[GreenKeys] Using HAL DSRTTY with a PC

[Bob McConnell]

Hi Ron,

Contact the help desk, either where you got the computer or its 
manufacturer. They have instructions on how to upgrade from Vista to XP. 
Don't let them convince you they don't or that it is a downgrade, 
because at this point anything is better than Vista. If they won't give 
you that information, return the computer to where you bought it for a 
full refund.

No, Vista is not the next best thing. In fact, most reviewers are now 
recommending dumping it as soon as possible. If you spend a little time 
on Google, you will find that the bloom is off the rose at this point. 
Some are even suggesting that Microsoft should abandon Vista and start 
over. The only new "feature" Vista actually adds is ubiquitous Digital 
Restrictions Management. It is so pervasive that it slows the whole 
system down to a crawl, even on the fastest processors available. In 
some quarters it is known as the second coming of ME, which was probably 
the worst version of MS-Windows ever foisted on mankind. (Yes, ME was 
even worse than MS-DOS 4.0, but not by much.)

Microsoft has been forced to extend their support of XP indefinitely 
because only a few uninformed consumers are moving to Vista, less than 
10% according to some polls. We have several projects at work trying to 
figure out how to get some of our applications to run on it. So far it 
is not supportable from our standpoint. We also have a process to 
qualify it for use on the desktop within the company. The last update I 
heard was that we will not be switching over in the near future. As a 
result, ten months after Vista was released, the brand new Dell I got 
last month has XP. The four year old box it replaced was running W2K. 
The simple reason is that Vista breaks almost every application we use 
to run the company, including a couple from Microsoft, like SQL Server. 
If all of those developers are having the same problems with their 
applications that we are, I don't expect to see Vista compatible 
versions from them for another few months, if ever.

Another alternative is to download, burn and experiment with a couple of 
Linux Live CDs or DVDs if your computer can boot from that drive. That 
would allow you to try out some alternatives without having to install 
them on the hard drive. Once you find something you like, then you can 
install it in place of the original garbage collection from Microsoft. 
There is a good selection of them at 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_LiveDistros> and 
<http://www.livecdlist.com/>. Instructions on how to use them can be 
found at <http://www.bigbruin.com/2007/testlinux_1> and several other 
places. Google "Linux live CD" for more help.

Occasionally there is a Linux Laptop available at Walmart as well. But 
they have not been able to keep them in stock. The first two shipments 
each sold out in a few days.

Just for the record, I have been using Linux for 15 years now. Most of 
my computers, including this one, are running Slackware Linux. I have 
one Dell Latitude XPiCD/166 and one Dell Optiplex P-II/400 with Win98SE 
that occasionally get powered up to run a couple of programs I haven't 
bothered to move to Linux yet. My wife has an HP Pavilion that came with 
WinME. I have had to rebuild that system from scratch twice, even though 
we keep the anti-virus and anti-adware utilities up to date and run them 
frequently. But that brings up another point, I don't need either of 
those utilities on Linux. A virus needs a specific environment to 
survive, and Linux does not have the design flaws necessary to create 
that environment. They are almost exclusive to MS-Windows.

Bob McConnell
N2SPP

Don Robert House wrote:
> Ron
> 
> My son runs Mac OS 10.5.1 Leopard on his iMac.  He also runs Windows XP 
> Pro on the same machine.  Both his and his wife's HP Laptops run XP 
> Pro.  So far the university where he teaches and the high school where 
> she teaches are not planning on upgrading to Vista. I maintain the PCs 
> at our village hall and we are NOT going to upgrade either.   We spent 
> $15,000 on our village accounting software and it will not run on 
> Vista.   Methinks you have been brainwashed by Microsoft.  You can get a 
> PC pretty cheap and keep XP or 98 on it for your legacy programs.  Some 
> of the HP PCs are so small you can tuck them into an old radio cabinet.  
> Look on eBay for a seller with high numbers of positive feedback.  You 
> can get a good deal.
> 
> Good luck,
> Don
> K9TTY
> 
> 
> On 16 Dec 2007, at 12:08 AM, Ron Ott wrote:
> 
> Hi, Don. I'm not a Vista fan either. However, I've been looking at new 
> laptops and EVERYTHING comes with Vista now. XP is old hat and becoming 
> an antique.
> 
> I bought a new desktop PC about six months ago and it came with Vista 
> also. It's been sitting on the floor while I scratch my head, lots of 
> things didn't work with Vista at that time. With the number of PCs 
> coming with Vista today, things are better.  However, there is always 
> the problem of legacy software like DSRTTY and other specialty software.
> 
> I wish I had room for a couple PCs but my old one has to go sometime and 
> make room for the much faster new one.
> 
> I'm with you, but then again not!!
> 
> Ron
> W6XY
> 
> ----- Original Message ----
> From: Don Robert House <drhouse at dls.net>
> To: Ron Ott <ronott at sbcglobal.net>
> Cc: Greenkeys <greenkeys at mailman.qth.net>
> Sent: Saturday, December 15, 2007 9:53:51 PM
> Subject: Re: [GreenKeys] Using HAL DSRTTY with Vista
> 
> Not to be a big nasty but my very best advice is to:
> 
> Go back to Windows XP
> 
> The only purpose for marketing Vista was to increase profits for
> Macrohard, aka Microsoft
> 
> Sorry, Don K9TTY
> 
> 
> On 15 Dec 2007, at 10:47 PM, Ron Ott wrote:
> 
> At the high risk of getting zero reponses, I need help getting DSRTTY
> (Windows version) to work with Vista.  I am getting a COM port error
> (all COM ports).  Not unexpected, Vista has these problems.
> 
> Anyone have the answer?
> 
> Thanks, Ron / W6XY