in case anyone wants to check out this hideous thing, which makes Unity look good
Windows 8 Consumer Preview page
Direct link to the iso.
Windows 8 Consumer Preview Avail
in case anyone wants to check out this hideous thing, which makes Unity look good
Windows 8 Consumer Preview page
Direct link to the iso.
Quit hogging the downloads, you fiber optic enema freak. (Mine has been going for two hours and still has not completed... 200 KB/s). I am certain it is all your fault
Yes, I am downloading it so I can make fun of it
meh
If I wanted my PC to look and feel like a mobile phone I'd run Unity.
Power is something that should be given to those who need it to serve and withheld from those who seek it to rule.
Geez is that the fuglist background color - dull green, even fuglier than the default green background of Windows 95. I see the beta fish is back though
Looks like VB guest additions with 3D enabled killed it.
Couldn't remember how to force safe mode in VB, so I just blasted it back on there. I didn't notice the first time around, it lets you choose a different background color from the default. Only problem is, I hate them all - all of them are equally fugly drab colors. So I went with light gray. I really don't know why anyone would want this thing, I forgot how irritating it was when trying to do anything basic since I last played around with the developer preview last fall.
Last edited by ZemaTalon; 02-29-2012 at 08:53 PM.
This is as ugly and stupid as ever.
Yes, that froze up on me too trying to install the vbox additions. Powering off the virtual machine completely allows it to boot normally again though (freezes on reset). I tried a second time and the same thing happened. I guess we'll be looking for a new release of virtualbox soon. (They'll come out with an update so the vbox drivers will install in this Windows 8 build)
Enough wasted time for me, for now.
ROFL! I'm not planning on even wasting the bandwidth it takes to download this one.
Win-8? Too little too soon on the heels of Win-7. At least going from 98 to XP then XP to Win-7 we got something for the expense of those upgrades. I don't see Win-8 being much more than a broken Win-7 with a flaky new interface.
I'm not sure why I care that MS frucked up Win8 so badly, I have no intentions of ever really using it, I'd just use the server version of it instead if it came down to it. As it comes out of the box, when you're in desktop mode, there's no way to launch an application the way we normally would, by just going into the Start menu, because there is no Start menu any more. You're supposed to go back to Metro to launch stuff. And to do that you right click on the Metro background to show "All apps", which shows all program icons. Then you use your keyboard arrow keys to scroll across, since they don't all fit on the screen, and because phones don't have miceThough actually you can grab the scroll bar down at the bottom with your mouse.
Win8 Apps.png
Funny how they've managed to consolize the term "apps", we used to use this term for desktop programs before they turned it into a sissy phone & tablet term. Now it looks pathetic sitting there on the screen of a desktop OS. But just in case we ever get stranded on a desert island with nothing to use but Windows 8, there is one way to get a menu from the desktop that gives you access to most of what the old start menu contained. All you have to do is create a toolbar on the Taskbar. This thread covers it pretty well.
64715.png
But it's still silly that we have to do that just to make it functional.
Hey, you wanna see the press heralding all this; "bridging the gap between phone, tablet and desktop" etc, etc. Truly a triumph of fashion, marketing and money chasing over everything else.
This OS is so dumbed down and stupid, that I think I'll change my shell to task manager. It's far more useful than the Windows UI
Curiosity will get the better of me. I'll have to have a download and looksee later.
Lessee ... <picks up smart phone> nope, wouldn't want that on a desktop, that would be plain retarded <puts down smart phone>
Now have it fired up on a 120Gb hard disk it has all to itself.
First impression - Yuk. Yukkety yuk yukking yuk even, I do not like it at all.
However..... I know I should give it more time and get used to it and I intend to do that. I've only got a 120Gb HDD and my Steam folder is around 460Gb but I think I'll install Steam and then install a few games from disk into Steam and play them, that should be a good test.
A lot of my dislike stems from the fact this is a very intrusive operating system. Microsoft seem to want to control every aspect of your machine and aprove or disaprove of every single piece of software you want to use. I chose custom install and if you do then you'll see just how much MS want to more or less take over your machine. And there's a couple of options that can't be disabled.
