I was trying to point out between kernels , one must ask what IS an advancement ? A valid evolution of a OS would be better utilization of hardware (multi processor , 64bit memory access, hardware based security , better networking). This was done with 2K3 SP2 (best work to date from M$) , WHATEVER they did to it afterwards (vista) was pure ** based upon 3rd party coercion. Win 7 (from what I read) is a response to these issues based on massive Vista "non-adoption".

Better code (no mem leaks) , xp compatibility mode , and other issues that were addressed might be the "saving grace" for win7. BUT , the fact that it was not another service pack for vista is really rotten and greedy. Most IT people feel as I do , did not adopt vista , and are waiting on the first service pack for win 7 .
Another reason to wait is that some hardware manufacturers still have not gotten the vista /longhorn "bugs" out of their drivers , even now.

Would you include a new front end as being a significant enhancement? Windows 7 has a dramatically different user interface. It certainly feels like a different OS. The taskbar has changed in function, the pinned items behave more intelligently than the quick launch toolbar. (I used to switch that off) Aeropeek interface has extra functions as well, snapping windows to the side (to resize to half screen) or top of the screen (fullscreen). I like and use this featue. They kept the searchable start menu, but that was the best thing about Vista.

Most of the bugs were out of Vista by its second service pack, some of the fundamental design (e.g. UAC) was however poorly excuted and will remain so as it grinds to it's inevitable doom. People (IT profs, industry comentators) were pretty merciless when it came to Vista. I think that this was initially very fair... It was straight out of the box a croc.

Trouble for Microsoft is that Vista has such a stinky name, even if MS were to tag all the Win7 changes into Vista (they in fact have pushed a lot of them in service packs and updates, its nowhere near as bad now as it was on release) I dont think that mass take up of Vista would have ever been realised.

[ostripper]

Just blair, they have already made all the GUI "enhancements".. aeropeek , taskbar preview, gadgets , available for XP . Not only are they faster and less CPU intensive , but some even augment vistas functionality (see attachment).

I have had "winshake" which is a better deal than aeropeek (didn't have to buy vista or win7) and visual tooltip (vista taskbar preview clone).
The only thing thing I can not get Xp or WHS2003 to do, is show 128 X 128 pixel icons (I do have a "hacked" DX10).
Now I need something that will use all of the 1.7 gigabytes of free memory I have left so I can be just like vista (even SP2).

On the other "PC based" threads , some complain of the hardware conflicts ASIO produces on other PC hardware (network cards /video). On this XP machine or server 2003 , I can run both my gigabit ethernet cards maxed out while transferring furiously between HDD's , surf the web , let the kids watch a DIVX , and listen to ASIO music (or synths) ALL at the same time. I tried this with Vista SP1 ... it crashed , SP2 , it was slow at best. Server 2003 worked even better than XP, but had some program compatibility issues.

The searchable startmenu is quite good for normal folk , but EVERY filetype is associated on mine (files launch programs on this PC), and the dozen "work" programs (audio , LT spice, video editors, frontpage ) have a quick launch.
My main point is that most of these "enhancements" were in use long before vista by both MAC users and advanced windows users , the common user saw these as "new" only because they were not mainstream.

PS , I looked at your DAC's , beautiful work .. I'd like to match something like that up with my big amps and use spdif as the input.
OS

[PB2]

I just wanted to point out that NT and the derivatives had virtually nothing to do with the previous MS OS's. It was implemented by a team brought on from Digital Equipment Corp, people who know how to write a real operating system, LOL! I heard this years ago from some associates and it is documented here - see the reference to Dave Cutler:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_NT

My point is that while it is fairly well known that NT was a re-write, more important it was done by people who knew what they were doing. I've been to several IEEE meetings at Digital, about their new technology years ago, the Alpha, and the VAX 9000 - impressive engineering, but the 9000 was _very_ late to market:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VAX_9000

I wanted to design a VAX clone years ago, well before the VAX 8600 and 9000, studied the schematics for some time.

