When mature software is a better choice
From a missed delivery, due to son #3 going for a haircut (and looking years younger as a result), to a drive across town to see my friends at Purolator while listening to the opening music from Romeo and Juliet (still moves my spirit, forty years after the release), all signs pointed to a retrograde motion theme for today. The latest laptop in our home computing centre has arrived, and the choice has been made. We’re remaining as a Vista-free zone. The new machine, nicknamed Canary due to its saffron skin, will lose the factory load and be assimilated.
Thankfully, others have gone down this twisty path before me. Thankfully, I do machine setups on a regular basis. I don’t want to think what it must be like for the ill-equipped user who makes decisions on changing configuration of a laptop; the game is more complex than it used to be. So many new technologies. So many things that have evolved (what, no floppy?). Simply inserting the setup CD and waiting is not going to deliver a result that will satisfy. I was prepared; drivers downloaded from the various websites, all necessary serial numbers, wired and wireless network connections available, other machines to permit diagnostic Google queries, access to forums and blogs and abundently incorrect information (wheat from chaff). All the pieces for a pleasant evening of puzzle solving.
The new machine is an Inspiron 1520, with a large SATA drive and Broadcom wireless. Plus a few other bells and whistles. Other factors removed the Slackware option (this machine isn’t mine…) so the coin flip was Vista vs XP Pro SP-2. I briefly considered dualboot, but when a happy blogger in Malaysia suggested simply trying to boot with XP and see what happened, his suggestion won my heart. Besides, the furnished DVD would allow a recovery if my backflip hurts. Dell has a detailed BIOS , so resetting the drive from AHCI to ATA was simple. Then, I changed the boot order, inserted the CD and waited to see what would be detected. The setup menus showed “other” partitions, so I felt ready for the “big flush”. Begone, Vista (is that be gone? My magic spells aren’t up to date). Anyhow, it worked, without resorting to a Linux CD for partition erasure.
Years of experience have taught me that nothing is ever simple. Installation of XP: easy. Finding the driver CD: easy. Getting wired networking up: easy. Wireless… not exactly. At least I could boot and reboot until most of the yellow explanation marks were removed from the Control Panel. Even the memory card reader worked on the first pass. By the end of two hours, (and over a hundred patches from the gang in Redmond) only wireless and video remained as stumbling blocks.
The Dell Support software is actually useful. After it determined the system tag, I was pointed to the proper download cell in their maze of twisty download passages. The necessary wireless driver was available, albeit not on the first pass. When I was freed from the tyranny of a too short network cable, my satisfaction rate soared. Several loops around the various user forums finally pointed to a driver for the NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS (128MB) chipset, and the new laptop was ready for service. I accept that the modem isn’t installed yet; I have no need of a modem at this point in my life. It’s now bedtime, and the transfer of software and data from the old (since when is 23 months old, unless we’re talking about yogurt in the fridge?) computer will be a priority after I’ve rested up and gone to work for another day. Canary is now part of the home network, and I’m a contented sysadmin.
