HDD Swap For The GF

Another installment of the ongoing battle for switching the GF's Lenovo N585 from Windows 10 to Windows 7.
(Link 1 & Link 2).
Last Sunday, I had to install the old HDD (the one with Windows 10) on the lappie, so the GF can take out a couple of files that got left behind...

OS Update For The GF

Well, she isn't Cherry 2000, so, actually the OS update it is for her laptops...
Taken last Sunday afternoon...
Side by side, both of the GF lappies, getting an OS update/ refreshment.
On the left, the T410, jumping from Linux Mint 17 (Cinnamon) to Ubuntu 16.04 (plain vanilla Unity).
On the right, the Lenovo N585, going from Window 10 to Windows 7, it looks like Windows 10 was way too much for the lappie. or maybe it was because she did an upgrade from Windows 8 (which already was a bit slow) to Windows 10.

Upgrades During The Weekend

Took last Sunday to make some changes on the GF lappies.
Her Windows lappie, the Lenovo N585) was dog slow, so I pulled the HDD out, slapped another one I had around the house, and loaded a brand spanking new Windows 7 onto it.
Also, took the T410 and replaced the Linux Mint 17 install with a brand spanking new of Xenail, wiht Unity!
She loved it the interface, go figure, and the Desktop Environment choice of colors, go figure...
Also, of course, she loves the fact that now can use the Jam Trance Mini bluetooth speakers with the lappie.
Installing and setting up the Linux lappie was a breezy, ITOH, the Windows...
MF, what a drag! It took hours and more hours and more hours to setup, install updates, get shit done... Not to mention countless effing reboots...
Anyways, anything for the GF!

Some Windows testing

Testing Windows 7 (Ultimate) on my beloved T43.
Installed it on Tuesday, mostly to see how Windows 7 behaves and see if I can get used to it, and then, maybe, maybe... Switch to it... As my main OS for day to day to work and fun.

I've set it up, bit by bit, with the usual programs I've been using on Linux, but the Windows equivalents.

There wasn't that many problems, so far at least, except for one that it is really killing me, the email client.
I don't like Outlook, so I gave Thunderbird a go, but I guess I'm way too used to Evolution by now...

Windows 7 on the Thinkpad T410

Installed the other day, just to play a bit with it, used the Ultimate version, 64 bits.

The installation -from a USB key- went A Ok, not a problem during the whole setup, and the thing took about 30 minutes or so.
The only thing, after the installation was over, was that there were no Ethernet adapter, nor WiFi, available.

Had to download from here (it was the file called 6irf25ww_764.exe), after the install everything went Ok.
On the Windows Update -once connected- there were many updates specifically for the Thinkpad too.

The Real Unknown

Just netflixed Lewis & Clark: The Journey of the Corps of Discovery.
The amazing Ken Burns documentary fills in -with amazing landscape cinematography- pretty well the Ambrose book I read almost 3 years ago.

Windows 7 on the Dell Inspiron 1000

Installed today, after playing yesterday with Linux Mint 12 on the same laptop.
Loaded a bigger HDD, in this case, a beast of 60 GB go figure, and a little more of RAM I found, maxxing the memory to 768 MB.
Installation went fine -following my own USB key instructions-, took about an hour (from a USB key), the only remarkable thing, after the installation was over, there was no NIC adapter listed (the laptop has only a NIC card, no builtin WiFi adapter).
Easily worked out after installing the first set of Updates, but, in order to do so had to use a PCI D-Link DWL-G630 WiFi card that got recognized out of of box open sticking it onto the PCI bay.



The Inspiron 1000 only has a 1024x768 LCD and a video card that is incapable of delivering Aero Desktop Effects, but nevertheless the screen seems clear enough to use day in day out, particularly the Chrome browser one.



Installed the Windows 7 email client, that, believe it or not, you have to actually download because Windows 7 doesn't include it, even tho it is called "Something or other Essentials"... It took forever to get all the necessary updates once that "Essential" was installed.



Next thing, maybe tomorrow, will be actually using that Windows Mail Essential, and get all my contacts imported onto that.

On Windows 7: No wobbling

Did a quick test this weekend.

Gave the weekend off to Sojourner, and used the old, noisy & hot Thinkpad T43.
So took out the HDD from Sojourner, and loaded the original one that came with the laptop when I bought it, with Windows 7 Ultimate (32 bits) on it.

Of course with Windows 7 running and an external monitor connected there isn't any damn wobbling to be seen...

What you might call a real problem.