Pete B.

[Theo404]

Originally Posted by ostripper

Just blair, they have already made all the GUI "enhancements".. aeropeek , taskbar preview, gadgets , available for XP . Not only are they faster and less CPU intensive , but some even augment vistas functionality (see attachment).

I have had "winshake" which is a better deal than aeropeek (didn't have to buy vista or win7) and visual tooltip (vista taskbar preview clone).
The only thing thing I can not get Xp or WHS2003 to do, is show 128 X 128 pixel icons (I do have a "hacked" DX10).
Now I need something that will use all of the 1.7 gigabytes of free memory I have left so I can be just like vista (even SP2).

On the other "PC based" threads , some complain of the hardware conflicts ASIO produces on other PC hardware (network cards /video). On this XP machine or server 2003 , I can run both my gigabit ethernet cards maxed out while transferring furiously between HDD's , surf the web , let the kids watch a DIVX , and listen to ASIO music (or synths) ALL at the same time. I tried this with Vista SP1 ... it crashed , SP2 , it was slow at best. Server 2003 worked even better than XP, but had some program compatibility issues.

The searchable startmenu is quite good for normal folk , but EVERY filetype is associated on mine (files launch programs on this PC), and the dozen "work" programs (audio , LT spice, video editors, frontpage ) have a quick launch.
My main point is that most of these "enhancements" were in use long before vista by both MAC users and advanced windows users , the common user saw these as "new" only because they were not mainstream.

PS , I looked at your DAC's , beautiful work .. I'd like to match something like that up with my big amps and use spdif as the input.
OS

Why would you add all the pointless things vista did to xp?!? My mind boggles.... thats just worthless.

[adammatthew431]

Hi Everyone..

Does anyone have anyidea why XP refuses to allow a sound card to work in my system? The original sound card quit a few weeks ago (still have not figured out what event might have caused this) and after some investigation, I concluded it might be a bad card. Bought another, went through the install (XP sees it and then loads drivers) and when I go to Control Panel--Sounds, I still see no audio device, even though in the "Hardware" section, it lists the sound card and reports it's working properly. I've tried everything but hand stands to get these sound cards to work, but it's not working out. Something in the registry (I think) is "getting in the way" of the sound card, but I have no idea what that could be.

XP seems to load the drivers successfully, but "Sounds, ..." tabs in Control Panel is greyed out and saying there is no no sound devices. When I check the hardware device tab, I see the CM8738 PCI device and according to XP, the device is working fine.

I'm out of ideas why I can't get a sound card to work on my system all of a sudden. Perhaps a problem in the registry? What could I look for? Does XP have any "repair" utilities I might use?

Sound card gurus needed :-)

Thanks,

[ostripper]

I'm out of ideas why I can't get a sound card to work on my system all of a sudden.

I also have a C-media 8738. good card sound wise. Either you have a bad card, (it can show up in XP and still be bad) or .. with some motherboards , your new card could be "picky" about which PCI slot it is in, (try swapping slots ! ).

Also make sure you have removed all traces of your previous driver in device manager and that you have onboard audio fully turned off in BIOS (onboard audio/AC97 device AND any midi address in "integrated periferals" )
OS

[jonshandaniel]

Hi everyone,

Nice tips.
I'm new to this thread. All of you have made such an excellent stuff.
Thanks a lot for sharing it here.

[thunk303]

Hey Adam, i had a similar issue with a new sound card and as it turns out had to disable my onboard sound in the mother-board bios at startup which auto enabled 'every' time i removed my PCI sound card from the system

Also, just spent a few hours playing with a mates windows 7 media system and was completely blown away. MS has obviously focused huge resources on w7 being 'the' home entertainment solution. It was setup in under 30min accessing all media from a wireless server and worked/looked fantastic.

Cheers
Dean