DRIVERS

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Guest

Please include at least the basic SATA drivers in the final version of Vista.
Many distros of Linux have this already (I think it may just be part of the
kernel) and have had it for some time. Personally, I think it makes it much
easier to install and use the system. Surely this will be something that is
loved by everyone who must fight the current driver system just to get their
machine functioning properly.

Anyone else think so?

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http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/co...crosoft.public.windows.vista.hardware_devices
 
The SATA driver for my MOBO connected SATA drives is a Microsoft written
driver and was included in and installed automatically as part of Vista Beta
2
 
Exactly. As long as the MOBO provides a standard SATA connection, the MSFT
drivers will be fine. You get into trouble when they start using small
companies(or even big lazy companies) propriatary solutions which need
specialized drivers.
 
Hmmmm ....
Not looking at flaming but as Linux in it's various distro's only holds a
small fraction of the market compared to MS I would say the MOBO
manufacturers were NOT the issue - I have a Silicon Image 3512 SATA built
into an NForce3 chipset on a Shuttle Barebones SN85G4 and by all account the
SATA controller manufacturer is constantly updating the drivers - the primary
BIOS for the MOBO was last updated July 2005 so I would have thought that
this was fairly stable. Also NForce3 has been on the market for some time and
is widely used.
Perhaps MS would benefit from a voluntary audit of PC's out there so they
could focus on bundling appropriate drivers for install ie: ones that allow
the system to build first such as IDE, SATA, SCSI, Network, Modems etc ...
rather than some of the bulky graphics/sound card drivers (after all one of
the first things you do after base install is toddle of to the manufacturer
to get the latest for these). I can't remember the last time I saw Video
driver less than 20MB whereas drivers for core components usually come in at
less than a MB.
Come on MS - the bulky stuff can all be delivered post install - please
concentrate on allowing people to have basic usage first - after all how many
people get audio on the first run post install? Also It may be advantageous
to have a base Virus Guard bundled until after the machines are live - this
would at least provide some protection to a fledgling build prior to being
fully configured.
 
Please note - this is still a Beta release and we are trying to assist MS in
getting IT right.
When it comes to drivers the various Linux distributions generally focus on
things that will allow the system to use the majority of core system
components such as SATA, SCSI, Network (and occassionally modems) so that the
system has storage and connectivity to obtain the additional bells and
whistles of graphics and audio. Hence you can get a basic distribution of
Debian that is less that 200MB - the rest is downloaded as you require.
MS seems to concentrate on having a large area for graphics and audio on the
distribution disk which could be put to better use on providing the basics as
previously mentioned. Most users only tend to have one graphics card and one
sound card leaving the other thousand or so redundant so it would be better
if these were identified at the end of install and downloaded with the first
update post-install.
My system uses a Silicon Image 3512 SATA controller for which the driver is
extremely light-weight (will fit onto a floppy) but I have to have this
available anytime I do an install as the MS install process won't recognise
this as my primary storage provider - even thought this technology is well
established.
At the other end of the scale is the graphics card - let's face it when it
comes to any graphics card 9/10 people who build systems go straight to the
manufacturers web site and will happily download a bloaty package usually in
excess of 30MB (compressed) and then install. BTW these usually get tweaked
every month so to have your system at the top of it's game you need to
perform this quite regularly - MS are usually a couple of revisions down as
this allows for stability.
A better solution would be for MS to include all of drivers which allow
whatever system you have to a least provide basic storage and connectivity
for all established base hardware prior to release and to deliver
Graphics/Audio/Printer drivers after base install once these have been
determined by the underlying devices - even when building an XP SP2
distribution you will expect to see a Windows Update Download of approx
100MB-150MB and still you'll go off to the manufacturer of whatever
graphics/Audio/Printer card/system you have and download at least another
100MB of files.
Finally this would also allow for a more compact build DVD distribution for
manufacturers - at present the ISO is about 3.3GB - this would probably allow
the image to be cut to approx 2GB-2.5GB leaving at least 2.2GB for the
manufacturer to bundle a few goodies on (possibly Office 2007?) and a faster
install.
 
Yes, MS should include all these drivers. The part you are omitting is that
the drivers do not magically appear; the drivers are submitted to MS by the
manufacturer of the product. So if MS doesn't have the driver, it is because
the manufacturer has not submitted the driver to MS.
 
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