[AccessD] Downgrading Vista

Karen Rosenstiel krosenstiel at comcast.net
Tue Jul 15 22:50:28 CDT 2008


Thanks Jim. After last night's frustration, tonight I am feeling pretty
smart. I just installed Horny Hoptoad (or whatever the current Ubuntu
version is ;-))) ) and then I installed xampp with PHP (not PCP -- I work
for a hospital and probably have doctors on the brain!), MySQL and
phpMyAdmin. Then I secured them and I have my test box all ready for a new
web project.

I am going to keep everyone's email advice because eventually I will
probably want XP Pro back on this box. But I am happy with this Ubuntu set
up. Boy it has gotten so much easier! Practically as easy as Windows is to
install, which, for all my gripes, really IS usually an easy no-brainer to
install. Ubuntu has picked my main Windows box on the network with NO
tweaking of Samba. I think it picked up my network laser printer too. Hot
damn! 

This is the best Linux install I've ever done. I am impressed. But since my
knowledge of Linux is limited, I am easily impressed.

Anyway....we  had better close out this thread as the moderator has
requested.

Thanks all of you, very much.


Regards,
 
Karen Rosenstiel
Seattle WA USA

-----Original Message-----
From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
[mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Jim Lawrence
Sent: Tuesday, July 15, 2008 8:42 PM
To: 'Access Developers discussion and problem solving';
dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
Subject: Re: [AccessD] Downgrading Vista

Hi Karen:

Just one small note to start; What is PCP/MySQL... is this some new toxic
programming language?

I sent of a note to Hans, my son-in-law about your problems with Vista and
here is his response:

<comment>
Yep. Downgrading from Vista to XP with SATA drives is a pain in the
backside. I did it myself as well for one of our work PC's. It does indeed
require a floppy drive with the drivers, but fortunately I had a number of
spare floppy drives lying about which I could throw in for the installation
process. 'Course, if you happen to have a very fancy server like some of the
ones I play with, the bios can mount a virtual floppy drive. ;) The headache
doesn't end there though, as in my case, the HP I was downgrading Vista to
XP on did not provide XP drivers on their support site for many of the
components on the PC (motherboard, integrated sound board, etc). It meant
identifying all these components manually and tracking down the drivers
manually. Sigh.

Going the Ubuntu route is probably wise. You can then install XP on some
virtual machine, like Parallels ($$$), VMWare ($$$) or Virtual Box (Free for
non-commercial use). VirtualBox is pretty good now days, so I'd recommend it
for general use. You might get a few headaches trying anything fancy like
mounting your iPod via USB. And you don't get 3D accelerated graphics, which
VMWare can do. I was lucky to sign up for a VMWare Fusion beta test, so I
got VMWare for free for my MacBook and I like it.
</comment>  

If you are having any other problems with your new environment just send
along a comment.

HTH
Jim

-----Original Message-----
From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
[mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Karen Rosenstiel
Sent: Monday, July 14, 2008 9:26 PM
To: 'Access Developers discussion and problem solving'
Subject: Re: [AccessD] Downgrading Vista

Guess what? That's exactly what I did.

After the first call with that Dell idiot, I did some research. Sure enough,
if you get a box with Vista Business or Ultimate pre-installed, you can
downgrad to XP. So I called Dell back and told them that. This time they
flat refused to help me.

So I called MS. Well, credit where credit is due! After MS verified my XP cd
was a legitimate retail purchase, I got a tech guy from New Delhi (I asked
him) who was intelligent, efficient and helpful. Spoke English pretty well
too. But basically what it came down to was some pci drivers. He apologized
profusely but referred me back to Dell for assistance in disabling the
drivers.

So I said the hell with it and installed Ubuntu. I had a DVD with 10 full
distros, but I do like Ubuntu/Kubuntu the best. It's a little cranky on my
box -- no network yet -- but did a good job of picking up most of the
hardware. Tomorrow I will install XAMPP, an easy installer for Apache,
MySQL, PCP and Perl. Very painless. Then I can use this box to learn
PCP/MySQL. I have a big project I volunteered for to redo someone else's web
site -- a pretty site but gawdawful code.

For right now, it's bed time.

Thanks for all the support

Regards,
 
Karen Rosenstiel
Seattle WA USA

-----Original Message-----
From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
[mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Jim Lawrence
Sent: Monday, July 14, 2008 2:31 PM
To: 'Access Developers discussion and problem solving'
Subject: Re: [AccessD] Downgrading Vista

Karen:

If the worse comes to the worse you can always switch to Ububtu Linux
(easier than XP/Vista apparently) and install Wine or Parallel so you can
run some of your MS apps. (The latest versions of Linux have no issues with
SATA drives).

Jim 

-----Original Message-----
From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
[mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of
krosenstiel at comcast.net
Sent: Monday, July 14, 2008 10:15 AM
To: Access Developers discussion and problem solving
Subject: Re: [AccessD] Downgrading Vista

I do have a USB floppy. Got it when I got the laptop just for such current
episodes.

--
Karen Rosenstiel
Seattle WA USA

 -------------- Original message ----------------------
From: "Edward S Zuris" <edzedz at comcast.net>
> 
>  You can buy a floppy hooked to a USB.
> 
>  I have used those in the past on Laptops  with no floppy drive.
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
> [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com]On Behalf Of Charlotte 
> Foust
> Sent: Monday, July 14, 2008 9:29 AM
> To: Access Developers discussion and problem solving
> Subject: Re: [AccessD] Downgrading Vista
> 
> 
> I hope you don't really mean floppy disk, John.  My laptop doesn't 
> have floppy drives and neither do any of the others I've seen.
> 
> Charlotte Foust
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
> [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of John Bartow
> Sent: Monday, July 14, 2008 9:20 AM
> To: 'Access Developers discussion and problem solving'
> Subject: Re: [AccessD] Downgrading Vista
> 
> If you have either SCSI or SATA drives you can install XP but while 
> doing so you must watch for the (initial blue) screen that asks you to 
> press F6 for additional drivers (or something to that effect). You 
> then need to have those drivers ready on a floppy disk.
> 
> HTH
> John B.
> 
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