I used my Windows Live password and gmail address to log in, you will need a Windows ID of one sort or another to use Win 8. On boot, which is remarkably quick I have to say with the bare bones OS, you are presented with a set of squares just like the touch screen on a mobile phone. My initial reaction is one of discomfort and bewilderment but I dare say I could get used to it. 16 years of a Windows based OS is hard to shake off though.
So I go online and Bing is the default search engine, I haven't worked out how to make Google default yet. If you want to turn off safe search in your search engine you will have to tell Microsoft you are over 18. When I eventually found my way out of Bing and IE I returned to something resembling the kind of desktop I'm used to. That's better, starting to feel comfortable with this thing now.
Win 8 couldn't enable my Creative X-Fi Audio soundcard which is odd cos all Linux distros I've used with this machine have recognised all hardware, including the soundcard. So I'll try the motherboard drivers and Nvidia video drivers shortly.
MS now have a link to their store, something wich Apple have been doing since the Industrial revolution, took 'em long enough to catch on. Whilst I do object to MS's interference in the way I use my computer I do not object to them having a store, after all, I might want to buy something, you never know.
And that is my very first initial impression, no doubt to change with familiarity. I really do not like MS's intrusiveness and it's this factor which makes Linux Mint 12 KDE an even more attractive proposition than it is now.
Microsoft have just sent me an e-mail asking me to confirm that 'Numbnuts' is a trusted PC. That's nice of them isn't it? Bless their cotton socks
They jus care about youOriginally Posted by floppybootstomp
Microsoft have just sent me an e-mail asking me to confirm that 'Numbnuts' is a trusted PC. That's nice of them isn't it? Bless their cotton socks
If you hold your mouse down in the lower left corner you get this fugly popup:
Win8_menu1.png
And if you right click on it (which can be tricky), you get this menu:
Win8_menu2.png
Well I downloaded it yesterday, both the 32bit and 64bit. It only took me a few minutes. I've not gotten around to trying it out yet. Although I will say that it had better be a lot different than the developer preview that I've had here for a couple months. Oh...wait...I just remembered about the kill-bit thing...this thing better be one step short of magic to win me over...
My life is slipping away
I'm aging every day
But even when I'm grey
I'll still be grey my way
I've been playing with 8 for about 2 hours not ready to give it a thumbs up or down yet. It is a little hard to fine my way around it. The install was straight forward burned an ISO did custom install duel booting with 7.
I've tried to DL this twice today in Linux with both sha1sums not matching, so we're giving it a go using windows, very frustrating. Zema, how much room did you give the Preview when you set it up in VB?
Damn, sorry to hear that Zammy. What did you use to download it? I allocated it about 30 gigs, I probably could have gotten by with a lot less, but it's on a 1.5 TB partition so what the heck
Ok, MS sees the demographics of shifting to phones, but unless the phone gets a projection unit and virtual keyboard I dont see 3million Battlefield 3 users clogging the cell net trying to frag someone. Plus hunched over a small screen sucks and is last resort anyway. This release is still born, like LISA.
As I was, so I remain until he returns.
A few thigs that may be helpful Zammy: Download is 3.3Gb; My hash key didn't match but I burnt the disk anyway and it worked; A basic install is 11Gb; It took around 25 minutes to do a 'custom' install.
I recently bought a 2Tb disk for storage and this freed up a few 500Gb disks and I now have Win 8 on one of those. Currently transferring 390Gb Steam backup to Win 8 to see how the games perform in Win 8. Haven't yet managed to enable Creative X-Fi Audio sound card.
sha1sum should match, but that's the only thing it has going for it
(I really fucking hate that... I'm going to refuse to work on that shit when it comes out. Time for a new line of work if it becomes the norm, which Microsoft will try to force)
Alright, I finally got the checksums to match the DL I did this morning, with all the solar flare crap that happened the last couple of days, I blame it on that, lol. The dl that I tried last in Windows didn't work out either so it only took 4 tries!!!
