Smartalyx Computer Musings

There it was a laptop on my recently organized desk just screaming to be abused. Or at least, treated like some lab rat. How could I resist- the DVD in my hand was screaming to be used on something- anything? So the two got their wishes and this is the beginning of their story.

Big huge note here: If you want to ‘replicate’ this procedure feel free, but as always do so at your own risk. The steps I take here will delete all data on the hard drive. I did not back up anything- after all Rat-meister laptop wanted to be abused. More importantly, this was a test machine. Nothing of any value was there anyway. So I say again- I did not back anything up. It is up to you to judge the value of your data. If you want it- save it. Moving on..

You can download the RC from Microsoft (web site here). In my case I downloaded the 64Bit version. Once downloaded, burn the DVD. Honestly who doesn’t like to burn things. Now take the smoldering DVD to the computer you want to install Windows 7.

In my case, it is a Toshiba Satellite M305 with a Intel Core 2 Duo T6400, 4GB of RAM, 320GB hard drive and 14″ screen. I know of all the computers to test this seems like one I should treat with care. Ahh, to heck with it- I figure this is a good sample of the type of hardware available when Windows 7 is released. Now to the detailed and dreaded abuse of LT. I would like to remind you- it was screaming at me for this kind of treatment, sick little Laptop.

After putting in the DVD and booting off it (in the Rat-meister’s case I needed to hit F-12 at boot up) the install starts. It is pretty quick from start up to lab rat abuse install. The standard questions/options are here- choose your setup location and off and running. I have installed Windows 7 on a couple of machines and it is pretty fast- no more than 30 minutes and very little interaction until the end.

The end you get to accept the license agreement- feel like some abuse for yourself feel free to read. You are asked to assign user name and machine name. They do not have to be related, but the install defaults the machine to include user name. In my case, I went with something profound like “Standard” and the machine name was “Standard-PC”. So within 45 minutes or so, lab rat abuse was up and running.

I think one of the pleasant surprises was that the wireless network was detected, installed at setup and even before my first experience inside the OS I had connected to a wireless network. I think this bodes well for lab rat to hit the streets without wires. Come to find out not only is Rat-meister wanting the OS abuse, he seems to think that will include excursions to the outside. I cannot bear to tell him the news. But the big question and what prevented a lot of users from going to Vista is hardware support.

I am pleased there as well- only a “Mass storage device” failed to load, but that did not prevent the OS from starting. Video was set, audio was set, network card (wired and wireless) were set. Seems both Rat-meister and I are pretty happy at this point. Will the happiness continue for both of us or will Rat-meister regret making this request? Come on back to see the tests as I run them over the next few posts to find out.