Which operating system

[John_C]

I'm about to create a new partition so i can dual boot, 1 OS for audio, 1 for general use

Currently i'm running windows 7, which operating system would you recommend I use for the audio partition?

 

[Ermz]

I'm running Windows 7 32-bit for the audio partition on mine and have had 0 issues so far. Cubase is running flawlessly. PT8 is having some weird hiccups here and there, but nothing session-breaking. I can't work out whether it's a problem inherent to PT8 or the way it interacts with W7.

Anyhow, I can recommend that W7 seems to be rather solid. If you need the extra security and peace of mind then you might consider doing an XP 32-bit partition. I can't guarantee that your hardware manufacturers have their W7 drivers all sorted out.

 

[John_C]

I briefly considered running a hackintosh setup, but then when i actually got into the details of it, i soon realised quite how ridiculous it would be.

I'm quite tempted to make another windows 7 install, it seems stupid to downgrade. Plus having the GUI seperate means that i'm less likely to lose anything important, at least in theory

 

[kev]

Very difficult question I think, like Ermz noted- 7 is very good already. I reckon i'd take it for a bit (32bit). Im running 64bit at work at the moment and most stuff is ok- its surpassed my expectation however does drive me a little mad still as there are certain things I have a hatred for- 1. The start menu 2. Control panel. Remember of course that it has a built in XP mode if the shit hits the fan.

Actually whilst im on the topic, heres some W7 bullshit for you. On the network we've got a few thousand computers, which we obviously control using active directory as standard. In XP, you install AD and then you can manage your network policies from there. In windows 7, you install it and its not there. Several minutes later after hunting around im in control panel, and spy this feature to "turn on administrative network tools". What the hell? I installed the program so I could use it funnily enough... I dont want to have to fucking switch it on!

 

[drew_drummer]

Win7 is working great for me. I took a massive leap, in the middle of projects, to jump over from my Hackintosh to Win7. Paid off.

 

[StefTD]

I am using XP on my laptop and my pc, works well on both, hated vista on the laptop, erased it after 2 days.

 

[greyskull]

osx

 

[John_C]

i am interested in OSX, but i have literally no idea where to start and all the information i find goes right over my head. Loads of stories of drivers not working etc

 

[Ermz]

Very difficult question I think, like Ermz noted- 7 is very good already. I reckon i'd take it for a bit (32bit). Im running 64bit at work at the moment and most stuff is ok- its surpassed my expectation however does drive me a little mad still as there are certain things I have a hatred for- 1. The start menu 2. Control panel. Remember of course that it has a built in XP mode if the shit hits the fan.

Actually whilst im on the topic, heres some W7 bullshit for you. On the network we've got a few thousand computers, which we obviously control using active directory as standard. In XP, you install AD and then you can manage your network policies from there. In windows 7, you install it and its not there. Several minutes later after hunting around im in control panel, and spy this feature to "turn on administrative network tools". What the hell? I installed the program so I could use it funnily enough... I dont want to have to fucking switch it on!

Yes that's the major drawback of W7. They've tried to make it idiot proof by obscuring all the important functionality in the control panel. It drives me absolutely batshit to find some standard features so hidden.

 

[TheDriller]

i am interested in OSX, but i have literally no idea where to start and all the information i find goes right over my head. Loads of stories of drivers not working etc

I am currently running a Quadcore Hackintosh setup myself, with Vista on another partition for games and other bullshit.

OS X is a mighty os, and performs way better than vista, but it will drive you nuts trying to get it to run on your machine. it is very hit-and-miss as to whether your hardware is compatible. if its compatible then you will end up with a brilliant audio machine. if its not compatible, you will want to kill yourself from frustration.

I got really lucky and it worked out very well for me, though i would wager that for 90% of people a hackintosh attempt would result in utter failure.

 

[drew_drummer]

Yes that's the major drawback of W7. They've tried to make it idiot proof by obscuring all the important functionality in the control panel. It drives me absolutely batshit to find some standard features so hidden.

Fair point, but Win7 is also usable out the box; not so with WinXP. So I think overall Win7 is a massive improvement. Now... there isn't a lot of different between Win7 and OSX Leopard.

Imo.

 

[Ermz]

True, though WMP still doesn't have all the necessary codecs to match VLC. You still need WinRAR and iTunes, not to mention third party anti spyware and anti virus apps. It's definitely still Windows . It's just more streamlined and modern than XP. I suppose that was the best we could have hoped for.

Having said that, has anybody else noticed compromised image quality with VLC running under W7? Videos look blocky as hell for me.

 

[John_C]

I went for a second windows 7 setup in the end.

Everything went smoothly, until i restarted my computer. For some reason it wouldn't recognise my password so i had to spend ages trawling for ways to reset it. Found one in the end that worked though

 

[crosstalk]

Ok, my interest is peaked and I have to ask a stupid question. How do you get Windows 7? Some quick searching resulted in saying that it's still being developed and won't be available until October this year.

EDIT: Further searching has resulted in being able to download the Beta or RC versions. Tempting. Is this what you guys are doing?

 

[drew_drummer]

True, though WMP still doesn't have all the necessary codecs to match VLC. You still need WinRAR and iTunes, not to mention third party anti spyware and anti virus apps. It's definitely still Windows . It's just more streamlined and modern than XP. I suppose that was the best we could have hoped for.

Having said that, has anybody else noticed compromised image quality with VLC running under W7? Videos look blocky as hell for me.

Not sure I really follow your logic here. On OSX, you'd also need RARExtrator if you wanted to extract RAR files. If you just want to do ZIP, then Windows does that natively, so no need for Winrar.

iTunes gets installed with OSX anyway, so having to log on to the interwebz to get it for Win7... not really that much of a negative point against Win7.

And you don't need any anti-virus stuff if your DAW is not on the internet.

What exactly was your point with this stuff?

 

[drew_drummer]

Ok, my interest is peaked and I have to ask a stupid question. How do you get Windows 7? Some quick searching resulted in saying that it's still being developed and won't be available until October this year.

EDIT: Further searching has resulted in being able to download the Beta or RC versions. Tempting. Is this what you guys are doing?

Yeah, I got the RC version; build 7100. A few issues with Pro Tools, but other than that, fairly easy ride.

 

[Fox Mulder]

I've been really out of touch with this OS thing. What's Hackintosh?
Some mac hack capable of running on a windows pc?

Edit: As per the question - Windows XP works really well for me. I upgraded to SP3, and considering my low specs it was giving me a headache. So I tweaked around with the registry + run>services.msc. Smoother than butter. Better than what I had got with SP2.

 

[TheDriller]

I've been really out of touch with this OS thing. What's Hackintosh?
Some mac hack capable of running on a windows pc?

Basically.... yes.

though it can be done using a legit OS X disc and without altering any apple code.

 

[Ermz]

Not sure I really follow your logic here. On OSX, you'd also need RARExtrator if you wanted to extract RAR files. If you just want to do ZIP, then Windows does that natively, so no need for Winrar.

iTunes gets installed with OSX anyway, so having to log on to the interwebz to get it for Win7... not really that much of a negative point against Win7.

And you don't need any anti-virus stuff if your DAW is not on the internet.

What exactly was your point with this stuff?

My point is that it's still not a complete and self-sustaining OS. I'm still using the same tools I used on XP for media playback, compression, burning, anti-virus, system monitoring, benchmarking, registry cleaning, service tweaking etc.

 

[Fox Mulder]

Basically.... yes.

though it can be done using a legit OS X disc and without altering any apple code.

Thanks, gotta try it out sometime. Would there be any compatibility issues, though?:Smug: