[Elecraft] Question please

[John Ragle]

Hi, Richard...

     I started my most recent cycle of ham activity with an early XP 
machine...for what it's worth, XP Pro is an outstanding OS...but I seem 
to allow myself to be dragged along with OS development, and went 
through VISTA and into WIN 7. I have 3 machines currently in use, 2 of 
which run WIN 7 Home Premium, and 1 that runs WIN 7 Ultimate. The WIN 7 
machines are all 32 bit machines. In the household, we also have a WIN 7 
Home Premium that is a 64 bit machine. It happens that these machines 
get swapped around from time to time, along with an old Lenovo Thinkpad, 
still running VISTA.

     Currently, my ham radio gear is limping (quite literally!) along on 
the WIN 7 Ultimate 32-bit machine, which no longer boots properly. 
Fortunately, when it has gathered itself together, it runs fine. We 
leave it running (after much travail trying to get it "fixed"). It has, 
apparently, several serious problems.

     Thus the nexus I mentioned in my earlier post...I had to confront 
the reality of replacing the DELL XPS-420, and thus faced a number of 
choices...what OS?, what style MoBo?, what style chassis, and 
particularly how many and what kind of expansion slots the replacement 
was to have.

     Our household has been using DELL machines for a long time, and 
with pretty good success. I recently went outside this boundary and 
bought an ACER laptop,  64-bit machine, which did not work properly from 
the get-go, and which I exchanged for a DELL laptop of similar design. 
The salient point is that when one commits to a laptop, one more or less 
gives up any possibility of expansion slots, etc. and so this machine 
will never see ham radio use.

     This brings this long-winded discussion back to the 32-bit WIN 7 
Ultimate machine, which has a number of PCI and PCIe slots, several of 
which I use for the radios. I won't bother you with the details, since 
your laptop is doubtless, like most, non-expandable. The machine is a 
dual-core, 3 GHz machine, and it has never faltered in running the 
radios. Normally when running the K3/P3, I run a video frame-grabber to 
expand the tiny P3 screen_into a __window_. I also have used a PMSDR 
with a Quartet  dual-channel 192-kHz A/D sound card.

     So my conclusion would be that using the 32 bit version of WIN 7 
does not impose any  obvious restrictions. It is getting hard to find 
expandable machines that are vended with a 32-bit OS, and so I was 
pleasantly surprised to find that digging around in DELL's shambles of a 
web site found one. It is due to arrive today, so I can finally bury the 
XPS-420 and give it a try. If I have any problem, I will let you know.

     In the meantime, good luck and enjoy our magnificent hobby. BTW I 
condemn in strongest terms the prevailing idea that the consumer does 
not need a set of OS disks...but many vendors will sell them to you for 
a buck or two.

John Ragle -- W1ZI

==========

On 9/28/2012 1:23 AM, Richard Fjeld wrote:
> John,
>
> I saw your post and I'm curious about Win7 in 32bit.  I recently 
> bought a HP Compaq laptop that had Win7 loaded in 64bit.  I am 
> disappointed to find that several of my old software programs no 
> longer will install to it.  I really need these programs, and the 
> companies have been bought out and are no longer available for upgrades.
>
> I bought the computer from Walmart and was disappointed to find no OS 
> disks with it. I made the backup CD's.
>
> Any advice?  Would I lose much by going to 32 bit?
>
> Rich, noce
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "John Ragle" <tpcj1r03 at crocker.com>
> To: <elecraft at mailman.qth.net>
> Sent: Thursday, September 27, 2012 11:40 PM
> Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 firmware upgrade - Win7
>
>
>> Your post will probably produce a humungous volume of responses...I am
>> getting in early (12:33 AM 9/28). I have been using several machines
>> running WIN 7 both 32 and 64 bit with my K3 and have never had a problem
>> making firmware upgrades to the K3, the P3, and to the XG3. Normally I
>> use my 32 bit machine, a DELL XPS-420. I am replacing that machine with
>> a DELL Precision T3500 and anticipate no problems with it. As a first
>> suggestion, I would have your friend check his cables and the assignment
>> of his COM port(s) in Device Manager. Things like this are very
>> frustrating/annoying, but often turn out to have a simple source.
>>
>> John Ragle -- W1ZI
>>
>>
>
>
>

-- 
Sent from my lovely old Dell XPS 420