[AccessD] OT: Windows 7 .. I'm VERY impressed

Preach on Brother John! ;)

VMWare and VPC aren't like the great bound/unbound debate.  There are
advantages to both.  I started with VPC 2004, and that was ok.  It
brought my 1 ghz pIII to it's knees trying to run a Windows XP box.  Now
on my laptop, 2.2 ghz duo core, with 3 gigs of RAM, I can run several
machines (I've run three 2003 servers and a client XP machine at the
same time) and the performance wasn't bad at all.  Virtual Server let's
you run each machine in it's own thread.  And the two apps are both
completely free (though I think you have to pay for the absolute latest
Virtual Server) and interchangeable.  VMWare performs better, (even now,
from what I've read about 6 months ago) and it is simple to run any OS,
even non-MS stuff.  I have a ubuntu Linux VM in Virtual PC, but you kind
of have to jump through some hoops to do it.  VPC will get closer and
closer to VMWare, as far as performance, but it will always be slanted
towards running Windows based OSes.  I'd probably play around with
VMWare a bit when I have some time (LOL, who has that?), but I took the
time to create a base hard drive with every MS OS from DOS 6.22 to
Windows 7.  (Though I've tossed the Vista and 7 one, cause they are
pretty big, and unnecessary right now, and I never touched ME, couldn't
pay me enough to have the .iso image of that install on any of my
machines! LOL)

Couldn't agree more on RAID drives.  It's one of my favorite preach
points when people ask me about machines.  With drives getting so cheap,
and SATA Raid Controllers becoming more standard on motherboards, it's
almost a crime not to be using a RAID.  (Though I use RAID 0+1's more
then anything else.)

As for the ISO images, try this:

http://www.magiciso.com/tutorials/miso-magicdisc-overview.htm

Get the 106 version, behind the Windows 7 link (and one of the others I
think).  I can install that version on anything (just put it on a
netbook running XP pro the other day, and it runs fine in Windows 7 64
bit and Vista 32/64 bit).  In vista and 7, you'll be prompted about an
unsigned driver, but it works great.  You can add as many Virtual
CD/DVD-Roms as you want.  (one of my favorite games is FreeSpace, and
old 'space' game I got with my first PIII.  It needs the DVD to play, so
I usually have a drive specifically housing that iso image all the time
on my laptop.  Fun to play when I'm bored).  It runs in your system
tray, and is very user friendly.  It'll even make ISO images for you
(and other formats if you want).  I stick with ISO.  Did you know
another feature of Windows 7 is that it will natively burn an ISO image
to a blank CD/DVD with no other software?

With the 'working' VM machine on standby, I use it a lot, cause Access
97 is a little finicky on a windows 7 box, if you use another version of
Access, Access 97 tries to right to the registry and fails, so you have
to restart it 'As Administrator', which is a pain.  I use 97
periodically, still have a lot of working .mdb's still in 97 format.
Easiest way is to use my XP box (which has Office 97 and 2003 installed
together).  But another big reason I keep that, is that when I setup a
dev machine, I do a few extra things, which are just time consuming.
Like setting up file extension special commands (like when I right click
on an MDB, I make it so I have the option of what version of Access I
open it with, and if I open it with a secured mdw.).  

Drew



-----Original Message-----
From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
[mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of jwcolby
Sent: Thursday, January 21, 2010 9:53 PM
To: Access Developers discussion and problem solving
Subject: Re: [AccessD] OT: Windows 7 .. I'm VERY impressed

Drew,

Amen
Amen
Amen!

For all of my servers I use a raid 6 array running on raid co-processor
cards.  On those arrays I 
store all of my data.  I have upgraded, moved and so forth all of my
data many times and never lost 
a thing.

A raid array is NOT a backup, but it is as close to bullet proof as you
can get in terms of 
preventing HARDWARE caused data loss.

I use VMWare virtual machines.  I do so because I needed to access fast
disks natively from the VM 
and at the time I started doing this Virtual PC wouldn't allow me to do
the things I needed.  But 
virtual machines are so recommended.  The ability to simply copy the
file off to another machine and 
be back up and running is indescribably useful.

Likewise I capture all of my downloads.  I have gotten lazy about things
like Firefox and so forth 
where I can get it off the internet, though I even carry around a 4 gig
memory stick with those and 
other programs.

And ditto to the ISO images.  They can be a PITA to get mounted and
visible sometimes but I have 
always managed.

I must say I have not gone so far as a virtual PC running my dev machine
on my laptop running on 
"bare metal".  It is a useful concept but I found it just a tad too
slow.  I have a fairly powerful 
laptop but it just didn't quite work fast enough.  I also had issues
with VMS client and Hamachi 
colliding.  It took a LONG time to figure that out.

Some day I will do the VM on plain jane OS but I'm not there yet.

John W. Colby
www.ColbyConsulting.com
The information contained in this transmission is intended only for the person or entity 
to which it is addressed and may contain II-VI Proprietary and/or II-VI Business 
Sensitive material. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender 
immediately and destroy the material in its entirety, whether electronic or hard copy. 
You are notified that any review, retransmission, copying, disclosure, dissemination, 
or other use of, or taking of any action in reliance upon this information by persons 
or entities other than the intended recipient is prohibited.