I am having a helluva job finding my way around this thing and some controls are a bit hit-and-miss, it's hard to right click on the popup apps interface bottom left. On the right of the screen some buttons are supposed to pop out when you hover your mouse there, sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. Still, this is a beta so I expect lots of bugs will be ironed out for final release.
But I still don't like it much, I feel uncomfortable with it and I just cannot get on at all with IE9 which is installed in the beta by default. I have tried and tried and tried but cannot make Google my default search engine, it's this blasted Bing thing. It says I can pin links to favourites on the top toolbar - what frickin' toolbar? Can't figure it at all. I have IE9 on my media machine and knew I didn't like it, luckily I only use the media machine for watching video and playing music.
So if I do ever use Win 8 it will be Firefox or Opera for me I think.
Now for some positive things, my X-Fi Audio soundcard works with the Win 7 drivers from Creative. Nvidia have current drivers for Windows 8 and I have installed those. I installed Libre Office ok. Such is the level of security checking within Win 8 that I didn't dare trying to install my copy of MS Office 2003 as it's already installed on one machine and I'm sure MS would have sussed it and told me off, lol
So I'm now abandoning MS Office for good except for it's current installation on my XP install as I do need Publisher to access lots of old files. In the future I intend to use Scribus as a substitute for Publisher, am already using Scribus within Linux Mint 12 KDE.
Win 8 boots up and shuts down fast, that's a good thing.
And I installed Steam into Win 8 and have briefly played a couple of games, it works fine. Here's how I did it.
Copied my Steam installation folder from main machine (on hard drive D) to external hard disk, a total of 390Gb. Copied that to Win 8 C drive Program Files (X86) folder. deleted all files in the Steam folder except for 'Steamapps' & 'steam.exe'.
Installed Steam online and logged in and it worked. However, about three quarters of the games are updating, which is causing me a little concern, my Steam backup was about three weeks old so maybe they are just doing run of the mill updates, I hope so cos I've only got 100Gb bandwidth allowance per month with my current ISP. But I probably won't use Steam on the Win 8 install anyway, I was mostly curious to see if it would work ok.
Next up I'll be trying my new Epson P50 printer, scanner, Winamp and a host of other things. I also need to install some AV and Antimalware software.
All in all so far mixed feelings, things are working ok (apart from IE9) but I really don't like the new interface.
Looking about, doing some reading, watching some vids. Winblows 8 strikes me as nothing more than Win-7 with a GUI that's more at home with a touch screen being utilized for a large part of the user interactions. Right now that's smart phones and tablets.
Might be something if the kernel is tailored to the hardware of these "everything hardware stays the same" devices. Big downside for the desktop is the unfriendly price tag of 20+ inch touch screen monitors.
So yea Flops, I'd expect most of the win-7 drivers to work.
I recently acquired two old tablets, both NEC Versa T400 LitePads. They came with WinXP Tablet edition but I'm screwing around seeing it I can get Linux installed and working on one. I have all the recovery media if it doesn't work so I don't really care, it's just for shits and giggles. Even though I'm sure these things are the focus, I still can't bring myself to download Ubuntu with Unity let alone Win8
You should give Ubuntu gnome 3 / unity a run out on it, it's s'posed to really work on small screens and it might be small enough to work. Be interesting to see if you can get a flavour of what they're aiming to achieve.
Windows 8 is GAY! Anybody who likes it is GAY!
(There! I said it
Gosh!Windows 8 is GAY! Anybody who likes it is GAY!
(There! I said it
I'm jolly glad I've said I don't think much of it, golly.
I mean, had I taken a shine to favour the Windows Number Eight Operating System I might have woken up one morning with an irresistible urge to play the pink picolo. Erk alors mon cherie, zee mind, it boggles.
Well, present company is objective, but there are a bunch of cheerleaders out there who lap up everything that comes out of Microsoft's foul rectum no matter the viscosity or stench.
Rah, rah, sis boom bah...wait, Windows 8 sucks
The underlying code may be just fine (that's yet to be proven) but damn that interface is the worst. And I don't care that you can get a desktop that is similar to Windows 7. It just sucks... They may want to have a single OS for PC's tablets and smart phones, but nothing is "one size fits all". You end up with too many compromises.