Cannibalizing the Acer

The Acer TravelMate 2441 is by far the worst, most el cheapo laptop I got my hands on.
Right now there are three things that decided me to say goodbye to it:

• The temperature, specially around or above where the HDD is stores, just where you rest your right hand when you use the laptop, is amazingly hot.

• The laptop uses PATA/ IDE HDD, and those are getting really hard to get by, specially -or even tho- I'm on a third world country.

• Tried to open the laptop to see if the fans were dirty or if they're actually working (the temperature is really annoying) but it was impossible to do so.

So I took out the RAM of it and placed it on Tango, the Compaq el cheapo which compared to the Acer feels like a Ferrari and is cool as ice.
Obviously the RAM boost made quite a difference on Tango.

Windows 7 on the Compaq F700

Installed on Tango during the weekend and I've been testing it for a while.
Windows 7 Ultimate (32 bits) works A Ok, even tho the lappie only has 1 GB of RAM.

Everything works fine after installing the Compaq driver (the one on the screenshot), which was available thru Windows Update, truly good thing, no need to fish them on the HP page.

After installing those (and a reboot) all the keyboard special keys come to life.
The NVIDIA driver (nicely available thru Windows Update as well) deliver an Aero enabled desktop.

Tango dances again

A bit of time off -long weekend- so got to take a closer look to Tango, to see what the hell happened to it.
Turns out the problem was the RAM... Took it out and un again and the thing just works.
Just for the fun of it installed Windows 7 Ultimate on a 250 GB SATA drive, so far thing look good.

Enable Aero

Don't know why, but -continuing with the Windows 7 re-install- this time the Aero effects didn't come up automagically upon installation...

Had to enable those by hand.

On the Control Panel, type Troubleshooting on the search box, and then click on "Display Aero desktop effects".
A little window will pop and voilá, the effects are up & running...

God knows why, the Desktop Window Manager failed to start upon this installation on the Acer.

Re-install Saturday

Well what do you know?
It looks like the Windows 7 USB install I have it is a pirated one after all :P

Nuked from orbit and re-installed following my own instructions to install Windows 7 from a USB key.

This time used an 80 GB HDD, maybe, if I skip the update that borks the Window install, I can keep this one around for a while, mostly for Netflix, Visio, and some other stupid stuff.

Windows 7 on the Acer TravelMate 2441 (2)

Time for a little comparison...
The Windows Experience from Argos, the Acer TravelMate 2441, to be compared with the one from the ancient Sony Vaio.

I'm not a gamer by any standard, but the Acer 128 MB ATI card seems to be delivering quite a nice job handling Aero, also, of course, the Acer has 2 GB of RAM an ocean of memory compared to what the Sony has.
The Acer's screen, even tho only 1280x800 in resolution, does a pretty good job for Windows 7.

Windows 7 on the Acer TravelMate 2441

Installed Windows 7 Ultimate (32 bits) on an Acer TravelMate 2441, did the install with the trusty all-around pirated USB installer I got from who knows where...

The laptop boots just fine from the USB key, I'm using a 4 GB one, but after starting the install it throw an error message that it requires a driver, Googled that error message a bit and the link below probed to be invaluable...

• A required CD/DVD drive device driver is missing during Windows 7 install

Specifically the reply posted by "Cherizli".

On my case, I had to do exactly that... Start the installer, at a certain point it will belch and kaput with a driver missing error, click Cancel, close the installer window, and, when back onto the Installer homepage, remove the USB drive, place it on a different USB port of the laptop and start the installation once again.

No sound for you!

The Realtek builtin sound card on Hercules wasn't detected by Windows 7 upon installation, but no biggie, after a couple of Windows Update it come out alive & kicking...

A bit of ye olde Windows (7)

Changed the hdd on Hercules and used a bit Windows 7 today...

So far this is, by a loooong shot, the Windows release that looks the best right out of the box.
Of course I had to install a ton of updates and reboot (after all I haven't used this Windows 7 since October 2010...) and the poor little Hercules has its fans constantly spinning to keep the beast happy with all the CPU it needs.

Windows 7 on a Sony Vaio PCG FRV37

So I got me a copy of Windows 7 Ultimate, if you can say that, to play with a bit.

Slap install that on the huge baby monster Vaio I have lying around for tests, got a 20 GB HDD that already had a working install of XP, and installed ontop of that, the Vaio can't boof from USB, and I had the Windows 7 installers on a USB stick (pirate, you say... Shame on you! This is research...)

Installed without any issue, it took about 3 hours, needless to say, on this ultra crappy and old laptop all that jazz and eye candy that Aero should provide doesn't run at all, but, nevertheless, I think that the default GUI is miles and miles ahead in terms of beautiful compared to what Vista was.