Zoostorm

[ffutures]

Pro - Working well and blazingly fast, for the moment at least doesn't need an accelerated graphics card - running Oolite at maximum resolution and most processor-intensive graphics, ditto Videolan. After I type this I'll probably install Celestia, see how that goes. Or go to bed, which might be a better idea.

Con - the button to eject the CD drive is WAY too stiff - the whole computer moves first!

It turns out that my current versions of Acrobat and Omnipage pro are too ancient for Windows 7 - I had a feeling that might be the case. REALLY wish I'd done this while I was still an educational user, that's an extra money hit which could have been smaller but it's pretty much essential. Bit the bullet and ordered them anyway.

More once I've finished installing everything. For now reasonably happy.

Comments

[nojay.livejournal.com]

Onboard graphics are a lot more capable than they used to be; This box I'm using has a Radeon 4250 embedded and that's a step back from the bleeding edge designs of today.

I'm pretty sure Windows 7 has a compatability mode which allows you to run older software in a wrapper, basically the OS talks to it in WinxP or Vista mode. I use this function in Windows 8 to make Corel Draw work. Ah, here's a link:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows7/make-older-programs-run-in-this-version-of-windows

You might like to give it a try with your existing versions of Acrobat and Omnipage Pro.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

No, they both use device drivers which can't run under Windows 7, apparently. For example, Acrobat runs, but the bit of it that actually turns documents into PDFs won't work. Omnipage refuses to install at all, even with the install program running in XP mode.

It really isn't a problem, I was planning to upgrade Acrobat anyway, and I caught the last day of a "black Friday" sale on Omnipage. It would have been cheaper if I was an educational user, but it isn't that big a deal.

[ggreig]

(This is too late and might not have worked anyway but) you could also try XP Mode, which allows you to run a fully licensed XP virtual machine inside some edition of Windows 7. Might still have had driver problems though.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Forgot to say that Celestia is also working well - no bothers about speeding up graphics for the moment, anyway.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Also that even without a replacement cable I'm getting 40mb download speed now.