Actually I got tired of soaking up time I don't really have playing with it. Ubuntu 10.04 ran on it pretty well, even with the pathetic amount of RAM installed, but certain functions that make it useful as a tablet eluded me so I've restored it back to XP which has taken about 14hours after all the updates etc. (I slept through most of it) I point blank REFUSE to condone Unity or let it near any of my hardware, so this will have to do.
Perfect. You got it in one there, imo. It works but it's like trying to find an address without a GPS or an A-Z map.Rah, rah, sis boom bah...wait, Windows 8 sucks
The underlying code may be just fine (that's yet to be proven) but damn that interface is the worst. And I don't care that you can get a desktop that is similar to Windows 7. It just sucks... They may want to have a single OS for PC's tablets and smart phones, but nothing is "one size fits all". You end up with too many compromises.
I had pretty well made up my mind that; after using Win 7; XP would be the last Windo$ OS I would use....I'm Linux determined
You good folks, and others have convinced me to not even bother with the DL...but simply turn my back and walk on>>>>>>(options)
I've been messing around with Win8 in VBox, some of this might help, and yes Metro sucks a big one IMHO.
50 Windows 8 tips, tricks and secrets
"We've been investigating every part of Windows 8 Consumer Preview, uncovering many of its most important tips and tricks, so read our guide and you'll soon be equipped to get the most out of Microsoft's latest release."
Head over to TechRadar for theirarticle.
Windows 8 Keyboard Shortcuts List
Not all inclusive but at least a start, from the MSDN blog:
· Windows key – Brings up the Metro start screen. You can start typing to search for an app, just like the Win7 start menu.
· Win + B – Switch to the (classic) Windows desktop and select the tray notification area.
· Win + C – Brings up the Charms menu, where you can search, share, and change settings.
· Win + D – Brings up the old Windows desktop.
· Win + E – Launch Windows Explorer with Computer view displayed.
· Win + F – Brings up the Metro File search screen.
· Win + H – Opens the Metro Share panel.
· Win + I – Opens the Settings panel, where you can change settings for the current app, change volume, wireless networks, shut down, or adjust the brightness.
· Win + J – Switches focus between snapped Metro applications.
· Win + K – Opens the Devices panel (for connecting to a projector or some other device)
· Win + L – Lock PC and return to Lock screen.
· Win + M - Minimize all Windows on the desktop
· Win + O – Locks device orientation.
· Win + P - Choose between available displays.
· Win + Q – Brings up the Metro App Search screen.
· Win + R – Switch to the (classic) Windows desktop and display the Run box.
· Win + U – Switch to the (classic) Windows desktop and launch the Ease of Access Center.
· Win + V – Cycles through toasts.
· Win + W – Brings up the Metro Settings search screen.
· Win + X – Launch Start Menu.
· Win + Y – Temporarily peek at the desktop.
· Win + Z – Opens the App Bar for the current Metro application.
· Win + Page Up / Down – Moves tiles to the left / right.
· Win + Tab – Opens the Metro application switcher menu, switches between applications.
· Win + , (comma) – Aero Peek at the desktop.
· Win + . (period) – Snaps the current Metro application to one side of the screen. (Right side)
· Win + Shift + . (period) – Snaps the current Metro application to the other side of the screen. (Left side)
· Win + Space – Switch input language and keyboard layout.
· Win + Shift + V – Cycles through toasts in reverse order.
· Win + Enter – Launches Narrator
· Win + Arrow Keys – Switch to the (classic) Windows desktop and enable Aero Snap
Someone posted about a list of keyboard shortcuts on another forum. My response was, why should I have to deal with remembering a bunch of keyboard shortcuts to do what I can easily do with a mouse click now. And yes I know that most of those shortcuts work in Windows 7 and previous versions. But in Windows 8 many of those are the only way to accomplish a task.
If you have to remember all that just to use the damn thing effectively you'd be better off running Linux and learning the command line.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks