New Inspiron 530 with Vista Home Premium -- some first observations

I've had my new I530 now for a few days and thought I would share some
observations about it and Windows Vista Home Premium. Of course, I ran the
Vista Advisor on all my current hardware a couple of weeks before I
purchased my new Dell. The advisor showed only one possible issue and that
was with my Epson Perfection 1650 scanner. I also have an Epson Stylus
Photo R200 inkjet printer, a Samsung ML-1430 Laser Printer, a Creative
WebBlaster Web Cam, a Canon Powershot A620 digital camera and a Logitech
wireless keyboard and mouse combo installed.

I did a clean install of Vista as soon as I unboxed the tower. The clean
installation went smoothly and soon I was ready to start installing my
hardware and software. This is where things began to get interesting.

The Epson Status Monitor, which checks my printer for ink levels, won't work
under Vista. None of the ArcSoft Photo Impression software will work under
Vista. That's fine, I don't use it anyway, but it was installed when I ran
the Vista Advisor and no issues were reported.

My copy of Zone Alarm Pro ($49.95 for two years) will not work under Vista.
I'll have to use it on one of my XP machines. Meanwhile, Zone Alarm Free is
installed and happily running on the Dell. The version of Roxio MyDVD 9.0
DE that was included with the Dell has no DVD player software. Who knew?
For DVD movies, I have to use Media Player 11.

My copy of Nero 6 Ultra won't work under Vista. I'll have to use it on one
of my XP systems. The software that came with my Canon digital camera,
ZoomEX Browser and some other utilities, won't work under Vista.

Well, that's not exactly accurate. It might work. If you follow a set of
instructions so arcanely worded it makes your head start to throb and your
eyesight go blurry around the edges. Something about how one version can
possibly be installed even if it isn't already installed depending on if you
have the original installation CD and the original version has been
installed. !? What the . . . never mind, skip the software, I can just
stick the memory stick in the card reader and it reads it just fine.

So, none of this is anywhere near mission critical, but all the various
hardware and software was installed on my XP machine when I ran the Vista
Advisor and it reported only the problem with my scanner.

As for Vista itself, I like the interface with the showy desktop and other
graphical features. It is going to take a while to get used to the rest of
it. We'll see if, in a few weeks, I like it as much as XP. Run the Vista
Advisor but be prepared for problems with some of your software and hardware
regardless of what Vista Advisor says.

 

....but, I thought the Vista Advisor is meant to be used only to see if
your XP pc can be 'upgraded' to Vista. I don't think you can assume
that if your XP pc, with its installed software and attached
peripherals, tests ok for a Vista upgrade, that you can necessarily
install the same software and attach the same peripherals to a new, or
different pc, running Vista, and expect it to run fine.

 

I could be (and probably am) wrong, but it was my understanding that the
Vista Advisor was supposed to tell you if your system and hardware are
capable of handling Vista. What would be the point of running the checks on
your hardware if it wasn't going to test for Vista compatibility?

 

I don't know the answer to that, but the Advisor states:

"Running Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor is a great first step for
anyone considering whether to install Windows Vista on a PC they
already own."

I got a new VistaHP box last month, too. I sort of like the GUI, and
the Event Viewer, but I'm still not used to the file system/
permissions, and I hate Windows Mail. I haven't used it enough to
form many opinions, though. I have a feeling networking this to my
other XPHome and XPMCE wired desktops and XPHome wireless laptops is
going to be frustrating.

 

I didn't want to get into the home networking part of my still new
experience in my post. Too infuriating. I had the network consisting of my
old desktop and my laptop, both running XP, set up in about 10 minutes.
I've spent hours on setting up the network between my new Vista desktop and
my XP laptop and I still don't have everything running like it should. The
reworked networking bits of Vista seem designed to be confusing on purpose.
It seems like nothing is named the same or consistently. I'll eventually
get everything going, right now I can at least print to both of my printers
from my laptop. I'm still having "issues" with drive, folder and file
sharing.

 

Check the Canon website for updated software for Vista. I think the
latest ZoomEX Browser is 5.8a. You can probably locate other updates
for much of your hardware now...a lot of manufacturers were just very
late in making them available.

 

I have checked out the Canon website and as I mentioned in my post, they do
have versions of the EX Browser and other software that MIGHT work under
Vista if only you can actually figure out exactly what circumstances are
required to be in place to get them to work. The way the instructions are
worded you have to hold at least a Masters degree in logic and philosophy
with a minor in Systems Engineering to understand them. Way obtuse!

I just stick the SD memory card in the card reader of my new Inspiron 530
and, like magic, Windows sees the card and offers to use Windows
applications or one of my choosing to open the pictures on the card. No
Canon software required. So, there is really no need to actually connect
the camera to the computer.

I'm probably more ticked about my copy of Nero 6 Ultra not being supported.
An email to tech support at Ahead Software confirms that Nero 6 is
definitely not supported under Windows Vista, and furthermore, is not
considered to be "upgradable" to Nero 7 or 8. But, if I care to shell out
about $80.00, I can get Nero 7 or 8. I'll wait on that.

 

Yes, I ran into the same thing with my Inspiron 530 and Canon software.
I just downloaded the latest version and installed it. Everything
works fine now. What problem are you having?

Tim.

 

And all my Epson printers have updated drivers/status monitors for
Vista, even the pretty old printers.