I have two dedicated test systems both multiboot. But both run Win10 normally. Both have MB's with PCI slots and PCIE slots. The PCI slots have high end soundcards (RME, EMU and Lynx) and its all working quite well. The win 10 sound engine is a problem, trying to emulate a Mac, so changing sample rates needs to be done is 3 or more places. Otherwise they have both been pretty reliable. Win 10 seems to be more compatible with older hardware and software than when first released. Setting up multiboot with Win 10 and XP is not trivial but not too hard. I use a seperate drive for each OS so easier to manage.
The Motherboards are both AMD ASUS. I think the Win 10 installs are upgrades but you can buy a legit key from ebay very cheap. The one running XP right now has full USB 3 running in XP! The MB is an M5A97 which should be pretty cheap by now. It has 2 PCI and PCIE slots.
The Motherboards are both AMD ASUS. I think the Win 10 installs are upgrades but you can buy a legit key from ebay very cheap. The one running XP right now has full USB 3 running in XP! The MB is an M5A97 which should be pretty cheap by now. It has 2 PCI and PCIE slots.
Thankfully I don't need to worry about audio playback, it's really just for schematic capture, sim and running audio analyzers. I have a dedicated Mac in the Mastering studio and my main laptop for audio at home.
I repaired the 2011 Mac Mini (former bench machine) today with a new SSD and used the dosdude1's Personal Web Server patch to do a fresh install of Catalina, it worked great for anyone who has that need.
A little further research shows that Bootcamp with Catalina won't support Win 7 so if I get another Mac mini, I'll either need to go older Mac OS or stick to Win 10.
Right now I'm leaning towards Catalina Bootcamp and Win 10 home using Tubelab's trick.
I repaired the 2011 Mac Mini (former bench machine) today with a new SSD and used the dosdude1's Personal Web Server patch to do a fresh install of Catalina, it worked great for anyone who has that need.
A little further research shows that Bootcamp with Catalina won't support Win 7 so if I get another Mac mini, I'll either need to go older Mac OS or stick to Win 10.
Right now I'm leaning towards Catalina Bootcamp and Win 10 home using Tubelab's trick.
I have Win7 with Win10 dual boot on a HP laptop, on which you *the user can not* install Win7, because of no drivers anymore.
The worst *I thought* was the Graphic Drivers, which after a short search I found a hack for it.. All they did was removing the line Win7 in the information file.
Graphic Chip is Intel.. So adding the line back in the *.inf file installed just fine. all other what was missing I found on the internet.. I took an already installed on a HP Laptop, Win7 Disc SSD and plugged into the new HP Laptop, because it still refused to install. After booting to desktop I changed the drivers which I found on internet. And it just works. all together it took may 1 hour to get it working.Activated it and that's it.
But, look at my posts sometime you see strange errors when I did forget to check what I typed,, this is the Keyboard, which jumps back and fort while typing and it is really annoying. BTW, an external Keyboard writes just fine. So if I write a post on that HP then I spend about 3 times as much time as I would when I write it on Win10. But I do not like the function or regular Win 10. I can not run certain programs on Win 10 I need for my work, and that's why I have to Laptop with dual Boot Win7 / Win10
Here this text I type on Win 10 Enterprise Edition modified Version..
A young American made a Win 10 to look like Win7 and invented all features of win 7 a s well as Win 10..
Updates are only installed if you allow to install. You will need an * you can buy from Microsoft without problems* Activation Key, this is the only thing you need of Microsoft.
And here how it looks like..
YouTube
Easy to install and not meant to upgrade an other version of windows 10. Only in English
Most of the trash has been removed.
This here is running on a MAC BOOK PRO. Install file you will find on the internet.
So it is a Full Legal OS. Without Key it will run 3 days and then you will not be able to run it anymore.
The worst *I thought* was the Graphic Drivers, which after a short search I found a hack for it.. All they did was removing the line Win7 in the information file.
Graphic Chip is Intel.. So adding the line back in the *.inf file installed just fine. all other what was missing I found on the internet.. I took an already installed on a HP Laptop, Win7 Disc SSD and plugged into the new HP Laptop, because it still refused to install. After booting to desktop I changed the drivers which I found on internet. And it just works. all together it took may 1 hour to get it working.Activated it and that's it.
But, look at my posts sometime you see strange errors when I did forget to check what I typed,, this is the Keyboard, which jumps back and fort while typing and it is really annoying. BTW, an external Keyboard writes just fine. So if I write a post on that HP then I spend about 3 times as much time as I would when I write it on Win10. But I do not like the function or regular Win 10. I can not run certain programs on Win 10 I need for my work, and that's why I have to Laptop with dual Boot Win7 / Win10
Here this text I type on Win 10 Enterprise Edition modified Version..
A young American made a Win 10 to look like Win7 and invented all features of win 7 a s well as Win 10..
