Being forced to use vista??

[Negative]

To reiterate: sure it'll run XP. If XP can't find all appropriate drivers: http://h18002.www1.hp.com/cpq_support.html - select Software & Driver downloads from the menu on the left, fill out the model number below, select Windows XP from the list. They're all there...

[oofki]

Yup HP still provides XP drivers. I recently bought a Compaq 6910p and it came with vista so I put on XP and downloaded all the drivers NP.

[IKnowNot]

Ok, lets separate things a little here and add a little clarity ( or muddy the waters. )

First things first: I got screwed. My son’s birthday was in the second week of February, and he needed a new computer ( he was running an old E-Machine with ME. ) A week before his birthday I went out in search of a new computer running XP, and I COULD NOT FIND ONE ! Every store I checked was selling only Vista loaded machines. No one would sell me one pre-loaded with XP. It was not until weeks after I purchased his new computer that some manufacturers started again offering XP machines as well, due wholly to customer demand.

To address kryptonic’s original post, I believe most of the problems I have noticed with wiping Vista and loading XP thus far lie with proprietary software dealing with things like Function Keys, Hot-Keys, etc. Similar things have plagued Linux users ( myself included ) for years.

Which is a nice transition into my next segment ( i.e. rant)

I would pay about as much attention to what a Best Buy sales drone says as I would to a politician's manifesto

amen

Why should they give a rodent's rectum about people who want to put another OS on the system they bought from ...

Should have been They don’t give ...
Example: Toshiba

A few months ago I attended a tech convention in Atlanta Ga. and cornered a Toshiba rep. My questions were regarding my Satellite’s extremely limited battery power, limited BIOS functions, and NO Linux support.
I was told, in no uncertain terms, I should have purchased a higher end machine and they will never support Linux ( the Laptop was a gift from my wife: I attempted to explain that they should at least make things like this known so those with little computer knowledge could at least be able to research it, but that suggestion was immediately snubbed. )

There are known problems concerning Toshiba Laptops when attempting to run Linux on them. And with the attitude I was subjected to from a Toshiba Representative, and the fact that most ( if not all ) now come with Vista, unless there are drastic changes in their procedures from what I have seen don’t expect any help from them converting a Vista pre-installed machine to XP.

Back to kryptonic’s problem.
I attempted to do a little research on this particular problem, and found a reoccurring with the HP site: there are things which are purposely so small that even with a magnifier are not legible!!!!! So what are they saying about their attitude toward their customers?

FWIW, I would just back up any data, image your drive, then just go ahead and reformat and install XP. If you have problems after that, ask for help, and if you can’t find any replace XP with the image you created.

IMHO, Vista brought to the M$ world what Linux users have been dealing with for years.

As for my Satellite: I run it mostly on Linux, and F*** the F-keys and their proprietary software. And I hope their stockholders choke on it!

[nihil]

Hi kryptonic "the East is awake"

Here is a blog you should read:

http://blogs.cnet.com/8301-13554_1-9770230-33.html

Horowitz may be a bit soapbox orator but he does have his points. If you scroll down you will find the item where he bought a C571NR from BestBuy, for his daughter to take to college.

He trashed Vista and installed XP. He mentions a couple of things to watch out for when doing this

The good news is that it can be done with very little effort. Fortunately the C571NR was previously sold with XP loaded on it.

[Nokia]

I do wonder that if Microsoft could go back 2 years would they still do everything the same.....if they where honest enough to admin it when they **** up I could probably stomach the Vista debacle....

Dell UK originally put an email out to business customers saying that all new Laptops and Desktops would only ship with Windows Vista (except for the Ubuntu laptops that are going to start shipping at the end of Sept). Within three weeks they reversed their decision to state that due to customer demand you can chose between XP or Vista for the next 12 months - I also believe PC world travelled along similar lines too but can't substantiate this.

I am one of two people in my company that use Vista full time in work - I refuse to roll it out to anyone until I have throughly tested it's functionality myself - I started to like it for the first few weeks but after 8 weeks I despise it, I am going to keep it until the SP is released as see what that does for it.

My main gripe is that the menu structures and methods of navigation are not very intuitive at all....Oh and that they have done away with HyperTerminal and do not have telnet installed as a default.....

[hang10z]

nihil wahts with your attitude? You are a mod?? LOL thats pretty funny Do you have your peanut butter and Jelly backwarrds??? The are no laptop manufactures making laptops that are not compatible with XP. 64bit XP yes.... but not 32bit... LOL
What laptop motherboard is only compatible with vista? Can you even find me one?
What intel/AMD processors only run in vista?? Can you find me one
What wireless card only runs in vista? Find anything yet??
What harddrive only works in Vista?? HUH HUH??
Memory??

Haha I can't stop laughing at you.....


Find me one component on any laptop made by any major manufacturer that only has a vista driver. You need to go to the Hardware manufacturers website to check... not to hp's or Toshiba's......Just because hp or Toshiba only have Vista on their website does not mean that the components have no drivers for XP.


So like I said maybe there is a .01% chance there is a component in your laptop that is vista only... but I doubt it.

[oofki]

hang10z this is true there might be a lot of isntances that the mfg for the laptop does not provide drivers for any os except Vista but there may be cases that the hardware is only supported in Vista because the mfg of that particiular hardware ONLY wrote drivers for it in Vista. Just because you havent seen a case doesnt mean there is one.

Please lose the attitude or I will have to pick on the dumb things you say also.

[Nokia]

I agree with what Hang01z says - I may have phrased it differently but I do agree with his post.

[nihil]

hang10z,

The are no laptop manufactures making laptops that are not compatible with XP.

That depends on what you mean by "compatible"?

The actual laptop as a total assembly is probably XP compliant. The hardware could not give a rodent's rectum as to what OS you want to use, just as long as it gets I/O that it understands. The problem here is FIRMWARE ........... (why is it at times in my life, that I wish that I could type in crayons?)

The laptop manufacturer maker purchases stuff from component manufacturers, and specifies what he wants. If it is some $400~$500 craptop, then you will get drivers as specified........... on the other hand, if it is $3,500 worth of Alienware it will run just about anything.

Is it so much of an intellectual challenge to figure out that:

If old hardware stuff won't work with Vista because of the drivers; then the opposite is probably that stuff with vista only drivers may well not work with an older or different OS? O.K. most times you will get lucky and a generic one will do the job, but you cannot count on this

Errrrr............. have you ever used Linux? I suspect not from your comments.

Five numbers between 1 and 49

Incidentally, I cut my first code in 1970............ Fortran IV............ 80 column punched cards............ real stuff...........

1. No command line
2. No GUI
3. No screen
4. No realtime processing

Before you were born by quite a few years huh?

[brokencrow]

The Laptop Is a Compaq Presario C571NR.

Just checked their site. Was curious as to driver availability. They're
available for not only XP, but W2K also. The W2K driver page looks oddly
barren though.

Then there's no telling how well they go in, and whether you can sort
a base driver set from all the crap add-on software OEM's stick us with
these days. Cripes, imaging these days is as much about taking software
out as loading it in.