Tablet Upgrade to Windows 7 RC1

In case it helps someone else I thought I would post my (so far very
positive) experience of upgrading my Tatung Slate (TTAB-A12B, 1.5GHz
processor, 1.2G Memory , 150G Hard Drive ) to Windows 7 RC1 Build 7100.
This tablet is a vintage 2005 Centrino unit. The model was rebadged
by Electrovaya as the Scribbler 3000/3100,and by RM in the UK as the
Teacher 12.1.

It came with Tablet XP , and two years ago I installed Vista (Tatung do
not support, and have never released any drivers for, Vista) as a dual
boot. However I found the relatively minor improvement in Vista's
handwriting recognition did not compensate for its sluggishness and
reduced battery life - so I have mainly stuck to using XP.

Last week with some time to play I decided to try the RC1 release of
Windows 7, downloaded it from Microsoft and installed it in place of
Vista. My Tablet will not boot from a DVD, so I simply ran the
installation under XP from a network DVD drive and pointed it at the
existing Vista partition. The install went without a hitch even saving
all the old vista files and sorting out the boot manager settings.

The upgrade advisor had suggested that Aero would not work and I would
need to download drivers for the 2915ABG wireless card from Intel.
After the initial install I was missing drivers for sound, buttons,
modem, fingerprint reader and the wireless network.

Sound and buttons were fixed with the original XP drivers. A combination
of a download from Intel and allowing Windows update to do its work
over a wired network connection fixed almost everything except the
fingerprint reader and the auto rotate when connecting to the keyboard.
Even the light sensor which didn't work properly with Vista does so
now.

I have found a driver for the AES3500 fingerprint reader, but the
Omnipass software refuses to install (I had to by a new full retail kit
to get it to work under Vista, Softex then wanted me to buy another
to get the fix for the dual account problem and presumably they will
expect me to do the same for Windows 7- they don't do upgrade pricing).
As I only ever used it to logon I will live without it until I can
find an alternative ( from a more user oriented company). Suggestions
gratefully received.

The absence of the fingerprint logon is so far the only real problem for
me. The 915GM/GMS graphics do not support the Aero interface but I can
live without that. The PCMCIA slot appears to be OK, but none of the
memory card readers I can use under XP are recognised (this was also
true under Vista). I just use a USB reader as an alternative.

On the upside

Everything else works just fine. It feels really quick (as good or
better than XP). Battery life seems as good as (or better than?) XP.
Pretty well all the applications I have tried have installed and worked
perfectly. The new TIP is SUPERB!!! recognition is much better and the
edit facilities work the way they should have done.

Windows 7 has given my old-ish slate a new lease of life. I will almost
certainly be getting a real copy soon after release (Academic upgrade
pricing anyone!). If you have an XP tablet I would really recommend
trying it while you can do so for free.

Any offers for a used Vista academic upgrade licence? Will trade for a
working fingerprint logon system that supports the AES 3500 under
Windows 7.

Regards.

--
Invalid

Thanks for your comprehensive report!
Your findings mostly match mine posted in May 26
news://msnews.microsoft.com/OPzqRBh3...TNGP05.phx.gbl

I had only tested Win7 and I'm doing my daily work under Vista Business
32 which does not show any problems.
As this first install causes calibration problems I'll have to
re-install and did not yet find the time.

> The PCMCIA slot appears to be OK, but none
> of the memory card readers I can use under XP are recognised (this
> was also true under Vista). I just use a USB reader as an alternative.

Which type (model) of card reader do you have?

I initially had problems with my TI-1620 under Vista already. I
installed the old drivers for XP and then it worked under Win7 (as it
dies under Vista).

Rainald

Invalid wrote:

> In case it helps someone else I thought I would post my (so far very
> positive) experience of upgrading my Tatung Slate (TTAB-A12B, 1.5GHz
> processor, 1.2G Memory , 150G Hard Drive ) to Windows 7 RC1 Build
> 7100. This tablet is a vintage 2005 Centrino unit. The model was
> rebadged by Electrovaya as the Scribbler 3000/3100,and by RM in the
> UK as the Teacher 12.1.
>
> It came with Tablet XP , and two years ago I installed Vista (Tatung
> do not support, and have never released any drivers for, Vista) as a
> dual boot. However I found the relatively minor improvement in
> Vista's handwriting recognition did not compensate for its
> sluggishness and reduced battery life - so I have mainly stuck to
> using XP.
>
> Last week with some time to play I decided to try the RC1 release of
> Windows 7, downloaded it from Microsoft and installed it in place of
> Vista. My Tablet will not boot from a DVD, so I simply ran the
> installation under XP from a network DVD drive and pointed it at the
> existing Vista partition. The install went without a hitch even saving
> all the old vista files and sorting out the boot manager settings.
>
> The upgrade advisor had suggested that Aero would not work and I
> would need to download drivers for the 2915ABG wireless card from
> Intel. After the initial install I was missing drivers for sound,
> buttons, modem, fingerprint reader and the wireless network.
>
> Sound and buttons were fixed with the original XP drivers. A
> combination of a download from Intel and allowing Windows update to
> do its work over a wired network connection fixed almost everything
> except the fingerprint reader and the auto rotate when connecting to
> the keyboard. Even the light sensor which didn't work properly with
> Vista does so now.
>
> I have found a driver for the AES3500 fingerprint reader, but the
> Omnipass software refuses to install (I had to by a new full retail
> kit to get it to work under Vista, Softex then wanted me to buy
> another to get the fix for the dual account problem and presumably
> they will expect me to do the same for Windows 7- they don't do
> upgrade pricing). As I only ever used it to logon I will live
> without it until I can find an alternative ( from a more user
> oriented company). Suggestions gratefully received.
>
> The absence of the fingerprint logon is so far the only real problem
> for me. The 915GM/GMS graphics do not support the Aero interface but
> I can live without that. The PCMCIA slot appears to be OK, but none
> of the memory card readers I can use under XP are recognised (this
> was also true under Vista). I just use a USB reader as an alternative.
>
> On the upside
>
> Everything else works just fine. It feels really quick (as good or
> better than XP). Battery life seems as good as (or better than?) XP.
> Pretty well all the applications I have tried have installed and
> worked perfectly. The new TIP is SUPERB!!! recognition is much
> better and the edit facilities work the way they should have done.
>
> Windows 7 has given my old-ish slate a new lease of life. I will
> almost certainly be getting a real copy soon after release (Academic
> upgrade pricing anyone!). If you have an XP tablet I would really
> recommend trying it while you can do so for free.
>
> Any offers for a used Vista academic upgrade licence? Will trade for
> a working fingerprint logon system that supports the AES 3500 under
> Windows 7.
>
> Regards.
>
> --
> Invalid