Updates are only installed if you allow to install. You will need an * you can buy from Microsoft without problems* Activation Key, this is the only thing you need of Microsoft.
And here how it looks like..
YouTube
Easy to install and not meant to upgrade an other version of windows 10. Only in English
Most of the trash has been removed.
This here is running on a MAC BOOK PRO. Install file you will find on the internet.
So it is a Full Legal OS. Without Key it will run 3 days and then you will not be able to run it anymore.
Does the BOOTCAMP refuse to boot or does it not accept windows 7 to install?
first you can take care of with a APP called Winclone which runs on MAC OS and second you can take care with the same software and
editing the Windows Boot file using BCDEDIT.EXE while booting of a Windows 7 disc and adjusting Boot-manager of Bootcamp.
I you have windows 10 installed on that machine, then boot of the Windows 7 DVD or USB stick and boot into the Windows 10 Parition, delete the partition and install windows 7, after that you will be able to to use Bootcamp with pressing ALT KEY while the MAC SOUND is on..
Anyway as always create a recovery disc from what is running on your system first.
I'm pretty PC averse so really I'm just looking for the lowest friction approach, and something that will future proof me reasonably for my simple needs over the next few years.
Thank you for the info though.
I'm not familiar with Mac's but windows 7 has no support. Windows 10 OEM keys You can get for cheap from many internet sites. Of course this is for personal use, because they aren't legal this way, only with a new machine or You buy the boxed version.
The question You have to ask Yourself is does Win10 provide all the necessary drivers and utilities for those Fn buttons or for the test gear You use ? If not, stick with an older non updated & dangerous OS.
For example my old 10 year Sony Vaio didn't have win10 graphics drivers for it, and I used a hack to install them. Even when downloaded from windows catalog or Nvidia they refused to install. No, it was no driver signing issue.
Now, when I install Win10 from scratch, Micro$oft installs them automatically for me on the first connection to the internet (The same version downloaded drivers).
Some old accessories like Laser controlling stuff and AVR programmer I have to use hacks, but they work fine afterwards. Since I have bought a new laptop I gave it to my sister in law with upgraded memory and an SSD and she is happy.
The problem with newer OS's is do we have drivers or can we hack them to work ??
The question You have to ask Yourself is does Win10 provide all the necessary drivers and utilities for those Fn buttons or for the test gear You use ? If not, stick with an older non updated & dangerous OS.
For example my old 10 year Sony Vaio didn't have win10 graphics drivers for it, and I used a hack to install them. Even when downloaded from windows catalog or Nvidia they refused to install. No, it was no driver signing issue.
Now, when I install Win10 from scratch, Micro$oft installs them automatically for me on the first connection to the internet (The same version downloaded drivers).
Some old accessories like Laser controlling stuff and AVR programmer I have to use hacks, but they work fine afterwards. Since I have bought a new laptop I gave it to my sister in law with upgraded memory and an SSD and she is happy.
The problem with newer OS's is do we have drivers or can we hack them to work ??
Any further more recent thoughts on this subject?
I'm sorta considering replacing the Windows 7 computer I have on the workbench for running test gear with a newer more powerful computer that would probably have to run Windows 10 (due to driver availability - these are Macs running Windows through Bootcamp).
The newer computer would clearly be faster and could run an app or two that look appealing (DeltaWave and Multitone). But, if overall it's a step backwards to use Windows 10, I'll live without those apps.
I value your opinions more than the various other expert PC sites. You all have much more relevant experience and have no axes to grind on the subject.
Thanks!
I'm sorta considering replacing the Windows 7 computer I have on the workbench for running test gear with a newer more powerful computer that would probably have to run Windows 10 (due to driver availability - these are Macs running Windows through Bootcamp).
The newer computer would clearly be faster and could run an app or two that look appealing (DeltaWave and Multitone). But, if overall it's a step backwards to use Windows 10, I'll live without those apps.
I value your opinions more than the various other expert PC sites. You all have much more relevant experience and have no axes to grind on the subject.
Thanks!
Generally, newer versions of Windows have no trouble with the basics:
- Chipset drivers (in most cases)
- System-level device drivers.
- Ethernet adapter drivers
- WiFi adapter drivers
- Generic HID devices, such as USB mice, keyboards, webcams, speakerphones
- Most storage controllers, such as SATA, SCSI, IDE etctera
- Graphic cards/onboard GPUs from the major vendors (Nvidia, AMD)
Usually, it's in the specialty items that you tend to have problems. Of course, many
audio-related devices could probably be considered specialty items.
Also, many people don't know to check Windows Driver Catalog or the website of the chipset
manufacturer for the component/peripheral. They assume company branded on the
device doesn't have it on their website, it can't/won't be supported. And then of course,
there's all the drivers in Windows update driver catalog.